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Syndicate
The number of skills we have lost that we might need again always disturbs me.
Sure, but necessity is the mother of invention - we'll figure them out again.. There's tons of people around who are mechanically ingenious.
It's -31, -43 with the wind chill this morning. It was -35 when I went to bed last night. Yesterday was cold, cold, cold. I only ventured to the door to let Kali and Lu out, and they didn't linger outside. This is one of the longer cold snaps in recent memory, temperatures about 10 degrees lower than normal for over 2 weeks.
I don't know about Ontario, but we don't get nearly the snow we used to out here. My mother has a photo of me on a 6 foot snow drift next to our house when I was very small (late 1960s), and you never see anything like that now, haven't in my adult life. The blond guy remembers snowmobiling with his cousins out at the farm where the snow would go over the tops of the barbed wire fences, which never happens out there anymore.
It's not that cold here, but we got tons of snow yesterday. I was shovelling Mom's driveway for an hour. I actually enjoyed it, though, since I don't have to shovel much, being a renter and all.
I don't think we get as much snow here as we used to either, Timebandit, but last year felt a lot more like an "old time winter" because we got dumped with the stuff. And the last couple of big snowfalls here in southern Ontario have felt like "old times" too.
I lived in Midland for a while when I was a kid. You want to talk about snow? Holy jebus, it snowed so much that there were times we couldn't find our houses behind the snowbanks.
Well, I thought the snow was going to end overnight, but it hasn't. The wind has dropped quite a bit, but now we are getting a rather dramatic streamer off the lake which is pushing all the way into Elgin county, which doesn't happen too often. There's also another streamer coming off Georgian Bay, with a finger of it tickling all the way to Toronto.
I am declaring an "all hands on deck" for snow removal later today. The three of us should make short work of it. I have to get it cleaned up tonight because the weather is supposed to warm up-- in fact it's supposed to rain on Wednesday and Friday.
I don't want to end up shoveling slush.
Here's a link to the Canadian Ice Service, showing ice cover on Lake Huron and Erie.
http://ice-glaces.ec.gc.ca/prods/NAIS25ECT/20081218180000_NAIS25ECT_0004122573.gif
"I don't know about Ontario, but we don't get nearly the snow we used to out here. My mother has a photo of me on a 6 foot snow drift next to our house when I was very small (late 1960s), and you never see anything like that now, haven't in my adult life. The blond guy remembers snowmobiling with his cousins out at the farm where the snow would go over the tops of the barbed wire fences, which never happens out there anymore. "
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Turns out, snowmobiles and their combustion-engined ilk helped bring about climate change. Ah well, they've extended the season for motorboats.
But this is going to be a year for record precipitation in Ontario. If we had mountains (very, very high mountains) their glaciers would be growing. The snowmobile effect in the east?
George, the number of snowmobiles in Saskatchewan are not great enough to be considered much more than negligible. Cars and factories ever so much moreso.
Actually, in winter, snowmobiles were a fairly efficient way to get to town and back when the plows weren't able to keep up with demand. Probably fewer emissions than taking the pickup.
Yep, it's more their "combustion-engined ilk" that have done a number on us, TB.
But, you get the drift?
Time to start digging out...again! We can't even see our driveway this am. Though since the roads are all closed we taking it slow. Can't go anywhere anyways. Still in the robe and drinking coffee.
Glad about the Dad Francesca. That's one of the things I don't like about winter. sitting nervously at home in bad weather waiting for someone to come home.
BA, I loved the Little House books growing up but that part was uber stressful. :)
It's funny that you would mention bringing the possible necessity of bringing those old skills back. As can probably be gathered by other posts I do have an interest in crafts. Always have, but over the past few years that's morphed from making decorative things to exploring more artisanal crafting. I have a small but growing collection of old books and papers on many types of skills but of course real life people are always better. With most things now I think a lot about, so if I need this how would it be made if I couldn't pop out to Canadian Tire or Walmart.
I have to agree somewhat with webgear about Mennonites and Amish in terms of people that may provide a lot of 'how do you do that advice'. There's are other groups of people that I've discovered whose weekend hobbies are keeping many of those skills alive. The reenactors. Everything from groups like the SCA (medieval) to Civil War reenactment groups. Beyond the battling part crafting is a huge part of those types of groups. Not only is there a huge wealth of information that has been researched and complied and available on the net but there are people that actually practice. So maybe that mutal fund manager who turns into a blacksmith from 1800 on the weekend might find those skills more important in the future.
