We're not in Kansas anymore!

Saskatchewan is on a totally different planet than the rest of the world as far as weather is concerned! Hurricanes, tornadoes, blizzard conditions for 6 months of the year and FOG! Ice fog, pea soup fog, hot fog, cold fog, I have never seen so much fog in my entire life.

I come from Ontario and there you can experience all 4 seasons in one day, but here.....I am losing my mind. In Ontario, if you don't like the weather, wait 5 minutes and it will change but Saskatchewan throws curve balls at you constantly!!!!
There are only 2 seasons in Saskatchewan, Tornado Season and Winter!
One minute it will be a beautiful warm and sunny day then the wind picks up and there is a hurricane/tornado blowing in with tree branches and tumbleweeds blowing all over your yard, anything that you don't have nailed down is now blowing across the canola field. Rain coming down sideways and thunder loud enough to rattle the windows and your soul.

On our 3rd day of living here, hubby had to leave for work. We were on our own at the ranch. Which was fine, we didn't have animals at the time so the biggest thing to do was to cut the 8 acres of grass. I love gardening and I saw a few trees and bushes that needed trimming so I took the handheld tree limb lopers (yes that's the technical name, lol) and I went to work on the yard.
Beautiful sunny day, blue sky, not a cloud in sight. I have limbs laying around on the ground all over the yard, my daughter is happily jumping on the trampoline, not a care in the world. I back the truck down the driveway intending to load all the downed limbs into the back of it. I sit down on the tailgate for a drink of water and a rest. All of the sudden the sky turns black, the wind howls up to about 55 km an hour and the rain pelts hard into my face. "HELP ME!" I scream into the wind in my daughters general direction. I can't open my eyes against the wind and rain. I feel her bump into me and I yell "Help me get all the branches into the back of the truck or they will be all over the yard, QUICK!"
She quickly jumps into action and we both look like we are on a crazy episode of WipeOut!. Ducking and diving and picking up things in the yard and running back and forth to the truck.
We are soaked to the bone, arms and legs are crazy sore from tossing and picking up the branches, we are out of breath as we toss the last ones into the back of the pick up.

My phone rings as we enter the house. It's hubby. Remember his inate sense of danger when it comes to me, he just knows when I am hurt or in danger and calls instantly to check on me. He asks how I am and I tell him about the weather. The sky is now purple and green and I swear as I look out the living room window a neighbours cow passes by in the air!! The window's are rattling, he hears it through the phone and tells me to get away from the window and JUMP IN THE PIT NOW!
"The Pit??!!!" "What the heck is the Pit and where is it and why do I have to get in it?  "You will be safe from the storm in there, go in the basement, climb over the wall and get in the PIT!. The phone went dead. I freaked and ran downstairs, my daughter closely following behind my heels. We take a sharp left at the bottom of the stairs into this small room, I use as a craft room and there is the PIT.
I have never noticed it, I just thought it was a cement wall.....nope....it's a pit. Open to about 15 feet DOWN! It is in case of emergency or flooding or something, but as I stood on a box to look down into the pit, I knew I wasn't climbing over and getting in it. Its dark and spooky and stinky and there was no obvious way out.
Hubby calls my cell phone now. "Are you in the Pit?" "No way am I getting in there, I can't get out!" Hubby laughs and says "Don't worry about that right now, get in there and be safe! We'll get you out later." Just then cell phone reception dies.
We made the decision to NOT get in the Pit. Instead we huddled together in the corner of the basement and rode the storm out. The next day when all was calm again, I found some rope, a ladder and a flashlight. I put it in the Pit room. Also made up a small bag of non perishable food items like granola bars and jugs of water and sat them on the wall of the Pit. Call it my Just In Case Supplies.
I still haven't been in the Pit and never wish to be.

There have been more storms since then but never bad enough to climb into the Pit.

Snow is another beast that is something I have never experienced in the levels I have here in Saskatchewan! We got 3 feet of snow on Halloween night and have had storm after storm. Blowing and drifting snow like I have never seen before. Sub arctic temperatures for 6 months now. It is the end of April as I write this and I still have 10 ft snow drifts in my horse pens!!! Farmers have to plant their crops in 3 and half weeks and everyone here is scared that it will not be dry enough to plant anything. By rights, all the animals should be out on the pastures now but I am still buying food for them. Costs are getting higher by the week.

For everything that we go through out here, for all it's challenges, I love my life and wouldn't change it for the world!

XOXO