Rain, rain please come to play

The weather forecast keeps promising rain but except for a few drops we've had none here in the city. It's worse still further north in the province where forest fires are ravaging the woodlands and communities.

Currently there are 27 wildfires burning, up from 20 earlier in the week and six of which are considered not contained. At least 33 communities having been evacuated thus far, and the fires have burned over 900,000 hectares, almost 2,300,000 acres. There are crews battling the fires on the ground with and in the air, but the weather is not cooperating and high winds are causing havoc. Early this week, one group of 8 firefighters were briefly pinned down until the air cleared enough for a helicopter to land to bring them out to safely. Thankfully, we have had no deaths in the province, but next door in Manitoba, two people died.

About 15,000 people have been evacuated from their homes. While some have found refuge with family and friends, hotels in the cities are also being used to house others. Approximately 9,000 have registered with the provincial agency. An estimated 400 structures (housing as well as commercial) have been destroyed. There will be people left homeless by these fires and livelihoods ended. 

One of the communities affected is La Ronge, with the Pisew fire having reached the town on Tuesday. At least two structures were lost including a Rona and the Robertson Trading Post. The latter has been a fixture in the community for nearly 60 years operating as a grocery store and a fur trading depot. Sadly, many Indigenous art and historical artifacts collected by the Robertson family were lost in the fire - these can never be replaced. 

In my late teen's, early 20's I lived in a community north of La Ronge. It was my first job out of high school working as a bookkeeper and dispatcher for a charter air service. La Ronge was were I went to purchase groceries, do my banking, and spend time with friends at the theater or the local bars. I also worked for a brief time at another air charter service located in La Ronge. I have many fond memories of my time in the North.

After I left the area, my younger brother was posted there as a conservation officer. He met his wife there too, and bought his first home. They still have friends who live in or near the community. When the evacuation order was made, they offered their home to anyone who needed a place to stay. But, as it's a distance everyone they know has found alternative arrangements and are safe.

On Thursday morning, my brother R called to let me know he was on his way to La Ronge. He has volunteered to work at the fire base of operations there, and has told he'll be assigned to the airport (or at least what is left of it). He will be working with another fellow to assist the helicopters and larger aircraft as they move in and out of town in their efforts to contain the fire. 

He picked up a friend in Prince Albert, as Sid has a home just south of La Ronge. With a load of gasoline in the back the two travelled north. R had received permission to travel to La Ronge, but they did have to stop at RCMP roadblocks along the way. As of this writing, I haven't heard from him but expect he is being kept very busy. He told me, too, that several of the conservation officers he worked with, all retired, have also volunteered, so it ought to be a bit of reunion for them too. While I'm sure they'll be happy to meet up again, I'm also certain they'd rather it be for a much happier reason.

I should note that our province is not the only area where wildfires are raging. Manitoba and Alberta are both experiencing wildfires as well. While the fires are usually the result of human interaction such as a campfire not fully extinguished or a spark from an ATV for example, the extent of the fires is a clear result of climate change. These areas have had less rain and less snow over a number of years, and much of the moisture of the snow pack is lost to evaporation rather than soaking into the ground. As a result the trees woke and rehydrated they took what moisture was available. With everything dry and high winds, coupled with human error or a lightening strike these fires are the result. 

Simply said, we need rain and lots of it. The forecast for many areas in the north suggest there may be a bit of rain this weekend. I hope, for once, the forecast is correct.

I anticipate I'll be back to my regular post next week - this week the situation in the northern part of our province has been on a mind a great deal.

Hot, hot, hot!

 After my busy week last week, this one has been quite a contrast - I've got lethargy down to a science.  The heat dome that was over British Columbia and Alberta has made it's way east to us and the temperature just kept on rising. Since Tuesday we've been under the heat warning (though I figured it could have been announced as early as Monday) and it won't end for a couple of days yet. 

I spent some time outdoors every morning, watering containers, deadheading, and doing a bit of weeding.  Monday I went out for a walk, but didn't take my camera so there is no photo evidence.  Honestly there wasn't much to see that day.  Oh, I did talk to a passer-by who mentioned a baby crow that was under a tree with an adult crow keeping watch. I didn't see it myself so I was not certain it was the same one I saw last week.  My hope was it was close to being able to fly on its own.  

