Any thoughts on this server?

[Mercutio]

There are some very temperate regions of BC, where cold winters is not really a factor. In reality, Toronto and rest of Southwestern Ontario shouldn't have much to complain about in terms of the cold - its of a low enough latitude.

In the US, when we hear about cold weather, the termperature is reported at either International Fall, Minnesota or Buffalo, New York. Toronto is 50-something miles north of Buffalo.

Now, this could still be part of the whole "It snowed on the East Coast and we're all a bunch of pansies" phenomenon mentioned in the "Blizzard" thread in the B&G, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that Canada as a rule is going to have worse winters than Buffalo....

I hate snow. Which is really a damn shame, because I don't want to live in one of those states that lost our Civil War.

 

[e_dawg]

Don't forget less crime, not as obnoxious, higher taxes, more social assistance, interest in hockey and college ball, donut shops per km^2...

What ball? Soccer?

Basketball and football. We generally don't care about college sports. Most of the sports channels will only show the scores of college sport games in passing; only for the playoff championship do they show highlights. You Americans, however, have your March Madness pools for basketball and massive tailgate parties and 100,000 person crowds at football games.

Only hockey is guaranteed coverage on the sports channels. In fact, given a choice between watching reruns of the 1972 Summit Series, the '81 Canada Cup, and live coverage on Gulf War II, I think footage of Geraldo narrowly escaping getting bombed to death (and a subsequent apology from Donald Rumsfeld saying "we swear we didn't know you were in the area!") would come a distant third in the Nielsen ratings.

What's Sask like?

Weather-wise? A little better, generally. However, lifestyle-wise... let's just say that whenever anybody says they're from Saskatchewan, there's always a modicum of disappointment and a slight loss of respect :mrgrn:

 

[e_dawg]

Now, this could still be part of the whole "It snowed on the East Coast and we're all a bunch of pansies" phenomenon mentioned in the "Blizzard" thread in the B&G, but if I had to guess, I'd guess that Canada as a rule is going to have worse winters than Buffalo....

Actually, Buffalo probably gets twice as much snow as most major cities in Canada. In Toronto, we always hear about the recent *dumping* of snow Buffalo gets after we receive a little bit of snow. It's in the Snow Belt of that area for sure. Probably due to the lake effect snow from Lake Erie and Michigan.

 

[CityK]

but if I had to guess, I'd guess that Canada as a rule is going to have worse winters than Buffalo....

Your generalization would be more aptly worded if you subsituted Buffalo with the US. However, local climate conditions are heavily influenced by geographical features - and Buffalo's relative position, unfortunate for its citizens, places it right in the path of "lake effect" snow. Bodies of water also have a nice buffering affect on temperatures - and as one travels from Toronto down towards the tip of southern Ontario (ie. towards Windsor-Detroit region) the warmer the average temperature gets - not because of the paltry 75 miles or so difference in southery lattitude, but because of the buffering providing by the lakes in this microclimate. Which also partily explains why its a rather fertile agricultural region and can also support a lucarative winary industry.

What's Sask like?

Mostly flat (i.e. wheat fields for ever) - the joke that characterises this is that "when your dog runs away in Saskatchewan, you can still see him running 3 days later".

That's a lake... (man made actually.. i have a topo map of the underwater parts)...i live about 1 mile from there...

Yes - now that you mention "man-made" I remember being told that. But you'll have to excuse my memory, I wouldn't have been able to recall its size or much else - I just remember it being a beautiful Saturday morning in the fall, and that walking the dogs was nice cause there were like a hundred others out at the time. Nice area though.

CK

 

[blakerwry]

That dog park really has picked up. I remember being able to go there and only seeing 1 or 2 other people. Now it seems as though there are always people there.

When I was younger I'd walk to the park and go fishing with my buddy, it is a nice area.

 

[CityK]

I hate snow.

Me too....and, likewise, I also have hesitations about living elsewheres.

CK

 

[CityK]

That dog park really has picked up. I remember being able to go there and only seeing 1 or 2 other people. Now it seems as though there are always people there.

When I was younger I'd walk to the park and go fishing with my buddy, it is a nice area.

I can imagine...its always nice to have access to recreational facilities such as that.....the dogs love it too, and it beats the crap out of pounding the pavement with your dog - the task that many less fortunate city dwellers face...I'm certainly glad I have access to parkland and not locked in a concrete jungle.

Is the park called Shawnee Village, or is that apply to the community as a whole?

If I recall correctly, there was a bulletin board at the parking enterence, and it appeared (and was told) that there was a very active and cohesive dog walking community - had its own newsletter.

When I was in KC, I also went to the original 3 dog Bakery.

