A tragic story

Conditions at 5:30 am: According to the weather network, it's only -8' and we are going to -12' later this morning but it's quite windy so it's going to feel much colder
Expected later: maybe a bit of sun and stronger winds

Yesterday the news reported on an incident where a snowplough driver was assaulted by a man who was allegedly pushing snow out of his driveway onto the road. Then later in the day we learned that police and fire departments were searching the Hillsborough River in Mount Stewart for the man who was accused of the assault. As of this morning all the news is reporting is that his truck was found on the bridge and someone saw him leaning over the railing. I'm sure there's more to the story than what is being reported but it's a really sad and tragic situation. We're hoping the outcome will not be the worst.

I got a nice email from Fran yesterday to let me know they had a good trip back. She says they all really enjoyed themselves and now she is looking for the address for this blog. She did read it once before but it would be pretty boring for someone who doesn't know any of the people in it. But now that she's met the whole family - Cooper, the VanGaals, the Andersons, etc, it will all make more sense to her now. Even talkng about the bridge in Mount Stewart, will have meaning for her as they crossed it many times. So good morning Fran, if you are reading this today!  I also have to say good morning to my friend from college days, Cheryl, who I know reads it as well from time to time, as do Mike and Carol. It's nice for me to know that people I care about, care enough to wonder once in a while just what I'm up to!

Well, I'm still enjoying left overs from when the ladies were here.  It's great to come home from work and there's food in the fridge that just needs to be heated up or whatever. There was a bit of roast beef left over and the last two nights all I've had to do is make some toast and slice off some beef and enjoy a lovely toasted roast beef sandwich for my supper as well as a LOT of Katy's dessert. But it does make an excellent breakfast as well, (since I need to use it up before it spoils!).

But no leftovers tonight, as Brenda is coming over for some nachos and wine before she leaves for Florida tomorrow. Hopefully the guys are making good progress on their road trip down.

Yesterday I took our service manager home in the middle of the day as he was not well. As he usually takes the shuttle home, I will pick him up this morning since he'll have no way to get to work. Fortunately he lives on the Mason Road and I can swing by on my way to work and pick him up. So that will involve leaving about 20 minutes earlier than usual as he opens the doors in the morning so I'll cut this short this morning as we were expecting some blowing snow last night and I need to go out and see how badly it's drifted into the lane. See you all tomorrow.

Eeerily quiet at the Denny house

Conditions at 5:15 am: -12' and clear
Expected later: 1' and sun

It's going to be a lovely day today. Last night the ladies picked me up at work and we got them on their way. I hope they had an uneventful trip back to Ontario. When I got home the house was surely cleaner and neater than it was when they arrived. Everything was put away, the beds had all been stripped and washed and re-made again. I have to admit I was totally spoiled while they were here. They baked tarts, biscuits, made dinner for me and just generally treated me extremely well. I hope they had as good a time being here as I did having them visit. Hopefully they will come again, either together or seperately, and with or without their spouses. They are all more than welcome to come back at any time. (Air freshener took away the smoke from the back porch, so it's ALL good!)
And on that note, I talked to Brenda last night, and Bernie and the rest of the guys got away yesterday with the bikes on their way to Florida.  Brenda is leaving on Friday.I haven't looked at the weather forecast but hopefully it will be lovely and sunny and they can enjoy having the bikes there to tour around on. After the winter we've been having, a little sun and warmth will be most welcome.
My wrist is doing very well and hopefully we'll be able to get out when Brenda gets back and do a bit more skiing before spring gets here. Now that we're into March, it's hard to say what kind of weather we're yet to receive. But I remember last year we had lots of snow when Patti and the kids were here on March Break.
James has a provincial speedskating meet this weekend in London, Ontario and the media students from the local community college are going to set up a live feed to the internet so I'll be able to watch it on my computer at work on Saturday and at home the rest of the weekend. Patti will send me a message from her blackberry before each race so I know when to watch.  What a great thing! James is excited that a whole group of people at Honda in Charlottetown will be watching and cheering for him.

