The south end of the beach at Hua Hin, Thailand.
Where are Kevin and Ruth now? Hua Hin, Thailand.

Where are Kevin and Ruth going next? Maldives on March 23rd.

Saturday, June 22, 2013

Flooding

I'm sure most of you have seen pictures of the record flooding in Calgary, Alberta all over the news. At least it's all over the news here in Canada. In the U.S., it seems that Paula Deen is the bigger story. Paula who? Never heard of her before now.

Well, we have some flooding of our own going on here in the middle of nowhere, Saskatchewan.

Calgary is flooding, and Edmonton is under a flood watch. They've had a ton of rain out there, and all of the snow melt from the Rocky Mountains heads east through the Bow River in Calgary, and the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton. And of course there are thousands of smaller tributaries that all flow east as well. One of them ends up bringing water from the North Saskatchewan River into our lake.

The North Saskatchewan River. We are at the little red dot.

So, about two weeks ago we were thinking about pushing our main dock further out into the lake because the water level was getting low after a very dry (and beautifully sunny) May.

This photo was taken June 8, exactly two weeks ago today.

But then the rain came, and it poured buckets for about 4 days. And it rained again this past week.

This was taken yesterday.

The problem is that it's going to get worse before it gets better. All of that water from Calgary and Edmonton has yet to make it's way down here and the people around here think it's going to rise for another week or more. Some of the regulars who have been coming here for 25 years or more say that this is by far the highest they've ever seen the water level.

The Ministry of the Environment here in Saskatchewan came about a month ago and installed a water gauge in the river. Our guy in the office is supposed to go down every day and take a reading...but as of yesterday you can no longer see the gauge! It's under water!

And, it will probably rain again today. It's totally dark and overcast right now and there's 80% chance of rain in the forecast. In fact, it just started pouring down as I'm finishing typing this post! We got totally spoiled by the great weather in May!

So, that was an exciting day yesterday, wasn't it?? Thank you all so much for your well wishes, it means a lot  to us that our cyber world community is so supportive. It was YOU all who gave us this upcoming trip! Now, we have to confess...we actually knew that we won on Tuesday morning, and we couldn't announce it until the organizers gave us the okay to share. We thought that was going to be Wednesday morning, but the girl looking after us was called out on a special assignment in Portugal, and between the legal stuff and the time differences between here and Boston (the legal department) and Portugal and Namibia...it simply got delayed. 

We were going crazy not being able to tell you all!

So, we can't keep our fingers off the keyboard regarding Namibia. You must have a quick peek at the Namibian Tourism Board's website. The home page alone makes you want to go there!


The more we think about it, the longer we're staying. Our friends in Mexico may not see much of us this upcoming winter!


23 comments:

  1. can only imagine how excited you are. its true havent seen a thing on the news, only the blogs.

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  2. I did see the flooding in Calgary on the national news. It has been very wet here in Wisconsin as well this year. Last year we had a drought, this year it just keeps raining. Our campground is the wettest we have seen it in the four years we have been working here. I always feel like planning for a trip is almost as fun as the actual trip (almost). Enjoy your planning and stay dry. As for Paula Deen, she just needs to go away!

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    1. The weather seems to be pretty crazy everywhere. Our lake is still rising, we aren't sure how much higher it will go. We feel so bad for the people in Calgary, so many places have been flooded and lots of people are stranded and it is still rising.

      Hope things dry up for you and us both!

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  3. Here in Montana, flooding in Calgary is big news so we've been getting regular updates. I don't ever remember Calgary getting that kind of flooding. And CO, NM, and AZ would love to have some of that water to put out their fires. Didn't pay any attention to Paula Deen even though I know who she is. I am so excited for you guys. You are going to have such a great time.

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    1. Too bad the weather can't even itself out around the world. It always seems to be that one place gets way too much rain and another doesn't get enough. Hope those fires can calm down is is so sad when people lose their homes and all the damage that is done to the trees and wildlife.

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  4. I have lived in both Edmonton and Calgary, and never seen it this bad for flooding before.
    Hope everyone is able to stay safe.