CK

 

[mubs]

If I may ask, whereabouts in SoCal are you, Buck?

 

[CougTek]

So, humm....Douglas, are you going to buy it or not?

 

[Buck]

If I may ask, whereabouts in SoCal are you, Buck?

Only a few miles south of you Mubs - San Juan Capistrano. See the URL in my profile.

 

[JKKJ]

So, humm....Douglas, are you going to buy it or not?

buy what?

Oops, you slipped in there before I could post. That was directed at JKKJ...

Peg = Winnipeg. A godawful place if there ever was one....

Our company has a branch there. I can't figure out how the settlement got started, or at least how it lasted after the first winter.

Explorer Bob arrives in late spring, confluence of two rivers, nice weather, a few bugs but not too bad. "Let's stay here for a bit" he says to his buddies. Summer comes, and the bugs get worse. "Hmmm, these things seem pretty bad. Wonder if it's always like this? Well, the trading's good, let's stay and see what happens." Autumn arrives, the bugs dwindle a bit, and the place is pretty nice for a while. Then it gets cold. Then it gets colder. Then it gets really F%#&ng cold. "You sure we want to hang out here? Let's see how it goes for a bit. We have a good supply of beer and the trading's still OK."

More winter. Even more winter. One last little bit of winter. The cold kills off short-term memory area of brain. Spring arrives: "Hey, it's pretty nice here, let's stay and set up shop."

 

[CityK]

CougTek wrote:
So, humm....Douglas, are you going to buy it or not?


buy what?

:lol: Handruin, my apologies that myself, a few other Canadians and our KC friend have hijacked your thread.

Explorer Bob arrives in late spring, confluence of two rivers, nice weather, a few bugs but not too bad. "Let's stay here for a bit" he says to his buddies. Summer comes, and the bugs get worse. "Hmmm, these things seem pretty bad. Wonder if it's always like this? Well, the trading's good, let's stay and see what happens." Autumn arrives, the bugs dwindle a bit, and the place is pretty nice for a while. Then it gets cold. Then it gets colder. Then it gets really F%#&ng cold. "You sure we want to hang out here? Let's see how it goes for a bit. We have a good supply of beer and the trading's still OK."

More winter. Even more winter. One last little bit of winter. The cold kills off short-term memory area of brain. Spring arrives: "Hey, it's pretty nice here, let's stay and set up shop."

Probably not to far off the mark....Settlement related to Hudson's Bay Co.?... although the French might have made it there first.

CK

 

[Handruin]

No problems on the hijack. It's good sometimes to diverge and learn new things.

I decided not to buy this machine. I purchased taxcut today to figure out my taxes and I'm quite happy with the return. (Way more than I anticipated) I think it's time to put together a new workstation I've been holding off for almost a year.

 

[blakerwry]

That dog park really has picked up. I remember being able to go there and only seeing 1 or 2 other people. Now it seems as though there are always people there.

When I was younger I'd walk to the park and go fishing with my buddy, it is a nice area.

I can imagine...its always nice to have access to recreational facilities such as that.....the dogs love it too, and it beats the crap out of pounding the pavement with your dog - the task that many less fortunate city dwellers face...I'm certainly glad I have access to parkland and not locked in a concrete jungle.

Is the park called Shawnee Village, or is that apply to the community as a whole?

If I recall correctly, there was a bulletin board at the parking enterence, and it appeared (and was told) that there was a very active and cohesive dog walking community - had its own newsletter.

When I was in KC, I also went to the original 3 dog Bakery.

CK

glad you don't mind the hijack...

The park is called Shawnee Misison Park. The area is called Shawnee Mission, and is kind of a grouping of several cities that have grown together(Shawnee, Overland Park, and Lenexa) Within Shawnee mission there are several similar parks, Antioch and Shanee Mission park are the two biggest and well known.

 

[mubs]

I'll continue to inflict pain on the hijackees...

Very Cool, Buck - your website, I mean. Especially the part about the name of the business :mrgrn:

SJC is a swell place, isn't it? I used to know some folks who lived and had a business there; they could give you quite a lot of business. Unfortunately, I can't seem to access their URL now (forgotten it, had to search on Google). The Net has been really flaky today--working sometimes and dead a short while later. I'll get back to you on this.

So your business is on Organ-Donor highway! I lived in Laguna Niguel from 11/1994 thru 08/2001 - just a sneeze away.