Who knows what the traveling will be like this morning

Conditions at 5:00 am: -2' and overcast
Expected later: -4' but no more precipitation

It appears it rained after midnight (following lots of snow from 4:00 pm on) and the temperatures were above freezing but according to the weather network it's now below freezing again so it could be a little slippery. Fran and Katy are going to go with me this morning so they have the car and then they will all come into town in time to pick me up at work and I can drop them off at the airport.

Last night I came home from work to a lovely dinner of roast beef, gravy and mashed potatoes, carrots, peas, cole slaw, and biscuits. We then finished off with a layered dessert that Katy had made with vanilla pudding, cool whip and soda crackers and pie filling. It's an incredibly easy dessert but very tasty.
It's going to be very quiet around my place once they are gone. Brenda leaves on Friday for Florida so it will be a VERY quiet weekend. But I might be able to do the weaving thing with Sheila this weekend. Last Sunday got canceled because they were all sick. Hopefully they are soon feeling better.

I know that some flights got canceled last night due to the weather. Hopefully that won't impact the ladies getting out tonight. It shouldn't. I got a call from Richard last night because his mom was on her way home from a vacation trip and it looks like she may have got stranded in Montreal.  He was concerned that he should be making a hotel reservation for her but I had no idea what advise to give him. I told him I usually travel standyby  and in that case, we are on our own if we don't make a flight. But he was waiting for her to call him back when she got to Montreal for further information. I felt bad that I couldn't offer any more advise but I just didn't know.
Now it's 5:20 and first Katy, then Fran stumbled down the stairs. Katy was afraid she was going to sleep in, and Fran couldn't see the numbers on the clock and she thought it was 6:20. So now the two of them are struggling to get the coffee made and it's not going well. But the good part is they should be well awake by the time we're ready to leave at 7:00.
We made Chef Michael's bread recipe again last night and this morning it's looking mighty fine. The girls will put it into the pans later and let it rise and bake it. They all copied it down and hope to impress the men when they get home.

Weather wise, it's been a challenge

Conditions at 6:00 am: -16' and clear skies
Expected later: -3' and maybe 10 to 15 cm of snow but we could also get rain and above freezing temperatures before tomorrow morning

Friday night dinner and curling by the fire

Well, it was a busy weekend. On Friday afternoon, it started snowing around 3:30 and it snowed quite heavily until I left work at 5:30. I met the girls at the Civic Centre to decide what they were going to do. As the roads were very slippery and the snow continued to come down, they made the decision to go home and watch the evening draw on TV. In the 10 to 15 minutes I was in the arena, it changed from heavy snowfall to heavy rain. It was the weirdest thing ever. But we went home anyway and in retrospect it was a good decision.  I knew we might be in for some nasty weather so had discussed it with Craig on Friday. Sure enough, when I went out on Saturday morning, it had changed to snow again overnight and the winds had picked up to 90 km an hour. When I went out at 7:00 am, the snow in the bottom half of the driveway was mid-thigh deep.  Not something even Bernie's 4 wheel drive truck would be able to tackle, and it was way too much snow to shovel. So I called Craig and told him I couldn't get there. Frank came over mid morning to blow out the snow, and didn't he get stuck. He had to call someone else to come with another tractor to get him out so they could finish the job.  It was almost noon by the time we got out. Fortunately by that time the roads were not too bad. There were still some areas with blowing snow but for the most part it was okay. The afternoon draw on Saturday was at 12:00 so the girls were only a little bit late. I didn't have a ticket so I watched from inside the lounge, on the big screens.  None of us had tickets for the evening draw so we all bought some when we got first got there. After the game was over at 3:00 there was some great east coast music being played so I stayed in the lounge and listened to that while the other three went off to the casino...again.  Other than watching curling, that seemed to be the only thing they were interested in doing, so I just let them go to it.
The evening draw was earlier than previous ones, starting at 5:00 instead of  7:30 which meant we were home by 9:00, which was nice.
Sunday morning Katy helped me load up the wood, and then they headed off to town around 1:00. I had a ticket for the final draw at 7:30 but I was also picking Brenda and Bernie up at the airport at 6:00 so I didn't go to town until about 5:10. Their flight was right on time and the three of us headed over to the Civic Centre.
They had a great time in Toronto and got to do a lot of stuff in a short time.
Once at the arena, Brenda and I managed to both get into the sponsors lounge, to meet up with Bernie, and Richard and Daralen.  We had something to eat then headed out to our seats. By coincidence, our seats were almost all right together, being just behind where the other girls were sitting.
It was an exciting and very close game with the winner not determined until the very final rock, which we were all sure would be in Team Canada's favour. The Saskatchewan team had a LOT of support from the crowd there last night, and the place literally exploded when Jennifer threw the final rock AND it didn't achieve the results she had hoped for, AND it became obvious that Saskatchewan had won the gold medal. 
We stayed to watch the awards ceremony, then we all headed back home. We got back just in time to see the last bit of the Academy Awards and to see The King's Speech win best actor and best picture. We won't know till this morning's news what other awards it might have won.
Today the ladies are staying home and cooking dinner for me. That will be really a treat. They will also be home all day as they have no vehicle, but I think the Casino will survive today without their contributions!

