Drove from Nova Scotia to Quebec today.It was overcast and about 11C or so in Halifax. The first 100Km or so was fine, then going over a rise it was completely foggy (couldn't see the road or anything else) for a while, but was around 8C. Then between Moncton and Fredericton it was torrential rain mixed with fog, then OK for about 150Km, then back into torrential rain. Then around St-Louis-du-Ha!-Ha! (I kid you not) it was down to about 1C and raining, then -1C and snowing. The road was slushy and as yet unplowed. I thought once we got to the St Lawrence river at Riviere du Loup it would be back to rain but instead a blizzard. Oh well, we are in a hotel with wine and room service.
I got all that (except the wine) just staying in one place. Today has been bands of cold/wet migrating from Lake Erie toward Labrador. Had a huge BOOM this morning, torrential rain, then nearly clear. Then thunder/rain. Then mist to hide the dogs. I could see it coming on the US radar, but it came so fast it often struck between updates.
There's currently a blue blob covering Fredericton to Presque Isle, pretty much the way you had to go.
Friday morning at about 8AM I dropped some stuff off a the local post office, then went to the park for a lap or two around the walking trail. About halfway around the sky got dark and the wind got really hard to walk against. When tree branches, pine cones and other junk left over from the winter thaw started flying right at me, I decided to turn back, and RUN.
My phone had rung while running, so I called Sherri back once in my van. Our power was off. It stayed off for all of Friday, returning just in time to cook a late dinner. This was the second long power outage this year.
I have three generators, but only one is working at the moment. The other two have the same issue, fuel leaking from the carburetor due to stuck floats or cracked plastic parts from crappy gas.
Yesterday was spent picking up a few hundred pounds of debris from our yard, and the neighbor's yard. As is the custom here, I'll burn it all once this ugly storm passes and it all dries out a bit. There was lots of thunder this morning between 3 and 5 AM with rain expected all day today.
My phone had rung while running, so I called Sherri back once in my van. Our power was off. It stayed off for all of Friday, returning just in time to cook a late dinner. This was the second long power outage this year.
I have three generators, but only one is working at the moment. The other two have the same issue, fuel leaking from the carburetor due to stuck floats or cracked plastic parts from crappy gas.
Yesterday was spent picking up a few hundred pounds of debris from our yard, and the neighbor's yard. As is the custom here, I'll burn it all once this ugly storm passes and it all dries out a bit. There was lots of thunder this morning between 3 and 5 AM with rain expected all day today.
Last edited:
Today's radar. Blotches in every color of the storm-rainbow moving off to Greenland. Two days ago was like this except more bands (wait 15 minutes and get something else).
I bet there is radar more than 150 miles past the border; this is all our weather cast shows.
Attachments
Last week we had a bit of wind, peaking supposedly as high as 90 mile per hour gusts. All of the temporary sand bag weighted bases road signs not just over turned, but actually moved a bit. Trees down along with just broken branches.
The house behind me which is weirdly enough a brick house covered by vinyl siding now has a wall that is no longer straight but potato chipped by about six inches. That actually is good news!
The fellow who grew up in it was renovating it when he passed away. His sister sold it to a fellow for $17,500.00. He planed to finish the renovation and move into it. Never did. A neighbor called the county building inspection department to condemn the building as one corner of the foundation was missing. The inspector passed the house but then told one neighbor the fence he was replacing needed a building permit. The neighbor responded he had checked and one was not required. So then the inspector insisted he would need a zoning permit. I mentioned to the neighbor to show the fence in his plot and make two copies, label one "old fence" and the second "new fence." Of course that was immediately approved as no zoning permit was required for a replacement.
The inspector condemned the neighbor to the other side's garage with an apartment above for a crack in the corner. Looks serious except the building uses steel for the main support beam. The builder was clearly a thief as the main steel beam sticks out the back wall as the builder could not cut the piece of railroad track used there. So it stuck out 3 feet or so. He did have to turn it upside down to use the flat surface on the bottom to support the second floor.
So the building missing the foundation that he had no problems with is now collapsing! The good news is my fence neighbor and I wanted to purchase and tear down the unsafe building. The last owner insisted he could sell it as it was for $85,000.00! Now that it is collapsing he is willing to lower the price. So we agreed on a reasonable number. Unfortunately there are unpaid taxes on the still standing pile of rubble.
The owner says pay him and then he will pay the taxes and sign over the title. Not how it is done. We pay the taxes and deduct that from the money paid to him. Also real estate transfers are not just sign over the tittle, at least three notarized forms required around here.
So the complications are we now need a title search to find all the taxes and liens and a member of the bar to be sure everything is clean. Next issue is that the house does not have a shut off valve from the water main! So a liscensed plumber will have to dig a hole and install one, before we can get a demolision permit. Getting the electric service removed is a bit easier. The natural gas line has been disconnected and the meter removed for years.
Just to add insult to injury the rubble house is land locked and another neighbor drives over my lawn using it as an alley. (Probably a good place to store the demolition rubble for a while!)
The good news is that the house will now go away. No more squaters, animals or other residents in it. We will of course ask the local fire company if they want a practice house so we can have a marshmallow roast!
Cal, slightly off topic, but I knew you would enjoy the tale. We can move this to the food thread as it includes a marshmallow roast!
The house behind me which is weirdly enough a brick house covered by vinyl siding now has a wall that is no longer straight but potato chipped by about six inches. That actually is good news!
The fellow who grew up in it was renovating it when he passed away. His sister sold it to a fellow for $17,500.00. He planed to finish the renovation and move into it. Never did. A neighbor called the county building inspection department to condemn the building as one corner of the foundation was missing. The inspector passed the house but then told one neighbor the fence he was replacing needed a building permit. The neighbor responded he had checked and one was not required. So then the inspector insisted he would need a zoning permit. I mentioned to the neighbor to show the fence in his plot and make two copies, label one "old fence" and the second "new fence." Of course that was immediately approved as no zoning permit was required for a replacement.
The inspector condemned the neighbor to the other side's garage with an apartment above for a crack in the corner. Looks serious except the building uses steel for the main support beam. The builder was clearly a thief as the main steel beam sticks out the back wall as the builder could not cut the piece of railroad track used there. So it stuck out 3 feet or so. He did have to turn it upside down to use the flat surface on the bottom to support the second floor.
So the building missing the foundation that he had no problems with is now collapsing! The good news is my fence neighbor and I wanted to purchase and tear down the unsafe building. The last owner insisted he could sell it as it was for $85,000.00! Now that it is collapsing he is willing to lower the price. So we agreed on a reasonable number. Unfortunately there are unpaid taxes on the still standing pile of rubble.
The owner says pay him and then he will pay the taxes and sign over the title. Not how it is done. We pay the taxes and deduct that from the money paid to him. Also real estate transfers are not just sign over the tittle, at least three notarized forms required around here.
So the complications are we now need a title search to find all the taxes and liens and a member of the bar to be sure everything is clean. Next issue is that the house does not have a shut off valve from the water main! So a liscensed plumber will have to dig a hole and install one, before we can get a demolision permit. Getting the electric service removed is a bit easier. The natural gas line has been disconnected and the meter removed for years.
Just to add insult to injury the rubble house is land locked and another neighbor drives over my lawn using it as an alley. (Probably a good place to store the demolition rubble for a while!)
The good news is that the house will now go away. No more squaters, animals or other residents in it. We will of course ask the local fire company if they want a practice house so we can have a marshmallow roast!
Cal, slightly off topic, but I knew you would enjoy the tale. We can move this to the food thread as it includes a marshmallow roast!
Last edited: