Wind yesterday (again), along with light snow it produced an eclectic and unpredictable day. School was open and rightly so. At eleven K to 3 was close for the afternoon, right choice at the time as it looked like getting realy nasty. Then lo n behold it turned out not all that bad.

Being one and a half hours as the crow fly's from the nearest liqueur store I dont get many opportunities to brows wine sections so I dont know how unusual my experience is.

That being: I received about 6 bottles of grapa of various styles and brands for Xmas. Two bottles were from same source and where of same make and type according to the label. Golden Kaan 2009 Cabernet Sauvignon.
The bottles were green so it was not until after we took the tree down and putting gifts away that I noticed something odd. One bottle had red contents and the other had white contents.

I checked the labels thoroughly, there was no doubt the labels were identical for the Cabernet style. I had visions of tampering and such, after all how could this escape all the checks and balances at all the levels this bottle had gone through.

So we drank the red first, not bad at all. Then this Sunday I took the plunge and opened and did a taste sip of the white contents, after all one does not dispense of such things lightly..
Not sure the style but according to Golden Kaan web site I would guess  Chenin Blanc, but then I am no expert.

Fran liked it as it was not sweet, went with with the roast chicken.

Yesterday we had a heads up of a pending letter to all households in Nain from the Manager, Transmission and Rural Operations – Labrador Region of NL Hydro.

To wit:

Dear customer:
I want to provide you with an update on the status of the power supply in Nain this winter. We
acknowledge your concerns and want to assure you that Hydro is committed to meeting the
electricity needs in your community.
The diesel plant in Nain has three generating units. In mid-December 2012, the engine in one of
the two smaller generating units experienced a mechanical failure. Hydro plans to meet
customer electricity needs in communities serviced by diesel plants by ensuring that all of its
diesel plants are able to meet the demand from the community even with the loss of its largest
generating unit in any one plant. Sufficient generation remains at the Nain Diesel Plant to
provide power to all customers by operating the largest unit and one of the smaller units.
After a thorough assessment, it was determined that the best solution was to replace the
damaged engine with a new engine. A new engine has been ordered and crews are currently
disassembling the old engine in preparation of the new equipment. The third generating unit is
expected to be restored by mid-February 2013.
While the plant has only two units available, although there is sufficient generation for the
community, we always encourage and promote energy conservation and asked customers to be
conscience of their electricity use. Efforts by customers to limit their electricity use will lessen
the generation demand on the available generating units and help to avoid possible outages.
Customers can conserve energy by using minimum electricity for heating and lighting, and avoid
using non-essential household appliances. When repairs are complete to the engine in the third
unit, spare generation capacity will be restored, however until then some short duration
planned interruptions will be needed to perform routine maintenance, such as oil changes on
the two available engines.
We also acknowledge that customers in Nain experienced several unplanned outages since the
diesel plant has been operating with two units. Some of these outages were caused by
mechanical and automatic control issues on the largest generating unit. Hydro has made
permanent repairs to this unit and crews continue to carefully maintain both operating units.
There were also some short outages related to distribution issues affecting power to the
community, unrelated to any issues at the diesel plant, as well as some scheduled outages to
complete routine maintenance.
As you have experienced first hand, outages can happen unexpectedly and it can often be time
consuming to restore service. For this reason, we encourage all our customers in all our
communities to be prepared for emergency situations such as extended power outages. Hydro
has put measures in place to ensure the diesel plant is staffed full time until the repairs are
complete to the third unit’s engine and we have plans in place to respond to an emergency
situation.
Representatives from Hydro are holding a public meeting in Nain on Wednesday, January 30 at
7:00 – 9:00 p.m. at the Nunatsiavut Government Boardroom. This meeting will provide an
opportunity for us to provide a further update and answer your questions.
Hydro is committed to meeting the electricity needs of all the communities we serve, and
providing you with a safe and reliable power supply. I thank you for your cooperation and
patience during the power situation this winter. If you have any questions or comments before
the public meeting, please call our Customer Contact Centre directly at 1-888-737-1296. We do
appreciate your feedback.
Sincerely,
Rick Kennedy

As if to hammer those points home there was a power outage last evening, short but to the point.