Weather or Not

Not being at the house on a regular basis is thrown into sharp relief when bad weather arrives.  Today, Hurricane Earl hits the Maritimes.  Although its status had been downgraded to a Tropical Storm, it's still packing 70 mph winds and has the potential to do severe damage.  The current projected path of the storm shows it slicing across mainland Nova Scotia, crossing the entire breadth of Prince Edward Island, then clipping the northwest coast of Newfoundland.  According to the projections, it may miss Cape Breton altogether.  Here's a news report with a pop-out map that shows its course as of now:

cbs4.com/local/Tropical.storm.earl.2.1878260.html

and here is another interactive map from the U.S. National Hurricane Center:

www.nhc.noaa.gov/graphics_at2.shtml

The weather forecast for Baddeck shows heavy rain, and a wind warning has been issued for Victoria County:

www.theweathernetwork.com/weather/CANS0008

The main concern at the property is downed trees.  Of course the woods are going to be full of windfall, that's only to be expected, but hopefully the trees close to the house will withstand the onslaught.  The highlands are notoriously windy.  The bright side is that we have no power lines to come down! 

A local acquaintance told us not to worry too much.  Three years ago Baddeck suffered widespread flooding due to heavy rain, and yet when our friend called the house, the owner had no idea what she was talking about; not a drop of rain had fallen in the highlands!  So I remain optimistic; after all, the place has stood there for decades through many hurricane seasons, and is still standing. 

Still, next time we visit, I'm pretty sure there's going to be a few bushels of fallen apples to clean up ...  :)