Power Surge?

Here in Coldstream, just east of Vernon on Tuesday evening, March 26th, 2019 at 8:10 p.m. while watching TV, the power went out.
And then right back on again, accompanied by a "grinding" sound inside our home.

The sound lasted about 2 or 3 seconds, and was either our new fridge "booting up" again, or maybe the Jenn-Air oven.

Whatever it was, we had heard that same grinding sound a few years ago, when power came back on after an outage.

Surges are certainly very damaging to equipment.
Wonder what's going on with Hydro!

Glad that the irrigation pump in the pond, and cooler compressor at clubhouse, weren't operating yet this season.

Welcome Spencer!

A big welcome to our new employee, Spencer.
He says he loves the smell of freshly-mown grass!

He'll get a lot of that!

Welcome aboard, Spencer.

Opening: Saturday March 30, 2019

Highlands Golf at 7961 Buchanan Road in Coldstream opens at 12 Noon on Saturday, March 30th for the 2019 golf season.

Same great food on offer for your event:  8 oz. Striploin steak (that you BBQ to perfection), baked potato, garlic bread and Caesar salad.

Don't forget that every Sunday is Family Day, where 1 child under 12 is free with an adult green fee.

Call 250.545.5300 to book your group tournament and family reunions.

"Yippeeeeeee, golf season," Kia would've said.

It'll be good to see everyone again!

Cheap Gas

No, not here.
In the U.S.A.

A short trip to WA state last week proves that British Columbians pay $5.23 a gallon for regular gas compared to $2.77 a gallon in Washington state (Omak).

The cheapest Canadian station was at $1.195. 
Everywhere else in B.C. we are now paying $137.9 for regular gas.

Filling the Tacoma at home now costs about $80.00, compared to the Omak fill-up at just over $40.00.  That's cheap, even with the currency exchange rate.

1 litre gas Cdn $1.379 = .264172 US gallons.

U.S. $2.77/gallon

Omak is growing, and no longer the little town known for annual horse races down a steep hill.

I had an hour to kill so drove around the older parts of town, admiring the 40's and 50's "retiree" homes, and their well-cared for gardens and shrubs.

Like Vernon, B.C., growth appears to be concentrated at the North end of town, with new malls (Wal-Mart, J.C. Penney, and a small Sears store etc.).

And just like in Vernon, it means the demise of part of the old downtown, with its empty storefronts.  Wenatchee is another example of the old downtown's demise.

Empty storefronts and quiet streets in the "old" downtown

There are many, many small businesses:  sheet metal and paint shops, recreation shops, beauty salons, farm and feed supply, car dealerships, tractor and recreation vehicle repair, and many old smaller motels.

Some of the nicest buildings are public works facilities including a small water utility.

I like the brick post office and the old fire station at the edge of the park along the Okanogan river.

Post Office

old fire station

Another sign of the times is the old theatre (pictured below), as much a victim of Netflix as age:

the old theatre

The drive from Vernon via Hwy 97S is a true joy for anyone who loves geology (as I do).

Having read much about the end of the last Ice Age (especially from Dr. Murray Roed's excellent studies), my travels invariably have me thinking of glacial outflows and how ice pressed and scraped the myriad rock formations and shapes, all the way from Penticton through Oliver and into Washington State.  Glacial Lake Penticton had me spellbound, and I've loved rock formations ever since.

There's so much to see when heading south on Hwy 97 from Vernon through Washington State.

And I see something new every time I venture south on that highway.

McLudricous Idea

There are lots of mindless ideas that permeate Letters to the Editor in many publications.
Ideas that are quickly forgotten.
Today there was one in our local paper.

Here's one that hit Vernon's Morning Star newspaper on Wednesday, March 13th, 2019:

"Caution Urged for Medicinal Marijuana Use, by Maureen McClocklin

Medical cannabis is the devil you don't know, yet.

It is here now, asking for a license to grow and distribute.  In my opinion, not enough sober thought (pardon the pun) has gone into the many consequences of this.  It is proclaimed by a local company to be therapeutic for pets and their owners.

"...an agreement should be signed

 making it mandatory

 for vegetables to be

 given equal space for growing."

       Maureen McClocklin                          

Therapeutic, as defined in the dictionary, is 1:  contributing to the cure of disease; 2:  Contributing to general mental well being.  We all know No. 1 does not apply to cannabis and No. 2, Google medical experts point to a dangerous link between high THC content and psychosis.

