Snow Storm on the Sunshine Coast

We just survived our first AND second winter storm (and we don't even have winter yet) with a whole lot of rain at first and now with a LOT of snow!! and heavy winds.

The coast has been without power for a few days and I am again very thankful for our wood stove. It is kind of cozy, the storm howling, the rain hammering on the roof and on the walls and the ocean crashing on the cliff that you can feel it reverberating through the whole house. Candles and flashlights help us find our ways through the house and we make coffee and food the old way on the stove. We also had no Internet, no e-mail, no phone. Very peaceful without it. (Twitch!)

Whenever our weather forecast says, "light rain" or "light flurries" expected in the next few days' we tie everything up, when they forecast "rain" or "snow" we know that we are in for a heavy thumping. I have never seen "heavy rain" in the forecast, if it ever happens we are probably done for.

Sometime during the storm we got visited by a big, unnaturally cunning and ntelligent rat that has taken up residence somewhere within the walls. This rat is able to eat the bait out of a trap without activating it (I kid you not) and when we added glue traps and it got caught on it, it chewed it's own tail off to escape. Now it is even harder to catch, without tail and all. It comes only out in deep night to forage around the house, during the day (especially early mornings) it runs noisy marathons through the walls. Very annoying. Whenever it dares to show up and the dogs see or smell it, they are after the rat like a whirlwind, yet because of their size they can not outmaneuver it. Makes for great entertainment, especially when you can't see anything due to no power and you can only hear trashing and crashing and howling and all kind of monumental noises (by the dogs, not the rat, it's not THAT big).

Well, at least the bears finally decided to go into hibernation. The dogs had a VERY CLOSE encounter with one VERY BIG fellow one night when we let them out to do their thing.

I wish you all a good time, take it easy and be thankful for what you have.

Cheers,
Birgit Jurock

P.S. It is a BLESSING to be able to work from home, I tell you, especially when you are snowed in. So if you haven't been serious and started working your biz - do it now. Build it. It's for your family, for your future. If you do not know where and how to start, shoot me an email, call me and we'll talk. I'll be glad to help you.