Summer – At Last!

June 21st, 2011 Thomasso

OK, this year has been a dismal one for a prolonged winter/spring weather, so far, that just seemed to go on and on and on. Finally hitting the 20C mark for the first time since last October in the first week of June 2011, is just weird, and a sign that Mother nature can still rule our lives any time she wants. No wonder everyone was feeling so down in the dumps-I was too.

I hope we never have another spring and winter like this one for a long time! Anyway…

The summer Solstice has finally arrived. The longest day of the year for us folks in the Northern half of Planet Earth. It is a time for celebrations, BBQ, camping, getting out into nature, mosquitoes, and time to jump into the bathing suite for some splash-time. The ritual of observing the Solstice is a special becuase it is real, it marks time, and marks a turning point in all of us that we can enjoy the Earth around us for the next four months without the effects the cold and wet of the winter months. To wear shorts and a shirt, is sweet.

Today was a really go start for the summer season. It reached 21C, and remained only partly cloudy, and then cleared right up for the remainder of the afternoon into the evening. I wanted to go to the river and jump in, but it is still very high, and will probably flood in mid July, as it always does. I stayed at home and opened all the windows and enjoyed the breezes that flowed through the screens, filtering out the mosquitoes.

So, yay, summer has finally arrived! Yes! Hopefully we are good until, say, October? Oh wouldn’t that be nice?

Posted in Astronomy, Diatribe, Events, flood, General | 3 Comments »

The Results of my Tsunami Poll

May 6th, 2011 Thomasso

I just added up my data from the March 2011 poll I posted regarding the feelings that people had towards the readiness of British Columbia, and by people in general, about a possible disaster such as the Japanese tsunami earlier this year. I know for myself, I live in the possible tidal zone that could swallow up my home if a tsunami swept up our coast. Not surprisingly, all of you who took my poll felt that no matter where we stand today, we are screwed if such a disaster occurred here along our coast as it did in Japan.

Here is the question that I asked:

Do you think that the West coast of British Columbia is ready for the next “Big Earthquake,” in light of what happened in Japan? Could Vancouver cope with a disaster of that magnitude?

Clearly, with one hundred percent of you in agreement, we are not ready for a disaster of this type. I guess if we feel this way about the Government, and any NGO that is responsible for taking care of us, then it is of the utmost importance that we also prepare for ourselves.

I really wonder just how many people have emergency kits at the ready if, right now, a huge mega earthquake ripped through your city right now! And how long would your survival kit need to last?

Posted in Art, Criminology, Diatribe, flood, General, Photographs, Social economics | 3 Comments »

Funny Thing About Water…,

November 20th, 2009 Thomasso

I am at my saturation point with water, or rain, over here on the “Wet Coast.” We have had three pacific storms in the last week hitting the Fraser Valley, and there are rumours that we may see a bunch more for next week. When I compare daily entries in my journal from this time last year, we are shovelling snow, setting records for snow falls and low temperature, and here we are this year with weather that makes me want to wear shorts – but is still too cool for that.

The other side effect with these fall and winter storms are the winds. Last Monday I woke up with no power, and had to really watch the road when I drove into work becuase most of the traffic lights were out. People here still have  a hard time with the 4-way stop procedure at intersections. The pattern for wind-storms seems to be occurring mostly at night and early mornings, but fairly calm during the early afternoons.

Flooding locally is now an issue. I noticed that some of the little creeks and ponds along the countryside have swollen to little rivers and lakes. It is amazing to see a golf course completely submerged in water, and yet people are still golfing on them? Tards? I have seen it rain here before but not like this; however, what is different is that the flooding this time is caused from all the fallen leaves blocking ditches and storm drains. We are getting our usual 100mm to 200mm of rain, so nothing new there. But what happens when all those little rains drops have no where to go? Funny thing about water… .

Posted in Bitching about weather, flood, General, Humour, Photographs | Comments Off

Did Everyone Go Away for the Weekend?

