To the seasons of life
The true north strong and free…Photo KDG:
The Coopers grocery store is charging 4 cents for grocery bags, the good news is that the price of the reusable ones is down to 99 cents. IF they sell lots that way does that make it the same on the good old environment…
No more copper pennies made in Canada so enjoy the Maple leaf photo as you think on your better ecological footprint.
On this Day: June 2nd 1855
The Barnum circus begins to tour the United States.
An old box Kodak camera, File Photo KDG
The local museum is having a presentation on a couple that documented the Nicola Valley during its youth in the early 20th century.
Harry and Lily Priest are the focus of a talk by Jolene Castillou Cumming grand daughter of Judge Harry Castillou, an early politician and pioneer to the Nicola Valley.
Titled the Photographer and the Teacher it is at the Merritt Seniors center June 8th 7:00-8:pm, free admission. The Museum and seniors center is at 1675 Tutill Court behind Coopers in the downtown Railyard Mall.
Tom Edwards and Murphy Shewchuck ,museum principals are a wealth of information about the early days of the Central interior of BC….
On this Day: June 1st 1980
Cable News Network starts its broadcast. CNN
Diversity makes for a broader community.
File photo KDG
This is walk or bike to work or school week. There are many promotions in effect. The local community police office is selling decals for 10 dollars, they attach to your bike and are linked to an app. If your bike goes missing the app will send out an alert for 15 Kilometers around its last location.
The Merritt CPO is at Spirit Square off Voght.
On this Day: May 30th 1975
The European Space Agency is established…
60,000 liters gasoline delivery ….
For a barrel of oil investment three barrels can be produced in the Alberta tar sand development. This is quite different to the 1 barrel to a hundred of our youth. Conventional oil is different in its yields and process makes a difference. Tar sands are not conventional oil
Not all oil sands projects are created equal, of course. Cenovus, which uses super-hot bursts of steam to melt seams of bitumen buried too deep to mine, says it can coax oil from the sands for between $35 and $65 (U.S.) per barrel, depending on geology and other input costs. That’s “among the lowest-cost globally,” chief executive officer Brian Ferguson told New York bankers recently. source: Globe and Mail 2014
Oil is less than 50 dollars a barrel at this writing and no mater what the price the ratio of energy used and energy produced is a better scale for rationalizing development. With 240 billion tons of proven oil reserves world-wide and 5 billion a year produced giving 50 odd years of reserve. It looks like oil in
Alberta will be there for a while.
The twinning of the Kinder Morgan line is starting this September from Kamloops and we presume that the economy of following an already producing line gives a better ratio. We should be on guard for the dynamic of investment to diversification that shields real income for income that is circular . The axiom that we live under, reuse ,rethink and does energy east pay… in real terms… in present modes…
It will be good to see how the twinning to the west coast changes things in the real world as different to the academic….PP
On this Day: May 26th 1986
The European community adopts the European flag.
Nissan Leaf, gets DC quick charge in Merritt
File Photo KDG
We talked to two Nissan Leaf owners on the long weekend that used the quick charger at the downtown tourist info center on Voght street. Henny a brick layer from the lower mainland and on his way to Kelowna was driving a new Leaf and showed us the compact bakery under the front hood. He was saying that he needed a full charge to have confidence to carry on to Kelowna. The car was equipped with a solar panel on the roof as well and it only managed another lead acid battery that ran the lights and other then motor electronics.
When he returned the next day full of excitement we picked up on his confidence in the new experience.
The other driver a man in his 30s and a boy going camping at a local lake returned to recharge as well.
The comments were that the 500 volt quick charger was a green lot numbered one and it was surprising to see one that you needed to pay for.
Henning wondered if it was possible to use both the quick charger and the 90 amp 220 Volt charger at the same time as there are two charging ports supporting each one.
On this Day: May 25th 240 BC.
The first recorded passage of Hailey’s Comet.
Crows at local gas bar !!
File Photo KDG
The Nicola Valley has a range of gas prices. Regular gas is going for $1.17.9 a liter at shell within site of the petro can at $1.16.9 on the exits to the freeway off Voght street in Merritt. The Downtown Petro Canada is selling at $1.18.9 at the highway 8 and 5A /5 junction at the corner of Voght and Nicola.
Its not often that the retailers here have a price difference! The lowest price in BC is Dawson Creek at 99.9 and the highest is $138.9 in Port Alice.
Gas buddy is reporting a comparison for the last 36 hours on the site.
On this Day: May 8th 1899
The Irish literary theater opens in Dublin.
500 volt 120 amp quick charger
File photo KDG
There are a least 13 more EV chargers coming to the Kootenay region of BC through 2018. BC Hydro is installing them and they are the quick version. The 13 planned additions follow the US Border to near the Alberta border going east from Greenwood then go north along the Alberta border to Rogers pass. To side ways roads go to Sparwood and Field being the closest to exiting BC for Alberta.
The 13 are promised by the end of 2018.
