in: wilsmith; wilsmith > 2008-04-25;
| # Posted 2008-04-26 23:21:56 | |
| hammer: | once deBeers mines the crap out of the James Bay lowlands for diamonds the water will flow every which way in that region so expect more flooding. then again the Ontario Government gave approval to dam the Albany for hydro electric development so expect more methyl mercury poisoning cases in the future too. Time to move to Parry Sound..... (only have to deal with snowmobiles sinking through the ice). |
| # Posted 2008-04-28 00:58:55 | |
| wilsmith: | Yeah, it's definitely not ideal. Probably have to get out before it all really goes to hell.
Trust me, Parry Sound crosses our minds regularly, sinking snowmobiles notwithstanding. It's at or near the top of our "move-to" list - whenever we head south, every time we pass through the Muskoka/Parry Sound regions, we look longingly out the windows and wish we were home... A GHO North chapter, perhaps? |
| # Posted 2008-04-28 05:00:03 | |
| hammer: | GHO is hoping to form a chapter in the Barrie-Muskoka area this year. Code name: G-Bay.
I still think about buying land in Parry Sound for retirement way way way in the future. |
| # Posted 2008-04-28 05:34:08 | |
| wilsmith: | I think it's a great place to retire (the earlier the better - so many opportunities to play...) - but I assume you're thinking about buying early enough to be able to find something before the prices get even more horrendous...
Our unofficial time frame is probably within two years (plus/minus a year) - depends on opportunities for work and so on. |
| # Posted 2008-04-28 05:56:59 | |
| hammer: | Well waterfront is out of reach so a few acres here or there is possible (still). |
| # Posted 2008-04-29 05:20:08 | |
| bl: | When I was starting out in ED, the 24 hr shifts (small ER, Chelsea, MA) offered so much free time - eg, still recall May '78: 5 Wednesdays & 2 Fridays...time enough off to have run a good Boston marathon etc etc. Even fanagled sailing acrosss the Atlantic that summer. However, back then public expectation was so much less. After some period of yrs, 8 hrs of anything medical was sufficient &, of course, the 'I work to live' ethos was & always has been paramount. |
| # Posted 2008-04-29 11:32:00 | |
| blairtrewin: | Nothing like a good weather story to get me interested. From what you say it sounds like flooding in these places is a pretty regular occurrence - is it a recent development, or something that's always been happening? (and if the latter, why on earth did they build there in the first place?) and is it from high river levels after snowmelt, ice dams, or something else I haven't thought of? |
| # Posted 2008-04-29 19:51:02 | |
| wilsmith: | Blair, the way I understand it, flooding has happened in the past but less frequently. Over the last 5 years, the reserve has been evacuated 4 times now. And this is despite apparently elaborate dikes having been constructed to protect the town.
The town is built along a river, and the river rises considerably with the spring melt (of course). I have understood that there is also a large ice dam at the mouth of the river, and the surface of James Bay is not expected to break up any time soon.... They have not really decided whether warmer temperatures (increased melting but faster breakup of the ice dam) would be beneficial in the short term, or if it would be better to have the temperatures cool off a little bit. At the moment, they're below freezing after a week of very warm weather. The whole area is quite flat - to relocate would require several kms of moving to reach a place with a significantly higher elevation. Much debate on this (rebuilding vs relocation, and if relocating, then where?) recently. No real decision taken. As usual. |
| # Posted 2008-04-29 23:46:30 | |
| hammer: | Blair,
most of the rivers in question have their headwaters in the south and they flow northeast making for a large number of ice jams from headwater melt before the river mouth ice is gone. It is also in the James Bay lowlands (part of the 2nd largest peatland in the World) so the local gradient is about 70-80cm per km inland. ie., FLAT. http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&hl=en&geocode=&q=f... |
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