Dean and Selena: June 2013

Saturday, June 29, 2013

Meanwhile, On Lucky's Twitter Account....

@RobinsNest2013 Oh robin I can has you. Mark my meow. Oh I can has. pic.twitter.com/rqi5ZPSeN8
— onthelucky (@onthelucky) June 30, 2013

Downtown coming to life

After the hustle and bustle of the day we ended up back at the grounds to see the progress. This time the road that has been blocked off was open for the first time. So we drove closer to the down town area. We parked, and walked down to see how Eau Claire held up. When I watched the news last Friday I saw a raging river swallow Prince Island and Eauclaire. Today I was shocked to see it held up pretty well!

there were a few sink holes downtown, they are all cornered off. One we drove past when I looked down into it never seemed to end? This one is in front of Eau Claire.

the walkways around the park area are closed off, anything close to the water is blocked for safety reasons. Checking for sink holes and the thick mud caked paths are slippery and dangerous.

I hope this shows how deep these footprints really go. This is not normally a mud path, it's a cement path, with that much mud left over from the passing waters.

We are on the bridge in the park, and you can see how some of the banks are chewed away.

I wonder where this tree started out?

The lighting tonight was beautiful, makes it hard to believe that 7 days ago, this was covered in water, now all that's left in this area are the muddy footprints.

I'm not sure where these trailors started from, but we believe it was from the opposite side of the bridge. There is a stage sitting there surrounded by puddles.

You can see some standing water in the lower areas. And the River Cafe.... is literally a River Cafe. It is gone :-(

Here you can see how fast and powerful the water was raging over these small trees and shrubs.

A beautiful site to see.... Downtown has power!

Memorial Drive is not a river anymore. You can hear pumps, or generators? we weren't sure what the machine was, but it was running past midnight.

this was last week.

I guess this sign was left over from a running event that was supposed to happen along the Bow river.... so it seemed oddly out of place now, definitely the caution part holds true. The event set up.... not so much.

Haha these signs will be all over the city soon!!

so this is the grounds after midnight. The sound of the machinery and trucks was amazing, they are working non stop!

the power is on more than just the saddledome logo now.

I'm still amazed at the progress, I know the housing areas are still a disaster, and houses are being marked for demolition. It's a tough thing to watch the heartbreaking stories. It's also tough to hear all the heartwarming stories, Calgarians are amazing!! Slowly but surely the city is coming back from the deep.

this is us signing off... it was Dean's birthday, and it almost got lost in the chaos

.... so Happy Birthday Dean xo

Thursday, June 27, 2013

I 'm on facebook!!

No I didn't join the ever popular Facebook..... but my picture made it to facebook! I sent in my favorite pic of my umbrella man to CBC, and the hits are climbing on it, so I was curious as to why..... now I see, it's in editor's picks and they facebooked it ( a few scrolls down ) :-) how kewl is that?!

Here's the link to CBC

See you there Prime Minister Harper!

I admire the determination of the @calgarystampede organizers and look forward to participating again this year! #HellorHighWater
— Stephen Harper (@pmharper) June 25, 2013

Lucky Rocks Nap. Because Flood.

Say what you want about cats but nothing seems to get in the way of a good nap. Despite all the devastation happening in his province, Lucky buckles down, concentrates and does what he does best. And wins!

Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Wow Calgary!

We have sold almost 35,000 Hell or High Water t-shirts so far! Our printers are working hard to fulfill the orders. http://t.co/faMksxxbfq
— Calgary Stampede (@calgarystampede) June 26, 2013

Tuesday, June 25, 2013

Crazy Sky

Driving Home from the Stampede Grounds, we were leaving the rain behind.... but we were entering a very weird sky..... none of these are photoshopped or enhanced, that is the color of the sky, as it spit out rain, lightning and rainbows?

Come Hell or High Water

Last night we went to high ground where we could see the stampede grounds for ourselves. First of all it took awhile to find a route up, some roads are still blocked by police cars. We just kept winding around, and saw a very kewl sight.........

I'm not sure why, or when this was built, but it is so very kewl!!!

Then we found the perfect spot, it's like a look out spot, very pretty little spot. So this is what we saw last night, shocking! I couldn't believe my eyes how far they had come.... this was under water days ago!! They started pumping on Sunday! Monday, there was dry ground, and they were busy laying fresh dirt for the track!

Incredible amount of activity down there, this was about 9:00 at night too, and there was no signs of stopping!

Giant pile of mud, being spread around the track area,

Every type of machinery down there!

This scene baffled us? How in the world is there power at the Saddledome? and the only other light downtown.... the S on the Scotia Bank building?? What superpower does Scotia bank have??

The hustle and bustle of hard work!!!

Then we went back tonight to see the comparison, it was raining... ( like there could be MORE rain up there??) and this man was peacefully watching the work below, standing in the rain.... THIS is my favorite picture!!!

Below, they are working away in the rain.... again...... the pile of mud is bigger today, nothing is stopping the determined people below....

brought Maddie tonight so she could see the improvements!

The sky is churning....

and then the rainbow.....

Nicely Done Calgary Stampede!

In 24 hrs we have sold over 10,000 Hell or High Water t-shirts which will mean at least $100,000 for the @redcrosscanada Alberta Flood Fund.
— Calgary Stampede (@calgarystampede) June 25, 2013

A standing ovation to the Calgary Stampede for this brilliant idea. I would have thought they had enough to worry about themselves but they took the time to come up with this. Wow. We ordered ours last night!

Monday, June 24, 2013

You know you live in a great city when...

You know you live in a great city when, your Mayor asks for volunteers, hoping for 1000, expecting 600..... and 5000 people show up!! They posted the request at 1:45 am!! There is a whole web page of company's offering free services, anything from pumping out basements for free, wedding services for weddings that had to be postponed, to chiropractic help for sore backs. It makes you feel proud to be a Calgarian!

pumping out the saddledome.....

I can actually see "ground" in the grounds now!!!

This is a pic from this morning, there is a picture of a few days ago, water everywhere, nice to see the water receding!

The Zoo, it will be awhile before the island is dry, but the animals survived, we lost 2 peacocks that weren't found during the amazing evacuation to higher ground!

Shows how fast and hard the river was pushing stuff around.....

Now we are on the come back..... and clean up......

Saturday, June 22, 2013

In my defense

I was carving a heart with our initials in it :-)

Caught!

Evar invited us to karaoke tonight and we sat at a table where other past patrons had taken the opportunity to carve various things into the table. So Selena said when in Rome.. and she was caught on phone:

Staying afloat

It's very surreal to look outside my window, see the sun shining.... While all around us is chaos and heartache! The difference between us and New Orleans is - everyone was affected by the hurricane- there were signs of broken branches and debris all over the city, so even if you were out of the flood zone- you knew things had happened. Here, you could be sitting on your deck listening to the birds sing, completely oblivious.

Then you turn on the news... And see our beloved stampede grounds getting swallowed up, and where there were streets. It's a rushing river! Our zoo animals were moved to higher ground and the the rivers make the island smaller and smaller. Eau Clare is.... Where?? All I see are rapids?

Here are some pictures from different sources,