Catie George

You're pretty close to Winnipeg I think?

This is a traditional Manitoba folk song ( or traditional parody of a traditional folksong??)

I sing the second verse to myself every time I'm annoyed about changeable weather.

Sung to the tune of "Red River Valley".

https://mudcat.org/@displaysong.cfm?SongID=2093

Oh, my grandpa came west in the 'eighties
To the prairies where grain grows like grass
But the bankers and freight rates got grandpa
And so grandpa went east, second class.

chorus: Oh it's forty below in the winter
And it's twenty below in the fall
And it rises to zero in springtime
And we don't have no summer at all.

It was raining and hailing this morning,
On the corner of Portage and Main,
Now it's noon and the basements are flooded
And the duststorms are starting again.

(Chorus)

Come and pay for my fare if you love me
And I'll hasten to bid you adieu
And farewell to your Red River Valley,
And its natives, all shivering and blue!

Here's a YouTube version.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=6S09kbHq5uk&pp=0gcJCR4Bo7VqN5tD

Earlier this week we went from +2C and sleeting, to -15C in less than 24 hrs. My driveway still has an inch thick layer of ice in areas.

I very much disagree with the idea that you NEED to feel gratitude at all times. Or even most of the time.

That's a huge expectation, and in my experience, a recipe for resentment. I had a few people try to coach me into that mindset 'be grateful, at least it isn't ________";and quite frankly, it was awful for my mental health to always focus on how something could maybe have been worse and how I should be grateful for what I have, when yeah, my physical health sucks, my mental health isn't great, and the world keeps hitting me when I'm down.

I treasure when I feel joy, and plan my life trying to find those moments - but think of joy as a gift I sometimes have, not a constant companion I need to fight to keep. It's okay not to always have joy, or gratitude. I'm human.

I think what I am reading between the lines is that you are not feeling respected, and that's a really hard thing to live with - and fixing it will probably require intentional work from two people - you, and your husband.

Sometimes stuff sucks and anger is a reasonable emotion. Sometimes stuff sucks for a long time.

Figuring out how to express ' I am angry, and disappointed ' in a healthy way does take some effort, but bottling it up just leads to resentment, in my opinion. And it's a very toxic environment if you CAN'T express when you are angry, and disappointed (in an adult way without insults and yelling).

I could try to find gratitude, today, that I discovered that my roof is leaking, but at least I caught it now, or I can be right pissed that the house inspector missed it, when, in retrospect, it's obvious there was a previous leak here and I now think it's been slightly leaking since I bought the house, and just suddenly got worse, and now I might not get the thing I have been going through extreme pennypjnching for 3+ months to save for, that I've already had to delay 3 times.  Being pissed at the world is healthier for me, than trying to feign gratitude for likely needing to replace my roof 3+ years earlier than I'd planned.  And no, I don't feel grateful to own a house today! Try me after the roof's repaired and I'm no longer scared about what else is going to be found to be wrong when I fix it.  I'm not going to yell at the inspector, or misdirect my anger at friends, which won't help, but I will let myself be mad.

And it's reasonable for you to expect support from your husband when things go wrong, and stuff is frustrating. An appropriate thing to do, if the wood stove door is hung the wrong direction, is to expect him to contact the installer to replace it, or give a hefty discount for providing the wrong product. And if it turns out that he actually didn't specify the things you asked for, or was told in advance it wouldn't work, then it's very appropriate to be angry at him for lying to you about it, and dismissing your concerns, and to expect HIM to help rearrange your house to make it work, since it was his mistake, and he needs to take accountability for it.

Did your husband express any frustration at the installation and wrong product being delivered, or just frustration at you for being angry about the wrong product?

As for the brother in law ... Unhired help is much harder to dictate to than hired help. That's the sort of thing where I might consider asking them to build the frame, and doing detail work yourself.  Getting your own power tools is a powerful feeling - can you ask for power tools as Christmas/birthday gifts? There are a lot of things in the world I prefer to do myself and borrowing tools (which invariably comes with the owner's opinions!) gets old very fast.

Is moving to a more urban area, where there might be more English speakers an option? Is taking language lessons an option? Your mental health matters too.

My $0 Christmas Challenge continues, with a few failures, and a lot of success.

- I spent far less than average in November, and am on track to do the same in December, which means I'm booking a plumber to install a dishwasher hookup for January. Success! Not quite sure I have enough to cover the cabinet I need to build, but I should by the end of January.

