My goodness - I had no idea! How horrible - dreadful heat and fires this summer and now this. What a mess.

And of course when there's a huge mudslide on a major highway, people vanish. It's going to be an awful tragedy. I think Washington State is in a similar situation.

Is this anywhere near you?

Horses Wrangled Through Floodwaters

Fortunately, Merritt is a long way from us here. Merritt is in the Interior of BC and we're on Vancouver Island. But a lot of BC is in trouble.

All of the highways out of Vancouver, on the coastal Mainland, are now flooded or washed away. Nobody can drive in or out. The main highway East is a river.

Communities like Abbotsford just outside of Vancouver in the Lower Mainland area have flooded badly. All the way north up the Fraser Valley small towns are flooded out and some evacuated, and the Coquihalla highway, the only other way north, is washed away in places. The Interior of BC is similarly hit -- Merritt being one of those towns. It's a blue-collar working town and a lot of people just lost everything.

The southern end of Vancouver Island is also flooding in places, and Victoria's only highway out is impassable at the moment. We are in the central part of Vancouver Island, which hasn't been hit so hard, plus our highway is on high ground so we're okay. The local river here is on a flood warning, though, because we have a huge hydro dam upriver. It's a brand new Hydro facility, built to withstand earthquakes, so it's stable and we'll be fine, but they are releasing a lot more water than normal, and the local hiking trails up the river are closed.

The Province is probably going to call for a State of Emergency.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels. in the Break Room. Dinner and karaoke with friends tonight. Hagatha that's awful about the roads, hopefully they will be fixed sooner than later.

The "weather" disasters in Canada have been on the mainstream news here in the U.K., hagatha, and look absolutely devastating

I do hope you stay safe

We'll be fine here, thanks. We're well above our town's flood plain. The houses built right on the river might be in trouble, though.

But Dude is still running away from me. It's not getting any better, and it's been a day now.

And the "quiet" heat pump I was promised is much noisier than the one I checked out before I made my decision, the one I was assured mine would be comparable to. It works very well for heating, but it's beside the bedroom, so it was essential that it be as advertised. I'm really, really not up for a battle with a contractor right now, but I can't just leave it the way it is.

Ah, jeez, what a disappointment about the heat pump.

Hopefully Dude with come around... maybe a few treats?

Stay safe Hagatha, I'm worried about my daughter, she lives in Crofton.

My heart goes out to those who go through these "natural" disasters. I don't know how they do it.

That stinks about your heat pump hagatha.

I would not put pressure on Dude but maybe a little nonchalant coaxing with the wand toy?

No. Dude has hidden and we can't find him. It's been over 24 hours now. As soon as he sees me, he vanishes. It was all going so well, too.

same thing, i am sorry about dude, i hope he comes out for you.

Nope. He's still hiding and won't come out. I'm just heartbroken. He was so full of joy and so happy, and now this.

Well, don't give up hope hagatha. He probably won't want to live in hiding forever.

Maybe put his food in where you are?

I was calling him, and Willow came out of one of the bedrooms and got me. She knew where he was, hiding behind a curtain. I think she was sitting in there with him. I left him some food.

Baby steps! Maybe it will be Willow who brings him around.

It might at that. They have become real friends over the last week. It' been charming to watch.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room.

Coffee for me, and lots of it.

Woke up at 2 am and wrote an email to the heating contractor who installed the heat pump, outlining the emails I sent regarding my concerns about potential noise, detailing the steps we took to visit a home that had the allegedly same pump we would be getting, the assurances I was given by the contractor, and my dismay at discovering that I had been badly misled as to the noise level. Even the installers, his employees, expressed dismay at the level of noise coming from a pump that was supposed to be "whisper quiet."

The pump is so loud I can't have it on if I'm in my bedroom. We can hear it everywhere in the house. And I'm very worried it will disturb my neighbours.

Bit honestly, a legal fight with a contractor is the last thing I need right now, with the health problems we're dealing with here.

All I can say is Good Luck. I hope you can get some relief somehow.

Good for you. I hope they just resolve it for you... I remember when you started the whole process that noise was your main concern.

same thing.

Good morning, Danish, Donuts, and Bagels in the Break Room.

college football and chores.