Vancouver Blackout 2015 My Event.

Happy Monday!

It's only happy because we have power now where out of the 500,000 people without it over this weekend there are still about 60,000 in the dark around the Lower Mainland. So...not so happy for those guys.

Saturday morning was like any other Saturday. In PJ's puttering around the house watching the sun peak in and out. Standing on the back deck chatting and a gust of wind came up so hard that I thought the table umbrella was going to take a Wizard of Oz trip. We were expecting the wind, seeing it all over the weather reports we knew we were in for a windy day.

Boy were we wrong. We underestimated the force of what was coming and although the wind itself didn't last long, the carnage it left in its wake lasted for days...still counting. I figured when the wind kicked up and tried to lift the roof over deck off that we would definitely lose power along with the flickering lights. Before I had left the house Choo had put laundry in and I had said something about that maybe not being a good thing. At some point so those of us in the house decided it was time to hit up our downtown core here in PoCo and get some things to get us through like sandwich stuff and extra candles. For Craig the emergency was the Liquor store.

We figured hey why not if the lights go out we'll have a Blackout party of sorts. So Craig, myself and Bean take of to get 'provisions' and we weren't the only ones who thought that way. We had a plan. Store, dollar store ( candles ) and Samz beer and wine store. The grocery store was buzzing with people on the same track. We grab what we need and head up to the till and we're behind 2 other customers chit chatting with people about the wind. Then everything went dark...everywhere and there was a collective AWWWWW Many of us left our things behind while the poor few that were in the middle of debit transactions were about to lose their minds.

Bean and I were about to head back to the house when Craig was determined to check if the place that held all that would save him that day was open. So away we went telling him there was no way but he needed proof. Walking down the street and seeing everyone pop out there doors on the storefront at the same time all talking to each other about whether to close up or hang in there in case it was a quick fix made me think "This is how natural disaster movies start."

People holding the goods they could get and all the street lights going out on that busy road on a Saturday was not going to be a good thing. After getting to the door of Samz and practically having Craig cry tears of distress, we went home this... was all about noon. Walking back we saw a tree across the street from our house had been ripped completely clear of the ground and hit some lines. Well...shit. We still have a downed phone line hanging from a pole outside.

We got home and let everyone know that we almost made it but we had to think of other means for the evening. Bean and Craig were on that immediately looking for things that were open and a ride to get there as we sat in the windows watching debris tumbleweed across the street. Where Choo was cursing because the washer's lid locked and there it sat in a drum of water until we got the power back. We heard that  Pitt Meadows and Maple Ridge were out as well as Coquitlam and Burnaby and large parts of Vancouver. Everywhere was blacked out. Blondunicorn had a wedding to go to and I have to say that the universe was looking out for the bride and groom. They were supposed to have an outdoor wedding but the rain that had been called for had caused them to change the Venue and wouldn't you know it, it turned out to be the only place in Port Coquitlam ( South side anyway ) that did not lose power.

The kids found out the only place they could go for anything was Port Moody so they headed out to hunt and forage as I was saying to them. It took them 2 hours to get to and back from a city only 2 cities away from us. Sese decided she was going to brave the wind and now rain and head to a friends in New Westminster where they were dark too and what to you know Translink was letting people on for free. It took a little longer because everyone driving had the 4 way stop procedure to adhere to and many of them didn't. At that point it was much safer to j-walk than try to cross at an intersection. Sese called us from the bus stop to say she saw BU drive by her with a branch under her car. OK we giggled at that while sending her a text to warn her that she didn't get until she had parked the car anyway and all was well.

I have to say though that having no power makes absolutely everyone social physically. With no WiFi and trying to conserve battery power we all but tuned out of anything virtual having to talk to each other and play games to pass the time. We would check repeatedly on the BC Hydro website only to find the site um...down for maintenance? Really...of course but the company was Tweeting in lieu anything else. Craig had his Sleemans crisis security blanket and after almost an entire bottle of Jim Beam ( not all by me thank you ) we decided at around 11 pm and with the streets so black not a light in sight we were going to take a walk. BU was back by then and joined in the fun. It wasn't raining but all the cloud cover hid the Full moon and the bevy of stars we might have seen. Can you imagine how many more there would have been without all the light pollution? That would have been cool.

So me, Blondunicorn, Bean, Craig and Handsome Dan hit the streets and all I could think was Night Of The Comet. Well that and screaming Zombie every time a dark figure appeared making me want to hit them with pieces of trees.

All in all though we had a good time! Until the next morning when we still had no power...then as usual the only thing that would have saved us was coffee. How were we going to make coffee? Well Choo was up to bat for that and since he slept through most of the outage, it seemed fitting. Finding a metal kettle and propane, on the BBQ he heated up water for our wake up. As the morning dragged on we all got antsy, needing to do something, anything to kill time until all of the things we blindly depended on came back to us. I got so stir crazy that went to get dressed and go for a walk just to do something. BU hadn't slept much because the Assisted Living condos beside us had their generator running all night and it was not quiet.

