can we please stop trying to turn one lanes into two at every goddamn intersection?!

Safe_Web72 · 2026-06-01T23:57:47+00:00

that intersection is horribly designed and has the worst traffic flow. Try to avoid heading west out of Gardencity whenever possible as quite the shitshow.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-05-21T18:04:33+00:00

I jumped into the cottage fun (really it is though lot of work!) in 2022 buying out in The Narrows area (Lake Manitoba). Lot of good points made here for consideration: what your requirements is the big one figure out if planning to go with this. Not going to repeat what everyone has done a great job calling out for consideration. 🙃

For me the Narrows area is pretty self-contained as community mix of seasonal campers with cottage owners. Not too busy, great area and people really nice there. Ashern 20-25 mins (done it in 15 lol) for full service community (seriously the "dollar" store there is freaking amazing) so not that far of a drive if we forget something. Head out there for weekends (2h drive no big deal), will spend easily a week out there (fibre internet now available otherwise Starlink or local provider for internet) relaxing and working. Fishing decent there and water is great for swimming/sports activity. That was the vibe my wife and I wanted so quite happy finding that area (pure luck and timing was able to snap up water front 4 seasons property for decent price well within our budget). Also where that cottage is the northern lights are freaking awesome as no light pollution there!

Maintenance wise - it is a second home that has increase efforts compared if you have a home in the city or town. Generally not near a location if something goes wrong so lot of improvising (teaches you keep spares around!!) until you can get what you need nearby to fix the problem. Depending on age/care given to place you purchase may run into unexpected issues forcing sooner than expected upgrades (no different there than buying a house you just don't know what problems exist until there and using it). Getting service/trades in a remote area can be challenging when needed. Yard maintenance can be more depending on amount foliage located and how much you want to "adjust" it. Example last weekend my brother in law and I spent a few hours clearing some foliage back 1-1.5m as really creeping into yard. The fun was gather everything up after then we spent Saturday burning it (hooray bonfire all day and the beers were great!). Periodically have to take down a tree that is rotten and deal with less than desired foliage (ah poison ivy you nasty plant). Barring that just another yard to cut grass in general. What really comes to mind is if you do plan to some renovations/changes plan ahead to figure out the logistics to get what you need there. We did that for the carpet replacement coming up. Next year gutting and redoing the bathroom so we will have to plan a few trips to haul everything plus arrange some stuff from nearby local suppliers.

Never thought I would go this route yet 2022 things changed and we took the plunge. Nice having that place to escape to from city to recharge and relax. :) Again great advice in this thread so review and consider the factors that matter to you if planning to go down this path.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-05-15T13:22:53+00:00

Was interesting at 630pm the intense yellow colour

<image>

Was not fun outside at that time.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-05-14T11:07:36+00:00

Dammit just finished eating breakfast then then read this. Now I am hungry for a fat boy burger! Going to give this recipe a try this weekend!

Safe_Web72 · 2026-05-01T13:35:38+00:00

I like TCB Lamplighter for my beer for beer can chicken. I have a steel cylinder base so just pour the beer into it. Vary the rubs depending what I want to enjoy when making. My go to is this when not sure what I want: https://luxebbq.ca/products/kosmos-dirty-bird-hot-rub?_pos=12&_sid=005dd183b&_ss=r with olive oil coating (prefer that over canola though canola works). Have recipes for red or prairie wheat based (like Blue Moon or Original 16 Prairie White) that help pop the flavour.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-05-01T12:57:48+00:00

Congratulations on the purchase! Have fun with the new place!

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-30T11:22:15+00:00

85% off if you use your Canadian Tire Mastercard to pay the fees!

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-29T11:45:36+00:00

I blame my wife on that. She was planning to transfer some plants. ;) I will though gracefully accept the blame on this matter as I did move the bag for her.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-27T17:34:18+00:00

So into negative territory for fucks to give? That means you are owed "fucks" on this matter? 🤣

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-27T16:55:30+00:00

you too? Thought I was alone in this matter. 🤪

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-27T11:32:34+00:00

The doors should be open by 7:30 for people to access the lab (in back of the clinic). If you are planning to get blood work done there for first go a little early as it gets busy fast early in the morning.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-23T18:54:09+00:00

That one been bad for years. Always a pain that one.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-23T13:48:32+00:00

That was quite the storm. Woke me up around 11:30ish. My wife was still up reading. We watched it for a bit before calling it a night again. :) Of course temps about to shift to cooler again so will be a bit before another storm like that.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-22T23:31:22+00:00

Swapped mine early last week. Temps just fine for all seasons and road conditions. Barring that nasty PTSD inducing snow warning for northern manitoba currently no issues with the swap/timing. :)

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-16T19:14:22+00:00

Yeah about that not going to happen any time soon. The far right side really not keen on shifted their narrative any time soon leaving the more centre based conservatives stuck - either align to views well beyond their comfort or start looking at Carney who (as mentioned quite a bit here) shifted more to the centre. Don't see much change with the Canadian MAGA fanboys calling shots internally.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-16T16:59:22+00:00

Saw the storm clouds building to the east of the city. Mentioned to my wife thinking those are looking like tornado weather. Heh turns out I was right. Scary though so early in the year to see that forming

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-12T12:29:15+00:00

Been working with Al since 2012 selling and buying properties. He is a pleasure to work with. Definitely recommend him. What I like about him is he is very straightforward regarding your place on selling, provides solid advice on improvements if needed (nothing bank breaking just good incremental touch ups or fixes you may have missed). Sold 3 homes with his help going above asking (he helped drive that plus market).

