..And It’s Gettin’ Colder

We keep the furnace running all night – on a lower temperature setting, but yet it felt kinda chilly this morning. Routinely opening a tap to see whether water is still running I was greeted with a few droplets only. I have turned up the thermostat to see whether it would be helping. It hasn’t so far. Outside temperature is now down to –29C and the wind chill is –40C. But there is some hope. The weather guru tells us about a warming trend towards the end of NEXT week when we should be seeing a balmy +4 on the thermometer. The lower edges of our window frames are now showing a growing ice-build-up. I was getting two 30pound propane tanks filled yesterday. Surprisingly, the price for our main heating source has not been going up. We did try to get bigger tanks but the delivery and pickup was extremely expensive, so we borrowed a few more smaller tanks from a friend. It’s still toasty warm inside the rig, but we won’t be wandering outside except for walking Molly a few times during the day. When I was out with her after breakfast, first thing happening was me landing on my tail, as the road was very slippery. Luckily, I didn’t break neither arm nor leg. Wouldn’t be very productive spending Christmas in a hospital. Mind you, maybe I could sue the park for not sanding the road. Have a great Saturday!

 

 

 

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One Good Foot Of Snow

It has been snowing without much of any break since yesterday and today we are looking at 35cm (more than 1 ft.) of powdery snow. Powdery it is because the temps are down to –21C (-6F) It is still piling up and city traffic has come to a crawl. with more than 150 collisions caused mostly by stupid driving habits (means too fast).   And just how are we making out in a travel trailer which was never thought to be used in this climate? Well, we are still having running water and we are not cold. Yes, our water pump has been stalling a couple of times, but came back within a few hours every time. Wind chill temperature is currently minus 31C (-23F) Yes, it is grueling cold. In fact Molly doesn’t like to be outside anymore. This morning she was back from her small business in a few seconds.     The park has been thoughtful enough to provide snow shovels for the guests, so this morning I went over to pick up a shovel. Over night we had another 25cm so there was plenty of the white stuff to get rid of. While I was doing so a neighbour ambled over asking whether we had water running. He complained that his water was frozen. He owns a 38ft Class A motorhome and with heated underbelly he shouldn’t really have any problems. But then he explained that he had a water HOSE running from the outside tap to his rig and it was frozen in spite of heating tape being used. Dude!   One can’t do that in freezing temps like we have now, unless the whole thing is packed up in an insulated and heated pipe. We just fill our water tank then disconnect the hose. That’s how we get by. Yup, it’s a learning process to attempt winter camping in Alberta. While I had time yesterday I made up a dough for Christmas Cookies. These are made with lard and are of a kind my mother made as far as I can think back. I’m proud to say they turned out absolutely perfect. Advent will begin this weekend and after 9 years spending Christmas in California we will have a white Christmas again. That, in turn will make my thoughts fly backwards many decades to when I was still living home and our parents provided everything for the celebrations. The old country Christmas celebrations has given us lasting memories. It was a time when commerce had not yet taken over entirely.   I bet you have good memories of those years as well. Thanks for stopping by again.

Alberta’s Oil

You have seen it and you have probably been very pleased with it: Your gas bill is getting lower every day. And indeed, the price for crude oil has plummeted like a rock with over 30% since the warm days of summer. Are we feeling that something is wrong? We sure do. It’s just not normal that oil prices are going low and with it our gas bill. So everybody should be happy with it right? Wrong. Now we are complaining that oil is going too low and that it can potentially hurt our economy. At least that’s the buzz if you have been listening to the news. Oil companies operating offshore outside of Newfoundland have already put on their financial brakes. And here, on the other side of the country, Alberta is starting to talk about “serious consequences” for next years budgeting. Royalties from oil and gas plus taxes paid to the Alberta Government are in danger to shrink like fresh fallen snow in the rising spring sun. The consequences will be cut-offs on important parts of social welfare. After all, that’s what all conservative governments would do. But it will also cool off the red-hot Alberta Real Estate market which could be quite healthy. If push comes to shove it will also cause a new migration of workers – this time back to their home provinces where unemployment is waiting for them. So could the low oil price lead to a wide-spread economic crises? Absolutely. Can we take some learning from it? We sure can – if we are willing to. 1. we shouldn’t have made us so darn dependent on oil 2. we should have put aside more of the oil revenues, instead of spending it like it would never stop. (Little Norway has put aside staggering 900 billion Dollars since the early nineties, while Alberta managed to save only 17.4 billion Dollars since 1976) 3. Royalties to the Government should have been set much higher instead of giving a free ride to the richest companies in the world. There is an old saying that no trees are growing for ever. So why are OPEC countries refusing to cut production? Could there be a strategy to hurt the U.S. and Canadian economies? Or is it simply because of these countries are so poor that they need the revenue? I don’t know which, but what I do know is that we have to deal with it.

The WEST EDMONTON MALL And My New Hat

Most people who have been to Alberta have heard of the West Edmonton Mall. The West Edmonton Mall is the largest shopping mall in North America and the tenth largest in the world  The mall was founded by the Ghermezian brothers, who immigrated from Iran in 1959. Until 2004 it was the largest mall in the world.   The Mall covers a gross area of about 490,000 m2(5,300,000 sq ft). There are over 800 stores and services and parking for more than 20,000 vehicles. More than 24,000 people are employed at the property. The mall receives 32.2 million visitors per year; it also attracts between 90,000 and 200,000 shoppers daily, depending on the day and season.   And today I was one of those “shoppers”. I have never been, nor will I ever be, a potentially interested shopper in ANY mall. Bea knows that to the fullest. But I needed a special hat for my job and as far as I know there is only 1 specialized hat store in the city. The name is Chapel and we found it at the end of a long walk through the mall. Naturally, they didn’t have the colour I wanted, but I finally went with a blue one.        Having the hat we went photo shooting.   There is f.ex. the replica of the Santa Maria, adorned with all kind of fantasy figures.               Getting’ some food here…..and I want more! Right below the ship they got sea lions which we watched working for their food.   Tropical water………………………………………..and skating rink And if you feel for a swim they got this huge water park. After the swim you might want to go skating in the ice palace or,if you got the kids with you, a trip into GALAXYLAND might be in order.      What ever you do, you need to have your wallet with you – with a lot of Credit Cards, cause everything is just a tad more expensive than every where else. My guess is that the store rents are quite juicy around these parts.    Another interesting part of the mall is the EUROPA BOULEVARD.  Now, I don’t know where these false facades were imported from, but they kind of look like an old European-style city. Sad part is the boulevard has very few visitors. Maybe it’s just too exotic for Albertans.   With Christmas coming up, the mall is decorated for the “Holidays”, and I just observed a looong line of parents waiting with their young ones to say hello to Santa, who was sitting on stage surrounded by glittering Christmas Trees. Gotta be patient there.    Win me…….                                                            A FERRARI for me? Of course, the mall also has its very own hotel and IMAX theatre. But we were done here. No Ferrari and no more fancy hats.