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So like many people I get a newsletter from Hemmings in my email every day, and today was an article about a 68 Vista Cruiser that was buried as a time capsule in 1975. It was supposed to be unearthed in 2000 but never was, and the article was about some people trying to find exactly where it is, and maybe digging it up. If you go to vimeo.com and search for Citizens Time Capsule Ant Farm you should be able to find it. It's a 13 minute video and pretty painful watching them coat the car in tar. But like they say in the video, it's only a $250 used car. I believe the Ant Farm was the group that created the Cadillac Ranch in Amarillo, Texas.
Greg that's great you got to see the Awful house on TV. I think there's a couple in Ohio, so maybe some day there will be some in Michigan. You know what I miss that we don't have down here? White Castle.
Well it’s 4 in the morning and I’ve been up for 2 hours
Thanks for the encouragement on the course I’m doing. To be honest I should be further along with it but since grandad passed I’ve found it difficult at times to find the motivation to study, too busy worrying about his estate but I’ll get there.
Hang in there Allan And Marc. You will see green in the yard before you know it 😁 the last couple days have been cooler here which is nice.
Sorry to hear about your friend Jonni.
Cool pics of the old place Jim.
I’ve booked a truck for Tuesday so I can drive it down and move most of grandads stuff up since we now have a storage unit to put it in. I ended up getting it from Tuesday morning till Thursday afternoon. Hopefully that gives me enough time to move what I need to lol. Maybe that’s why I can’t sleep, too worried about all that’s currently going on in life 🤔
Take care everybody,
Adrian
More snow yesterday and currently snowing while I type this. At least the temperature is warmer. Oh winter! I've had my fill, I'm with Jouni and Allan. Spring can arrive any time now.
Nice 98 Allan, same year as my Delta 88.
I once bought an '84 Delta 88 for parts. Put a jack under the frame to lift it and... the jack pushed through and up into the frame. It was a challenge trying to get it out!
Mike, sorry to hear hear about the trouble moving your cars. Good luck finishing the job.
Adrian, sometimes it's hard to "turn off" your brain at night when you have a lot of things you're worrying about like you currently do.
Enjoy the end of your weekend and beginning of your week.
Hey Mike, Joe P. can cut you a new key, he has the equipment. Like Greg, we are getting the warm air for a couple of days. Three days ago I had 18" of snow on my picnic table, down to about 6". I watched the snow slowly slide off of the roof, good thing that I have 30" overhang on the eaves, otherwise the pile of snow from the roof would be up against the house. Not much going on here otherwise, I'll head over to my brothers house for the Superbowl later.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Update: Canada wins the Gold medal at the World Curling Cup Mens division. I was surprised they beat Niklas Edin. Both teams played well but both made enough mistakes for the other to capitalize on. I was almost hoping Niklas would win because I'm not a Matt Dunstone fan. He seems rather arrogant, like his third Braden Moskowy. Really he won because Sweden made mistakes when they could least afford to.
Adrian - It's gotten even colder here since this morning. Now down to -32 and windchill to -40. Green grass soon? Are you sure you didn't move to Canada and are smoking some of that legal weed??? Maybe the cold weather here would help you sleep. The missus asked me to turn the thermostat down 2° in the evening and I find that makes me sleep better too. Hope the cleanout at Grand dads house goes well. Sorry to hear that the MIL is getting involved negatively. You mentioned that she might and it's come to pass. Maybe she won't want anything, but that's fat chance. Too bad you have to disclose the valuations on the assets.
Paul - I bought that car in Sept 85 from Nicholson Chev Olds It was loaded, including the moon roof which I didn't care for. About a year after I bought it (no warranty by then) the transmission (200 4R) sun gear went out. I had it repaired at Aamco on Argyll. At the time it was $1100 but if I wanted lifetime warranty Gary told me it would be 1350, which I jumped on like a hobo on a southbound freight. The only catch was the car had to come back every year for inspection and fluid change. I did that for close to 18 years till Aamco closed shop here. It probably cost them more to do the fluid changes than the extra warranty cost me. I had bought a Burgandy Regency Brougham new off the showroom floor in 83 but traded it for an 84 Calais (I ordered it loaded but with the 5 speed gearbox). I wish I'd never traded the big car as it was better in my opinion. The little Calais was fun to drive but had such limited room for the junk I had to haul around on ski trips or ice climbing adventures. They still show up in the boneyard here from time to time.
