It’s been more than 10 years since Photo Blogging Challenge host PJ set this theme. I took a few minutes to consider how I approached thinking outside the box in May 2016 vs now. Some things are the same (Lego, spotting the extraordinary in everyday things and experiences). And some things are different (I’ve replaced my homemade white box with a foldable, manufactured white box).

I also spent a bit of time considering what the phrase “thinking outside that/the box” actually means. I think most of us would agree that the “box” is a metaphor for our standard operating procedures/assumptions/routines. In other words, it’s all about conventions and standards. Thinking outside the box is a good prompt to try to bring something fresh to the situation – a new perspective, idea or solution. Wikipedia reports that the origin of the phrase is unclear. Many attribute it to the 1950s-era nine dots puzzle. I kind of like that explanation because I still remember the imaginary lightbulb that went off in my brain when I finally figured out how to solve that puzzle. Wouldn’t it be great to have more of those lightbulb moments more frequently?

Enough with the introspection. It’s time for this month’s photos!

1. Literally

2. Garden Fence Down

In mid-August I went out to our little backyard garden to pull some carrots and pick more raspberries. To my surprise, the chicken wire fence was down across one end. Two metal fence posts were irreparably bent and two wooden supports were snapped right off. The fence is pretty basic, meant to deter deer and rabbits from enjoying an unlimited garden buffet. It’s done its job for many years.

After studying the damage and then discovering deer tracks in all of my raised beds, I puzzled out what happened. Something startled or chased a deer in our neighbour’s yard; it it’s haste to escape, it missed the fact there was a fence around our garden and boom – down went the fence. What’s more amazing to me is that in then apparently managed an almost vertical leap over the other end of the fence to escape!

Thanks to Mr GeoK and an online order for more metal fence posts, we put everything back in order about 10 days later. And fortunately for my 2026 harvest, the deer must have been so discombobulated by the collision that it didn’t even stop for a snack. The green metal posts are original to the build and the black ones are the new replacements.

3. Finally Some Fresh Air

Wildfires in British Columbia, Washington and Idaho meant we had poor air quality for a lot of the month. On August 25th we got out for our first bike ride since July 2. I was so glad to get out of the box that’s our house! Unfortunately, with so much time elapsed between rides, it was kind of like starting cycling season all over again. My legs were tired at the end of our 52 km (32 mi) ride. But all the hours on the rowing machine and recumbent stationary bike paid off in that I did NOT have sore muscles the next day.

4. Frankie D’s Donuts

We discovered this local B corp a few months back. They make donuts about 10 times/year. You pre-order, prepay and then pick-up during a designated one-hour time frame. Profits from the business go to support mental health initiatives here in the Bow Valley. One way they try to normalize mental health conversations is by including a “conversation card” with each order. It’s a card with a prompt, to get you thinking about your own state of mind and to help you start up a conversation with someone you think might benefit from a neutral/supportive listener.

This month’s donut flavours were apple fritter, maple glazed and rhubarb crumble. Coincidentally, donut pick-up day marked Frankie D’s sixth anniversary. Believe me, those donuts were out of the box by the end of the day. The thinking part is ongoing.

5. Use Your Brain (and Your Bear Spray, if necessary)

Back in May we had a couple of scary elk encounters. In one instance, we were walking to town. We were on the walking trail and ended up walking past an elk about 10-15 meters off the trail that we didn’t see until we were past it. The end result is that we ended up playing avoid the elk for the next 10+ minutes. It came after us.

We put a park bench between us and the elk. It would back off, but then as soon as one of us tried to move away from the bench it would come at us again. We finally split up. Mr GeoK stayed at the bench while I backed away from the bench, down into a creek bed and then across a highway. Then I came back across the highway about 75 meters away and made sure the elk saw me while Mr GeoK followed my escape route. At this point I had my bear spray in hand.

The elk pursued Mr GeoK across the highway, and they went back and forth across the guardrail a few times before Mr GeoK ended up deploying his bear spray. It took two shots before the elk finally gave up. In more than 15 years living in Canmore, it’s the only aggressive elk encounter we’ve experienced.

Anyhow, once we were well away, I called the Town of Canmore’s “report a wildlife encounter” line and ended up being transferred to Alberta Fish and Wildlife because it was so early in the morning. We reported the encounter mainly because a lot of kids ride their bikes along that pathway on the way to school and we were hoping signs would go up and/or hazing would occur because the last thing we’d want is for someone to be injured or an aggressive elk to be put down.

Apparently we aren’t the only ones to encounter an aggressive elk in the area. Last time we walked to town we say at least a half dozen warning signs tacked to trees, benches and bridges along the trail.

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That’s it from me this month. Note that I didn’t start any Lego sets, although I have a few queued up and should get to at least one this fall.

I’m curious to see how my fellow Photo Blogging Challenge participants ended up thinking outside that box, so I’ll be checking out the link-up at the bottom of host PJ’s post.

Please, will you join me in a blog hop? Or in participating in next month’s challenge? You’ll need five images and a blogging platform. We are small – but friendly and supportive – community.