Picture Day - Manitoba

When most people think of Manitoba, if they think of it at all, it is thought of as a single stretch of flat boring land. Having travelled over a fair amount of this province I can tell you that it isn’t as boring as some would make it out to be, nor is it entirely flat. Although we didn’t drive through either Riding Mountain National Park or Duck Mountain Provincial Park (which is home to Manitoba’s tallest peak Baldy Mountain) you can see them rising in the distance along our drive.      

Narcisse Snake Pits - Picture Day

About an hours drive north of Winnipeg is a unique place called the Narcisse Snake Dens.  Each year tens of thousands of red sided garter snakes come out of their winter dens located here and for a few short weeks the ground is literally covered in them. Manitoba has a lot of limestone and as it turns out the subterranean caverns left behind as spring melt runs through the rock is the perfect place for these snakes to den in over the winter months.  No where else in the world that is home to such large numbers of these snakes and it is quite the sight to see.    

A Picture Day - Stonewall Quarry

Stonewall Quarry park just north of Winnipeg provides a great outdoor day.  Picnic in the grass around the small pond, walk through the hiking paths and climb mountains of limestone, search out fossils and explore what remains from it's days as a limestone quarry.  

Picture day

Mennonite Heritage Village in Steinbach, MB

Picture Day

La Salle River

Picture Day 16

Wind farm St. Joseph, MB 

What's the Buzz

Welcome to Winnipeg mosquito capital of Canada where you will find mosquitoes nearly large enough to carry off a small child. Mosquitoes scourge of summer, Manitoba’s provincial bird and all around pain in the ass. 

The worst mosquito problem has to be when one gets into the bedroom at night.  At about 1 am last night I woke up to the sound of a very distinct buzzing in my ear.  Sure enough one of the many blood sucking creatures which have recently begun to develop into swarms was buzzing around my head.  

You lie awake listening to it buzz past your ear over and over again just waiting for it to land so you can crush the bloody thing before it bites you.  Except they never seem to land when you want them too and there is no way you can fall asleep with it dive bombing your ear every ten seconds.

Turning on the light in no way helps as the second you turn it on the offending mosquito will disappear as thoroughly as if it did not exist in the first place. Only once you have given up on finding it turned the light out and found a comfortable position will it return.

Seeing as it is always the middle of the night when the dive bombing starts its quite likely to drift off only to hear the mosquito half asleep and finally crush it to find it had already bitten you and was full of blood which is now smeared across your cheek.

Getting up to wash the blood and insect bits smeared over your face off will fully wake up anyone so getting back to sleep is always a challenge.  The new bite will always itch worse than one gotten at any other time of day until thanks to one little bug you’ve spent half a night wide awake.

I leave you off with this little gem found in the town of Komarno, Mantioba(which means Mosquito in Ukrainian) where you will find the worlds largest mosquito.  P.S. the provincial bird in Manitoba is actually the great grey owl

I will be in the US next week and will not be posting back on the 25th

Picture Day #11

Lockport, Selkirk Manitoba

Picture Day #10

Train tracks east of Winnipeg

Flood 2011

Well this week has been all about the flood, water levels are still rising and a large number of homes and cottages are still at risk.  It is quite likely that my husband and I’s anniversary weekend will be spent helping sandbag.



Courtesy Manitobaphotos.com
Hwy 18 in Brandon, MB



This year is unlike any other as it is not the Red river but the Assiniboine river threatning to spill it's banks entirely. I do not recall, nor can anyone else I know recall, this level of flooding along the Assiniboine River.  It is being called a 1 in 300 year flood.  



Courtesy of Manitobaphotos.com
Assiniboine River - Brandon, MB



The cities and towns near Brandon and Portage La Prairie have already been forced to evacuate a number of homes and from pictures coming out of the region the water levels are incredibly high.

The province is proposing a risky intentional breach of the Assiniboine’s dike, so homes that weren’t expecting any problems are now suddenly at the highest risk.  The province knows this breach will flood some homes that weren’t expected to be at risk but it is considered a better alternative then ten times that number of homes, floating away in the case of an accidental breach.  

I understand the concept of sacrificing the few for the many but let us face it these things don’t always go as planned.  Trying to control this amount of water, about equal to the flow of Niagara Falls apparently, may not be so simple.  

The province obviously knows the results may not be as expected as they keep pushing the time line back in hopes that it won’t have to be done at all.  Currently the province says they will breach the dike Saturday morning releasing water from the Assiniboine River into farm land which will then make its way into the La Salle river basin.

De-stabilizing a dike that has stood for decades may have results they don’t intend and it is conceivable that they will not be able to control the water flow.  I realize at this point the province really doesn’t have many choices left the Portage Diversion is currently being pushed far beyond design capabilities and simply cannot handle more water nor can the bank of the Assiniboine River and the water is still rising.



Courtesy of Manitobaphotos.com
Portage River Diversion



The La Salle River has many communities, farmers and hutterite colonies along it’s winding path which are now in a panic to be protected. We do have friends along the La Salle River as well as my parents, any help we can give them we will. I’m hoping for the best but will be helping to prepare for the worst. My thoughts and prayers are with all those whose farms, towns and homes are at risk.

Picture Day 4

Oak Hammock Marsh

Picture Day-2 Espliende Riel

Flood of the Century

It is the time of year when people living in the red river valley turn their attention to the rivers in anticipation of what the years flooding will bring.  The predictions are quite high this year and everyone who was here for the flood of 1997 can’t help but be reminded of the days spent preparing for it.

Flooding is nothing new to the residents of Manitoba and our neighboring states of Minnesota and North Dakota but in 1997 we were all taken by surprise. Early flood predictions in 97 gave us some warning of what was to come but as the spring melt continued and the predictions were updated it became more and more dire. Then a blizzard hit at the beginning of April and the predictions surpassed all historical records. 

We watched in horror as our southern neighbors succumbed to flood waters.  Their dikes built for a predicted crest of 49ft gave way as the river continued to rise to an unprecedented level of 54.34 ft cresting on April 18th.  Fire broke out and Grand forks was devastated. Tens of thousands of people lost their homes and it became a national disaster area. It was the beginning of the worst flooding ever seen along the Red River.

We had a great deal of sympathy for our neighbors to the south but the thought on each Manitobans mind was the fact that we were next.  All that water pushing the river higher than it had ever been before was headed north.  Across Manitoba it renewed the people who had already come together to sandbag and support one another to push a little harder and to get the dikes built up higher and stronger. 

As the rivers crest came closer the communities and farms along the river were evacuated one by one to the considered safety of Winnipeg. Towns and homes were left in the hands of military personnel.  We couldn’t help but question if enough had been done, if we could have done more to guard against the rising waters and if the dikes would hold. In all 28,000 residents of southern Manitoba were sent from their homes to temporary lodging.

At this point Manitobans could do nothing but watch and wait.  We all prayed for the dikes to hold and for our homes to remain safe.  In the end the river damaged or destroyed 2500 homes and caused nearly 400 million dollars in damage.  The communities of St Agathe and Grande Point were completely inundated with flood waters and received the worst damage.

It is thanks to the array of dike systems and river diversions that Manitoba was so well prepared for 1997. It is estimated that without those existing protections and the millions of volunteer hours the damage would have been closer to 4 billion dollars.  I think Manitoba survived 1997 with an amazing sense of community and strength.  

The hours I spent alongside the thousands of other volunteers sandbagging and building dikes will never be forgotten.  It taught me what the strength of a community at large can accomplish, and that even when the river becomes a sea it can be turned aside.