Freezing Flying Ducks

Today I heard a peculiar story one of my co-workers was telling. A friend of him was driving in the Fort MacMurray area, in winter at night, when suddenly his truck was hit by something falling. Twice. So he pulled over to investigate and to his surprise the found two duck lying on the street. Their wings were frozen solid, like an airplane on high altitude. After a while he noticed the wings were thawing and the ducks taking off again. I imagine this could happen when flying high, in winter, in a damp (sub) arctic area. Whether the wings can thaw and being used again I have no clue, maybe only if the freezing is superficial.  Anyways, plausible?

Bison and a Barred Owl

Today we went for a early visit to a couple of friends whow live close to Elk Island National Park. They invited us for a coffee, including Joost who also had his Permanent Resident card issued as of November 11th. Finally after 3 years and 10 months the PR is completed. Anyways we decided to have breakfast at Tempo on the Yellowhead highway (Edmonton to Saskatoon); it took some effort to break them free from the laptops, as you can see. Steak and Eggs, French Toast, Fried Breakfast and a Denver Omelet were ordered and mastered. Meanwhile Vos was waiting in the F150 who later was joined by a new 2011 F350 Lariat. Next on the agenda was a visit to Elk Island National park for a little hike to get rid of the excess calories. Out in the open there was a nasty cold wind so we went into the treed areas; much better. Vos got very exited as he ran loose, we had to leash him as he was barely listening anymore. Too many smells. On the way out we did the bison loop, and as you can see with success. A couple of dozen bison were present and willing to have their picture taken. Quite impressive and beautiful those bison. Joost was driving when all of a sudden Johan got very exited and had the car stopped; he spotted a barred owl, another species on his list. Onward to the coffee and a lazy warm Sunday afternoon.

Approved, again

Today I was up for my annual medical check at Dominion Health Care in Edmonton. Dr. Amarjit Singh Narula is the family-physician, neatly bearded including a beardnet (or whatever it is called) which goes off when on the job, I guess.
'Good morning, how are you today?'..'Please sit on the table'..'Say aaah'; "AAAAAH", 'Look left'..'Look right' for checking the ears; 'Left arm'..'Right arm' for blood pressure, which is just a tiny little bit over the limit; 'Lie down'..at least his hands are warm while checking the nuts. 'OK, sock off'..checking my ankles for plaque-buildup; Tjak.....there it is: THE GLOVE. I had seen a box full at the table including a large tube of some kind of lubricant. Oh Oh. 'You're over 50 so on your side'..Not very pleasant when a guy is doing that to you, butt the prostate is very much okay. No laboratory tests today, the lastest showed excellent results. Medication is being adjusted slightly, back in 6 weeks to check. In the meantime Narula is updating his file, while I'm sitting almost butt-naked waiting for the next exam. 'You may dress up now' he says as I'm studying the walls, ceiling and medical equipment, again. Or is it because I start to look at his every move? Finally, I was starting to feel un-easy.
Also the "please" is gone, used here in front or at the end of (almost) any request. He is friendly but without the please, and that annoys me. Almost 50% of the consultation/examination is consumed with reading and updating my digital medical file. He sure has learned how to type, one hand operates the left-shift-key while the other is used for the remaining key-strokes. Efficient. Where did I see that before? It gets the job done though, and as health care is free of charge I don't mind.

I hate commercials....

 So what's the deal here, is he gone bonkers? 3 (!!) ads on my blog? I'm just wondering how much, if any, $$ you can generate with Google taking care of this via AdSense. So maybe it's temporary; then again maybe not.

Woodstove is working fine....

Today, Saturday november 6th, I fired up our new woodstiove at 7:15AM this morning. Soon the temperature rose to 22 degrees. In the afternoon we let the fire die to install a fan at the backside of the stove, and as the sun was shining brightly thru our front windows the temperature stayed up. After installing the fan and firing up the stove again the inhouse temperature reached a stagering 25 degrees Celcius, the stove is not even fully loaded. So I think we are good this coming winter, although it's not really cold outside tonight; only +2. Our, for over one year, seasoned poplar firewood ignites within 15-25 seconds or so where 90 seconds is the "norm". The moisture percentage is about 17%, 20% or lower is recommended. Wood dries fast here in Alberta.

Finally Free Warmth...

