Entropy

The Weather Network website is reporting on Frost Quakes happening again last night. I'm not so sure about these Frost Quakes. One person reports in their report says they thought someone fell out of bed upstairs. Last night I heard a boom/bang twice. Once sounded like my daughter fell out of bed, the other time I was standing in the kitchen and the boom was above my head. Could it be the roof trusses contracting, or the plywood on the roof, or something like that? My house is 120 ft from the shore Lake Scugog and I am used to booms from expanding lake ice, which come through the ground, both last night felt like they were on or in the roof. Thoughts? Entropy

A few years back my wife was backing our truck up to the edge of the lake to pull the boat lift out. It was then on that 'angle' that I noticed that we no longer had a spare under the truck. It was either stolen, or ... worse, the cable rusted and it fell off somewhere. Entropy

That sure is awesome. Don't get me wrong, it's great that big food stores are helping, but then the Libs, go and do this.

Good to hear other areas are getting 'help' from big business. I wouldn't be whining if I weren't hurting, between my wife and I we make a good buck, but we tread into the black and red far too often. We spend very little money on 'fun' or luxuries. If you have more than enough please remember to donate, or ask for higher taxes? Who is looking forward to deductions from their pay cheque for OPP (Ontario Pension Plan)? I sure as hell am not, leave some money in my pocket so I can look after myself and my family, now and in the future. We aren't all helpless. Entropy

So, only people who live in Toronto will get help from the Province of Ontario in the form of a Grocery Gift Card? Oh, right there was no Ice Storm anywhere else. What about people, in need, in Port Hope, Prince Edward County, and Beaton? Some grocery chains are donating the cards and the province is matching it $1 for $1? Is this correct? ... wait a second.... WHAT THE HELL IS THE PROVINCE DOING GIVING MY TAX $$ AWAY AS GIFT CARDS!? Annoyed. Entropy

Pam Anderson, perhaps I could 'talk' some sense into her. I'd take her hunting and fishing and show her a good field to table spread. Going to have to fix this world. Entropy

I have this. http://www.canadiantire.ca/en/pdp/champion-4000w-gas-generator-0550324p.html I paid $300 for it and love it. I like a cheap portable, if something goes wrong I can toss it in the garbage or sell it to my handy neighbour and go buy a new one, and not worry too much about it. This size will power anything in my house, for the big pumps only one at a time ( 120 volt well pump, sump pump, etc) I'd hate to 'invest' well over $1000 in a Honda and have a problem with it. At $300 my genny becomes disposable. I once bought a second one and left it in my car while this one was running the sump pump for a day. I ended up selling it to a neighbour with the understanding that if mine quit, we'd be running a wire over. I run it with a little Shell high test gas every 2 to 4 weeks for about 15 min, and change the oil once or twice a year. I know it will work in an emergency because it gets run often and actually gets used in outages. You can buy this about once a year on your CTC MasterCard for $75 less sale price, which puts it at $225 every once in a while. I had a Walmart generator, 3000 watt, and it started to make a bit of an odd noise. I took it to work and let it run for everyone and got $200 for it. Hey, I'll take a loss on something like this every 5 years, and buy a new one to make sure it will work and run well when I need it. Something to think about. Entropy

Yep, scugog is the same.

Keep it simple, an entry level Garmin will work. The maps that come with it are useless, you need to buy the map soft wear too, or borrow it off of a friend. I have a Garmin Legend with all the topo maps, and love it. It has just lost the use of some of the keys, so I too will be looking for a new one.

Well turns out half the fun is going to the bait shop and looking at all the minnows. Both kids Cadence (2.5 years old) and Hudson (4.5 years old) loved looking at them till it was ... awkward. When we got home Hudson ran to his bedroom and got the tackle box he got for Christmas. He was very excited. Cadence got into the fish first and caught more than half of the 20 to 30 dinks. My wife and I thought is was only fair to put Hudson over by Cadence's hole. These kids sure love catching. We saw a permanent hut get put out onto the lake too. Didn't think you were allowed to put them out till Jan 1st. Good times. I think I'll have to take them out again tomorrow. Entropy PS. There is a good 10" to 12" of ice with about 2" or 3" of slush on top of that, then a hard packed crust of snow that you can walk/almost walk on.

