Wheatley Explosion

August 26, 2021

So I was grilling some nice steaks on the back deck, in spite of the oppressive heat....and heard a rather loud boom. It turned out that after several evacuations this summer due to gas leaks in downtown Wheatley....things finally came to a head.

The main intersection had been shut down several times this summer, until increasing gas levels decreased to "acceptable" levels. Buildings to entire blocks have been evacuated each time, depending upon wind speed and direction. Apparently an old capped well under the village was leaking a pent-up pocket of hydrogen sulfide.....which exploded on roughly the same spot back in 1936!

Tonight, apparently the building that formerly housed The Pogue, our local pub, exploded. Luckily, the gas monitoring alarms went off about 4:45pm and the explosion happened around 6:15pm, so the immediate area had been evacuated by the fire department. Several buildings around there experienced significant damage, prompting a wider evacuation, followed by a steady stream of emergency response vehicles speeding past our place heading towards the village for the next hour or so.

Still waiting to hear the extent of injuries, hoping for no fatalities given the evacuation. Wheatley will not be the same for quite some time.

BEFORE - white pickup truck is company that monitors the gas levels

And AFTER

Same white pickup blown across the street towards what's left of Subway

Front window blown out of our local pharmacy

The new Wheatley Hotel and a pile of rubble next door

MJ's Pizza next door to the former Pogue

From the park across from The Legion

Drone footage of the destruction

Emergency crews on scene - triage at the Circle K 

Ambulances lined up along Talbot Trail

Talbot Trail (Hwy 3) and Erie Street - THE intersection that is Wheatley

Hmmm.....this happened on the same spot in 1936....

Out on the Tiles

Our neighbours decided this was the year to tile their 60-acre field that wraps around our property, which will hopefully alleviate some of the pooling water and dead spots in their crops.

We had front row seats for this fascinating feat - they did pretty much the whole field in just two days!

It's August Already?

Wow, this sucky year is really flying by....maybe that's a good thing? It's August already and suddenly closer to 2022!

We've been making lots of trips to Tillsonburg, while following as much of the Olympics as we can - Canada has done well and our women have done incredibly well, including today's gold medal effort from the women's soccer team with a thrilling sudden death shootout win over Sweden.

While sorting through some family mementos, we came across some of Jane's old Halloween costumes from her youth, which her dad fashioned out of styrofoam. She even made the local newspaper one year when she wore one of the costumes in a Canada Day parade!

We also made it down to eastern Ontario for some long overdue visits over the August long weekend, seeing some close family for the first time in a year (mother and stepfather) and a year and a half (sister and family).

In the time we have managed to spend at home, we squeezed in a few outdoor movies, cut the grass a few times, and watered a lot of green(ish) things - while preparing for what looks like the first art show in a year and a half.

Young Jane makes the local newspaper!

E.T. clean home?

Don't feed Mike after Midnight!

Interview with a Vampire

Notting Hill

Vegetarian Curry and Rice in the Solar Oven!

In a Pickle

The timing could have been more convenient, but the pickling cukes were ready in late July....so Jane picked up a hamper and set a day aside to throw together a bunch of jars of dill pickles. Her efforts will be savored through the winter!

Washing the cucumbers

Jars of pickled goodness!

I'm not a dillweed, YOU'RE a dillweed!