Almost free. At last the woodstove is burning. It is a Drolet Adirondack and a solid investment. I never got the checkered plate delivered, and being fed up with the situation I ordered a sandstone hearth pad at Future Fireplaces. 48" by 54" by 1 1/4" thick. Very heavy but it does the trick. After starting the fire the inhouse temperature went immediately to 22-23 degrees. Hopefully the gas-bill drops below $50 a month or even less. Keep you updated on the decline, if any. Some 8 cord to go. Bring on the minus 50!!

Please No More!

Just let me be Vosje, no dress puppet or puppy. I already served as a X-mas card last year, in case you forgot. That's more than enough. Click here to for a full photo shoot to see what they did to me. Fortunately the huspup stands out for me, altough he did take the pictures. I say, life of a blog-dog is not an easy one.

Stumps

On request here are some pictures of trees we have dropped the last couple of weeks; it is not really the clearcuts but there are some areas that are more open now. Basically we only removed dead trees and a occasional live because I did not pay attention. Johan taught me a lot about treefelling, he is quite the expert, espcially on the direction of the drop. Not much big fellable trees are left, if any. As you can see autumn has taken over, last weeks snow already disappeared. It is a nice 12 degrees today. If you ever have to remove a tree stump you can use Stump Not or you can do it the redneck way. When you stack your firewood be sure "the space between each log is large enough for a mouse to run through, but tight enough to prevent a cat from chasing it". Look here for the complete guide on 'How To Stack Firewood'.

Oilsands and asphalt.

The Oilsands not only propel your motorized vehicle, they also provide the bitumen to produce asphalt to drive your motorized vehicle on. Bitumen is the carefully refined residue from the distillation process of selected crude oils, Wikipedia says.
Why it is called the tarsands by some is unclear to me, as tar is produced by the destructive distillation of coal. Nothing to do with crude oil. So the Oilsands are not only providing gas, it provides the glue for roads also and generates a lot of jobs, hence a positive impact on the economy. I agree the Oilsands companies should also minimize their impact on the environment. As for killing birds this is a nice article to read. If you don't like it you can read another one here. The first article states wind energy companies are (I feel wrongfully) not procecuted on bird deaths. On the other hand when 300 ducks fly, land and die in a Syncrude waste water pond the company gets sued and fined a couple of million. Wind energy is so called clean. How much energy is needed to produce those windmills? Mining the ore, transporting it, producing and deforming the steel, welding it, transport to site and erecting it. Is it really neutral? What about the landscape? Horrible I say. May its better to work with instead of against the Oilsands companies. Who knows are the results, a positive impact on the environment, far beyond expectations. If you are dead-against the Oilsands anyways, take a look here.

Sharing your life on a blog.

It is fun to do, most of the time. Biggest "problem" I have is the fact you almost never get a response. This despite deliberate blunt and stupid remarks, or posts, on my part. Only 1 or 2 people respond regularly, and I do appreciate that. Maybe even because of that, who knows. But generally people do not take the time to write something down I guess. This is based on the emails I get where the last line often is something like: "I will mail you back later as I have to ..........." (do some work related task) or "I'm so busy now I will respond more extensively later". And no this is never followed up with said email, and that's a pity. So sometimes there a gaps in the blogflow (word reminds me of something :-) ) or numerous posts in a short period of time. Are people really interested in the endeavours of a 52 year old, new Canadian landed immigrant? Currently I don't care but sometimes I just wonder if I want to continue. There should be people out there who are thinking on a move like we did, even if you are "old" like us. It makes your life really interesting and it is by no means only joy and happiness; as you have to take big and difficult life changing decissions. Family-friends-son-daughter. But it is rewarding, that much I do know. And maybe a blog like mine can offer some help. Working in Canada and the way M&D looks at the drafting world made me realise there is a vast global business and drafting world where you can be a part of. And there is very much to do out there, you only have to find it. In that respect it is a pity we made this move so late in life. On the other hand you could argue we were not ready yet. But the second half will be worth the walk, for sure.

Long Term Precipitation Forecasting

"To determine the rainfall for the coming year do the following: between 11:00pm and midnight on Christmas Eve or New Year's Eve (the Authorities are divided over the proper time) take a dozen onions, cut off their tops and scoop out a depression in their centers, and line them up in an east-west orientation. Then place an equal amount of salt in each depression. Don't look at them until the next morning when you'll find that the salt has dissolved to varying degrees in each onion. The more water in each onion the wetter the corresponding month will be in the coming year.

