Zoe Bell

Generally smoke alarms get more sensitive as they get older and the radioactive source in them decays
if you are stuck with ones that you can’t temporarily silence then a zip lock bag placed over them while cooking will seal a pocket of fresh air next to it
just remember to remove it after

caretaker

Ambient smoke can be a factor in the Okanagan during wildfire season as well. I just looked at the highway cams and Kelowna and the next 2 cameras south are kind of hazy right now.

scrubbedexpat091

Never thought of a bag over it... Would have been easy in our old place, even at 6'4, I can't reach the smoke detector in the new place.

It's brand new building so I can't imagine the smoke detectors are old, they are hardwired type, but only local alarm in the unit, probably takes substantial heat to set off the building alarm I would imagine.

Current fire situation int he southern interior region.

scrubbedexpat091

Upside to all these door bell cameras is the interesting videos that result.

Tire comes out of nowhere really, flying down the road, across the grass and runs into someone's door and bounces back onto the grass before stopping. Crazy random. No human was hurt, its a work safe video.

Siouxie

Woah!

scrubbedexpat091

This article about an apartment building in Vancouver, its on the edge of the DTES but was not as bad, but the DTES is spreading so more and more areas are being affected, but the article shows a google photo from 2019, and then current photos, and what a difference.

They are micro-suites and look decent inside, rent for 2,000 a month, but the building just isn't in a good location, and now tenants of the building can no longer use the front door and have to enter through the back, the retail space had to be boarded up, and no surprise the owner of the building is now having trouble retaining and attracting tenants.

When we moved to our area of East Vancouver in 2017, it wasn't too bad, then each year got worse, and more homeless and drug addicts and drug paraphernalia all over the ground, increase police activity etc.

I think some who live elsewhere in the city don't really truly understand how bad the problem has gotten, they just think its same ole same ole as its always been.

https://dailyhive.com/vancouver/burn...omeless-issues

caretaker

The Vatican has (finally!) declared The Blues Brothers to be a classic Catholic faith-based movie.
https://movieweb.com/the-blues-broth...assic-vatican/
"Apparently the pope loves him some Jake and Elwood Blues."

MillieF

Today in NB it has been utterly beautiful. The sun has shone, the sky has been a bright and cloudless blue and the humidity is brilliant! The Farmer’s Market was full, but socially distanced, and we all smiled at each other with our eyes, the flowers on my back deck are at their best...but we only saw two hummingbirds and you can feel the change coming...

Jerseygirl

Further west...you can certainly feel a change coming. The humidity has disappeared and the temps have dropped 10-20 degrees. Temps at night dropped like a stone to early teens.

I hate winter. Unfortunately due to Covid...we will not be able to escape the brutal winter here this year. Just have to hunker down I guess.

scrubbedexpat091

Late summer day here. Warm and sunny a little hazy though from some of the fires most likely.

29c currently, nights get down to 13c or so.

And its dark before 830p again.

During our outing today, we saw 3 different protest groups.

1- Protesting something in regards to So. Africa

2- Group protesting about freedom and COVID and 5G

3- Group only protesting 5G with no mention of freedom or COVID.

Stumpylegs

When i visited in late 2018 there was around 2-3 really bad blocks (east hastings street, the 3 or so blocks east of main street) were you'd think twice about walking down a couple of streets off it weren't pleasant (and for me were sketchier, as you could end up 3 on 1 in an area with no traffic) but apart from the odd person there wasn't much hassle, even with that hassle they were still pleasant enough.

The thing that shocked me since Vancouver was the end of our trip, I tried to hand off bags of sweets, crisps, a small amount of liquor, soda etc to members of this community - none of whom would take it, and they were on the whole super nice and friendly.

It would appear that's now doubled if not tripled in size - I'm sort of surprised action hasn't been taken, as its getting rather close to gastown now (which was the awkward bit in 2018, you'd get the odd person or 3 wandering up from DTES to gastown to harass tourists for money). I'm not sure the action taken would be the correct one, but yea surprised there hasn't been a push on it.

scrubbedexpat091

Part of the Sea to Sky highway near Whistler was closed for several hours today due to a 3 car accident, 2 seriously injured and 4 less serious non-life threatening injuries.

Crash involved a Land Rover and Lamborghini travelling north and a Toyota Corolla heading south.

https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/briti...tler-1.5714078


I used to commute this highway Squamish to Whistler for work, this sort of thing was always my worst nightmare.

Spreading it is, we were down near Commercial and E Hastings and from 2017 to 2020 there was a significant increase in drug use, homeless, prostitution and property crime, in 2017 it wasn't bad, but now, oh its worse by the year.

I almost thing the city and provincial governments just don't know what to do about it, they close one park, and another becomes a tent city, and this is repeating throughout the lower mainland and possible elsewhere.

​​​​​​​

scrubbedexpat091

Some not so happy people in Kelowna re healthcare.

https://www.reddit.com/r/kelowna/com..._times_at_kgh/

Hopefully the person who has been waiting 5 weeks so far for a lump on their thyroid doesn't have cancer.

caretaker

I liked the suggestion about getting a referral to Vernon or Penticton. They took good care of my sister in Penticton for quite a while. Nice hospital (new addition I haven't seen), friendly wards and small communal dining rooms. 4/5.

scrubbedexpat091

I almost wonder if having my CT requisition sent to Kelowna will lead to a longer wait, I had been on the list in Vancouver since May I think but never got called before moving, so transferred it to Kelowna in August.