So the above proclamation is not factually true.  It has been reported where greenhouses that previously grew vegetables are switching to cannabis because it is hundreds of times more profitable.  That is extremely disturbing.  While cannabis growers become significantly richer, vegetables will become significantly more expensive.

There is a solution, however.  When giving out licenses an agreement should be signed making it mandatory for vegetables to be given equal space for growing."  Maureen McClocklin


No, the stupid idea wasn't that Google has medical experts.
That wasn't the mcludicrous idea.

The stupid comment is that anyone who receives a license for growing medical cannabis must sign an agreement which requires vegetables to be grown in the equivalent amount of space to that occupied by the medical cannabis.
  
And this, presumably, is to keep down the price of vegetables.  Her vegetables.

"How about you growing some chickens, and we'll buy cheap eggs from you," Kia would've stated.

Because eggs are "hundreds of times less profitable" than medical cannabis!

And thank you, Maureen, for the cheap eggs.
Because I didn't want to raise chickens and grow eggs.  Or cheap vegetables.
For you.
Or for me.

Kill the Time Change(s)?

Twice a year there are discussions on whether or not there are benefits to time changes.

And twice a year, little but those discussions result.

Here we are at March 10th, the first day of Daylight Savings Time.
Yes, we "lost" an hour of sleep last night but it's Sunday, so few will care.

There appears to be considerable momentum along the West coast of our continent, with Comrade Horgan of B.C. writing a letter to the governors of Washington, Oregon and California because any change "would have significant impacts on B.C."

Like everything that happens in the United States, it appears to depend on what Congress decides.
But there seems to be some impetus, at least this time, to succeeding at nailing down the permanent Daylight Savings Time.

Some comments on the Global News online website were pro, some against, as was expected:

Dominik Wrona

Standard time (winter time) is the better alternative to the construct of DST.
All these people that want Daylight Savings Time for the winter don't seem to realize this would mean sunrises at 8:30, 8:40 am... Waking up when it's pitch black is a lot harder than going to sleep when it's pitch black.
Standard time year round is the way to go

Like · Reply · 1 · 4h

Leona Boisselle

Depending on where you are, it's dark anyway. In the dead of winter, it's dark for my first hour of work.

Like · Reply · 3h

Anthony J Hartnell

Smart move.......who brought up this boneheaded study that Horgan flip flopped on anyway? We live above the 49th parrallel........hello?.....hate to think how much money was wasted on this dumb idea?......letters to Governers of Wa, Or and Ca who don't even know where Canada is or even care?......such a joke and typical of a govt that likes to study stuff to death.

Like · Reply · 7h

David Martin

So the US States need Congress to change the legislation. I take it the Provinces can do this on their own?

Like · Reply · 10h

Dominik Wrona

They only need Congress to permanently install the energy-saving scam of Daylight Savings Time. If they opted to stay in Standard Time year-round no Congressional approval is needed.

Like · Reply · 3h

Irene Malanchuk

Such a waste, lost productivity as people have to adjust their sleep. Awful for kids who can’t easily change their sleep cycle

Like · Reply · 3 · 10h

Chris Elliston

End the madness!

Like · Reply · 4 · 13h

Jayce Edwards

Wish the changing of the clock would stop. We have electricity now!!!

Saskatchewan and the Peace River region of B.C. do not change time

Our adult daughter, on Saturday at 6 p.m., changed her clocks--fully 8 hours too early--with the plan to "convince" her 5 year old son to go to bed earlier.

He learned to "tell time" recently.

Wonder if it worked...

Easy to Dislike Government

...at all levels.

Whether it's the B.C. Legislature's scandalous and fraudulent misdeeds by senior bureaucrats, or the current foibles of Justin Trudeau's Liberal government in Ottawa, many people have "had enough", and simply tune it out.

But there's a fellow named John Feldsted in Winnipeg Manitoba who refused to do that.  He's a political consultant and strategist, and his email was forwarded to me today by an acquaintance.

Here's John's take on the current situation in Ottawa.

"Questions for and about Gerald Butts 

Mr. Butts’ presentation to the Commons Justice Committee was predictable, pedestrian and useless. His point was that the 9,000 Canadian SNC-Lavalin workers had a ‘right’ to expect the federal government to act to protect their jobs.

Mr. Butts commentary in respect to Ms Wilson-Raybould was arrogant, inappropriate and insulting. She made a detailed, factual presentation with appropriate evidence and was entirely credible. She was under no illusions respecting events.

