And life slowly retuns to normal for some of us

Moncton has lost 3 of our RCMP officers.  They will be laid to rest on Tuesday.  The two other RCMP members that were hurt, have been released from the hospital.  Friday we returned to work and spent the day talking about the events and trying to get real work done.  All of us took some time to visit the RCMP station less than a block away to visit the growing memorial that was started on the steps.

I'm glad they caught him, lets make him suffer for the rest of his life for what he has done to those poor men. 

I spent the weekend doing chores which was a nice opportunity to work and sweat without thinking too much. I'm a little on the fence about what to do with Chilly for our next show, we can show walk/trot again or move up to loping.  Personally I want to challenge us, however it is only her second show, and shes never had a bunch of horses in a class with her all loping at the same time, heck her biggest class last weekend had 3 horses in it.  Any thoughts?

Shit like this doesnt happen here

I live in the Maritimes, mass shootings just do not happen here.  Until last night.

An armed man started shooting last night in the city I work in. As of this morning he has killed 3 RCMP officers and seriously wounded 2 others.  The entire tri-city area has been shut down, and the 5 KM radius of where they think the shooter is has been locked down with people stuck in their or their friends basements. 

Thankfully no one else has been harmed since late last night, and with daylight it should make the manhunt a little easier/safer for the RCMP this morning.

I do have to say that I'm seriously proud of my city and the people in it.  People following directions from the RCMP, transport trucks have been donated to block city streets from a major trucking company, and major corporations shutting their door so that their employees can stay home and off the streets.

#prayformoncton

Storm part 3

Its bad when the weather network guys who have seen and been though everything get blown off camera.

A winter hurricane?

Yes ladies and gentlemen we are on the receiving end of a winter hurricane.  Predicted 40 cm of snow in less than 12 hours of storm.  The same conditions as a normal hurricane but instead of rain we will get snow.  How much fun is that!  Everything is closing, I got told to stay home from work.  (I bank overtime for issues like this).

Our office is located in the Purple zone, and most of the city is shutting down in preparation.  Our town's mayor made a statement to the public today that he wants all non essential businesses to think about closing by noon, and for everyone to stay off the roads.

On top of the winds and snow, we also have a storm surge warning.  In high tide (and we are at the point of the month where the tides are at their highest) this will mean that waves will be very high when they reach the shore and may cross roads (where they are located close to the water).  During the summer this could mean that you might have a wet lawn, washed away beach sand or part of your breakwater, and usually some driftwood on your lawn or over the roads.

However around here, our salt water freezes.  So about 1km out from shore in some areas is either solid ice, or large ice flows surround the shore.  This means that when the storm surge begins the ice floes will be pushed onto the land, and possibly destroy homes, cottages, and block roads. 

So now we wait.  Below is a picture of our driveway this am, I'll post an update later.

The Maritimes

34 reasons the maritimes is the best place on the planet

Via buzzfeed, however please not that Newfoundland is not part of the martimes, but is part of the Atlantic provinces. 

Although the pictures are great, these are of the 'tourist' areas.  There are even more beautiful locations around the maritimes that unless you get off the highways you will never see.

In related news, about a block from my downtown office is a tidal river.  Because it is attached to the Bay of Fundy there is what is called a tidal bore when the tide comes in.  Some surfers saw some video posted a while ago during a full moon and this week Moncton became surf city.  A couple of surfers each day surf the bore, accompanied by support crew.  Thousands show up each day downtown to cheer them on. Here is a story CBC did with an attached video.