It’s been an awful day around here.
As you can see by Itzl's concerned look, this group is for us to check in at to let
people know we are alive, doing OK, and not affected by such things as heat, blizzards, floods, wild fires, hurricanes, tornadoes, power outages, or other such things that could keep us off DKos. It's also so we can find other Kossacks nearby for in-person checks when other methods of communication fail - a buddy system. Members come here to check in. If you're not here, or anywhere else on DKos, and there are adverse conditions in your area (floods, heatwaves, hurricanes, etc.), we and your buddy are going to check up on you. If you are going to be away from your computer for a day or a week, let us know here. We care!
IAN is a great group to join, and a good place to learn to write diaries. Drop one of us a PM to be added to the Itzl Alert Network anytime! We all share the publishing duties, and we welcome everyone who reads IAN to write diaries for the group! Every member is an editor, so anyone can take a turn when they have something to say, photos and music to share, a cause to promote or news!
Monday Crimson Quillfeather
Tuesday ejoanna
Wednesday Pam from Calif
Thursday art ah zen
Friday FloridaSNMOM
Saturday Gwennedd
Sunday loggersbrat
The day began at 7:30 this morning. Rising earlier than normal, I knew from watching the weather reports over the last few days that it may get stormy, so I shuffled off to look out the front door...it was still dark, but it was obvious the wind and rain had arrived as advertised. The wind almost took the screen door out of my hand and while I watched the rain pouring down in buckets, a gust came along and made it fall totally perpendicular. My cat decided that the bedroom closet was the safest place, so she slunk off to find a nice dark corner...poor gurl!
I knew at that point I was getting no more sleep. My bedroom is in the back of the trailer and there are five 60 foot Ponderosa pines less than 50 feet from the back of my home. If one of them comes down because of saturated roots and strong winds and I’m in bed...I’m history.
So I sat down at the computer and turned on the news. All sailings of the ferries to the mainland from Nanaimo and Victoria to Vancouver are cancelled. NOBODY is getting off this rock until very late today or even tomorrow. There’s a blurb mentioning that BCHydro has recalled all their vacationing techs and linemen...and they’ll be much needed. Power outages are a given in a place with more trees than there are suns in the universe. The weatherman said to expect some 2-3 inches of rain where I live...great!! We’re already waterlogged...it’s winter... rainy season. Oh...and kite surfing is a thing that’s happening at nearly every beach today. Why miss such a great opportunity!
Sometime later in the very late morning, my friend texted some bad news. Her sweet King Charles Cavalier spaniel had died. We knew Scout had an enlarged heart and was going into heart failure and she was, after a fairly good summer, going into decline. She’d been on meds to keep the water from pooling around her heart and lungs, but she was having a really hard time breathing on New Years. Farewell sweet girl, you’ll be sorely missed.
I watched the news again at 5pm, and wasn’t surprised to hear ferries still weren’t running and thousands were without power. Thank goodness it’s not freezing!! The inevitable traffic accidents had happened as well. People driving too fast on roads swamped with rain and getting pushed by strong winds ( 80 kph and more) meant a few people literally left the road and smashed cars had to be dragged up from the steep slopes on the side of the Malahat...the most dangerous road on the Island. I fully expect to see lots of pics of trees on cars and houses in tomorrow’s news when this storm hits the mainland tonight.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
I found this video of a very unusual place in Wales:
Walking into this little village feels as if you've been transported to Italy, but in fact, you're not even close. Tucked away on the coast of northern Wales is the village of Portmeirion, a truly unique town built with a colorful, whimsical design and an eye for conservation. Built between 1925 and 1975 by Sir Clough Williams-Ellis, Portmeirion became a home for lost building parts, such as taking the stones of a demolished castle to make a town clock tower. But the most striking part of the town is the integration of nature with the town's colorful architecture, modifying nearly every single building to work with the nearby terrain.
www.atlasobscura.com/...