Mischief Monday - Wild Weather - by Tigris

Dear readers,

The weather in my part of the world was been a little wild. A few nights ago, it was super, super windy. Lady and Man had all the windows open because they don't have a/c and it was cool. Around 3 am, there was a big bang and the Man got up and couldn't figure out what it was.  The next morning he found one of the kitchen screens in the middle of the kitchen floor. Fortunately neither Styx and I noticed or wanted to go out and no wild animals got in, maybe it was just too windy.  Interesting enough, none of the patio furniture pillows blew away. 

I was not a huge fan of this wind. I allowed Lady to put me on the bed and I stayed for a while.

The next day, the Lady couldn't find me, but then she did. I had returned to the top of the pinball machine. When I first moved here, this was one of my safe places, and while I don't feel the need to visit it too often, sometimes it is the best seat in the house.

Has your weather been wild?

Tigris

PS the people have been out all the time and rarely home so I haven't gotten to visit you all like I would have liked. Life may slow down a little soon. 

Mischief Monday - A Road To No Where - By Zaphod

 Dear pals,

I was so mad, I didn't talk to my Lady for 2 days. This is what happened. 

I am not talking to you Lady

Weather context: Tuesday and Wednesday had been mild days, so things started to melt. We had rain! Thursday, things started to freeze and it got snowy, so this made things slippery. 

Thursday night, Lady and I headed out for my Librela shot. The vet is about 25 minutes away. The roads weren't great, but Lady drove a bit slower and we were safe. We passed an accident. Just as we got to the edge of the town that my vet is in, the firefighters made us turn around, the road was closed.

For those of you who don't live in the country, sometimes the only road to somewhere is the highway. So with the road being closed, we couldn't get to the vet.

Lady pulled over and called the vet and said we couldn't get there. They were very kind and rescheduled for Tuesday. Lady called Man to let him know what was happening and then we headed back on the road.

Well, we got to the first accident we had seen and the firefighters told us we had to wait while they cleared it away. So we waited, very impatiently, for about 30 minutes. We were stuck on the highway between 2 accidents. The firefighters told us to be careful as the roads were very slippery. 

This was our view for 30 minutes - See the car way up on the snowbank?

From here the 25 minute drive took about 50. Lady went really slow. At times the snow was blowing in a way that she couldn't see. It is a curvy hill, mountain road she doesn't know as well for most of it. It was scary for her. We saw a third accident. 

At some time, someone pooped in the backseat and this poop may have gotten on my tail. There was no safe place to stop and clean up, so we just kept going, with the smell of poop. 

Finally, almost 2 hours after we left, we were home, safe. We didn't even really slip. 

I was so mad at Lady, I wouldn't even talk to her, especially after she cleaned me up. 

Lady would like to say, she had no idea it was going to be so bad. If she had known we would not have gone. It was the worst driving conditions she had been in all winter. 

you pal, Zaphod, who did not enjoy just driving around in a snowstorm to no where!

Mischief Monday - Weather

Last year all winter we got about 72 cm or 28 inches of snow. Callie's Man's snow removal company plowed the driveway 6 times. 

November 29

This year is going to be different. 

December 5

December 8

So far we have gotten about 60 cm/23 inches and the driveway has been plowed 3 times.  We got about 1.5 feet of it in one night, which we know is nothing compared to some places, but enough for us!

It may be a long winter . . . . 

Nature Friday - Wild Weather

 It was the first Friday we were home. It was lunch and Lady and Man, who were sick, were in the sitting area between our kitchen and dining room, doing lunch things. It had be a relatively sunny day. 

Out of nowhere, it got dark and windy.

As Man was saying "wow, it is windy, trees are going to fall" Lady, who was facing the window, saw these trees fall.

Less than 5 minutes later, it was sunny again. One of Callie's trees, right beside our driveway also fell on the road, and Hydro moved it to our driveway and Callie's Man had to cut it up so we could get out. 

Apparently, although Lady has never been able to confirm this, it was a small tornado that had come through our yard. 