Jim - Go for it. Now you're off the DL? I'm gonna go out on a limb and say 51/48 tomorrow. I already signed up whitey to a contract to make that happen
Greg - Good luck with the wheel bearings. Can you use a portable heater in your garage to make it nice to work there? I did that several years back and had it hooked up to a 20lb propane bottle. Got the temp up to a comfortable 65° in about 20 minutes while the outside was a cool 8 or 9.
For most golf is a fair-weather sport - playing in 50*F temps, rain & standing water, soaked to the bone with a 20 mph wind - it's like paradise (compared to -40 windchill).
Well the Amphi is unloaded and the trailer is returned and I spent my requisite time at Walmart for the week. Now I'm in for the night.
Jamesbo as I was walking out to the truck to go to the store, I saw the come along in the back. I don't know why things like that don't occur to me. Too used to things not being easy I guess. I have a winch in the garage I was going to mount on a new trailer. I never bought the trailer.
I'm pretty pleased with all I got done this weekend. Moved two cars, worked in the yard, cleaned out a room in the basement pretty well, it was a good weekend. And beautiful. No jacket and driving with the windows down.
Good luck moving stuff Adrian, hope you have some good help. Just remember, that which doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
Greg I had one of those turbo heaters you put kerosene in to heat my two car garage. Trouble was I had to have the door open so wide so I didn't suffocate that all the heat went outside. Don't envy the job but you said you've done it a lot, hope it goes well.
Okay time for something to eat. Call Mom. Hit the sack. See ya's.
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
Only shoveled twice today, it was a good day. It's about -29 and snowing again, beautiful, can't have enough of that crap, bring it on! So far it's been every week since September we've had snow or cold of some kind. The way it's looking it's going to be another 4 months before we'll begin to see regular temperatures even close to freezing.
When I retire, I will move away from this place. I will move to somewhere in Canada where if it snows, it lasts until noon and then it's gone. I'll go to Vancouver Island. I am so tired of this crap.
Rebuilt 2 watches today, one for a buddy (his grandfather's old watch) and one out of spare parts. I've discovered I hate Swiss pocket watches. Every bloody one of them is different. I much prefer American ones, at least the parts are interchangeable. Anyway, 2 more running, 2 left to do. Next week I'll tackle the 1866 Waltham. With any amount of luck i can set a table roller up and a new hairspring. Then I'll tackle the last Swiss POS and that's it for pocket watches, then I have 5 wristwatches that need serious attention.
Going to be a busy week at work; these weekends go way too fast. Used to enjoy the time I had off when I worked shift, 4 or 5 days at a time. This weekends off stuff is for the birds; the upside though is that for the first time in 30 years I'm sleeping regular and I don't have permanent jet lag. So, all things considered, it was about the best way to spend a birthday. Lousy time of year to have a birthday. I share it with the cat, who we figure was born on the same day. She at least is rather nonplussed about the whole thing.
Anyway, here's that Swiss piece of crap I worked on today; there's still more fitting to be done before I consider it finished. Any idea what car that is on the back? I figure the whole works dates from about 1898-1905. It's actually a high quality movement, 21 jewels.
Hi guys, got the wheel bearings changed and it wasn't too bad. Hard part was the bolts are locktited at the factory so they come out hard the whole way. That's where I am spoiled from using a impact gun, Here at the house no air so I had to fight them out with limited room so about 1/8 turn at a time. It was really strange in the garage with the quick warm up. Everything in the garage was still cold-like 0 degrees or so- and the air coming in was 45 degrees and humid. All the metal stuff got all frosty. Then after it warmed up it looked like a cold beer can on a Summer day. Then the snow and slush started to melt off the car and drop onto the colder floor and refreeze. Kinda weird..
