It was Steve and Dianne's last night with us yesterday and we were having a pretty good time by the fire. Woke up feeling like maybe there was Fireball shots?? We didn't get out of hand but sure glad we aren't doing the walk/run thing this morning. We messaged them and they are getting their rig ready to move so we'll just let them work while we have coffees and breakfast.
At around 11:30 we all got together outside for big hugs and handshakes to say good bye for what may be a long time. Our paths might not cross until winter in Arizona actually. They aren't going far today, just to Kinsmen RV in St. Albert, a nice park right on the edge of St Albert.
Earlier this morning I (Dave) did a Google search for physiotherapists in Stony Plain. I want to confirm what Leslie had found online and make sure my calf injury was nothing worse than a pull/strain. I managed to snag a cancellation at Landmark Physio for 2:20 pm. Perfect. I did a blog post while Leslie cleaned the trailer, injured is good so far! We went to Stony and I got the news I had hoped for, Colleen (the therapist) did a full assessment and said she believed it is a muscle strain and told me some stretches to do and that I should be good in 4-6 weeks. Helping crew Ailsa's race should be a go as long as I don't re-injure. In other words, take it easy for a few days. After the appointment Leslie treated me to a nice lunch at Edo across the parking lot. Thanks Les! On the way home we did a scenic tour to the dock at Seba Beach, beauty day and the water looked so nice.
Don't push!
June 7
Today we had a couple easy things to do, well I do, Leslie is shovelling a pile of gravel over the fabric we put down between our trailer and the neighbours site. She planted some shrubs before so now she can put gravel over the cloth.
Shrubs planted, very nice
Gravel pile moved and cloth covered, nice
I weed whipped and while Leslie was shovelling gravel she also took some laundry over to the laundromat onsite. Multi-tasker! We don't take it real easy for long I guess. We went back inside and started packing our stuff to head back to Bonnyville this afternoon. First we want to go over to RV Pub & Grill on the highway to Seba. The food is great and they have a nice patio, a great spot for lunch today. It's a true Mom and Pop shop because the folks that run it are serving and cooking. Really good food, check it out if you're in the area. Oh and they have a driving range and campground too!
Nice patio and a Corona!
Such a nice day we put the top down on the Mustang
We headed back to the rig and packed everything into the 2 vehicles, made sure the trailer was secure for a few days and got on the road to Bonnyville. More grass to cut and yardwork! On the way home it was impossible not to see the devastation caused by the tent caterpillars in this area. Absolutely unbelievable!! The province really needs to start spraying for these things. This is year 5. I should have stopped for the picture but didn't. Shows some of the trees completely stripped of leaves.
There are 100's of acres of trees like this, unreal to see.
June 8
We've been gone for over a week and the lawn is tall. Lots of rain and lots of sun now and it's growing great. After a good breakfast we both headed out to mow and weed whip. Les doesn't like being on the slopes on the tractor so I usually do the edges and then we trade and she mows the flatter areas with the tractor while I walk around with the weed whipper. If we work together we are usually done in about 6 hours! Somebody please buy our acreage!
We got everything done and had a break and noticed a few clouds building to the west. Hmm looks like a good ol' Alberta thunder storm. Where's Dianne? This is what she is waiting for.
Dumping lots of rain
After it passed, getting it at Paul's house
We're done for today outside so make some supper and chill out in the basement sounds like a good plan. My leg is getting better but I can feel it after all the yard work.
June 9
Leslie is working in her flower beds this morning, they look nice when everything blooms for sure. All perennials so we hope it is a extra thing for buyers to consider. I did some cleanup around the yard and when Leslie was ready we went over to Howard's place to pick up our walk behind rototiller. The trees in our little tree farm are big enough now that I can't go down the rows with the Kubota anymore. Paul wants to borrow it too after we're done. It worked good of course but my calf got a good shot while hanging onto the tiller. Enough work for today! We need to get ready for a party this afternoon for Warren & Corrine. It's their 50th birthdays and their 30th anniversary all in one!! Should be a great time.
We headed over to their place around 4:30. They own a quarter section about 5 km's from our house so it was a quick drive. We greeted a bunch of people with hugs and handshakes as there are a bunch of folks we haven't seen since last year. Warren had 2 big tent shelters set up in case of rain and one of them had the food set out while the other had tables and chairs, nice set up. We opened a beer and were enjoying visiting when everyone started commenting on the sky and the clouds. There was a lot of movement in the clouds. Both east to west and north to south, there was a tornado warning for our area and one had touched down about 60 km's away already. We all kept an eye on the sky now.
Getting dark and moving fast
Watching and waiting to see if we have to move
Well it got worse, way worse. Both tents had to come down and everyone scrambled to get food inside the trailers and get their awnings down also. The white tent got hit hardest. We got the tarp off the blue one in a hurry but the poles on the white tent were all bent and the tarp ripped in places before we got that one down. It's in the trash now unfortunately. Leslie and I went over to our truck and we had to move it because the poplar trees behind us were bending and cracking threatening to fall on the truck. That's when I heard the fellow parked beside us say "we have rotation right above us!" It's a real tornado!! In Bonnyville! Well instead of moving the truck we decided to drive home fast. Margaret is home by herself and the cat is in the garage, weird thoughts maybe but we wanted to get home fast. I wanted my truck in the garage out of the hail that had started coming down. It was a crazy unreal drive! Couldn't hardly hear what Leslie was saying in the truck between the rain and hail, the wind was pushing us around and I was going as fast as I could to get in the garage. Exciting but scary at the same time.
Hardest rain we've ever seen
Holy crap!!!
When we did get home the power was out so the garage door wouldn't lift. I pushed it up manually and Les drove the truck inside, we were soaked and getting hit by hail, not cool. Smoky was freaking out in the garage and ran in the house the second the door opened. He went under our bed and stayed there. Margaret was REALLY happy to see us and we all just stood there and watched the storm happen. Thankfully it was not a major tornado but there was plenty of damage between Bonnyville and Cold lake (about 50 kms north)
Hail piling on the deck
It was over in about a half hour after we got home. Luckily no damage at our house but we have some branches and debris to clean up, too easy. Lots of rain fell in a very short time and hail is piled by the front door, that's never happened before. Our front porch is 8 feet deep, hail was flying sideways to get to the door.
All the way in under the porch overhang
Plants took a beating
We don't know when the power will come back on and everything is settled down in our area so we messaged Paul & Di to see what was going on at the party. Everyone had gathered at Warren's parent's house to have dinner there. So nice of them to have everyone over to their house. They have a nice large kitchen/dining room and a sun room that seats many people. Good food and great people, we're awfully lucky really.
We ate way too much but it was so good. I couldn't decide on the carrot cake or the chocolate cake so of course I had both, absolutely stuffed. Leslie had more willpower and had only chocolate cake. She's so strong lol!
Everyone slowly moved back to the original party spot for a fire and some adult beverages but Leslie and I decided to call it a night. We drove to the fire area but there were huge puddles from all the rain and the mosquitos were feasting on us. We said our good byes and drove back home for a quiet night with no power. It was quite a day with all the storm stuff and we're tired so we called it a night and went to bed. Hopefully that's it for bad weather for a bit.
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