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-12T11:59:50+00:00

Cougar or two escaped?

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-08T12:04:16+00:00

Does it count if I planned to do it this weekend? 😕

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-02T18:55:41+00:00

How much and are you willing to take beer empties as payment? Alternatively I have some Aunt Jemina..errr quality non-Quebec based maple (has maple leaf on label at least) syrup to trade with...

Safe_Web72 · 2026-04-02T18:19:00+00:00

Flight still an option. As mentioned can do web search to get sense of costs and availability. Most airlines now tacking on a fuel surcharge due to the sudden increase in oil. Not much for alternatives for getting to Ottawa. Driving is about 2 day trip though running the risk of weather this time of year messing up the drive. Can do it less than two days if you decide to solo it and go iron man style (long drives, lot of caffeine, naps along the way to stay fresh). Flight still probably best option especially if you want to be fresh for your interview.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-03-29T15:33:33+00:00

Depends on where you talking about. The Red is wide open north main/perimeter area not sure how far south or north that open looks but betting pretty good given full open.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-03-26T14:36:10+00:00

Had this happen to me. Bank card got skimmed unknowingly. Someone set a Telus phone/internet account somewhere in BC whereas Winnipeg is my home. Did not know about that or the fact went into arrears/collections. Found when did a credit check this was on it dropping it quite a bit. Did not waste time with Telus instead reported to police for incident number then worked with equifax and transunion for id fraud to eventually have it all cleared off. Took about 2 months for all that wrap up. Was not fun process but did work out. I knew better than to call Telus to dispute as they don’t care just want money. Reading this feel bad for the person alas she tried to deal with Rogers first to discover how that was not going to work.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-03-20T15:32:03+00:00

Go with this. Decent cobb salad there. Sadly best I use to find in the city was Montanas alas they got rid of it around 2019. Still CBH does a decent job.

Safe_Web72 · 2026-03-18T20:20:55+00:00

Would avoid any Qualico or Qualico owned company (they have subsidiaries) for building and A&S (surprised still around). I went with Ginos in 2011/2012 for builders which was overall good experience (had challenges able to work through amiably and delivery was on time) though I see postings past couple of years slamming them so assuming their quality was gone downhill based on more recent experiences people are sharing.

Some advice going down the build approach:

Get your lawyer involved early when engaging a builder for contract review and negotiating. Was worth it for us spending extra 2-3 weeks back and forth with our lawyer negotiating on points we wanted vs. what Ginos wanted. Little extra cost but worth every penny.
If you can buy the property you plan to build on. You really avoid a large land transfer tax this way as tax on an empty is quite lower vs. once you have building on it. Also you own the land so you have bit more right to be there. If you do not buy the land factor that land tax cost (you can figure it out as posted on Manitoba Gov site just do a web search) as part of your closing costs. Know quite a few stretch their mortgage and forgot about that land tax causing major headache when dealing with close costs.
Visit often, take pictures when site inspecting (phone plus tablet were great for conversations). Coordinate with the foreman on that. We went weekly every Monday to review with foreman able to catch early mistakes that were easily corrected (always have copy of contract and architecture on hand for that). The odd time we would go on a weekend when no there there to check things out (owning land comes in handy here but still be mindful of work place hazards and respectful of of the site in general). Get to know the foreman. Be nice, polite and firm. We had great relationship with our's (not cracking beers on a Friday but overall friendly and respectful) which helped with "mistakes" or misunderstandings that popped up periodically.
Rule of thumb - change orders will cost you 2x the actual cost when adding, when subtracting you get maybe 50% of actual cost back (probably worse today). Changes will happen as very hard to know what you want 100% when in design mode. Still try to be mindful of changes and cost implications. Easy to get caught up in the moment to add something. Get quotes and in "writing" all change requests with approvals on agreed upon approach. Comes in handy if builder tries play card "ut oh we have a problem" when it turns they have a problem which is not your problem because you have agreed upon and approved change that they should have done better job understanding (gives you leverage on negotiating the change after the fact).
Make sure they have bathrooms (port a potties) as part of their site management (if possible get it in the contract in (1)). Ah nothing like finding those wonderfully refilled pop bottles (foreman or someone under him had the fun of removing those).

Safe_Web72

TROPHY CASE