 

[e_dawg]

Explorer Bob arrives in late spring, confluence of two rivers, nice weather, a few bugs but not too bad. "Let's stay here for a bit" he says to his buddies. Summer comes, and the bugs get worse. "Hmmm, these things seem pretty bad. Wonder if it's always like this? Well, the trading's good, let's stay and see what happens." Autumn arrives, the bugs dwindle a bit, and the place is pretty nice for a while. Then it gets cold. Then it gets colder. Then it gets really F%#&ng cold. "You sure we want to hang out here? Let's see how it goes for a bit. We have a good supply of beer and the trading's still OK."

More winter. Even more winter. One last little bit of winter. The cold kills off short-term memory area of brain. Spring arrives: "Hey, it's pretty nice here, let's stay and set up shop."

Don't forget that when it's so cold and you can't go outside, well what else can you do? Snuggle up and procreate! This, probably more than anything, led to the successful settling of the Peg. After all, some people gotta survive. It's just a numbers game after that... This has been a Canadian Heritage Moment. :mrgrn:

 

[e_dawg]

D'oh! You know it's getting late when...

"This has been a Canadian Heritage Moment" was supposed to refer to your story about how Winnipeg was settled, not my comments.

 

[Buck]

I'll continue to inflict pain on the hijackees...

Very Cool, Buck - your website, I mean. Especially the part about the name of the business :mrgrn:

SJC is a swell place, isn't it? I used to know some folks who lived and had a business there; they could give you quite a lot of business. Unfortunately, I can't seem to access their URL now (forgotten it, had to search on Google). The Net has been really flaky today--working sometimes and dead a short while later. I'll get back to you on this.

So your business is on Organ-Donor highway! I lived in Laguna Niguel from 11/1994 thru 08/2001 - just a sneeze away.

Yes, SJC is a nice place to live, and thank you for the compliments about my website.

Ortega Hwy. has seen plenty of automobile accidents and more then its fair share of weird happenings.

 

[Cliptin]

What's Sask like?

Weather-wise? A little better, generally. However, lifestyle-wise... let's just say that whenever anybody says they're from Saskatchewan, there's always a modicum of disappointment and a slight loss of respect.

Mostly flat (i.e. wheat fields for ever) - the joke that characterises this is that "when your dog runs away in Saskatchewan, you can still see him running 3 days later".CK

Ah, farm kids. I see.

 

[bahngeist]

Canada would be a really cool place except for all that "Cold".

Maybe it's nice in Vancouver or something.

Nah, too much rain in the winter. Maybe if you move East into interior BC, but then you get back to that cold problem in the winter.

A much nicer place during the winter (and in general) is Victoria or anywhere else on the southern east coast of Vancouver Island. Less rain and a much smaller population--quite picturesque too.

As far as how Sask. is like--take the description of Winnipeg, remove any mention of civilization (excluding Saskatoon--Regina doesn't count much) and take away most of the trees. Hell, due to rural depopluation you will find it difficult to find farm kids to boot.

 

[Dïscfärm]

...And in the summer, the mosquitos are so bad they have to fog the city every evening or else you'll be eaten alive.

The reqion from the northern 2/3 of Minnesota up through the whole of Manitoba is abuzz with large mosquitoes in the summertime -- it's the provincial bird. Of course, mosquitoes can be equally as bad -- or worse -- up through the Northwest Territories, Yukon, and over into Alaska starting in late Spring.

 

[Cliptin]

Not to meantion the black flies in Maine.

 

[Dozer]

Black flies = demons

While hiking through Maine in June, I experienced these beasts in their prime season. They would leave little streams of blood running from where they landed.

At one place, Namakanta (sp?) Lake, we dove into our tents to avoid the hordes. I think at least 100 of them snuck in, and we spent an hour swatting at them. When we were through, it looked like a massacre had occured in our tent (I suppose it had). Nasty little buggers (pardon the pun). But I've got to say, despite the black flies, that Maine is one of the most beautiful states in the union.

I loved Vancouver when we visited last fall, and I hope to go back and either backpack or paddle there soon (maybe this year).

 

[blakerwry]

One summer, while backpacking at the national divide in Colorado, my father sat down in a grove of 3 or 4 coniferous trees.

I had forgottem my hat about 1/2 mile back, so he waited while i retrieved it. When i came back he was wearing his mesh "bug suit" and was literally covered with thousands of mosquitoes from head to toe... you could not even see the color of his shirt.

I've never seen the mosquitoes that bad since then... even DEET bug repellant was no good unless you kept moving ans stayed out of the shade/cover.

 

[e_dawg]

Ugh, bugs I can do without. Ain't no bugs here in Toronto this time of year, at least not tonight:

Forecast :
Issued 3.30 PM est Tuesday 25 February 2003
Tonight : Cloudy periods this evening then clear. Low minus 26.

That's -15 F without windchill. Great. I have to go out tonight, too. *sob*