Friday, July 25th - the suns returning after a day of rain

Conditions at 5:15 am: 16' and overcast (I think, it's hard to tell cause it's dark now at this time of day)
Expected later: sunny 23' that will feel more like 27'

After a hot, humid and sticky day on Wednesday, we were treated to lower temperatures and some much needed rain. Not so great for those things that were planned outdoors but great for the garden and for sleeping.

Last night Burton Cummings was the featured performer at the 2014 celebration zone and hopefully it wasn't too wet. The rain had stopped here and things were drying out by 8:00 so hopefully it was the same in town.

Needless to say I didn't venture into town to join the soggy, wet crowd. Instead I opted to stay home and read a book as I waited for my butter tarts to bake. Lloyd didn't want them around (he's trying to watch his eating habits - again!)  so I'm dropping them off this morning at the Ultramar in Scotchfort. The East River Fire Department are camping out on the roof of the gas station from Thursday afternoon until Saturday afternoon. It figures - we've had nothing but hot sunny weather and the day they start their fundraiser, it's pouring rain. Although that may be prefereable to the 28' but feeling like 32' from the day before.  This is the 60th anniversary of firefighters raising money for Muscular Dystrophy  and this departments 2nd rooftop campout and their goal this year is $5,000.  I'm hoping they might like a little treat to go with their morning coffee. Good luck guys!

One of the local radio stations was holding a draw for 50 pairs of tickets to see 'Anne of Green Gables - the musical'  at the confed centre. There's a celebration to commemorate the 50th year that this play has been running every summer. After 5 years on the island, we still haven't seen it. Well that's about to change. Guess who won a pair of tickets? YUP - got the phone message on Wednesday to come and pick up my prize. Am I a lucky theatre patron this summer,   or what?  Stompin Tom last weekend and now Anne next week. There's also a reception before the show with cake and ice cream - bonus! The play is Monday evening so Lloyd will have to sleep a little later in the day and meet me before the show. We'll make it work.

Only a week away till I get to spend some time with Patti and James. Unfortunately our trip to NFLD has been cancelled but we're still going to do the Halifax part of the journey. Scheduling conflicts interfered but the up side is we can do it another time - so we'll  get two trips instead of just one.
Hopefully I'll meet up with them sometime late Thursday or early Friday, depending on how flights work out. We'll have a bit of time to tour Halifax and then head back to the island for a couple of days. I'm really looking forward to it. Right now Patti and James are touring Fort Henry in Kingston as they make their way to the camp where Meghan has been enjoying the summer for the past week.
Greg and Tristen are at home where I'm sure Tristen is enjoying life as the 'only child', even if it's only for a short time.

And finally under the category of "Gee, I didn't know that" comes this story that's resurfaced because it's Shark Week on the Discovery Channel:

Great white shark from 1983 attracts new attention

Shark in the top two ever measured in the world

A great white shark caught off P.E.I. more than 30 years ago has been named one of the world's top five legendary sharks by the Discovery Channel.
The shark caught off western P.E.I. by Alberton fisherman David McKendrick in 1983, was 5.2 metres long. It got caught in McKendrick's net, and was dead when he pulled it to the surface. Warren Joyce of the Canadian Shark Research Laboratory in Bedford, N.S. said the shark is in the top two largest ever measured in the world.

Given the very few sightings of great white sharks around the Maritimes, Joyce said that such a large one was caught off P.E.I. is surprising.

"They are very rare all over the world. Their numbers are declining," he said.
"You usually only hear of reports, maybe every two to three years, if that. In the last 130 years there's only been 34 actual recorded incidents of great whites in our waters."
Vertebrae from the shark, still preserved at the Bedford lab, were recently reanalyzed for the shark's age. The large female was estimated to be 19 years old.

The shark was buried in a nearby gravel pit and later dug up by a fisheries official. (Canadian Shark Research Laboratory)

Fishermen Doug Fraser was there when the shark was brought ashore. He had seen sharks a metre long and slightly longer before, but nothing like the behemoth McKendrick had hauled.
"The tail would have been dragging off the end of the dump truck. The girth of it was probably over six feet," said Fraser.
"It was a pretty huge monster to see, and a great collection of teeth."
After it was caught, said Joyce, the shark was immediately buried in a nearby gravel pit. A fisheries officer dug it up two weeks later to measure it and preserve some of the bones. Those are stored at the shark research lab in Bedford. The jawbone is on display at a museum in Florida.

Who knew?