I know it is the height of banality to discuss the weather, but it does seem a little early for this deep freeze, and while glancing at the forecast I noticed they are predicting ‘snow showers’ for next week. Yum.
Another thing that has frozen is all the disgusting compost in my municipal green bin. Last year I actually had one of the sanitation engineers who dumps the bin into the truck, a new beautiful, dual purpose, truck that is going to save the environment, tell me that my compost was frozen. I remarked that it was -20 outside, and that tended to freeze things up and I was doing what I was told with the new system, designed to minimize landfill and allow the city to make a tidy buck.
[Reminds me of the warning letter I got for letting a car idle in my driveway for more than 5 minutes. I went back and checked the weather for that day and it was a low of -22. Next time I will just take a propane torch to it, like the dad in this wonderful book
and warm the engine myself. And yes, she gets to keep the dog, no need to worry. Dad is just a little gruff and concerned with mouths to feed.]
I phoned the city, just for laughs, to see what they would recommend in this difficult situation of me daring to present frozen garbage, oops, I mean erstwhile valuable compost, and thus making life more difficult for our fine municipality to ostensibly profit from selling my teabags. It was suggested that I keep the hideous bin in my heated garage. I explained that I, and most Ottawans, a casual survey suggests, do not have such a thing. Then he suggested indoors. Right. You should see what hatches from these things in the summer heat … or maybe not.
And then I remembered that the city had promised to provide a certain amount of compost to a compost collector, and was not meeting target.
Short pause while I check Google to see if I am just paranoid and mis-remembering. Right. I had mis-remembered. It is worse than even I had suspected.
Not only do we not come close to meeting the 80k tonnes annually that were promised to the monster company by city staff, it was never a realistic goal. Last year, after a vast effort, apparently we accumulated about 55 tonnes. The city has to pay a penalty for not meeting target, and the cost of getting out of the contract is higher than failing to fulfill it.
“It’s not likely a good idea given the fact that it would most likely result in higher costs to terminate this contract and put a new one in,” said Hume.
…
“It just wouldn’t make sense. We signed a bum deal. What we need to concentrate on now is how do we feed the monster,” Harder suggested.*
Nobody can be told what these costs are, because there is, of course, now a dispute between the ludicrous compost-eating monster, Organworld, oh, sorry those would be the makers of Soylent Green, this company is called Orgaworld. To whom are we paying this money for not having enough rotten waste? The dispute is about the quantity of compost being delivered, as one could have anticipated. So we are arguing about how much we didn’t provide, because the less we give them, the more money we owe them. Awesome. Pretty good gig getting paid not to take compost.
And now our best option is to concentrate on how to feed the monster? And those are the sensible councillors? Maybe if the winter didn’t happen … or wait, they could distribute heated compost bins …. Cancelling winter would save a great deal of money. They did try when they put plastic tunnels up on Rideau Street. But they had to take them down.
There is nothing to suggest these folks really know winter exists, however. Just ask our articulated buses, as their wheels spin in mid air.
That was from 2005, to be fair, but the buses haven’t learnt how to drive yet, and one got stuck just the other day. But apparently we are selling some of the bendy buses to Winnipeg. They claim they got a good deal. Lemons go cheap, and Winnipeg never experiences winter either.
I could go on, obviously. But it just makes what is left of one’s blood boil, the city having rung this stone dry. They are currently about to build a light rail system which we cannot afford, do not want, and which will plunge the city into 5 years of appalling construction. I’ll bet this contract is also a doozie. Our councillor thinks it is very important to bring 20,000 non-existent future people from a distant suburb, through our neighbourhood, to the government complex that sits collecting statistics nearby. And she really believes that my children should pay for it. We discussed it by email. I eventually told her she was a moral failure. She told me to have a nice weekend. Somehow it seems we were not communicating on the same level.
What a bunch of dreadful people, literally ruining the lives of the citizens of this city. But we do have hideous sculptures all along our main street in our neighbourhood, thank Thor. I like this one, in particular, as you can really see how the mimicking of the fire hydrant has given them all boobs:
I can’t even remember if they have to remove them for the snowplows or if they are just one more stupid obstacle to be slowly chipped away. Who got that contract? Arghhhhhh …. time to put head back into sand. At least it wouldn’t hurt Mouse’s paws like all the salt they spray everywhere.
I think I will just start using my old compost bin, in the backyard, that was also distributed at a discount by the city. But then my taxes will rise. Even throwing out a banana peel has become confusing. Perhaps I will just distribute them around city hall.
