A longtime rural resident, I use my 60 plus years of life learning to opinionate here and elsewhere on the “interweb” on everything from politics to environmental issues. A believer in reasonable discourse rather than unhelpful attacks I try to give positive input to the blogesphere, so feel free to comment upon rural issues or anything else posted here. But don’t be surprised if you comments get zapped if you are not polite in your replys.

Saturday, August 27, 2011

Broadcast TV stations in Ontario.

A few weeks ago I wrote of the difficulty in finding out the current and future status of various Broadcast TV Transmitters in Ontario with regard to which were or were not switching to Digital transmissions as of the end of August.
Whilst we will find out by default very shortly the following link to a list of ALlocated, APproved and OPerational transmitters directly from the Industry Canada database thanks to Jon LeBlanc is a good indication of current and future plans.
It also gives the Latitude and Longitude and the height of the transmitter site which is helpful for those wondering where to point their antenna or if they are within range. It is unclear how often Industry Canada updates said list.

http://www.user.dccnet.com/jonleblanc/Canada_TV_Stations/ON.html

Another useful site for rural folks is this one, which allows you to input your location and then produces a list of stations close to you and the direction to actually point your antenna.



Saturday, August 20, 2011

Crude but Effective

Its been a little thin here this summer, there is always another thing on the list ahead of blogging. One of those things is now dealing with the glut of apples and pears on our trees just now becoming ready for picking and deciding what to do with it all. Having always wanted to try making cider but not sure how to effectively crush large volumes of fruit ready for pressing I recently came up with a quick and easy method of doing just that.

Use the wood chipper! Yes, thats right give that chipper a good clean out, remove the screen, place a polly feed bag over the outlet and dump a ½ bushel of fruit in the top and 15 seconds later you have a bag of pulp ready to be pressed, my press takes two such bags per pressing and yeilds between 2 and 3 gallons of juice.
So I now have several liters of Pear and apple juice (suitably heated to kill the wild yeast) in the fringe, an experimental gallon each of cider and perry bubbling away in the corner AND some pear butter made from the squeezed pulp (waste not want not) on the go in the slow cooker. Biggest problem is that this was all done with a couple of bushels of early 'fallers' and I already have 2 or 3 bushels of pears ripening in the basement, many, many more on the tree and have not even started on the apples.

Given that I also want to make some pear wine and only have enough equipment to make about 20 gallons in total it looks like I will be once again giving away fruit to anyone who drops by as we hate to see stuff go to waste and the chickens and peacocks (who love fruit) are already overloaded with the left over pulp. Apple pie anyone?

Oh, then there are the grapes which are also loaded with fruit..........

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Broadcast TV in Grey Bruce

You have all seen the bits on your screen saying that you MAY have to change your old tv for new or get a 'digital converter' if you want to continue to watch station that you receive via an antenna rather than satellite or cable. For many of us cable or satellite is not an option for reasons of cost or unavailability so we are left wondering if we will have to buy one of those converters or not. I have spent many hours trying to find out if the stations I receive here just south of Owen Sound are are going , a) to continue broadcasting from the local transmitters, b) Continue broadcasting in 'analog' format as they are now, or c) switch to broadcasting in digital format on a new channel.

In some cases that information is easy to find and the stations involved will readily give you that information when requested, in other cases they are no so forthcoming.

What follows is the result of my inquiries in this regard.

Channel 2 CTV 'Georgian Bay' transmitter north of Wiarton will continue broadcasting as is, no change.
Channel 8 CTV / CKNX 'Wingham” transmitter will continue broadcasting as is, no change.
Channel 12 TVO 'Owen Sound' transmitter from Keady will continue broadcasting as is, no change.
Channel 20 CBC 'Owen Sound' transmitter from Keady - unable to get definitive answer, presumed to continue broadcasting as is.
Channel 45 CBC “Wingham” transmitter - unable to get definitive answer, presumed to continue broadcasting as is (see below).
Channel 4 Global 'Owen Sound' transmitter from Keady – unable to get definitive answer despite multiple requests via internet, email AND phone, presumed to continue broadcasting as is but I start to wonder what they are hiding!

What follows is a little more information on some of the above...

CTV / BELL
An email inquiry to CTV resulted in a speedy and definitive response indicating that both channel 8 Wingham and channel 2 Georgian Bay would remain unchanged.

