A Little Rain Event

AN UPDATE: What I have called "A Little Rain Event" has continued into the third day here at Dogpound North and the communities surrounding us. I guess that will necessitate me upgrading it to a more serious rain event.

Like everyone else we have been watching the coverage on TV as well as using the internet to keep track of family and friends who are more exposed to the floodwaters than we are here. Many small towns in South Western Alberta as well as the cities of Calgary, Lethbridge, and Red Deer are undergoing evacuations in areas nearest to the waterways. Not unexpectedly for this area, most of the evacuees are heading to family and friends places and the internet it full of folks offering refuge to anyone who needs it for themselves or their animals. Like others we have made what wet and muddy space we have available here at Dogpound North to anyone who needs it.

As for our newest family members, the Bow Valley SPCA reports that they are warm and dry and well cared for at their facility and will be until the highways reopen and we are able to make our way up to retrieve them.

I can't resist cautioning local readers about heading out to have a look for yourself. The Emergency Services personnel have a lot of things on their minds and the less time they have to worry about doing crowd control and keeping bystanders safe the more time they have to do their real duties.

Unlike down near Dogpound South in Arizona, where there are some large forest fires raging around, here at Dogpound North we are hunkered down watching the rain come down. It has been almost a month since the rains came, and up to yesterday here at the farm we have had about 7 inches. Sounds like enough doesn't it, well I guess not because since last night we have gotten another 2 inches here at Dogpound North, and to the west of us in the foothills and front ranges of the Rocky Mountains they have gotten a lot more. Out around Banff and neighbouring Canmore there are some major flood events happening. The Trans-Canada Highway is closed east of Canmore and west of Banff so it should be a quiet time in those two tourist towns today. We have a lot of friends living out there and it sounds like a lot of flooding going on and it might be a while till the roads open. Not normally a problem for us but yesterday we ran up to Canmore to visit the SPCA to see a Border Collie dog that might be a potential new friend for us.

Maya

Well she seemed perfect and while we were there she let us in on a little secret. When she was surrendered to the shelter she came in with a friend. They have been together for almost their whole lifes and it seemed a shame to separate them. One little problem was the other dog had been spoken for by some other folks. But the people at the shelter really didn't want to see them split up so they called the other folks and told them about this couple who live on a farm and were willing to take both of them as a pair. Those other folks agreed and soon we had an agreement to add them both to our menagerie here at Dogpound North.

Max

Max actually looks much bigger in this photo than he is in real life. He is some kind of Lab Beagle? cross and has quite the personality. The Bow Valley SPCA has a great policy that means after you adopt your new buddies you are not allowed to take them home for 24 hours, just in case you change your mind I guess.

Good idea I guess, unless you are heading into a major rain event. We were set to head up this morning to pick up our new companions and then along came the rain and the highway closures. So for the time being we are out here and they are still at the shelter. The folks called us and told us that although things were a little exciting out there they did manage to get someone over to the place to feed and walk the critters so all was well and we will try again tomorrow. Hopefully we have better luck then and can effect a successful rescue operation.

Maya and Max waiting for the flood waters to recede and that nice lady to come back and take us home