Went to a super bowl party last night, had a good time.
Mike. not really a fan of the White Castle sliders. The first time I had them was after a Pink Floyd concert back in the 80's, they were great! But then tried them a few weeks later and not so much. Don't know why they were so great after the concert... Ah yes maybe I do.... Anyway I haven't had any since.
Well I guess I'll look into the TV and dishwasher today. I also plan to put some stuff on ebay that I have collected. I did put some Olds jewelry on here but no bites yet.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Good morning everyone,
Still cold as a witches heart here. I guess I have to go out and shovel yet again. Other than that, nothin.
Marc - No idea. What throws it off is the disproportionate size of the rear wheel. All the early curved dash or tiller cars I've seen have the same size wheels. Must be an early 'concept car'
Hmmmm, after some additional searching how about this?
No.65 Albert Lemaître in Peugeot 3hp EDIT: circa 1894 and Peugeot would fit the Swiss theme.
Last edited by Allan R; February 4th, 2019 at 07:52 AM.
Good Morning Guys:
I probably shouldn't even tell you guys it is going to be 78 and sunshine here today. I know my day is coming this summer when it will be 100 degrees here and I can't do anything for the heat. It is supposed to get cooler by the end of the week. Crazy weather.
Marc, my guess is that is probably not any particular car. At that time there were very few to pick from. I am guessing it was influenced by the early Mercedes since they were about the first car. I like Allan's idea of an early concept car.
I think the back is completely healed since I am having no pain. So Lucy and I will go for a walk today. She will be happy. I am going out and get my big trailer and get the new tires put on. I have an electric wench I would like to install but will see if I have enough time to fool with that.
That is about all I have this morning. Have a good day guys.
Glenn
Last edited by redoldsman; February 4th, 2019 at 08:36 AM.
Well back to the usual today at work. Sharing my desk with that other guy. The wheels have been steady but not rushed so it's been fairly relaxed. There's a town hall meeting at noon that I'm going to. We're all supposed to go but not many do, so I said I'd go and report back.
That was my first thought, too, the picture on the watch is just a non-descript car. But if it's French or Swiss it would be a voiture. The people look very happy.
Glenn we're supposed to get up into the 70s later this week, and be 60s up to that. I'm so glad. We only had two seasons up home. Winter and road construction.
Greg glad you got the wheel bearings changed. Things are looking up. The TV and the dishwasher are inside where it's warm.
Might run a couple errands when I get home today. I'll have to see what Tiger wants to do. Have a good day everyone.
Ah, today I can see the back of the Swiss watch. For some reason it did not show up for me last night. Neat looking car and landscape depicted on it. Got in to see a LNP today, and she explained what they will try first with my back as she did not think that I was a candidate for surgery...yet. So, I have to wait for a phone call to get scheduled for what she called physical therapy and pain management, which may consist of getting injections into to the facets of my spine. Hope it ain't like the Rhizotomy that I had 30 years ago, OUCH! Greg, was that the tour that PInk Floyd did in 1988? I saw them at the Rosemont outside of Chicago. Took a concert caravan sponsored by WLAV in Grand Rapids to the venue. Made it back to G.R. the following morning @ 5 a.m., then had to drive back home, another forty minutes. Jeesh, was I tired.
New week again. Hmm, they told it was the coldest January on where i live in 33 years. Wonder what those ecohippies now think, maybe come up with some emergency-lie that its anomaly. Had to order parts from Summit today since they had/have 10%+1$ of up to 500$ discount going. So, that makes this winter "savings" total of 250$ from two different orders, not too bad. Taxes and VAT added ive saved 312$. That buys a whole lot of sauna beer I was thinking and pondering what cam i buy till i was almost blue on the face, and at the end i didnt even took any of the recommended custom cams. I asked at the end so many recommendations, and everyone had different idea, that i didnt know what to do.