- A store selling Made in Canada clothing had their first sale since I started watching them over a year ago. I ordered something  for myself, and for my mom. I would have bought it even if it wasn't Christmas, and have already bought my mom's gift, but I'll count the $30 I spent on my mom's gift as my first 'real money' spent on Christmas since I'm wrapping it for her. Failure, but I'm still way under my yearly clothing budget even with this 'splurge'.

- I apparently don't have much wrapping paper/wrapping supplies saved from previous years (I think they are at my mom's ) and don't feel like making more reusable bags. Luckily I *do* have a ton of brown paper I save from online orders over the summer to use in my wood stove, which makes perfectly acceptable gift wrap!  Success!

- I found a few random tools in my house I need to return to my mom which I can wrap as "gifts" and make her laugh. Success!

- The wreaths have been a big hit with everyone I've given them to, and I ended up making and giving them to more people than planned. I decorated them using only stuff from my yard as a fun Christmas activity with my mom, and had a wonderful time. Huge Success!

- I was given a free bar of biodegradable, unscented soap with a bulk order of cleaning supplies that would normally go in my stash, because it might be useful some day... I wrapped it, and will give it to a friend who will actually use it. Success!

- I discovered more ingredients than I knew I had in the freezer/cupboards so haven't needed to use as much reward money as expected for making Christmas gifts. Theoretically I'll end up replacing them eventually, but I count this as a win. Success!

- I found a $5 item at a thrift store perfect for a friend who is buying a house. It's a housewarming gift, but since I'll likely give it at a Christmas, I'll include it. Failure?

- I decorated my orange tree with Christmas decorations as my 'Christmas Tree' and have cut branches from my yard for my dining table. Success!

- I used the infuriating 'free' Christmas cards sent out by a charity I donated to in the past, sent to guilt me into donating to them again, to send cards to far away friends. I normally toss them angrily while swearing to never donate to that charity again, but this year I avoided the waste and used them (while angrily vowing to never donate to them again)Success!

So far I'm at $35 in real money, a few stamps, plus $70 in rewards points for Christmas gifts (and a housewarming gift) for 9 people, and I could argue the $35 is really not 'Christmas' spending at all.

And... I'm done Christmas shopping, wrapping, and decorating for the season!  I would say I've successfully prepared for Christmas on an (almost) zero dollar budget, without feeling like I've missed out on any of my favourite traditions, 'the Christmas spirit' or giving fewer or 'worse' gifts than normal.

I am planning on going to a Christmas downtown event with a friend, and likely will spend some money there on the charitable donation for the wagon rides, etc. It's a Christmas event, but I'll argue it's part of my normal socializing budget, since EVERYTHING is a Christmas event in mid-December!

Here is my personal, grumpy-guts feeling about Christmas gifts.

If you know someone well enough to be giving them a Christmas gift, you should know them well enough to give them a gift that solves a problem they have, that they've told you about, without asking them what they want for Christmas. I tend to watch people and write down things months in advance of Christmas and seldom struggle to choose Christmas gifts, and my gifts tend to get used because they solve a problem people don't know they have (or are edible and tasty). My biggest issue is occasionally discovering the person I'm giving the gift to bought themselves the item a few weeks ago! Most people have little things they gripe about, if you listen to them, that are easily solvable with a bit of thought and a <$30 gift, even if it's something silly like an extra long USB cord or a big roll of cotton butcher twine (both gifts people in my life have been super excited about), or someone's favourite hard to find chocolate.

If you're truly stumped, it's okay to ask what someone wants, but it takes the joy out of Christmas gifts to ask, and then ask the person where to buy the thing, and task them to provide them a precise link to the thing they want, which puts the onus on the person receiving the gift to guess the giver's budget, do the research, choose a gift in that price range, and then find the best item available in that price range online, with workable shipping, etc. Ugh. That's the exhausting part of Christmas!  Just give cash at that point!

I'm personally a fan of 'spend this cash on something fun and tell me what you buy' gifts, too. I miss my grandmother's Christmas cheques, where she'd give me a cheque, and I'd call her in a month and say thank you for the really lovely shoes or coat she bought me! Money for education funds is also a great gift for kids in my opinion.

Anne Miller wrote:

William Bronson wrote: Frozen cider makes Applejack, a shelf stable product.

How does freezing cider turn into Apple Jack?

Inquiring mind want to know ....

