...but now all that rain has to go somewhere, and around here that means the Grand River, awfully close to our house. So far, it has been a good year for flooding and we hope it stays that way.
I think we may have been April fooled this morning. The river is high - no doubt about that; I can see it from my desk - but a look at the Grand River Conservation Authority's website indicates that the flow rate in Kitchener is nearly three times the rate down at York, most of the way to Lake Erie. Unless someone pulled the drain plug out of the river in Brantford, my guess is that an evil GRCA employee changed the colours on the graph. Will check back this afternoon.
They must have done, and the river piled up again last night - quite exciting for a bit, but easing off somewhat now. It turned out that the puzzling flow rate indications were real, due to heavy rain and rapid runoff upstream, so the local peak took some hours to reach York. As a grey haired engineer, I might have figured this out for myself, of course, but I had never seen the effect so marked before. It is not unusual for the flow gauges to fail, giving spurious (or no) readings.
Interesting. Unfortunately the TTC seems to be running on the same model these days.
(The actual issue is that when they built the system way back when they installed turnbacks only every 8 stations or so, so shutting down one section of track for whatever reason shuts down several kilometres of track.)
I think I may have mentioned at some point that when I was a graduate student in Washington DC one of my profs told us that in Washington Spring is the nicest day of the year. It sort of felt that way.
We got ours today too. Glad there’s an online option.
In other news, it’s actually kind of warm out today.
Listening to a two-disc set of piano variations - mostly by Beethoven and Mozart but also Schumann and some Webern thrown in too just to make sure everyone is paying attention. Pianist is Cédric Tiberghien who I hadn’t heard of before. Very likeable (well not sure about the Webern yet) and will be looking out for more.
I meant to mention - discovered through my CD that Schumann wrote a set of piano variations based on the slow movement theme in Beethoven’s seventh symphony. Who would have thought?
The perfect return to Canada today after almost a month in Scotland and Ireland. Just west of the airport an eastbound gravel truck somehow rolled over the concrete barrier and spilled its load on the westbound side, closing it the evening rush hour. I hate the 401.
The perfect return to Canada today after almost a month in Scotland and Ireland. Just west of the airport an eastbound gravel truck somehow rolled over the concrete barrier and spilled its load on the westbound side, closing it the evening rush hour. I hate the 401.
Yikes! Me, too.
I return tomorrow, after 4 months in Phoenix, and will be heading westbound on the 401/402 from Toronto. Hopefully rush hour will have eased up some by the time we hit the road.
Just got back from Vancouver, where it was unseasonably hot and sunny. Gorgeous weather for toodling around, and beautiful spring blossoms everywhere. Cherry, magnolia, chestnut trees still in bloom, and rhododendron blooms the size of volleyballs.
Returned to Manitoba. It snowed yesterday. It snowed this morning. Everything is still brown. I feel like an extra two months of late winter, when we already have five months of winter, is an unreasonable imposition.
Having driven from Calgary (loved the Zoo), via Cranbrook and Creston (really lovely little town), we are now in Nelson. It's very sunny and getting hot! Spring is very much here, with so much blossom on the trees and little goose chicks by the side of the lake. Very different from Calgary a week ago, where trees were barely beginning to show leaves.
Glad you’re enjoying BC. The only time I was at the Calgary Zoo was after the major flood in 2013 - they were still recovering but I remember enjoying it even though only about half of it was open at the time.
We've had beautiful magnolias for the last week, but the frosts are starting to turn them brown. The 12° forecast for tomorrow is getting a bit too warm for me. The river is very low, so I hope this isn't a sign of another dry summer coming.
Still quite cool here but supposed to get much warmer starting on the weekend. Would be happier to have a few weeks in the teens before heading into the twenties…
We had one day of truly nice weather (Sunday) over the long weekend, with temps getting up in to the high teens. We observed it in the most Canadian May 24 way possible, by going up to open up the cabin for the season. By the end of the day it had gotten cold and we were cooking our inaugural hot dogs over the firepit in the rain wearing two hoodies each, but cabin season has more or less begun!
Happy Victoria Day! Warm today - like SPK this was our first air conditioning day.
Got out on my bike for the first time this year - decided to bike through the city rather than down by the lake as I figured I would have a lot of company down by the lake. Biked along some familiar streets, including one that was virtually unusuable last year because of construction. But they did improve the bike lanes at least.
Cool with torrential rain here today, and the heating came on. We had over 30° the other day so the garden is completely out of control. We've never seen the trees grow like this. The river is still very low, but maybe today will help.
For non Public Servants: Selection of Employees for Retention or Layoff. All employees of my classification in the Branch received the letter. Likely 3 or 4 positions will be cut.
For non Public Servants: Selection of Employees for Retention or Layoff. All employees of my classification in the Branch received the letter. Likely 3 or 4 positions will be cut.
Slightly alarmed we’ve gone quiet for almost a month. In case anyone is wondering, we’re still around, that large blob on the map that occupies roughly the north quarter of the western hemisphere.
It’s been cooler than usual here. Not really complaining, given how hot it’s been in recent summers. And with sympathy to those across the pond who seem to be having a different experience…
It's been more than hot enough here for some of us (i.e. above freezing) recently, and mercifully now back to the low 20s for a few days. The mix of relatively high temperatures and heavy rain means that we are living in a jungle with young trees growing faster than we've ever seen before, and the grass grows faster than we can mow it. The new air conditioning had a good workout last week - the only way to survive the humidity.
Comments
If you are interested, the GRCA has an excellent website with flow stats presented here: https://www.grandriver.ca/our-watershed/river-data/river-and-stream-flows/central-lower-grand-flows/. They are doing a good job in spite of efforts to cut their funding.
(The actual issue is that when they built the system way back when they installed turnbacks only every 8 stations or so, so shutting down one section of track for whatever reason shuts down several kilometres of track.)
One day the trees would be quite bare, and the next they'd be in full leaf, and the Wee Bitey Things would appear.
In other news, it’s actually kind of warm out today.
Listening to a two-disc set of piano variations - mostly by Beethoven and Mozart but also Schumann and some Webern thrown in too just to make sure everyone is paying attention. Pianist is Cédric Tiberghien who I hadn’t heard of before. Very likeable (well not sure about the Webern yet) and will be looking out for more.
I meant to mention - discovered through my CD that Schumann wrote a set of piano variations based on the slow movement theme in Beethoven’s seventh symphony. Who would have thought?
Yikes! Me, too.
I return tomorrow, after 4 months in Phoenix, and will be heading westbound on the 401/402 from Toronto. Hopefully rush hour will have eased up some by the time we hit the road.
Returned to Manitoba. It snowed yesterday. It snowed this morning. Everything is still brown. I feel like an extra two months of late winter, when we already have five months of winter, is an unreasonable imposition.
My first time in the Kootenays. Loving it!
Happy Victoria Day/May 2-4 to everyone.
Got out on my bike for the first time this year - decided to bike through the city rather than down by the lake as I figured I would have a lot of company down by the lake. Biked along some familiar streets, including one that was virtually unusuable last year because of construction. But they did improve the bike lanes at least.
Gotta love northerly latitudes!
For non Public Servants: Selection of Employees for Retention or Layoff. All employees of my classification in the Branch received the letter. Likely 3 or 4 positions will be cut.
🙏🕯❤️
It’s been cooler than usual here. Not really complaining, given how hot it’s been in recent summers. And with sympathy to those across the pond who seem to be having a different experience…