Re: that question about the weather service you were quoting.
I'm sure I've been there before but never looked at the 24 hour
readout, just clicked on what I needed on the 7 (?) day page.

I'm currently sitting here listening to the wind howling
through the trees. That's been happening a lot this winter
and I don't remember it being that frequent in the past

I don't have any cluster of trees near the house (except for

>one 40ft blue spruce to the East, and some weak/old/broken
>cherry trees to the West, both pretty close to the house where
>their branches can scrape the roof. So, I don't experience the
>howling/train sound that some people mention when they live
>deep within a cluster of pines.

I've mentioned being on a bedrock 'hill'.. that means trees don't
grow there. There are low spots that filled with soil over the
years but the most you get is grass and some good sized, but mostly
close to the ground bushes. There are lots of tall trees on the
property, oddly, more Oaks than Pines with a lot of birch and
poplar scattered around, but they start over 50 feet or so from
the house I'd think.. But I guess that just means the sound travels
further than expected.

The most exciting day here I remember happened in late
November one year. I don't think it was snowing at the
time but the wind was reported to have hit 165 kph (100
mph) and I seriously wondered if the building would still
be standing the next day

I have a large 10ft wide spanning glass sliding door facing NW.

>It has sustained fairly high winds over the years where the
>glass flexes quite a bit. Dunno why, but there are cracking-
>like sounds when it does that too.

My windows were not that great and are pretty old. I replaced the
hinged wooden windows with single paned aluminum sliders the year
after I bought the place in 1980 and I was more worried about
them being waterproof than insulating because I never planned to
be here in really cold weather.. (Best laid plans..)

Obviously they were much cheaper than thermal windows but they
worked well for a long time and have screens that are still the
originals and in good shape.

They have probably gotten a little more sloppy over the years
and in a strong wind they rattle quite a bit. Over the winter
I use double sided tape on the inside frames with a cover of
plastic to make them more air tight and insulate a bit and that
always shows well how poorly sealed those windows are when that
plastic sheeting balloons out in strong winds.. B)

---
* SLMR Rob * Rich men and pretty women never hear the truth
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

Does your structure have large/wide gables? That could

>probably act as a catchall for the wind and send your cottage
>to the land of Oz. But the nearby trees and ground-level
>changes around you probably break/toss/twist the power of the
>winds around a bit to lessen a direct impact?

No gables.. The cottage is square, 20' x 20', with a 4 sided roof
that peaks to a point in the middle.

I live in a small valley. The winds can have a significant

>build-up effect if they want to. Some of the strongest storm
>winds have been in the summer with driving rains. The
>aforementioned 10ft wide glass door sustained quite a few of
>those over the years. But nothing like that has happened in
>over 10yrs now.

We can get some wicked storms coming in off of Georgian Bay
since there's not much between me and the water to break the
wind, a few small trees that don't do much, and being on top of
a hill I still get hit pretty directly. The front is actually
mostly facing South though so the cold North winds hit the back
of the place with only 2 small windows and there are some tall
trees 60 ft or so behind me which maybe breaks it up a bit.

It seems to be getting warmer these days. There are still a few
cold nights shown in the long range, like Tuesday and Thursday
night this week, but it's easier to heat the place most days and
there should be a bigger change over the next couple of weeks most
likely..

I think we are given winter so we appreciate the rest of the
year more.. B)

---
* SLMR Rob * Everything that deceives also enchants. - Plato
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

It's about -17c (+1f) here at the moment. I was just at 'your'
weather web site and they are pretty much calling for some snow
every day for the next week, and the local radio station said
we can expect up to 40 cm (16 inches) of snow on Thursday, so
winter is holding it's own for a while yet.

I had to keep my speed up and plow through some decent sized
drifts getting to town for shopping today. That's on the little
one lane road coming in here about 1/2 mile long. The main roads
were cleared pretty well. I expected the plow the neighbours
hired to do the road while I was gone but it was the same when
I drove home a few hours later. At times I wish I'd gotten the
all wheel drive version of my Ford Escape..