As I'm putting my pants on, someone screams from up the street. A loud WOOOOOOOO! traveled along the sound waves and just like that we were back on line as cheers erupted in the house we scared the crap out of BU waking her up and my cell phone had a stroke as all the notifications from various places filed in once it's life was revived.

Even though we regained our power most of our city was still out even a block away at the storefront was still dark until late last night. What it made me realize though was that we are not even close to being prepared for something larger. Not by a long shot. It makes you think though about how to solve that problem and as much as we know what we should have in the case of Earthquakes or Floods we are sadly not prepared enough.

 So now one of my goals is to change that.

OK guys have a great week!

See Ya
S

Let's Just Pretend That Didn't Happen.

Happy Ugh...
Hi Lovelies!

So...how ya doing? I hope your weekend was good.

I tried to do yard work and realized I just need to get rich and hire a gardener or move. We have a blackberry bush from hell in the yard which over the course of 5 years has taken over the skyline because it's MUCH taller than it is wide. Half on my property and half on the neighbours. Wait there is 2 of them one that along with Morning glory ( also from hell ) is choking the Walnut tree that I have never actually seen bare Walnuts. the other one has consumed the decrepit shed out back so that only one door shows and I swear a family of Raccoon's is living in it.

I did clean up the back yard a bit until it got to hot to be out there and I switched my gardening to the indoor variety until it got cooler. That led me into a Walking Dead Marathon of Season 5 before the premier of FEAR the Walking dead. WOOOOOOOO!

As usual it starts out as a typical Zombie flick where the outbreak has already started and we don't know how. With rare exceptions like 28 Days Later when they show you how it starts FEAR followed the same pattern as the not so rare. First half of the show...character introductions and establishing relationships a little long but the episode was an hour and a half long. After that, shit starts to get real. The character I've latched on to right now though is Nick and not because of that awful white chick shirt he was wearing but because I think he did a not so bad job. To me he looks kind of like a young Johnny Depp with a Christian Slater speech pattern. He was the most interesting character for me though. If you haven't seen it you'll see why when you watch it.

I watched and interview with Robert Kirkman saying that the walkers in this show will be like we've never seen them before and there are very noticeable differences in these ones unlike TWD Walkers and I wonder if it's because basically they are the ground zero infected and what happens over time to change the very prominent blue eyed walker?

Watch it and tell me what you think!

OK now it wouldn't be Monday without stupid dumb ass Monday like things so here was my Monday morning so far.

5:45 - Alarm goes off
6:00 - Actually get out of bed
6:02 - Take the dogs out, Chase California out from the front of the house, drag Whiskey back from the neighbours yard, Watch Smokey and the cat pee side by side.
6:10 - Find my clothes from the dryer on my bed and dig through them for god knows what to wear.
6:15 - Watch a video of bears swimming in a pool.
6:20 - Realize I haven't had a coffee yet and instead watch Jon Bon Jovi on Breakfast Television surprise fans with a concert that almost didn't happen. How Nice!
6:25 - Still didn't get my coffee.
6:30 - Face, teeth, Ugh...
6:40 - Kick dogs out of the bedroom, take 30 extra seconds get the little dog out.
6:41 - Oh look my coffee is undressed on the counter. Sugar. Check. Non Dairy Creamer. Check. Travel mug. check.
6:45 - Out the door to the bus stop.
6:55 - Bus late...hmmm.

The bus finally showed up and it was only a few minutes late. I get on and sit in my usual spot, put my feet up on the bar behind the bench of seats across from me, dig my book out and tuck my travel mug between my knees. Turn the page. Sip, after a few more pages I sip again each time putting the mug back between my knees until I feel something warm an wet traveling down my thighs.
Well what do you know...the travel mug is leaking.

Great...

Thank goodness I'm wearing dark grey pants. I change positions of the mug so that it's being braced by my forearm and the wall of the bus with my purse locking it into place it wasn't long until I feel liquid travelling down my arm and I have nothing to clean this up with but I'm confused because I only had half the mug filled when I started. Anyway now I'm sticky in more than one place and am hating this Monday already. So I go to McDonald's and grab a coffee that I can drink and it was free so what's better than that!

The cashier asked me if I wanted it in my travel mug. First thing out of my mouth "Hell No!"

Crap... Sorry lady.

Now the spot has dried and  I'm paranoid about my pants as I have to walk along West Georgia. Looking at it you can't really tell but because I know it's there I can see it as clear as if there were flashing arrows pointing at me, but I just try to pretend it didn't happen.

Got to the office and attacked myself with a wet wipe and now my pants are wet again and I can't move until they dry. Maybe if I'm lucky the rest of the day will move smoothly and I'll be able to get work done on all fronts and then celebrate my youngest daughters 20th B'day tomorrow!

In the fetal position...crying.

Ok Guys!

Have a great week!

See ya
S