Well, That Was Quick!

   It does seem like the month passed in the blink of an eye. But what a month it was! July came in like a lion, with torrential rain, in parts of the province 10 inches, over the Canada Day long weekend. That, in turn, brought flash flooding to many areas of both Saskatchewan and Manitoba. The damage from all that water is still being cleared, and a pricetag set on it.
   Many, many communities were hit hard by the rain, with Melville one of the hardest hit. Folks in that city were sandbagging furiously, trying to keep water from the local hospital and a care home. The mayor there says City Hall got water.
   And of course, all that water had to go somewhere. And that somewhere,  of course, was downstream into Manitoba. That entire province was put under a state of emergency, and the military was called in to help.
   In my province, more than 17 hundred claims have been filed with an agency that provides disaster relief funding, and more will come. More than a 3rd of that were in Yorkton. My wife and I got very lucky. We had no issues with either rain or sewage water in our house. Thousand and thousands of hectares of farmland was turned into lakes, and the loss in Canola alone could top 1 billion dollars.
   All that water has also meant a huge population boom for mosquitoes as well. Last time I went out to cut the lawn, I was greeted by a cloud of the pests.
   July is gone, and with it, half the summer! Lets hope August brings warm, drier weather.
   And a little known fact or 2 for you (if you didn't know already). July and August are both named after Roman Caesars. July after Julius, August after Augustus. Makes sense. And a little more trivia for you. We all know February has 28 days (29 in each leap year), and here's why.
   According to legend, when Julius had his month named after him, he took an extra day from February (which then had 30 days) so his month was the same length as December, January, March, May and October. Not to be outdone, Augustus also stole a day from February so his month was the same length as July.

TTFN