The people 2 houses over must keep the road plowed for insurance
purposes they say and they've pretty much said I can just take
advantage of that since no extra plowing is required to where
I park, but I will likely give them a few hundred dollars when
I see them next since it saves me a lot of money if I had to
pay the full cost. The plow guy also goes out of his way to keep
me as open as possible so I'll have to do something for him too..

They spray it under a lot of buildings here and a thin
layer expands to a couple of inches of foam. They can
force it between walls as well and let it expand to fill
the area but with the unconventional way my place is built
that would be difficult and likely not work well leaving a
lot of gaps.

How big is the cabin? Is the floorplan a plain rectangle

>shape?

The place is only 400 sq ft and floor is a square 20' x 20'..

Why not just build a skirt all around the exposed parts and

>then fill the entire underside with foam?

Given that parts of it is more than 3 feet off the ground that's
not easily doable. 'Boxing' in the sides doesn't usually stand up
very well since a lot of animals want to get in there for various
reasons. It would have to be done with masonry of some sort to be
solid enough and on uneven bedrock that's tricky and it would be
amazingly expensive I'd expect.

..I got rolled insulation, about 3 inches
of fiberglass, about 3.5 feet wide with a fairly heavy reinforced
vinyl on the bottom side..

Sounds like it's time for a fresh redo of the same?

Yes, there are a few areas where it's falling apart due mostly
to animals either trying to steal the insulation for nests or
build a nest between the insulation and the floor. As I said, it
would have been a lot better if I'd closed it in with plywood
back when I first did it.

How about bottles/jugs onto a sled?

If I were having a lot more trouble I'd consider
something, but trying to fill bottles from a hole in the
ice would be a lot more time consuming than filling a
bucket or two.

Some sort of portable pump with one end that can go right in a

>jug.

It's not so bad as it is.. It takes only seconds to fill a couple
of pails and it's a bit of work carrying them about 250 feet to
the cottage but on a bad day I can stop and rest a minute once or
twice and 95% of the time I do manage to walk it non-stop.

The snow is a bigger problem since you can't really trudge along
carrying that much weight if you're pushing your feet through
2 feet of snow as well so I have to shovel a path and pack the
snow down where it is deepest, but that 'ditch' is unfortunately
the first place that blowing snow will collect too so it has to
be at least partially redone fairly frequently..
---
* SLMR Rob * It is better to wear out than to rust out
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

It's about -17c (+1f) here at the moment. I was just at 'your'
weather web site and they are pretty much calling for some snow
every day for the next week, and the local radio station said
we can expect up to 40 cm (16 inches) of snow on Thursday, so
winter is holding it's own for a while yet.

There is a lot of media coverage of the next anticipated dump of snow starting Wednesday tonight and into most of Thursday. Good luck.

Yet another blast of nearly -30C overnight. The truck struggled a bit harder to start at 10a

Bancroft, Ontario
Latitude 45.07� N | Longitude 77.88� W Past 24 Hour Conditions

12 February 2025
12:00 n/a -11 (-11.3) ESE 10 -17 40 -22 102.8 n/a 11:00 n/a -14 (-13.5) ENE 9 -19 43 -23 103.0 n/a 10:00 n/a -16 (-16.0) calm * 62 -22 103.0 n/a 09:00 n/a -21 (-21.1) calm * 78 -24 103.0 n/a 08:00 n/a -27 (-27.1) ENE 2 -29 77 -30 103.0 n/a 07:00 n/a -29 (-28.8) calm * 76 -32 103.0 n/a 06:00 n/a -27 (-27.3) calm * 77 -30 103.0 n/a 05:00 n/a -26 (-26.1) calm * 79 -29 103.0 n/a 04:00 n/a -26 (-25.5) calm * 79 -28 102.9 n/a 03:00 n/a -24 (-23.8) calm * 81 -26 102.8 n/a 02:00 n/a -23 (-22.8) NW 2 -25 83 -25 102.8 n/a 01:00 n/a -23 (-22.6) calm * 82 -25 102.8 n/a 00:00 n/a -22 (-21.6) NW 2 -23 84 -24 102.7 n/a
11 February 2025
23:00 n/a -19 (-19.4) calm

--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

Hello Rob!