*http://www.ottawasun.com/2013/05/10/green-bins-a-bum-deal
yup, this weather stinks. i can’t even use my walk in cooler (back porch) to store my beer because it’s so cold that the beer freezes in the can, and then they split open, or if in bottles, the caps leak, or get blown off completely. even worse is when you salvage a partially frozen beer and try to drink it. as it thaws the beer keeps flowing out over the top, no matter how vigilant you may be.
i have been watching your high and low temps Xty. i have figured out the only way colder from here is due north. you are more to the east of me than north, so on average it looks like you have a warmer winter than i do here! here’s our highs and lows starting last Friggs day in Celcius… -7/-12, -8/-15, -3/-11, -5/-20, -6/-21, -8/-18, and today, -7/-11. so anyway, i am thinking most Canadians live in a milder climate than i do, since there just isn’t much in the way of civilization north of the shores of the big lake, Gitche Gumee.
so what to do on such a cold day besides post off topic rambles on a blog site? i am going to make pasties! for more information go to this link. the recipe i use is pretty close to this but i don’t use carrot, and i use cubed beef steak (rib-eye today) AND ground pork. some recipes call for the use of Swedes which is the British term for rutabaga, but if you cannot find either, you have my permission to use Finns. 🙂
http://www.foodiewithfamily.com/2008/10/25/its-fall-time-to-break-out-the-pasties-and-a-big-announcement/
My Dad used to say “cold enough to freeze the balls off a walrus” , fwiw… 😥
And now I’m going to run the dogs in it quick before it gets dark. 😥 😥
Something spooky going on here, because I had a pasty for breakfast today. Store bought frozen one though, but not bad. Link is here.
Nine below zero- wanted this as a stand alone but could only find it as an album so you’ll have to go to 9:40 to hear it but really why skip all the good stuff before that.
Time to reflect on past year’s better weather. I try to go on 4 trips a year w/ NRF. At :48 you can see a picture of one that I went on- elk calf search and tag. Great fun and I only ate 3 mosquitoes before I got my head net on.
NRF? Hmmm….sounds like some commie, pinko, collectivist thing to me.
Let’s get some strip mines going! Yeah, that’s the ticket to a better life…
too good for ketchup. the house smells amazing too.
Xty, you can really get fined for letting your car idle in your driveway, burning your gas? Or be fined/taxed for composting in your own backyard.
It literally took me 10 minutes to type the above question. “What is this world coming to?” I sat here thinking.
I realize that we here in the U.S.A. have a CIA groomed non-American imposter communist sitting in office of POTUS whose goal in life is to take down the United States and have it ruled by a NWO/Communist political body… and I don’t necessarily like this, but I don’t lose sleep over it. (it appears to be nearing an end)
But getting fined for a 5 minute car idling?? That’s a stunner. Who fines you.. the police? Can you go to court and plead not guilty? Take it to a jury trial?
Could you find out exactly who wrote the ticket and pay them a little visit? (shhhh don’t answer that one)
Please tell me more about how this whole thing is set up?
In some places here in the U.S. you can go to subdivisions and watch grown professional men walk their dog up and down the street, and if the dog poops… the guy will put a plastic bag over his hand, pick up the doggie poo, and take it home with him. I don’t know who picks up all the bird, squirrel, bug, and other poop in these places, but the dog thing really does happen.
it’s a tough crowd here. it’s so hard to get a conversation rolling.
i ate two of those pasties fresh out of the oven. each pasty had over two cups of filling, rolled in an 11″ dough circle. i know, because i made them. so Joey Chestnut, if you are out there, i say bring it. i’m still hungry, and so i might eat yet another one. … and if you were to make it interesting, i’m pretty sure i could eat at least a dozen of the things.
Xty- I just plugged in my skid loader to warm the engine when I thought of your car idling. Guess you need a block heater. Sorry, can’t help you w/ the compost, mine’s frozen too. Just a minor detail out here beyond the sidewalks.
I don’t receive many services, so I don’t have to conform to many regs. I plow my own lane- way too long to be called a driveway- and I just love the freedom of going out soon in 9 degrees to change that skid loader’s flat tire. Of course it’s the rear one w/chain and the heaviest end which my jack can barely lift, major pain trying to work w/ gloves on but that’s the price I pay for living out where there are few regs and the only ones you follow are the ones you choose to. Permits? What permits?
Six Investment Errors You Are Making Right Now
This article is a brief summary of Barry Ritholtz’s basic mantra. Get rid of your cognitive biases and improve your results. He repeats this a lot, but that’s good because we tend to forget our lessons and slide back into old habits.
OK, maybe you guys don’t, because you are amazing ubermenschen, but I’m just a regular schmuck, grinding it out as best I can.
Actually, the car idling bylaw stuff is really just a way for neighbours to harass each other. Luckily the neighbour who will have phoned in my hideous environmental indiscretion has moved. When the asshole who built the infill next to us was mad at me for something he complained to the city about my unsafe fencing in the front yard. I phoned and asked about this odd letter I received from the city because we don’t have any fencing. The city employee told me that what happens is they get a call from someone and the complaint is not investigated, it just generates a letter. So I asked if I could just do nothing and he said yes. He of course couldn’t say who had called, but well, it was quite the few years of hell with this unethical fellow. But anyhow, the funny thing is that all it does is generate paper. Apparently a second complaint would have been followed by a sterner letter. The car idling letter was also just a vague warning and reminder.
