Summer Storms!

We got some crazy storms yesterday and overnight. I had spent the day at the office, with windows that make the outside light deceiving....until I saw someone come in the side door at lunch and it was DARK. Like night.

There was a fortuitous lull around the time I headed home, but flooded parking lots, tomato fields and one waterlogged vineyard were rather visible en route.

Later that night, the light show never stopped - lightning just kept flashing for a good six hours, like someone was flipping the lights on and off constantly. Thunder rumbled throughout, and the wind at times got pretty hairy as well!

Rain lashed the windows and metal roof all night, which was somewhat soothing.....unless one wondered how things would look by morning! We had a wet and angry/scared cat show up at 1am during a temporary lull, demanding admittance to the house.....and he's the one that hates coming in!

Luckily we never lost power, though there were quite a number of branches down around the willow tree and strewn an impressive distance around the property. A good portion of the property was visibly flooded with standing water, and our notoriously deep ditches were perilously full.

Unfortunately the rains also meant that our upcoming art show at a historic fort in Amherstburg would likely involve a long and hot slog dragging everything in by hand (or dolly) from the parking lot, rather than being to drive vehicles right onto the grounds and unpack as normal. 

We also cleverly booked our upcoming trip to start the day right after this three-day art show - not sure what we were thinking!?!?

Storms roll in by late morning

Terrible beauty

The aftermath - nearly filling our VERY deep ditches!

Lots of flooding around the yard - luckily none in the house!

Dave Daze

We brought Dave down for another visit before heading out for holidays, picking him up on our way back through from family visits in the Kingston area. It was also his first ride in the new Bronco, and he was very excited to see all the new gadgets and technology.

Being a mid-week visit rather than a weekend visit, I had to spend part of his visit at work. Jane and Dave spent some of this time working diligently on a 3D puzzle of the famous ship Santa Maria.

We also surprised him with a delicious selection of Jamaican food from Yardee Vibez in Chatham, including his favourite, oxtails.

We had been trying to get him out to the local flying club, but weather and other impediments had hindered our efforts thus far. Finally, the stars aligned and they were flying on a sunny Wednesday night. We made the short trip to a nearby farm and enjoyed watching several large model aircraft buzz around for a few hours.

While some of their planes were more advanced than Dave's older fleet, they were excited to have an OG model aircraft enthusiast in their midst - and visibly stunned at his three-digit membership number! 

After some great burgers on the back deck, they also pulled out a rather nice drone, and let Dave spend some time flying that high above the farm to round out a lovely evening with some really nice people.

After some playing with Pebbles, some local ice cream, a binge run of Seinfeld episodes and some quality time on the back deck, Jane took him home after a great four night visit.

Building a Boat!

Santa Maria, that's a nice ship!

Visiting with the Lake Erie Barnstormers!

Smoke Show!

A beautiful night for flying

Flying the Drone

Meanwhile, back at our place.....no room to fly here!

Hello Bucky Dent

We picked up our new car, a used 2021 Bronco Sport from Lally Ford in Tilbury. We saw it on their website and it wasn't even there yet when we went to look at it.....but ironically the random sales guy we got (Blaine) was the one bringing it in a few days later, when he delivered a new car to one of his regular customers. Turns out he's also a first cousin to the legendary Rankin family of Cape Breton music fame!

Say hello Bucky Dent - he's got some big shoes to fill on the heels of Best Car Ever, our gold 2013 Juke. Kudos to John on naming him, a play on Bucking Bronco coupled with an homage to the deer that led us to a new vehicle.

We chose carefully, based on measurements of specific items needed for art shows and the ability to fit them in the next car we got. In fact, we had already picked out the Bronco Sport as the likely candidate two years ago, but between not going anywhere anyway during COVID and then the spike in interest rates, we decided the Juke would continue to do just fine for the time being. Until a squirrely cervid decided otherwise.

Having not driven a new vehicle in ten years, it looks like we've got some new gadgets and technology to get used to! We also went with an automatic to mark the first car either of us have owned that wasn't a manual transmission. We figured we'll still be driving this when we're another ten years older, so maybe it was time for something a little bigger and a little nicer on the knees.

The colour is Area 51 - it's actually darker than it looks in some of the pictures.

Shifter Dial and an Infotainment Centre - what is this madness???

Beer Bottle Opener!