Tag Archive: Business


60 jobs gone

The people at Ardew were informed at 5 o’clock this morning  Saturday 13/13 that they were all laid off. The mill was being taken over by Aspen Planners after being acquired by them. The Ardew Mill is old tech without J bar sorter.:*

* Opinion: There will be a net job loss in that sector as Aspen Planners have two mills here before acquiring Ardew. One saw mill one planner mill .

The consolidation sees AP in control of  the Weyerhaeuser operation and the Ardew operation  , leaving one other   lumber producer here; Tolko Industries a private company that also had its start as a family business.

Other small mills include NMV and pine Ideas as specialty lumber manufacturers.

Today in history: April 15th 1923

Insulin becomes generally available for people with diabetes.

Calfs and lambs

A trip out highway 5A saw many spring calf’s and new born lambs along the road and in the ranches fields  that are intersected by the highway.

Once asked a local rancher Gloria Capp what the difference between a spring calf and a winter calf she replied ” one is born later”.

Nicola Ranch, Quilchena ,Cattle Company and  others along the lower road to Kamloops are quite pleasant to view from a car  as  it takes its way along the ” 70 percent load restriction ” road . These restrictions concern transports and commercial trucks and have made the route free of them at this time ,preferring 5  the divided highway with out load restrictions.

Today in History: April 2,1912

The ill fated RMS Titanic begins sea trials.

Blue box

A source in the City thinks that they will be distributing the Blue box  recycle garbage cans that complement the  gray lidded plastic cans for garbage in April or May. The cans have been siting in a pile at the city works yard waiting for  the go ahead from the powers. The same truck is divided into sides one for recycle another for garbage. A mechanical  hydraulic arm picks them up and dumps them into a compression chamber and returns them to the curb. This is worker friendly taking a lot of the risk of injury away from the one man handler.

Water sewer and garbage rates are being separated from the property tax levy on the billing  from City hall this year.

Today in history:March 27 1998

The authorities approve the drug Viagra for impotence.

Smart dryer

This morning the Google home page is showing a caricature of a smart appliance and a calculator that says don’t panic. As the appliance spits out data. Also the hydro authority has sent out a monthly edition of their newsletter introducing the new online account and its advantages to the consumer. The ability to compare to neighbours and similar homes is one that may be appealing to those who don’t like machines that do too much.

Below is a transcript of the newsletter:

As part of the recent upgrades on bchydro.com, you’ll notice your account online is now called MyHydro. With MyHydro, you’re still able to manage your account online as you did before, but you’ll also have access to new features that give you a closer look at your electricity use. Watch the video to learn how MyHydro helps you save energy, time and money.

Take a closer look at your electricity use

By taking a deeper look at your electricity use, you can find ways to save energy and money. With MyHydro, see how your electricity use affects your bill by:

  • Viewing your electricity use down to the hour and right up until yesterday to see when you’re using the most electricity.
  • Comparing your electricity use to factors such as average outside temperature, similar homes nearby and last year’s consumption.
  • Projecting your electricity use and estimated cost for the current billing period based on your consumption patterns.
  • Putting Power Smart tips into action and signing up for automatic email alerts to check back in and stay on track with your conservation goals.

Detailed consumption data gives you the right information at the right time, and helps you identify where you can save energy to keep your bill as low as possible (watch how the Greens track their electricity use to save on their electricity costs). While many of our customers can now view and track their daily electricity use, you may be among those customers who won’t have access until later this year. Make sure to log in to MyHydro regularly to see if your account is activated.

Manage your account online to save time

A growing number of BC Hydro customers regularly use bchydro.com to manage their account online. When you log in to MyHydro, you can view your bill and payment history, select a payment method, and even start, stop or move your service. When you log in to MyHydro, you’ll find these account functions in the account services toolbox.

Log in or create a MyHydro Profile

If you’ve always managed your account online, your BC Hydro Profile is now your MyHydro Profile. Never managed your account online? Create a MyHydro Profile and link your account to get started.

It appears in the material that yours and others in similar homes power consumption will be public , and the system certainly lends itself to eventual two rate system to take advantage of off-peak usage and since there is little competion  in the monopoly, that could mean that the lower rate could be the same as now and the peak rate move up in cost. Unless this efficiency brings all hydro down.

Opinion: this is really different and appealing to techies however our time is worth something and the prudent will control this and not let it dominate their time.

Today in History: March 11,2006

Chile gets its first female president, Michelle Bachelet.

