Author: Rae

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Haven With Water! (Sort Of)

The city worker came out really this morning, about 9AM, and was very nice! He told me that while there are utility maps floating around, they have been proven inaccurate and there is no way to know for sure that I have access to the water main without digging deep. He thinks it could be thousands of dollars to get a water tap! I think it could be cheaper than that if I find someone with a digger, but anyway, the point was he didn’t think I could have a tap in the near future unless I wanted to shell out big bucks. Bummer.

That said, he had been informed by the gals at the RM that I am now on the garbage route and that I will be billed for water, so he came prepared. He opened up a public tap about 300′ from the rig. It spewed out thick orange water for about five minutes, then it ran clear and cold. We strung out my super long green hose then added the sections Laura had given me. It was just enough! I also had a length of white hose I could have used, but I prefer to only use that when I’m hooked up to truly potable water.

The low water pressure coupled with the distance meant it took a full hour to fill the on board tank. Moreover, the hose crosses a couple of properties, so I need to move it when I’m done so that the mowers don’t get at it. Therefore, this is not super convenient, but it’s better than hauling jugs! My water heater is running and I am going to have a wonderful shower tonight! 🙂

I’m using the rest of the hauled water to start on my laundry today. I’ll see how far I get. I have MOUNTAINS to do and no pressing work today, so I might as well get at it. I definitely have work tomorrow.

It’s nice to know just how efficient the RM staff is! And here is another example. Tuesday morning, I opened the front door and noticed that the garbage bag that had been on the stoop the night before was gone. Tuesday is garbage day. The holiday had messed me up a tad and I forgot to bring my bag up to C&C’s on Monday night and figured that it was no big deal as I could put the trash next to my curb as of next Tuesday.

I was deeply curious about who grabbed the bag seeing as you really have to be looking at my stoop, ideally with binoculars, to see what’s on it, I’m that far from the roads. Anyway, the water guy said that he had spied it and snatched it! Wow! Talk about service!

Being able to have a shower tonight made me want to get down and dirty with my genset again today (I am now completely filthy and look like a heathen).

I am getting really close to isolating the non-start and it’s near the spark plug. So even though the spark plug looks good, I’d be best to replace it. Wish me luck finding one. Figuring out how to install will likely be easier. 🙂 It’s so frustrating that it sparked the other day and I’m cursing myself for attempting to start it without enough gas on board. I might have missed my only chance. 🙁

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Baked Under a Prairie Sky

aSummer is in full force in southern Saskatchewan!

This morning, I heard some commotion at the front door and found this cheeky little fellow taunting my boy:

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He was not timid! I opened the door and he just hopped down a step. I had to grab Neelix by the scruff of his neck as he was ready to bound out after his prize!

After finishing my work for the day, I headed to Willow Bunch to get some produce, more gas for Miranda’s tank, and also to check in with the RM office about getting garbage pickup and a water tap.

It was a bad day to be on the road east since they were grading. Thank goodness I have a truck!

The gals at the RM office recognized me quickly from my emails. They will bill me for garbage and water until November 15th. As long as I can find a trash barrel, I can put my trash at the curb for pickup next week!

As for water, they said that they will send someone over tomorrow to talk to me about it. *all appendages crossed that he shows up*

The Willow Bunch Co-Op had some really nice produce, so I was quite pleased and filled my basket to the brim with the best of summer’s bounty.

I stopped at C&C’s on the way home to pick up some lettuce and green onions from their garden, and then went to work on the generator.

It would not spark again as it did the other day. I am so frustrated with manufacturers who don’t consider maintenance work. I went through the troubleshooting guidebook I got from Onan at the seminar and traced the non-spark to a section that is not accessible without pulling the entire genset unit. It has a two-part cover that is bolted and screwed in areas that you can’t get out with standard sized tools.

I am so irked to have gotten that far: oil good, fuel line clean, carb spic and span, air filter clean, 12V power getting to the unit and to not be able to clean and tighten some leads near the brushes!

I may tackle that bolts and such again tomorrow. By the time I realised how much elbow grease was going to be needed, it was way past dinnertime and I was getting the shakes.

