Bragg Creek River Change

It has been 18 days since the flooding of Bragg Creek. The small hamlet of Bragg Creek was completely flooded and the course of the river has changed. The creek that ran beneath the bridge used to be rather small with the main channel running along the south side under the bridge where there were some nice deep fishing holes. With the flood the deep holes have been changed into gravel beds that empty into a new deep channel on the opposite north side of the river when one looks north eastward from the bridge.  If you look to the west where the river approaches the bridge, you will see that the river in overflowing its banks carved out a large swath of the existing highway around the bend in the river.  About a quarter of a mile of highway was washed away, including the old shell gas station, and the attached community store and residence of the owner. Currently, the creek sitll looks like a raging river. At its peak the water in the creek was flowing only a couple of feet beneath the bridge which is normally  forty feet above the normal water level. This was one of several creeks that were overflowing that emptied into the Bow and Elbow rivers.

Hot Weather in Calgary

All this week the temperature is 30 degrees Celcius. The Stampede Parade will go on as scheduled this Friday.  The Bow River is still high but is thirty feet below the river bank. It is incredible to think the river could rise so high in such a short time. Just over a week ago the the banks of the Bow where this picture was taken overflowed into China town.  The Midway on the Stampede grounds is going up quickly. Grounds crews are working around the clock. Machinery is everywhere, booths are being towed into place and giant cranes are setting up the rides. You would nver know that this area had been flooded. When the Bow overflowed its banks it was not just in one isolated spot but the length of the entire of the Bow River from Bowness , the downtown core, the Calgary Zoo, the Stampede Grounds, Inglewood and Bonny brook. The Bow River winds and loops from west to east through Calgary and eventually flows south towards Bow Island in southern Alberta where the Bow river meets the Old man River to form the South Saskatchewan river that flows through Medicine Hat that had 36 hours notice that the flood waters were in its way. Even with this notice 10,000 people  in Medicine Hat had to be evacuated from the flood plain.

Calgary Stampede

The motto of the Calgary Stampede after the flood is Come Hell or High Water, the Stampede will open as usual this Friday. As soon as the river receded the Stampede started draining the grounds. The in field for the rodeo has been restored.  The main grounds on the midway has been cleaned. All the major buildings have been cleaned up. From Monday June 24 to July 2, the downtown core has been cleared of debris, the streets washed and buildings have been cleared of flood  damaged walls.  The majority of the downtown hotels are open for business at reasonable rates to attract tourists who have been frightened by the flood damage. To an outsider visiting Calgary the flood damage is not that obvious.  The residential areas in the downtown core such as Mission, Sunnyside, Roxboro and Riverside where houses are located on the banks of the river recieved extensive damage. Thousands of volunteers showed up in these neighbourhoods and literally helped the residents clear their houses of  damaged goods, ripping out dry wall to the studs and cleaning the mud from the houses. The garbage trucks and waste disposal worked from 7:00am to 9:00 pm. overnight.  The result is that these neighbourhoods have been cleared of the debris. In all this chaos, there was little looting of the houses.  There was only one death of an elderly woman due to the flooding. For the 75,000 residents displaced from their homes, life is returning to normal in just over a week.  I have included some pictures of China town and the Stampede grounds that were literally underwater but now look surpisingly normal.  The Saddledome was was flooded up to row 14 .   The Saddledome will be open in the following week.  The bronze statue of the cowboy herding a calf in front of the BMO Centre  is about quater mile from the Bow River was flooded gives one an idea of how fast the flood waters came up in three short hours.

Calgary Chinatown Flooded

From the top of the hill overlooking Chinatown everything looks deceptively peaceful but down below the Bow has overflowed its banks and flooded China town. You can see the Government Harry Hays Building, the Delta Bow Valley Hotel and a Chinese restaurant being flooded. The whole streets of the downtown core are flooded. It will be until the middle of next week when people will be allowed back into the downtown core. All electricity has been eliminated in the downtown core.

