The Huge Wind Storm not seen in years.and Week #16 of Renos,

Saturday we finally had a break from the wet cloudy weather, so off to Duncan. I went to pick up some last minute things and get my neck massage at the Farmer's Market. By late afternoon the dark clouds were back, but it sure was nice seeing a few peaks of sunshine. Les, the contractor putting up the T-Bar ceiling in the basement did not make it today ... apparently buried under work at someone else's house. Since our house was a last minute addition to his schedule ,we will have to be patient. We are still waiting for some ceiling tiles to be delivered to finish the job anyway. (The order has finally cleared customs and will be shipped out of Toronto Monday.)

Sunday, overnight it really rained and apparently that is our forecast with wind for the next six days or so. Looking at the weather radar apparently this storm, according to Global BC, is 2000 km wide. Yup we are going to be wet for some time.

Surprise, surprise, the guys for the deck and rockwork showed up at 9:30 am today. Wow. I was getting excited when they laid the first tile....Unfortunately they were still missing some angled levellers for the deck... some of the rock work was done and they apparently will be back tomorrow to start the deck with the "right" stuff. OMG

Well ... they are all standing around outside.

They did do a bunch of rock fill-in work outside but the other columns were only partially done and one even collapsed back down due to the weather.

 I hope the mess they are leaving on the ground cleans up off of our new concrete patio.

The start of our inside fireplace.

Les and his brother Paul, from Gordon and Gordon did arrive around 2 pm to work on the T-Bar ceiling in the basement. Absolutely amazing that people come to work on a Sunday. Everyone is feeling the push to be done before Christmas. They left around 3:45 and are partially done ... I hope they come back tomorrow.

Once this is all done the electrician will come and install the pot lights.

Monday, boy did it rain hard all night. The lake rose a bunch more. This next picture is taken about 3:15 pm ...

First and second stair covered with water. and lapping up the third step.

This picture taken 2 days ago ... only one stair covered. There is about 8 inch rise between stairs.

The guys doing the deck showed up about 10 am. Still a lot of "head scratching". They had to call the boss and get him over to figure it out. Wow .., day 4 of no one not knowing what to do. They messed around until 3 pm and by 3:15 left for the day. Other than cleaning up our concrete from the rock laying on Sunday that was it for 2 guys for most of the day and an extra guy from lunch time on. Yeesh!

Adam and Nick from Kurtis Electric showed up and started installing the pot lights into the suspended ceiling where they could. Slowly coming together. Les's crew arrived after lunch and put in the rest of the T-Bar rails, now we wait for the flat white tiles to finish up the ceiling. They are on holidays now until after Christmas.

Jim from South Island Cabinetry came and installed the stainless trim around my stove to help prevent too much stuff sliding down the sides and rear of the stove.

Our carpenter Chris, did not come today as he as the flu. There is a real bad one going around that pretty much knocks you off your feet. As Ray and I have had our flu shots, we seem to be okay, at least so far.

Tuesday. Boy did it rain all night. We certainly hear it on a metal roof.  It will be interesting to see how high the lake is today after all that hard rain.

This picture I took at 8am this morning. Notice the water is in front of the whitish rock on the left.

This picture taken at 3:30 pm today. Notice that the water is up another stair, so now up five stairs.

Adam and Nick showed up from Kurtis Electric at 9:30am to finish installing the pot lights downstairs in the bedroom and put on all of the plates on the light and plugs. Hopefully we are done with all electrical work. The deck/rock guys also showed up at 9:30. The fireplace was finished with the rock other than the slate piece still to be attached. Looks great.

Notice the mess left overnight on my polished concrete floor. Ahhhgggg.

They got a bit more done on the deck ... what a pain trying to level it. The roofers really did a number on humps and bumps (more than they usually see). Probably wouldn't matter on a roof but pretty tough to level stuff sitting on it.

5 1/2 rows done with many more to do. Love the "wood" look.