** On Tuesday 11.02.25 - 01:02, Rob Mccart wrote to me:

I think we are given winter so we appreciate the rest of
the year more.. B)

So.. how was your area affected after the snow storm last
night? I got anywhere between 8-12" in places. Some spots
were up to just below my knee and that was standing on top of
the old snow underneath.

--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: Stare into this point intently ->.<- (1:153/757.21)

Hello Rob!

** On Wednesday 05.02.25 - 01:40, Rob Mccart wrote to me:

I am with Lucky, the fist and only company I've used for
about 6 years now, although I've upgraded my service a few
times. Several months (a year?) ago you mentioned to me
that Lucky had a better plan than the one I was using so I
went to the site and was able to upgrade my service..

There has been nothing comparable since then for existing
users!

There is currently a $34/15GB and a $39/65GB but only for *new*
subscribers. Go figure.

I grabbed the $29/25GB when it was available. Later, I learned
it was *not* intended for existing subscribers.

That said, I could upgrade at Lucky to 80 gig of data plus
with unlimited calling to the USA added for a lousy $5
more but I just wouldn't use the extras so I haven't
changed over to that.

I'm at 25GB (+bonuses) across 3 cell phones at $29/mo each.
That's plenty of data for me too.

--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: Stare into this point intently ->.<- (1:153/757.21)

On 13 Feb 2025, August Abolins said the following...

I grabbed the $29/25GB when it was available. Later, I learned
it was *not* intended for existing subscribers.

I was with Koodo for the longest time but recently switched to Public Mobile (also owned by Telus) during their Boxing Day deals. I snagged 75GB of data at "5G" speeds (up to 250Mb) for $35 /mo that can be used anywhere in Canada, the US & Mexico.

It also includes 1000 minutes of long distance to China, Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, and the United Kingdom that I'll never use.


Jay

... Never try to out-stubborn a cat

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (1:229/664)

the local radio station said

>> we can expect up to 40 cm (16 inches) of snow on Thursday, so
>> winter is holding it's own for a while yet.

There is a lot of media coverage of the next anticipated dump of snow

>starting Wednesday tonight and into most of Thursday. Good luck.

Yes.. that was fun. I looked out at the deck this morning and thought
we'd only gotten about 6 inches of new snow, but later when I went out
to clear some of the walking paths on the property it looked like a
lot of the deck snow was blocked by the house or something because we
actually got more like 14 to 16 inches (40 cm) of snow. Since it wasn't
windy when it fell, rather than a drift here and there and less snow on
most of the property I ended up with the full depth of snow everywhere
so when I shovelled about 350 feet of paths today, it was pretty constant
that I was tossing a full shovel every 2 feet or so. It took a lot longer
than usual and was rather tiring to say the least..

I still haven't wandered out to where I park the car to see what sort
of mess I have there and they are calling for more snow tomorrow but,
this far North, we may only see 3 to 6 inches of it. They have pretty
much shut down Toronto for a couple of days.. No schools open and no
mail service and telling everyone to stay home if possible.. it's
always interesting to see what they go through down there when hit with
weather that's fairly common up where we are.. B)
---
* SLMR Rob * $1 billion in $1 bills weighs 1000 tons
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

Hello Rob!

** On Friday 14.02.25 - 00:47, Rob Mccart wrote to me:

There is a lot of media coverage of the next anticipated
dump of snow starting Wednesday tonight and into most of
Thursday. Good luck.

Yes.. that was fun. I looked out at the deck this morning [...]
[...] I was tossing a full shovel every 2 feet or so. It
took a lot longer than usual and was rather tiring to say
the least..

