Another sunrise

over Pouch Cove....hope you all don't mind...but I never get sick of the gorgeous sunrises. I only wish I had a half decent camera to take pics of the moon and how it shines on the ocean.....in.describ.able. For now....sunrises will have to do.

Taken from our deck this morning.....(click pics to enlarge)

15!

It's difficult for me to believe....but Brittney turned 15 last weekend. We had a family birthday...out for lunch, bowling and home for presents and cake.

Pouch Cove.....First to see the Sun!

We are the most easterly place in North America....making us "First To See The Sun" (our town's motto)

Click to enlarge pic....See the sun just starting to peak?


As the sun is taking longer and longer to rise these days, we are usually up for quite awhile before he (she?) makes his/her daily appearance (although some here would point out....it's been weeks since we've actually seen it shining brightly in the sky lol).

On Saturday morning, we were in luck! We were up at our usual time and just happened to see it as it started to peak over the horizon.

Storm on the Avalon

Wow....we had a doozy of a storm on Wednesday! The worst one by far, since moving here. Reports indicated 60 + mms of rain and winds of over 100 km/h with gusts up to 140 km/h ..... and judging by the looks of the ocean (huge, ugly-looking waves), the swaying trees and the creaking sounds the house was making....I'd say it was at least that much.

It was like that all day long...but for some reason it sounds worse at night after dark. I laid awake in bed listening to the howling wind and the creaking house as I tried to identify exactly what was creaking. Sometimes, it seemed like the windows and other times it seemed like the roof.

The weather network guy said it would subside around midnight....but...I think it went on much longer. I did not sleep too much....hoping the wind would just die down.

Morning finally arrived. As with a lot of storms, the day after was beautiful....not a cloud in the sky...the sun was shining brightly and the sky a beautiful shade of blue. Hard to believe we'd just been through a storm.

I ventured out to check the house. I don't like doing this...nervous of what I may find. All was good though...the house and all of it's parts were still in tact. Strong house we live in. A friend of mine who lives not too far said houses in her area did not fare as well.....shingles and siding off. One person even mentioned there were trampolines in trees....oh my.

Amazingly though....we did not lose power. Areas of St. John's were out for a couple of hours. We did not have any snow either (well maybe a few very wet flakes...but no whitening of the ground)....some parts of NL had 15 cms (and they're welcome to keep it!)

We knew this storm was coming and tried to be prepared. One major concern was our winter's wood supply. There were 7 pickup truck loads (that seems to be how it is measured here) that had been stacked outside all summer, drying quite nicely. Surely all that forecasted rain would not be good for it.

Even though the day before was forecasted to be good weather, Larry wouldn't be able to stack it should he have to work.

What to do?

I was more than a little surprised when Tyler volunteered....see....he hates anything to do with the wood stove (It's his job throughout the winter season to bring in loads of firewood as the wood box gets empty.) He's mentioned, more than once....he will never ever have a wood stove when he gets his own place (although that may change when he sees the difference in cost between wood and all other methods of heat ;))

As it turned out, Larry did not get a call to work, so the two of them started at 7:30 in the morning and worked right through until Tyler had to leave for piano lessons at 12:30. Larry continued on until he had to leave for tutoring. When Tyler returned from piano...he went right back to the woodpile and worked away until 8:30....well after dark. He brought it all in...except for 7 wheelbarrow loads...which Larry finished early Wednesday morning before the storm started. Woohoo!

Kind of a double bonus.....all the winter's wood is in *and* we weathered the storm.

Another one is forecasted for tomorrow though....at least we'll be warm.

Happy Thanksgiving!

It is the Canadian Thanksgiving this weekend. I am not sure of our plans as of yet, but we will either have a turkey dinner here, or perhaps go out for lunch after church on Sunday. We tried to buy a turkey today....but the smallest they had was 30 lbs....quite a bit for 5 people.

I have a lot of difficulty with all of the major holidays....they are a huge family time but our extended families have always had other plans....which leaves us on our own. I find it difficult to get through the day, while all of our friends around us are getting together with their families. It really magnifies the fact we are not. I feel bad for my children too as they will not have the memories of family holidays. When I think back to my childhood Christmases....they were the best....getting together with family, hanging out and just spending the day together. We've spent quite a few years alone now and one would think it would get easier....but I'm finding it gets more difficult each year. This is why I am verbalizing this here....in hopes it will help me better deal with it. Through my homeopath and a friend who is training to become a homeopath....I am learning emotions and feelings *are* very important....they cannot be dismissed and discarded. They must be dealt with and those that are suppressed.....in the end do us a lot more harm than good. We should not feel bad or guilty about the way we feel. It's what makes us....us. Just because it would not bother someone else, does not mean we should deny it bothers us. We are all different and we really are the sum of everything that happens to us.

Sorry if this sounds like a downer post...I didn't mean for it to be that way. I really wanted to wish all those who are celebrating Thanksgiving this weekend, A Happy Thanksgiving!

Part two of our day

We all enjoyed the first part of our day. After we left the CBC studios, we headed off for some lunch and a bit of shopping before my Dr.'s appt. We had planned our day well, everything was spaced nicely so we wouldn't be too rushed.

