RAIN, RAIN, GO AWAY, COME BACK ANOTHER DAY!!!! Jan 3rd -14

 Well we are definitely in monsoon season. The lake levels have come up substantially and there is a lot more rain in the forecast. Hopefully no flooding for us and our neighbour. 

These first two pictures show how flat our gangway is and the top of the piling that is below my head height that is usually up in the sky!

The black mark on the Price Alarm sign is how high it went last year!

The next two pictures are of Pat and Darryl's ramp under water.

Our next door neighbour, Mike and Deb are having extenders put on their pilings holding their dock. Their gangway lifted off the concrete and bent the whole apparatus and had to be replaced last year. Their basement also flooded with 8 inches of water. Fingers crossed that does not happen this year.

Sunday, Ray and I spent the day putting all of our Christmas decorations away, quite the job. 

Today, I dealt with the Christmas Tree and did the outside lights. That's it for another year. The house kinda feels empty and dark without all the lights now. :) At least the rain was just a few showers today so the lake could stop filling up so fast. Only up a couple more inches today instead of feet,

We met up with Jason at the Cowichan Highway Junction and exchanged baby stuff... I got the soiled blankets for the dogs to sniff and sent him with clean ones. Made spag sauce this morning so sent him home with some so he only had to boil pasta for his dinner. Poor guy sure looked tired.

Tuesday afternoon the predicted "Atmospheric River" reached us here at the lake. It rained lightly all morning but by 3 pm it definitely was pouring.... we did not get the wind yet but it's really blowing down the east coast of the island with Victoria experiencing some really big gusts of wind. Ferry cancellations for today as well. BC Hydro is predicting 10's of thousands will be without power on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands by tomorrow morning. We shall see if that comes true?

Happy baby on Daddy's stomach. Sure shows exactly how small she really is.

Wednesday morning still sprinkling a little. Lake still rising! OMG! Fortunately by the afternoon we even got a little sunshine.

Today my chore was to empty, clean and fill the hot tub. A job that takes several hours. Thankfully Ray got me a pump.

Every time I take a peek into Ray's workshop things are changed around again.  He is having fun though making the work space "flow".

Thursday, a quick trip into Duncan and then back home. Bought 2 more "treat balls" for the dogs so they each have one to occupy themselves. With this wet weather they have not been outside very much. and therefore bored ... Once we got back home, Ray gave them a walk and I filled the treat balls. They played for about 20 minutes and now all having their afternoon naps sprawled out on the living room floor. lol

Stayed cloudy with a "Scots mist" all day. Pretty quiet day.

Friday woke to the sound of sprinkles again on the roof. Fortunately the lake is still slowly going down in spite of the rain. By 8 am it had quit. Hopefully the sun comes out this afternoon as forecasted.

Yesterday's Amelia pictures. :)

Cuddling with Daddy

The sun finally came out today. Not my picture but from Justin Martin on our Lake Cowichan Connection Facebook page. Ray, myself and the 3 dogs managed to sit out on the dock for an hour in the sunshine today. Beautiful.

Saturday morning, cloudy and 2C. A cool start to the day. Dogs all excited to go for walks as they all love the cool weather. Did a run up to Nanaimo to pick up some stuff at Kristi and Jason's and then takeout lunch. Back home the doggo's were very happy to see us. A great little road trip. 

Kristi was discharged from the hospital yesterday afternoon and Jason and her split visiting times with Amelia today. She is doing really good and out of her isolette and into a bassinette. Hopefully will be released in the next 5 days or so. Amelia is 7 days old today.

Sunday morning drizzly and cool outside. The dogs had a good walk though and managed to splash in the lake while Ray wasn't looking. lol More towels to wash. :)

Kristi called and said that Amelia is now starting to gain weight back, always a good sign. Here is a picture from this morning. All snuggled in with a toque. 

We woke up to it still sprinkling Monday morning. It sure poured overnight but the lake level seems to still be lowering instead of increasing. Out the door by 7:30 am to Duncan to take our car in for servicing at Ford. First however we had to rent a car. It did not seem smart to have them shuttle me from Duncan all the way to Lake Cowichan with this whole Covid thing. 

Just as we pulled out of the driveway our power in Lake Cowichan went out for a couple of hours. I'm sure the dogs did not appreciate our backup supply beeping for our security system while we were gone. lol Power came back on just before we got back home so pretty good timing for us. 

Tuesday, another same old same old day for us. :) Ray did a run into Nanaimo to get meds for Athena and a Costco run for more dog food. lol It rained mostly on and off all day.

Here are some of Tuesday's pics of our little angel. She has started to gain weight, yeah, closer to coming home. Amelia has some deformity in her hands ... unfortunately from a condition called Amniotic Band Syndrome. Not genetic and certainly not very common. She will have to have some surgeries before she is two years old. Fortunately otherwise she is a healthy little girl. She will be well loved and supported as we are all so excited she is finally here. Notice how stretched out she is ... appreciating being able to move in the outside world.

Wednesday morning the wind and rain from the night before had ended. 100,000 people without power this morning on the island and gulf islands. Fortunately it was not us. Nice for us to have dry dogs after their morning walk for a change. Apparently there is no power at Victoria General Hospital either so they are on generators at present. 

Here the sun actually came out for awhile. With the wind we decided to sit outside on the deck for an hour or so. Kristi's dogs appreciated it. Love our heaters and fire table.

Thursday morning back to clouds again. With the last two days of rain the lake is up about 18 inches again. Fortunately no real rain in the forecast for the next several days so it should go back down again. :)

Baby Amelia is doing well and gaining weight. She is feeding well too and probably will have her NG tube taken out today. This means she is even closer to being released and able to go home with her mommy and daddy. 

So that is our update for the past 11 days. Staying pretty much at home isolating from the world of Covid.