My solution was to pick something between, and after i drive it one season, i know which way i want to go, or do i want to go anywhere. Absolutely hardest thing was not to pick too big, even i knew some cams were way too big or at the edge, the idea somehow Still Felt tempting even i knew better Thank god common sense won Its matched to my rear, stall, and our speed limits atleast on paper. But its just that theory and reality dont always meet each others.
Not much else.
redoldsman - Thanks for that. Greetings from 17F and 54" of snow
Greg Rogers - Im in love and spoiled by electric impact guns. No hoses going or compressor yelling. I have Makita with 1/2" socket and 5AH batteries, one lasts as long youre going to spend on garage at time, and it promises 450nm worth of opening power. Dont believe its actually that much, but so far ive managed to do all car-stuff with it, so thats plenty. Wouldnt change to air-impact gun
Nailheadcanuck - That watch is really beautiful. Shame they dont make em anymore
Allan R - Congrats for the Gold medal to Canada! Worth of few, cold, good beers?
Okay.. I quess thats it? Have a day all!
Last edited by Inline; February 4th, 2019 at 09:53 AM.
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Jouni - 17F?? Honest? You don't mean -17F do you? We are at -22F here and spoda get to -29F overnight. It's like a nightmare here. And it's still snowing. Not heavy, just like when it drizzles rain in the summer. Just enough to be really annoying but it builds up. Neighbors have piles of snow close to 5' tall at the front of their drives and the road in our cul de sac is about 10cm higher than the sidewalks with packed snow. So much for the city's promise to keep it at 5 cm above dry pavement....
Thanks for the congrats on the 2 gold medal wins. If I had a sauna I'd bring several of my 'friends' down to keep me company. They could stay outside in the snow till I was ready to bring em in and crack em open.
Yea, just 17F. But feels bad enough when someone has 78F Id swap in a heartbeat.
Hey, any of you? Was it wife tales or what, but i heard from radio, or was it tv, that in usa? they would publish temps "as felt", not just the number meter shows, but adding the effect of wind to that too? Is this real story or bs?
That must be the new way of thinking, what we perceive, is what's correct. Temp + windchill is the temp. What the car sells for + the commission is what the car sells for. Another step towards ruination of society.
I just noticed we're on page 666. Anyone here superstitious?
Location: Edmonton, AB. And "I am Can 'eh' jun - eh"
Posts: 24,525
Originally Posted by Inline
Yea, just 17F. But feels bad enough when someone has 78F Id swap in a heartbeat. Hey, any of you? Was it wife tales or what, but i heard from radio, or was it tv, that in usa? they would publish temps "as felt", not just the number meter shows, but adding the effect of wind to that too? Is this real story or bs?
Jouni it's real. It's called the 'Wind Chill' effect. You know that inert things like metal, glass, trees etc will feel only the actual temp even when wind is involved. Think about the thermometer display on your car (if you have that). The sensor is right at the front of the car where it's subjected to wind but only measures the actual temp. The Wind Chill effect is given to make dumb *** morons who insist on going outside in frigid temps with a T shirt and no jacket the information about how soon they will freeze their hinies off. Wind chill is the temp the unprotected skin feels. Here's the one for Edmonton where I am. BTW I'd take 78° any day too Ya know if you changed this to +26 that's what Adrian has a low temp right now. Quite a temp swing eh? 52°C = 125°F
Originally Posted by Jamesbo
I checked sum cat brier leaves while searching for a ball, I'm saying early spring
I like the way you think, and I'll take your prediction any day over that stupid weather rodent...
I was out cleaning the driveway yet again and went to get the mail. The corner neighbors drive and walks needed help. Derrick and Shelley both work so I guess they were pretty tired and just didn't get around to shoveling. I decided to take my snowblower over and do their walks and driveway. I got about 3/4 of the way done and Shelley came home early with their daughter Ciara (Kee air ah - it's Irish). She had difficulty getting up the slight grade with the slicks on her Elantra. I suggested she look for winter tires since we seem to be inundated with snow, which she agreed. Anywho the drive was packed down about 3-4" in places so I went home and got my scraper. The snow/ice slabbed off in big chunks with the extreme cold weather. Derrick came out, which surprised me because his car was gone, and we chatted. He apparently had been laid off 2 weeks back; and that was 3 days after his company boss said there would be no lay offs this year. How can bosses like that sleep nights?? Anywho we both got busy and finished cleaning the walks and driveway and it only took about 20 minutes. I remembered the name of the company my son worked at temporarily before he was hired on FT and HD. I mentioned to Derrick to check out Garage Frontiers and see if they were hiring because they were desperate for workers in the fall. Maybe he can get a job there; I certainly wish success for him in his job quest.
