Author: C.Gascoyne

In 2020 we went camping, as we normally do, at our usual location by a small creek, and we ended up being in a flood and wrote-off two vehicles to get out. As if COVID wasn’t enough for 2020!

Every year we camp in the bush on crown land close to a little creek near Lodgepole, Alberta. It was July long weekend, 2020, and my family and friends headed out to the camp to set up for an extra-long weekend. Canada Day fell on a Wednesday, so most of us went out on Tuesday night and planned on staying until Sunday afternoon – almost a week out in the bush – where we all planned on spending some socially distanced time together after the world hit us with COVID only 3.5 months prior.

It was raining when we arrived, but we were optimistic that it would dry up soon. Plus we always found a way to have fun, rain or shine.

After the first night, my parents took a look at the creek and noticed that it rose an entire foot overnight, which was pretty alarming. My parents were parked only 3 feet from the creek, and my boyfriend and I were in a tent, maybe only 20 feet further up. But the forecast said that it was going to stop raining; so, we had our breakfast and coffee, spent the day playing games under tarps and umbrellas, and before we knew it, we were around the fire enjoying the evening rain-free. 

After we went to bed that evening, it started to rain a little more, and when we woke up the following morning, my dad told me that the creek was continuing to rise, and now is only inches from going over the banks. We were now moving to higher ground. My parents hooked up their trailer and moved within a few minutes, and my boyfriend and I took down our tent and reset it up, also higher up. It wasn’t long before our little camp was surrounded by water.

We went back to the creek and started putting stakes in the ground to mark the rise of the creek, watching for the creek to crest. A “crest” is the level at which a river peaks before it goes down. Our day consisted of looking at weather forecasts further west from us and watching the water rise above the stakes we had staked. New stakes were added, and we carried on with games and another dry night around the fire.

Sploosh!! That was the sound that woke us up the next morning, as we heard my cousin drive in through a few feet of water to get to a spot where he wanted to camp. We all welcomed him to our island and showed him all of the stakes we had placed to watch the water. The rain was letting up again and we had a full day of mostly dry weather, but really, we knew that didn’t matter. What mattered was the weather that was happening upstream in the mountains. This is where the overflow was coming from. We also knew at this point; we were stuck until the creek crested and receded. My cousin set up his trailer, and within hours, he was in water. Being a carpenter with a few pieces of wood in his truck, he built himself a pier to get to his trailer.

Water was still rising, and rising fast. We had planned on being out there for 4 more nights anyways, so we decided we mind as well make the best of it and find entertainment in watching for the water to change against the stakes. Once that started going the other way, we could really celebrate! Some of us (not me) decided to try swimming in what was once our road to get into the camp!

On the second last day, the water was slowly receding, but it was apparent that it wasn’t going to be fast enough to dry out the way out before we leave. Most of the group was hauling trailers, which was scary, and we had a two-wheel-drive vehicle. Also scary. We made plans that the big 4X4 trucks were going to go out first so we had someone to tow us out if another vehicle got stuck. Most of us waited on the road watching each truck come out through so much water.

Check out the video of my uncle driving his truck and trailer out of camp:

The Great Flood of 2020 – a short story I wrote for my #EXSM3989 class – this video is of my uncle, getting his truck and trailer out of our camp, after 6 days of flooding. pic.twitter.com/sYMfVrp5mQ

— Chews and Brews (@chewsandbrewsca) December 5, 2021

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When it was our turn to go up the hill through the water, we decided since we were the only one with only 2-wheel drive, we would attach a tow rope to the front chassis before we took our turn through the water. Low and behold, we couldn’t make it up the hill through the water and had to be towed out. My cousin’s Jeep also got stuck on the hill but made it out without a tow. That didn’t matter too much since both the Jeep and our 2-wheeled vehicle had to be towed back to Edmonton – both ended up with water in the engine, and ours was written off completely.

We spent a few hours on the road waiting for the tow, brought out the snacks and played some tunes. In times of what seems like a crisis, my family and friends always find a way to make the best out of a bad situation. We never panicked (even though maybe we should have), and we stuck it through the whole camping trip together (even though we probably should have left after the creek rose a foot in one night). We have a great story to share and more camping skills under our belts. One rule of thumb – never go camping without rubber boots! I couldn’t have imagined walking around camp in anything but!

In the end, we were all okay (except for the vehicles), and we went back camping in August 2020, and everything was completely dry like it never happened.

All of the photos and videos are also posted on Instagram.

I chose to showcase three simple principles learned in EXSM3989 on how to tell a good story while also incorporating the rules from Pixar according to Cyriaque Lamar’s post that go along with these principles. As part of the 10 trends and principles of visual storytelling, I animated the graphics to add in a few “eye candies” for the reader.