TVO
Conventional TV stations like TVO will be allowed to continue broadcasting in analog beyond August 31, 2011 in markets where we do not make the conversion to digital.
High-and Medium-Powered TVO transmitter sites that will continue broadcasting in analog include: Peterborough, Owen Sound, Sudbury, Kingston, Penetanguishene, Sault Ste. Marie, Hawkesbury, Huntsville, Timmins, Pembroke, Parry Sound, Kenora, McArthur Mills, and North Bay. TVO will also continue to transmit an analog signal via more than 100 Low Power Repeat Transmitters across the province.

CBC
"The Corporation will continue to offer analogue service beyond the August 31, 2011 shut-off date established by government in all markets not identified by the CRTC as mandatory for digital transmission."

There are some markets, such as London, which are mandatory for Digital Transmission, and CBC does not operate a station there (but does operate a transmitter). In these cases, CBC will shut down the analog rebroadcaster and not replace it with a digital rebroadcaster.

GLOBAL / SHAW
After the analog television shutdown and digital conversion, which takes place on August 31, 2011,[13] CIII-DT-41 will move from channel 65 to its current analog channel number, 41, following transition, because of the phaseout of channels 52-69.

Global intends on transitioning its CIII-TV Paris and CIII-TV-6 Ottawa transmitters to digital by August 31, 2011. CIII-TV-7 Midland (serving Barrie) is also required to broadcast in digital by August 31, 2011 or cease broadcasting. Global has decided to transition Midland's transmitter after the deadline and by 2016. CIII-DT-41 Toronto will increase coverage area to serve the Barrie area between the transition deadline and when the Midland transmitter begins broadcasting in digital.

CIII-TV-55 Fort Erie is required to vacate its channel frequency as of August 31, 2011. Global has decided to shut down this transmitter. Coverage to the areas in Canada served by the Fort Erie transmitter will be provided by CIII-DT-41 Toronto.

Global plans on transitioning all of its transmitters to digital by 2016.

NOTE this is from wikipedia, neither Global or their owner Shaw has ANY information available regarding individual transmitter sites and both the web site and phone number supplied on air will not lead to further information.

There are many rural residents and cottage owners who receive broadcast TV in the Grey Bruce area and they should not replace their analog TV or purchase a digital converter on the assumption that their signal will be unavailable in analog as of august. For the most part it would seem that thing will remain as is for the next several years in this area, at this point in time the only questionable broadcast that MAY be changed or discontinued is Global as broadcast in analog format on channel 4.

Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Too darn hot!

After having to light the wood stove just a few days ago to take the chill off in the house I hate to complain but with temperatures inthe shade over 30c and a humidex of around 40 we are hiding in the house with all the dooors and window shut today, its still over 70 in the house but better than outside. Most time we enjoy being so sheltered in the woods that we get little wind but today a cool breeze off the lake would be very welcome. Ah well there are compensations and last weeks blossoms on the apple and pear trees was wonderfull despite the cool wet weather. I have added a pic of them to the photo page. (tab above).

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Woodland Walk

This morning I took a walk around our trails between showers and saw that the number of Trilums in flower continues to increase. A little beat up by the recent rains some of them are huge (click on the 'Todays Photo' tab to see a pic), there are also a much greater number of Red Trilums this year. The violets are mostly all now out, I have seen Common blue, Dog, Long Spurred, Smooth Yellow & Canada violets on my stroll, the Trout Lilly are done flowering but the Toothwort and Bellwort are now out. A wonderfull showing this year.

The 'Todays Photo' tab is a new idea to give dialup users a choice as to wether they wish to take the time to view the pictures or not and pictures will change with time rather than be added to. Enjoy!

Saturday, May 14, 2011

Rural Returns.

Having been fixated upon the state of our democracy and the federal election things have been pretty thin here at The Rural Canadian but now having decided that for my own mental heath I must step away from political commentary for a bit and realizing that with the current majority government talk of democratic or electoral reform is but a distant dream I will be returning to my rural roots and posting a little more here.

The first part of that healing process is well in hand now that spring has finally arrived, a few walks around our bush trails to view the woodland wildflowers quickly puts thing in perspective. Getting down in the dirt creating new flowerbeds and doing battle with the never ending twitch grass in the existing beds is very therapeutic. Simply sitting out in the sun recharging my batteries whilst checking out the latest birds to arrive from parts south does wonder to push thoughts of more weighty matters to the back of my mind.