Now I'm back inside and still have way too much energy so I'm thinking of being stupid and going out for a walk. My missus thinks I'm an idiot if I do and has made it perfectly clear that I should not go out again.... Gotta find something to do
So I'm out mailing a couple bills and I says to Tiger, let's check out the Awful house. My chili that I was going to have tomorrow was only partially thawed so it seemed like a good idea. We pulled into the lot and I immediately thought I should keep on going. The cook and the server were not stellar in my mind, but we were there so what the heck. My allegiance to the Awful house was soon rewarded with 25 wasted minutes. Instead of "hello" when I walked in I was greeted with an attitude. You're going to have to give me a minute. She proceeds to finish the to go order for someone who wasn't there yet, bussed a table where people had just left, and cooked half an order for other people with the cook standing right there, then comes and says what are you having. I had decided I wasn't going to have anything and should have left, but Tiger expects a hamburger when we are there and he wouldn't have understood if he didn't get one. If you don't do something a dog counts on it sort of messes with their head. So for him, I stayed. I said, I just want an original to go. More attitude. Cook makes the burger, gives it to me, and she writes up the ticket, including the 10% to go fee(11cents). So I stand at the register to pay and she goes and does every thing possible before she comes to ring me up. I don't know if she was expecting me to give her the 82c change but she didn't get it, and she wouldn't have gotten the 11c if she didn't add it in already. She's the only one there that adds it. I'm going to say something to the manager next time I'm in. I don't want this girl to be fired, but her work ethic needs a serious adjustment.
Ah. Rant over. Tiger got his hamburger and I came home and thawed the chili in the microwave. It was excellent.
Dan, Yeah I think it was 1988 at the silver dome. Wife and I also saw Roger Waters maybe 4 years ago at Grand Rapids. It was great, even without any smoke (haven't done that in years.)
Jouni, yeah I want to get a cordless impact someday.
Well hard to believe but I looked at dishwasher fill valve and a wire was off it! I put it back on and it works!! Put a bunch of stuff on ebay today, hope it's worth messing with. See ya!
I just finished watching the news and weather. It hit 80 degrees today. The record is 82. Crazy. I went out to hookup to the big trailer today and the tongue jack has sunk down in the dirt and the coupler was too low to get it on my hitch. I will go back out tomorrow with a scissor jack and a block of wood and jack the thing up and get it hooked up. Then I will bring it back to the house and power wash the floor and put some new LED taillights I have on it.
Greg, the Chinese worker must have not put the wire on very good. Congrats on an easy repair and saving some money.
Mike, people like that really **** me off. Seems a pretty simple concept that if you tread customers like crap you tips will reflect it.
Good night everybody.
Glenn
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
It was a "fun" day; - like Allan said, it's effing cold out there. So this morning, at 5:30, shoveled off the walk again and got the car started. It was not happy at all. Let it warm up a good long time and then headed out. Driving on square tires is not fun. So the car gets limbered up a bit, and I hit the highway to head to the Fort. On the highway, I notice I'm freezing up again; the car just isn't keeping warm. It will warm up to just under half-way on the gauge when idling, and then drop down to about 1/4 when on the highway. At that point the auto feature on the heater dials back the blower; so I had to go full on manual. Once I got into town and let it idle, then it warmed up again, so I'm thinking the thermostat is probably hooped. That would be funny because it's maybe a year old. The car never was a great heater to begin with, it has an issue with the cooling fans coming on when it goes below freezing, so I took the relays out and now it at least comes off the cold mark to 1/4 up. So I don't know...hopefully it doesn't get much colder. Anyway, -30 and -40 feel about the same, so big deal.
