Our Winter so far....Jan 2019

[Coley]

Originally Posted by jeffahart

When I went to Canada on my honeymoon we drove right in. I had no passport nor did my newly minted wife. We entered somewhere east cascades, not sure where! We had no hotel reservations either. We just decided to make a loop trip and decided if we like a place we could spend a few days if not we could leave. I thought I would spend a couple days in Jasper, it was a one niter.

I guess I still had an American military attitude. Traveled all over Europe with no passport, just my military ID and USAREUR drivers license. I also have been to Mexico, I can't tell how many times, and a passport never even crossed my mind. I haven't been to Mexico for a few years though.

j

Yeah, it used to be that all you needed to cross the border was picture I.D...usually a driver's license, I remember doing that.
Many years ago .....50yrs?....you probably didn't even need that.

Today, they want a passport...coming and going. If you don't have that then you need a 'Nexus' card....which is sort of like a high clearance, vetted driver's license that you apply for.

Overall, I've never had a bad experience at the border....the guys have always been polite and clear and I have worked to respond accordingly.
As usual....you get what you give I suppose.

That said...the border crossing between Victoria and the U.S is a harbor to harbor ferry service from Vancouver Island (B.C) to Port Angeles, Washington state. Its a great 1-1/2 hr ferry ride...always enjoy it either direction.
Takes about 5-10 minutes worth of customs weight then ba-da-bing your on your way.

We are fortunate in that we (The U.S & Canada) have set the worldwide gold standard in country to country relations as neighbors. We share the worlds longest undefended border and have for...what 150 years or more with very few problems or issues.
Its a point of pride and I always think this everytime I cross over to the states to travel and I always work to treat Americans respectfully whenever they are on this side of the line.
I take this as some of the reasons our grandfathers fought side by side in Europe and abroad in the last century...was to protect this very fact and way of life that we clearly share for the better part.

Here's to ya' neighbor!

All good
Coley

[WorkinLonghorn]

I hope all of your igloos, or whatever you Canadians live in don't all melt up there in the Northern hinterlands.

[Coley]

Originally Posted by WorkinLonghorn

I hope all of your igloos, or whatever you Canadians live in don't all melt up there in the Northern hinterlands.

.....atta boy.

['63GENIII]

Originally Posted by Coley

The border is an interesting thing....in both directions, into Canada or into the U.S
The DUI thing is no surprise...similar to if you had a pot conviction from the 70's or 80's...you couldn't enter the U.S. because it would show up.
Both the U.S and Canada Customs play by the same song book on this kind of stuff....and when they run that passport, they can tell what you had for dinner last week

I cross the border several times a year...no problem, but its pretty simple...if you have a police record its a no go....and I assume that a police record is only attached to something being a felony vs. infraction or a misdemeanor...at least that's my guess, I'm certainly no lawyer.

Same thing even for flying 'thru' the U.S onto somewhere.
They will stop you at the airport even if you are on your way to Mexico or wherever......so the point is I guess, to keep your nose and record clean.
Your passport tracks you for them so if you check in Stuttgart or London or Paris on your way to....Hawaii or South America and you are going to do a plane change in Chicago or Seattle or Atlanta, wherever.....that passport is ensuring they know who you are, what flight you are on......and as I said, what you had for dinner last week, lol....and if you've been up to something, they are happy to offer their special limo service at the Airport exit gate, lol

Given the new liberal pot laws that are all over the place this is pretty controversial around the border....lol, in both directions. The warning signs for being clean and staying clean at the border are pretty clear and available. What you do on either side, is apparently not a problem tho'.

As for Victoria, the big advantage for visiting Victoria these days is the value of the U.S vs. Canadian Dollar.....you are picking up over 30% advantage on everything...your hotel, food, shopping, etc. The U.S buck continues to be the financial standard....lol.
So its like a 24/7 'Black Friday' sale, lol

all good
Coley

Yes indeed Coley. The border is an interesting thing going both ways. I work at an airport and around CBP frequently. The saying goes "until you are on the other side of the door outside of CBP, you are not in the US yet". That goes for guys like myself who repair the facility with background checks and badges. Once inside, its a different set of rules for everyone and completely at their officers discretion. We frequently have to remind our crews to "use their inside manners" when working inside.

Ive seen a couple of times where couples had been separated. One woman was let through and her boyfriend packed back on a plane and sent home via a 14hr flight, leaving her with nothing except a dead phone in a foreign (to her) country. I felt pretty bad for her. Stuck in the AP for 2 days.

Like you said, keep your nose clean and also when in Rome it may be best to behave like a Roman

When I do get the hankering again to head up North, I will definitely call ahead!

[special-K]

As far as how winter is going, since the 8" of snow Saturday PM-Sunday it has been no warmer than maybe 40 deg. Ground had frozen prior and it was a dry fluffy snow that has remained fluffy, which is how I like it. You can sweep it with a broom. Probably 3-4" now, but we just got another inch last night. Temps are on the milder side till Sunday afternoon. In fact, we will be getting a good batch of rain Saturday PM through Sunday sometime, with extreme cold blowing in an it's tail. 9 degrees Sunday night/high of 18 Monday. Going to be some hardass icy ground till temps let up! (which is the winter I hate). We get it all here in the Mid-Atlantic, all the leftovers

EDIT: Just got in from clearing the driveway. More like 2 1/2" of powder, but now above freezing and it's foggy

[blazer2007]

I,m not posting on the weather here no more .I posted on Dec 26 about no snow then it snowed , I posted a couple days ago and it snow yesterday ,I guess that,s what happens when you brag.