Fortunately we were without power for only 5.5 hours. Not bad for a tornado. 

Thanks to Rosy and Sunny for hosting this event. 

Mischief Monday - Heat Wave

Dear pals,

Last week was super, super hot. On Wednesday (Lady's birthday and she thanks you all for the good wishes she had an perfect day) was the hottest. It was 33C/92F and with the humidex 41C/105F. As you may recall, we don't have a/c, except in our bedroom. Inside our house got to 27C/81F.

If you don't know what the humidex is, becauase it is a Canadian thing, it is a special index that figures out how hot it feels based on the temperature and the humidity. 

Resting on Lady's office floor to stay cool

We did what we could to stay cool. We limited our time outside. Mid-day, we all took to the shade of our maple in the front yard. There was plenty of cold water in our dishes. Mostly we just hung around in front of the fans and tried not to move.

Thursday night, the heat broke. By opening the windows in our house we dropped the temperature to 20C/68F overnight. It has been reasonably cool (and we have had a lot of rain) since them.

We hope we don't get too many really hot days this summer. It is hard on us old dogs.

Your staying cool pals, Hailey and Zaphod

Updated Mischief Monday -Ice Storm 2023

Lady accidentally set this to publish the wrong day - it has been updated:)

Last week brought us the worst ice storm since 1998. Wednesday the storm rolled through, killing at least 2 and leaving 1.1 million people without power in Quebec. Half of these people were in Montreal.

On our property, other than a few branches, we had no major damage. However, the power lines that run between Callie's house and the next house were taken down, and a post needed to be replaced. (We are the last house on this line, so if they are down anywhere we are in trouble).

Our power  Wednesday April 5 at 11:27 am, and we set the record of longest time without power of 104 hours (almost exactly). While it is not ideal, Lady and Man make this work (and Lady uses it as an excuse to not exercise and eat all the junk food). With the generator we carried on close to normal. Lady and Man worked Wednesday and Thursday. from home. We still went to Grammie and the Big Guy's for Easter on Friday (they had power and Lady and Man had showers there instead of filling the hot water heater off the generator). It was good they had to go far because with 95% of our region without power, there was no gas to be found for at least 20 km/13 miles from the house Friday. (Fun fact nothing only schools and government offices are closed in Quebec on Good Friday, retail is open!) Saturday they still left us forever to go to a funeral. Sunday the left us for a little less than forever to go play pickleball. We carried on as best we could.

Here are some pictures from the storm and the aftermath:

Icy trees

icicles on everything

While Phod has had a hard time with all the change this brings, Lee has been loving it.

A bed by the fire - how cool is this! 

Wake me when it is normal!

Come back tomorrow where we will talk about our contest! 

Tongue Out Tuesday - When the Heat Breaks

As we mentioned yesterday, it was sweltering here last week. Finally, on Friday a storm blew though which helped break the heat.

Lady has taken Friday afternoons off for the summer. She was sitting in the driveway assembling patio furniture listening to the thunder. As the storm came closer she could hear us upset in the house so she moved inside. She got in before it poured and poured. Thunder crashed. Valium was administered. Valium was not effective as at 2:50 our power went out.

We were very upset. Lee was walking around trying to destroy things. The leash inside was tried. Finally, Lady and her Kobo ended up in the closet, Lee pressed up against the wall and Lady sitting pressed up to her. Phod was in and out, drooling on Lady. This seemed to help. Lee was able to settle, and Lady was able to lay down, squished up against Lee and have a floor nap.

The power was restored about 3.5 hours, but not until the Man had gone to get gas for the generator and started it. Seriously, the minute he clicked start, it all came on.

While it was not the most fun afternoon, we were grateful for the break in the heat. That evening Lady could wear pants and a hoodie.

Mischief Monday Too Hot

 Dear pals,

Last week was too hot. While the temperatures were "only" in the 30s/high 80s low 90s, it felt like the 40s/over a hundred. The humidity was intense. It did not cool down at night. It was so hot that even Phod could see the value of the air conditioning until in the bedroom. Science says this is the new normal. We aren't sure we like it, but we do like visiting the lake to cool down.

