Yes we got through our ice storm and then had another, but we also went away. My husband had an appointment on the other side of the province and it’s a long drive so we stayed a few days. It was a nice break and the hotel we stayed in was fabulous.
I experienced that once in Ishpeming Michigan. I was in a road band, and we were booked in a club halfway between Northern Michigan University and a huge Air Force Base. The folks from both would come here to party.
It was beautiful, as everything was covered with ice. Other than that, it snowed every day. I'm glad I experienced it, and the area was beautiful, but I wouldn't want to live there.
The band played mostly college towns, usually 2 weeks with options. We eventually outgrew that and started opening for headliners in concerts.
We are ready for power outs. We have flashlights, carrying l.e.d. Lights, candies etc., generator with plenty of gas. We always top up our vehicle when we know there’s going to be a storm. We bring in plenty of wood for the fire.
Our generator is hooked up to a pony panel which runs our hot water water tank, water pump, microwave, lights, heat pump, fridge, etc. Its so nice knowing we have alternate heat sources as well as the ability to shower. We only plug it in when needed.
Sounds similar to us always prepared for hurricanes.
We don't need the heat sources, and our generator can power the microwave, lights, fridge, and the water well pump, but the water heater is asking too much of it. Especially since we run for a few hours, then turn it off for a few more.
The 1hp well water pump requires the most electricity.
We are up about 150 feet from sea level and are about 1 kilometre away from the ocean. We can see it from our front windows as well as the beautiful sunsets. We are so high up that we can see eagles, ravens and other big birds flying in front of us. At night we’ve seen the Big Dipper magnified and right in front of us. It’s so cool.
We can see the Big Dipper from here, but not the little one, unless it is it position all above the North Star. We can see southern constellations not visible from "up north" though.
We have a pair of eagles that nest in the wetlands to our west, plenty of ospreys, gulls, terns, pelicans, and small songbirds. We don't get Ravens, but in the winter flocks of Fish Crows.
And it’s the first time I’ve been so aware of where the sun and moon are during the different seasons. I didn’t realize their position moves so much
Being on our sand dune, facing east, and we drink tea facing the French Doors and Picture windows, so we can follow the sunrise from north to south and back again. It's amazing how much it does move.
We don't watch TV at all, so our great room (it's small but that's what they call it) chairs face about 200' (66 meters) of our backyard that we have re-wilded with trees and mostly native vegetation. We have bird feeders and the squirrels are always entertaining.
I know we're weird, we don't use AC, and we don't watch TV.
We both grew up without AC and never got accustomed to it. We like the fresh air, and don't mind the humidity.
We gigged on cruise ships in the late 1980s for 3 years. Back then there was no TV on the ships, technology wasn't that advanced yet. When we got home we hooked the cable back up, but after a few months of paying for something we didn't use, we unhooked it. We had gotten used to doing things instead of watching actors pretend to do things.
I unhooked it, a year or so later I took down the antenna mast - I never put an antenna up on it - when I had the house painted. Where we live, without a tall and big antenna, you can't get TV at all.
Instead, I learned to play wind synth and guitar, learned how to write aftermarket products for Band-in-a-Box, make my own websites, and my wife and I enjoy making the aftermarket products for BiaB. We also have plenty of quality time together, and we read together. She reads aloud, and we comment on the book as we read. Sometimes it's a few paragraphs of reading and an hour of commenting and drifting off on tangents. Always non-fiction and often with science or nature themes.
How lucky I am, how many wives will enjoy a book about slime mold? (That was a very interesting book.)
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The wind and breezes we get up here are actually quite nice. Our house is made out of concrete so we don’t feel any of it in the least while inside. In the summer it’s extra nice since it blows all the bugs away. That part I love. In fact, I love the smell of the ocean.
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Nice picture. There are deer in Florida, but we don't get them here, but in our yard I've seen bobcats, foxes, opossums, raccoons, coyotes, and although not in my yard, some of my neighbors have seen alligators crossing their yards from the wetlands on our west to the brackish lagoon to our east.
I've seen deer in the Everglades National Park, and in Key Largo, the Key Deer, which are about the size of a full-grown German Shepherd dog.
We have air conditioning since it’s part of our heat pump and love it. It automatically takes the humidity out of the air as well so we don’t need to run a dehumidifier. We used to have to run one throughout the 3 seasons where we used to live and it wasn’t hooked up meaning I emptied it a couple of times a day. This house also has an air exchanger which filters and cleans the air and surprisingly we have little dust here even with the wood stove. That part is practically magical.
We have AC, but seldom use it. We mostly turn it on when guests come over, so they can be comfortable.
On the other hand, when it gets under 70F, the heat pump part of it goes on.
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I would have loved to have snorkelled and gone deep sea diving. Unfortunately I lost an eardrum and had one skin grafted from my scalp and it leaks. It’s a real nuisance cause I LOVE swimming. I probably could have swam professionally if this hadn’t happened but stuff happens. Now I mainly swim doing the breast stroke so I keep my head above the water.
We have to live with whatever life deals us.
I prefer swimming on my back or under the water.
Seeing those colourful fish must be so amazing. I’d love to swim with sharks and dolphins. I’ve swam with lake otters before many times. Now they are a blast. Do you take underwater photos too? What’s the most exciting deep sea dive you’ve ever done and why?
I've been down with nurse sharks and sand sharks, fortunately not any hammerheads or great whites. We have plenty of dolphins, and they have played in the bow wave of my sailboat, but I've not seen them when diving.
