On Death and Taxes

Well nothing about death here actually, but over the last few months, off and on, I have been compiling absolutely all of our expenes for the Field House, the cottage, both automobiles, and more onto Microsoft Excel files. It makes doing personal income taxes so much easier! I also found a 'snipping tool' that lets you take a jpeg image of any part of your computer screen... How cool is that?

The astute reader will notice that our municipal taxes have doubled in seven years. I imagine the 60% increase in 2006 had a lot to do with that! Just another reason why buying a waterfront cottage of your very own is not the smartest thing you can do with your money. It is far more economical to rent someone else's for the time you want to use it!

There are only two compelling reasons to own a waterfront cottage: First, you have oodles of money to burn, and really want a cottage, whether you use it or not! Second (as is our case), you already happen to own the cottage, make substantial use of it, and are willing to rent it out to people smart enough not to buy their own to help cover the costs!

In 2003 the municipal taxes on the cottage were less than 50% of the taxes on our house in Tavistock. In 2010 the cottage taxes were nearly 85% of our house taxes! Such is the effect of rapid increases in value of waterfront real estate.

The Joys of Online Banking

Last year I noticed that my online banking website (we use BMO) began offering email money transfers provided by Interac (Interac E-Mail Money Transfer). I figured this was a simple way to accept payment for the cottage, as the transaction was secure for both parties, and the only requirements were an email account and access to online banking.

A couple of guests used this service to pay for their stay at the cottage, and all worked fine until the third guest sent a payment in early July, and I received this message after trying do deposit the payment in our account:

EMT Receive Error

We cannot process your request at this time. Please contact us at 800 363 9992 to discuss and provide the following code number.


ER/J/EMT-R-CP-411

I didn't think it would be a big issue, and called the next day to sort it out. Well, after about a dozen phone calls, including relatively abysmal service (failure to call back when promised, failure to properly determine what the problem was, etc.) on the part of BMO, as well as Interac/Certapay, it turns out that the 'sender' of the payment had used the service for the very first time, triggering an automatic call from his bank for security and verification purposes. The problem was, his bank phoned, did not reach anyone, and simply left a message.

For some reason,the call was not returned, yet the senders bank did absolutely nothing to follow up to determine whether the payment was legitimate or not! Instead, they simply made the determination that the payment was suspect, and then froze both the senders and recipients (mine) access to the email money transfer system, without informing either party, of course.

Recently a different returning guest sent along a deposit, just as he had (succesfully!) done last year. On opening the email, and attemptiong to deposit it in our account, the fateful message was again displayed:

EMT Receive Error

We cannot process your request at this time. Please contact us at 1 800 363 9992 to discuss and provide the following code number.


ER/J/EMT-R-CP-411

This time around, Jimena from the BMO actually determined the issue (the suspension of my access to the service was still in place), resolved it with Instabank/Certapay that day, called me the next morning to tell me what happened, and then after a very brief bit of negotiation, credited our account with three months worth of account fees ($41.85). Thankfully this time around the employee at BMO was deadly efficient, pleasant to deal with, and got the problem resolved in a timely fashion - leaving me hope that when Instabank screws up the next time, it will be corrected within a day! 

A Reasonably Bright Idea

Without going into specific details, many alternative energy sources such as solar and wind power, geothermal energy for home heating, and the like, are simply not economically feasable, unless you are happy taking a stack of twenties, and burning them slowly one by one. Geothermal systems will take upwards of thirty to forty years or more to break even, after which they will most likely need replacing, and the cycle begins again. Small wind power installations will take several decades to pay for themselves, and solar power installations will suck money from a bank account permanently. If you disagree with this assessment, show me your numbers, and I will dissect them and show you how wrong you are.