So then once I come home this evening, I want to plug the poor car in. I plug it in, there's a spark, and a small fire erupts on the plug in as I'm standing there. I hurriedly yank the plug out which now comes apart in my hands, Great; now I have to rewire a plug. Off the Home Depot I go, get a plug, and install it in the parking lot while it's still light out. Get it put on, and man, are my fingers frozen! I guess I'm not cut out for outdoor work anymore. Get home, and it seems to work. So that's probably why the car complained this morning, the block heater probably wasn't getting juice. Hopefully that was the problem, I guess I find out tomorrow when I go out to shovel whatever decides to fall again tonight. And it will; it has to, it has every bloody night in the past week, why should tonight be any different, just because it's cold and crappy? Forget it; that just means it definitely will...yeah, I know, cabin fever and long winters play with a person's sanity.
I really feel sorry for those who are actually cooped up and can't go anywhere in weather like this, as well as those who can't get out of this weather and find shelter. Believe it or not, there's a fairly large homeless population in the Edmonton area, and not enough shelters to take them in. We're accommodating illegal refugees in hotels and motels on my dime, why can't they take care of the homeless first? Oh yeah, the optics aren't good for all the progressives out there who've more or less given up on dealing with the poverty and ugliness they avoid seeing here in order to help those who should have never received the means from whatever NGOs to leave their countries in the first place. Whatever...
I guess that Peugeot is the closest, and makes sense. I can't find a maker's mark anywhere on that case, and it's made out of base metal, so it wasn't expensive to begin with and was likely mass-produced. At any rate, once I get the proper bits in it and lined up, it'll be a nice watch.
Anyway....To those of you down south where it's above freezing; - every time you open up your deep-freeze to grab something, think of us up here in the frozen north; that deep freeze would be toasty warm compared to what's outside right now.
Jouni, Allan is right about the temps., they post the actual temperature and beneath it the "feels like" temperature. Norm, I should probably warm those puppies up, so the SPCA doesn't have a neglect complaint filed against anyone. Greg, I saw PF at the Silverdome in '92, and Roger Waters doing The Wall in G.R. I think 2010 or 2011, I have the ticket stub around here somewhere. We are due to get some freezing rain Weds & Thurs., so it must be contagious. I got my renewal from Hagerty today, looks like the rates are up, probably to cover their losses from floods, fires and hurricanes that have plagued the U.S. for the last year.
Back at transwork. The moment you realise your wife has thrown your assembly lube ( petroleum jelly, largerly knows as vaselin) to trash since " it wasnt mine" …. Lol.
So, the temp thing wasnt lie. I feel about the same at that what slantflat already expressed. Catering for most stupid ones ruins society..
Hmh. Snows again. Not that excited about it.... Would you have quessed?
Nailheadcanuck - Same here, everything for those who shouldnt even be there on the first Place, and nothing for own people out at winter. Thank god attidudes are starting slowly to change, and they realise they aint doctors and engineers what was promised to us... Lol, you didnt need to be too clever to realise they were outright lying to us right from the start.
Btw, yesterday i tried to do goulash, or how was it written? I got it to taste ok, but not the mindblowing taste hungarians make. I need to test some other recipe. Or you need to find yours and deliver it to me
Jamesbo - So your back at smacking whitey. Wanna come shovel some whitey? How does your elbow feel?
Vintagechief - Dont know about dumb or what, but i can stare that Picture a little longer…
Okay, have a good day everyone. For whats it worth; im going to heat sauna today and take few beers
Erasers, Coat hangars, & puppies - all good. Supposed to get near 67*F today. Heading to the club to see if I can get 18 in before my therapeutic massage @ 3:00pm. Received 3.5" rain in last 48 hours - course is soaked but we'll see if it's drained well enough to play. I walk so cart path is no issue for me. Let the puppies breathe.