The preceding methods are guaranteed (hallowed by tradition) to give accurate, timely, and precise weather information for nearly all weather needs. Oddly enough, the majority of weather superstitions cited here do have a scientific basis in fact and generally work fairly well. Had they not worked, of course, they wouldn't have been repeated and remembered."

For more extensive and other tests please take a look here. I've put the testing date in my Outlook calendar for X-mas eve. I will let know the results and I have to test it in our garage for the obvious reason. Should be fun to do the test in Holland too and keep track of the results.

Done Felling-Logging-Splitting

At last we are done cutting down trees, stumping and splitting them up and making nice stacks of firewood. All in all we have been real busy the last 7-8 weeks, as seen in previous posts. Today I finished the last stack of logs, not high quality wood, we cleaned out our little forrest, but it will generate heat and warmth in winters to come. To cut up the log in the photo you will need this chainsaw. Would be a nice Sunday afternoon job, to be rewarded with a Moose Head beer. We now have 7.3 cord of split and stacked firewood. This equals to about 26 cubic meter, it would cover the backyard of our old home at the Duikerlaan 90 cm high.
You must be thinking they have their new woodstove up and running. Wrong. For the last 4 weeks I'm trying to get a hearth pad, a aluminum checkered plate 55" by 55" by 1/4" thick. Should be easy as I work for a big steel fabricator. Wrong again. For some reason it seems impossible to get that plate. Fed up with the situation I asked someone else to get me a simple 55" by 55" by 3/16" ordinary steel plate. Yes you quessed correct, no results. So what to do? Buy one for 500 bucks? Maybe I will end up doing that. But for the now I'm patient. Really? No but I need to, do not want to spent 500 bucks on something that is almost for free. And we need it for the insurance (photo proof is required) and the county inspector to approve the building permit. It's not one of my best virtues, patience, but I'm integrating nicely here in Canada. You need to be patient here otherwise life is difficult.

M&D Halloween 2010

 

My third Halloween at M&D's. Still I did not dress-up. Basically because I just forgot about it. I know it's a lame excuse, but true nevertheless. Just about 40-50% did dress-up, Andy (also a no) and I were discussing to propose making it mandatory next year, company wide, without the possiblity to take the day off or loose pay. Won't work probably. 

Funny to see is that almost everybody plays the role of their character. Take a look at Steve Irwin, including stingray, and the surprised look on his face mimicing the real Steve. Really funny. The most funny one is "Mini Terry" getting even with the boss (the pirate left of him) for all the verbal abuse he gets when they do the invoicing; "Get the f*** out off my office before I fire you" is one of them.

Facebook Scam

The below listed message was received by Joka thru Facebook. When you see US$8.5M you tend to get greedy, right. But Google 'Clinton Tetevi' and a lot of results pop up. 'Mr. D.' always is the same, lastname and greeting varies. And when you see Togo or any other African nation, listed in email message, it almost 100% certain it's a scam. And yes this is one too. So I told him/her/it "To f*** *** and go bug his/hers/its own kind". Pretty solid English too this Clinton writes, instead of referring to 'the' accident he/she/it refers to 'an' accident; also how does a deceased customer loses his life? But then again I did not study English literature in Cambridge or Oxford. Also this character thinks highly of him/her/itself with respect to the "Ësq" title, look here.

"Subject: LETTER FROM TETEVI & ASSOCIATES TO:Joka Oldenburger

Dear Joka Oldenburger,
I am Barr.Clinton Tetevi a legal practitioner, I am the personal attorney to Mr. D.Oldenburger, a contractor and businessman.
On the 1st October 2005, our deceased customer,his wife and their only daugther were involved in an automobile accident and It was unfortunate that our deceased customer and his family all lost their lives in an accident.
Do kindly contact me directly on my private email adddress below thus:(clinton.tetevi@hotmail.com) for more details inrespect for the claim of his Estate/Fund valued(usd$8.5Million)left behind before it gets confiscated or declared unserviceable by the Finance Firm.

Best Regards

Clinton Tetevi (Esq)
Principal Attorney,
Lome Togo."