The only reason to consider wind or solar is if you cannot get 'municipal' hydro at the property you are trying to service, or if you are truly passionate about 'going green' and are willing to pay up to ten times or more than the going rate for hydro. UNLESS... you take advantage of the microFIT program, where the Ontario Power Authority heavily subsidizes the rates paid for hydro produced by small 'homeowner sized' projects. The subsidies for power produced in this fashion are not what I would consider 'reasonable', but are between five and fifteen times the typical rate of roughly $0.06 per kWh! These mammoth subsidies are what is required to make small ground and roof mounted solar, and wind projects economically justifiable, and move the payoff period from infinity down to a more reasonable decade or so!

microFIT / Ontario Power Authority

Essentially, the biggest proof that solar and wind projects are completely uneconomical at present is the fact that that producers must be provided with MAMMOTH subsidies in order for them to actually see a return on investment. Coal power (as ugly as it is), Hydro, and Nuclear produce electric power for fractions of the cost of wind and solar installations, no matter what the scale.

August at the Cottage - Dropping Birches

Arrived at the cottage mid-August to find one of the birch trees near the house had lost its top. It was already dying off, as birches do, hastened by some rather hungry woodpeckers and "assups". A few days later the Husqvarna 353 came out, and within a couple of hours both trunks were down, bucked up, and ready for stacking and cleaning up. The second and third photos are of the stacked logs showing the woodpecker work, and the new view, including a red pine that I transplanted to the front of the brush pile. It was pulled from a stand of four, and would have to be removed regardless, so it might survive, but if not, oh well.

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July 2010 At The Cottage

The May Two Four (part three)

On Sunday John and I 'toured' the crown land adjoining our property to have a look at the trees I transplanted a year and a half ago. The three trees (two White Pines and a Balsam Fir) have already begun budding out, and appear extremely healthy and vigourous. On our way back down the hillside we noticed these magnificent Luna Moths sitting on a bracken fern. They are magnificent, and measure almost five inches in wingspan.

The May Two Four (part two)

On Sunday John and I built a crib to raise the rainwater barrel, as placing it directly on the ground allows poor access to place a watering can under the spout for filling up. I busted apart two pallets made from round posts with flattened top and bottom surfaces, cut them to length, glued and nailed together a crib, then added slats to the top. About a half hour job between the two of us from start to finish.

The May Two Four (part one)

I arrived at the cottage Friday evening, after having dinner with my sister and her family in Barry's Bay. The next morning, after running into town on some errands, I arrived back and let buddy 'the wonder-poodle' out, who promptly leapt out the door at me, and pranced over the long, skinny visitor who was basking on the concrete pavers outside. It hissed up, made a few striking motions, and rattled its tail, warning us off.

I freaked out a bit, because all I know of snakes is if it rattles its tail and strikes out, it might be a Massasauga Rattler, the only venemous snake in Ontario. What little I do know however, is that the cottage is located well outside the normal range of that snake, or so I thought I knew. I got Buddy back in (who walked right over the snake on his way in of course!) and then phoned niece Rachel up, and had her google "Massasauga Rattlesnake", who quickly found out that mine was more than likely an imposter, and in this particular case was an Eastern Milksnake. The milksnake is virtually identical in colour and markings, yet is much slimmer, and though it 'rattles' its tail, it does not have actual rattles at the end. Phew!

OPP Search For Canoeist on Carson Lake

Some unfolding news that I learned of this morning... Hopefully the canoeist in question went ashore to take a pee break and had his canoe blow away, however after two days, the likelihood of his having drowned is becoming more certain.

Barry's Bay This Week - Canoeist Missing on Carson Lake

Last Snowfort of the Season

IMAGES. GOOGLE.COM

I have found that a lot of traffic (anywhere from two to five random hits a day) arrives at this blog by the way of Google's image search engine, Images.Google.Com. With a standard search using Google, StatCounter saves the phrase that was used in the search, however it does not do so with the image search engine. So if you have arrived here by finding a picture, I would be interested in knowing what terms you searched for, and what image you found. Please post as a comment below, thanks!

Boys And Their Toys, I Mean Tools

I felled a large dead poplar on Thanksgiving weekend, leaving it bucked up into roughly eight six-foot lengths. I own a beautiful mid-size Husqvarna 353 with a 20" bar putting out just over 3hp, which doesn't have a huge issue with cutting 18" diameter logs, but does have to run longer to do it.