This week looks more more reasonable, so we shouldn't melt! 

Trouble On A Tuesday - Weather - by Lee

Last week is was so warm the melting snow from our roof sounded like rain. Then it was windy. I took precautions.

Make sure to come by Friday so you can enter the when will the snow be gone contest. 

Trouble On A Tuesday - In the Dark - by Phod

Dear pals,

Hailey told you the start of the horrible lives we lived last week. It started with the storm in the early hours of Thursday morning (shows you no good comes for a Thursday). While the rain stopped, it was really, really windy.

At 2:17 pm on Thursday, the power went out. While it came on briefly, it was basically off until 10 pm. Then it went back out on Friday morning at 8 am, until about 3 pm.  Lady and Man had the generator running most of this time.

While Hailey doesn't like a storm (she taught me to be afraid), I am VERY scared of not having power. I always have been. It is too quiet and when it comes back on things beep. It is the worst thing that could ever happen.

During much of this time, Lady was working at her desk, as she is officially working about 1/2 of her work (but July it will be closer to 2/3). While we don't have everything on the generator we have the most important stuff (fridge, freezer, water, internet, some outlets), so she can work. I really, really wanted to get on her lap. I never want to do this. She did not think having an 80lbs dog on her lap during zoom consults was ideal. I did my best to hide in the office, under the desk seemed best. I have never done this before. Lady just laughed at me and said I was being ridiculous, we were safe. She also said she prefers my passive fear to Lee's destructive one.

Are you sure I can't get up?

I will just try under the desk

I didn't sleep at all on Friday and was soooooooo tired. It may be days before I recover.  Then something happened on Saturday - come back on Thursday to see why I am still tired! 

Mischief Monday - Lee vs the Storm - by Lee

It was a dark and stormy Wednesday night/Thursday morning. At approximately 12:20 am, I became aware that we were going to die. I alerted the people.

Too tired the next day

Lady heard my alert and got up. She opened doors, blocked the guest room which I was trying to dig my way through, turned on lights. She settled on the couch.  While I was pacy, I was able to settle as the world was right enough.

Then the worst of the storm hit shortly after 3 am. I went into full alert. I tried destroying the crate (which I was not in, but it was blocking the guest room). I destroyed some toilet paper. I ripped up my bed. Lady tried to get me to settle but I could not.

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Lady brought in reinforcements.  She went and got Man, who was in bed with a scared Phod on his head. I don't know what Lady said because I was destroying things, but the Man got up. He came down, told me I had made a mess and now it was time to go to sleep. He moved to the couch. I settled down and sort of slept until the morning.

This blanket is very ripped up now. Good thing Lady bought it at a thrift shop for me!

Lady was very, very annoyed that I would only not believe the world was ending unless the Man told me. While she was  annoyed, she also realized it won't be her that has to get up with me.

Lady is using what is left of the semi-destroyed roll! 

In spite this bad night (that lead into a crazy 2 days, which Phod will tell you about tomorrow), Man and Lady still aren't putting me on meds. I like being off them best, they like me off them best and are still able to be home most of the time. This may change as things open up.

Lady says she can't tell who won this, me or the storm . . . . It is a draw I think!

Catching up on my beauty sleep! 

Mischief Monday - We Thought We Would Melt

As we write this, we are celebrating a drastic drop in temperature. It is about 17C/62F which feels almost cold after last weeks high of 39C/102F. Yep, you read that right, it got to the 100s here! We bet this is not what you think of as Canadian temperatures, but it happened.

It presents a different challenge for us because our house does not have air conditioning. Yep, you also read that right (we swear, it is not April Fool's Day!). We don't even have a window unit. We do have fans and a great system of closing all the windows in the morning and opening them all in the evening. It helps. At the worst, our house reached about 28C/82F. It was warm, but livable. 

This is about how we spent our days!

The tile is cool!

We have a few more reasonable days in the mid 20s/70s before we hit the 30s/high 80s again. 

