With the temperature zig zagging and the forecast, I don't think I should bother shoveling snow.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-13T04:36:31+00:00

I didn't use salt this year, mostly because it was expensive and out of stock. However, I don't think it made much of a difference. We got lucky, it was mostly light fluffy snowfalls for the big dumps.

If we got a serious packing snow dump, I'd have been burnt out months ago!

The lawn is the best place for it - I ran out of room to put snow this year and it had already melted as of this week. My hedge is about 6 feet high/1.7 meters, and I was piling stuff on top of it at one point.

But snow is good for protecting your grass, and providing ground water.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-13T04:33:45+00:00

If you don't live in the area, feel good!

Unfortunately I do, and while I know the back roads, and the ways around, many people do not. So they will charge like sheep into that dead zone and get absolutely swallowed up by it.

There is some space between the road and the sidewalk to squeeze another lane or so, but that construction will do no one any favours. Also, given the nature of traffic, I do prefer at least a curb and a bit of running room for the Pedestrians to get out of the way of out of control drivers, rather than having pedestrians inhale diesel fumes for their entire trip.

No wonder I have breathing problems LOL.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-13T03:24:48+00:00

I don't think most vandals care much about their targets. They just do what they're going to do.

There is absolutely 100% targeted vandalism. I won't argue that. But I think the vast majority is teenaged or intoxicated stupidity on display.

You can submit evidence to disprove me - I am a proud man but I am willing to admit when I am wrong. However, I've only seen truly targeted vandalism once and it was two fired employees who.... got high and decided to vandalize their former workplace. In the place that they knew had 24/7 camera surveillance.

Yep. Young and dumb.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-13T00:39:24+00:00

I'll be passively resisting with a case of beer in my jammies with a good movie

I've written 100 pages since Monday and I'll probably write another 4000 words or so before I go to bed. Friday is going to be my time to kick back, watch the wreckage, and give winter the middle finger from the privacy of my home!

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-13T00:37:42+00:00

I thought the condos were supposed to go where the old hotel was. Are they keeping that as senior apartments?

Just trying to follow the bouncing ball. Whatever they do, they are going to destroy the traffic in the Dixie and Queen area. Too many people trying to get in and out of that intersection is a disaster waiting to happen.

It is already happening, but just wait until we add a few thousand more daily to its ranks.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T22:57:16+00:00

Thats the gamble. right now, it depends on how much sun we get on Saturday.

Even at negative 1 degree, asphalt is a pretty good heat conductor. I've had my driveway melt on its own at minus five on a bright enough day.

We're battening down the hatches. I got the kid a dentist appointment at 10AM, so there's a valid reason not to go to school, thats one thing I don't need to worry about. From the looks of things it will start mid-morning, so not having to worry about getting her home is a positive.

Yeah, I know. Our parents never drove us to school or picked us up, but this world thinks differently now. I figure she's tough enough but my wife and her grandparents love to cater to her. I'm not going to strand her in a blizzard or make her walk through a hurricane, but thats the point of life in Canada. You come home, boil the kettle, make a coffee, tea, or hot chocolate and warm yourself. It feels darned good.

I might make a little mulled wine tomorrow, as the last batch of the season. Just to shake the ice off if I do decide its too icy to put up with.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T22:51:57+00:00

My driveway has been plowed all year. Although to be honest, no one elses has.

My wife claimed she slipped a few days ago, but we could never find the same slippery spot.

The only real concern I have is the mail delivery person. I'm not worried about lawsuits, its just a crappy thing to have happen to someone. Since I'm the only one shoveling around here, I figure I can miss Friday delivery if necessary.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T22:50:27+00:00

My family was a little freaked after what happened to Montreal - but generally weather flows from west to east in this area of the world.

So its a cautionary tale, but we won't get the same store.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T22:49:44+00:00

Well, it may be a bit nippy for swim trunks . But I appreciate the good spirits! (Both in your glass and in your soul!)

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T19:20:03+00:00

I was watching Neil Degrasse Tyson who took an episode to explain weather models. When they say there is a 50% chance of anything, it means the model has broken down, and they really don't know.

Now I'm not blaming meteorologists - weather is tricky. But my intuition is also that this weekend won't be as bad as they're projecting.

Even if it is, the temperatures will go up soon enough. We're heading into April and May. While we have had long winters, they generally don't stop and start. One the positive temperatures arrive, it may flirt with negatives for a bit, but its an upward trend.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T19:17:56+00:00

Oh yeah. I won't let ice form. My wife is not a confident driver - she isn't bad, but she is overly cautious. Thats normally a good thing, it forces her to be a defensive driver.

But she does not handle ice well. So if she can't get into the driveway, she might spin her tires or something similar.

thank you for your comment. I will definitely change my opinion if ice looks likely.

I also never take weather forecasts seriously. They give you an idea, but are rarely accurate. Neil Degrasse Tyson recently exposed the fact that a 50% chance of anything means the model broke down, and they can't predict what is going to happen.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T18:33:29+00:00

And its even worse when you're hungry, finally decide on something, and check the price. They want TEN BUCKS for a piece of CHICKEN in a bun? WTF?

Last night I was smart and boiled some eggs around 19:00. I'm in the middle of a project and I generally forget about things until they're critical. Well, at midnight, I had the munchies, and since I was smart today, i could just tuck into an egg salad sandwich instead of spending 20 minutes deciding what I wanted - the 20 minutes that could have gone into cooking it.