I found three saws for sale as a package right around the corner from my sister in Ottawa, worked out a deal, whereby they would buy one for me for work received in kind, I would buy the other one, and sell off the third. I was interested in the two Husqvarna's, a 335xpr arborist saw, and a 385xp professional saw putting out close to 7hp.

A few weeks later, after cutting down two dozen or more dead Elms and a few scrubby Manitoba Maples at their property, I was able to get the 385xp to the cottage to finish bucking up the poplar logs. It was amazing to rev up the big saw and lower it onto each log, watching is easily cut down like a hot knife through butter, depositing an ever growing pile of little wood chips at the base of each cut. My original 353 would take about 20 seconds to make a cut through these logs, the 385xp did each cut in six or seven seconds.

THE SAWS (Clockwise from top): Husqvarna 335xpr Arborist saw, Stihl 041 chainsaw (now owned by Mark, Pam and Jeff's contractor), Husqvarna 385xp professional forestry saw, Husqvarna 353 chainsaw (which has a place close to my heart - down a bit, and to the right, actually!)

THANKSGIVING (Cont'd)

The entire Chiles Clan met at the cottage Sunday for Alexander's second birthday and Thanksgiving dinner. Fortunately although we are spread out over Ontario (Southwest, Toronto, Barry's Bay, and Ottawa) It is not uncommon for most, or even all of us to get together at the same time.

Rudi and Natalie pulling their adorable 'Gap Kids' pose... a bit too adorable for my liking actually, it looks like they are planning something devious!

My father Roger (aka 'grampy'), with Sophie (Ackert) and the birthday boy Alexander (aka 'number last'), just turned two on October 9 2009.

Most of the Chiles Clan at Alexander's Birthday Party, from left Rachel Artymko, Roger Chiles (Grampy), Susan (Chiles) Artymko, Katherine Vlossak, Natalie Artymko, Alexander Vlossak Chiles, Jean Chiles (Nana) and across the table Rudi Vlossak Chiles, Eileen Leslie (good friend of Katherine) John Artymko, and Sophie Ackert. Missing Pamela Chiles and Jeff Ackert, and me the photographer! One can also notice Buddy the wonder poodle snuffling around for chocolate cupcake crumbs.

THANKSGIVING

It was absolutely beautiful at the cottage this weekend, the weather fair, with the leaves showing their magnificent autumn splendour in a dizzying spectrum of yellows, golds, oranges and reds. And all I could think was "What an absolutely beautiful day...a beautiful day to die..."

Thanksgiving, for us at least, was sad and somewhat muted, as a dear friend of Katherine, Karen Livesey, passed away on Saturday morning after a long battle with cancer. Karen was a teacher at Madawaska Valley District High School, and leaves her husband Mel Schulist, three wonderful step children, and an incredibly vast group of heartbroken family and friends.

I did not know Karen too well, but I can tell you her voice, and her laugh, and her smile, were just some of the things forever burned into my mind. She spoke like in song, with a wonderful, lilting voice, like a clarinet or flute, played beautifully solo. Her laugh was free, unrestrained, and rich, not feminine, yet magnificent because of that, perhaps. And her smile, like her laugh, brilliant and comfortable, quick to appear, and very slow to diminish and fade.

And now sadly she is gone, taken by a disease that claims far too many women's lives across the country and around the world. If you knew her, you would have loved her also. Sad also was the fact that after Katherine had moved away from Barry's Bay, she (and I) didn't see enough of Karen and Mel, though the times we spent in her company were memorable.

Just The Boys

I returned to the cottage the Saturday before last after returning to Tavistock, helping Jeff out for a day, and then taking a half dozen canoes to the Paddle Shack in Gravenhurst. On Monday Katherine left with her parents, and returned home for her first two PD days, while I stayed at the cottage with the boys 'til the weekend. Here is Alexander playing with some of his favourite toys, and Rudi doing his best Michael Phelps imitation (in spidey underwear, no less)!