TGIF

yes

yes

Today in History: March 8th 1817

The New York stock exchange is founded

5000 meters

A motorman from Beaver Drilling gave us a conversation last week. He said he is working on a Double Drilling Rig , in the Rocky Mountain Foothills. For natural gas, his state of the art rig is usually involved in oil exploration. The motorman sowed me a key chain model bit and talked about whip-stocking a method of pulling back in a hole and stopping rotation of the String and hydrological turning the bit and controls a horizontally inclined take off. This makes for a managed drilling platform into a field.

Shale gas production has had a dramatic effect on supplies and the industry suffering is setting its hopes on conversions from high carbon use such as coal and oil to clean natural gas. according to the Horn River News in gas suffering Alberta, June 19th 2012, this may take years, and there are concerns it may not be timely for Alberta if major players go elsewhere.

Editors note: There has been a free fall in gas prices since 2009 do to high production,

Today in History: February 25,1919

Oregon puts a penny tax on gasoline becoming the first US state to levy gasoline.

Today in History: February 26th,1993

The world trade center is attacked killing 6 people in an explosion

Ardew wood products, closure

Ardew wood products is a small family owned milling business. It has been operated by members of the Lief Norgaard family for two generations.  The current aNorgaard , Eric has about 80 employees including loggers and they have a relationship with Pine Ideas a value added manufacturer whom has supplied pine 1 inch lumberflogged by Ardew to customers such as Ikea.

A source that is close to the dynamics of timber supply said that their licences are up a that there was not enough effort into renewing them. He a former also said that its not a completely done event. ( The closure because of lack of timber supply.)

there has been a consolidation atmosphere here is recent years that saw milling automated and logging timber allotments bundled.

Today in history: January 29, 1979

Brenda Spenser kills two and wounds 8 in an elementary school shooting in Grover Cleveland.

Snow business 65 CM

Glen a snow plow driver was dragging his tired butt up the stairs to his apartment this morning,. He said he was really tired as he had plowed 65 CM of snow on the highway in the lastday. That a little more then 2 ft . The Coquihalla has three high mountain passes 1200 up to 1700 meters above sea level. View the road at the link below.

http://images.drivebc.ca/bchighwaycam/pub/html/www/379.html

Today in History: December 18.1973

The Islamic Development Bank is begun.

TGIF

Merit of Merritt

Its good that it is friday….

There was a remembrance for the shooting victims of  an eastern university some years ago. Billed as “National day of remembrance and action on Violence against women. Dec 6th 2012.

Numbers of students had parts and Guest speaker Sharon McIvor presented.

The demeanor served to solemnize the relationship of women in society and how violence may affect them.Sharon is a lawyer and a professor at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology.

Today in history: December 7,2007

An oil spill in South Korea when a crane and a large tanker the Hebei  Spirit tangle.

Curb to curb

The water and sewer upgrade on 1st avenue is now being paved over. Curb to curb asphalt is being rolled out today and that is an improvement over the street when it was tore up last year.

The City of Merritt has the Civic Center a facility that has a main auditorium that can accommodate about 500 people. As well there are ancillary meeting rooms are available at varying rates the best rates are reserved for non profits tha ideal with youth issues. The highest rate is for commercial activity. It is a popular venue for an annual home show. The show takes up the facility and is well attended by business here and from other communities. The local arts counsel makes good use of it and has at least 4 quality programs a year. For the benefit of all but in particular an amenity for those that have chosen Merritt for retirement .

The Civic Center is also now enjoying curb to curb pavement on the vacating street to the west of  the building.

Today in history, April 12. 1955

The polio vaccine developed by Dr.Salk is declared safe and effective.

TGIF

Domino's Pizza in Panaji‎, Goa, India

Image via Wikipedia

I agreeTGIF

There was a fire at the local Ramada Inn this week and a person at the scene said that it was electrical and that a contractor was at work at the time of the fire.

The Dominos Pizza is out of commission as well, no idea on a dollar value, and the papers say it is still under investigation.

Today in history,February 10,1863

The fire extinguisher is patented.

Resume

On February 14th there is a résumé writing workshop at NVIT. The next day on the 15th an interview workshop and its all in preparation for the March 7th job fair at NVIT. There is a free lunch if you register by the 10th of February.It is being hosted by Merritt Employment Services that’s the El people and they have had succesful fairs for Canadian tire hires and Wal-Mart when they opened here as well as for Highland Valley Coppers expansion.

NVIT is the local community college,the first sessions are in room uooo1,4155 Belshaw Ave and the job fair will take most of the ground floor we believe as they have in the past.

Today in history,February 8th,1855

The Devils footprints appear in Devon.