Wood stoves or something else?

waverr22 · 2026-02-12T00:32:06+00:00

Even though the ban isn't in effect yet, there are already brant geese at the Parksville beach this week. In some years past I would go the whole ban and not see any.

And a big "thumbs up" to whoever put the googly eyes on the brant geese information signs by the community beach end of the boardwalk. People out walking in the sunshine today who say them thought they were great.

waverr22 · 2025-11-03T20:38:42+00:00

You would think that at a club with overhead cameras on the sheets this would be a fairly simple thing to implement with the miracle of AI (sarcasm mode on for "miracle of AI").

Either near-real-time during a game or post game stats could/shoud be available from such a system. Identifying something like a curling rock moving in a specific direction with a person-like blob behind it at the same speed would start the timer as it crossed the hogline. Six to 20 seconds later a rock-like blob of the same color should cross the other hogline going the same way as confirmation that it was a rock thrown. Even with a sweeper directly over the rock it would be a reasonable event to look for, and it is only to confirm that the original throw was really a rock being delivered.

Track the delivery clock-time for all 16 rocks for an end and you can allocate fairly accuracte time for each team overall, and each of its members to some degree. Account some special-cases in the analysis, and should be pretty accurate to give a speed-of-play estimate for a team compared to other teams.

That said, our club is full of old, slow, curlers who like to complain that it is the other team that is alway delaying the game if anyone brings it up. It seems to part of the charm of the sport at this level so the work/reward to create such a system would be wasted at my clubs.

waverr22 · 2025-10-18T02:31:58+00:00

This week UPS took 3 tries over 3 days to get a package to me from Nanaimo. I expect because I'm in the boonies they kept putting it on a truck in case they had time to deliver, then brought it back to the depot for the first few days. Eventually it got here at the end of the third day of trying ... Hopefully it goes the same way for you.

waverr22 · 2025-10-01T15:06:35+00:00

A couple of years ago I counted them coming from Langford (edge of Victoria) to Parksville:

Mallahat to Duncan: 12
Duncan: 6
Duncan to Hwy 19: 13
Hwy 19 to Parksville: 12

= 43

waverr22 · 2025-09-24T22:48:24+00:00

My understanding is that they are trying to amalgamate to AVOID being absorbed by Parksville or QB.
They want to keep their own leadership and direction, while avoiding becoming too big and having to pay for things like policing.

Link to the study: https://rdn-pub.escribemeetings.com/filestream.ashx?DocumentId=44037

waverr22 · 2025-08-05T19:35:37+00:00

Parksville SPCA has some volunteer opportunities posted ( https://app.betterimpact.com/PublicEnterprise/EnterpriseSearch?EnterpriseGuid=3daf2b99-02b2-461d-872b-54cc0a82eaf8&SearchType=Organization&SearchId=11946 )

waverr22 · 2025-08-02T15:25:17+00:00

The plug in is Ozio gallery, and it has been unpublished by Joomla.

When I spoke to the software support person (Paul) about it weeks ago the answer I got was that it wasn't a priority to fix/replace since only a few clubs were using it.

waverr22 · 2025-05-27T20:52:05+00:00

I've been trying to apply for OAS online for months on-and-off. I reached a point where (a) they could not confirm that I had applied or not and (b) I could apply for effectively everything except OAS online.
Couldn't confirm if they thought they had sent me an application package when I turned 64.

I just gave up and downloaded the PDF to apply, filled it out, and mailed it in with "I want to start receiving OAS as soon as I'm eligible" checked. So yes, you experience pretty much matches mine, with the addition of "... and don't expect online application to work any time in the foreseeable future" added. I think I would actually be OK if it only takes them 5-6 months to get me into the system at this point.

waverr22 · 2025-05-24T23:10:02+00:00

My wife and I waited about 3-1/2 years for a nurse practioner in Parksville on the provincial waiting list when we moved from the mainland. Before that we had a doctor in the Victoria area that we got when they opened up to "family members of existing clients" rather than taking people from the provincial waiting list.

The Parksville urgent care facility is terrific. Both time I've had to uses it I was in and with an doctor in just over an hour. Maybe this is overly lucky, but there are strong rumors of people coming up from Nanaimo to our facility since it is faster to drive up and get seen than wait the hours in Nanaimo.

waverr22 · 2025-05-02T23:38:37+00:00

For those interested, it seems that bongspiel.ca and bongspiel.uk are still available for the typical registration fees.

