Axiom Home Page Forums General Discussion The Water Cooler Fun weekend with the Tropical Storm Noel

Well, post-Tropical Storm really but it still gusted up to120- 130km at times. No deaths that I heard of but lots of power outages from falling trees and power lines. We were lucky because when this was a hurricane down in the Caribbean it killed 143 people.

My own adventures included helping motor a buddies sail boat to a safer harbor prior to the storm & then watching the ensuing argument with the dock owner who didn't want any boats moored there. It was our only real option since there was trouble with the cradle and it couldn't be taken out of the water. The boat owner had to quote some Transport Canada regulations about not being able to deny any vessel safe harbor during a storm in order to get the guy to be reasonable.

Checked with him this morning. He and some regular crew stayed on the boat to watch the lines all night. Would have been quiet an evening. Ironically, the boat endured fine and when the winds finally settled a bit, they left to go get coffee & dry cloths and when they returned, the boat was vandalized. Wires cut, instruments stolen, seats tore, etc. I can't imagine the bitterness.

About two thirty in the morning we heard a crash so I slapped on the oil clothes and went outside. All good at my place but a large but older pine tree had fallen and was leaning on another tree. It was wavering, ready to fall off. Bad part was there was my neighbors cottage directly underneath. He is back living in Ottawa for the winter so at least he and his wife were not in danger inside.

Between me and my other neighbor, we rigged a snatch block (pulley) I use for stucks off roading, to a nearby, and hopefully mighty, oak tree. Climbing the oak tree about 15' high in the wind was fun to get the hight needed for the snatch block. We then used the 8000 lb winch on my Jeep to drag the tree back up while my neighbor pulled it sideways by hand to make it fall clear of the cottage.

In hind sight, none of this was a very smart operation and we probably should not have bothered but it seemed like what we had to do at the time.

Oh well, all makes for good stories if no one loses an eye.

Bitterness indeed! If this had happened in the U S and A, it would have made the 6 o'clock news after your buddies grabbed their guns and got their rightful vengeance.

My own less thrilling Noel story: on Thursday, the wife and I decided we needed a getaway and I booked a hotel in Virginia Beach. On Friday as we were packing, my mother-in-law called and said that we were going into a hurricane!

As suspected, the truth lied somewhere between her hyperbole and our ignorance of all things weather-related. A quick web check showed Noel to be several hundred miles off of Florida and tracking NNE. So in our hotel on Friday night, we heard a lot of wind, but the gusts were only 30-40 mph. Saturday morning was very gray and windy still, but the coast was clear (literally) by noon, and the rest of the weekend was fabulous.

Nolan (now 2 yrs, 3 months old!) in particular had a big time at the beach. It was cute on Thursday when we told him we were going to the beach and he said "BEACH!" loudly and went to the garage door, trying mightily to pull it open so as to get to the beach NOW! I forgot that "tomorrow" means nothing to a toddler.