When I saw a doctor in Lethbridge way back in the summer of 2012, I got the first full workup of my life and still the doctor could not figure out why I was just plain exhausted all the time and had been for years, which meant stress wasn’t the answer. He suggested that as soon as I had a two-week window of time with no social commitments, I should go on an elimination diet of no wheat, soy, dairy, yeast, and eggs to rule out a potential allergy that could be sapping my energy.

Well, the summer of 2012 at my mother’s was no place to try such a diet. Nor was fall and early winter in Hampton Roads, what with the holiday season. And neither was later winter and early spring of 2013, what with all my social commitments! I finally got a window of time after my Kelowna expedition.

So birthday cake on Friday notwithstanding (and this wasn’t a gooey sort of cake, but rather a lemon bundt), I have been off not only wheat, dairy, soy, eggs, and yeast for a solid week, but also all carbs except fruit, and no caffeine either. And I haven’t felt this good EVER. I’ve had no bad days at all and no withdrawal symptoms, and I haven’t had this much energy in all my life! I never ever thought I would get on the low-carb bandwagon, but something in my diet had to change and apparently that was it.

All that to say, I was thinking the other night about what to put in a tuna salad to make it creamy without using dairy and the answer came to me quickly: avocado. So tonight I whipped up some guacamole (with a Willow Bunch-purchased avocado), mixed in a can of tuna, and served a scoop of this over C&C’s lettuce and some delicious cherry tomatoes:

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Dinner was as tasty as it looks! I make my guac with lots of lime juice and garlic, so it is very flavourful and a perfect complement to the bland tuna.

Later, I will treat myself to a bowl of fresh local raspberries!

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Meanwhile, Back at Haven I’m Dealing With Weeds and Rust

I can’t believe I’ve been back at Haven for five days now! I’ve been getting internet in snatches long enough to check email and sometimes do a little surfing, but updating the blog is always difficult on this connection and I’ve frankly had more important things to do up the hill.

Let’s backup a little bit to Wednesday, which was a little hazy since I got so little sleep and got up so late (about 10:00). I started by emptying out the truck and putting things away, then I cursed the internet connection for a bit before going up the hill for a spell. I was able to pick up Neelix mid afternoon and he was happy to see me! I couldn’t believe it! He came running when I entered C&C’s house and cuddled for a long spell, then followed me around the rig.

I had bought shrimp in Medicine Hat, so I treated myself to a shrimp boil for dinner, then went to bed crazy early.

Thursday, I had transcription work to do, but it had a generous deadline, so I just picked away at it and really didn’t get much done. I don’t remember anything else about Thursday, except that I spent some time up the hill.

Friday, I had to do some updates on the Windows computer and the internet fairly cooperated, so I was saved a trip up the hill. I continued with my transcription until 7:00 and then it was time to head over to Laura’s for canasta.

It was so nice to catch up with her and then C&C when they arrived, quite late but bearing cake, so all was forgiven. Charles and I were a team and lost three of four rounds, but did so well on the fourth that we won the game overall! I love Friday night canasta. 🙂

I got up early this morning to finish up my transcription since more came in for the weekend. Also, I wanted to go into Assiniboia for propane and gas for Miranda’s tank since I didn’t know if the Co-Op would be open on Sunday and Monday (turns out yes).

I left for town around 12:30, got to city limits, and realised I had left my wallet on the desk!!! I had come home to a just about empty on board propane tank (good thing I got home earlier than planned or the fridge would have been off!), so not getting propane today wasn’t an option. I turned around, got the wallet, and retraced my steps.

My first stop was Peavey Mart, a store I had never been into before. It’s basically Alibaba’s cave as you can find EVERYTHING in there, from clothes to cow ear tags.

I picked up:

-a 25L jerry can (I already had a 20L one and wanted to bring back a decent quantity of gas)

-a 7 gallon (okay, I’m being bilingual on my measurements) water container (I plan to have running water soon, but this will be useful for my upcoming excursion)

-a cherry tomato plant

-a weedwhacker-type thing (more on that below)

I then got the fuel and propane, picked up some veggies and fruit at the Co-Op grocery store, and headed home, stopping at C&C’s first for water.

After hooking up the propane, I added the fuel to Miranda’s gas tank. I had bought a siphon thing at Canadian Tire for 15 dollars, a length of clear hose with a ‘pump’, that was well worth its money as it emptied the jerry cans quickly and with no fuss at all.