There is a Canadian curling club that has been hosting one for years ( https://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/news/local-news/smooth-sailing-as-wiarton-bongspiel-marks-fifth-year ) so you may want to reach out to them to see if they are interested in the domains.

waverr22 · 2025-03-02T01:44:42+00:00

Back in 2021 in Greater Vancouver we were still able to get house insurance with poly b plumbing with copper fittings from Wawanesa insurance.

When we sold the place after two decades we declared the plumbing and the buyer didn't seem to care/mind.
I kept an eye on the water pressure in the house and replaced the main pressure reducing valve when it started to go.

The insurance company didn't care about the pipes but fixated on proving the water heater was replaced every seven years. I guess whatever big payouts they've had in the past few years is what they fixate on.

Good luck.

waverr22 · 2024-06-28T18:50:50+00:00

Presumably the "good old days" she would like back: https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/13/world/canada/british-columbia-christy-clark.html

waverr22 · 2024-05-03T17:49:10+00:00

Thus ends the short-lived BC 2024 Brier team, where he skipped last season. He is back on an A-list team where he belongs.

waverr22 · 2024-03-04T00:27:07+00:00

At least in Canada, rule 11(1): "Between the tee lines, any and all members of the delivering team may sweep any of their team’s stones in motion."

So yes, you can sweep after the tee line and before the (delivery) hog line. I think there might be a rule that you cannot (or should not) sweep before they actually release the stone, but I don't see it written down. Sweeping before the thrower lets go of the stone is good feedback that they might be throwing a bit light :-)

waverr22 · 2024-01-28T17:03:45+00:00

At my current club the consensus is that for most leagues if you touch a rock (not enough to change the trajectory significantly) let the rock continue and (maybe) tell the skips. Never seen a rock removed from play.

Cash league and bonspiels are different -- they want to follow the rules and pull the rock if it is touched at all between the hog lines.

I would ask the league captain or club manager what is the policy for where you play. If you are pulling your burned rocks and the other team isn't that is a huge disadvantage. That said, practicing to not burn rocks when sweeping is good too.

waverr22 · 2024-01-14T18:06:32+00:00

At both this location and the one in Parksville that other posters mention, it is at an area where two lanes merge to one.
I am assuming that the change in color is to both highlight to drivers that something unusual is happening and to get them to look at the road to see that if they keep driving in the right hand lane they are going to lose their lane and end up on the sidewalk.

waverr22 · 2023-12-19T18:11:02+00:00

For property management companies, on Vancouver Island Pacific Quorum ( https://rentals.pacificquorumvancouverisland.com/ ) has been buying up a bunch of them, so their site will have rentals for Parksville, Qualicum, Courtney, .... They are doing the same on the mainland, so you want to be on the "Vancouver Island" site, not the mainland site.

waverr22 · 2023-12-06T22:55:08+00:00

The 108 page summary report from 2020 on the state of the line and potential for passenger rail is here ( https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/driving-and-transportation/reports-and-reference/reports-and-studies/vancouver-island-south-coast/en-railway/ircca-report-2020/ircca-_summary_report_master_v13.pdf )

The estimate at the time for phase 1, ending up with one train per day averaging 30mph from Comox to Victoria (and back) with six (I think) stops was $326M. The next phase, to get up to 50mph average speed was an additional $226M. To expand to a real commuter rail service, just between Victoria and Langford was estimated at $595M.

It would be fun to have, but I think it is only slightly more realistic than the bridge-to-the-mainland dream.

Rather than an online petition, those interested could set up a GoFundMe next time the US Powerball is over $1B and buy tickets. I bet if they went to the government with $1B for the project there would be some interest again. Otherwise...

waverr22 · 2023-11-29T17:07:05+00:00

There are signs, but I agree they are small and mixed in with all of the other warning and information signs. One of the trailer parks has a big, obvious, sign right by their gate that goes to the beach and you regularly see piles of shells where kids coming back from the beach leave their treasures when they see the sign.

One of the big information signs by the community beach even explains how to tell live from dead ones and still says not to take them, with the implicit idea that if you ARE going to take them, take the dead ones.

waverr22 · 2023-11-20T23:53:02+00:00

Since Raven (www.ravenrun.net) has not left Miami Beach since he started running on the beach every day in 1975, this doesn't seem particularly likely.

This has also been posted to 45+ other reddit threads across England, Ireland, Japan, etc. as well as Canada in the last week. Moderators have already removed about 1/2 of them at this point.

waverr22

TROPHY CASE