That morning, it took me about 90min to manually shovel my 150m
driveway inorder to get out. The driveway has a couple of hard
bends too - which means a little bit of extra clearance is
required inorder to navigate those turns.

I still haven't wandered out to where I park the car to
see what sort of mess I have there [...]

Well... how did it look? :D


--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: Age Doesn't Matter Unless You're a Cheese (1:396/45.29)

Hello Jay!

I grabbed the $29/25GB when it was available. Later, I learned
it was *not* intended for existing subscribers.

I was with Koodo for the longest time but recently
switched to Public Mobile (also owned by Telus) during
their Boxing Day deals. I snagged 75GB of data at "5G"
speeds (up to 250Mb) for $35 /mo that can be used anywhere
in Canada, the US & Mexico.

Missed that one. But.. I'm happy with under $30 for 25GG, and
I don't need USA calling.

Just note, PM doesn't have unlimited data - it's a hard cut-
off, I think. With Lucky, the throttled speed is still good
enough for email and fidonet.

It also includes 1000 minutes of long distance to China,
Hong Kong, India, Pakistan, Philippines, Taiwan, and the
United Kingdom that I'll never use.

Well.. from that, you can tell who their target market is. :D



--
../|ug

--- OpenXP 5.0.58
* Origin: Stare into this point intently ->.<- (1:153/757.21)

I think we are given winter so we appreciate the rest of

> the year more.. B)

So.. how was your area affected after the snow storm last

>night? I got anywhere between 8-12" in places. Some spots
>were up to just below my knee and that was standing on top of
>the old snow underneath.

I'm thinking 12 to 14 inches but it wasn't blowing around so you
got that full depth everywhere. I have since shoveled the paths
around here for about 450 feet and dug out the car. The car could
have been worse, although the plow left a bit of a bank in front
of it, but it was one of the few places where surrounding banks
blocked some of the new snow so, on average, I was dealing with
more like 6 to 8 inches around the car, but there I'm also having
to toss the snow up on top of shoulder high banks.

---
* SLMR Rob * It costs $1.25 to mint a penny
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

I am with Lucky, the fist and only company I've used for
about 6 years now, although I've upgraded my service a few
times. Several months (a year?) ago you mentioned to me
that Lucky had a better plan than the one I was using so I
went to the site and was able to upgrade my service..

There has been nothing comparable since then for existing

>users!

Yes, they always offer much better deals to new users which,
if you think about it, will cause old users to switch to another
carrier, at least for a while, so they can come back as a new
user - if they don't watch for things like that.. Plus a few
new companies are offering really good deals if they prove
reliable, like the President's Choice (was it?) plan I see
in my NO Frills flyers is possibly better than what I have now
but not enough so for me to chance a switch I may regret..

Plus, where I am, the Network the comany uses is important as
some get much better reception than others. Bell is good, Rogers
is not quite as good but not too bad and Telus is pretty bad
according to people I know using those carriers.

Lucky is actually a Bell company for those who don't know.

There is currently a $34/15GB and a $39/65GB but only for *new*

>subscribers. Go figure.

With my 'loyalty' and automatic payment bonuses I get 16 gig for
$35 and for $40 I can upgrade to 80 gig plus USA calling added to
the plan if they haven't changed the offerings since last checked.

I'm at 25GB (+bonuses) across 3 cell phones at $29/mo each.

>That's plenty of data for me too.

I'd imagine your bonuses up you to closer to 35 gig?

Do you get a discount for more than one phone? Not something
I've ever had to deal with..
---
* SLMR Rob * Flectere si nequeo superos, acheronta movebo
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

That morning, it took me about 90min to manually shovel my 150m

>driveway inorder to get out. The driveway has a couple of hard
>bends too - which means a little bit of extra clearance is
>required inorder to navigate those turns.

