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A Watershed Year |
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Dedicated to the sunshine of truth, the moonshine of meeting deadlines, and the starshine of Victoria. |
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8661 Deer Run Dr. * Victoria 952-443-2351 |
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by Sue Orsen The year 2014 has now disappeared into the fast moving stream and it seems to have been a watershed year as it drained into the past. It followed a winding course of ebb and flow, turning direction at several points along the way. A bird's eye view of the watershed year helps identify the common set of streams and rivers that came together at the end. Looking at them from above helps reveal the twelve-month course. I see that, among other things, it was a year of hot and cold, a year of birth and death, a year of connecting and dividing. Amazing how it was a year of opposite and opposing forces. As with any watershed, gravity and motion pulled it all together.
A YEAR OF BIG WEATHER In January 2014 we experienced effects of The Big Cold when a frozen/thawing fire sprinkler pipe burst in the old St. Victoria Church on Thursday morning, January 9th, and set off the fire alarm. Victoria firefighters found a flooded sanctuary and cleaned up the big mess. On Sunday, February 2nd, 2014, Victoria firefighters found evidence of The Big Freeze when they drilled 1,000 holes on Stieger Lake for their Fishing Contest and found the ice to be three feet thick! On Thursday, February 20th, The Big Snow dumped on us. Xcel Energy called the weather "severe" and asked for patience as their crews worked to restore service to 37,000 customers in the MN/Wisconsin region. Choir practice at St. Victoria was cancelled three times because of The Big Weather that included Big Winds, Big Freezing Rain, Big Ice, and Big Heavy Wet Snow. The Victoria Public Works crew worked practically nonstop to keep streets and roads navigable during the Big Brutal Long Cold Winter that stretched into spring. The first three months of 2014 were all colder than normal for us and we had 53 nights at or below zero. In June 2014, we received The Big Rain -- 13.2 inches, to be exact. It began with 4 inches on June 1st and included 5.1 inches on June 19th. It was the wettest spring on record. The Victoria Fire Department and Victoria Public Works assisted the Zumbra Ridge neighborhood with sandbags and sand to help with The Big Flood. On August 16th, 2014, it was difficult to spend much time in the 90-degree Big Heat at the Victoria Volksfest. The wet spring and relatively mild summer brought Big Fall Colors. And then The Big Cold struck in November 2014 and gave us the coldest Thanksgiving in 25 years. After the early November snows disappeared, we had a Big Brown Christmas. From front to back, it was a Year of Big Weather in our Watershed Year 2014.
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January 2015 |
