Author: Rae

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How to Move a Power Pole

Remember the charred power pole that was replaced last summer? It’s been lying at the back of my property for almost a year and impeding my and my neighbour’s mower. I wanted to move it to one side of my driveway as an edger of sorts to hold in the gravel and rocks.

Coming back from the post office today, I flagged down my neighbour with the Bobcat who leveled my driveway (I could have sworn I did a post about that, but perhaps it was on Facebook) and asked him if moving the pole would be doable for him. He said, “Sure!” and that he was free this afternoon! He promised to come by momentarily to have a look and work out a strategy passed on where I wanted it. He sounded like he knew what I was doing, so my only input was its final resting place. He promised to be back at 1:00 with his Bobcat.

At 12:58, look what was approaching my property? He was here bang on 1:00. I love punctual people!

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The first thing he did was use one of the Bobcat arms to lift the pole up.

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He then had me stick a block under it (I just happened to have the perfect thing handy for that!). He then wrapped a chain around the pole and took it out the back way. He’d decided he wanted the fat end up against Miranda, so he did a little jig with it to get it turned around. I was on standby for block duty as well as unhooking and rehooking the chain.

He then took the pole around the corner and up into my property by the driveway. He pulled it back as far as he could, then used the Bobcat arms to nudge it into place.

I would have liked it closer to the curb, but the pile of trash there doesn’t make that possible, so where it is is perfectly fine.

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It’s unbelievable what an easy job this was! I think we were done in under 20 minutes. It’s wonderful to have another neighbour who is so generous with this time and equipment!

And here’s a video for those like me who enjoy watching machinery at work. 🙂

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Productive Days Are Good

I was blessed once again today with a super easy long file that meant decent income with minimal time at the keyboard. So I set Laundry as being my chore to accomplish. I’ve just gotten really behind because of the grey weather. I got it all done except some bedding by early afternoon.

Then, it was time to sort out my closet. In rebuilding my wardrobe, I’ve found myself with way more clothes than I can fit in Miranda and too many special pieces to want to winnow it all down. I have a pretty good idea of what I need at various points of the year now, so I packed up two or three tubs worth of colder weather gear and stuck it all in a grainery, leaving room in the wardrobe for summer dresses, tops, skirts, and pants. I made a list of the contents of each tub so if it winds up being a cool crappy summer like last year, I won’t have to dig far for the fleece.

My work was done by a dinnertime, so I had a quick bite to eat and then headed outside. I love these long lovely evenings! My first stop was the shed to assess the floor. To my surprise, there wasn’t nearly as much scraping left to do as I thought. I got it all done and will shop vac the next time I run extension cords that way. Next step is to find the absolute cheapest thing I can find to seal the wood, be it paint or varnish or whatever. I’m going to slap as many coats as possible on the walls and floor and call the shed usable after that. I have a plan for a workbench in one corner, shelves along one short wall, and room at the back for storing the mower and other garden implements.

Once I get the shed sorted out, I’ll be able to set up a really good laundry room. I think that will be it for Haven projects this year, unless the funds materialize to get some trenching done (ie. bring in a backhoe). If that happens, it’ll mean I’ll have what I need to get rudimentary plumbing in as well as bring power to each of the outbuildings. So needless to say, it’s not a likely event!

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Rain???!!!

I was just falling asleep last night around 10:00 when, with absolutely no warning, it started to POUR. It was a bit not good. I was just drifting off and it was a real shock that spurred me awake with a spike adrenaline, guaranteeing that my dream of a good night’s sleep would not come to pass.

I wondered, should I get up on the roof and tarp? Waiting for drips wasn’t appealing and would mean, obviously, more water damage since inside drips mean water infiltration. I also knew from past experience that with no protection, the seam would leak immediately, so every second with no infiltration meant the Rust-Oleum was working.

The rain stopped quickly and I stayed dried.

The same thing happened again around 1:00, only it was a very quick and angry burst of rain. Again, no drips inside…

This morning, before coffee, I went on the roof with my camera. Here is a section of the seam in question:

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The picture isn’t blurry. There’s a thickish layer of rubber all over the seam.

My roof is shot. I keep finding really bad tears like this one:

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My verdict on the Rust-Oleum job at this point is cautious optimism. They apparently sell it in gallons and it can be applied on top of itself, so I’m going to see if I can find some and do my whole roof with it. I don’t know if this is an appropriate product for RV rubber roofs and while haven’t found anything that says it’s not, please proceed with caution if you decide to try it out!

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Solar Powered

I never cease to be amazed by how different I feel when it’s sunny and pleasant out versus rainy or even just grey and damp. I knew this when I bought the property, of course, which is why buying property in what is supposed to be one of the sunniest and driest climates in Canada was important to me. We had a great 2013 summer and I was busy and super active, but it was all grey and rain last year and my activity level really dropped.

This summer is starting off shakily, with the odd beautiful day cut by a stretch of grey. I have been feeling utterly bla the last four or five days and thought I was coming down with a cold. But it started to clear up yesterday and it has been absolutely marvelous today. Guess what? I’m running on about six hours of sleep, absolutely all I needed and being incredibly productive!