Wow, that's a lot of driveway to do by hand. I talk about having
to shovel about 450 feet (136 meters or so) of paths around my
property here but I just do that the width of my snow shovel,
about 16 inches. Now that there's 2 or 3 feet of snow built up
beside my paths it probably looks odd from a distance, me walking
along with the bottom half+ of my legs totally hidden..

We got about another 4 inches of snow after I did the paths
yesterday and tonight it's still coming down and likely a lot
more than that again so I'll be shoveling again tomorrow..

I still haven't wandered out to where I park the car to
see what sort of mess I have there [...]

Well... how did it look? :D

Probably due to the shoulder high banks on both sides of my car
the snow on the ground was a little less, more like 6 to 8 inches
rather than 16 inches, but the plow left a bit of a bank right in
front of my car that was tougher shoveling than the undisturbed
snow on the ground and on top of the car.

But the plow guy goes out of his way to try to not leave much
in front of my car. It was just tough this time since there was
so much snow to push around all at once. And I can't complain much
because I don't pay him. The neighbours apparently have to have
their place plowed out for insurance purposes, and that is right
in front of my driveway entrance so I can just park there close
to where he has to plow to. I'm not sure what I'd do if not for
that stroke of luck. I plan to give them a few hundred dollars
for them making it convenient for me, although they didn't ask
and said it wasn't necessary when I talked to them at the start
of winter since me parking there doesn't change their situation
at all. They have a huge parking area plus access to 3 cottages
that gets plowed out plus about 1/2 mile of the road in that the
Municipality doesn't plow and for that he charges $75 per plow,
but sometimes he has to come 2 or 3 times a week so, even though
that's really a fairly low price, it can really add up fast.

---
* SLMR Rob * Lord give me patience, and give it to me NOW
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

On 14 Feb 2025, August Abolins said the following...

I was with Koodo for the longest time but recently
switched to Public Mobile (also owned by Telus) during
their Boxing Day deals.

Missed that one. But.. I'm happy with under $30 for 25GG, and
I don't need USA calling.

Just note, PM doesn't have unlimited data - it's a hard cut-
off, I think.

Yup, Public is just like Koodo where they'll cut you off at the end of your "bucket", you can purchase a top up if needed. I spend most of my time either at home or work where I have wifi, so I tend to only use 4-6GB per month.

The only time I would use more than that is when visiting my Dad up north (he doesn't have a computer or wifi) or when camping in the summer. Even then I'd only use about 30 or 40GB that month (only 40GB if it's raining a lot).

Public Mobile used to offer unlimited data plans where they'd throttle you to 512Kbps after you used all of your high speed data, I think they stopped offering these when they started offering the "roaming" plans.


Jay

... Monday is a hard way to spend one-seventh of your life

--- Mystic BBS v1.12 A49 2024/05/29 (Linux/64)
* Origin: Northern Realms (1:229/664)

>driveway inorder to get out. The driveway has a couple of hard
>bends too - which means a little bit of extra clearance is
>required inorder to navigate those turns.

Wow, that's a lot of driveway to do by hand. I talk about having
to shovel about 450 feet (136 meters or so) of paths around my
property here but I just do that the width of my snow shovel,
about 16 inches. Now that there's 2 or 3 feet of snow built up
beside my paths it probably looks odd from a distance, me walking
along with the bottom half+ of my legs totally hidden..

We got about another 4 inches of snow after I did the paths
yesterday and tonight it's still coming down and likely a lot
more than that again so I'll be shoveling again tomorrow..

Probably due to the shoulder high banks on both sides of my car
the snow on the ground was a little less, more like 6 to 8 inches
rather than 16 inches, but the plow left a bit of a bank right in
front of my car that was tougher shoveling than the undisturbed
snow on the ground and on top of the car.

