All that hype for nothing

The weather forecasters should be embarrassed, at least at this time. OK, we live 460 feet from the shore of Lake Erie and the lake has a different influence in our weather, but where are the 2 feet/50 cm of predicted snowfall?  Some newscasters called it the mother of all snowstorms!  It was going to be bad and in my mind I ran through all of my food storage. Should I quickly make a run to the supermarket and clean out the canned food shelf?  We had planned to drive up to our son and daughter-in-law's house in Waterdown by Burlington on Wednesday to pick up our forwarded mail, a 580KM/362 miles trip, but had changed our mind quickly because of the predicted snowstorm and instead made the run ahead of time on Sunday and back the same day. Benno was in panic to gas up our snow blower and get it ready for the storm because we had it put away in my shed and covered up before we had left for Florida.  He didn’t need to worry. First of all it started up fine and secondly, it’s still waiting to be put into action as of this time. Ha!

Yep, that is all the snow we got!

The snow blower is waiting to be put into use

One neighbour had his big snow plough on standby

The other neighbour dragged his snowmobile out, just in case!

At least the dogs had fun

So this forecast turned out to be a bummer and no excitement event. The record snowfall blew by, missed us, no mother… and no 2ft./50 centimeter!!! However, last Wednesday we had strong winds with forecasts of 100km/60miles gusts and that time the forecasters were right on. It was windy all right. Everything that wasn’t tied down sailed through the air. Our street is a cul-de-sac ending at a cornfield. Last fall, after harvest, it was not ploughed and the loose corn stover (the residue left on the field) took off in the wind and came to rest in our chain link fence. I took a picture during the day but should have waited until the next morning when the fence was totally covered with the debris. 

That fence was totally covered the next morning

We had been warned that in such strong winds power outages could occur and that is what happened.  In the afternoon we had some shopping to do in Windsor. On the drive home in the evening we noticed that most houses were in the dark but hoped that our area would be spared.  My hopes were dashed when I didn’t see any streetlights lit the closer we got to our home.  So out came the 2000W Honda Generator from our camper’s basement the minute we arrived back home.  We are so glad to have it.  Since we bought this little gen set three years ago we have used it here at the house more than when we are traveling with our camper.  Living in a rural area there are more chances for the power to go out than in the city.  This little Honda generator is not big enough to cover all of our power needs, but it feeds the refrigerator and freezer, we have some lights, the blower motor of the natural gas furnace that heats the house stays on, and the wifi is operational. Not bad, right!

For cooking I can just pop into the camper and use the propane stove/oven if the power stays off for any lengths of time and our TV needs are covered, too.

The generator is ready to use anytime

Since coming back home I have been busying myself with house chores, trips into town for various shopping needs and even some cleanup in the garden.  But Benno had disappeared into the garage not to be seen for days with a big smile on his face.  The reason for it is that new toy he acquired in Florida.  So, if you didn’t read the comments, the secret is out that after so many years of fulltime cruising in our boat, followed by building this house, he finally bought himself a metal lathe (not to turn wood) again. Most of his life he owned a well equipped commercial shop where he enjoyed creating electronic and mechanical things, especially for our sailboat and motor vessel in addition to his business of repairing and modifying printing and bookbinding machinery equipment.  Although I know Benno will be happily occupied for a while, it’s not the end of the song and soon here might be more men toys joining this one to keep him out of my hair when I’m in the garden.

This was back in Florida

I couldn't post this pic before or it would have been obvious that it's a lathe