Usually, when the kids and I head out (which isn't that often) we take the van. Today was different though, as Tyler wanted to drive. The fact he has never driven the van and we were going into some heavier traffic areas, we opted to take the car and let Larry take the van to work.

Everything went well, until we got on the road heading for the appt. Just after we went through an intersection, the car started to slow down. I thought Tyler was slowing the vehicle down but when asked, he said the car was stopping. I suggested he pull over as close to the curb as he could get (there were no shoulders...just the sidewalk), which he did....just before the car died completely. As this was only the second time he's been out since getting his licence, I was really proud of the way he handled the situation. He did not panic (gets that from me...wink wink)...and immediately put the hazard lights on.

Things just went down hill from there.

We tried and tried but to no avail...the car was not going to re start. Of course, we are out on a busy four lane road to boot.

Great.

That's ok....we have CAA for such emergencies, I'll just call them. After digging through my wallet to find the number (we hardly ever call), phoning directory assistance at $1.50 plus airtime, calling them and giving her my info, she advised me Larry must be there to sign for the tow truck. (Grrrr...we're entitled to 5 calls per year.....we're lucky if we put in one per year....and now she is telling me I will have to pay outright for a tow truck unless Larry is there to sign.)

Meanwhile....we are *still* sitting in the middle of busy traffic, blocking a lane.

What to do. I did not have enough cash to pay for a tow truck ('cuz...we have CAA....and that's what it's for....right?)

It's almost 1:00, Larry is working until 2:30, we're *still* blocking traffic with a dead car (my fear was another car would not see us/get stopped in time and smash into the back of us), I have a Dr.'s appt at 1:00, Jake is in the back upset and crying.....sooo...I had no choice but to call Larry, get him out of class and eventually out of school. Thankfully, they let him leave (now they will need a substitute for the substitute). Had we been sitting on a side street or a parking lot....we would have just waited until his classes were done for the day....but being in the middle of a busy road....I felt we had no choice.

I was surprised at how quickly Larry was able to get there, but very glad to see him. He called CAA and they dispatched a tow truck. We waited for what seemed liked forever and after about 30 minutes....he called back again to see where said tow truck was....after all.....we're *still* blocking traffic.

Her response? "Well....you're in Newfoundland.....waiting time is one hour there." Ummmm....excuse me???? You're in Newfoundland???? I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean (well .... actually, I do know....grrr...she was located in some other area of Canada...has no idea what it's like here...yet talks away as if she does.....probably thought the tow truck driver would need that much time to get through those year-round 15 feet deep snow banks we have ...lol)

Within five minutes though the tow truck arrived, hitched us up and towed the car to the service centre.

It ended up being the fuel pump and the battery...both needed to be replaced. It turned into a rather costly day for us, but at least we were not hurt. A couple of positive things though about this.....I am thankful it was a beautiful day (rain and or fog would have made it worse). Also, because the car died on the other side of the intersection, meant others had to either slow down or stop for the lights. They were not up to speed by the time they got up to us, which aided us in not being hit from behind.

I did feel bad about pulling Larry out of school. The vice principal of that school called Larry the other night...she wanted to book him for another day. Before she asked about that though, she asked him how we all made out and if we were all ok. After Larry made arrangements with her, I asked to speak to her. I also apologized for calling...to which she told me not to give it a second thought...she totally understood and would have done the same thing. She went on to say... she knew we had no family or anyone else here to call and was just glad we were all ok....our safety was her first priority. How nice was that?

CBC tour

Our homeschooling group toured the local CBC station today. It was awesome! We all learned a lot and saw so many neat things. One of the highlights was being in the studio and meeting some of the tv personalities (ok...that was two...but there were a lot and it's difficult to narrow it down to just one.)

Here are some pics of our tour. Click on them to enlarge:

We were in the Here and Now production studio Our tour guide was on air tv personality Jonathan Crowe . He was a great tour guide and very patient with us...sometimes explaining the same thing three times (there were so many of us....we all didn't fit into a room at the same time...so he did it in groups)




Here is the weatherman... Ryan Snoddon...who graciously agreed to pose for a picture with Tyler, Brittney and Jake. He was a great guide too...answering all of our questions. One interesting note, he comes from the same area of Ontario where we are from.....small world or what?




Tyler and Brittney on the Here and Now set.



Here, Ryan Snodden is explaining the technology to us. This green wall is all he has to work with and the camera imposes the weather map onto the monitors at the side(well...it's something like that.....it was too technological for me....but it was really cool!)





Here's where it got even cooler....they brought out some green capes and if the kids held the green capes over them...the camera would impose the weather map onto the green part. Because Jake was wearing a green shirt......the camera imposed the map over his body...so it looks as if only his head is on the map. (If you look closely you'll see his arm holding his yellow jacket). How cool is that?



More of the same....click on the pic...Can you see Jake?



And again..





Tyler is in the middle at the back. Brittney at the far right. They were standing against the green wall, but this is the picture on the monitor.




What a great morning...many thanks CBC, Jonathan Crowe, Ryan Snoddon and all the folks at CBC!!.