CANADIAN REGION: What are you doing January 2017

trolleydriver wrote:I decided to check on the combustion air inlet for our gas furnace. Sometimes it can get clogged if the snow is too deep and then the furnace will not come on. We got a new furnace and the installer put the inlet higher so that we don't have that problem.

Now there is a new thing happening.  The combustion air from the furnace contains a lot of moisture. When it comes out of the outlet pipe and hits the cold outside air then the moisture condenses. So now we have an ice stalagmite forming under the air outlet. This one is about 2 feet high.

That's really funny!

countrynaturals wrote:

Kelejan wrote:All the garden is now a smooth expanse of wind-driven snow and all the animal and human footprints no longer exist.

Sounds beautiful and peaceful.

It also reminds me of when I clean out the cat's litter box and refill it with fresh litter.

TD, Sad for your neighbors.

KJ,

TD, I showed the photo to my husband, and being a man, instead of marveling at the ice cycle, he goes on about how that is the new way to vent heaters, yada.

sanderson wrote:TD,  I showed the photo to my husband, and being a man, instead of marveling at the ice cycle, he goes on about how that is the new way to vent heaters, yada.

Yup, all the combustion air comes from outside and is then exhausted to the outside. That way you are not wasting energy by using the heated indoor air to create more indoor heat and then venting the air up the chimney to the outside. When indoor air is used for combustion it also results in cold air having to be drawn into the house to replace the air that goes up the chimney.  The closed system is way more efficient. Combine that with the natural gas (cheaper than oil or electricity) and it works well to reduce heating costs.

trolleydriver wrote:

sanderson wrote:TD,  I showed the photo to my husband, and being a man, instead of marveling at the ice cycle, he goes on about how that is the new way to vent heaters, yada.

Yup, all the combustion air comes from outside and is then exhausted to the outside. That way you are not wasting energy by using the heated indoor air to create more indoor heat and then venting the air up the chimney to the outside. When indoor air is used for combustion it also results in cold air having to be drawn into the house to replace the air that goes up the chimney.  The closed system is way more efficient. Combine that with the natural gas (cheaper than oil or electricity) and it works well to reduce heating costs.

Sanderson:  Your comment now should be "I rest my case"      I guess it's just a "man thing".  Gotta love 'em.  Sigh...oh well, we have to admit we DO have our 'women things" too.

Mellen wrote:

trolleydriver wrote:

sanderson wrote:TD,  I showed the photo to my husband, and being a man, instead of marveling at the ice cycle, he goes on about how that is the new way to vent heaters, yada.

Yup, all the combustion air comes from outside and is then exhausted to the outside. That way you are not wasting energy by using the heated indoor air to create more indoor heat and then venting the air up the chimney to the outside. When indoor air is used for combustion it also results in cold air having to be drawn into the house to replace the air that goes up the chimney.  The closed system is way more efficient. Combine that with the natural gas (cheaper than oil or electricity) and it works well to reduce heating costs.

Sanderson:  Your comment now should be "I rest my case"      I guess it's just a "man thing".  Gotta love 'em.  Sigh...oh well, we have to admit we DO have our 'women things" too.

Thanks Mellen ... you made me laugh.

I rest my case . . .

sanderson wrote:I rest my case . . .

Still laughing me ... 

trolleydriver wrote:

sanderson wrote:I rest my case . . .

Still laughing me ... 

+1

Minus 17C when I woke early this morning, and now warmed up to minus 14C (8F),

Tonight will be the last of the double digit minuses, the next two days will be similar, followed by snow days once more.  At the end of the seven days there is actually one plus figure, still with snow.

No wind so far, so I will be venturing out to the post office and get a couple of small grocery items.  Finally got through all my chocolates and cookies received during the Christmas season, managing to offload many of them to others.  I usually put stuff like that in the freezer but this year my freezer is full of better food like veggies from my garden and home-made soups and main dinner courses.

Just arrived in St Catharines, Ontario near Niagara Falls. There's not even one snowflake on the ground here. I told Mrs TD that if we lived here I would be thinking about working on my veggie garden.

It has been a super strange winter here.  Right now, no snow at all.  Glad you made it safely through the distracted drivers and road conditions....jeesh.

While visiting our daughter today we went to a surplus store in Cambridge, Ontario.  I bought a 12'x16' clear reinforced tarp. The package says the tarp has UV protection on both sides. My thinking is that I can use this tarp to create a row cover or micro greenhouse of some kind.

That's sounds very doable, TD. It ticks all the boxes. What did you pay for it?

