We All Need Water
We live in the Okanagan Valley of British Columbia. We are a vacation destination for much of our province, as well as all of those crazy Albertan tourists who have NO IDEA how to navigate roads that do not run in a straight line. (No offense to my Albertan friends. It's those other Albertans that have issues.)
Despite all of the moaning and groaning that I do about winter, it turns out that I may have even bigger issues to stress about. While we do get snow (and I do complain bitterly about it) our snow pack is at an all-time low. Add to this fact that we are at the northern tip of a desert that runs straight through to California and it is an understatement to say that we are in very dry conditions. The fire risk around here has been set to EXTREMELY HIGH.
I can attest to that fact, for last week I was driving into town (we live in the sticks) to go to the gym and saw a cloud of billowing smoke in the forest. There were two fire trucks on the scene, and as I drove further I saw two more trucks on their way. The fire was put out quickly (Thankfully), but fires make me a little more scared than most.
Four summers ago we experienced a house fire. The power had gone out so we placed tea lights in our two sons' rooms as night lights. Shortly thereafter we heard a loud bang in the room of our one-year-old. We ran to his room and he was sitting calmly in his crib. With the window a mere three feet from him engulfed in flames. We grabbed him, then grabbed his brother next door and fled into the night.
It's been four years but just thinking about that night brings me to tears. My baby had been so close to danger. We do not have fire service where we live (A WHOPPING TEN MINUTES FROM TOWN), so my husband and our neighbours fought our house fire with a garden hose and buckets of water. The next day, both the insurance adjuster and restoration guy told us that it was a miracle that our house had not burnt to the ground. Had the garden hose been any smaller, or the attack on the fire stared mere minutes later...all would have been lost.
As it was, we lost one IKEA chair and a baby quilt. Nothing, in the scheme of things. And if my house had burned to the ground? I would not have cared. For as I carried my boys on my hips I knew that as long as we were safe, nothing else mattered.
I really could go on about this (AND I DO), but the whole reason for telling the story here, today, is to tell you that we paid money for a big truck full of water to fill our above-ground pool.
In addition to the HEAT (We average in the mid to high 30's (Celsius) from now until September, and sometimes into the 40's (KILL ME NOW)) we have the fear of fire over here.
There are some serious lack-of-water issues here in the Okanagan. Last summer, we uncapped a well on our property from back-in-the-day, but even that would not supply enough water to fill the pool.
Yes, we can go to the lake to cool off. No, we do not need a pool. But it is nice to not have to drive to the lake. It is also comforting to know that in the event of another fire (house or forest), that we have a reservoir of water (and a stellar pump) to help keep us safe.
I need it. It's like a security blanket. A wet blanket, but not in the usual sense.
Original Canada Moms Blog Post. Angella Dykstra also writes at her personal site Dutch Blitz when she is not spewing her words elsewhere on the Internet (See also: Twitter).