Since I blog about beer, I thought it would be neat to have my first ever live tweet thread to be about me tasting a beer.

The link to my thread is here.

I aimed to keep my live Tweet story simple, and I wrote just the way I talk as well. I even pre-wrote everything and did some heavy editing to remove elements that were out of focus and took away from the story. In the end, I ended up with the beginning, the middle, and the end.

The Beginning

In the beginning, I shared a few notes about how I am part of the Blending Club Membership, who Trial & Ale is, what I am going to taste, and how I will assess the beer.

The Middle

The middle of my story is the bulk of everything going on with this beer, from how I have to open it (because it’s a cork) to the overall assessment. Then I hook you a little with but wait, there’s more because now I am pairing it with some local nuts from Mezos Roastery!

The End

In the end, the beer is great. The food pairing is amazing. And my Sunday evening dinner is now beer and nuts.

I first watched Uncle Buck when I was about 10 or 11 years old and fell in love with it instantly. It’s a movie that I have watched easily 50 times over. Uncle Buck is a John Hughes written and directed movie, which if you are my age, you know that he directed some of the most successful comedy films of the 80s and 90s.

John Candy is the star of the story, playing the character Uncle Buck that we all fall in love with and are cheering for. The story follows a proper story structure in that it has a beginning, an event, a middle, a climax, and an end.

In the beginning….

Once upon a time…. there was an unemployed bachelor man named Buck who loved horse racing and had a girlfriend named Chanice.

Every day…. Buck would live his unemployed life in his messy bachelor pad, but the next morning he would be starting his new job at Chanice’s tire shop. Buck promises that he will show up for his first day in the morning.

But, then…. Bob (Buck’s brother) and Cindy Russell receive a phone call in the night informing them that Bob’s father-in-law has suffered a heart attack and they need to head back to Indianapolis and find a suitable babysitter for their three children, Tia, Miles, and Maizy.

Because of that…. Bob calls Buck (even though Cindy is anxious about the idea) to house-sit and watch the kids for a few days. Buck agrees, gets into his dilapidated vehicle, and heads to Bob and Cindy’s.

Uncle Buck’s attempt at adulting….

Then.… Uncle Buck quickly befriends Miles and Maizy, the younger children, but has a hard time with Tia who is rebellious, brash, and hostile towards Buck.

Then…. Buck and the kids go through various situations such as all going to a bowling alley, making enormous pancakes for Miles on his birthday, removing a drunk birthday clown from the property, and handling laundry when the washing machine breaks.

Then…. Tia meddles in Buck’s relationship with Chanice by leading her to believe that Buck is cheating on her with the neighbour. Chanice comes to the house to confront Buck, see’s Buck dancing with the neighbour, is obviously furious, and leaves.

Then finally.… Tia has had enough of Buck and sneaks out to a party with her boyfriend Bug. Buck decides to go look for her instead of going to the horse races. He convinces Chanice to come over to watch the two younger children while he searches for Tia. When he gets to the party, he thinks he sees Bug taking advantage of Tia in a bedroom, drills out the lock of the door, only to find Bug with another girl.

Then…. He leaves the party to continue looking for Tia and finds her in an emotional state. She apologizes to Buck for being hostile towards him and acknowledges that he was right about Bug.

In the end….

In the end…. back at home, Tia helps to mend the relationship between Chanice and Buck, admitting she lied about the alleged affair.

Bob and Cindy come home to an emotional hug from Tia, who appears to have a new appreciation for her mom and dad.

Chanice and Buck are back together and leave feeling as though Buck is now a valued member of the family.

Buck and Tia exchange a warm wave goodbye.

How we can relate….

The story of Uncle Buck follows Ashley Fell’s Four I’s which is why we all can relate and this movie has stuck as one of my favourites for years.

Interest

The interest is maintained throughout the movie as we watch Uncle Buck go through various life issues, most of those we can all relate to, such as his relationships, his bad habits (gambling, drinking, cigar-smoking), and his desire to be a good person.

Involve

The conflicts that Uncle Buck goes through are the same ones any one of us might face. Unemployment, relationship issues and breakups, putting someone else first ahead of ourselves. The story involves all of us as humans and situations we may face in our day-to-day lives.

Instruct

There are many teachable moments in the movie, but the most upfront theme I found was that Uncle Buck teaches us the importance of family.

Inspire

Uncle Buck is a loveable character with a big-hearted personality. He is the fun uncle we all want or maybe already have in our families. As he grows up a little throughout the movie, so does the teenager Tia, and we are easily inspired by these parallel transitions.