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About The nugget. (Sisters, Or.) 1994-current | View Entire Issue (March 22, 2017)
Wednesday, March 22, 2017 The Nugget Newspaper, Sisters, Oregon 25 Learning the lessons of a hard widter Sisters Coudtry birds By Jim Cornelius News Editor Sisters’ heavy winter of 2016-17 has taught property owners some hard — and expensive — lessons. Many homeowners and owners of commercial prop- erties are dealing with dam- age from water that seeped down walls and through ceil- ings due to ice dams. Michael Robillard of Mountain View Insurance says that property owners should take time to fully assess the extent of dam- age, which in some cases may only now be becoming apparent. “You can turn in a prop- erty claim for up to two years — it may even be longer than that,” he told The Nugget. Now is the time to figure out just what happened to your house and why — and get to work fixing whatever problems there may be so they don’t happen again. “If you’ve had areas where you’ve had issues before, get ahead of it,” Robillard said. “Don’t assume that problems are just going to go away.” Heat loss through the roof can contribute to the melt- freeze cycle that creates ice dams — the culprit in many leaks. Robillard, who is part owner of the building that houses his Sisters office, says he’s dealing with that himself. “I’m going to blow in more insulation,” he said. Identifying problem areas and acting on them now just makes sense. And, Robillard notes, property owners actu- ally have a duty to mitigate problems. Contractors are extremely busy and booked up some- times for months for repair- ing storm damage. It pays to plan ahead to avoid problems in the first place. Looking ahead to the potential for another winter of heavy snows, Robillard advises homeowners to be proactive. Get the snow load off your roof and get on ice dams early before they become thick and intractable. “If you have to hire someone, hire someone,” Robillard said. “This is your house.” And make sure you are covered the way you need to be. Robillard notes that if you shovel massive amounts of snow off your roof onto the ground, it then becomes a flooding hazard. A quick melt-off that causes water infiltration from the ground can be considered “flood- ing” and might not be cov- ered if you don’t have flood insurance. You can turn in a property claim for up to two years — it may even be longer than that — Michael Robillard And in most cases, flood insurance doesn’t kick in for 30 days after you acquire it, so, again, you have to be thinking ahead. The big winter Sisters just experienced was exceptional — but there’s no guarantee that it won’t happen again next year. Learn the lessons of winter and act now while the weather is good to repair damage and prevent it from recurring. By Douglas Beall Correspondent The American dipper [Cinclus mexicanus] or water ouzel is found singing and bobbing on fast mov- ing streams throughout the western U.S. Searching for aquatic insects and small fish, the dipper dives and sometimes swims under water while overturning rocks to find their food. They have white upper eye- lids that protect their eyes and that also may help in blinking communication while on the loud rushing rivers. The female chooses a nest-site that is above flood stage and then the male dip- per constructs a nest with an outer layer of mostly moss which is lined with leaves, grass and bark. Four to five white eggs are incubated for 14 to 17 days, and a 24-day nesting period is begun. On the Metolius River, every bridge has a dipper nest under or close by. A low metabolic rate, and blood that has a capac- ity to carry increased oxy- gen levels, enable the dipper to survive the cold winter waters. Their melodic songs echo along the streams and rivers and increase in fre- quency during the late win- ter to spring breeding sea- son. A group of dippers is called a “ladle” of dippers. For more American dip- per images visit http://abird singsbecauseithasasong. com/recent-journeys. PHOTO BY DOUGLAS BEALL Sister s Rental 17STN001 Sisters Rental is your local headquarters for spring. Here you’ll find everything you need for spring cleaning, home repair and improvement, and landscape maintenance. Sisters Rental is now offering Stihl’s revolu- tionary line of rechargeable battery-operated hand tools. From blowers to trimmers to mowers to chain saws, these tools will get the job done effec- tively — and quietly — with none of the noise or fumes of gas-powered equipment. From maintaining a small yard to tackling big commercial jobs, it’s not a question of how long a charge will last, but how far it will go. 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