But the plow guy goes out of his way to try to not leave much
in front of my car. It was just tough this time since there was
so much snow to push around all at once. And I can't complain much
because I don't pay him. The neighbours apparently have to have
their place plowed out for insurance purposes, and that is right
in front of my driveway entrance so I can just park there close
to where he has to plow to. I'm not sure what I'd do if not for
that stroke of luck. I plan to give them a few hundred dollars
for them making it convenient for me, although they didn't ask
and said it wasn't necessary when I talked to them at the start
of winter since me parking there doesn't change their situation
at all. They have a huge parking area plus access to 3 cottages
that gets plowed out plus about 1/2 mile of the road in that the
Municipality doesn't plow and for that he charges $75 per plow,
but sometimes he has to come 2 or 3 times a week so, even though
that's really a fairly low price, it can really add up fast.

---
* SLMR Rob * Lord give me patience, and give it to me NOW

Your Tagline had me recall a small sign that read: "Lord, Grant Me patience. But I want it RIGHT NOW!"

Sorry about over quoting Your post just to show the Tagline I am referring to. Ed
--- SBBSecho 3.20-Linux
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

. SLMR Rob . Lord give me patience, and give it to me NOW

Your Tagline had me recall a small sign that read: "Lord, Grant Me

>patience. But I want it RIGHT NOW!"

Ha.. and these all reminded me of another quote, maybe a bit too long for
most Taglines..

Dear Lord give me chastity and self-restraint.. But not yet, Oh Lord,
not yet!.. St. Augustine 354-430 a.d.

He was apparently not too good at the whole Chastity thing.. B)

---
* SLMR Rob * Quick, Natasha. Shoot Moose and Squirrel!
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)

That morning, it took me about 90min to manually shovel my 150...

Wow, that's a lot of driveway to do by hand. I talk about having
to shovel about 450 feet (136 meters or so) of paths around my
property here but I just do that the width of my snow shovel,

... but the plow left a bit of a bank right in
front of my car that was tougher shoveling than the undisturbed
snow on the ground and on top of the car.

SO.. how did you fare after the 2nd blast over the weekend?


--- AfterShock/Android 1.6.8
* Origin: Mobile Blackberry Q10 (1:153/757.22)

... but the plow left a bit of a bank right in
front of my car that was tougher shoveling than the undisturbed
snow on the ground and on top of the car.

SO.. how did you fare after the 2nd blast over the weekend?

i meant to add.. that your georgian bay area must have received quite a 2nd dump of snows close to or over 45cm?

i'd say there was an easy 35cm in my central ontario (algonquin) area. but, this time my tractor-neighbour came along on sunday afternoon when the storm was just starting to peter out. he spent an easy 90min working on it though.




--- BBBS/Li6 v4.10 Toy-7
* Origin: The Rusty MailBox - Penticton, BC Canada (1:153/757)

SO.. how did you fare after the 2nd blast over the weekend?

i meant to add.. that your georgian bay area must have received quite

>a 2nd dump of snows close to or over 45cm?

i'd say there was an easy 35cm in my central ontario (algonquin) area. but,

>s time my tractor-neighbour came along on sunday afternoon when the storm was
>st starting to peter out. he spent an easy 90min working on it though.

You lucked out a bit there. I have been working for 1.5 to 2 hours a
day digging my paths around here. I had just finished them after the
first big storm when we got hit with that second storm. Toronto has
been going nuts because they got about 50 cm (20 inches) of snow, it
virtually shut down the city for 3 days and they figure it will take
them 3 weeks to fully recover from it.. Meanwhile it looks like here
the total from the 2 snowfalls is up somewhere around 100 to 110 cm.

My snowplow guy was really good to me too. I think I said I don't
pay him, the neighbours do and I just get the benefit, but when I
cleared off my car and around it today it looks like he actually
came in with his blade lifted and dropped it right at my front
bumper and dragged all of the snow away from it, which was a
really big help.

They said on the news that this is the worst season in 30 years,
although it's hard to say if they meant total snowfall or because
of these bigger snowfalls one after the other.

---
* SLMR Rob * Email Corps.: We're looking for a few bad girls
* Origin: capitolcityonline.net * Telnet/SSH:2022/HTTP (1:2320/105)