Re: Winter 2017-18
 

This is the summit of the Kootenay Skyway, and from the number of vehicles parked it looks like every single plow operator is at work and there are some people who just don't want to drive down the mountain right now. It's never a certainty that there will be no blizzard up there until June. I saw a caribou within a mile or 2 of there. It is the extreme southern point of the range of the Mountain Caribou, and there is a sign saying Watch for Caribou Next 10 Km or something like that

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

I wouldn't want to drive in that either. I don't even attempt to drive BC mountain highways in winter.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Thank you but we started from low base points so it's not like George Morris taking an unpromising horse, discard by others, to the Olympics. It's not a competitive thing at all, just about achieving something personally and saving a horse from the meat man. A trained horse has value while an untrained one has only price by the pound. I also like the fitness gained along the way, legs like Harry Kane I tell ya.

Leading riders are called Georgina Bloomberg and Jessica Springsteen. You have to have parents who are very rich indeed, be a stellar talent paid to ride someone else's horse, or be Nick Skelton. Like yacht racing, that's not a game for ordinary affluent people.

Commendable but likely to lead to a life spent with horses. A foolish fixation, today we brought in two dozen other peoples' horses in -20 temperatures just because, well, horses. My hands are still cold.

I did that, years ago in Colorado. We fettered the horses overnight and camped. I wasn't a good rider and didn't need to be as the rented horses, mustangs claimed from the BLM, knew the drill. I think you would be ill advised to pass up such a chance, that really is a "Canadian Dream" opportunity. It's going to be a long time in the saddle though, you might want to try post trotting without stirrups a few times before you go, get used to the pain.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

The females in my house ride long hours each and every week, more so when there isn't snow on the ground. About a year after we moved out of town, they decided to go on a "tour" with one of the local "ranches" here (Bar U Ranch).

It was advertised as a way to get to know your local community, spend a day travelling like they did before cars were invented and to eat food like they did when herding livestock, back in the day. They even offered a seat on a wagon for those that were not too sure about spending the time on horseback.

Luckily, my wife and my daughter both had English and Western saddles so they elected for the "comfy" Western ones. They had an enjoyable time mixing with all manner of local cowboys/cowgirls and eating bacon and beans in spectacular surroundings, albeit prairies rather than mountains.

They said that learning to jump across small streams and getting their horses to travel up and down ravines, gallop across open plains, etc. was very good. However, 3 months after going on the trip, they were still moaning about how much their arses and legs hurt. These are those that can 2 point for 5 minutes or so straight with no issues at all. I tried it once for about 20 seconds all in vain. I am not too sure I am not setting myself up to fail!

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

We once considered a multi-day ride across some of the more scenic parts of Ontario. The pitch included the advice that "all accommodations include hot tubs, some have massage facilities". That seems slightly ominous in retrospect.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Our friends used to run a 'dude ranch' in the UK, they brought several of the horses with them when they moved out here. All I can say is you horsey people are nuts to want to be out there in this weather brrr

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

2 and a half hours to get home from the ROM in the snow. Son had to get emergency cover for his shift in case he didn't make it on time. Saw no working ploughs/grifters in all that time. :thumbdown:

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

There's snow?

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Yep. I can't work the interweb well enough to tell if you are being sarcastic because you've had yards more snow than the city but I can tell you that driving in TO in the snow is almost like being back in the UK. Everyone goes beserk, and there isn't a grit lorry in sight. Thank god I'm back in the country, and all roads will be clear by the time I get up in the morning, and no idiots will have parked on the side of the road, let alone on some approximation of somewhere vaguely adjacent to the side of the road. I won't even mention the u-turns, beeping and general complete and utter arsedness.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

There's a reason I now have a battery heater as well as a block heater. Made starting easy today at 30 below zero.

What did surprise me today is how much the engine rpms drop (and fuel economy improves) when I turn the car heater off while driving. Obviously it's taking heat out of the engine, but I never realized the impact was so severe.

Unfortunately, with the heater off, the windshield ices up on the inside!

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Freezing rain / suspected ice storm in the Fraser Valley. Either way it's decimated Hydro supplies in the Langley/Abbotsford/Mission area. Have been on generator now for 5 hours and I suspect it might take until tomorrow to reconnect. Only -1C but trouble nonetheless.
Currently 57000 customers without power.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Mother in law sent photos of her place in Squamish, crazy snowfall.

Only rain in Vancouver but a lot of it. Currently plus 2.

I miss snow...lol..

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Toronto GTA coldest ever this week. Got down to -25 in the wind chill even ouch.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Currently -28 in Winnipeg, feeling like -40 in windchill :/ I haven't left the house in a while, partner went to the store today (google maps measuring says 460m front door to front door). Got the first 20m, came back, drove it.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

We're 'real feel' minus 35 again. I don't see many 'revelers' turning out for the fireworks tommorow. I see they've cancelled them in Ottawa.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

All sorts of adjustments in many places according to CBC this morning.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

This must be what our cousin warned us about when we first decided to move back in 2006, he mentioned really cold winters. Since then we not really had such a harsh winter, until NOW !!