 I offered the guys hot coffee and a plate of treats to warm them up. What a horrible day. It was much appreciated.

Ray checking out "the bounce" ... the jury is still out. It sure looks fabulous, lightening up all the black.

Chris was away again today with the flu. Hopefully he is able to come back this week to finish up the closet upstairs and my pantry.

Wednesday, another wet, wet night and morning. Good thing it is not the "white stuff" we would be diggin' out for days! Hopefully they make better progress today on the deck as there is only today and two more days before the Christmas break. The deck and rock crew are off on holidays until January 4th. Although the floor downstairs was supposed to be redone before Christmas, I think we will wait, possibly between Christmas and New Year's. I am ready to have the house to ourselves without crew working in here every day.

Chris was finally back today at 8am to work upstairs. He ended up leaving early at 3 pm as he is still feeling the effects of his flu. The deck and rock guys (all four of them) showed up at 8:30 to work on the sundeck and the outside rock work. Unfortunately they have to wait until the boards they brought dry out to mount them so they can mortar the rock to the wood.

At 10 am Roger finally showed up with Bernie in tow. Bernie  re-attached one of the downspouts to fit under the new railings. Roger is coming up with a plan with Derrick for the transition from the stairs to the deck so you don't see underneath the tiles.

I had a bit of a "meltdown" about the state of the basement floor and our new concrete by the hot tub (that we had brushed in different directions ) was left in such a mess and I was out there last night hosing it off and brushing all the mortar that was just dropped onto it.  Bernie was sent to clean up the cement for the fireplace in the basement and one of the rock crew was told to clean up the outside cement.  Tomorrow Bernie will come to junk out the place thankfully and attach the wood to the outside walls so the stone can be attached to it.

The basement floor now ...

Just waiting for the slate.

Just waiting for the plywood and then the rocks can be attached. Must cleaner. lol

Better but still not up to snuff.

Ray went to the park next door this morning with Freya and brought me back greens to replace the ones in my centerpiece. We purchased this with the lantern at a craft fair. Awesome to be able to do this once a week to freshen it up for free.

After lunch only 2 guys remained to work with the deck. Since the rain stopped briefly I took a walk over to our neighbours back yards to check water levels over there.

Pat and Darryl's. The highest they have ever seen it is up over their top step.

Ron and Donna's

Mike and Debra's, directly next door to us on the right. Last year it came up to the top of the concrete.... getting close. They have the lowest property of all of us.

Roy and June's, directly next to us on the left. The water is almost up to their firepit area.

Here is our water level on our stairs taken at around 11 am.

Up over five stairs.

Four more stairs before it is over the top ... at least another 4 to 5 feet thankfully and our yard slopes down from the house.

Ray is checking out some flood prevention products. Quick Dam being the choice we think we will get. We can get a flood gate that is easy to install in front of our basement doors. This would give us an extra 30" protection in the event that the lake actually came up to the house. The french doors are the only egress into the house until it gets past the downstairs windows, which is unlikely (but posssible according to the 200 yr flood data). We could set this up before we leave to go down south in the fall and voila protection. Not cheap, but certainly the $1200 - $1500 would be a lot cheaper than having to replace all of the drywall in the basement. lol We will have to install some anchors into the concrete in front of the doors to support this structure. It comes apart easily to be put away year after year.

Under our sundeck showing the windows before the new deck and concrete.

The deck is coming along slowly but surely. Faster now since they have the "right feet".

The guys finished for the day quite late at 5pm, just as we left for Chemainus. The guys told us that Derrick, their boss wants the job finished tomorrow ... so they stayed late.

Tonight Ray and I attended "Little Women" at the Chemainus Dinner Theatre. What a lovely performance.

The buffet was delicious. I booked us for the last seating at 6 pm so it would be less time for Ray to have to sit. Unfortunately it was a bit long for him and he got really sore.

They had lovely background live piano music.