May 16th, 2009 Thomasso

I was getting a little bored sitting around reading so I decided to phone a couple of friends to see what they were all up to, but all of them had gone out of town for the long weekend. This is bad. I feel jealous. The price I pay for my higher education—dealing with the homework issues–the shackles of my weekends.

Anyway, I took a long walk by the river this evening. I brought my trusty little Kodak camera with me so I could attempt to take a whole pile of sunset shots, but the walk was cut short because the pesky little blood-sucker flies are out. I have bites all up and down my arms and legs. Fortunately, I brought my jacket just as a precautionary measure because it looked like it could start to rain, but instead I put it on when it was baking hot out. I wasn’t the only one taking a walk with long sleeves on while the sun was out. I envy those who earlier on in the day could walk barefoot along the sand.

On my way back during my little walk I took this shot, below, that shows Billy Brown Road, looking West from off of Glover Road. The white structure in the middle is the seniors home for the “40s and up.” The green building on the right, if you notice, is actually sitting over on where the pavement and  sidewalk should be. I guess that will get taken down to make the road its rightful width very soon. That sand pile is where there might be some stores, as I heard that it was set for commercial usage. Maybe they’ll put in a big-box store! That would be interesting for Fort Langley.

It looks like summer could be here after all, for the West Coast at least. I heard on the news that Manitoba got snow today? I feel so sorry for those people—OK I don’t because it could have been us getting the white stuff here the way the weather has been so far this year. Now our worst nightmare is going to be what the spring run-off is going to be like. Perhaps a super flood will take place here in the Fraser valley for our June/July flood period? I hate flood warnings.

Great! A mosquito snuck inside my place. I’ll never sleep with that buzzing around biting me all night. Where’s the sticky-tape!

Posted in Bitching about weather, flood, General, Photographs, Video | Comments Off

A Tiny Seed of Indignation

January 10th, 2009 Thomasso

For the last three days there seems to be a calm since the two and a half weeks of Snowmegeden passed,  and everything seems to be looking on the up-and-up. I managed to get through the extreme weather event without loosing any of my commitments or responsibilities—until today.

Well, actually the series of problems started three weeks ago, I just did not know yet. First my textbooks never arrived when my classes started because they were being shipped from Ontario. From the huge amounts of snow, and then rain along the Western half of British Columbia, all the main highways were block by mud-slides and snow avalanches. I still do not have all my textbooks and my week two classes are next week. Next are my cheques from Revenue Canada and the Student Bursary I received for my volunteer work—those are stuck somewhere between here and Ottawa on the truck. I have been told that these deliveries are going to be delayed until the end of next week. I have already received my notice from the University that I will have a charge of $75.00 added to my account because of the lateness. I am depending on these monies as part of my budget. Then there is my vehicle which is now broken—probably an estimated cost of $400.00 to have it fixed.

With the bad weather now long passed, its effects still linger. Our roads are flooded and everything is saturated with rain. My mail box is stuffed with bills and the signs of the economic crunch is starting to really hit because of these delays. No one has money any more, and like me, are not going to give it up unless they then don’t have to.

Most of my problems are from the weather (Snowmegeden) that passed. I spent way too much on heat. I envy my friend with the wood fireplace regardless of the smoke and particulates that spew out of the chimney, he was warm. His costs were a third of what mine were from burning propane and electricity.

If there is one thing that these series of winter storms taught me is that no matter how hard we think we can become prepared or  be independent from the social infrastructure when it fails, we will succumb to it no matter how long we think we can hold out. It is dollars and cents, and how much each of use are willing to build safeguards to keep ourselves protected and safe from the elements. To the people of Chilliwack, BC who thought that the flooding of that magnitude was impossible, yet the prediction of snow pluged ditches and waterways on high ground would ever happen so land was developed with inefficient waterways, set new records and a state of disaster was issued.  Even here in Fort Langley we had to deal with localized flooding that never developed like this before. All of this cost us time, resources and money.

