General Chat

Oooohh sunny, but cold. Is February your coldest month?

Son1 is planning to come out to visit us in February to get away from the cold for a while.

Feb is usually our hottest month

Annette

January/February are the coldest, and also wettest months (along with November and December)

.... and are also the months when we are most likely to get snow here in Vancouver.


We're actually in a geographical region known officially as Temperate Rain Forest


could that give you an idea of our weather???????


June -> August are our driest months ....... July and August can actually get no or very little precipitation.



sylvia

Moonbi,
Kite Runner is about two boys from very different backgrounds growing up in 1970's Afghanistan, a story about friendship, betrayal and redemption. Many twists and turns along the way and it made me cry at times but is one of the best books I've read in some time.

Cath xx

Sylvia,
sunny and cold is ok, wet and cold is nasty!!

Hi all

true Ann!


It is getting colder here this morning ....... it's below 0C outside, and cloudy

AND

the heating in the main part of the hosue seems to be on a go slow.

It's blown air from a gas furnace. OH turned the thermostat up to about 20C at about 7:30am this morning, and now it is 11 am but the room temperature is only just over 16C

It should be registering about 21 or 22C

Warm air is blowing through the vents, just not as fast or as hot as it should be


The room where I have the computer is on a separate system ...... it has its own electric baseboard heater, plus I have a little box electric heater that blows out warm air. So I am nice and cozy in here.


OH said he'll have a look at the furnace and vents when he gets home mid-afternoon ........ although I hope it will have warmed up by then!


Warm sweaters to the rescue!!!!





sylvia
xxx

hi new week , new day.
Back to wet and cool here.

But I am very disturbed about the floods in Queensland. and its getting worse each day. Now the Lockyer Valley is under water and there are 9 deaths and many missing. The water is up to the rooftops. I have a niece living in Gatton and I havent heard from her.

Brisbane also is on high alert now, The Premier of the state said the whole area is a mega disaster. and its still raining.
I called my sister and she is ok today. still trying to dry out after the last weeks deluge.

There is nothing I can do except give them moral support. So I feel so helpless.

Catherine thank you for the little review about Kite Runner, Im going to see if its in my library, and read it for February. I usually choose one a month there.

Hope your man can fix the furnace, Sylvia, otherwise you might have to both sit in your study with the blow heater.
I can understand your climate easier now, Vancouver is such an interesting place. I watched a program about it not so long ago, where Stephen Fry showed lots of interesting features.

Best wishes
Annette

I can't believe how bad it is in Queensland where bystanders are watching in horror as others are swept away. Our latest paper has 78 missing (serious concerns for 18 of these) and 10 dead. Was watching on the TV last night where cars were being swept away as someone said it is bizarre what has happened so much rainfall in such a short time. The flood waters are expected to get higher today - Wednesday.

On the other side of OZ south of Perth there have been fires and the strong winds there have made it difficult to contain the fires. And would you believe that authorities believe the fire was deliberately lit and they have identified seven ignition points.


Persie

Annette, I do hope your niece is OK.

Perse, it is beyond belief that somebody could start those fires isn't it?

Hi All
Just heard from my sister this morning, she said our niece and her family are OK
Their property is higher ground but still had to evacuate. Dont know what has happened to all their prize roosters.

Sister Waiting to hear an update, all safe so far, although all isolated.
Milk and bread are running out, as no way to get the supplies in.

Thank you, all you dear people for your moral support and kind messages

Annette

Update
Prime MInister Gillard has just put the ADF in Qld to help with the search and rescue; and with recovery and supply.

Rain heading south today.

Annette

Heard this morning that our close friends who live in Moggill, a suburb of Brisbane that is under flood watch, are OK .... but waiting with bated breath to see what happens.

Two of their grandchildren were staying in Toowoomba when the surge went through ........ some hours of worry, but the kids are safe.

oh Sylvia, Thank God your friends in Moggill are fine so far, but river rising very quickly and to peak in 2 hours time.

Moggill is such a mess.

Glad the Gchildren avoided Toowoomba' s dangerous situation,

The CBD in Toowoomba is still out of bounds as Rescue SES are looking for the dead, and clearing the streets of cars and debris.
THe missing list has been reduced, as many were found alive else where, and unable to get there messages out.

Power is out in Brisbane and Ipswich for 66.000 homes as dangerous.

My niece has her Optometrist business in GAtton detroyed, unable to get to see it yet as Police wont let anyone in.

Rain pouring down here in Albury today too. So you can see how this rain system is almost East coast wide for the whole of Aus.

Annette

our friends live in an old Queensland house, on stilts. They say the house was safe in the 1974 floods, but are waiting with bated breath to see what happens this time.



