The Canada Day Celebration that Wasn't - Mother Nature had other Plans
View of Black Lake from the safety of the lower room as the first of a series of storms blew through the area starting in late afternoon We just spent the better part of two weeks with various members of our family at Erin and Justin's Black Lake retreat. We had a wonderful vacation, except for Canada Day when a line of nasty storms blew through the area on a track headed further east. Parts of west-end Ottawa were flooded out by historic levels of rainfall -- more than three inches of rain in less than four hours fell over the nation's capital. After an extremely wet June, facing an already high lake level, Black Lake rose four inches overnight causing the boat dock boards to submerge and then pull free of the frame as waves from the storm pulled the retaining bolts through the metal frame. Back-breaking labour aided by a windsurf board for extra leverage, allowed Justin, Charles and I to raise the dock by eight inch...