storm! storm! storm!
If you live in Southern Alberta, I'm sure you already know about the wild storm that went through on Wednesday and Thursday of this week. Here at Evergreen, I'm pretty sure we got more snow in those 24 hours than we'd had all winter. We also went without power or water for 24 hours, almost to the minute. It was a big adventure (we're still in recovery mode).
In some ways, the storm was not ideal. The worst part is that we were supposed to have two groups in this weekend and we've had to change those bookings. I feel awful about it, even though there's nothing we can do. Even today, with the sun shining and the snow melting, the 3 km of gravel road that lead into the camp are pretty much impassable without a 4-wheel drive and a lot of our activity sites are swamped under the heavy, wet snow. We're so sorry, groups!
The other big challenge, due to the power outage, was that our phone lines didn't work and we couldn't do much for office work. We send apologies to those affected by that!
There were silver linings to the storm ... first of all, it was so dry out here! There have been quite a few fires in our area lately, which isn't good at all. And now, instead of a too-low creek, we're thinking some flooding is a possibility.
Secondly, it was GORGEOUS!
Thirdly ... well, we had a lot of fun. There's something about heaps of snow and no power and the need to accomplish things via unconventional means that brings people together. On Wednesday night, we started reading Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring aloud. Once we'd accomplished all we could on Thursday, we bundled up under stacks of blankets in my house and read more. We finished five chapters, which is quite a bit of reading. And it was super fun! When the power finally returned last night, we lit candles and pretended we were still a little colder than was comfortable and continued to read. There were also shared meals and snowball fights.
As part of the fun, we had the most fun ever choring -- usually, Jon uses the tractor or the 1T. The tractor is in the shop (sigh) and the 1T got stuck on Wednesday afternoon, so we knew it wasn't going to make it to the barn, let alone around the field to deliver hay! So, Jon hooked up Duke and Diamond and we used the sleigh to feed the horses.
Enough with the verbage, though ... see the pictures!
Left: That's just how it looked. We didn't do any piling of snow to make it more impressive. Good thing we didn't have to drive anywhere!
Right: A tree fell perfectly along a skinny path between other trees, to connect with Courtney's car. Fortunately, the damage is superficial.
Left: Koda passes another fallen tree. Praise God that none of the fallen trees connected with buildings or people! The cracking was kind of freaky, though.
Right: Dave works to clear some of the snow.
Alexis and Emily shovel the heavy snow. (One does it with more drama than the other.) We dug out one cabin, since the cabins have gas heaters and we anticipated a need to warm up and/or dry off that our homes would not be able to fulfill.
Perhaps I've said this before, but I think that when the snow coats everything the way it did this week, it's magical: it's the glory of God revealed in the beauty of his creation! (And it looks a little like Narnia.)
Left: Getting the team ready to go.
Right: Digging out the hay.
Left: Yes, that's me! I got to hold the line on Duke & Diamond while we loaded up the hay. I even got to stop them when they started to walk at one point. It was pretty much the highlight of my life. (You should know that I didn't hold the line when there were other people on the sleigh.)
Right: Loading up.
Left: And, unloading.
Right: Cam jumps to catch up.
Left: Jon leads the way.
Right: The herd is happy.
In some ways, the storm was not ideal. The worst part is that we were supposed to have two groups in this weekend and we've had to change those bookings. I feel awful about it, even though there's nothing we can do. Even today, with the sun shining and the snow melting, the 3 km of gravel road that lead into the camp are pretty much impassable without a 4-wheel drive and a lot of our activity sites are swamped under the heavy, wet snow. We're so sorry, groups!
The other big challenge, due to the power outage, was that our phone lines didn't work and we couldn't do much for office work. We send apologies to those affected by that!
There were silver linings to the storm ... first of all, it was so dry out here! There have been quite a few fires in our area lately, which isn't good at all. And now, instead of a too-low creek, we're thinking some flooding is a possibility.
Secondly, it was GORGEOUS!
Thirdly ... well, we had a lot of fun. There's something about heaps of snow and no power and the need to accomplish things via unconventional means that brings people together. On Wednesday night, we started reading Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring aloud. Once we'd accomplished all we could on Thursday, we bundled up under stacks of blankets in my house and read more. We finished five chapters, which is quite a bit of reading. And it was super fun! When the power finally returned last night, we lit candles and pretended we were still a little colder than was comfortable and continued to read. There were also shared meals and snowball fights.
As part of the fun, we had the most fun ever choring -- usually, Jon uses the tractor or the 1T. The tractor is in the shop (sigh) and the 1T got stuck on Wednesday afternoon, so we knew it wasn't going to make it to the barn, let alone around the field to deliver hay! So, Jon hooked up Duke and Diamond and we used the sleigh to feed the horses.
Enough with the verbage, though ... see the pictures!
Left: The view from Kerry's kitchen window when she woke up on Thurday morning.
Right: No one will be entering the Nurse's Station any time soon ...
Right: No one will be entering the Nurse's Station any time soon ...
Left: That's just how it looked. We didn't do any piling of snow to make it more impressive. Good thing we didn't have to drive anywhere!
Right: A tree fell perfectly along a skinny path between other trees, to connect with Courtney's car. Fortunately, the damage is superficial.
Left: Koda passes another fallen tree. Praise God that none of the fallen trees connected with buildings or people! The cracking was kind of freaky, though.
Right: Dave works to clear some of the snow.
Alexis and Emily shovel the heavy snow. (One does it with more drama than the other.) We dug out one cabin, since the cabins have gas heaters and we anticipated a need to warm up and/or dry off that our homes would not be able to fulfill.
Perhaps I've said this before, but I think that when the snow coats everything the way it did this week, it's magical: it's the glory of God revealed in the beauty of his creation! (And it looks a little like Narnia.)
Left: Getting the team ready to go.
Right: Digging out the hay.
Left: Yes, that's me! I got to hold the line on Duke & Diamond while we loaded up the hay. I even got to stop them when they started to walk at one point. It was pretty much the highlight of my life. (You should know that I didn't hold the line when there were other people on the sleigh.)
Right: Loading up.
Left: And, unloading.
Right: Cam jumps to catch up.
Left: Jon leads the way.
Right: The herd is happy.
Hitching a ride back the lodge.
And, SNOWBALL FIGHT! (Or, maybe just snow fight, because Courtney has totally smothered Emily on the left.)
And, last but not least, some the aftermath. There are trees down all over the place and we're going have a lot of clean up to do when it dries out a bit.
And, last but not least, some the aftermath. There are trees down all over the place and we're going have a lot of clean up to do when it dries out a bit.
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