Mr. Butts is an employee of the PMO; Mr. Trudeau is the decision maker. Mr. Butts cannot answer for the government and is not accountable to the electorate. One has to wonder why he was interviewed. 

The attempt to showcase Mr. Butts and Ms Wilson-Raybould on an equal plane is preposterous. Mr. Butts and Mr. Wernick are employees on a different strata than Ms Wilson-Raybould. At best they can carry messages to the Attorney General’s chief of staff, but direct contact with a Minister is inappropriate. It seems that rules of protocol do not apply to Butts and Wernick which is why the PMO is in the mess it is in. Minions have exceeded their authority or been given authority they should not have. 

         

Where were Butts, Trudeau and Wernick when 12,000 Sears Canada employees lost their jobs in the fall of 2017, were denied severance pay and were left without pensions they had contributed to, sometimes for decades?

Why has the government not acted to protect workers by preventing a recurrence? 

Where were they when the oil patch was shedding tens of thousands of jobs? No one in the oil patch was under criminal investigation or criminal prosecution.

Five times the number of SNC-Lavalin workers lost employment. The ‘protecting jobs’ scam is dead on arrival. We are not all fools.

    

Why did Butts and Trudeau, aided by Morneau enact legislation aimed specifically at allowing SNC-Lavalin to escape criminal prosecution? Are there deals in the works that we do not know about yet?

      

We want to know with certainty that we are all treated equally by our government and that there are no favourites when our jobs and livelihoods are at risk.

We are tired of the snow jobs, hair-splitting and claims that telling the Attorney General over and over that she should consider alternatives to prosecution is not “pressure”. Butts’ comment that Ms Wilson-Raybould did not put her decision is writing is ridiculous. The Attorney General is required to publish her decision if she intervenes in a prosecution. Lack of publication is a declaration of intent.

Mr. Butts is casting aspersions that will be misunderstood by those unfamiliar with the Attorney General’s duties and responsibilities. The comment is poisonous, unfair, deliberately misleading and business as usual for this government.

  

Millions of Canadians who take responsibility for their actions know better. Most of us have been pressured to cut corners or otherwise compromise our principles at work or in social settings. It is infuriating that the miscreants applying pressure manage to evade sanction most of the time. 

Claiming an obligation to save some jobs while ignoring others is a weak position; a sign of desperation. Avoiding clear, truthful answers and befogging SNC-Lavalin issues with nonsense from unaccountable minions is not working. The stench of cronyism is too strong to make Butts believable.   

John Feldsted"

"No wonder most of us tune out anything to do with government," Kia would've said.

Yes, it's easy to dislike government.

This isn't the way we raise our children.

Governments are terrible role models. 

 

Fright C

At a projected cost of $11.7 Billion dollars, we can't call it Site C anymore.

And now we residents of British Columbia hear of yet another electricity rate increase.
Rates were supposed to increase by 6.85 per cent as of April 1st, but apparently a "Deferral Account Rate Rider" is being reduced from 5 per cent to zero.

B.C. means Bring Cash 

Most people despise the B.C. Utilities Commission who--for the most part--are only an arm's length bureaucratic arm of the provincial utilities who seem to approve everything that comes across their desks--but this move will see our utility bills increase only by 1.76 per cent.

Political spin-doctoring, likely to gain some favour among voters for the Horgan government.
But whatever the gobbledy-gook means, we residents chuckle and remind everyone that B.C. means Bring Cash.

Over the last few years, we were told Hydro rates would increase on average 5 per cent for each of the next five years.  Now Hydro's saying they "need" 8.1 per cent over five years.

Norm Farrell, of Insights online newsletter fame, has done considerable research on B.C. Hydro over the years.  And he's discovered some unsavory examples that smack of corruption and abuse of power by the previous Liberal government headed by Christy Clark.

Recently, Fortis B.C. sent out a notice to their customers that they were eliminating the two-tier system for utility charges.  Lucky Fortis customers.  But their customer base doesn't include the largest cities on the Coast or most of the Okanagan, for that matter.  Here's their service area.

The Global News story led to some interesting comments on March 2/19:

John Galbraith

When this big new dam comes on line and they start selling hydro to other areas will we see the rates go down

Like · Reply · 1 · 7h

Tiffany Mable Gagne

John Galbraith hahaha it will never go down! They aren't going to lower it at all, dont be such a fool to their madness

Like · Reply · 2h

John Galbraith

Tiffany Mable Gagne that was go down the drain, we should have the cheapest rates in Canada with all the water we have

Like · Reply · 1h

Amber White

I live in a fourplex, so a small apartment - my bill for Feb was $417 (with $150 already paid towards it before the bill came out!!!!) We are getting ripped off. They know how cold it is so they rack your bill weather you use more energy or not i swear. we used less than two months ago and our bill was twice as expensive. Fishy fishy.