Since the weather was cooler in the morning, most days I took my tea and laptop out to patio to read blogs and e-mails.  Since there is no grass in the front yard the mosquitos aren't nearly as bad as they are in the back. 

My son was able to get his second vaccine on Monday afternoon.  He had a bit of a reaction to it, very achy the next day and he had some swelling near the injection site.  This was his week to work from home, so he's been able to rest in between his check-ins.  

It's been a rather uneventful week, with the usual stuff dealt with; groceries, washing the floors upstairs, vacuuming both up and downstairs, laundry and, of course, the ubiquitous cat litter. I did a clear out of the fridge on Monday, since my son doesn't often eat leftovers, and made a list of needed grocery items.  It wasn't too bad, but I do have to remind myself to quit putting away small amounts of leftovers...unless I plan to eat them myself the following day.  There weren't any science experiments underway - yet.

I watered the containers twice a day, once in the morning and then again in the evening.  The tomatoes especially seem to soak up the water in this heat.  I was excited to find that I have five wee tomatoes on the one plant!  The peas are flowering too and pods are beginning to develop.  Sadly, my radishes bolted and went to seed.  But I have been able to get lettuce for several salads.  I started another container of lettuce last week and I should be able to use it next week.  I did catch a bunny on the deck one evening, but it didn't appear to have done any damage to the plants - yet.

I headed out early Friday morning to walk though didn't have my camera with me that day either.  You'll have to take my word for it, the ducklings are starting to grow up, and the goslings are beginning to rival their parents in size.  There were lots of gophers too, either they've become accustomed to me walking on the dirt path or I've become more adept at spotting them.  Sadly, I did find the body of the baby crow in the park on my way home.  It didn't appear to have been killed by a predator, rather I expect it died of hunger and/or thirst.  On a happier note, I did get one cell phone photo of the pelican on the pond.  It was feeding on something in the pond.

As I walked through the park on my way home, I spotted a pair of Hungarian partridges in the grass and with them, two wee babies - no more than 2 inches high.  I wished I'd had my camera with me then.  

I spent an inordinate amount of time this week deadheading. All of my flowers are blooming like crazy but the heat is causing them to wilt and dry up quickly too. 

This is a bellflower (which variety I'm not sure).  I had transplanted this bit from another part of the flower bed and am thrilled it has taken off.  There will be several blossoms along the stem - they do make a beautiful cut flower as well.  So rather than deadhead these I will cut the stems and bring them inside for a brief period of time.  

Afternoons were spent as I predicted, indoors and avoiding the daytime heat. I got started on the project D has asked me to make - I may share a photo depending on the outcome.  In addition, I finished another book.  This one, Manner of Death by Stephen White started a little slow but soon became a page turner.  I had to make myself set it down so I can get some things done around here! The story is a mystery, several suspicious deaths have occurred over a number of years involving a group of medical staff who worked and trained together in the psychology and psychiatry program for a few months.  Two members remain, and a pair of ex-FBI agents make contact with Dr. Gregory after the funeral of one of these colleagues.  While he is happily married, the other doctor who may be in danger is his first love, and they are thrown together to try to determine who the killer might be.  The story has many twists and turns - for this reader, there was no certainty who the murderer might be until the very end of the book.  But even then not all of the loose ends were tied up, so some things must be left to my imagination.  Even so, I will look for more novels by this author.

As for the heat, the week started about with daytime highs of 30C (86F) and rose steadily until Friday when the high reached 35C (95F). We didn't cool off much overnight either. We're expecting slightly cooler temperatures for the weekend (still in the 30's) and we may have thunderstorms later today. I'll take the rain any way I can get it.

While it has been very hot for us, I can only be grateful we didn't get the heat that parts of British Columbia did.   A small town, Lytton, B.C., reached a high temperature of 49.6C (121.3F) last week. Then on Wednesday, a forest fire tore through the small community and decimated almost the entire town. The fire moved so quickly that most people had only 10-15 minutes to evacuate, and at least two people died in the blaze.

Today I managed to get out to mow the lawn before it got too warm and watered the front flower bed while I enjoyed my breakfast on the patio.  I'm planning to spend the rest of the day indoors, with the cats, who have decided the sun room is too warm even for them.  Hmmm....a cat nap sounds good right about now.

Have a good week everyone!