Kelejan wrote:That's sounds very doable, TD. It ticks all the boxes. What did you pay for it?

It was $25 Canadian.  Not sure if that was a good price to pay but it seemed better than what I found on eBay and Amazon Canada.

I have just checked our weather forecast before going to bed and it seems as though I will be waking up to 10 cm of snow, which means word, then another 10 cm during the day.

The following days will be continual snow/rain and it is going to be a mess.

The upside is that I will be able to do some work outside clearing up the mess in the car porch left when I ran out of time last year when the cold snap came.

I am so looking forward to spring to get my hands in some soil.  Notice that I did not say dirt.

I have to wrap myself in a down blanket just to read Canadian posts.

sanderson wrote:I have to wrap myself in a down blanket just to read Canadian posts.  

 That's the way I feel when we watch the news about ice and snowstorms back east.

The last one is very true.  In actual fact, the neighbour across from me was out shoveling his driveway and wearing shorts just a few days ago.

After having snow forecast so often and it never arriving, well, it is here.  Started yesterday evening and been at it ever since.

Having to put out the garbage can today, I was up early to find that I had about eight inches of snow to clear a pathway down to the road.  I did that, wheeled the can down to the edge of the road and continued widening the pathway.

Then I noticed that the car that is parked opposite my property was snowed in, and I remembered watching her get her car cleared  and the difficulty she had to get out and go to work.  As I had cleared enough of my driveway for my needs, I decided to go and clear her space and her car so that she could have a good start to her day,  So I did that; all she needed to do was start the car and get the rest of the snow that was on the window, and that needed a warm car to clear that stuff as I did not have a scraper.  By now it was 7am so I decided to go back to bed.

When I woke later, she had gone, but the snow plow had passed by and left a mess so I will go out later and clear up a bit.  I hope I will have made her day a bit brighter.

Tomorrow it will be mixed snow and rain and the day after it will be rain only and the temps will be above freezing.

I remember once when I went out to work and found on my return that my driveway was blocked out and I had to start clearing it right away to get my car off the road.
I remember how choked up I felt that no one had cleared even a little space and I felt so sorry for myself.   

The snow we had a couple of weeks ago, someone cleared my driveway completely, I do not know who it was,  but I was so thankful.  It is little enough for me to clear one car space for someone else when I am feeling strong.  Anyway, I did need some exercise as I have been lounging around too much lately.  The cat has no intention of going out for a walk with me.

You've done your Great deed of the day.  You and Pal can lounge around now.

TD, LOL!

I have a friend who would be doing the shorts AND flip-flops...

Kelejan, that was SO nice of you! I'm sure that did help her day....

sanderson wrote:You've done your Great deed of the day.  You and Pal can lounge around now.

Well, sanderson, Pal lounged around (as he is entitled to) but when I went out to finish the job, the lady had returned two hours earlier than I expected, so we finished the job together which was good as it involved the packed snow from the road and been heaped up and was so hard to move.

But I had my own reward later on as suddenly I saw a wave of snow reflected in my wall mirror so I went out to investigate and found a gentleman plowing the remainder of my driveway,  Now I know who the person was who finished it the last time I cleared my driveway. Normally, now that I have no car, I do a pathway down the middle, and if I feel like it clear from the middle to one side. If I am expecting visitors, I clear the other side so allowing a car to park off the road, and if I am feeling really energetic I clear the lot. I do it all in stages so that I know when to stop.  I feel really good this morning.

I was then really able to lounge around with Pal.

In some ways I feel a little cheated as it has stopped snowing and we are in for two days of rain as the temperature has risen above freezing so it will soon be cleared.  The last time I cleared the driveway it remained for the next two weeks and I did not have to do a thing and nor did the City workers.

Kelejan wrote:TD, I thought the one with the two helicopters on the ice floe was the funniest one.

Well done with the snow removal. It's also good that you know your limits.  

I did some snow shoveling by hand yesterday because it was too much trouble to fire up the snowblower. If there had been more snow then our snow removal company would have done the driveway but I still have to do the walkways, etc.. We are getting a few mild (above freezing) days and then it looks like we are in for a big snowfall starting Sunday evening.

Above freezing here but a little snow drifting down.

I now have five peony seeds poking through the potting mix and have put up a cat barrier consisting of the wire-net panel that is in place during the summer when I can open the window. 

Also talking to a neighbour the other day I mentioned my peonies being grown from seed and he said I could take his peonies from the side of his house as in the spring he was going to get rid of them. He said he did not like the ants and he was downsizing his garden activities as he expected that one day he would end up in care if his wife passed away before him.