In 1911 our grandfather came west from Ontario on a "harvester's special". He got off at Fort Walsh, where he found work as a cook and cowboy. We've lived in and loved Alberta ever since. Jewel of the Canadian West is an occasionally updated blog about Southwestern Alberta's people and places. The best corner of the best province in the best country in the world, I like to say. Welcome to The Jewel of The Canadian West!

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Snowed

It happened last night.  Life at altitude 4265 feet.  Sure, we were warned in advance by weather forecasters.  And it won't last long, this weekend is supposed to be downright hot (they say).  Out here we can get snow in any month of the year, which is still preferable to destructive weather events like hurricanes, tornadoes, typhoons, etc. other populations have to put up with.  We've been getting frosts at night for a couple of weeks now - so much so that my green-thumbed wife actually got tired of covering and uncovering her tomatoes and flowers night after night.  (She and I fully harvested any veggies that grow above ground last week.)  We also shipped out the heifers early for two reasons: first, they were eating as many leaves and apples off the trees as they were grass and, second, there's a bear in the vicinity competing for those same apples.  So autumn is officially here and - despite the inch of snow last night - I hope it is a long hot one.  This summer and last were both very wet; unusual for this neck of the woods where everything is usually parched by August (sometimes earlier).  We could use a nice long warm Indian Summer.  (Am I allowed to say that?)  There you go, off on a nice pastoral journey in your mind only to be jolted back to reality by political correctness.  Crap!