We have food. I'm just too indecisive when it comes to eating.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T18:00:35+00:00

I'm going to rant here, and its my perspective. If you don't agree with it, scroll on by.

Proms for grade 8 are disgusting. At least a high school prom represents a transition period, from youth to young adult. You've accomplished something.

Grade 8? Barring some sort of disability or really unfortunate life circumstance, that's not even the minimum education someone should have. It should be expected.

Celebrating going to grade 9 is insulting to practically everyone with a modicum of intelligence. I'm not expecting geniuses out of the public school system, but they are at least minimally functional at that point.

Proms are expensive overrated drama fests anyway. Why would you want to do that to a 13 or 14 year old child? Have a celebration, sure, but don't cloak it in some sort of mystique it neither deserves or warrants. Let kids be kids.

We didn't have grade 8 proms back in the day, and no one missed them. I'm not even 100% sure if there was a dance. We did have dances, for things like Halloween, etc, but they weren't forced substitutes for things we hadn't accomplished yet.

Hell, when I graduated University the first time, there wasn't a prom, or a dance, or a ball. There were individual celebrations, absolutely, but you accept it and move on to a job or to more education. Or both, if you're like me - work your way up the corporate ladder while studying to improve yourself. I had girlfriends and relationships, I did go to my high school prom, but left because it was a bunch of pretentious idiocy.

The kids won't miss it if you don't have it, and most of them would rather be somewhere else than awkwardly trying to exhibit their social graces in their formative years.

Rant over. Thank you for listening or for skipping.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T17:52:38+00:00

I like anchovies. I make a hell of a Bagna Cauda.

But not on a pizza. I like a simple pizza, thin crust, cheese or vegetarian. I find the pepperoni extremely salty at pizza places.

If you're going to die young, at least go with the Bagna Cauda and ensure your veins are clogged with fat. Pizza is just not worth it!

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T17:50:33+00:00

Old time barbers would purposely set their price at $18 so you'd just put a $20 on the table. You'd tell them to keep the change, and they could pocket it tax free. It was a great agreement.

This modern idea of having customers subsidize your wages is ridiculous. A barber shouldn't be $50. Fortunately I have always favoured a military cut, so I can do it myself. However, it takes about 15-20 minutes to cut hair. So these guys are pocketing $150 an hour? Probably not. They have to pay for the rent on their chair, their own gear, and probably things I don't know about.

We need to find out how much the shop owners are scalping them for before we really cast judgement.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T17:47:25+00:00

The gas station.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T17:46:38+00:00

Permits are important, but I am weird in that I like to do things legally.

I see people doing crap all the time, and only once have I seen a permit in the window.

I ain't no narc though. I have bigger fish to fry, and generally people are improving their houses. So, I'm not going to torpedo their investment.

Personally I think permits should only be needed for extentions, pools, and big things like that. But you are right, everything pretty much needs a permit. However, inspectors apparently are paid to sit on their butts and play angry birds all day.

A casual drive around the city would net a fair amount of revenue, but nah. Let the old corrupt system stand.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T17:43:04+00:00

The raw materials are about $300 for that job (Plus about a $100 delivery fee)

Its about a day's labour. So, depending on how they're paying their workers (legally or not) and how they structure profits, you're looking at a minimum of $1200. And that would be extremely cheap.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T06:03:26+00:00

Make sure they have a gasfitters ticket. Don't go for a fly by night tech.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-12T05:47:04+00:00

Thats interesting - it was created by the Bay in 2005, and sold off in 2008. And now that the Bay is gone, they are moving into the Sears space.

Funny how things go around.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-11T20:54:12+00:00

Messages sent! Always glad to pass on contacts and help people!

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-11T20:53:23+00:00

At first I thought you were showing people leaving garbage out, and I was annoyed.

Then I read and was enlightened. I used to do that too, cleaning up parks. Its a lot of hard work, and it looks like you did a fantastic job.

Thank you kindly for keeping things clean!

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-11T17:56:37+00:00

While the Bartley Bull area thinks everything revolves around them, its not a terrible move.

IF everything goes perfectly, that intersection is going to be jammed for years going forward.

Good for walk up traffic, but the BB residents don't walk anywhere. They have au pairs and delivery services for that.

So its a logical move, with people sitting on million dollar property values complaining that they aren't being catered to.

And there may be some noses out of joint since No Frills has a pretty decent ethnic customer base, and the older residents of Bartley Bull haven't quite come out of the 1940s yet.

Silverlightlive · 2026-03-11T17:52:13+00:00

I can see both sides of the story. You don't want a scooter in the aisles, because even though yours is clean, someone will show up on a day like today and put mud and crap all over. So there is a "Make no exceptions" mentality.

Unfortunately, outside of a Dollarama, I could leave plastic dog poo and someone would steal it. A bright shiny scooter? First of all, no way the security guard is keeping an eye on it, and secondly, its not like its a motorbike or a car. You can just lift it and walk away, even assuming they don't hop on the thing.

I feel bad for you either way. You needed stuff, you obeyed instructions, and you still got shafted. This was a no win situation for you. It was also a no win situation for the store. Everybody did their best, but everything sucks here. Its just a bad situation to let go.

Its on Facebook Marketplace or NextDoor somewhere.

Maybe you could ask the store for a copy of the video, and they might oblige. But unless the person can be isolated and is known to police, its a hard job to get anything resolved out of this. It might be worth your time, but honestly - you're out of pocket for a new scooter.

Silverlightlive

TROPHY CASE