The long list of jobs to be done nags at me a times, those trails need cleaning up and branches fallen by winters wrath need picking up and cut to fuel the camp kitchen BBQ where an ever increasing number of meals will be prepared in the coming weeks and months. Customers drift in to disturb my daydreaming with mowers to get ready to trim the greening grass, traded equipment needs to be dug out and check over for sale, the veggie garden needs tilling ready for those tomato plants that have been stretching up seeking the light in the greenhouse, the list is long but I don't mind, whilst the political winter may be yet to come the Canadian winter is over.

Although my old bones do protest a little more each spring it is good to get out and DO something, to see a flower bed without weeds (even if the next one in line offers the next challenge), getting that chain saw running and making short sticks out of long ones, putting the first few beet seeds in the recently warmed ground. Even just wandering around LOOKING at jobs to be done outside is a wonderful way to spend an hour or two, after all we cannot rush into these things now can we?

So my philosophy for now is to relax, puddle along at my own pace, let the world largely pass by whilst keeping a few locals from having to go get a new piece of junk to trim their grass, share our woodland hideaway with a few nature enthusiasts and simply enjoy the summer.

Much of the equipment I work on may well be like the guy working on it, a well used oldie, but I hope with proper maintenance they both will go for a few more years yet, but please use us gently eh!

Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Anti-democratic News Media


It has been reported this morning that the news media barons have decided that you shall not hear from all the political leaders in any upcoming debate, but that Elizabeth May who had the support of over 900,000 voters right across Canada in the last election will be excluded. This is particularly galling when a regional party, the Bloc,with only a slightly higher popular vote and NO representation outside of Quebec is included. Who gave them the right to decide who you can and cannot listen to, who gave them the right to effectively pre-decide who should have the opportunity to put their views before the public, why should we allow a few corporate big wigs to artificially spin the odds in favor of the incumbent partys.
It matters not which party you support this is once again an affront to democracy, not this time by the Harper regime but by the corporate media barons, it is unacceptable to exclude a party who represents the wishes of so many Canadians.
I have no doubt that there will be the same outrage that a similar decision last time brought about, it was eventually changed to include Ms May and any citizen who truly cares about democracy must once again let these media types that pre-filtering the news and political debates is no less a measure of contempt for democracy than the Harper regime has shown of late.

Elizabeth May MUST be included in the debate if it is to have ANY legitimacy in helping us decide who REALLY cares about our parliamentary democracy.

Sign the petition at http://demanddemocraticdebates.ca/


UPDATE
And so it starts, the Victoria Times Colonist reports -

"The consortium's decision was met with disagreement from at least two parties. Liberal leader Michael Ignatieff told reporters in Vancouver that May "belongs in the debate.
"Of course she's welcome . she was there last time," he said.
A spokeswoman for the New Democrats' campaign said the party is "fine with her in the debate."
"We believe in open debates that are based on consistent and understood rules," said Kathleen Monk. "If certain leaders are not invited to participate, I think it is reasonable for them to know why."

Also see E Mays piece in the  Globe and Mail  and Andrew Coynes twitter comments as collected here.

UPDATE #2
The television companies, while admitting they have no rules for who participates in the leader’s debate, have attempted to overrule Canadians by barring Elizabeth May. She learned of the decision from a Canadian Press reporter and not from the TV companies.

“They are trying to silence the voices of one in ten Canadians,” said Elizabeth May.
  The Green Party has retained legal counsel and will be making an application to the court in the next few days should the TV companies continue to deny democracy. Details of the legal application will be provided soon.

“The House was brought down on contempt. This is contempt for democracy,” said Deputy Leader Adriane Carr.

Show your support for democracy and contact the news directors of consortium members CBC, CTV, Global, TVA or email party leaders Stephen Harper, Jack Layton, Michael Ignatieff and Gilles Duceppe

UPDATE #3
The Montreal Gazette reports that - Earlier in the day, Duceppe said he agrees with Elizabeth May, the Green Party leader, that she should also participate.

Meanwhile Mr Harper seem to prefer to debate just the Liberal leader, seems the other partys 'don't matter' in this election!