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

-35 here, but not much wind. Each winter in Saskatchewan and Manitoba we can expect a cold snap of -30 to -40 temps that lasts a week or 2, and some years there are more than one. Sometimes Alberta gets it too. Like this, they're running low on natural gas up in the Mackenzie:
https://globalnews.ca/news/3938803/c...thern-alberta/

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Tomorrow evening we're invited to view the midnight fireworks and son et luminaire at the Millennium Bridge / Tyne Bridge from some friends' yacht moored at City Port, about 200m downstream. '

It'll be hell. The temperature at midnight is forecast to plummet to +5.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Ha ha +5

We just got back from Vegas and at +10 I was exercising outside in a Tee shirt :@)

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Ah, you just got back to wherever it is you live, Ajax or Whitby or somewhere?

My condolences.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Toasty, we had -32 without windchill. Almost getting used to the cold as today's -15 seemed quite warm.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Sarcastic of course. Snow clearing always seems to be worse in the cities. Peterborough is usually a slushy mess.

Congratulations I think this is the first block heater mention this winter.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Some crazy arses go buying bikes when it's minus 29 before the wind chill. Photo taken before being loaded up and brought home.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Mother in law's back yard in Squamish as of Sat morning.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

A light dusting then.:rofl:

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

This morning the car thermometer showed -30. Someone I know well has gone out to move her horse between barns. This will entail much standing around. I have not gone to watch.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Many cars come these days with remote starters. In such weather, I go to front door a couple of times a day and start the car (don’t even need to open the front door). It’s preset to be running for 10minutes at which time it shuts itself off. I don’t know how good or bad it is for the vehicle, but can’t be any worse than being stuck in 401 traffic for 10minutes.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Its amusing to watch folks in Vancouver scrape off frost from their car windows.

Not ice but a thin layer of frost that easily melts with windshield washer fluid and turning the wipers on...

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Just a bit...lol.. that is her back deck.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

BC Hydro Power back this morning. 1.5 days on generator. 206000 customers affected, only 11000 still out, one of them is daughter and family whose generator might be needed for a further day or two, her wood burner working overtime but still only -1C.

I'm amazed at the unpreparedness around me. This happens a few times every year and yet when I went to put the generator to bed last night could only hear one other working and this in a residential area. This outage will be nothing compared to the problems arising from even a small natural disaster.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

I don't really understand why those with a house and ability to have a generator don't have one, seems odd.

I understand why apartment and condo dwellers don't have them, as strata's and rental rules usually tend not to permit such things, but if you own or rent a house seems there wouldn't be much issue.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

$3,500 dollars at a minimum. $6,500 if it's automatic.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Perhaps I'm complacent but we've completed 12 winters. We had one loss of power from an unknown time in the night (after 3.00am) until midday, and that was a line from the pole to our house and we still had some outlets working for kettle and heater.

We had one general loss for about 3 hours one evening and one last winter where power went off about 8 or 9 in the evening and came back about 3.00 am. I filled a hot water bottle, put it in my bed and had an early night.

Apart from the odd half hour the only other outages have been those where the bedside radio flashing is the first clue that we had lost power.

As for the generator, where does it go for access? Our snow is plowed from the front of the drive to the back, blocking the garage doors. About half way through a typical winter we can't get off the deck and through deep snow.

We also have a woodstove which in an emergency will provide some heat and will heat hot water in a kettle on the top plate.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

I have just finished plowing a track to our round bales. The snow in the field was about 2 feet deep and, fortunately, the blade on the rear of the tractor has little issue with moving it.

Prior to doing so, we had returned from a lunch trip to Okotoks where there and back the car's thermometer said it was minus 37. I believe that, with windchill, this is the coldest we have ever experienced.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

It's clear that your supply is a little more reliable than some others. We haven't been here as long as you have but every year we have had several periods without power and these tend to last from several hours to several days. In cold weather you have a few options if it happens to you. You can avail yourself of some acquaintance with power and move in with them, you can pile on the clothing and light the stove if you have one, you can freeze to death, or you can use experience to anticipate what might happen in the future and prepare for it.

Today, over two days since the storm hit, there are still over 200 separate instances of outage, over 11000 customers without power and some 75 crews trying to fix the faults. My daughter is preparing for at least another day without power, possibly two and this will be the second time in four years that an outage has lasted for more than three days.

Cities tend to be well served with reliable power but in the sticks where trees fall on lines regularly it's to be expected and the wise prepare for it.

You might call me stupid, but we remained warm and well lit throughout. The generator cost 200 and the fixed cabling less than 100. I thought it was money well spent. It did better than Safeway who today threw away all of their freezer stock while ours remained healthily cold.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

We have a generator but it isn't wired in. There's usually a fiddle with extension cables and so on. We have a gas heating stove and gas cooker so would be OKish without it in the winter. We've only had to use it in the spring and summer so far.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

So not $3,500 then? ;)

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

Welcome to Canada. Teehee.

Re: Winter 2017-18
 

My family were decamped to emergency accommodation in a college in the Quebec ice storm back in the 90s for a few days, on Montreal's south shore.

We had an ice storm last year leaving 130,000 without power at its worst. Second largest area affected was Moncton. There was a worse one in 2004 affecting 195,000 (the year before we moved) representing 60% of the customer base.

I can't speak on the 2004 one but the one last year was not the cause of our loss on that night I mentioned. That was a different time. :blink:

While last year's ice storm didn't affect us, I do know that on the other side of a main road 400 yards away, they were still without power after two days. We seem to live in a part less likely to be without for a longer period.