Weird weather!

 

A wickedly cold morning, Sunday. Somehow, the bird bath became unplugged, but it was fine once I donned my down-filled yard duty coat, went outside, and plugged it back in for it to melt the ice.

Saturday there were popcorn clouds dumping snow and pop-up blizzards all afternoon.

Life carries on through to the end of winter. We passed the spot on the highway where the water main broke. It'll have to be repaved in finer weather.

They are still working on this house with fire damage. I feel so badly for them.

This was a snow shower. If you look closely you can see both sunshine and snow!

Sunday morning, there was a crowd under the great white pine tree. I still have branches to clean up!

noisy turkeys from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

snowy deer from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Fuzzy & friends from Jennifer Jilks on Vimeo.

Yes, right on the sidewalk.

Gramma Camp – March Break 2023

  Monday morning, graupel. We ended up with a centimetre or two. JB had to wake me up to get the garbage out by 8! Spring forward 🕰!

 I put the garbage out and it was raining down on me. Back indoors for my coffee. Hooray.

Isabelle arose by 10. Jos by 11! 

Grampa asked Isabelle, "What is the number of the day?" She didn't know.

"The answer is 3.14," he replied. Ah, pie day! Leftover blueberry pie for breakfast. Josephine, growing girl, finished off the pie later.

They packed up. Grampa finished off the tape of his curling final. Gushue won. The girls read. 

Sunday the girls did our nails. Grampa was game, but was pondering the colour.

We finished off the Jeopardy recording.

Grampa was thinking green, but I didn't have any. He thought he could do 🇺🇦 flag! All I had was gold. It worked.

We played Crazy 8's for awhile. Lots of fun and laughter. Jos packed up. Isabelle did the same, and deflated their queen-sized blow up bed. She helped me fold the big blankets.

We left about 4:15 for the Hostage Exchange. Momma texted me when she was leaving. I'd heard about a road closure in Perth. It turned out a water main burst, and there is a detour. I had a vague memory of that happening. Sure enough, February, 2011. In about the same spot. I vividly recall driving over that piece of the road, and seeing it bubbling across the highway.

It had changed over to rain. What a dreary day!

UPDATE: The town replied to me on FB, and they finished repairs later yesterday!

We arrived in Franktown, and did the exchange. Here is a happy herd of horses. 

The house that had the fire have begun rebuilding. Good to see. No one was hurt. Hooray for our volunteer firefighters! This was from January, 2023, the second photo Mar. 13.

We were home by 5:30, having stopped for salad bowls from the new Mexican place. We put our feet up, patted ourselves on the back for a great visit, and watched another episode of Bäckström.

Now, back to our regularly scheduled program! I shall catch up with my blog friends!

Broken water mains in Ottawa

People are complaining in Ottawa about an increase in the money they pay for water and needed replacement of water mains. Yet, the damage to homes, the mess, and the costs to repair them are atrocious.

With aging cities, people are facing flooded basement.

It is so important to replace, rather than repair the system. It is the cost of having water. It distinguishes us from undeveloped countries.

Joanne Chianello: Ottawa’s frugality in the ’90s is haunting us now
Your frugal, election-winning ways of the 1990s are going to cost us a 74-per cent increase in our water and sewer bills over the next decade.
Maybe you just didn’t know back then what we know now about infrastructure renewal. Maybe you didn’t realize that century-old water mains and sewer systems needed to be upgraded when you approved zero or negative rate increases for seven years in a row, twice rolling back water and sewer rates by three per cent.

$2.1 billion may not be enough for Ottawa’s aging pipes, says councillor

A $2.1-billion plan to repair Ottawa’s crumbling water and sewer pipes might not be aggressive enough, says veteran councillor and infrastructure wonk Peter Hume.Hume was reacting to a 10-year plan presented Tuesday by the city’s environmental services manager and its treasurer. To pay for the list of big-money projects they propose, the city would hike water and sewer rates 74 per cent over 10 years, borrow $460 million, and still have a $600-million to-do list left over.

We are on well and septic and when power fails, the well pump doesn't run and we have no water. I know what it is like!
That includes no flushing as the pump to send the water to the septic system doesn't run!

This street in Bells Corners had two broken water mains this winter. While my granddaughter was thrilled with the big trucks and the holes, paying for these workers to be digging and repairing mid-winter, at night, all night, in the dark, doesn't make economic sense.

Many keep demanding lowered taxes, yet the federal reduction of GST, and the tax breaks for big business, municipal cuts, reveal an electorate reluctant to put money into ensuring that we care for our people and the infrastructure that support them.

For my fans of big trucks, and tools, here is a short walk to see the big hole the workers were digging December 26, 2011. My garbage truck video has had 2367 views!

Josephine adores the garbage truck

May 14, 2010 3:04 PM

I happened to be visiting the grandkids at the time!

Installation of a hydro pole at a Habitat build:

Habitat Bala #3 Hydro installing pole

August 10, 2010 7:33 PM