Like · Reply · 8h

Gern Blanstein

Another dumpster fire. The BC Liberals started the ridiculously expensive IPP run of river projects where the power costs 3 times normal. The contacts go on for 60 years. Everything the Liberals touched turned to poop. ICBC, BC Hydro, BC Ferries, Translink....

Like · Reply · 1 · 9h

Reg Armstrong

Ya, By the way, where is Christy and that ex-flatfooted cop, she had trotting around BC with his beer belly hangiing out, putting out her fires? A match made in heaven. Are even in the country?

Like · Reply · 1 · 8h

Sarah Taylor

What happened to the bail out the government was going to give them to avoid rate hikes?! They get both?

Like · Reply · 1 · 10h

Antonie Leeuwenhoek

They need the money to replace all those smart meters that wear out prematurely compared to dumb meters.

Like · Reply · 2 · 10h

Tom Anderson

Wonderfull, so the pitally inflation increase the pensioners are expected to get in the next few years is gone before we get it. Can we buy our power from the states like we do our gas ..at half price

Like · Reply · 1 · 10h

Reg Armstrong

Why not? We sell/give them power to start with. Just got my hydro bill. A 6 month holday in Mexico would be cheaper than staying home. Turn off the water, and varoooom! Fluff up my pillows, Chicita!

Like · Reply · 1 · 8h

D'Arcy Surrette

Typical NDP raising everything once they get voted in. The Liberals were crooks as well.

Like · Reply · 20h

Dale Hamilton

They want green power... be prepared to dig deep in our pocket...

Like · Reply · 3 · 20h

Kollin Hasiuk

They should increase the price on power exports to USA instead

Like · Reply · 7 · 21h

NJ Stroeder

Manitoba seems like a better place for a datacentre

Like · Reply · 1d

Thomas W Betsill

Why even pay the utilities commission? They never say no.

Like · Reply · 8 · 1d

Tom Anderson

Can't help but wonder how much less the increase would be if the uc puppets were terminanted

Like · Reply · 10h

Alfie Mannion

and the contracts that the ipps got from christy, 3 times higher then the going rate for hydro

Like · Reply · 1 · 1d

Alfie Mannion

we can thank the bc liberals again for this, robbing hydros bank accounts to balance there false budgets

Like · Reply · 4 · 1d

Christopher Yong

Again. OMG.

Like · Reply · 3 · 1d

Jose Perez

The problem is monopolizing the market which both companies do. It's time for change and time for competitive marketing in both sectors. Or we will keep paying for their mistakes and the government's mistakes allowing monopolization.

Like · Reply · 1d

Barry Marshall

So another political promise made by the NDP goes down the drain. Site C, Major LNG Line, Power Bills. Higher ICBC rates. Those slush funds that the Liberals were squirreling away was the money that the liberal crooks took out of ICBC and BC Hydro and should have been put back into both Crown Corps, not used to made the NDP look good. Now we have to pay them all over again. When the hell are we going to vote is someone that doesn't screw us over?

Like · Reply · 8 · 1d

Thomas W Betsill

Never.

Like · Reply · 1d

Dave Ball

Barry, you have that slightly backwards. It was the Liberals along with Crusty Clark that raped and pillaged ICBC and BC Hydro. Anywhere they could find a penny, they grabbed it to "balance" their budget and made themselves look good to the public.
Unfortunately, the NDP inherited this mess and is doing it's best to try and fix it. Give them a freaking chance. God knows the Liberals have screwed up the province bad enough.

Like · Reply · 12h

Barry Marshall

Dave Ball The money that the NDP found that had been squirelled away didn't come from just anywhere. To much was involved, in the billions. It either came from the Crown Corps or it came from BCLC, which I doubt. More than like the Crown Corps. If the paper trail was there it should have beem followed back to source and the money follow.

Norm Farrell has written some excellent articles on B.C. Hydro for Insights.
After reading all of them, it's obvious that British Columbia does not need the extra electricity from Site C.

Seems we don't need the power!

Decide for yourselves.

"Then send Norm Farrell a thank you card," Kia would've said.