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Julie2Oregon
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 00:44
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Seeing bldginsp mention Northern California in another thread and our snow piling up from the storms in Oregon made me think to ask how everyone is doing?
I'm fine -- warm, safe, well-fed. Just worried about running out of my medications and not getting to my medical appointments. The ones scheduled for last week were canceled because of the weather. Fingers crossed that I get there next week.
How about y'all? Hope everyone and every cabin is fine!
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paulz
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 09:16
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I'm heading out to my NorCal cabin today with fingers crossed. We've had buckets of rain over the last 4 days and snow in the Sierras. Many of the drought stricken reservoirs are overflowing. Quite a change over the last few winters.
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 09:33
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Winter is winter, the news up in canada is a new carbon tax( jan. 1 )on all fuel . It works out to about 20 cents a gallon on all fuel ,including heating fuel . They clam the money will come back to us in fuel saving grants . After the government spends what they want we will likely get 10 cents of our doller back. gerrrr!!!
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 09:34 - Edited by: Just
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Winter gerrrrr.!!!
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 10:34 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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4 liters of fuel equals a little over a gallon, a friend paid $4.80 per gallon for fuel last week in Canada.
IDK how they can afford to just drive to and from work. Round trip it's 70 miles.
IDK how our cabin is, the snow is deep, nobody goes back there until the thaw.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 11:18
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I consider myself a pretty good driver.
Andretti, actually.
Ice
Lowest speed in highest gear.
Hands at 10 and 2.
Tight.
Arms fully extended.
Eyes half way outa their sockets.
Goal; remain on the highway, preferably the right side.
Steer into the skid.
Only thing, ice don’t care where yer steering.
Broke the tires three times in 200 yds last night.
Managed to rip the fabric off the driver’s seat with my colon.
Next trip to town; late spring.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 13:46
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Quoting: Gary O I consider myself a pretty good driver.Andretti, actually.IceLowest speed in highest gear.Hands at 10 and 2.Tight.Arms fully extended.Eyes half way outa their sockets.Goal; remain on the highway, preferably the right side.Steer into the skid.Only thing, ice don’t care where yer steering.Broke the tires three times in 200 yds last night.Managed to rip the fabric off the driver’s seat with my colon.Next trip to town; late spring.
Gary, you are a hoot. Always enjoy reading your post. 
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Julie2Oregon
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 14:12
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Gary O
Read on the newspaper's website that 2 or 3 semis collided on that highway the day you were traveling on it. Other accidents there, too. Awful.
This is a bad winter on the West Coast. Northern Midwest, too, I think.
Hope all is well at your cabin, paulz! Wow, the Sierras have been hit hard. And lots of Cali with flooding and avalanches.
Bummed about that 1,000 year old "tunnel" tree that came down.  It was on my list of things to see this summer.
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NorthRick
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 15:42
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Try freezing fog. We've had a bunch of that lately around here. Sticks to everything including the road. You'd think by now everyone would have figured out how to drive in it. Nope. Every morning on my short, 10 minute, commute to work there is at least one new vehicle plastered into a snow berm along side the road.
Pretty though. Everything is white. I mean everything. Every branch and twig on every tree. All the wire in a chain-link fence coated with frost to the point where you can't see through the fence anymore.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 17:54 - Edited by: hattie
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Just got our electricity bill (Fortis here in B.C. Canada). I almost died - $784.57. That's for ONE MONTH! 
Insurance won't allow us to have a wood or pellet stove. Gas isn't available out here. We use electric baseboards for heat. Unused rooms are kept between 50 and 60 degrees F. Used part of the house is 69 degrees. At night everything drops to 60 degrees except our bedroom which is 67. We keep the bedroom door closed to keep in the heat. We've insulated, changed over all the light bulbs, I hang our laundry to dry indoors. Not much else we can do now.
Our electric company has a two-tiered system. Price of electricity is lower until you reach a certain amount and then the prices are higher. It is impossible for anyone using electric to heat to keep in the first tier.
We've been in a cold spell for some weeks now. I sure hope it ends soon.
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RobWnzl
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 19:23
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Wow. And here I sit on the east coast wishing we would get snow. I'd take a measly 4" - and glory in a foot of it!
We have no idea what it's like to battle winter storms. None.
I truly hope everyone is warm and safe.
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 21:05
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Quoting: hattie Just got our electricity bill (Fortis here in B.C. Canada). I almost died - $784.57. That's for ONE MONTH!
Hattie, that is crazy, I just paid $170 for my gas/electric both combined (comes from one company) and that is as high as it gets.
You need an electric heat pump with the propane back up for the cold winters. Will require a smallish on site storage tank. (dont lease or rent these, you are forced to buy their overpriced propane, own it, you can shop around)
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rockies
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 21:42
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Hattie. I was reading a forum about insurance and saw some info on fire insurance in BC.
http://www.menoutdoors.com/forums/archive/index.php/t-18452.html
See the response from "Buddy Boy" in the replies.