They can't seem to make up their minds

Conditions at 5:30: -3' and no precipitation yet
Expected later: 2' and rain or maybe snow or who knows what

All day yesterday the radio and the weather network are telling us we are in for  a major blizzard with up to 30 cm of snow. This morning the blizzard warning is still there but it's predicting more rain than snow. The weather network was calling for lots and lots of snow, while Environment Canada site says it was too early yesterday to accurately predict what is in store. The bottom line is we don't know what's coming. It makes it a little hard to know what to expect or prepare for.

Yesterday after work,  Brenda and Bernie picked me up at 5:30 and we went to the airport. They are off to Toronto to celebrate with Meghan(1) and I have their truck. I'll pick them up on Sunday at the airport in time to go and see the final draw of the curling at the Civic Centre.

The truck is a little larger than I'm used to but quite a pleasure to drive. You're sitting up so high you can see everything and the heated seats are such a treat!
The ladies spent the day in town yesterday and didn't get home till after 11:00 some time. I heard them but didn't wake up enough to check the clock. I called them at 6:00 to see if I could meet them somewhere to have something to eat but when I got home, Katy's phone was here, so that didn't happen. Instead I came home and ate here and caught up on a couple of TV shows before heading off to bed.

I received an email from Patti last night with this picture of Tristen. He's just earned his orange belt in Karate. Congratulations T!!!  He takes his karate very seriously and it's so fun to watch him.
He looks very proud of his new orange belt.

Okay, I'm cutting this short this morning. I'm having some technical troubles with computers this morning and
I need to make a call to my tech person tonight to find out how to fix a couple of problems.

Is this the calm before the storm?

Conditions at 4:42 am: -7' and overcast
Expected later:-4' and sunny,  maybe with a few flurries

But get ready for it..... another 10 to 15 cm of snow on Friday! Yay, just what we needed, is more snow! At least the weather is cooperating for Brenda and Bernie to fly out to Toronto this evening. It looks like it might be a bit messy on Saturday as well, but should be fine for their flight back on Sunday. A big congratulations to Meghan(1) who is getting her CA designation!  All the hard work has finally paid off.
(Don't forget to take pictures, guys)

Yesterday morning was still a bit blustery but nothing like the morning before, so once Frank came over and blew out the snow, the girls were able to be on their way. They were in town for the morning and afternoon draw yesterday and today they will be there for the afternoon and evening. So tonight it will be Cooper and I on our own.

It looks like Friday, Saturday and Sunday will be non stop curling for them. I will join them on Sunday for the evening after I pick Brenda and Bernie up at the airport as they have tickets for Sunday as well. Monday and Tuesday will be pretty boring for my guests after this weeks non stop activity.