Billed as Canada’s first regional and community-driven strategy to accelerate the adoption of electric vehicles, Accelerate Kootenays kicked off the big push with the opening of a DC fast charge station in Cranbrook. Gone will be the days when longer electric vehicle trips in the region were marathon “making the most of it” affairs that might involve going on a local hike while your car “trickle-charged” for hours at a local campground. Source BC Hydro
Best Western under construction in Merritt includes EV stations
File Photo: KDG
On this Day: May 3rd 1973
The Sears tower in Chicago becomes the worlds tallest at nearly 1500 feet.
Grass lands producing grass for cattle are in demand for feed lots and dairy cows They feed for winter as well. for meat producers.
File Photo KDG
Opinion:
The North American Free Trade agreement was touted as not a perfect fix but what was desirable was the fact that it included a dispute resolution mechanism or board.
There are lots of ways to solve an impasse :
Chapter 11 establishes a mechanism for the settlement of investment disputes that assures both equal treatment among investors of the Parties to the Agreement in accordance with the principle of international reciprocity and due process before an impartial tribunal. A NAFTA investor who alleges that a host government has breached its investment obligations under Chapter 11 may, at its option, have recourse to one of the following arbitral mechanisms:
- the World Bank’s International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID);
- ICSID’s Additional Facility Rules; and
- the rules of the United Nations Commission for International Trade Law (UNCITRAL Rules).
Trade infractions or disputes also have an option:
Article 1904 establishes a mechanism to provide an alternative to judicial review by domestic courts of final determinations in antidumping and countervailing duty cases, with review by independent binational panels. A Panel is established when a Request for Panel Review is filed with the NAFTA Secretariat by an industry asking for a review of an investigating authority’s decision involving imports from a NAFTA country.
It seems there is nothing cowboy about the structure and article 19s binational provision seems like it would be attractive at this time.
There are 118 decisions listed with the NAFTA secretariat some taking more time that others and more reports. things range from red raspberries to hot rolled carbon steel plate.
Is it still attractive is a milk dispute out of reach for a filing?
Friends don’t take friends to….
Corn grown in the Nicola Valley
File Photo KDG
Need to be more friendly?
On this Day: April 20th 1918
The Red Baron shoots down his 8oth and last kill before his death on the 21st.
Urban living: this marmot takes advantage of a concrete pad for shelter.
Photo KDG
Its good to be right, then you can go by your own name Ground Hog…
The April meeting of the local Naturalists is on April 20th at 7PM a graduate student of UBC will be presenting on the flora of the Arctic, in particular berries.
Sarah Desrosiers is a local graduate student pursuing her degree at the University of British Columbia. She has worked with Inuit elders, youth and land users in the Canadian Arctic for six years. She is collaborating with communities to help document, preserve and promote traditional knowledge of plants for foods, materials and medicine. Sarah will discuss her involvement with a community-supported berry-monitoring program in Kugluktuk, Nunavut. She will also talk about the importance of building capacity for youth to engage with the local environment as a way for healing and well-being. This will be a very interesting ethnobotanical talk.
The meeting is at the NVIT Lecture theater top of the hill on Belshaw avenue in Merritt, membership or donation requested. No food or beverages in the Lecture theater.
On this Day: March 30th 1905
Born Mikio Oda, Japanese track and field competitor.
A way to start plants in doors
File Photo KDG
On this Day: March 29th 1849
The British annex Punjab.
Symbols are a funny thing, sometimes used to reinforce power there gets to be a hand behind them. Sometimes random events bring symbols together and there is a feeling that they need interpretation so that our conscious minds ( if only that )can attempt action.
On Saturday last I noticed a new beaver swimming in the Nicola River here in Merritt it was headed downstream to the foot bridge area behind the Merritt Desert Inn. There it had a 4 inch in circumference root peeled back about six feet and protruding over the flow of water. There it was laying about a foot above the river on the stripped white wood, seemingly relaxed.
It looked so relaxed in its perch you would think it was a nesting bird.
The thought struck me that the fact that his plate was secure made him feel more secure and happy. An affinity began to develop and a distant memory of a time I was fishing through the Ice with a preschool youngster who was much taken by the small fish we were pulling through the ice with corn as bait. He abandoned his desire to see fish pulled through the ice when ne appeared with the yellow corn kernel outside its mouth. ” Ah he was just hungry” and that was it for our fish gathering that day.
Food security is a common need, according to councillors its one of the three that need to be filled before social abilities are fully useful. The hundred KG gold Canadian coin taken from the museum in Germany on the weekend was an interesting symbol with the queen on the front I wonder if it was a Nickel Coin with our national symbol the beaver on it, and what that symbol means to those over there?
Canadian Beaver
File Photo KDG
Peace and security to you and yours.
On this Day: March 28th 1920
Sharon McIvor is a local Nicola Valley First Nations person and is a lawyer. Sharon distinguished herself by winning supreme court decisions on the repatriation of status lost to FN women.
Sharon is a principal educator and pioneer at NVIT the first nations post secondary school in Merritt and Vancouver.
http://www.nvit.ca/messagefromthepresident.htm
On this Day: March 8th 1927
Born Irene Tinker economist, teacher women’s studies.
Hey Merit what do you say?
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
The Proprietor Review 