She will be missed

She was ojnly 22 months old.

We had to put Ophelia down today due to an injury to her right hind leg. We are not sure how it happened, but it was clear that it was an injury from which she would not recover. She had bisected the superficial deep digital flexor tendon as well as the deep digital flexor tendon and incised the skin through to the periostium. After discussion with the vet, Nancy, and the barn owners it became clear that she was not likely to recover from this injury. In short, it would likely be a long hard road and she would not ever be able to be ridden or worked in any way. With this in mind we made the decision to have her put down. It was a hard decision, but it was the right decision. In the end, being a horse owner means that you often have to make the very hard decisions and do what is right by the horse.

Ophelia was a lovely horse and she has taught us all so very much over her very short life. She was the first, and I dare say the only, foal that we had from Olivia. She was the product of a breeding of Olivia and Bergamon. She had lovely movement and loved to jump, going out of her way to jump things even if they could have been walked across. She taught me to be a better person, and taught me how to put my energy and emotions in check in order to better serve the hose at hand. As horses go she was a very special horse, always full of energy and full of herself. She was a horse with a very big personality and that personality touched everyone who worked with her. She was an extraverted horse and that made her very tough in some respects. She was a constant challenge and tested the boundaries at every turn. If she was thinking something you knew it immediately since there was no filter between what she was thinking and what she was doing.

She will be missed more than words can express. Born January 16th 2005, died November 26th 2008.
Ophelia Viedo
Ophelia Photos

Oh, the weather outside is frightful......

The furnace is so delightful..

and since we really can’t go,

best take photos of the very big snow.

(sung to the tune of "Let it snow")

Day: Snow at times heavy and blowing snow ending near noon then cloudy with 60 percent chance of flurries or rain showers. Snowfall amount 10 to 20 cm. Wind northeast 40 km/h gusting to 60 becoming north 60 gusting to 90 early this morning then northwest 30 gusting to 50 this afternoon. High plus 3.
Night: Flurries. Amount 2 to 4 cm. Local blowing snow. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50 increasing to 50 gusting to 80 this evening. Low minus 6.

It was interesting to listen to the subtle change in the nomenclature used by the weather forecasters in describing the upcoming (now present) storm. As you recall (see prior post) the weather office had mentioned flurries in the forecast that resulted in a snowfall of roughly 5 cm. In the description of this storm, they substituted the word snow in place of flurries. It no longer read a 60% chance of flurries overnight. It now read snow overnight. That makes me wonder…If we got 5 cm when the forecast said flurries, how much would fall when they say ‘snow’.

The snow is definitely blowing, but I can still see the house across the street, as well as the plow that comes down the street. What I can no longer see is the individual wood stacked in the pile out in front of the house. Likewise, when the dogs go outdoors, I can no longer see Isobel (our Cavalier King Charles Spaniel) when she hits the drift coming back inside.

Since we have no place to go, we will sit and enjoy the snow. This naturally brings up the question of what do you do with your time on ‘snow days’. In order to understand the answer there are a few things that are worth remembering about how we spend our days in general. First and foremost is that we do not have access to broadcast television. That’s right, we do not have “TV” in our house. That is not to say that we do not have a television, after all, we love to watch movies and Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings is especially good on the big screen. What we lack is a connection to the broadcast television world. We do not own cable (it does not come down our road anyway), we did not purchase a Direct Way dish, and we do not have rabbit ears (that would be external television antennas to the under 30 crowd). Now I realize that the thought of being without television is an anathema to some, but it suits us well, and it frees up our time to do other things that we enjoy. Needless to say, we listen to more radio than I would wager many folks do, and we certainly read. As well, since we cannot find the kind of bread we really like we make it ourselves (roughly two loaves a week). Nancy spends many of her days at the stables so there is not a lot of time on those days for around the house sort of stuff, and that tends to get put off until the weather prevents us from going outside. As for me, since I am new to the Canadian health care system, I have a significant amount of reading to plow through as I get accustom to the different recommendations from the Canadian Preventative Task Force. So, all in all our days are far too full to be spent watching television.

As for today, the most important activity is to capture some video of the storm as well as some photos for all our friends in warm places so you can have a little bit of Canada in your lives.

The snow blows hard here

Tonight
Periods of snow and local blowing snow ending this evening then cloudy with 60 percent chance of flurries. Amount 5 to 10 cm. Wind north 40 km/h gusting to 60 except gusting to 80 along the coast early this evening. Wind becoming northwest 30 gusting to 50 this evening. Low zero.

Tomorrow
Day: Cloudy with 60 percent chance of flurries. Wind northwest 30 km/h gusting to 50. High plus 1.
Night: Cloudy with 40 percent chance of flurries. Wind west 20 km/h. Low minus 4.


Well, they mean every bit of that forecast. The snow was blowing hard from the northwest making travel from the southeast a pretty tough slog. Nancy had a sudden re-introduction to the driving skill set that she developed while in Utah. The highway from Summerside in the southeast to O’Leary in the northwest was a bit of a nasty run tonight. There were several accidents along the road and the RCMP (Royal Canadian Mounted Police) warned islanders to stay off the road tonight because it was treacherous. Mind you that is Canadian Highway Patrol telling the Canadians to stay home.

Well, the problem for Nancy is much like that of the pilot. You do not have to take off, but you have to land, and so she had to get back home once she started down the road (since the road is essentially deserted). She traveled cautiously and what normally takes 45 minutes took 1.5 hours as she headed home. It is amazing how quickly the driving in snow thing returns to you, and how quickly you remember that you dislike blowing snow, and that is the biggest problem we have had today. The blowing snow is being fueled by the 40 km/h winds and it making some beautiful drifts in the yard around the house. It also makes vision difficult when you are driving into it, and memory of the road becomes your most important asset. In fact, the snow was blowing hard enough that I drove past our house and had to double back to find the driveway.

So, we officially have our first real storm. It is an interesting time, the wind is howling around the edges of the house, and the snow drifts are mounting in the front yard. Pictures will follow soon. If you want to have a look at the roads in the area, follow these links to see the Elmsdale road camera which is 10 minutes from the house.