After dinner they opened the doors to the theatre. I was able to purchase tickets in the second row close to the stage. Better still, they were on the aisle, so Ray was able to stick his legs out.  Awesome. These next two pictures were taken from our seats.

I was unable to take any pictures of the production though, as it is forbidden.

Thursday morning Freya woke us up at 5:30am ... the wind was howling, So up we all got and I put on her thunder jacket and that seemed to settle her. She was adamant to not go out to pee! Don't blame her as I really did not want to stand outside with her either!  Oh well she has a bladder like a camel so once it is light out I am sure she will be more inclined.

Thunder Jacket appears to be working.

Checked on the rest of my ceiling tile order and it is somewhere between Mississauga,ON and here with a company called "Sameday Worldwide". I beg to differ on the "same day" as the only info regarding the tracking number is it left Mississauga on Monday .... at least it is on it's way.

Bernie showed up at 7:30 to put on the boards for the rockwork outside. Chris showed up 8:30.

The deck /rock work guys showed up at 9 am to start working on the deck. Unfortunately at 10:20am the power went out as the wind picked up substantially.

This is all that will be done until after Christmas. :(

This turned out to be one of BC Hydro's biggest storm event in years. We could sure attest to that. Around 10:30 am a huge wind gust sprung up from the southeast and there were deck boxes off of the neighbours dock flying through the air towards our dock. Seconds later our 2 deck box lids sprung open and twisted. Our gazebo roof had panels go flying into the water, and our picnic table that the pontoon boat was tied to moved almost to the edge of the dock. The guys on our deck tried to take a video. Wow. All this destruction over about 2 minutes. Our neighbours, Mike and Deb's ramp fell off his dock. Once the gust of wind abated, Ray went running out to check his pontoon boat and catch things on the dock and promptly slipped falling down on his back and hitting his head. Oh No! We all came running to check him out. He is a mess but we all had to do was rescue debris from the neighbours deck boxes floating by, including empty gas containers. Bernie and one of the deck guys helped us out with our boat hook pulling all the things we could reach back up on shore. I went around to the neighbours houses and collected garbage cans, put hot tub covers back on etc. Ray tied Mike and Deb's gangway to the supports of their sundeck so it would not float out and damage their dock. We thought that this wind was done but the forecast read that there could still be gusts up to 75 km until 4 pm. Not too many pictures as I was way too busy.

Chris helping me get the picnic table off the pontoon boat. lol

I emailed Mike and Deb who are currently on vacation in Mexico until after Christmas. They called me and said they would try and get Deb's step-dad Brad, over there to check things out. Brad called me but could not come because of the road closures on both highways to get here.

Once this initial excitement was over I made a batch of vegetable beef soup to feed everyone just in case they could not make it out of here. If fed the guys at 1:30 and they were sure appreciative. At around 1:45 another huge wind gust from the other direction sprung up and created more destruction, more panels off of our gazebo and some lifted off Mike and Deb's next door that I could see from our deck, as well as their full gas cans down to the bottom. I sent all the crew on their way and advised them to take the "old hwy" as the new one we knew was closed for sure. They made it out okay as Chris texted me that it was open. We had told them to come back to stay if they could not get out. The deck guys found out that they were all leaving for Alberta for Christmas tomorrow so unfortunately a mess is left on our unfinished deck. They had hoped to be done today but with no power it was not possible.

After they left, I went and did the rounds of the neighbours to see what else had happened. Our other neighbours, Pat and Darryl's ramp was almost falling off their dock. I emailed them about it as they were stuck in Duncan. Both Highway 18 and the old one were blocked off due to trees falling down over the road. Fortunately for Pat she was in Duncan to pick up her grandkids from school. She had emailed me to pick them up from the bus if she could not make it in time but was able to get them herself. Our other neighbour to the left of us, Roy and June Sandmark's dingy had flown off their dock with this last wind episode. It was sitting on the park side of their dock against the beach. I phoned Roy who said he would be home in half an hour ... he was dealing with a collapsed structure over his boat at his shop. The boat looked okay for now.