[special-K]

You just posted about getting snow, so you should be snow-free now.

[Coley]

...for me, I posted mostly out of surprise than pride.
Its not common in January for people to be on sitting on patios in the sun here....but great that it happened.
It ain't over till its over.....and we still have another 100,000 gallons of rain to deal with before winter is over here that's for sure, lol

What is a drag is when you get 1 or 2 weeks of rain, wind and dampness in a row...that is depressing weather for sure when there is no break in the gloom.....so everyone around here is keeping their fingers crossed, hoping for an early May.

Coley

[special-K]

Here is weather we get in winter. A real mixed bag. I don't think I have ever heard him talk so fast. So much to say for a couple days of weather.

https://www.wbaltv.com/article/wintr...yland/25956454

[Coley]

lol....well remember, never speak too soon!!

Despite our early great January here...we got hit with some winter yesterday, which included snow followed by some intrusive cold and high winds all last night.
We don't have too much snow....not even a full ground covers worth...but it is always a bit of a surprise and game changer here for folks and its supposedly here for a few days for sure.

There was (....wait for it, lol) talk yesterday of seeing if the schools were going to close.....because it was snowing...and they expected 'maybe' up to 1 or 2 inches worth.
Anyone remember that kind of optimism when you were growing up?...lol
.....call in the army!

The cold tho'....down around zero, combined with the winds is bringing it down to below zero for sure.

Oh well....spring has to wait another month, lol.

All good
Coley

[blazer2007]

not spring yet for you ,I heard your supposed to get dumped on

[KShortell]

Lots of rain here. Shoot the grass has even grown in the winter. And odd year for sure. Winter was good in Jackson Hole, WY a couple of weeks ago, though! It's OK by me. Being in Public Works, I have to go to work when it snows here and I don't get overtime.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by Coley

...
We are fortunate in that we (The U.S & Canada) have set the worldwide gold standard in country to country relations as neighbors. We share the worlds longest undefended border and have for...what 150 years or more with very few problems or issues.
Its a point of pride and I always think this everytime I cross over to the states to travel and I always work to treat Americans respectfully whenever they are on this side of the line.
I take this as some of the reasons our grandfathers fought side by side in Europe and abroad in the last century...was to protect this very fact and way of life that we clearly share for the better part.

Here's to ya' neighbor!

All good
Coley

Your very right. During WWII my father went up to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army and served in the Ontario Essex Scotts, he was in the battle of Dieppe and became a Prisoner of War, many of his friends died that day. Most Americans never even heard of it. American government had a hands off policy in those days but many Americans wanted to get in the fight because they saw danger to humanity. During the Iran hostage crisis it was the Canadian ambassador in Iran who snuck out Americans at his own peril, I got to meet him by the way. My hat is always off to Canadians.

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by Coley

Yeah, it used to be that all you needed to cross the border was picture I.D...usually a driver's license, I remember doing that.
Many years ago .....50yrs?....you probably didn't even need that.
Coley

i remember when you did'nt even need that, and it was not so long ago- around the 1980's.
being a canuck, you must have remembered what it was like before we had beer stores and liquor stores not being open on sat/sundays.
we had 2 options to deal with it, stock up on fri and hope you had some left for sat/sun....
....or make a run to the states. As the Sumas Wa border crossing was closest to me, it was known as "Sumas Sunday" to everybody out here. A different take on "make a run for the border". the US customs guys would quite often ask "making a beer run?", and wave you threw-no questions asked, no id, dr lic- nothing. every bar in Sumas would be full of canadian plated cars, and the customs guys knew it.
and when you came back, you ALWAYS declared 2 cases of beer. wether you had 1 or 5 cases, you always said 2, if you said one, they'd call your bluff and search- no ones drives to the states for 1 case of beer, but 2, totally beliveable, go in and pay your $3.80 duty on 2 cases and off you went

sadly 9/11 pretty much changed everything at our crossing it seemed.
US customs can be pretty harsh now though. Buddy of mine was going to the states early 2000's. gave the customs officer his dr lic, they ran it and found out he had a mis-demeanor pot charge as a teenager. they seized his car, actually it was his mom's car and escorted him back to Canada. They kept his mom's car for 1 month, then she had to pay around $800 to get it back......this one incident is what deters me from crossing the border, as I have a dui from the '80's as well.
which sucks, cause i order quite a bit from the states and have it shipped to Sumas (ever seen int. shipping to Canada?) But i'm also lucky as my wife is a fed. gov employee, same union, same boss as the customs guys. she gives them her fed id card and they just wave her threw, even when she tells them she has stuff, or it's hanging out the back of the truck-have a nice day they tell her!!

ya, and you just had to brag up the mild weather...
got around 8-10" of snow last couple days with them ridiculously cold arctic outflow winds...brrr
wife was working in Victoria last week, said it was pretty nice, cool, but nice. no outflows howling around, tiny bit of snow when she left last friday
with the wind chill we were hitting -15 to -25 a few nights ago. looks like the rest of feb is on a gradual warming trend around here, hope so, winter can just take-off, i'm done....