It really is terrible.


I see where the meteorologists are blaming the Aussie weather on La Nina. That's also what's being blamed for the strange weather we're having in the US and Canada!



sylvia

To think when I was last in Tallangata the Murray River was so dry the cattle were in there grazing at what was once Old Tallangata - the whole township got moved when the Hume Weir was built in the fifties. I popped across the border to Albury whilst I was up there.

It is just so hard to come to grips with it all - Toowoomba is 1837 feet above sea level just not a place you would expect to get flooded.

Makes you wonder what will happen next. Earthquakes, Tsunamis, Fires, Floods and tornadoes (in the US) all quite frightening.

Persie

hi Persie

Thank you for your encouragement
Its pouring down here now at 9pm.
I raced outside to put my pot plants under cover just before dark.

We are to expect more rain the same tomorrow.
The Hume wier is now rising to 90% full, and the flood gates have been opened about a week ago when we had the last storms go through.
Hot and steamy, windy and very wet

Annette

It's amazing how cruel the weather can be.

Makes one wonder if it got really bad here in Auckland - you can walk from Waitemata Harbour on one side of the Isthmus where most of us live to Manukau Harbour on the other side. It is very hilly living on all these dormant volcanoes. Other parts of the country seem to bear the brunt of really bad extremes in weather.

There are Islands out in the Pacific that are inhabited that will disappear
in the not too distant future.

I suppose if you look at how we were all joined up thousands of years ago you can understand now how these changes occur. But there are also the man made structures that can cause havoc as well.

Persie

I am pleased that your niece is OK Annette and your friends Sylvia. All these weather systems are quite concerning aren't they? It makes you wonder what we are going to have to face in the future.

How are we going to face the future?

well we have to learn to face the present; and aussies are very spoilt I think.

we generally expect, and are used to, a very high level of service,
so when there is no safe, clean running water in the taps, and dirty water running in the streets, most people dont realise the health risks and dangers in the water.
No electricity, no roads, no transport, no way out. no opportunity to get food either because the shops are flooded, or are out of food.

Have we forgotten how to survive On the minium of everything?
I dont mean we have to live like a third world country, but we do need to be prepared to live more carefully.

Plenty of depris and a shark was seen also, and
People have been warned not to walk in the water as there is sewage in it.

It is a very big shock to every one when they cant get what they want when they want it as It just isnt available.

I am quite concerned for my home state of Qld (although I dont live there now) but I do visit my sister and her family every year.
You can take me out of Qld, but you cant take Qld out of me.

Just hoping people can find some level of hope amid all the heartache.
They must start to think about how to go about the cleanup, as soon as it is possible.

On a bright note the flood level peak this morning was a metre lower than was predicted. which is said to have prevented another 5 thousand home
was being inundated.
there is such relief over that, as the river is a tidal river, and the height of the tide effects the whole flood level.

Annette

That is good news Annette!





We did get the threatened snow overnight!


It started to snow about 8:30 pm, and it was falling fast and furious when I last looked out just after midnight

However, it had turned to rain when I next looked out at about 5:30 am

I guesstimate that we got somewhere close to 10 cm, based on what is left on the grass.


OH was out shovelling our sidewalks (corner house, so he's got to do 33' x 120') by 7:30 am, then did the neighbour's across the street ..... Joe's in his late 80s. By the time he had finished, at least 3 other neighbours had been out and shovelled their 30' frontages!

The rain stopped by about 9 am, sun came out for a spell around 11 am


still lots of snow on the ground, but temp is about 6C, so it should be melting!

All in all ..... the side roads are a mushy mess!

And many of the sidewalks are the same ................ although there is a new by-law in effect that says ALL sidewalks have to be cleared of snow by 10 am, even in residential areas. It looks as though a lot of people haven't bothered!



On the good side .................. I can see one of the major roads into Vancouver from my kitchen window, and it was completely clear of snow by 5:30 am ............ ploughs were out as soon as snow started at about 8:30 pm



OH has been messing about at home this morning . He decided not to drive out to the university, he has to be out there from 4 -10pm for opera rehearsal, so he decided to stay home.

So far he has fixed a wonky door knob on our bedroom door, put some hooks on insides of new kitchen cupboards to hang some items like the nutmeg grater, vacuumed 2 rooms, found some way out-of-date cans and jars (soup and pasta sauce) and ditched the contents. He's having a ball!!


and I am keeping out the way!



sylvia
xxx

yes the peak level was lower than the 1974 flood, so good news for your friends I hope

good for you Sylvia, Id keep out of the way too!

you are lucky, so very lucky.