Thoughts on a F350

I was at Freedom Ford last Monday when Clarence and I started discussing the 2011 F350, which sells like warm Swiss rolls. I refer to this pick-up as a true work of art. This statement started Clarence. In his book and being 35 years in the automotive business he sees every car just a a piece of metal. But the 2011 Ford pick-up models really wow him, he almost gets lyrical. Chevy tried to match and outperform the F350, wrong move; Ford sent out an invitation to all F350 owners saying at the next service they would run a code to improve power with 20 break HP, for free. Indeed more than the Chevy (Clarence claims), and lets be honest you really need the extra HP on top of the 400HP. Unfortunately there is a downside to the 2011 F350 Powerstroke V8 Diesel; service and maintenance doubles the F150 cost, at least. And with service every 8000 km that tends to be quite expensive, right. So the plans for a new F350 go into the cold Canadian winter, for the now. And 80 grand for a toy is a bit too much. So I will probably bump up my F150. I wonder why in Europe engines are downsized (1.8 ltr to 1.6 ltr) while maintaining and even improving power; here is North America engine sizes are bumped up and fuel economy improves. Ford now has 6.2 ltr a a standard. Also I wonder why Audi produces V8 and V10 R8 race monsters, nobody has a private circuit in their backyard. In my book comparable developments just to be the biggest, fastest. But I like it, a lot. Imagine owning a Audi R8 V10 and a Ford F350 V8 Diesel. Wow. It only set you back some $240.000 US.

Winter forecast.

El Nino and La Nina. Both seem to have an effect on the climate and the coming Canadian winter. I was reading an article when my eye fell on this one. The article says we had a short and warm winter last year. True or false, one day Edmonton was the second coldest town on the planet with -43 degrees Celsius. By no means warm in my book, see also this post from last year. So the forecast is a colder and snowier winter. Something Johan's cab driver tells him too; 6 foot of snow and long frequent cold snaps of minus 35 and below. We will wait and see if winters like in the sixties will return. Kinda cool if they do, right. We've got 8 cord of firewood ready. Bring it on.

Like a ton of bricks.

From www.nu.nl: ''Willen de slachtoffers echt dat een priester van 85 jaar oud aan de schandaal wordt genageld?'' (This is asked by the same idiot (moron, sob, bastard) who claims aids is some kind of justification. Look here.)
Sure they would, relentlessly, and rightfully so. Don't let them have their peace. They didn't care about the age of their victims. They ruined the live(s) of the innocent, so hit them full force, like a ton of bricks and throw them in a dungeon for all I care. Read full article here. Still people go to church; do they think and act alike? Interesting question: where does the phrase "Like a ton of bricks" originate? Sure hope it's not related to "stoning of" practiced in certain Middle East countries.

Porcupine on deck

Yesterday evening when Joka got ready for bed she noticed a half birdhouse only. What the heck? On a closer look she discovered a porcupine was all over this birdhouse, probably looking for food. It was the second time that evening it visited us. Earlier Johan and Emma also had seen him (or her?). Not a very bright picture, a nice impression though. I had to ran outside, in my underware, to take this snapshot. Next time I will try to take a better one. Don't let your dog play with one, he/she will regret it. Look here. This is a nice site to learn about a porcupine.

Log Home

I'm jealous. Of birds and their Rollyview build log-home. Maybe one day we will build one of our own, that'll be the day, a log-home that is. It would be nice on a quarter (160 acres=64 hectares) close to the Rockies on a mountain-side. We found this birdhouse at Peavey's in Leduc. Or we build it here in Rollyview on our property, better is to sell this and start anew from scratch. This is a nice site to take a look at some log-homes. Dream away.

Our Log Splitting Operation

The new woodstove needs some firewood to burn. And we come prepared as you can see on the photo. But wait there is more. Actually it is fun to do; from standing tree to 10 foot logs, into footlong stubs, to splitting it. All wood shown on the photos is free of charge, most of it is from our acreage. All in all we have about 3 cord of wood (it fills our previous back-garden in Maarn), 1 cord is already seasoned from last year. So we are winter ready you might say. I am planning to keep the stove running 24/7, don't know if that works out to be feasable. Time will tell.
To speed up the log cutting operation I have decided to buy a new chainsaw. Please take a look here for info on this beast of a saw. Only in the US, no saw pants or safety goggles, just jeans and a t-shirt, probably sawpants are useless here as you will be cut in half in a blink of the eye. But this chainsaw would suit me, V8 cutting power.
This is even a better cutting/splitting/sorting device. My 3-ton electric log-splitter from the Co-op Wetaskiwin suits us very well at a fraction of the cost from aforementioned professional device.