[dieseldawg142]

Originally Posted by The Rocknrod

Your very right. During WWII my father went up to Canada and enlisted in the Canadian Army and served in the Ontario Essex Scotts, he was in the battle of Dieppe and became a Prisoner of War, many of his friends died that day. Most Americans never even heard of it. American government had a hands off policy in those days but many Americans wanted to get in the fight because they saw danger to humanity. During the Iran hostage crisis it was the Canadian ambassador in Iran who snuck out Americans at his own peril, I got to meet him by the way. My hat is always off to Canadians.

we do remember Dieppe and are thankful for the Americans and other Commonwealth soldiers who fought and died with us.
Their sacrifice was a basic blueprint for Overlord's sucess

[geezer#99]

Originally Posted by blazer2007

not spring yet for you ,I heard your supposed to get dumped on

We did!
Up island.

15 inches of white stuff.
We might get a bit more though!
The rain will come and wash it all away!

[CG]

Last week or so it’s been crazy for us PNW folks. We had a small amount and then a day with 8 inches, then a couple inches, then 8 more. Keeping my driveway clear was a chore. Then we got another 7 inches. I’m supposed to work 6-2:30 but I’ve been putting in 10-12 hour days. People at work we’re calling in, we can’t make it! Somehow I managed to navigate the roads in the little fwd Honda I’ve been borrowing from my kids. Here’s a couple pics from my phone ( I may have to flip from my laptop) We got 7 more inches after these two photos were taken. Probably not a lot of snow to a bunch of you guys, but out here there are very few flat areas and our snow is pretty wet, not powdery.

[GOPAPA]

All This has been a fun read ,, ,,Coley your friendlyness rubs off ..

[kingsolver72]

Geez Mark, that’s a lot of snow removal. Bet you’re tired going to work. I hope things get better there I the PNW.
I agree GOPPA, Coley has that friendly down to earth common sence vibe.

[CG]

Its crazy how shoveling snow day after day wears an old dude out lol. I am so far from being in shape anymore its kinda sad haha.

[Livrat]

Boy can I relate to CG's post about the PNW having an weird winter, It snowed for the better part of a week, the first two rounds... errr.. storms netted us just under 3 feet of powdery snow, Then the next round dropped another foot of heavy wet snow, just after that a day it warmed up to 45 degrees turning it all into sloppy soup.. then it froze solid last night. woo hoo!! LOL
Gotta laugh!!

The wife and I spent the better part of two days shoveling 4 feet of snow off both houses. fortunately the shop has a steep metal roof so we didn't worry about the roof on it.. BUT the snow sliding off completely removed one gutter and the falling snow landed against both large shop doors and bent the bottom panels in quite a bit...
All in all I am very tired of shoveling heavy wet snow.. But very thankful a snow blower..
Looks like we get a break until next weekend... To be continued.....

[CG]

Mark that is not a shovel!!! haha!

I think this happened last year. I was gonna bomb up to your house and the dang snow started coming down. Maybe it was the year before? I don't remember anymore, eventually Isabella and I made it up even with snow on the ground.

Ill see you when the snow melts!

[Livrat]

LOL.. this is the shovel... I know its a "coal" shovel.. but we broke the authentic plastic snow shovel..

The snowblower only did 1/4 mile of driveway and several walking paths.

The "Shovel" and a rake (powered my this old man and my wife) did both roofs, 3 decks and near door ways etc... either way I'm pooped...

Now I still have to hand dig out in front of the shop doors to assess the damage done.

I don't mind the powdery snow its fairly easy to shovel and drive in.. BUT driving in and shoveling the heavy wet stuff is awful..

[too much stuff]

Originally Posted by CG

Mark that is not a shovel!!! haha!

I think this happened last year. I was gonna bomb up to your house and the dang snow started coming down. Maybe it was the year before? I don't remember anymore, eventually Isabella and I made it up even with snow on the ground.

Ill see you when the snow melts!

Originally Posted by Livrat

LOL.. this is the shovel... I know its a "coal" shovel.. but we broke the authentic plastic snow shovel..

The snowblower only did 1/4 mile of driveway and several walking paths.

The "Shovel" and a rake (powered my this old man and my wife) did both roofs, 3 decks and near door ways etc... either way I'm pooped...

Now I still have to hand dig out in front of the shop doors to assess the damage done.

I don't mind the powdery snow its fairly easy to shovel and drive in.. BUT driving in and shoveling the heavy wet stuff is awful..

Been thinking about you guys out there and wondering how close it was to you. Now I know. At least it isn't too cold...
We had -60+ wind chills a few times now.

[The Rocknrod]

Originally Posted by too much stuff

...We had -60+ wind chills a few times now.

Oh my God!
I think that's why they make u-hauls.