Pat and Darryl made it back up the highway just before dark at 4pm to deal with their gangway and their canoes that had fallen off their dock but were fortunately tied to his ladder. What a disaster. I was watching them on their dock and saw Roy's dingy floating by our house. Yikes. Out the door with Ray on my heels and we managed to get it with the pike pole on the neighbours floating gangway and get it to the beach where Darryl helped us tie it up. Wow. Poor Ray, he actually had to take some really strong pain meds that he has not used since May due to his pain from falling.

Darryl pointed out that the neighbours 2 properties over from him, their dock had floated off it's anchors and was hitting his neighbours dock.

The water level was up substantially higher due to the storm surge but we are still okay. Wow what a day. I lit a bunch of candles, the fireplace and kerosene lamp so we were warm and dry. What a day.

PIcture from our gangway to our neighbours house to the left.

Our house.

Neighbour to the right. Only another foot or so and it's up on their lawn.

These next picture were taken on Thursday. I copied them from google. Highway 18 and Cowichan Lake Road closed in both directions for a couple of hours. These are only one example of the 20 plus spots that the lines that are down.








Friday morning, still no power and does not look like it is coming on any time soon with thousands of people with no power in the lower mainland and up and down the island. Our carpenter Chris, came at 8 am to pick up his tools as he is off until January. He said that he could see multiple hydro lines down on his way up from Shawnigan Lake and that Duncan was mostly still out of power too. At least it was a sunny day although -1C outside, to cheer everyone up.

After it warmed up outside so the roads were not icy, we headed to Duncan to pick up our motorhome. The new hot water tank for the motorhome would not be installed until January and we needed our 10,000 watt generator to keep our fridge going. Heard rumours in town that we will have  no power here until Sunday at the earliest. Most of Duncan is still without power. Walmart had power so I picked up a few things, like extra milk. Home Depot was open but only on emergency lighting. The important store of course was the Beverly liquor store and it was operational. Ray had planned to go on Saturday but with no power and none for a couple more days we stocked up for Christmas.

Once back home it was time to restock all of our candles and prepare for the "dark night" again. Boiling water to do the dishes while I could still see with daylight. Ray spent his time hauling out extension cords attached to the motorhome. Even our neighbour has a cord running over to his place to run his freezer. I emptied our kitchen fridge onto a table on the sundeck and moved as much stuff into the garage fridge that would fit. Our fridge in the kitchen is too heavy to move to get to it's plug so this was an easier system. I even set up our "pump shower" system  in our bathroom that we use for dry camping in the desert for limited water usage times. Showers this afternoon felt great.

Defrosting meat the "old way". lol

Our Oven

Dinner tonight was on our small motorhome barbecue that I set up on our sundeck. I must say we are set up nicely but it sure is a lot more work to live. Ray and I collapsed into our chairs after dinner and by 8:30 pm we were in bed for the night exhausted. Ray is more sore from the fall than yesterday. Garrett and Kat arrive tomorrow so wanted a good nights sleep.

Our outside fridge.

Saturday morning we were up at 6 and started the generator and were able to have a proper cup of coffee. Small things make the day. :) Then it was off to the races preparing the house for guests. A whole bunch more extension cords were run so we have the TV, stereo and more lights. Also we have our fridges in the garage plugged in to run as well as our neighbours freezer.

Took a run into town to see what the "gossip" was regarding power. Estimates are hopefully by Christmas but could be after. Good thing we have lots of diesel in the coach. Took some pictures.

Parking lot at Jakes Pub

The park next to the pub.

Our side of the river by the Fields Store

Looking up river from the bridge. Water is only a couple feet below the bridge.

When I got back I prepared dinner and the table for our family dinner. Jason and Kristi are coming here as well.

When Garrett arrives I will have him bring up to the sundeck our big barbecue so we can use that to cook the 2 prime ribs I am cooking tonight. Stay tuned.