I can't say what the most exciting dive I've been on was, because I grew up under the water. It was more exciting when I was a kid.
But the most usual was in the Cayman Islands in the Gulf of Mexico. There is a place called Sting Ray City. While gigging on a cruise ship, some crew/staff members told us about it, so a number of us got together and hired a boat to take us there.
Sting Ray City is an inlet to a bay, the fishermen used to clean their fish on the way in and throw the scraps over board, and the stingrays came to appreciate that. So we put a scuba take on, some extra weight, so we could sit on the bottom.
The rays were attracted to us, and would rub their soft undersides across our shoulders like a pet cat rubs against its owner's legs. A small one just plopped itself on the bottom near our feet. It seems that even though we didn't have anything to feed them, they just liked our company.
The most beautiful waters I've ever dived in were in the Bahama Islands.
The sailing sounds wonderful. We pass so many when we are out on the water. They are so graceful. I’ve been on a few sailboat rides and do like it. How far have you sailed?
I haven't taken any long trips in the sailboat, mostly just around the area. It was before GPS, I didn't have loran, sonar, or any other electronics on it, and didn't trust myself navigating without sight of shore. The sloop was 23' (7.6m) and capable of going to the Bahamas and back, but I know my limitations.
I've sailed in the Bahamas and Caribbean, it's easy to rent a bare boat.
We have a fishing boat with a power motor and trolling motor, kayaks and canoes. One was left here and it’s nicer than ours. We like canoeing so we can take our dogs. They don’t fit in our kayaks. They really like going with us. One loves the trips but the other one is a bit nervous at times. We need to get them life jackets though.
I've been on friends motorboats, but I've never owned one.
A fan of ours had a trawler, and he invited us on it many times. It had fish finder, GPS and a lot more, but we didn't fish off it, just partied. I got to drive it when the captain needed a break.
The motorboat has one of those fish finders as well as a gps. It shows the depth of the water which is exceptionally useful. It also shows the underwater terrain so we can better navigate while we are out. It’s a great safety feature. I never thought I’d really enjoy motor boating but it’s quite fun.
I've been on boats with all that gear, it's amazing.
How far have you motored? What's the biggest fish you ever caught?
When my sister in law came up, we took her out to the islands so they could pick mussels to cook for later which they did. She had a blast here and it was so nice watching them have such a good time together. I snuck some photos of them picking them and they are lovely. These are things they used to do when they were younger.
I don't do much diving anymore, and I sold the sailboat. I can't say I got tired of it, but as live changes, different adventures open up for me.
^^^ That is one great picture.
Australia must have been awesome for snorkelling. That’s a country I would like to visit but I doubt we ever will. We don’t travel much. My husband did a bit of travelling while he was employed but he’s retired now. He does visit his parents often so does still fly on his own. I’ve got the dogs to look after.
That's why we don't have pets. It would be unfair to them to leave them for weeks wondering what happened.
Australia was great. We did 5 weeks in a camper and traveled up the eastern coast to Darwin, down the middle of the country through the outback, and back to the eastern coast. Besides for the dive on the Great Barrier Reef we saw rain forest, desert, and quite a bit more. Some of the animals we saw were Kangaroos, Koalas, Wallabies, Dingo, Emus, Cassowaries, Platypus, Echidna, and hundreds of bird species.
These are dangerous birds, they can slice you open with their toe in self-defense, but fortunately, we were in our camper when this one wandered by.
I do yoga, ride an ebike and do light weight training. My husband does none of it however he does walk with me every morning. It’s one change I really had to adapt to since that’s something I used to do on my own before.
I tried yoga, it isn't active enough for me (Iyengar style) and the flow types doing the same thing over and over bore me. But I can walk the same path over and over and not get bored -- go figure.
Winter sports are fun. I used to enjoy skiing but don’t do it any more. I’ve still got my cross country skis but my husband has lost all interest. He will ice skate and ice fish but that’s about it. He even has a sweat shirt that reads, “ I like fishing and about 3 people.” LOL! It suites him to a T.
I've done some skiing, but only in Florida. I have one question? How do you get the boat through the snow?
Spring is far from here. In fact, yesterday we had a big snowstorm again. I spent a bit of time shoveling snow. I know you can’t relate. Lol. My husband does our long driveway with the snowblower while I shovel the decks and stairs.
Spring is in full bloom here. Bright green is replacing the dark green on the Live Oaks, and today the Carolina Jasmine started blooming joining the ixora, downy jasmine, honeysuckle, shepherd's needle, and the orchids on our trees.
Like I said, I experienced snow when I was on the road in a band in the late 60s. I didn't do any shoveling though, but I had to learn how to drive in it. That was tricky at first.
We gigged in a beachside hotel, on a huge, covered patio extension of their restaurant yesterday afternoon. Our fanse packed the place so full, they had to call in more waitresses to handle the crowd (good for job security).
The wind off the water was 20 to 25 mph with gusts over 30 (32 to 40 to gust over 48 kph). Wind blown sand ended up everywhere. Still, it was a great day. We had fun, the crowd had fun, the hotel made money (job security) and the management was all grins.
We played at another similar venue for 12 1/2 years. COVID came, new owners bought it, and wanted a single guitarist/singer instead of us. No hard feelings, they are nice people, and it seems to be working for them.
We found this place, and our audience is just finding us in the new location. Our regulars are like extended family members to us, and it's great to see people we haven't seen for 2 years still happy and ready to party.
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Well, I must go . Chat later. Have an awesome day.