In other news, look who has stopped by for a visit . . .

Yep, it is cousin Emma. She is with us for a week while Uncle Chris is in San Diego for work. We hope to not have too much mischief to report next week.

Stay cool dear friends! 

Mischief Monday - It Scared the 💩 Out of Her

The Scene: The wee hours of Sunday morning, the peeps and pups are sleeping happily in their beds, when suddenly low levels of thunder can be heard.

Our protagonist, Miss Hailey Bug, turns into the fearful pup. She starts pacing, panting and scratching at the door to escape.

The Man lets her out of the room.

She continues to pace and carry on, which causes Phod to become anxious.

The Man gets up to be with her to discover she was so scared she had 💩 at the top of the stairs.

The Man spends the next hour or so trying to comfort her (turning lights on, turning music on, blocking all the places she will try and scratch through).

Phod goes back and forth between the peeps and finally sleeps with the Lady on the bed.

Finally, our girl settles with the lights on, the music on, and the Man on the couch.

She was very tired on Sunday.

There are no thunderstorms in the forecast until Wednesday.  Natural alternatives are being researched to complement her Prozac.

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I apologize for not getting to visit you all as often as I would like. Life is happening and until the flooding/construction is a little bit better I will be losing a lot of my spare time to work. 

Mischief Monday - Weather!

We did not get the 10 cm they had been calling for, but yesterday morning we woke up to a fairly wintery world (which was mostly gone by sun down, thank goodness, we are NOT ready for it to stick). 

There is a lot to sniff because of . . . . .

The wild turkeys! They also leave a lot of yummy treats in our yard!

For days, there has been a group of about 12, the peeps call the pose, hanging around. 

Taken earlier in the week outside the Lady's office window.  They like the seed the squirrels throw. 

Even with all the good sniffs, our Phod still took some time to play with Precious, who will be hibernating once the real snow falls! 

Mischief Monday - Florence

We are trying to imagine what kind of storm Florence was at her peak, because her tail end packed one heck of a punch to our region. Friday afternoon, 2 tornados hit our area (Ottawa-Gatineau Region), leaving a wake of destruction. The first was an EF-3 and the second an EF-2. As of now, there have been no reported deaths, 6 people are critically injured, and hundreds of homes are damaged and destroyed. 

I got to drive home, slightly east of the worst of the storm at the end of it. It was a wild drive home, with street lights out, downpours, flooding streets, amazing wind. It will probably be my favourite drive home ever, because I am a complete lover of this type of storm. In another life, I would have been a storm chaser. It is a funny thing because I spend most of my life being anxious and afraid of everything, everything except huge rain storms!

As the storm broke

Our place was minimally effected. We lost power for 25 hours. (Others will be days as a transformer blew away). Those who have followed us for a long time may remember when we first moved into this house 6 years ago, we went 72 hours in the winter followed by 95 hours in the summer without power. We then spent $3000 to have a generator panel installed and to purchase a generator. While it can't run the whole house, we have water (we live on a well), the fridge, freezer, and the heat, lights, internet etc. down stairs. We could live quite comfortably for some time.  My ancient iPad (which had been my Dad's) appears to be the only thing damaged during the storm. I had left it charging and I am guessing the power surged when it went out, and fried it. The new one will be here in 3-7 days. 

While the dogs were both a little nervous with the winds and no power, they did great. Hailey slept well once we closed the windows so she couldn't hear the wind as well.

That is how we started autumn at our place!

Hailey chil'axing the morning after the storm

Mischief Monday - Too Hot

We will catch you all up on the many fun adventures we had on the weekend. Lady had a whole Canada Day photoshoot planned, but it was just too hot. We spent a lot of the weekend like this . . . . .

We don't have air conditioning and it is going to continue to be hot. Tomorrow, we will tell you about what good dogs we are in spite the heat!

To all our friend's suffer with this wave, stay cool! 

For our American friends this is 90F feels like 113F  - that is very hot of us Canadian dogs! (It is actually record breaking hot. Climate change is happening!