Of course normal neighbours talk to each other and many of us have lived on the street now for over 20 years, but it is bristling with babies recently.
And yes, a block heater is being discussed. We are slow learners, and the vehicles are a little aged right now.
And we always pick up Mouse’s poop. But we are scoff laws and walk her off leash in places that are marked on-leash for summer months, and verboten during the winter as they are meant to be ski trails (or piste de skii en francais, which always makes me piste de off). Of course most skiers also own dogs, so it is a farce. But the fines are hefty. And one day I am afraid my husband will have a discussion with an officer. The National Capital Commission ‘protects’ a bunch of land for us all, and they use the RCMP to enforce their inane rules sometimes. It is unfortunate.
We are putting our ‘wealth’ back in the hands of professionals, and it is a huge relief. Things are pulled together and getting more rationalized. Again, whew. It is the curse of the competent to try to do everything for oneself. And then add emotional blinkers and the whole thing can get a little unglued.
Oh, and those pasties look amazing!
Speaking of trying to do everything for oneself- just got back in to change clothes and take this tire to town for a dubious repair, I will probably have to buy a new one for a couplea hundred. And of course, as is usual for me, I broke off the first lug bolt, will have to fix that too and to top it off my impact wrench trigger froze up or something so all hard cranking by hand.
Neighbors- can be a blessing or a curse. 1/4 mile between mitigates much. Only had one bad bunch, since moved. Circa 15 yrs ago, son was running in training for cross country when their German Shepherd attacked him. Got him down on his back and was going for his throat, biting his arms as he held it back before it was called off, for a few moments he had the horror of thinking he might die. He drove himself to the doctor and got a prescription which had a $10 copay. I was gone so my wife went to them and all she wanted was the $10 copay which they refused. Long story short, they got their payback, can’t and won’t say how and son got $7500 from their insurance co.
i really see no point in making wild unsubstantiated claims about the president. there is plenty of the obvious to complain about. i really hope this blog does not slide down that same old familiar slope. i would like to respect everyone here, and also Xty’s time and effort.
as far as picking up your dog poop… if you live in the city, you should pick up after your dog! people that do not have dogs should never have to step in another persons dog’s shit. this is so fundamental, i feel like a fool even pointing it out.
there is a big difference between being a libertarian, and being selfish. the type of libertarian that i claim to be, respects others rights. i feel i should be able to do as i please in every way and how, but only up to the point that it bothers someone else.
and i also fully agree that neighbors can be petty – so read on!
if people lived according to the “Golden Rule”, i.e. – treat others the way that you yourself would like to be treated, we all would get along splendidly, and as a bonus the government wouldn’t need to write all these silly codes in the first place!
so there, rant over, and off my chest. no hard feelings.
yes, the pasties were a raging success! the greatest thing is that i have 8 of them in the freezer for quick and easy meals later. they really are a lot of work. the funny thing is that i have a calzone making contraption that i forgot to use. it would have cut down on much of the profanity in the kitchen last night!
Although it sounds trite or prim, I really do believe in trying to leave a public physical place better than I found it. My own house I seem to have a problem with … I certainly don’t follow Mouse into snowy woods … but if she should poop publicly up it must be picked, and I want that behaviour from others.
I am looking forward to the next instalment of the tire saga, btw. Schadenfreude or sympathy, call it what you will.
Done, and only $100. Well, o.k., really only $40 for the tire.
And the other $60 well spent. No sympathy necessary, I can feel sorry all by myself, and I know how to fix it.
Now that is a very nice tire. Only $40?
Yeah, $20 dismount and mount, and $20 for a new tube. Now, let it snow.
i’m heading over. how many pasties do you want? hey, didn’t you get your wife any booze?
She’s a wino. Bring some shells, I have some exquisite venison stew to put in them.
here is a wine themed song for Dude’s wife, and i think Xty will also like it. 🙂
Never heard of her, saw in the paper she wuz commin’, checked her out, Damn! Say whatcha want ’bout us liberal old hippies, we know music.
i wiki’d Valerie June. she was born in 1982. she must be an old soul.
i remember back in my early twenties i was driving my Dad somewhere and had a standard rock station tuned in on the radio. Steppenwolf came on, Born to be Wild, and my Dad kind of freaked out. he said something to the effect that he couldn’t believe “the shit kids listen to these days”. i had to tell him that i was five years old when the song came out. my parents, especially my Dad, were not early adopters of fashion or art. another quote from Dad – “if you want Levis, you will have to buy them yourself.” so i did. but the really funny thing is he pronounced Levis with a short e and i!
anyway, it is kind of a running joke now. i just love saying that “shit kids listen to” line to my wife and to my friends. the problem is that i’m starting to be that person – and i am fighting it. most of the ‘new’ music i’m discovering is already 5 to 10 years old before i find it. a big part of the problem is that i listen to mostly classic rock in the car, and even sometimes AM. don’t worry though – i never have and never will listen to old, fat, hate filled, pill popping, hypocritical white windbags! 🙂