Calgary Flooding Disaster

On Thursday , June 18, there was a retirement party for me at the school. It had been raining all week. When the party was over at 5:00 pm, I was going to go downtown and the radio in my car said the downtown was being evacuated and close to 75,000 people would have to leave their homes. I went home and turned on the television and watched the news coverage of the Bow River overflowing its banks and flooding the downtown core.  My house is located on the top of Edmonton Trail that is a road that leads out of the downtown core. It is a 45 minute walk from my house into the downtown core.  The downtown core is built on the flood plain of the Bow River.  Historically, has overflowed its banks during the spring time. Loggers in the 1890' used to float the logs all the way from  Kananaskis country and down the Bow River to Prince's Island in Calgary where a sawmill was located.  Today , Prince's Island is a forested city park where music concerts and festivals are held in the summer. Prince's Island is connected to North Calgary by a pedestrian bridge and another bridge connects the island to the southern downtown core.  The building of dams upstream at Seebee and Bearspaw have prevented the Bow River from overflowing its banks and given the City a false sense of security that the businesses and residences are safe to build in the flood plain.  When there is a larger than normal rainfall that falls in a short period of time all the tributaries flowing into the Bow and Elbow River overflows onto the floodplain.   In the photograph, I have posted,  the green area in the middle of the river is Prince's Island that is currently underwater.  Normally, if you were on the island the river would be 15 to thirty feet below the island.

Horticulture Blogsite

I am retiring from teaching . As a teacher, I have taught for 30 years. Life is a series of chapters and it is time to turn the page and begin the last chapters outside the classroom. I will dabble in horticultural projects and will eventually become a certified Canadian immigration agent. When I become an immigration agent, I will start an immigration blogsite.  After teaching horticulture, I realize there is a need to share knowledge with the general public with respect to creating an environmentally friendly lifestyle. In our urban world, it is possible to create small gardens and create small eco-friendly environments by understanding the micro-environments that surrounds all of humanity. I have created a blogsite on horticulture to share my green knowledge that I learned from my grandfather and father who grew their own produce in their gardens to feed our families.
The horticulture blogsite:    http://www.mrleeshortilcultureblogsite.blogspot.ca

In the school greenhouse where I teach there is tulip bulb that is at least 10 years old. It was purchased by a former horticulture teacher named Bill Turner. Bill purchased the bulb for $75 which was a good sum of money to spend on one bulb.  Bill grew the bulb into a mature plant and was able to bloom the plant occasionally.  Mr. Turner started the horticulture program as a locally developed course 25 years ago and began the first program by building cold frames to grow plants on the school grounds. When the school was renovated, Bill designed the indoor greenhouse that exists in the school today.  After retiring for only  five years Bill Turner contracted ALS and within year he passed away. I found Bill's tulip plant growing in the greenhouse . A former Horticulture teacher told me about Bill's plant and that the tulip liked a particular location in the greenhouse.  I was careful to keep the tulip in its favorite location and not to disturb its micro-climate.  On the first anniversary of Bill's passing, I walked into the greenhouse to find the tulip in full bloom with it's multi-floral orange red bloom. From that point on, I have called it's Bill's flower.   Last week, I noticed a small spike forming at the base of the tulip . Within a week the spike has grown ten inches and is now in full bloom.  I have had the privilege of watching this flower bloom twice.  The flower seems to be thanking me by blooming once more before I leave. I hope the legacy of this flower remains for others to enjoy in the future.

Horticulture : School courtyard Before and After

In September of 2012,  the enclosed school courtyard had been neglected for five years. I took the horticulture class into the courtyard in the fall and showed them how to prune the trees and shrubs, remove the weeds, and recondition the soil.  In April and May of 2012, the horticulture class were shown how to spade the soil and remove the emerging weeds.  A sustainable garden was planted in the flower beds that included: potatoes, lettuce, spinach, carrots, onions, swiss chard, tomatoes, red peppers, sunflowers, string beans, peas and radishes. Moreover, bedding plants grown in the school greenhouse such as snapdragons, balsam, marigolds,  and nicotiana were transplanted into the garden beds.