This has gotta be the wettest summer ever here in the BC wilderness.
July has seen rain every single day except one or two. And when it's not raining, it's cloudy and windy. I have eight plastic rain buckets scattered around our RV yard and there have been many days they've filled up with rain 2 or 3 times per day.
The entire country is getting hit with extreme weather. While our BC summer has been cold and wet, Ontario is having a heat wave right now with Toronto temps hitting 37C today and Waterloo getting up to 39C.
Small villages north of Saskatoon were hit with grapefruit sized hail yesterday.
And several days ago a freak windstorm toppled the main stage at the Ottawa Bluesfest while Cheap Trick was on stage. The band wasn't hurt, but their truck driver was injured, along with two other concert-goers.
From this Canadian Press story:
"It was like a scene out of 'Armageddon.' Right before the collapse, it was sunny and lovely, and then moments later, dark clouds appeared, and the atmosphere changed. A gust of wind blew confetti from the ground up, the drapes blew inwards, the stage collapsed, and someone yelled, 'Get off,'...
Cheap Trick manager Dave Frey, who was on stage seconds before the collapse, told Rolling Stone magazine that the driver's leg was broken and the band lost all of its equipment.
Video of the Bluesfest site posted on YouTube showed the stage, which stood several storeys tall, being propelled backward before crumpling and damaging a tractor-trailer truck parked behind it.
So how's the weather in your neighbourhood this summer?
** Totally off topic - at 8am pacific time, the CAD is trading at $1.06 vs. the USD. Could be time to buy more American dollars for our winter trip south.
According to the locals who have lived here for years and years this IS the worst summer ever! To top it off, in Armstrong we just had a major hail storm which will ruin a lot of the fruit.
Posted by: Don | July 21, 2011 at 02:40 PM
Our weather in Sask has consisted of record flood levels. Some of our main hiways remain closed due to the flood damage. Folks say they have never seen anything like it...ever.
As to the dollar, we are wondering if we shouldn't be buying in as well, for our first ever Snowbird travels !!
We can hardly wait....
Trent
Posted by: Trent Shipley | July 21, 2011 at 05:52 PM
Mr P - it must have hailed right through the valley cause we got it too. Not only are the fruit crops hurting, but tourism is down for the summer as well. The golf course and our local campgrounds have been pretty quiet over the past month. Hope things pick up.
Posted by: kelsi | July 22, 2011 at 08:48 AM
Hello there Traveling Shipleys!
I got your email and am planning to write back, but I wanted to say a quick "hi!" and congrats on your upcoming adventure. Not sure how happy you are/were with your job situation, but it wasn't at all hard for me to quit my radio gig - I was mentally and financially ready.
But after full-timing for 18 months now, My Fella and I both wish we would have moved into an RV years ago...it's a really incredible lifestyle. I can't believe those seniors have been hiding this little secret from us for so many years :)
Nice pic of you and your sweet pea - my email is on the way...
Posted by: kelsi | July 22, 2011 at 08:59 AM