The name applejack derives from the traditional method of producing the drink, jacking, which is the process of freezing fermented cider and then removing the ice, increasing the alcohol content.[1] Cider produced after the fall harvest was left outside during the winter.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Applejack_(drink)

Alcohol freezes at a lower temperature than water. If you pour off the unfrozen part of a partially frozen low-alcohol beverage, then refreeze, and pour off the partially frozen part again, you can dramatically increase the alcohol content. (This is called freeze distillation)

Note that this also concentrates OTHER kinds of alcohol, so it's not a clean product like a heat distilled spirit (anecdotally, relatives who have tried it report a massive headache the day after).

I wonder if this is the origin of the term 'jacking up the price'.

Schatzi Hall wrote:Has anyone canned cider. I don’t want to use plastic. Any ideas to freeze cider NOT in plastic. I have around 20 gallons.

Cider is essentially apple juice. Lots of recipes online for canning apple juice.

This gives instructions for safely canning pints, quarts, and half gallons:

https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can/canning-fruits-and-fruit-products/apple-juice/

I like sand. I grew up in Alberta, where it's often too cold for salt, so instead there are sand yards, where the sand is stored for the summer, then applied over the winter, and then swept up by trucks in the spring. Also in a location where you'd get fined, or sued,  for icy sidewalks. We used sand, and just swept it in the spring.  I really missed that law where I moved to somewhere maintained by the city, who left 1-2" of ice/slush on the sidewalks, to avoid damaging their plows!  

Now in Ontario, the local municipalities put out a sand-salt mix for people to grab for free. I like it, because it doesn't freeze solid like wet sand, and is far less salt than actual salt, plus it adds traction, so you use way less salt... Also, admittedly, I like it because it is free, and I am cheap. I also use ash, but wouldn't in the city. The eco friendly ice melts work well, are less damaging, but very expensive. I use it on my north facing landing, where I don't want to track in sand or ash.

If you can, another solution is physically reducing how much ice you have to deal with.

Making sure your sidewalks are edged before winter, which creates little mini drainage channels for small amounts of meltwater to drain. And, of course, scraping sidewalks to the ground after a snowfall. My mother reduces the ice on her sidewalk by trenching over to a drain in the fall, which often gets clogged with weeds, ensuring that water has a path away from the sidewalk.

I have encountered 3 kinds of adhesive labels.

1. Comes off with hot soapy water.
2. Comes off with oil (I tend to use vegetable oil)
3. Comes off with alcohol.

I also like a little razor scraper, for the stubbornnest labels on smooth jars or to save time on thick plastic labels which can't be soaked easily.

Razor scrapers are also great for removing countless pieces of old tape and stickers someone has decided to put on every single window in a building, and then allow to sunbake for years, completely bypassing the 'what kind of adhesive is it?" question entirely, though it might take a few days to get them all.

'Tis the season.... For fenceline clearin'!

Well, at least at my house .

I'm slowly 'buying' myself more land from what's currently covered in wild grapevine. Early Winter, before there's a ton of snow and while I don't have much going on in the garden is a pretty ideal time to work on it. Late winter works too, but the ground tends to be soggier.

I've been enjoying making grapevine wreaths this year, and decorating them with other bits from my yard, to make completely biodegradable (and free) gifts out of something that's otherwise a never ending chore.

I like to grab a huge multi branched, 20-40 ft piece, wrap it in a circle, tuck in the ends, then wrap shorter thinner bits around that base to fill it out and keep everything together.

Really thick grapevine trunks can also make interesting wreaths if you find a large enough piece and are flexible about the wreath being precisely round!

Christopher Weeks wrote:I'm curious, do random non-UScians know that our states, by name, are part of the US? If I tell rando international folks that I live in Minnesota is it usually more meaningful than saying I live in MN? (And I now live closer to Canada than I do to any of the other four states where I've previously resided, so it doesn't surprise me that Jay, specifically, knows Minnesota, but I wonder more generally.)

Minnesota is that place across from Thunder Bay which also likes Hockey and has lakes and fishing. I think it has a lot of state forests?  I've generally heard about it in media. I'd say I can probably name a stereotype or impression and a general geographic region and climate for most US states.

MN is... Probably a US State, since someone assumes I know what it is. Erm.  I dunno, Michigan? Montana?

It's pretty common to learn US states either formally in school, or just through cultural osmosis. I recall labelling state maps at one point, and having competitions in the car with my dad, naming as many as I could (we did this for countries and capitals, too).

I am guilty of using provincial abbreviations. I've lived or worked in BC, AB, ON, NL, and NU. Have driven through/stayed in SK, MB, and QC. Would love to visit YT and NT someday, and the Maritimes. But they're really not helpful for communication even with other Canadians!