Marc, Yep I know how that kinda thing goes. Your luck sounds like mine sometimes and many times the cold or snow is the cause of it and also the reason things are so hard to accomplish because of it. I always think of that 80's song "one thing leads to another" which seems to start rolling in my head in those situations. What you said about your car heater- are you sure you're not a touch low on coolant? I had cars before that acted as you said and that's what it was..
Dan, I think you are right about those concert dates. Pink Floyd sure was great. I hope the Hagerty increases aren't too much, I use them too.
Allan, yep it was a odd occurrence that a wire would fall off after 20 years. Things like that don't usually happen. I guess I too get lucky once in a while, though it always seems like my luck causes a chain of events like Marc just had...
Good Day, friends.
Busy day at work. I went in two hours early. We sent out over 150 wheels.
Beautiful out. It's 70* and sunny. Lots of people out burning winter debris in their yards. My suckass neighbor has been running his leaf blower all afternoon. Normally I can't hear anything he does but I have the sliding door open in the kitchen. Not only is he a dick for the usual reasons, he also leaves his dogs out all night, including these last nights it's been so cold.
Got another errand to run, and since I ate my chili last night I need to find a place for my supper. Not going to be Awful house. Well, it could be a different one...
Location: Sherwood Park, Alberta, in the Great White North
Posts: 359
It started at -36 here at home this morning, and by the time I got to the Fort it was -40. That's the same in both Fahrenheit and Celsius. Very bloody cold.
On the last leg into the plant, I saw some idiot on a bicycle. I couldn't believe what I was seeing! I wish I could have photographed it. This clown was all bundled up in highly reflective gear and struggling hard pedaling his *** off and probably trying to breathe through *** too, the bike had big wide tires and he was booking along at about 10 mph, the windchill and the effects on his lungs must have been incredible! From where I caught up to him, he still had at least 15-20 minutes over an open field to go; and to top it off it was foggy and the air was harsh. Don't know if he made it into the plant; I'm sure they'll find his frozen corpse in the spring. I imagine he's either a die-hard cyclist, (moron) a total idiot, or some poor sod who's lost his license but still has to get to work. It's probably the later of the three; he was out too early for the local cab company's regular rates, so a bike makes sense if you've got DUI expenses or fines to cover. Walking was tough enough, I just can't picture what it would be on a bike.
I figured I wasn't going to move from my office at all today. It's a veritable meat locker to begin with, it was near freezing in there when I turned on the space heater. The coffee machine was in fine repair and soon managed to produce a pot of steaming hot brown liquid that passes for coffee there. I was just getting things warmed up and settling in for the day. So the next thing that happens is the fire alarm panel fries triggering a plant evacuation alarm for our specific plant. Nothing like standing out at a muster station at -40 listening to an alarm blare. Took about 3/4 of an hour before they got the cause sourced and fixed. Turns out one of the neighboring plants had a small H2S leak too, which due to the fog and inversion hung around and stunk up the world. So after about 15 minutes in the cold, we moved to an emergency assembly area, which at least had heat.
I'm lucky I don't work outside anymore, because I used to. I used to drive heavy equipment and push a shovel in this kind of weather. Our refinery runs 24-7, so there's no stopping for something as trivial as weather. We cancelled a cooling tower job today, for one thing the cooling tower is a solid brick of ice and there is no way we'd subject people to working in that environment unless it was an absolute emergency. We have to replace a gearbox in the centre cell of 3. The other two are running, and it's misty and wet along with foggy. So add in the cold and clothing not only becomes soaked but will instantly freeze at this temperature. We sent an operator with a millwright all bundled up to take a quick look to actually verify if it was the gearbox, they came down 5 minutes later completely frozen and their clothes were also frozen. The operator told us they almost didn't make it, it was getting difficult to move, and the stairs and platforms were solid ice. We were standing there and watching them, it was amazing that these two could have died right in front of us and we wouldn't have noticed until it was too late. If one of them would have fallen, it would have been for the last time.
It turns out the plug had failed on the car; this morning it was much happier and started quite easily. Let it warm up fully before I started driving, didn't lose the windows this time. The car stayed at around 130-140 F temperature. The coolant level is right up; I topped that up on Saturday. So I'm pretty much convinced the thermostat is junk, it's acting like an old thermosyphon system. It seems it's working somewhat, it does pressure up and the temperature doesn't drop out completely, which is what would happen if the thermostat quit entirely.
