The Squamidian Report – Jan. 15 / 11

 

Issue #451

 

Including:

The Ontarion

 

Hi All,

 

We never see ‘sideways snow’ around here. Ever. You know, that snow that travels sideways instead of downward as it falls. Our snow is just too heavy to blow sideways and there is almost never any wind when it does snow let alone enough to cause blowing. We also never see snowdrifts, unheard of. There are massive drifts way up in the high country where it is a lot colder and the winds can howl at incredible speeds, but not down at the elevations where people live. When snow causes visibility problems it is because it is snowing so hard and the flakes are so big that you can’t see through them.

 

Anyway, we had a snowstorm on Tuesday night that was forecast to include damaging winds that would bring down trees and cause blowing and drifting. Didn’t happen. Well, we did get the snow and even a little bit of wind but there was no blowing and no drifting. We did get more snow in one dump than I’ve used the blower on before. (Face it, we all like a good dump now and then). We had well over a foot of the stuff, my blower’s wheels are about 14 inches high and the snow was higher than the wheels. I spent a good part of Wednesday morning clearing out my drive and several of the neighbours as well. It does not take all that long to do mine, what takes the time is to clean up what the snowplow dumps across the end of the driveways. But anyway, no blowing, no drifting, just deep snow that came straight down.

 

And that was it for our west coast snowstorm. By noon it had turned to rain and then warmed up almost to ‘normal’ and rained some more. Mid January normal around here is about +6 but we don’t see it much higher than about +3 most of the time so I don’t know where ‘normal’ comes from. The Weather Network had figured we would get another foot of snow during Wednesday night but like I said, it was rain. They don’t seem to quite know where Squamish is but then they don’t really have a grasp of anything beyond the suburbs of Toronto.

 

It’s a good thing we didn’t get that second foot of snow because while our streets and roads here actually get plowed quite often, they don’t get plowed very well. Part of the problem is that no one, including the municipality, pays any attention at all to the street-parking bylaw. Like in most towns, there is no over night parking on the streets and roads. But that bylaw has never been enforced and people have been parking on the streets instead of in their driveways for years. End result is that the snowplow cannot properly clear a given street. On many streets, including ours, the plows are lucky to just squeeze up the middle. So we end up with a narrow single-lane track that gets repeatedly scraped and salted but never widened. Another part of the problem is that most people around here just figure if you wait long enough the snow will melt away. No real need to worry too much about snow-clogged streets, the problem will eventually take care of itself.

 

And that’s about it regarding our snowstorm, except to say that one of our neighbours who’s driveway I cleared out knocked on the door the next day with a bottle of wine for us. They had left for work at 6am during the snowstorm and had not gotten home until 10pm and had no idea how they were going to get into their driveway. They were surprised and relieved to find that it was wide open and cleaned up, including the pile the plow had left along the road. Don’t know what I’ll do with a bottle of wine but the gesture was nice.

 

About the only thing else to add is that since the snow stopped on Wednesday, we’ve had half a foot of RAIN. Yup, kind of wet around here right now.

 

doug

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THE ONTARION REPORT

 

Hello everyone!

 

With the weather so nice and sunny here in KW I can’t believe it’s as cold as it is! I know that the clearer it is the colder it is but I don’t want to believe it!

 

I managed to talk to Doug face to face last night and again today on the computer. We finally both have Skype set up on our computers so it allows us to just talk or to talk along with having video of each other. It’s kind of corny but it’s a bit of fun for a change. Of course it’s easier to just pick up the phone and since I’ve got a long distance plan with Rogers I should just use the phone for all we have to say when we connect but, Skyping is a fun way to visit.

 

I received an e-mail and from an old friend that used to be our neighbour back in 1975 when we had purchased our first new home in Laurentian Hills section of Kitchener. In fact we were just over the hill from Doug and Sue, they were on Blackhorne Cr and we were two houses off Blackhorne Dr on a little street called Calmcrest Dr. Who’d a thunk that all these years later we’d be friends! Small world eh? Anyway, getting back to the old friend’s letter. It was an e-mail about their new Fleetwood motor home. Paul and Barb now live in Saint John NB and spend their winters in Florida in a condo they own. This year they bought a second hand motor home and they only took it to Florida once this fall. I guess they didn’t like the size of it and to tell you the truth they likely weren’t happy that it was a used one! Paul likes things to be brand spanking new so I wasn’t surprised when he wrote to say they bought a 40’ monster house on wheels! The e-mail was written from his laptop while overnighting in the new Fleetwood somewhere in Arizona. He had just picked it up the day before and sent a few pictures of himself driving it for the first time. He has sent me three different notes since that day last weekend and sends pictures of the beast each time.

 

To give you an idea of how huge this thing is, he sent a picture of himself standing under the right side view mirror. He is only 5’ 9” tall but the motor home is about 7’ taller than he is. The mirror is at least a18” above his head so you can imagine the height of this thing. I’m sure with it being that high and having the AC unit and furnace on the roof along with the satellite dish that he’d have to be careful when approaching any overhead bridges along the way when on side roads. Anyway, this is a new adventure for Paul and Barb but he’s mentioned a couple of times that he’s supporting the US economy with all the fuel he’s paying for! He said that it was at half a tank and it cost him $150.00 to top it up! WOW! He of course follows his fuel comment with “But it’s well worth the cost of the fuel to have such luxury to travel in!” He’s not the kind of guy to complain about spending money so I don’t think he’s upset with the mileage he’s getting, just commenting out of interest sake! He owns a Greco Pizza franchise in Saint John and has a manager that sends him gobs and gobs of money every month so I’m sure he can afford his toys! The motor homes like this one are certainly lovely but they really aren’t my cup of tea. I’m sure one can do a lot of traveling and staying in good motels for the money he’s got wrapped up in this big machine. I’d rather not be tied to such a big vehicle while traveling. So far he hasn’t mentioned pulling a vehicle behind the coach but I’m sure that’ll come real soon. There are a lot of places you can’t take a big vehicle like that when traveling such as downtown to do some shopping so you really have to plan your activities in advance. It’s almost a necessity to have a smaller vehicle along for just tooting around once you’ve stopped for a while. Like I said, not my cup of tea!

 

Guess I’ll go for now!

Thanks for tuning in and I look forward to talking to you all again next week in The Ontarion Report!

Bye for now… GREG

PS: Something To Think About>

Why do city snowplows spend half their time plowing bare pavement and do it late at night?

 

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Have a good one..

the doug

http://www.thedougsite.net

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