Oh NO! Vember

Seriously... where did this year go..? 

How are we half way through November? It's been such a weird year. It simultaneously feels like it's just flown by... but also like it's been going on for-EVAR!?

The first week of November was just lovely. 

One day it was +17°C!

I went out for a longer ride and took lots of pictures - the plan was to use them as references for background in the Dinovember 2020 Project.

Busy Beavers.

Warm enough to ride without gloves or mittens in November! Woo! 

Finger still in splint... not-so-woo... 

Afternoon Beaver! 

Just swimming around in the river like it owns the damned place. 

Three new buildings downtown. Seeing the three from this angle reminded me of the Bona Reactor in Simon Stålenhag's Tales From the Loop. 

Another day I actually got out for a ride with this guy. 

On Thursday, Girl-child and me rode up to my folks new place - so she could see where it was and stop by for a short visit. 

Trying a different route to get up to the building. 

Which meant we got to use this bridge over the freeway. Seriously, why aren't there MORE of these!? 

Grandma on her balcony. 

Anyone under 16 aren't currently allowed in the building, so my mom came out for a little picnic by the front entrance. No hugs allowed. This pandemic is really getting us all down. 

Friday we did some errands downtown - buying paint for the basement and picking up books from the library. 

Amanda was in a panic because she wanted to get a bunch of stuff done before the weekend because Environment Canada was forecasting a Major Snow Event! 

Saturday it started snowing. 

Strangely I did't take a tonne of pictures. 

I didn't leave the house all weekend. Which kind of turned into a long weekend. 

Tuesday, I walked downtown for an appointment. Outside of downtown the streets were unridable - wven with a fat tire bike. heck, most of them were UNDRIVEABLE - unless you had some kind of serious off-roading 4x4. 

Everywhere there were windrows of snow blocking crosswalks - or sometimes even access to the road!? 

By Friday, we hoped that things had settled and/or been packed down enough we might make it downtown to the library. The streets were STILL just awful - but the Meewasin Trail had been cleared - and we are able to take a route along the Meewassin and other multi-use trails that require only two blocks of street riding - in separated bike lanes - to get to the main library downtown. 

Lots of emergency vehicles on the University Bridge. I counted at least eleven. I thought there must have been a HUGE pile up... as it turned out there had been no automobile accident, a woman had jumped from the bridge. 

The bike lanes downtown. The city had been quick to clear them... but then property owners cleared their sidewalks INTO the bike lane... nice... We had to walk this intersection. 

More windrows covering crosswalks. 

I mean, I get that they're trying to facilitate the movement of car traffic... but what are they imagining people do once they've driven downtown and get OUT of their cars...? 

I read that last year Saskatoon had five major snow events. The amount of snow that fell this first weekend was more than all five combined. 

Fun times. Luckily, I don't really NEED to leave the house much...