# Canadia !



## woodtickgreg (Oct 6, 2017)

@Kenbo Heading to Canadia on Saturday and that makes me think of you, little speck of a town on the map, called Blenhem, near Chatham. My girlfriend is from Canada and we are going there to celebrate the Canadian thanksgiving with her family. It's only a couple of hours away from where I am so we are just going to make a day trip of it. It will be fun to meet some of her family and see how the Canadians do thanksgiving. Nutritional and diet rules get thrown out the window on Saturday!

Reactions: Like 5 | Agree 1 | Way Cool 2


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## Mike1950 (Oct 6, 2017)

Have fun

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## rocky1 (Oct 6, 2017)

If they want to drink beer, be careful... Be very careful!!

Reactions: Agree 2 | Funny 1


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 6, 2017)

I don't think I have ever met a Canadian that didn't drink beer, lol.

Reactions: Funny 1


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## rocky1 (Oct 6, 2017)

And, lots of it!!

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Bigdrowdy1 (Oct 6, 2017)

Yea man their beer is like 11% plus up that way ye know.

Reactions: Agree 1


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## Lou Currier (Oct 6, 2017)

The first step is meeting the parents

Reactions: Funny 3


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## Spinartist (Oct 6, 2017)

Eh !

Reactions: Funny 1


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## Kenbo (Oct 6, 2017)

woodtickgreg said:


> @Kenbo Heading to Canadia on Saturday and that makes me think of you, little speck of a town on the map, called Blenhem, near Chatham. My girlfriend is from Canada and we are going there to celebrate the Canadian thanksgiving with her family. It's only a couple of hours away from where I am so we are just going to make a day trip of it. It will be fun to meet some of her family and see how the Canadians do thanksgiving. Nutritional and diet rules get thrown out the window on Saturday!




I think you meant to say Blenheim but that's okay because I knew what you meant. My wife is originally for Chatham so there are some good things that come out of that town. Blenheim is actually about 3 1/2 hours to the west of me. As far as meeting a Canadian who doesn't drink beer.....I guess it is true that you have never met me. LOL. I don't drink at all. Enjoy the Canadian thanksgiving and the hospitality. If they treat you badly Greg it's only another 3+ hours east to get to my place for dinner.
Have a safe trip.

Reactions: Like 3 | Funny 1


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 6, 2017)

Kenbo said:


> I think you meant to say Blenheim but that's okay because I knew what you meant. My wife is originally for Chatham so there are some good things that come out of that town. Blenheim is actually about 3 1/2 hours to the west of me. As far as meeting a Canadian who doesn't drink beer.....I guess it is true that you have never met me. LOL. I don't drink at all. Enjoy the Canadian thanksgiving and the hospitality. If they treat you badly Greg it's only another 3+ hours east to get to my place for dinner.
> Have a safe trip.


I don't drink either Ken, gave it up about 25 years ago, but I do remember how good the Canadian beer was. I've never been to Toronto but if I ever get up that way I'll definitely be looking you up, after all your my second favorite Canadian. lol.

Reactions: Like 4


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## ripjack13 (Oct 6, 2017)

Have a safe trip....

Reactions: Thank You! 1


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 8, 2017)

I had a great time in Canada. Funny thing was they where drinking Bud light, really? with all the great canadien beer they have, go figure. Some observations, the roads are great but the speed limits are ridiculously slow! Canadien people are very laid back and easy going, at least in the area we where. I totally dig that there are energy producing windmills everywhere! The U.S. is so behind on this.
My girlfriends brother does solar energy for a living, I'm not talking little panels you put on your roof. We are talking huge panels that produce major power that is sold to the electric company.

Let's try and put this in perspective, that's a full size dodge truck.



That's my girl Betty standing underneath one of the arrays.



They have sensors that track the sun and constantly adjust the panels for maximum sunlight. The have wind sensors so that if the winds increase the will slowly lay down to compensate for that. What I saw here is called a solar garden, each panel will power at least 2 homes fully. There are 30 panels in this garden, he has 4 gardens that produce a lot of power. I was very impressed to say the least, just to cool! Imo.

Reactions: Like 1 | Way Cool 1


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## rocky1 (Oct 8, 2017)

Parts of the US are behind on that... ND they have become an eyesore, huge wind generation farms many many places. Typically they try to locate close to the major transmission lines so they don't have to build a lot of power line to get to the power grid. South Dakota has it's share in places as well. Minnesota I've seen a few.

Most god awful mess I've seen was on the road from Bakersfield to Las Vegas, edge of the Mojave Desert, smaller turbines but there are literally thousands of them dotting the hillsides of one valley on that route.





















Oh yes... California has ridiculously slow speed limits too! If you're in a truck!!









For the sake of anyone that has never questioned the sanity of Californians... 20 miles prior down the road, they decorated the cell phone tower and made it look like a tree, so it wasn't an eyesore! Go figure!!


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## Lou Currier (Oct 8, 2017)

They are an oddity

Reactions: Agree 1


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## DKMD (Oct 8, 2017)

We’re covered up with windfarms around here also. Seems like our police department spends a lot of time escorting the enormous trucks carrying components through town... usually about the time I’m trying to get to or from work!


