Snow in April II

Guess what?? That nasty snowfall we woke up to on Saturday morning.....melted....quickly! These are some photos of the yard on the same day, at about 3 in the afternoon.

***Winter in April***

Our front yard yesterday.



Our front yard today! :(







I am NOT impressed!!




Those poor little delicate buds! I like the light dusting of snow on the bud.



No drinks here today..sorry little guys!











The cedar hedging....blanketed in snow.



The Azalea tree....no pretty blazing orange blooms for awhile yet.


The poor magnolia tree...I was going to take a photo of it today in all it's glory...fully blooming...oops! should have done it yesterday.

Walking in snake country

My daughter and I headed out for a walk last saturday morning. I took the dog along with us. We were walking along the river channel, it's a favourite for her...she's a retriever so loves to play in and around the water...as does Janelle!

Here are a few pictures from the walk.


Goldie (aka Fat Dog heeheehee)


A beaver pond




A rim in the creek. I thought I was being all artsy fartsy with this one until Lindsay asked me why I was taking pictures of garbage?!! sheeesh.


Then we found this guy! Yikes!! I wasn't sure what he was until I got home and googled him...



It looks very much like a rattlesnake, but as it turned out it was actually a harmless gopher/bull snake. A type of constrictor I guess. Lindsay is now informing me that of course it's a constrictor--how else would it kill it's prey?? (me)Well....I don't know....I thought maybe it bit it's prey to death....oh dear... guess I just never thought about it before. She's now rolling on the floor in great fits of laughter. :-S



Can you pick out the snake in the picture below...I wanted to show the length of it so it's a bit far away and hard to see.





It was morning when we were out there. The snake was laying in the sun warming itself. Apparently they kind of "freeze" up at night since they are cold blooded. After about 30 minutes of us watching him, he very slowly slithered under the rocks. So off we went and continued our walk.


The snake's head.











On our way back we stopped to see if the snake was still at the same place. It was gone but this little guy was in his place. This is just a common garter snake. I won't be so quick to climb around on rocks to take pictures anymore...at least not without having a real good look first!!

I Got a Camera!!! yaaay!

I'm so glad I finally got a camera. I've been without one for many years. Which makes me very sad, since we've missed MANY photo opportunities with the kids these last several growing up years. :(

I got a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H3. It is last years model, so I got a great deal on it. I ended up paying about $100 for it. It's brand new, but it is last years model and was the last one in the store. It was on sale for $300. The salesman then threw in a $30 bag, a $75 memory card and also took off $100!! It was a super deal.

We had dropped into C*ostco to visit my brother, who manages their hearing aid department. He came outside and ate lunch with the kids and I and then wandered over to the electronics store nearby.
My brother, Tom, has been looking into cameras lately so was able to tell me that this is an excellent camera and well worth the cost at $300! So it was exciting to be able to walk out with such a good deal in hand!.



The camera had a VERY good review with one minor, slightly negative comment. In many ways it is very comparable to an SLR! It has 'super steady shot'...very good for shaky me..it has 10X optical zoom and 8.1 mega pixels! One other good feature is that it is powered by a lithium rechargeable battery! I did NOT want a camera that required AA batteries. The camera also included a charger for the battery.

Fire Aftermath

I took the pictures too late in the day so they are rather dark. This top photo has cloud hovering over it, not smoke.


Playing with the camera.




This is a shot of the side that was four floors tall before the fire...one floor left.


I'm afraid that the targeted opening date will no longer be feasible.




Now THAT is why they make concrete fire walls mandatory in the building code!!











The fire department did an awesome job!! This building was no more than 30 feet from the burning building!! Way to go guys!!!



Playing with the new camera. :)












They caught 3 teens within a very short time. I believe they were in the crowd watching the fire. As awful as it is for these kids to do such a terrible thing, I feel bad for them. They're crying out for help in a very bad way. I could not imagine the heartbreak of being these kids parents.

There are many people whose lives have been disrupted by this fire. I personally know one family affected. Their parents have been living apart in different facilities because they have different levels of care needed. They've both been heartbroken to be apart after 50 something years of marriage and then being separated. They now will have to wait longer until they can be together again.
PS
If you're here because I sent you an email please leave a comment and let me know you were here!! thx~Heather

FIRE!!!

This truck is spraying water on the fire right behind the Safe*way store. It looks like they may actually be spraying the store down rather than just the building on fire...not sure though.


Yesterday afternoon a fire broke out at a neighbouring retirement complex. It was devastating.
The complex wasn't finished yet so there were no residents in danger but the shopping center next door was very much in danger of being burned to the ground, as you can see in some of the pictures! The little strip mall was evacuated as well as adjacent neighbours. We could see these building from our livingroom windows but it was far enough away(about 2 blocks) that we weren't in any danger.

The fire department was at a fire about 2 blocks away when they were called to
this fire. It is looking very suspicious...and the rumour mill tells me that they have two youths in custody. Blogger is being annoying now and won't let me post more pictures. I have one from the front of the grocery store...it's an amazing sight! It looks like the store is on fire because the flames behind it are 3 or 4 times the height of the store!It finally let me post the other pictures! but -they're really small.




*******I CANNOT TAKE CREDIT FOR THE PHOTOS. I FOUND THEM ON A LOCAL NEWS WEBSITE.*******