Month: February 2009

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Great Cutting Mats for RVers

One of the great products I picked up at the RV show last month was a set of flexible chopping mats.

I had three cutting boards, none of which worked in Miranda’s kitchen. The first was too small, the second one the wrong shape, and the last too big.  I was in the market for a big cutting mat that I could use over the stove cover, which I could stand up in one of the sinks to dry, and which wouldn’t take up much room. I was also in the market for hot pads or something similar, on which to rest hot pots. Can you believe that this is what the perfect solution looks like?

cutting mat/hotpad

cutting mat/hotpad

I had initially planned to roll up the mats and stuff them in a cupboard, but they fit beautifully on the BBQ lighter hook!

A side benefit of these mats is that you can create a sort of funnel with them to trap the food and guide it into the pan without it scattering all over the place.

Tonight was the first time I was glad that they come in a set of two. While I chopped up some melon on one, I was able to rest an extremely hot dish on the other. Both have been in use since the RV show and have been subjected to cutting, burning, and rolling, with no evidence of ill use whatsoever.

This amazing product costs less than 2$. Amazon sells them for 1.95USD, but I picked mine up for 1.50CAD at the RV show (where things were slightly cheaper than retail). What a bargain!

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Lynn Canyon Park

Today promised to be a gorgeous, springy day, with sun and highs in the double digits. Things have started to dry out considerably and I was just itching to get out of the city and enjoy a hike in the woods. My first instinct was to visit the Capilano Suspension Bridge. It’s not a cheap excursion (30$ entrance fee plus 5$ for parking), so I did some research on tripadvisor.com to see if it’s a tourist trap. Apparently, yes, because nearby Lynn Canyon offers a comparable experience at a price that can’t be beat: FREE!

Free sounded especially good since I wasn’t sure I’d actually get across a suspension bridge. I sure didn’t the last time I was faced with one!

Well, it seems that continued exposure to suspension bridges and a gondola ride have made me a little less of a scaredy cat and I wound up crossing the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge no less than THREE times! I will admit that I got across as quickly as possible, didn’t stop to take in the scenery, and shook like a leaf the whole way, but what progress!

Lynn Canyon is situated in the heart of a temperate rain forest and is a world of towering redwoods and pools of clear emerald water. Until today, I’d only seen water that clear and beautiful in Alberta. I spent two glorious hours enjoying the perfect weather (mid-single digits there) taking the first steps to getting in shape for the Chilkhoot hike. I finished my morning with a picnic lunch and then a stroll through the excellent Ecological Centre (2$ suggested donation).

Pictures are on the Lynn Canyon page.

Something wondrous happened today. I don’t know if it was the weather, the minimal GPSing I needed to do to get around, the amazing lack of traffic, nature, or what, but I… Oh, the English language is failing me here. In French, I’d say ‘apprivoisé’, which means tamed, but not quite for this context. I guess I’ll say I made my peace with the GVR, found something about it to love, discovered a little corner of it where I was happy to leave a tiny piece of my soul. The GVR is no longer a big, bad scary urban enclave (shootings notwithstanding), but a place that I will remember as being ‘home’ for four months in 2009.

Good day. 🙂

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Excel Induced Nightmares

There is already a hint of spring in the air and I’m starting to get the Itch, so I am glad to be so happy with my new job! I feel doubly blessed in that it found me, through my Craigslist ad. After my experience last fall at the RV park, it feels so nice to be back at a job where I feel valued and respected. The work is mostly satisfying and enjoyable. I’ve spent several days working on The Excel Spreadsheet That Never Ends (TESTNE), something that some people would find boring, but which I really do enjoy. The days just fly by when I’m working on complex Excel projects. I especially appreciate that the project TESTNE is part of is entirely mine and I can manage it as I please. That said, I’m getting a bit of a crick in my neck from all that time spent at the computer and I’m having nightmares about the dang Microsoft paperclip!!! I do have to say that I am not enjoying working on a PC after spending minimal time on one in the past six months. They really are antiquated and worthless junk and it’s high time that Macs take their place in the world. *sighs*

Life in south Surrey has settled into a gentle routine that is enabling me to recharge my batteries in anticipation of the summer ahead. I hope to be heading off to Vancouver Island for two weeks at the beginning of May and then pushing north. Hopefully, June will mean work, and lots of it, in Dawson City, and then I’ll head back south to Whitehorse in mid-July for the Chilkoot trek.

Because so many things went  haywire in the budget in the past six months (longer periods without work than expected, colder weather, having to move mid-winter, toad issues, etc.), I will need to make a serious concession about the rest of this first part of my trip: I get the Chilkoot, but I lose the Dempster. So, I don’t anticipate going to Inuvik this year after all, although, who knows, a lot can happen in the next few months and I hear the money’s good in Dawson City…. But I’m no longer focusing on researching that stretch of road and instead getting ready (and really, really excited) for my Chilkoot hike!

Yesterday, I pre-ordered my copy of the The Milepost 2009, an Alaska travel planner that includes great information on routes from BC to the Yukon. I’ve always enjoyed flipping through the year’s latest version and planning routes, but never allowed myself to buy a drastically reduced last-year’s copy just for fun, promising that I wouldn’t get one until I knew for sure I was going to put it to work.

Summer feels so far away, but I’m content enough here to be able to wait patiently. I’ve waited a lifetime to see the North, so what’s another few months, and, truly, there are worst places to be. I know, I’ve been there. 🙂

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Spring Cleaning

Completely cleaning a nine hundred square foot, three story house, including washing all trim, scrubbing the floors on your hands and knees, washing the walls and doing the windows inside and out: 3 hours for the top floor, 4 hours for the ground floor, two hours for the basement, for a total of nine hours.

Completely cleaning and detailing the interior of a 31′ RV, including washing your hardwood floor with a toothbrush because it has really deep grooves: two hours. Detailing the exterior would take an additional two hours. For a total of four hours.

The RV wins yet again.

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Tricks the Weather Plays

I can’t say the same for the water pump, but there is most definitely nothing wrong with my shower. Yay!

It was back in Oliver that I noticed that water pressure in the shower had become horrible, but I chalked it up to frozen plumbing. It took a long time to test the shower again since I’ve been showering at the pool house since I got here. The one occasion I had to take a shower at home, I noticed that the pressure was horrible and my heart sank. It wasn’t that cold here…. I made a mental note to test the shower after a string of warm days. That test occurred yesterday and I had full, normal pressure. Last night, we had a cold snap, enough to freeze my water intake hose for the first time in weeks. I just filled up the Wonder Wash to do a small load and, imagine that, no water pressure to the shower. I’m not sure exactly where the freeze is occurring, but I won’t worry about it since it hasn’t been freezing completely.

If only the problem with my water pump could be resolved so easily. *sighs*