Winter Storm

We took a mini vacation/family reunion and spent a few days in Vancouver to visit my sister, and other sister who was visiting at the same time. Of course Vancouver weather is usually very mild, and it didn't disappoint us with being warm and rainy.

October and the beginning of November have been unseasonably warm this year, but as we arrived home we found a bit of snow on the ground.

This morning though winter arrived. We have had snow warnings (15cm) and strong wind warnings (70 km/h) which began last night. This morning our power went out and didn't come back on until 12:30pm. Luckily I had an emergency water supply tucked away in the garage so that I could give the birds water this morning. Since we are on a well water once the electricity ceases, so does the well pump. I sat by oil lamp light in the kitchen and stayed warm with the gas fireplace writing some letters before I finally ventured out.

Since we had just gotten back from Vancouver I didn't have any fresh groceries in the fridge and I spent yesterday working until late. So I drove out to the local grocery store only to find that the entire northern part of the city was suffering from the power outage. I had to go right into town to find an open store and I was a little nervous with the wind and snow.

The school officially closed at 1pm (due to lack of power) and I had to go pick up the kids. The highway was terrible with the snow blowing across it and it was very difficult to see - it was much worse compared to when I drove to town. I just went slow and we made it safely.

I fear that the power may go off again today, so I have refilled our emergency water rations and filled up some large pots as well. Now that I have my fresh groceries we should be good for quite a few days... just in case.