This is the company in BC.
http://www.mutualfirebc.com/
If you still can't install a wood stove then perhaps you can use a vented propane heater like this:
http://www.propaneproducts.com/direct-vent/empire-dv210-direct-vent-heater-259.html
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Ontario lakeside
Member
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# Posted: 12 Jan 2017 23:22
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We had a good amount of snow and then it rained HARD and its almost gone! Strange weather.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 00:14 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Hattie, that electric bill is what my SIL had to pay in the dead of winter. She had baseboard heat too.
She had a wood burning stove but could not use it because she was ill and did not have the strength to deal with the extra work.
After her husband died she had to sell the house because it was too big and she could not afford to pay that high electric bill.
The senior retirement apartment rent was lower than her winter electric bill!
I find most people overheat their homes. I am always overdressed whenever I visit someone and have to remove some layers. I also feel like I can't breathe very well when it's that warm with central heating.
I tell people to dress warm if they are visiting me.
My heat is set at 55F and I'm comfortable because I keep busy during the day and get under my down comforter at night and drink hot beverages.
My highest utility bill for gas and electric is $175 in the winter living in a 65 year old house with the original windows, no insulation in the walls and new spray foam in the attic.
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bldginsp
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 01:16
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Precip average for Northern California thus far in January is 16 inches in 12 days. We are currently at 220% of average for this time of year.
Mammoth ski resort reports a 20 foot thick base snow at the top of the mountain at 11,000 ft.
Kirkwood ski resort got 7 feet in the last 7 days.
It's going to be sunny tomorrow with no rain for the first time this month.
The drought may be over, maybe not, but even if so they have drilled so many new wells that the ground water reserves are severely depleted and they say it will take dozens or hundreds of years to replace, if at all. Some areas are sinking from ground water depletion.
All these people move to the desert and then complain when there is no water.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 09:09 - Edited by: Gary O
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Quoting: hattie Insurance won't allow us to have a wood or pellet stove. Gas isn't available out here.
I'd be considering dropping insurance or upgrade. $800/mo seems incentive enough.
‘They’ would have to pry my wood stove from my frozen (or charred) dead hands.
That’s extortion.
No other word for it.
Well……there’s other words….one comes after ‘bull’
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drb777
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 11:39
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I realize the following can't be really true/accurate, but I can't help but have the observation;
With carbon taxes, insurance restrictions that seem oppressive and utility rates that tend to rule your daily household comfort and financial health, is this how BC and Western Canada protect their pristine beauty and control an influx of too many people?
Please tell me this isn't true.
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 11:40
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That's the price you pay in rural canada if you do not have natural gas. 3.00 a gallon for propane and 18 cents a Kilowatt for hydro.
For me last month 504.00$ for propane and 236 $ for hydro..
A lot of it is tax,but you know we have free health care .
I could burn wood as our insurance already charges us.for our wood burning fireplace,,, however unlike gary I lost my axe..
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 14:47
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Thanks for all the information. I'm going to do some research on it and ask Bob to look into it too.
Silverwaterlady - I'd lower the heat more, but Bob has trouble with it. I snuck our bedroom down to 65 the other night and he almost froze. He said he didn't sleep because it was too cold. I hadn't told him I had lowered it a couple of degrees but obviously he did. 
Our problem - we also run a motel (attached to our cabin). It is only 3 units, but it is still a business. Our business insurance is really high because we don't have a local fire department. The nearest is only 8 km away but is volunteer and the insurance companies consider you "unprotected" when it is a volunteer dept. out here.
Quoting: Just A lot of it is tax,but you know we have free health care .
Hahaha....please don't get me on that...I waited 3 years to see a back specialist. I am supposed to follow up in Feb. and was told he's really backlogged. Heaven knows when/if I see him again. *LOL* Bob just needed to buy a CPAP machine for sleep apnea and it cost about $2,100! Health care won't pay for that!
Enough ranting. Bottom line is I love the winter...I truly do....We'll weather this cold stuff and high bills and come through okay.
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Julie2Oregon
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 15:00 - Edited by: Julie2Oregon
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hattie
That is utterly insane.
Out of curiosity -- does anyone from the insurance company inspect your home (especially unannounced) on any sort of regular basis? If not, I'd be installing a wood stove or pellet stove.
If they do inspect, I'd find a way to be able to remove the pipe and cover the hole when needed temporarily.
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 15:27 - Edited by: silverwaterlady
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Hattie-do you have a down comforter?
I purchased the last one at Costco for $85 queen size. I know it would cost more in CA but if you could turn the heat down before bedtime you could save some money.
As far as sneaking in wood heat. This would invaluadate a policy and all they would need to do is a drive by. How would one hide wood smoke and piles of wood.
Every heating season homes burn down on Manitoulin due to the use of wood heating and the lack of chimney maintenance.