This afternoon I had to leave work early to pick up the kid from school because the school system's fair weather busing system wasn't working. They cancel all school buses in "extreme weather" saying it's for the safety of the kids. The schools remain open and classes continue, so if you hold your kid at home it's to his detriment. So as usual, it remains on the parents to ensure their kids get there and home again, creating a huge traffic jam and forcing kids to walk longer distances over crowded parking lots and across busy roads. That's supposedly safer. They do this to us at least 3 or 4 times a year, and every year they have some new cockamamie excuse not to run the buses. I pay a lot of money for this privilege. Not to mention, to explain to the boss that I have to leave early, the wife can't, (she did yesterday and will again tomorrow). It's not the 50s anymore when Mom stayed home with the kids and could drive them everywhere. But then again, it's kind of assumed in this community (one of the most affluent in Canada income-wise) that people have servants or hired help to go pick up the kids. We're obviously poor folk, because I don't have one, I guess. At any rate, a large inconvenience all the way around, and if you phone and complain they consider it bullying or abuse and just dump your call and block you and your kid. Love this age of Victimization we live in; It's my fault all the way around. try to fix it and you get stonewalled by some sensitive "snowflake" who will then make it their life's mission to make life even more miserable for you, and yet I'm still on the hook to fix everything and ensure that it all goes off without a hitch. The time when I did phone to inquire (complain) I could see where the conversation was headed and hung up before they could do something to me. I think all I said was "hi, I have a few concerns," and that was it, the person on the other end started accusing me and threatening me. That's how dealing with government works in this country now.
It's a good thing to be home and warm. And, I don't have to shovel, although it's getting cloudy again. Still not feeling 100% but getting better; I guess that's the main thing. Have a great evening!
Today started above freezing and I had to cross several lakes to get to work this morning. Very glad I've got the 4runner now. I think a few of the puddles could have taken out the Mustang.
Now everything is freezing again and it is getting slippery. Oh winter!
Glenn, if it's a little too warm, feel free to send some of that northward.
Marc, good thing you were there to see the spark and catch it. Hopefully you can get the heater working properly. Bad time for a building evacuation with the cold.
Have a good evening everyone. Stay warm or cool according to your local weather.
Still unseasonably warm but raining like a cow pi$$ing on a flat rock
The weather got me trying to remember what kinda coats I had as a pup. All I can remember wearing is a B-2 bomber jacket in the winter and a yellow rubber coated canvas slicker when it rained. It was hot as a 2 dollar pistol in the summer. Later on I got a College [Ga Tech] letter jacket. . When high school roller around, it was a sheep herders coat in the winter and a London Fog coat when it rained. Now a days, If it doesn't come in the mail from LL Bean, I don't own it Somewhere along the line, I went from young clothes horse to the simpler is the better
The rubber bottom LL Bean boots are gonna come in handy today\
I really don't see how y'all in the frozen north stand it
Oh yeah, the lady that sent me the pics of my 1896 farm house sent me an envelope with her grand fathers logo on it. He raised white OIC pigs. I'm told they were raised for lard [not meat]I read lard is making a come back,It's loaded with vitamin D and when ya fry with it [ as opposed to Crisco] it gets hoter w/o smoking, so the food does absorb so much grease
February 3rd, 2019, 09:57 AM
Maybe the cold weather here would help you sleep. The missus asked me to turn the thermostat down 2° in the evening and I find that makes me sleep better too. Hope the cleanout at Grand dads house goes well. Sorry to hear that the MIL is getting involved negatively. You mentioned that she might and it's come to pass. Maybe she won't want anything, but that's fat chance. Too bad you have to disclose the valuations on the assets.
Id swap in a heartbeat.
Ya know if you changed this to +26 that's what Adrian has a low temp right now. Quite a temp swing eh? 52°C = 125°F
Gotta find something to do