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## rocky1 (Oct 8, 2017)

I'd be more impressed if the US owned them all. Many of those that went up in parts of ND near where I was, were owned by an energy investment company from Spain. They come over here, sign up for billions in Federal Subsidies, to build wind generators, (_that are NOT financially viable or the government wouldn't have to subsidize them to begin with_), and compete against US energy companies. 

Those companies are being taxed on all carbon based generation, to provide a portion of the funds to build the non-American non-feasible alternate energy farms. While the EPA creates more and more regulations designed to make it financially, or in many cases, physically impossible for them to meet emissions standards, forcing them out of the energy market. 

And, the consumer takes it in the shorts at every turn! Thank God Trump shut some of that down.


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## Tony (Oct 8, 2017)

Down here they are all up in West Texas and the Panhandle. We don't have any windmills that I know of in South Texas. Tony


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## rocky1 (Oct 8, 2017)

They do wind studies, seek the high ridges where there's a lot of wind.


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 9, 2017)

I wouldn't call what I saw in Canada an eyesore, they where pretty spread out. And they are the type that are built on the round towers not the ladder type. I see a lot of trucks hauling the blades and columns here in Michigan but I don't know where they are going. I'm all for any kind of energy that causes competition with the main electrical utilities, they have a monopoly on the power and can charge us what ever they want. Just try and get the meter and wires off of your house and see what happens. They have put people in jail for that, that's bs if you ask me! when it comes time, you will either get your crap off of my house or I will take it off myself, jail or not!


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## rocky1 (Oct 10, 2017)

That's easy to fix! Just don't pay your bill, they'll take the meter out in fairly short order! 

Phone company down here tried to tell the mother-in-law that she couldn't take the land line out. Told her to call them back and tell them she wasn't going to pay the damn bill anymore, it was their call. They shut it off that afternoon! 

The one's in ND are on the big round towers too Greg. There were a lot of places in ND you used to be able to look out over the horizon on a clear afternoon, on a clear night, and it still looked a whole lot like it did a hundred or more years ago. Those areas untouched were generally so because it was marginal or untillable land, they were primarily used for grazing only. Consisted of native prairie grasses, buck brush, native wild flowers. Many of those areas are now covered with windfarms. You can see them for miles during the day, and they're all topped with blinking red lights, so you can see them for miles at night too. 

The marginal lands that are tilled where windfarms are built, are best suited to small grains. ND's Prairie Pothole Region is heavily trafficked by migratory waterfowl; migratory waterfowl like small grain fields. Wind farms take a heavy toll on duck and geese passing through, and especially on those feeding in the fields in their immediate vicinity. Most of California's Wind Farms are required to purchase Eagle Take Permits to avoid being in violation of Federal Law for the birds they kill. It's not one or two either, they kill many eagles, many condors, many other birds of prey. 

Are they more environmentally friendly??? As long as they're being manufactured overseas, they're maybe better for our environment. Except that they have a relatively short lifespan compared to a fossil fuel generation plant. Many of the early wind generators are reaching the end of their blade life, will have to be refitted with new blades. Old blades will have to be cut up and recycled. Turbines are not far down the road. They are not geared to regulate speed, rate of rotation determines output, out put must be regulated, they do so by braking. One of the main reasons they now want to tie them into the main grid is, they create a LOT of headaches on local transmission lines


Some folks look at them and see progress; others look at them and ask at what cost.


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## gman2431 (Oct 10, 2017)

woodtickgreg said:


> I wouldn't call what I saw in Canada an eyesore, they where pretty spread out. And they are the type that are built on the round towers not the ladder type. I see a lot of trucks hauling the blades and columns here in Michigan but I don't know where they are going. I'm all for any kind of energy that causes competition with the main electrical utilities, they have a monopoly on the power and can charge us what ever they want. Just try and get the meter and wires off of your house and see what happens. They have put people in jail for that, that's bs if you ask me! when it comes time, you will either get your crap off of my house or I will take it off myself, jail or not!



They loaded quite a few pieces on ships over here in Muskegon last summer. Was quite the deal with all the roads being shut down and big escorts. 

There also is a bunch of them just NE of Pentwater. I'll try and grab a pic of them next time I'm there they are usually spinning pretty good since they are lined up with a low spot in the dunes off lake Michigan.


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## woodtickgreg (Oct 10, 2017)

I guess there are trade offs in everything Rocky. But it's evolution as I see it. Are they perfect? No not yet. But it's how you learn. Us humans consume energy and everything else at an alarming rate. Alternatives must be explored. Different styles of wind generators will be implemented to correct what has been learned. Verticle windmills are being experimented with as we speak. I myself like the idea of giving the utility company's the finger. Look what is happening with led lighting, electric vehicles, etc. For me an electric vehicle to go back and forth to work makes sense, the cost is coming down too. I would love to have a vehicle that charges off the sun and would rarely need to be plugged in. And virtually no maintenance too. Batteries are not perfect yet but they too are getting better, and cheaper. I'm not trying to say all of these options are perfect, but we are learning and they are constantly evolving. I just think alternative electric energy is fascinating and cool. Clean, quiet, powerful and fast vehicles? I want some. Look at zero motorcycles, the cost of one of those is coming down as well, I would be quite happy riding one of those back and forth to work. Supplementing power with solor is just awesome, and cost are coming down. Perfect? Nope, but getting there. I'd use it.

Reactions: Agree 3


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