Tomorrow I am going to miss a days work because of a broken vehicle. Sure, I have tried calling on friends to bum a ride, but for everyone else it is the weekend, so no one is going anywhere. Transit here is a joke. None of the buses run regular routes on a Sundays that would get me even close to my work on a Sunday, and my start time. In fact, I would need to walk 5km just to get to work once the bus dropped me off. The poor excuse for a transit system in Fort Langley has nothing to do with the storms, only bad governments from the past and taxpayers who said no to it.

There, I had my vent. I feel a little bit better now, but I am still stressed. I am patting myself on the back however for at least being somewhat prepared for the winter onslaught, such as saving a little money for emergencies. And I know everything will smooth itself out with time, but waiting for that to happen seems to be where the most amount of stress comes form anyway. I am going to try and force myself to be happy!

Posted in Bitching about weather, Diatribe, flood, General, University classes | 3 Comments »

Let It Rain, Let It Rain, Let It Rain

December 27th, 2008 Thomasso

Talk about stark contrast from yesterday, with the fourth dump of snow in a week, now it is 3 C. and raining. This is what the other thing the Lower Mainland is famous for from its weather: what do you do with all that snow when we return back to regular weather forecasts? That’s right—localized flooding. Case in point, my driveway looks normal on top with all the snow and tire trenches leading up to the street, but as soon as you step on it you find yourself with a freezing soaker right up to your knee. I’m not kidding, it is that deep at the moment. I have a small lake for a driveway, and the water has no where to go because the storm drain is buried under the snow—and I can not find it.

I have to put in a great big thanks to my Mom. Thank you for the great gift(s). Scooby-Doo sits proudly on my couch by the front window on top of the throw-blanket. When I get my weekend I will phone you guys and get you up to date on what is going on around here.

I think I will spend some time shovelling. I need to dig some trenches for the water to drain before my home floats away or my landlord starts charging me moorage.  At least the fog looks neat; too bad photos suck when you take pictures of it.

Posted in Bitching about weather, flood, General | Comments Off

Update: Roll’n on the River

May 24th, 2008 Thomasso

Summer like weather has returned. Again, I walked over to the river to see how much more it went up, and, and, and, it seems to have risen a whole 30cm, (1 foot) in the last 48 hours since I was last there. With today being so hot, and if we get a few more days like this, I’m sure the water is going to go up a bit more. It has only stopped people from suntanning on the beach, the boaters are having the time of their lives on it as the brown gungy water is not scaring them away. There were two water-skiers when I left.

Now compare this photo with the one I took two days ago. Click Here, or scrole down two posts/entries to see the earilr photo of the same location.

[Added] Like the May 22, 2008 photos, I took them at High tide–slack, so today at 1:00pm, the tide was coming down from high tide at 11:45am. The tides seem to vary by about 30/25cm at this point along the river. Mission, BC (or Mission Bridge) is the tidal limit along the Fraser River, so I chose carefully when I take these photos.

The rest of Fort Langley is normal. Everyone, it seems, has decided to come over for a visit. The streets are full, the shops are bursting with people, and I saw a full scale wedding taking place. Yes, Fort Langley is the place to tie the knot! The poor bride, she did not seem to mind wearing a ten pound garment for the event in the glaring sun, thought the groom looked like he was going to passout.

In all, it was a very nice day.

Posted in flood, General, Photographs | Comments Off

The State of the Fraser River

May 21st, 2008 Thomasso

I am in awe at the dynamics of nature, how the weather changes from record breaking heat for mid May, to almost record rain falls in the same seven days. Equally so, the Fraser River is up to its near flood-like levels, although I’m not hearing that much about it from the media, someone must be looking at it. I guess the factors playing out up stream are not that much of a threat for the river to suddenly over flow it’s banks? Maybe when more hot weather comes along that will change.

So I decided to take some photos along the river just to see how far the water needs to go before there is a flood alert. The above image is the Brea Island entrance if you just came off from the Albion Ferry.

This image is looking across the tracks at the new Bedford Housing development, not to far from where I live. Note the distance that these homes are to the tracks–very noisy when the train blows it’s horn at the Glover Road crossing. But if you want to live in Fort Langley, it’s a small price–right!

The Fort Langley Rowing Club’s dock taken from the Bridge at Glover Road.