I thought I had about 11 hours of work to do today, but it wound up being one of those files with a lot of dead air that goes very fast, so it’s going to come in at about only 6.5 hours worth of work. I started around 7:00 and then took a long break to work on my roof.

There are no pictures of the roof repair because, frankly, I don’t need anyone going YEESH. 🙂 I used a hair dryer to soften the Eternabond and it came right up.

(For the curious, I plugged an extension cord into an outlet in the kitchen, threw the cord out a window, and then threw the cord up onto the roof! I carried the hair dryer and supplies in a bag slung over my shoulder.)

I then scraped off all the Dicor and then washed with rubbing alcohol, which brought everything up. I’ve tried mineral spirits and acetone and the alcohol did the best job, even though it’s not something I’ve seen recommended for this type of project. Hmm. It really was impressive. I had little bits of Dicor that refused to come up and I just had to sprinkle them with rubbing alcohol to get them to peel off cleanly!

For the repair, I used Rust-Oleum Leak Seal in clear. I had a choice of black, grey, or clear and wish I had gone with the grey so that I could see if I missed any spots. This is a very easy product to use, similar to spray paint, and there is no mess. I applied, as directed, a fine initial layer along the entire seam, then I climbed down to have lunch.

When I came back onto the roof about an hour later, the rubber coating seemed to have seeped into the grooves and cracks of the seam, a good thing! I applied a second thicker coat (again, as per instructions), and headed back down to get more work done. I went up another hour later and applied a final coat, as I only had just enough in the can for three coats.

I’m cautiously optimistic optimistic at this point since the entire seam is covered with a thickish layer of rubber. But I believe in overkill, so I’m going to check the home stores in Assiniboia the next time I’m in town to see if they carry this product so I can do another three coats.

If this repair doesn’t hold, I am pulling out all the stops and going up there with more Dicor, screws, and a piece of metal roofing! In fact, I have a piece of ridge cap the right length and width left. Now, wouldn’t that be a redneck solution?! But hopefully, this will work…

The roof dealt with, I came in to type some more, then did some work in the kitchen. I want to add a counter under the window on the driver’s side. I thought of doing that last year, but the money went elsewhere. I think it’ll happen this year.

So that’s all the excitement out of southern Saskatchewan today. Back to work I go since I still have about 1.5 hours left. I don’t even feel daunted by that since I expected to be glued to my computer today rather than having had the chance to knock off a few projects!

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I Did Something Really Stupid

Pulling into my driveway yesterday, my jaw dropped when I realised that not only was my gas gauge light on, but my needle was so far in the red it was in the black! I still haven’t learned to keep a close eye on the damn thing!

I had driven more than 500KM from Scobey, so I considered myself lucky to be home and also stranded since I didn’t even want to chance the 18KM drive back to Willow Bunch, which has the nearest gas station.

So late this morning, I swallowed my pride and called Caroline to ask if they had any fuel or if they could pick some up in town for me. She suggested that I instead borrow her car to go get some some since she didn’t need the car today and she didn’t know what their schedule would be this weekend. I really didn’t have time for a trip to town today, but that was an offer I knew I couldn’t refuse!

I finished up my morning’s work and then went to get the car keys. It’s a little Kia not unlike my Accent (RIP), so it was pretty familiar to drive since most of the controls are where they were on the Accent. But I had forgotten what it is to drive so low to the ground and I might have hit the gas AND brake pedals at the same time once or twice since I haven’t driven automatic in so long. 🙂

I stopped for mail before leaving town and found my Amazon cheque! It comess earlier and earlier every month! I had another cheque to deposit, so a trip to the bank was definitely needed. There was something else in my box, something that always makes me giddy with anticipation when it’s a complete surprise: a ‘you have a package’ notification. I wasn’t expecting anything so I was of course curious. It was a package from John in Santa Fe, a book about Chaco Canyon to whet my appetite for my next trip into the Southwest. That made my day!

First stop in town was the bank and thankfully the teller who knows me was available. Thankfully because a client made a cheque out to Rae rather than my legal name and I’ve been through the whole proving we’re the same person thing with this teller in the past so she didn’t even comment on the cheque being made out to the wrong name.

Then, I went to the gas station and took advantage of there being service. I told the guy to fill the jerry can in the trunk and to add $10 worth of fuel to the car. He told me I needed to open the door for the gas intake and it took me a second to remember that the mechanism was on the floor by the door in my old car, which is where it was for this car! Then, I went in and fixed myself a coffee while the guy did the dirty work.

After, I hit the grocery store since there were some really good deals in this week’s flier. It’s really nice to be in a position to stock up during sales and to have a freezer in which to put extra stuff! Shrimp was crazy cheap for this weekend only, $6 a bag for the Co-Op brand, which is decent by frozen shrimp standards. $12 blocks of Co-Op cheese were $8. The only frozen pizza I like, Dr. Oetker’s Hawaiian, were $5 instead of $8. Low alcohol beer was $6 for a case instead of $9. Etc. I spent over $70 and for once didn’t feel like I got robbed!

Then, it was time to get home because I have 15 hours of work left to do by 9:00PM tomorrow! I look forward to taking Monday off since RV Park Chez Rae has a reservation for Monday night!