Visitors to our cabin always seem surprised that we don't have a wood burning fireplace and are surprised when I tell them that we could not be insured with one.
We also rely on a volunteer fire department. My BIL was the first fire chief followed by his son, my nephew. DH first cousin was serving in this posisition until his 80th birthday last year when he retired.
Ps-Hattie my DH wears a hat to bed. He thinks it's too cold this helps a lot. I guess this is why in the old days before central heating people wore sleeping caps to bed.
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hattie
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 16:23
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Quoting: silverwaterlady do you have a down comforter?
Thanks for this suggestion. I actually don't have down but do have some other thick comforters. I think I may pull one out after this post and see if that works for him. He sleeps in his skivvies. I keep telling him to put on something warm but he is stubborn. He can't wear a hat to bed (you actually can still buy sleeping caps but I can't remember where I saw them) because of his CPAP mask. We have found keeping the bedroom door closed helps a lot to keep the heat in since the rest of the house gets so cold. Back in the old days when they had curtains around their beds I bet was to keep the heat in. Smart!!
Julie2Oregon - I would never try to sneak using a wood stove. Having insurance for our business is too important. If we ever got sued we could lose everything.
There have been two big house fires in the bigger town next to us and the information hasn't been very forthcoming about the causes. It has been hinted in the newspaper articles that the causes are being investigated and the insurance companies aren't being very quick to dole out the money owed. I'm wondering if they had woodstoves that the insurance didn't cover for.
Off to look for some warm comforters.
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Julie2Oregon
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 16:27
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silverwaterlady, My point was, do they visit? I was wondering if large insurers actually send people out to rural areas to even drive by places to check. Whatever. Sounds like a racket, not about safety at all.
No one should be forced to freeze like that. I'm with your husband, Hattie. Prolonged cold from my faulty heating started affecting my heart and sent me to the ER. This is serious. I'm so sorry!
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Just
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 17:29
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They always come if there is a fire .
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DaveBell
Moderator
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 18:10
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Better than a down comforter is a zero degree sleeping bag. Bought the rectangular style since I have an air mattress for the RV. Unzip it and use it like a comforter. I found one on the internet for $59, but that was luck. I cannot use it unless the temps get down in the 30's. Two inches of micro fiber fill. Will wash better than down. If you do buy down, make sure it has sewn squares so the down stays put. Here is a -35 degree bag:
http://www.sportsmanswarehouse.com/sportsmans/Rustic-Ridge-Elk-Hunter-35-degree-Sleep ing-Bag/productDetail/Rectangular-Sleeping-Bags/prod9999008370/cat100842
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silverwaterlady
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 18:52
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oh Julie. I thought you said you couldn't get the temperature above freezing in your cabin?
Maybe that's why you got sick.
Please don't recommend people do illegal things on here like insurance fraud. That is what you did.
What it about is that the fire department is voluntary. Volunteers wear a radio that is by their side 24/7. They live their normal lives but must drop everything and travel to the site of the fire.
Whomever is nearest the firehouse gets the truck that has been pre filled with water from the lake.
By the time everyone gets to the site the home is usually a lost cause and they are just fighting to contain the fire and help survivors.
When there is a fire everyone from the community is there helping the survivors.
One of our lifelong friends lost his home through fire and the community built him a new house through donations to the local bank. Insurance companies would be crazy to insure people that live far from the firehouse or in the bush.
I don't call this a racket. But I do agree in other instances it can be.
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Gary O
Member
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# Posted: 13 Jan 2017 22:25
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Quoting: silverwaterlady By the time everyone gets to the site the home is usually a lost cause and they are just fighting to contain the fire and help survivors.
Yup, sounds like our volunteer fire dept
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Julie2Oregon
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 01:14
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No, when I was having trouble maintaining a fire, it was def above freezing. Just cold.
Here's the thing. ANY heating system or appliance can cause a fire. Or an explosion. Pilot light goes out, you don't know it, and something ignites the gas? Boom. Electric furnace or heater malfunctions, a fire can start. Space heaters of every sort cause umpteen fires.
My point is that wood stoves are now certified and can be installed by certified installers with inspected chimneys. So, that means that like other heating appliances, whether a fire results depends a lot on human error.
We live out in the boonies, too. I've got a VFD about 5 miles from me and a professional one 25 miles away. Yes, a primary heat source that has a thermostat is required by insurers but wood and pellet stoves aren't prohibited. I doubt anyone would stand for that.
Cold is dangerous. Read up on hypothermia -- it happens at temperatures well above freezing, especially if one has any heart, circulatory, or autoimmune conditions. I'm writing this out of concern.
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cabingal3
Member
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# Posted: 14 Jan 2017 12:22
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I sure would get something to keep us warm- be it kereosene heaters...
Something...
I wear long johns in the day under my clothes and sometimes I wear a hat too and 2-3 pairs of socks at one time.
Part of us being off grid is those electric bills but of course we do use gasoline and the generators.
Thats a tuff one,
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