I am feeling badly for a few folk here who lost their not quite built new houses in a new subdivision due to the wind storm the other night. The two houses in question are reduced to little bits and pieces, as if a bomb landed right on top of them. Other than some heavy tree limbs that came down and need moving, those two half built houses seem to be the worst of the damage here.
At the moment it is +24C, cloudy and with a warm breeze. Beautiful!
I put my jacket on this morning when I went out to do errands and that only lasted until I reached my first destination. At that point the jacket had to come off. I was too hot wearing it....imagine....having to remove a light jacket on the 19th of October at 9am because it made me feel too hot!! FANTASTIC!! I parked as far away as reasonably possible from each building I had to go to and enjoyed thoroughly my walking about. A few minutes ago I packed up a few items of used clothing to walk down to the collection bin and I walked there in a short sleeved tee shirt and summer jeans. AWESOME!! Tomorrow we are supposed to have sun and a high of +22C. If that turns out to be correct I am going to walk downtown again to pay the phone bill that arrived today. My husband will have the car for work tomorrow so there will be no temptation to wimp out and nick the car from his office lot long enough to drive to a different branch of our bank.
This morning I read some of the articles detailing the stories of personal loss due to the grass fires in AB and SK. So very sad....one fellow who had very little damage to his rural property discovered a badly injured dog on his driveway. He loaded it into his truck to take into town to the local veterinarian and along the way noticed his neighbour shuffling down the road. He stopped to check on the neighbour and that man was in deep shock. Less than a half hour, earlier that day, after spotting the encroaching fire from some distance away, it leapt a barrier and landed on his house. The place was burned to the ground in less than 20 minutes. He lost his other dogs in the fire and was in such a state of shock he did not recognize the injured dog in the truck as his own remaining pet.
A young AB volunteer firefighter was killed when the water tanker truck he was driving hit another vehicle along a smoky road and crashed. The man was in his 30's and leaves a wife and 4 children.
Two young firefighters from another town were badly injured in another wreck.
One of the thoroughbred horses raised to be ridden annually for the aboriginal village at the Calgary Stampede was killed by the fire near a ranch in southern AB. Fortunately all the other thoroughbreds were located after their barn burned down and they were fine, but what a terrible loss.
Several houses were lost in both provinces. The fierceness of the fires and the rapidity with which they destroyed everything in their path surprised some of even the most experienced firefighters.
The prairies, like many other parts of the continent, are in desperate need of moisture. Relatives who just returned from the usually lush and green city of Victoria BC told us that Beacon Hill Park, usually so covered in deep greens and thick overgrowth, has been reduced to tinder dry stick like grasses and brown looking trees. They said it looks like the prairies out there right now due to that and the cracked dry ground.
I feel so badly for everyone so badly effected by these weather related disasters. Northern California continues to burn. The Canadian prairie fires going on right now are the worst seen in those areas for many, many years. The winds blew large numbers of train cars right off the tracks in two different locations the other evening. Semi rigs blew over on their sides. Many people have been treated for smoke inhalation.
And here I sit....on a gorgeous day in my own city, preparing for another glorious walk tomorrow outdoors in the warmth. I am grateful...........
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