Kimler Adventure Pages (http://randsco.com)

April 19th - Vancouver Island gets blanketed by a foot of late spring snow. Scott's called out to the North Cedar Fire Hall. A power outage affects over 20,000 customers across central Vancouver Island! What a day, eh?

April 19th - Power Outage & A Crazy Foot of Snow dumped on Vancouver Island

Late April "No-way-Man"! An unhappy Vancouver Island snowman, holding spring flowers.

Note: Happy snowman blatantly stolen from Shaun at travbuddy.com and photo-shopped to be unhappy by yours truly. The unhappy snowman represents this author's sentiment at such a late snow dump and is not a reflection on Shaun, who is a known maker of happy snowmen. Shaun even won a "Happy Happy Happy" award at travbuddy.com, for his contributions!

Has the old man spat his last winter's gasp? Most everyone around Nanaimo is hoping so. Many residents on Vancouver Island woke up Saturday morning to nearly a foot of snow and darkness, as much of the mid-island was without power.

Temporary Craziness: Today's temperature map shows how western Canada seems to be stuck in winter, while eastern and much of central Canada is enjoying the spring we should be having. "It's not fair!" Bawahaha!

Geez. What's up with this crazy weather? Isn't Vancouver Island supposed to have the the most temperate climate in all of Canada? Here we get this huge, late dumping of snow (plus the cold temperatures to go along with it) and many of the eastern Provinces are enjoying unseasonably warm weather!

Go figure.

For more about this crazy day, including pictures and an early morning ride with Alex to the North Cedar Fire Hall, to put the chains on the fire trucks ... read on ....

In the Dark

North Cedar Fire Hall: Before the snow-plow came, I snapped this picture of the back of the fire hall. The bay doors were opened so that the trucks could be moved forward, facilitating the application of the dual-tire chains. The large diesel generator (behind the yellow poles on the right) provided power to the station, while the electric service is down.

Rachel noted the power went out at 5:40 AM. Why? Because she was due to wake up and get ready for work.

Of course, because we're on well water, a power outage means "no water". She couldn't even drain the hot water from the (electric) water heater with a morning shower.

Strapping on the Chains: Percy Tipping adjusts the tire chains on Engine 1, our primary fire engine. Putting these large, dual-tire chains on the trucks is no light-weight task! It was a good training session for many, as we don't put them on often - winter weather on Vancouver Island is generally very mild.

She dressed, fixed a cold breakfast using a head-lamp for light and headed for work in our 25-year-old, front-wheel drive Honda Accord. She figured that the roads would improve as she neared the main arteries.

They didn't. Apparently, the very late (April 19th) snow dump caught the city unprepared; the roads weren't plowed.

Her normal 25-minute commute turned into a 45-minute ordeal. She spun sideways in the roadway twice: Once on the hill down from the Cranberry Arms pub; and again on near the stoplight at the bottom of Nicol Street, near Port Place Mall.

The snow was deep enough in places that the Honda was plowing as much snow as it was driving over. Even the main arteries still had snow, in large clumps, making for a very bumpy and nerve-wracking commute. She said that by the time she arrived at the hospital, she was nearly in tears.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Scott languished in bed, since no power meant no computer and it's hard to work on websites without a computer! (Well, we do have a generator, so that's really not a very good excuse. Mainly, he stayed in bed because it was warmer than any of the other alternatives.

Alex was wake, playing in her pajamas, in her semi-dark room. I could tell she was playing because I heard chirping and loud thunking noises. (For some reason, Alex can't seem to play without rearranging all the furniture in her room - hence the loud thunking sounds!)

Call to the Hall

Yellow Point Road: Picture out the front windshield, driving back from the North Cedar Fire Hall, with Alex, at about 10 AM. The roadway was already much more drivable and by mid-afternoon, after the sun came out and began to melt the snow, the road was completely cleared of the white stuff.

The fire hall pager went off at around 8 AM, calling people to the hall to put chains on the trucks. I rounded up the Oop, put "the beast" into 4-wheel drive and headed out onto the roadway. Ruts had already been formed by previous weekend warriors (and poor slobs like Rachel, who had to go to work on such a frightful day). Unfortunately, the ruts weren't necessarily on the correct side of the median - and in some places - they shared a rut. Having only three tire ruts on a rural road isn't very safe for opposing traffic! (Tad like playing "chicken" in the snow).

The beast is great for snow-driving and I took it upon myself to correct the ruts, where I could, for drivers coming behind me.

I could easily see where cars had spun out on the roadway and around Zuiderzee Campgrounds, I came up upon a small, rear-wheel drive pickup truck that was fishtailing wildly. (I passed after he went sideways and came to a stop, half on the road and half off. He beckened to me to pass and "the beast" crossed the tall snow ruts and back, without issue. The last image I had of this fellow was in my rearview mirror. He was on the road again, slowly fishtailing his way forward.)

Why don't people just stay at home?

At the North Cedar Fire Hall, the snow was about a foot deep (it went over the top of my snow boots). There were about ten firefighters there and it took us the better part of two hours to put chains on Engine 1, Engine 7, Rescue 1 and Tender 6. At one point, we were asked to go push a car, which had spun sideways, only yards down the road from the Hall.

Robbee, the wife of a 20-year veteran, also came to the hall, along with their small Pug dog named "Puddy". Alex played with Puddy, the assortment of small toy fire trucks and watched television in the mess room. (The hall has a large electric generator that automatically kicks in when the power goes down, so we had all the amenities - toilets, television, cooking, heating, etc - unlike home).

Robbee watched after Alex and fixed everyone a great pancake breakfast, which we ate after putting on the chains. (Alex was having a great time and said we should come down to the hall for breakfast, more often!)

Plowing the Tarmac: This little, joystick-driven, Caterpillar 247B was used to clear the snow from the parking lot and front cement apron. The rubberized tracks don't damage the asphalt and the thing can turn on a dime. (It would be fun to play with one of these $30k machines, some day!)

Around 10 AM, we all dispersed and headed home. By then, the roads were already clear of snow and much more drivable. By late afternoon, most of the snow on the road, had melted. It turned out to be a really fine, sunny day and melt water came off the roof in sheets.

Electricity wasn't restored to our area until just after 2 PM and some of the 20,000 or so affected customers, didn't get their power back till after 4 PM, so we considered ourselves lucky. (Mind you, when I returned home, I did fire up the generator ... so Alex could watch some of her beloved television and I could communicate with the outside world, via my ADSL Internet connection).

In the end, putting chains on the trucks turned out to be an insurance policy, as we didn't have any emergency call-outs. It was a good training session for me, because I'd never wrapped such large chains on dual-wheeled vehicles (definitely NOT a one-man job)! Alex enjoyed her fire hall time, wolfing down two helpings of pancakes and batting her eyelashes at all the firemen. She asked to put her name on the sign-in sheet, so I wrote it down and she scrawled in A - L - E - X (the last letter looking a tad more like a + than an x)!

We're hoping the crazy weather is behind us, as it's nearly May and spring is past due on Vancouver Island. The hummingbirds are back, the Robins are back, there are trillium and Calypso orchid flowers out ... all the signs of spring ... except the warmer weather. (Two days, so far, is all we've had). C'mon spring!! Bring it on!!