Tag Archive: Merritt British Columbia


Flag

The City of Merritt British Columbia has Canadian Flag at about 3000 Ft above sea level on the west side. Set on the hillside it commands highway number 8 below.
Placed and maintained by a local business the 8 by 16 foot flags last about 600 thousand “severe flaps of the flag by the wind and cost about 1000 dollars to replace”. The business has done this for the community since 1967.
Below at the highway level there is a concrete bin that offers free sand. The owner says its not construction grade or washed but it’s fine for walks and cat boxs etc… People are welcome to take amounts appropriate for those uses.
Today in history:January 15th 1892
James Naismith publishes the rules to basket ball.

Norm Hansen a local naturalist is presenting at the societies January meeting.

Did you know that, a few thousand years ago as the last ice-age was coming to an end, the Nicola Valley was deep under a series of huge lakes. Massive chunks of ice blocked valleys to create these lakes, and as the ice melted the water rushing out of the lakes carved deep gorges. Today you can still see the lake shores of these ice dams, high in the hills around the Nicola Valley, and travel along the gorges that they carved out. Norm Hansen, a long-time forester from Merritt and NNS director, has for many years researched the history of these ice dams and their remnants and will share this amazing story with us.

Norm had a career in forestry including the private sector as a consultant after securing a degree from the university of British Columbia, Norm was raised in Golden BC in the Rocky Mountains and has a good appreciation of natural process and the wonder of the natural environment. Norms talk will be on January 15th at the NVIT college lecture theater, starting at 7:pm the society says that all are welcome,and membership or donation requested. Membership applications are available on the groups site:http://www.nicolanaturalists.ca/ The non-profit group takes responsibility for the winter bird count and are involved in scrutiny of frogs and other creatures here, they are members in good standing of the provincial naturalist organization.

Today in history: January 7th 1835 The HMS Beagle reaches the Chonos Archipelago  

New years swim

The Nicola Valley Aquatic Center is having a new years eve ( after noon swim.) The swim will be on December 31st from 1 -3 PM at he facility on Mamette avenue in Merritt.
There is no charge for the swim and the pool is in walking proximity to 5 EV charging stations some of which take 2 hours to recharge an EV.

Today in history,December 30th 1948

The Tony award winning Kiss me Kate opens at the Cole Porter theater.

$1.09.9 a liter

The Petro Canada is showing an offering of 1.09 a liter for regular gasoline at the pumping station at the junction of Highway 8 and 5A. There has been a dramatic drop in prices at the pumps in the last few weeks coming from mid $1.30 a liter to todays low. Petro Canada also offers a loyalty card program that gives you another 12 cents a liter making it possible to get regular gasoline at under the dollar a liter range. The CIBC is reporting that Canada has lost 5 billion in revenue in the recent drop in prices. We take that as lost revenue from exports. To balance the net benefit of lower gas prices to the consumer we must assume that a drop in price is a more broadly fare benefit to more people domestically then lost export revenue. Today in History: December 17th 1935 The DC-3 aircraft makes its first flight.  

The people that are proposing the twinning of the pipeline through here are having a job opportunity meeting tonight at the Merritt Civic Center.Drop in starts at 5:30 PM the presentation starts a 6:30 PM.

Trans Mountain Pipelines have operated a pipeline to Burnaby from Edmonton Alberta for 60 years without serious incident.
The Merritt Civic Center is on Mamette avenue behind city hall on Voght Street.

Today in History: December 4th 1909
The first Canadian Grey cup game is played.

Snow

Merritt Post Office Voght and Granite Photo: KDG

Merritt Post Office
Voght and Granite
Photo: KDG

There was an ocean effect snow fall(our term) here in Merritt last night, as witnessed by a confused seagull circling the Rail yard mall , we can only imagine that the megalomaniac looking down would think that his droppings were not usually that pronounced.
Seagulls come with air flows from the coast and signal wind and weather change. The forecast is now to turn colder after the next two days with over night lows going to well below freezing for Friday and Saturday. Hope the snow lasts.
http://www.weather.com/weather/5day/l/CAXX0830:1:CA
A tradition of Canadian Prime ministers is to go for a walk in the snow when contemplating calling an election.The PM still has that prerogative however elections have been put on a four year cycle with a semi fixed date. ( we don’t think it has anything to do with global warming) Jean Chretien went for a walk in the snow before risking trying for a 3rd term below. The fixed date is in May….