One area where I can't see there being much of a problem in terms of skill revival is in what I'll loosely call the domestic arts. Textile work, sewing, weaving, leather working, spinning, pottery etc etc are alive a thriving. Woodworking is another area.
What's lacking though are more primary producers. People that have the skills to make the tools or materials necessary for many of those other crafts to happen. I think if it does come to a point where a skill revival is needed those that can work with metal will be the kings and queens. I can also see the fix-it-guy or gal making a huge comback as well.
Anyways this is off topic but for me at least thinking about all of this is how I actually spend my snowdays looking into. Yesterday I spent a few hours trying to answer the question, "So what if I had to make my own shoes?" The next few hours were spent trying to make a dress using basic construction methods and without a store bought pattern. Pants are next on the agenda. Since it looks like we won't be going far today, I'm going to plan Christmas dinner using only foodstuffs that could be made and bought in our surrounding area.
Yeah I'm a bit weird, I know but after yesterday I now know in theory at least how to make a pair of basic leather shoes and how to make waterproof leather bottles.
My biggest concern is not so much the loss of skills, as I think humanity has an ingenuity that will rise to the occassion, but our interdependance.
I have a natural gas furnace and a space heater for heat. If I lose Hydro, I'm screwed.
Right now I don't know anyone with a wood burning stove, so where would we go if we had an extended power failure?
That's a great point Francesca. I'm actually in the same situation right now. Though we do have a woodburning stove in the plans we can't afford it right now and are dependent on electricity for heat. Since power outages are common and also tend to happen during storms it actually makes me quite nervous. It's not out of the ordinary to get stuck without power. What we do have as an interm solution or backup are a couple of small propane camping heaters that can be used indoors, but with a caveat, you have to watch out for carbon dioxide so we have a CO2 detector and make sure a window is cracked. Last year during a storm we did have to use them. It was very unsettling to feel like if the problem lasted for several days we'd be in trouble.
I am tempted, and I should probably do it, to go back to high school and start taking courses on electical stuff from the ground up.
It's one of the big gaping holes in my self education. I mean, I do basic electrical stuff, like replacing a switch, but I've never been comfortable with it, and I can't diagnose electrical problems in a car or in other things to save my life. If it's not an obviously loose wire, forget it.
BECAUSE it seems to me that on days like we've had, a simple bodged together windmill wired to an electrical base board heater would suplement the heat loss due to the wind. Sure, it's not going to power your whole house, but it should emeliorate the heat loss in this kind of weather.
"It's funny that you would mention bringing the possible necessity of bringing those old skills back."
Untill a decade or so ago, I thought of those "old skills" as valuable only in terms of understanding who we were, and not so much as having some practicle utility.
However, just finding out that broad leaf plantain is a powerfull and effective and very free treatment for insect bites made me re-examine that outlook.
Doing research just on plants and trees and how they were utilized has been an eyeopener over the last few years.
And understanding why things like mortise and tennon joints were made tight has improved my around the house renovations and such.
Um... when I get around to them.....
It's not so much the how, I think, as the why things were done the way they were back then.
It's a really noisy storm, you can hear the wind from almost everywhere
in the house except my basement office.
I've got quite a headache now, must be from not just the noise but the changes in barometric pressure and probably some carbon monoxide from the wood furnace. I'm going to air out the house soon.
Check with your friendly home insurance agent before installing wood burner. Might not fly (without helluva insurance cost). I'm keeping a little one in the basement, along with a few feet of insulated flue pipe. Poke it out the basment window in emergency and then take it down without insurance type knowing. Don't leave it unattended though.
A pretty good wind turbine would keep a 1500 watt heater going...as long as the wind kept going. About $15,000 might get you one, but likely a bit more, including battery system.
I agree about your views on re-enactors, many of them have knowledge of dying trade skills. I have picked up some knowledge from a War of 1812 group out of Ontario.
The primary producers will be the problem, unless you can produce your own material like wool or leather, I believe those arts are lost. I know of no small scale company that can produce linen or other basic fabrics.
I am currently working with leather, I am hoping to start woth wool late next year.
Ah, the wind has dropped and the snow has stopped. I took three of the four daughters out with me, and we did a bang up job clearing it all away in less than an hour that only seemed like two.
Rain next.
"About $15,000 might get you one, but likely a bit more, including battery system."
I think Crappy Tire is selling whole units now for about $7,500. Which they won't have in stock, of course, but they will have plenty of the $9,500 models.