Sunday afternoon I'm going over to Shiela's to watch how she puts a warp on her loom. I think I have all the parts I now need. Somehow I screwed up and didn't get the cables I needed for the heddles but I think I have that problem solved. I was able to purchase some cord and some clips to hold the pieces together just like the ones I already have so I just have to put those together. Apparently I asked for the wrong thing when I was in Ontario because I have two new sets of cables for the counterbalance and I didn't need those. Oh well, they weren't expensive and now I have extras should I ever need them. It would cost more in postage to return these and have the others sent. Good thing I'm creative and can figure these things out (well, most of the time).

I just received an email from Patti. They were hoping to come up for a few days at March Break but it's just too busy. It seems James has qualified for the Provincial Speedskating Championships in London the first weekend in March. Then the first weekend in April Meghan skates in a meet in Ottawa. Busy times! Good luck everybody!!

Well, not much else is new this morning so I think I will be off and have my bath, and get ready for work. These days with the ladies here to let the dog out before they leave, I can leave a bit early and have a coffee at Timothy's and read the paper before I head to work.

Whovever is praying for snow, please stop!

Conditions at 5:00: -5' and light flurries
Expected later:-6' and up to 5 cm of snow between now and tomorrow morning

Okay, 5 cm of snow doesn't sound like that much, but when all the snow from the Hillsborough River over blows into your driveway, it's a big deal! Last night I got home and the drifts across the bottom half of the drive were thigh high.  We went out for supper and by the time we got home, they were pretty much almost waist deep. We thought we might lose Pat in one of the drifts and she thought she was swimming in snow!

Brenda emailed me in the afternoon and invited us all over for supper. We had an absolutely great time and a most enjoyable dinner and for at least the 5th time, members of my group were heard to say "What a great couple". So thank you Brenda and Bernie for helping make my guests feel welcome here on the island. They've  truly enjoyed being the time they've spent with you guys and I know they will have fond memories of their visit thanks to you. No thanks however, to the weather. One of the things they discovered when they were here was something called Half Hour Pudding. They enjoyed this desert at the casino restaurant and were delighted to learn that it was something that Brenda's mom used to make and she still has the recipe. I'll get it from her when she gets back because it has loads of raisins in it and I know it's something Lloyd will really like. Brenda made a variation of it last night with rhubarb instead of raisins and it was absolutely delicious.

Yesterday morning the schools were all canceled. The conditions in town were not so bad, but the blowing and drifting snow to get there was terrible. On my way to work, there were many areas with white out conditions and slick roads. I called the girls when I got to work and suggested they might be better to stay home and watch the afternoon draw on TV. So that is what they did.  Once we went outside to go to Brenda's and they saw how much snow there was, they could fully understand the situation.  Frank had blown out the drive in the morning but the high winds all day just blew it totally back in.

We got home from the VanGaals around 9:30 and there was no way of getting the car in off the road, so I backed it into Frank and Laurie's driveway. There were no lights on and I assumed they had gone to bed, as they usually turn in quite early. I was hopeful they were not just out for the evening and I had blocked their way in. But I called and left a message that I was leaving it there and since I didn't hear back from anyone, I'm assuming it was alright.

Now this morning, the weather network is saying 25 km/hr winds but it certainly sounds like more than that. I can't begin to imagine how much snow is now down there. It's been quite the winter.

Heather and Kim stopped by my work yesterday and dropped off the spinning wheel and the monitor that Lloyd sent down. I did carry the box with the monitor in it, up through the snow, but everything else is still in the car.  Kim tells me there is a small leg missing off the spinning wheel that he says was there when it left the shop, so requests that Lloyd have a look in his van and see it it is there, as it may have fallen off when we brought it home from Kitchener.

I received several messages from Patti yesterday. It seems that Meghan is learning about food from China at school so the two of them were making Chinese dumplings from scratch. After several queries, and a trip to the Asian store, they are happy to report that the dumpling were a delicious success and Meghan's classmates loved them. I wish I had been there - Chinese  dumplings are one of my most favorite foods.

Well, better get myself together and head out and see what conditions are like this morning and what I have to do to get on the road again. I really can't wait till I can retire and not have to go out in this everyday.  The girls will certainly remember the weather, if not the curling, from THIS trip!