Why did I take this photo? Well, last summer the flood waters crested right at the top, or highest bar on the metal frame. Today, around 4:00pm, the water is only 2 1/2 feet or 50 cm from that point. I say we are getting close to that mark again?

Some rain damage from the night before.

That’s it for todays photo tour of my walk along the river in Fort Langley. I hope the rest of the week warms again becuase I sure was starting to get used to those two days we had last week of 30c weather. I can’t say we need the rain, but we got it anyways.

Posted in flood, General, Photographs | 5 Comments »

Growth & Grades: Langley & College

December 19th, 2007 Thomasso

Good afternoon everyone, I’m currently sitting in the student lounge at Kwantlen College waiting for the line up at the book store to thin out before I load up on textbooks for next semester, so I have some time to kill while I wait. [ADDED] I got my grades, I’m happy, except for the French class.

Anyway, I heard last night that Langley Township City council passed the Development Permit Application and gave the green light for the construction of the “70 unit four-storey apartment building and eight (8) townhouse units, between Billy Brown Road and the Fraser River.” Quoting the November 30, 2007 letter from Mark Naill, Senior Development Planner. I also heard that the meeting at city hall was “voiceful” as some residence complained about the “out of touch” building style of the project. I have the proposal in front of me, and, well everyone should have seen it coming?

Firstly, this is a residential development project. There is a housing demand and housing prices are still going through the roof, even with the US economy going sour, people here in British Columbia want housing, and for those who can afford it–they want a view! So should it surprise you that Fort Langley be the “choice” place to live? Everyone of my friends envies me because I live here. We have big trees, water front, HWY 1 access and semi-isolation from the rest of the Lower Mainland.

Second, People are worried about crime? Fort Langley has always had Its little crime problem. Should an additional increase in occupancy scare anyone? It’s going to happen no matter what, so dealing with more residence is all part of growth. As we increase with population, so does our need for dealing with the social influx–hey we can hire more police, civic and crime prevention staff.

Third, I always wonder if the buyers’ of these new condos know that they are building on a flood plain? They are only living about 3-4 metres above the water level, and that’s with the 1 metre increase in dyke level when the construction started. When I read the part about this new building having an underground parking lot, I laughed. Flooding is always a concern for me, and I’m 4 metres above ground level from the Bedford Canal.

I will see the building from my home. But I see it as something better than what I was looking at five years ago which was the old cedar wood mill that sat there before. It would have being nice if the land was a park or a farm, but with an economy like ours, money and growth go hand in hand. So seeing houses built there is not so bad because it could have just as easily being an industrial complex with factories pumping out smoke and making noise. Hey, we still have the Fort-to-Fort Trail!

Now if someone can only move the train tracks somewhere else?

Other Links: Jordan Batemen’s Blog Dec. 19, 2007, Langley Times Story: Dec. 19, 2007.

Posted in flood, General, Social economics, University classes | Comments Off

The Sun God leaving! No….

August 15th, 2007 Thomasso

Yup, it’s true, we are loosing our nice weather, as of tonight, and having it replaced with overcast greyness and showers, 60 percent chance throughout the rest of the week, till Sunday, according to the Weather-Office of Environment Canada. Oh how cruel it is as the Gods must be punishing us for whatever? I really want to head out for the weekend and do a road trip, or go camping, build a camp fire, roast some wieners over it, etc…, but, but in the rain–that’s not fare! Ho well….

Taken yesterday, a loan paddler pulls up to the Fort Langley Rowing Club’s dock after circling the McMillan Island.

You can see how high the water was during the July Flood. The bridge that joins Glover Road, to McMillan Island, connecting to the Albion Ferry–looking South.

I’m going to miss the Sun this weekend. I hope the weather office is way off on their dire, dismal, gloomy prediction of rain. Well, there is one more holiday that must have lots of sun in it, and that’s the Labour Day, Sept 3 holiday. That’s the big one. I’m expecting lots of outdoor stuff to do then. So, if it means suffering through a couple of bad weekends, then so-be-it….

Posted in Bitching about weather, flood, General | Comments Off