Today in history November 27th 2000

The liberal party of Canada wins a third term with an increase in members over the previous term.

DSC_7595

Tom Sullivan (left) and Alan Burger ready for his presentation

 

Doctor Tom Sullivan presented at the Nicola Naturalists last week on the work he has done with wood debris from logging operations.The University of BC professor and resident of the interior Town of Summerland said that piles of wood waste can be habitat for weasels and small forest animals. The slide show gave images of wood debris used to in strategies to connect habitat to mandatory patch’s of left forest in clear-cut operations. He had brochures available taken from his published works in scientific journals.

Tom noted it is best used to do these piles in remote logged areas as human access lends its self to them being set on fire.

There was a class of natural resource teck students from the First Nations run community college NVIT in the  audience and were introduced to the gathering by Nicola Naturalists President Alan Burger. They were said to be possible beneficiaries of the 600 dollar scholarship award just created by the group.

Pious Chong was also recognised  by Burger for his award of “The best artist in Singapore” by the President of Singapore.

DR. Sullivan works through the Applied Mammal Research Institute In Summerland as well as UBC : http://www.appliedmammal.com

Today in history: November 25 th 1940

The De Havilland Mosquito Bomber has its first flight.

 

Jean Conlin

Drilling equipment for dewatering Photo KDG

 

A tent for storing drilling cores in mining exploration, in Merritt BC  Photo KDG

A tent for storing drilling cores in mining exploration, in Merritt BC
Photo KDG

Gene Conlin passed from this life on November 13th. Moving from Merritt to Parksvillle about 2 decades ago after the passing of her husband Patrick. She was the contact person here for the PC party and managed many elections in a time when mining entrepreneurship was at a high here in Merritt. Her husband Patrick was a mineral claim holder and a member of that community. The mining community at the time saw 30,000 workers about the size of the civil service in the province, of which Patrick was a member. Having worked in many elections with both, her passing signals the end and possibly  the rebirth of a great community in the partnership of government and the mining industry. After going about the world it has returned to the province in the last few years and still has its personality of generating higher wage jobs.

Miners should always stay close to the vote, good-bye Gene and we think fondly of you and yours….

Today in history: November 19th 1959

The Ford Edsel is taken off the production lines do to poor sales.

Have a great weekend!

Have a great weekend!

Today in history: November 14th 1770

James Bruce believes he is at the source of the Nile River:

 

Thanks to all that remembered.

fish eagle , Kevin Griffiths photo

Osprey at the Nicola river.
Photo KDG

Thanks to all that remembered the occasions of the last two days.
Today in history: November 12th 1987
Born Canadian ice hockey player, Bryan Little

Local ranchers are saying that their cattle have come home from summer grazing here in Merritt BC Canada. A local rancher says he is looking forward to the cycle again that will see him put his spring calf’s born in March and April out on some good grass grazing in some meadows he has on Iron Mountain. Iron Mountain is within sight of the city and has some residences on the south east side. He says his calf’s always do well on the grass lands there. Keeping calf’s and selling them as yearlings can be profitable but timing , weight and the length of time to keep them is a risk that needs some expertise. The Local ranchers voiced concerns about the return of wolfs in this area. as ” some where seen by some naturalists on the Thompson River side of Styoma mountain” in recent years. Bruno Mailloux, of Douglas lake agrees that loss of calf’s however it happens can be a hardship on ranchers.
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Wolfs in British Columbia were hunted to near extinction under a bounty system by Government, in recent years their value to the overall ecology has been reinforced by science and in particular the health of Elk heards coexisting with wolfs in Yellowstone park in the US.
Merritt has recently seen a change to feed lots for dairy cattle. The dairy cows having a two year stay in feed lots before being returned to the lower mainland to produce milk. Grass grown here for feed lots puts grazing land in high pastures at a more interesting level of use.
Today in history: November 6th 1869
In new Brunswick the first American, intercollegiate Football game New England Rutgers College defeats Princeton University.

Cannes Film Festival:
The local Nicola Valley film society is having their presentation of an international film on Monday November 17th at the NVIT campus lecture theater.
5 dollar admission on a 2 dollar season membership.(available at the door) No food or drinks in the Lecture theatre. Start time is 7 PM this year.
http://www.Thelunchboxmovie.com
Today in History: November 7th 2002
Iran bans the advertising of American products.