He has been on a couple of radio shows that I know of, I assume he was paid for his time. 206 -> Do you know who was making the calls? Local government? OPP? Entropy

"White to bright"

Do you know how to wire an extension cord up to the on/off switch for the furnace? Then you'd be heating. That's what I'd be doing, but have thought it through and know how to do it. Entropy

Just checked the Hydro One outage map, what a nightmare, the trees are loaded with ice, there is cold weather for the next few days so is it isn't going to melt off, and there are new small outages occurring almost as fast as some are being fixed. My sister who lives near Millbrook has had power all this time but the outages keep getting closer to her all the time. There is one down the road from her now, and that might also include her. It did last spring during that last ice storm. What luck eh. Entropy

The warnings were in the media last Wed. morn. I'm sure a good number of people are wishing they had done more to get ready. Most of the time the forecast that far out fails, but this one sure didn't. You'll be hard pressed to find a generator, salt, candles, camping cooking and lighting gear, or fuel cans anywhere in the GTA left to buy. I'm certain there will be a big push on just before our typical spring storm season to sell 'storm survival' items. You'll see Crappy tire and wallmart selling kits, and generators like mad. I'm sure there will be some good deals to be had. Same thing happened after 'the 3 day power outage'. (what was that 10 years ago?) A lot of the outages near Port Hope are now saying that they should be restored at 8pm on Dec 26th. Homes are one thing, they are relatively easy to winterize, if you can find plumbing antifreeze to buy. It's the large commercial and industrial buildings that are going to cost a lot if their plumbing freezes. Heck if you were in the fire suppression system business, you'll be making good coin getting all those sprinkler systems back up in working order. Be safe, Entropy

I love that guy!. Good thing for youtube, he's making some coin.

Try ham radio.

Turns out my sister, who lives near Millbrook, got a recorded phone call with the message saying to stay home, stay off the roads, if you call 911 the wait time for EMS will be significant, and also not to got to Port Hope as it is a disaster area. (I'm not sure if disaster area was the exact wording or not). Anyone know who makes these calls? Anyone else get a call like this? Entropy

Again, he offers his genny. Last time you did the same. A good guy.

good point ART

They are hoping for Wed. I'm sure this public notice is not well received, by many. Next thing you know they will be asking central Ontarians to play Host to Toronto refugees. Please share your generators, wood supply and wood stoves. Take a family in need in for the week..... Entropy

Toronto Hydro crews assessing damage and responding to emergency calls, asking customers to 'share the power' TORONTO, Dec. 22, 2013 /CNW/ - Toronto Hydro-Electric System (Toronto Hydro) is reporting that over 250,000 customers are without power across the city as a result of the ice storm. Areas with overhead power lines are the hardest hit: Etobicoke, North York and Scarborough. Toronto Hydro is concerned that wind gusts and further adverse weather will hamper the restoration efforts. As a result of the volume of calls that continue to come in, and the current weather conditions, Toronto Hydro is asking customers to prepare for the worst-case scenario. While the utility hopes to have everyone restored by Wednesday, it is asking customers to make alternate arrangements, if possible. There are a number of customers who may have special needs or are elderly; Toronto Hydro asks that residents check on their neighbours. For customers with electricity service, Toronto Hydro is asking that they "share the power" and consider inviting neighbours inside. The City of Toronto has also opened a number of warming stations, they can be found at www.toronto.ca Toronto Hydro crews are working to on public safety calls first, then on to restore priority customers such as hospitals, city services and TTC. All available resources have been deployed and crews are working as quickly as possible to restore power.

I just heard about this on 680am, they said it was arcing with the lines. Didn't explain it much, something about the lines being weighed down. Entropy

All of Prince Edward County is without electricity now. And the forecast doesn't look good for them. http://www.hydroone.com/stormcenter3/

Wanted to get some Jack Daniels Winter Jack, but the LCBO was sold out. I will not be fully ready.