Imprinted

Dylan

Winter Woodland

Nadolig Llawen

I hope you all had a Very Merry Christmas, and I wish you all a Happy and Healthy New Year.

Black & White (and grey)

Sycamore Park at dusk

Dusk
Blue hour (10 minutes more like)
See what I mean?

Camera Shake

A small change

You may have noticed that I've changed the blog title from "The Chippbutty's Views" to "The Chippbutty".
I hope it won't affect your bookmarks. I don't think it will because the address is staying the same.

A wee bit of shovelling to do

Taken through our kitchen storm door
You can see the temperature. It's about -10' C
When you've got to go (and you're a dog)
You've got to go (through the snow)

Snow in the dark

A final driveway clean-up

The welcoming lights of home
Home in a flash

A stormy white day

Christmas Rush.

Slow down folks - just a little bit.

Santa's House at Burlington Mall

Sneaking a look through his window.
Browsing in his back yard.
Welcome to my home!

Victor Metal Valve Extensions

Maybe I judged Canadian Tire a bit harshly .......

I received this email from them about the "Victor Metal Valve Extensions".
This is the copy ......

"Thank you for contacting our office regarding 3/4" Valve Stem Extensions, product #09-4052.
We apologize that this product did not meet your expectations and thank you for taking the time to bring this to our attention. It is through the input of customers like yourself that we are best able to monitor such concerns and identify areas of possible improvement.
Because your concerns and opinion mean a great deal to us, we have taken the liberty of forwarding your correspondence to our buying office for their review.
Please be assured Canadian Tire Corporation and our Associate stores strive to provide both quality products and excellent service to our customers.
Our success is based on the voice of our customers. We thank you for providing us with the opportunity to respond.
Regards,
Bill Drennan
Customer Relations Representative
Canadian Tire Corporation Limited"

We'll see what happens next.

"What goes up must come down" Gravity

Victor Metal Valve Extensions

I'm sorry I haven't posted for a day or two, but I've been hoping for a reply from Canadian Tire Corp about the faulty Victor valve extensions. I was going to post their reply here. I think maybe my hopes were raised a tad too high!

Victor Metal Valve Extensions

I cut a Victor Tire Valve Extension open to show the problem that I wrote about yesterday.

This shot shows the spindle head trapped behind the step inside the top of the tubular body.

The above photos were taken with the valve extension lying flat.
Holding the cut vertical shows the "trapped" condition better. It's at the bottom of the spindle head. Sorry about the fuzziness (camera shake).

Victor Metal Valve Extensions

I bought this set of Victor 3/4" valve extensions last Monday from Canadian Tire. They were "Made in China".

The idea was to cure terrible tire valve accessibility through the wheel trim of my Dodge Caravan.

It's possible to jam the extension stem sideways while it's depressed. It then becomes locked under an internal shoulder in the extension body.

The photo shows the middle pair are depressed and jammed sideways. This was done with a tire pressure gauge.

When the extension stem is depressed beyond a point, the tire valve is also depressed, letting air out of the tire.

Within one hour of adding the pictured extensions and checking pressures, this was the result (the vehicle was parked at the time).

I removed the extensions immediately, re-inflated the tire and it has held pressure without loss for four days.

I am never going to buy Victor products again, and seriously wish there was an alternative to "Made in China".

Would you buy them?? It's your money they're after, and it could be your life they're taking as well.

What have we all done to be so reliant on countries and companies that do not take product quality and our safety seriously??

In the Mall

Mapleview Mall. Burlington.
Mapleview Mall.
As above.
I'm not very fond of mall shopping, so when I have to go - I take the camera!

Gee. Thanks a lot!!

The guy on the right (behind the snowbank) had just finished clearing his drive when the plough went up the street. He was a little bit upset at having to repeat the effort!

Shapes in Snow

Kovered Kale
View from the Trenches

First Snow of 2007