But, I'd like to think a person could tinker with this and that and improvise something from off the shelf parts...and not burn down the house.
"I am currently working with leather..."
Webgear, do you know where I can find clothing rivets? I've played around with leather, but the rivets made for sheet metal leave a nasty burr. I've checked out craft stores, and sewing shops, but none seem to have them.
Tommy, I recommend trying looking at horse tack stores, another possibility is re-enactment stores that deal with medieval supplies.
I will do some searching for you.
Actually, I've looked over the tack supplies they have at TSC, and saw nothing, but I wasn't exactly looking for that at the time.
I guess what I'm looking for is a rivet like Levis uses on jeans. I could, actually, take a sheet metal rivet and grind down the burr with a dremel, but that wouldn't look terribly professional.
Thanks, for looking.
Tommy
http://www.leathersmithdesigns.com/swivels-snaps-rivets-rings.htm
http://www.indigoleather.com/
Here are a few websites in my database.
"I think Crappy Tire is selling whole units now for about $7,500. Which they won't have in stock, of course, but they will have plenty of the $9,500 models. "
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Are you sure of the 1500 watts and all bells and whistles installed?
Power and storage for electronics is one thing...heating, another.
Tommy,
Here's another one I found the other day. They have a few stores in Canada as well. They look kinda cool because they have a wholesale club option as well. If you're doing a lot of things that might be worthwhile.
Tandy Leather - Rivets
I could be wrong, haven't crunched the numbers but I think that the best setup in terms of efficency for using alternative power for heating would likely be geothermal with the turbine/battery powering the fan. I would think that one could get away with a less powerful turbine system al la Crappy Tire, by going that route. In then end though it would likely cost about the same when you factor in the cost of the geothermal as well.
One big bonus with that sort of system though is you also get cooling in the summer.
Maybe I'll do some number crunching after Christmas.
Thanks for the leather links, ElizaQ and Webgear. There's one place in London I haven't looked, and that's Len's Mill store. However, their web site doesn't indicate they have this kind of stuff.
The rivets at Tandy seem to be the exact thing I am looking for, but I have yet to cross the on line shopping threshold. Seems to me I already have the anvil and set for that type of riveting... what the heck did I get that for...? eyelets? Must be.
Also, (edit here, I forget things) those "D" rings" and snap swivels and much more are stock items at your local Home Hardware, and they are marked with their safe working loads, if that's important to what you are doing with them.
Shifting over to the windmill, I saw plans for a model on line which looked like it fell within my skill and knowledge level to put together-- a fun project for Snarfy the Wonder Girl and I.
I noticed though that the "nacel" they recomended was just a small electric motor intended for toys. I surmise that you mount it backwards so that it generates electicity. I can't help but wonder that while that's an easy off the shelf product that would work for a model, electric motors are not designed to generate electricity, and something like the dynamo from a flashlight or radio would work more efficiently. But then, I guess due to gear ratio's, they are harder to crank-- so if I modified that part of the design, I'd have to beef up the blades...and the stand.......
and for those of us in density housing, not an option for windmills.
My townhouse is over 100 years old and in an older part of town and there's just no space for such things
And not only that, though it may be different for you due to your location, the wind doesn't blow as well in the city as it does in the country. I'm sure my niece and nephew could put together something economically viable at their place, but the best I could ever hope for would be to do some rudementary supplement stuff. And even that may be a dubious hope.
There are urban townhouses in Germany that are not just self sufficient, but actually produce more power than what they use. But those are new units, not retrofitted, and the capital outlay is probably shoved onto the mortgage which, assuming you get better terms on a mortgage than on a consumer loan, creates some economic efficiencies, and also tends to hide the start up cost.
Huge snow in BC's Fraser Valley for an area that does not get much! I am from Toronto area and have lived in BC for about 1 year studying at UCFV. Nice area but people dont understand the show and how to drive in it.
I can understand how snow can be tricky for the first few minutes for someone who hasn't experienced it before, or the first snowfall of the year for more experienced drivers, but how hard is it, really, to understand that one's stopping distance is increased, and you have to drive accordingly? Or that with less grip, one has to turn a little slower?
Seems to me to be simple everyday physics, but who am I to cause friction?
"Seems to me to be simple everyday physics, but who am I to cause friction?"
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A nicely turned phrase, TP.
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"One big bonus with that sort of system though is you also get cooling in the summer."
You need big bucks for geothermal, and a constant supply of power (wind does not compute) ElizaQ. You'd better be sitting down when you cost it all.