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  5. My prayers go out to my Canadian friends. Be safe! I've had lots of experience with flooding having lived in Marin County, CA for years and years. Once, after my divorce and I was living alone, my roof and electric garage door flew off and I had $60,000 in damages to the house and fences, etc. A side story: Allstate Ins was inundated with claims; when the very young, very new Allstate Rep came to my house to manage the claim, he was so overworked, over tired and over nervous, he had what turned out to be a panic attack. At the time it certainly resembled a heart attack - I called 9-1-1 and started solo CPR until he regained consciousness! The paramedics arrived an took him to Marin General Hospital where I worked at the time. It turned out his dad was a doctor in So. CA - he called me to thank me. Fortunately, the claim order had already been completed so the work commenced without a hitch!
    Paula Deen was a popular Southern Bell cooking show hostess on the Food Network. It's an unfortunate set of circumstances because she's well-liked for her show. However, I would suppose it's possible that in her life's history, she very well could have been 'prejudiced' - especially back in the 60s and 70s when all the race issues were hotly contended. I understand the position of the network and I guess it's one more reminder that we are responsible for our acts!

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    1. Yikes, that is scary losing your roof. Glad you were there to help the agent and that everything turned out well for you.

      Thanks for the info on Paula Deen, although I think Kevin's point was that we have this massive flooding in Calgary but the USA news picks on this one person and that's all you see. Funny what the news picks up on!

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  6. I neglected to mention above that the reason my house was damaged by wind AND rain was that in Marin it's often feast or famine. That year we had 5-6 feet of flooding in low lying areas. I lived on top of a mountain - the wind caused the original damage; then the heavy rain delivered its payload inside the house - all three levels! The house is cantilevered over a canyon; I was very lucky it didn't slide right down the canyon - as happened with other buildings that year.

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    1. Wow! I have to admit with the extreme weather and earthquakes in California, it is not on our list of places to live.

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  7. If these rains keep coming, you're going to need an ark to get to Namibia! :cO

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  8. I don't watch the news so until I read it on blogs of Canadians I had no idea. I've seen some pictures now though and it looks terrible. I hope you all don't get flooded out. That would be terrible. I am so glad to "know" someone who won one of these trip give aways. I've always thought they were hoaxes. Stay as long as you possibly can. It looks fabulous.

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    1. I don't think we will have any major problems here with the rising water. Yep, someone actually does win these contests.

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  9. Wow what a change in the lake! Have seen the aerial shots of Calgary, what a tragedy. Hopefully the rain stops soon & the cleanup can begin. I had only heard of Paula Deen 1x before, so I was surprised at all the press she got too!

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    1. We hope things improve fast too for Calgary, not a fun place to be at the moment.

      I really think the US news media can find something much more news worthy to report.

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  10. Paula who? Actually, I've seen that person on the tube. As soon as she opened her mouth though, I had to change the channel. Too bad, so sad she used the "N" word. I do believe it's still in the dictionary.
    Anyway, got a note from one of my Nieces who lives on the 38th floor of a building in downtown Calgary.
    Um ya, they're not going anywhere. The crazy thing is, she and her hubby are due to move to Halifax in a couple weeks, and the timing kinda sucks. If they had only been out a couple weeks ago...?
    My wife was mostly up in Airdrie and had booked a hotel at the airport, but a week of constant rain was enough for her. She's glad to be back home in Ontario, humidity and all.
    Here's hoping it lets up.
    So much for the Stampede.

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    1. Yikes, I hope they will be ok there and that things settle down quickly for them so they can get out to the east coast. Yep, their timing was just a little bit off!

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  11. Congratulations on winning the tip. Glad you got it! It will be fun to read about your times and travels there later on. For now, hope the floods recede quickly and everyone is safe. Love your blog and the interesting things you write about.

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    1. Thank you very much Randy and Pam. We are certainly looking forward to this big adventure.

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  12. Just catching up on my blogs after being away with no internet. We have friends in Calgary who were evacuated but they chose to stay put and protect their home from looters which was a good as it turns out. The got a generator and are managing. His high rise office took on water so they can't go back until at least mid week.

    Most importantly, congratulations. You did it!! Enjoy the planning.

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    1. Thank you Contessa, we are so looking forward to this new adventure.

      We feel so bad for the people of Calgary right now. Hope your friends stay safe.

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