Big Storm in the Night

I woke up at 12:20AM with a big thunderstorm and a lot of wind blowing. I checked the weather on my Ipod (always on the shelves beside the bed) and saw that there was a severe storm warning  and wind was gusting up to 115 km/hr.   The wind was sounding like a train going through and the lightning was pretty wild and thunder very loud for a while.  I was hoping it was not developing into a tornado after our experience traveling by Kansas city in May.  I was checking to see if there were any warnings for tornadoes and wondered if we would have to go down the basement when the storm was sounding quite wild.  The power went off for about 7 minutes  and by the time it came back on the storm was starting to subside.  By about 12:45 it was moving past our area.   This morning we saw that the BBQ cover was blown off and one chair tipped over but nothing  major.  There are a lot of twigs blown around but no bigger branches broken on trees like we heard about in some areas.  We were thankful the storm blew through in a short time with no big problem.

UPDATE:  We have been hearing and seeing more about the damage from the storm.  Tree branches down caused power outages in many places.  Elaine took some pictures of a tree that is down and across the street just a few houses down the block from us.

New Front Entrance

The concrete on our driveway was breaking up and was way past needing replacement. As seen in the pictures below the sidewalk to the front door was also broken up and sinking.

This spring we arranged for a contractor to take out the existing concrete and make a new concrete driveway and front sidewalk. This was done at the beginning of June while we were away on our trip to the US.  We also got the concrete front step removed so for several weeks we used the back door until the new front steps and deck could be completed.  
 

As shown in the picture the concrete front step has been replaced with a new front deck and stairs with composite decking material and white aluminum railing.   We have been using it for a while but part of the railing was on back order.  Then with us being away at camp and then the contractor being on holidays last week, we finally got the railing complete this week. We also found a white aluminum mailbox to replace the old black one.  We are pretty excited about how the new front entrance turned out.  And of course we are very happy to finally have our new driveway.  
 

Heading Home

This morning Darlene and Lisa left for home.  They were in Canada over 2 weeks and at our house since Friday.  They had a shorter time at our house this summer but we had a good visit when we went to the US on our trip. Darlene had a list of questions for me and things to do and I think we accomplished most of them. (She always has to do lists for me whenever I see her.)  Last night Chris and Maryanne were here for supper as well and we had a good time visiting in the evening. 

In the picture they are beside their "new" Chev Astro van.   Their previous van was also a red Chev Astro but this one has lower miles and a working air conditioner.  I think this is their fourth Chev Astro van.  For an older model van it looks like new inside and out.   Darlene has to do all the driving on their trip but maybe when they get home Lisa can get her learner's license so she can do some of the driving next time.   I hope they have a good trip home.

It's Heating Up

Our temperature is 31C this afternoon and the forecast is for  35C on Monday and 36C on Tuesday.  I guess this averages out for the -35C or -36C in the winter.  For Regina the annual average temperature is +2.8C which doesn't sound too bad except the range is -50C to +43C.   Fortunately the extremes don't happen too often with 15.7 days/yr  >30C and 13.9 days/yr  <-30C.

I worked with a man for many years who was originally from India and went to university in England.  While in England in the 1960s some Saskatchewan advertising convinced him to come here to look for work.  The average temperature looked quite reasonable to him.  But when he arrived in January the temperature was nowhere near average.  He couldn't afford a ticket to go back to England and the only job he got was surveying the boundaries of the Meadow Lake park (in January.)  I later worked with him for many years and he often used this as an illustration of the risks of relying on average data.

We have had Darlene and Lisa here since Friday and they are staying until Wednesday morning.  Since the camp in North Battleford which was over last week Darlene has been catching up on her visiting in NB and Saskatoon.  (Steve already went home with his parents.)  Lisa said that it doesn't seem very hot here to her.  I guess it is all relative to what you are used to.  But if we hit 36C as forecast there will be not question that will be hot.

UPDATE:  We did not quite hit the forecast temperatures with 33C on Monday and 32C on Tuesday. 

Meetings and Mosquitoes

We got home Sunday night after being at North Battleford all week for our summer church camp.   We very much enjoyed the meetings as well  as visiting at the meals and through the day.  The weather was quite good for visiting outdoors particularly earlier in the week.  But the mosquitoes were the worst I remember and seemed to get worse as the week went on.   We stayed at a motel during camp as we have for several years  and couldn't even get away from the pesky critters indoors.   There were so many swarming around no matter how fast you went in and closed the door, many would come in with you.  We would try to kill enough of them in our room to leave us alone while we slept.  Back in Regina they say the mosquitoes are way above average but around our area there are not many compared to the swarms in NB.  

Who Is That Young Couple?

July 3, 1987  

Happy Anniversary!