The Squamidian Report – Feb. 10 / 07
Issue #246
Also in this issue:
The Ontarion
Hi All,
Well hey; I’ll start off this issue with some good news. I won’t be coming back to Ontario for my annual visit this winter. That should be a relief for a whole bunch of you. But even better, my parents are coming out here for a visit during the last 8 days of the month. And it gets even better yet, they tend to travel as a trio, meaning Cindy will be tagging along as well. So the whole thing is pretty cool. And it gets even better still. Vivyan will have a birthday while she is here, and every one of you who wants to come is invited to the birthday party. See you here.
*
While some parts of the country have been having road closures due to those good old fashioned Great Lake, lake effect snowsquawls, we’ve had a couple of road closures ourselves. Highway 99, better known as The Sea To Sky Highway was closed both last Sunday and again last Monday.
Sunday’s closure was the result of a landslide just north of Horseshoe Bay. A big section of rock and mud and trees decided to let go and come tumbling down, covering the road. The result was that anyone from the city who had headed north to Whistler or Squamish was stranded there for the day. Anyone from Whistler or Squamish who had gone into the city was stranded there. Road crews did manage to get the highway open but not until they drilled and blasted some of the larger chunks of rock that landed on the road. Then the road surface had to be repaired before traffic could resume.
Then the next day, Monday, the highway was closed again. This time just south of Whistler. A loaded logging truck took a curve too fast and rolled onto its side. Unfortunately a Greyhound bus was coming the other way and took the brunt of the tumbling logs. Fortunately, the bus was empty except for its driver, who, unfortunately, didn’t fare too well.
The silly part of all this is that our rather vocal and clueless NDP opposition party immediately began demanding to know how the BC government is going to guarantee that these kinds of things will not happen during the 2010 Olympics. The only way you could guarantee that landslides won’t happen would be to remove all of the mountainsides. The only way you could guarantee that no vehicle crashed would happen would be to remove all the vehicles. I personally don’t think either of these solutions would be all that practical. But then, I don’t tend to think like a bunch of NDP transportation critics.
doug
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****
Hello
everyone!
Shovel,
blow, scrape, shovel, blow, scrape! Seems to be the only activity I’ve had over
the past week or so. We’re finally getting the winter we’re used to. I’m
beginning to wonder if there’s anything to this “Global Warming” thing. I think
it’s just a phase the world is going through and it’ll all be back to normal
next year.
I
know……….. I’m a dreamer! Wouldn’t it be nice if Canada smartened up and cut their
output of greenhouse gases by half to make an honest contribution to a cleaner
atmosphere? I just watched a program that said Canada is among the worst
offenders on earth when it comes to spewing this crap out into the air we
breathe. I sure hope that PM Harper was watching the same program. Doing
something about the polluting we’re doing would make his government a true hit
with Canadians. Let’s hope he’s got a TV set in his office! Maybe he’ll realize
how poor the air his kids are breathing really is and he’ll get on the ecology
bandwagon.
*
I had a
strange experience the other day. Carole noticed that the water pressure in the
kitchen and the main floor washroom and laundry room was very low. I checked
the upstairs washrooms and the pressure in them was just fine. Carole figured
the pipes for the lower sinks must be frozen so I headed to the basement to see
what I could find. I found that the pipes for the main floor sinks did indeed
make their way to the sinks through the outside walls. However they didn’t feel
excessively cold. The pipes to the kitchen were hidden in the ceiling of one of
the rooms so I had to tear a hole in the red cedar tongue in groove to get at
them. When I opened the ceiling, I found the previous owner had packed the
joist spaces with insulation and covered them with plastic. He did this to
insulate the room so the moisture from his hot tub wouldn’t affect the wood
above. It did however do a great job of keeping the cold air close to the
outside wall locked in between the joists where the pipes ran. I spent about an
hour warming the pipes for all three sinks with an electric heat gun. It did
absolutely nothing to help with the slow flow of the water. I enlisted Adams
help to figure out what the problem was. I stuck my head and shoulders under
the kitchen sink to try to thaw the pipes from closer to the taps. I
disconnected the flexible plastic tube from the main pipe on the cold side and
opened the shut off to see if there was pressure at that point. When I did so,
there was all kinds of pressure but something yellow gushed out with the water.
I immediately surmised that there must have been a water main break in the area
and that had possibly caused sludge to accumulate in our pipes. While I was
busy doing that, Adam removed the diffuser and screen from the spout in the
kitchen sink. He gasped as he opened the tap to see if he had pressure and out
gushed about two cups of bright yellow guck. This guck as it turned out was
part of the contents of our water softened tank. The guck was made up of very
tiny resin beads. The beads attract the solids that are in hard water when the
water is passed over them within the softener. These beads are supposed to stay
in the “resin” tank to remove the solids so the water comes out soft. We spent a
few minutes performing the same operations on the rest of the taps and found
them all clogged with the same substance. I figured that our water softener
would likely have to be replaced. It is almost 9 years old. I found the booklet
that came with it and called the company to see if it could be repaired. The
fellow I talked to told me not to panic. He said that there is a tube that
extends to the bottom of the tank and than it likely developed a crack in it
from the chlorine the region puts in the water. He told me how to take the head
off the tank and check the pipe. I did so and sure enough the tube had a broken
plastic screen on the bottom. I called him back to see where I might buy a new
one and he told me for what it was worth, to just drop over to their plant on
Trillium Dr and he’d give me a new one. I was pleasantly surprised that he was
willing to help me out after 9 years of use on their product. Anyway, I drove
over to meet him a few minutes later and he gave me the part and even told me
an easy way to install it. His instructions really did make it an easy job. In
a matter of a few minutes I had it all back together and working like a charm.
I’m so glad I kept the instruction book from the softener. Most people would
have called a plumber and had a big bill from something that turned out to be
quite simple. I guess there are a lot of people that are not very mechanically
inclined and have no choice but to call a plumber. At least my refrigeration
experience stood me in good stead to do the work myself. I don’t think I’ve
ever called a service man for anything mechanical that’s gone wrong around our
house. I guess I’m lucky to have been able to do such repairs myself. This time
I lucked out with the help of the guy from the manufacturer. You don’t see that
happening very often. It’s good to know there are some kind souls still out
there when you need them. He also told me that softener should be good for
another 10 years. I hope he’s right!
Better
sign off 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.
Something
To Think About>
If spring
is “just around the corner”, is that less time than “6 weeks left of winter”?
I guess
we could ask Wiarton Willie couldn’t we? LOL!
****
The Family and the Squamidian sites:
http://members.shaw.ca/doug_b/ and http://www.thedougsite.ca
Have a good one..
the
doug
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