Grass Fires

As I'm sure you've heard, Southern Alberta was ablaze this weekend with several grass fires all around Lethbridge.  The largest was burning to the South of Raymond.  While no one was in real danger, there were some worried folks around as information was slow to filter its way to people.   At times, roads were shut down and people were evacuated.

While not at risk, I did take a drive out to our property to make sure the wind hadn't damaged it and that it was save from the fires.  While the fires were several miles to the South-East, I did have a good view from my deck and took a few pictures.

It looked pretty intense and didn't get a real take on it until I came across this video on youtube.

It's amazing how fast the wind can move fire and it's kinda scary how fast Mother Nature can throw down the hurt.

This is a good one from the Herald.

I decided to drive up to the Ridge the next day to have a look myself at the damage and took these shots.

Nice to know people were safe and damage was kept to a minimal.

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Tofino Surfing Video

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Boys in Tofino

With the blessings of Dora I hopped on a plane and headed West to hang with my buds.  We have planned a few days of surfing; on kayaks and surf boards.  With little actual practice this year I was a bit worried about how things would work out on the water.  Oh well, no point worrying till the wave hit you!

I arrived the day before so we headed to meet big T in Nanaimo.  With a phone call from big T about missing his ferry due to city buses, we had time to kill.  We did a quick drive through the countryside and found a pub that looked liked it belonged in the English countryside, the Crow & Gate Pub.

After some good food and beverage we were on route to pick up T.  It was a lengthy drive through the dark and quite the windy road.  With the help of 3 smart-phones we found our cabin and checked in for the night.

We started the day in a leisurely fashion as the waves were better around noon.  A good breakfast and a quick packing had us ready to go surf at Cox Bay.

 It was a dreary day, with rain coming and clouds everywhere.  Everyone has full wetsuits or drytops for this kind of weather.  After a short walk we were on the beach.

The surfing was difficult but fun and we worked it for a couple of hours before we ran out of steam.  As well, it seamed that the wave period was decreasing, making it difficult to get back up to catch more waves.  I didn't take much for pictures on the waves but I did take some video.  I'll post some of that when I get a chance.

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Roof over our Heads

It's getting close.  This week the builders have been hard at it putting a roof on our house.  The trusses seem to be in place for the most part and I'm hoping that they start to sheet it this week.  Since I have no real concept on how long this process should take, I could be completely off base.  Regardless, it's nice to see the last piece of the puzzle coming into shape.

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House update

Well the house is coming along and the walls are up.  We're hoping that the roof will make it's appearance in the next week as the weather has taken a turn for the worse.  I got a shipment of snowshoes for the school and I might be using them sooner than expected!

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Kids Coffee

Evan loves to help out when it's coffee time.  So to make it more enjoyable, he gets a coffee too!  It's of course hot chocolate, but it's his coffee as far as he's concerned.

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Halloween

So first of all, I sucked this year for costumes.  The sad thing is I bought a couple of things at value village, but I didn't try them on first.  Apparently Dora thought they were too tight for school.  Personally, I would have ruled the school!

Anyways, with my inappropriate costumes out of the way, lets get to the great costumes, the boys.

The boys were great in their costumes and Logan this year took the lead.... literally, running ahead of everyone just to come back, way too excited, to explain what treats were up ahead.  Evan figured it out pretty quickly and mastered the all important "Trick or Treat"

It was a quick 20 minutes as we go to Trunk or Treat, an alternative where everyone just parks in a parking lot and the kids go around to the cars.  It works great for the little kids as they get a sweet haul in a very short time.
It was especially good this year with the weather being OK, just not great.

All in all, it was a great time with some sweet treats!  Literally!

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