[TheForge] Re: MaiL

[Jerry Frost]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Spencer" <mspencer@tallships.ca>


> Yo Jim --
>
> > Did anybody get any mail from The Forge today because I didn't.
>
> Nor did I.  For my part, I'm trying to cope with the terrible shock of
> having a real winter-type snow storm in November.  One of our best
> kept secrets is that Nova Scotia usually has a cool, often frosty
> but generally pleasant autumn through to early December.  Not this
> year.
>

Wow Mike We're reeling from the lack of winter. This is the first Halloween
without snow in longer than I've been here, 30 years +. It's been in the
40-50's and the last frosty night we had was late september. Sub freezing
last night and tonight though but mid 20's is mighty tame november low. We
have a not at all well kept secret around here, november is usually COLD and
SNOWY.

I must say the idea of Frosty autumns in Nova Scotia sounds mighty inviting.
<grin>

> Five inches or so of very wet snow, broken trees, 100,000 people in NS
> without power and a freeze the following night.  And I don't have any
> heat at all in my new shop yet.  Well, except the forge, which is now
> installed with a stainless steel smokebox and 13" flue.  Draws real
> good.  Got the stainless sheet cheap at a junk yard and fabbed the
> whole thing myself except for a pipe section and weather/hanger kit to
> go through the roof.
>
No wet heavy snow but election night we had 100,000 +  people without power,
no freeze though. Cause was a bit different too, seems there was this fellow
with "political fantasies" evidently he was expecting a personal call from
the prez. For some unknown reason G.W. didn't pick up the phone and call the
guy so he decided to climb a transmission tower and see how long he could
hang from the wires. The really weird part is NOT that he blacked out more
than 100,000 homes, by blowing the main transformer at the Beluga power
station. No, the really weird part is after a while he climbed down off the
tower and walked a mile or so to the fire station and called 911. That's a
72,000 v transmission line he was hanging from, the proof is the way the
paint is burned off the top 10' of the tower. He's in the hospital with 2nd
and 3rd degree burns over 50% of his body but is NOT in critical condition.
Sheesh!

Go figure eh?

A few weeks ago, mid octoberish we had very heavy rain on the Kenai
penninsula that washed out roads, bridges, homes, break waters, etc. Did all
kinds of damage but no injuries nor lost lives, not even livestock and most
of the lost pets have returned home. Seems cats and dogs know when to run
for the hills.

Then we started having some decent temblers, jolts, shocks and shakers.
Started with a 3.5, then a couple 2-3s, then a 6.7 heafty jolt, then a
couple more ranging from 2-4.5, a couple more little jigglers in the 2-3
range, then a nice hearty 7.9. I slept through it but Deb was up and online.
She sent three E-mails letting folks know there was an earthquake going on,
then she logged onto the USGS earthquake reporting site, filled out the
questionnaire and finished with the comment, "By the way it's still going
on", then sent it off. She said it lasted close to 3.5 minutes here. No
damage though.

It was a major quake but like so many things up here it was in a sparsely
populated area so there was only one injury a broken arm and moderate
property damage. Highways are torn to hell and gone in places but no bridges
lost so some fill work will get traffic through till next construction
season.

Folks in the interior took the worst hit, especially in and around Mentasta,
Tok, Glennallen, Northway and smaller communities took damage too but all in
all we're talking about maybe 5-6,000 families in the area. The most
widespread effect of the quake is a seriously disturbed aquifer, virtually
every well in the state is muddy and I've "heard" some have been disturbed
as far south as Washington state.

> Well, with wood heat and a hand pump for water, the storm outages
> don't much bother me except for loss of power to the freezer.
> Reminds me: Gotta do a fall shakedown on the emergency generator.
>
> There ya go! :-)
>
> - Mike
>
> ---
> Michael Spencer                  Nova Scotia, Canada
>
> mspencer@tallships.ca
> http://home.tallships.ca/mspencer/
> _______________________________________________

Wood heat is good as is auxiliary power. Even with 5" of urethane insulation
a couple hours without power can get chilly.

Frosty
------------------------
If it ain't forged
it ain't real.
Wrought iron is.
The FrostWorks

Meadow Lakes, AK.