Then, it was time to attack my lawn. Charles has been doing a great job mowing it (THANK YOU) with a tractor, but the edges were really tall and my boardwalk had disappeared under a cover of grass. A weedwhacker was in order.

The weedwhacker-type thing I found  is a ‘grass whip.’ You use it like a golf club. I was looking for something cheap and the least costly powered option was $99. I had never heard of a lawn whip, but could understand how it would work and it was just $15. But surprise at the till, it was on sale for $11!

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Here is the boardwalk after the first pass with the lawn whip.

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And here it is after:

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After dinner, I went out to put some fuel stabilizer in Miranda’s tank and apply some carb cleaner to the genset. I only had a quarter tank of fuel on board, so I knew there was no hope in starting it, but hope springs eternal. I hit the start button and it sparked then tried to turn over. There is life in it! I am going to Willow Bunch on Tuesday to deal with getting water and garbage collection and I will get more gas so that I can try the start exercise again after cleaning the fuel line. I am probably being too optimistic, but I have a good troubleshooting manual and the confidence that if this generator is salvageable, I can fix it myself, thanks to the Onan dealer at the seminar thinking this.

Today, I had some transcription to do and I also wanted to tackle the rust on my truck. A guy came up to me at the RV seminar to tell me that he does body work and that the rust on my truck had to be deal with NOW. He is not the first person to tell me this in the last year… He said to go to Canadian Tire or Walmart and get some Tremclad for rust. I could apply that directly to the truck to seal in the rust, but the caveat is that I wouldn’t be able to get a colour to match my finish, nor could I apply automotive paint over top. This is the worst of the rust:

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I got as much of the loose material off as I could, sanded, and then wiped it down. Next step was taping off the area I did not want to paint:

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Here’s the Tremclad. I knew the green would be too Christmasy for my truck, but hoped it would dry a little darker than this. It didn’t. *spoiler* It dried lighter. I wish I had left the rusty look and just gone with a clear coat.

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You can really see the difference in colour here:

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I applied three light coats of colour, then two clear coats. Don’t laugh at the result. It’s better than rust!

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I could not see myself applying any more of that awful colour to my beautiful Moya, so I blasted all her other rusty spots with just the clear coat. These are the worst of them:

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So it’s been a productive few days. If I have no transcription tomorrow, I will likely tackle the driver’s side rear wheel well (damaged in the last blowout, sorry the connection’s too slow to load the blog to get back links). Tuesday, I want to go pay for garbage delivery and find out who to call to get a water spigot put on the property. I want water by the time I get back from camping next week!!!!!!

That’s the scoop. I’m off to see if my spaghetti squash is ready. 🙂

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Cusping

This is the longest time that I have lived a life, and the first time that I have gone so long without wanting a tornado to rip through that life so that I could start over. I still don’t feel that way. I love my life and I embrace all changes to it.

Talking to Donna about her and Ken starting over with a new house, I expressed how I feel that I’m going through a change, too, but couldn’t quite put my finger on how I was feeling. Donna immediately came up with the perfect word: cusping.

She’s right. I am at the cusp of my RVing life as I originally imagined it. I have seen as much of this continent as I need to, any more would be a bonus. I’m getting tired and the idea of traveling a little less is rather appealing, especially if it means being able to save up money to start traveling internationally.

I can tell my life is on a different course now that I have the property and it is working out so well, but I’m not certain yet what the course is. I just have a strong feeling that it’s going to mean winters traveling and summers staying put, unless I can afford to fly out and explore some far flung corner of the globe. But it doesn’t mean moving out of Miranda into a fixed home. I really don’t see that happening.

Going back to Kelowna, I had a meeting with the Women in Trades counsellor at Okanagan College about the RV tech program. Talking with one of the program teachers, it seemed that the demand for RV techs in Saskatchewan could work in my favour and that I could likely get a summer job with the freedom to travel in the winter. I’ve always wanted to learn a trade and RV tech is obviously a good fit for me.

The Women in Trades program also seemed like a good fit at first glance. I qualify for it and would get free tuition, books, and safety equipment. The hiccup is that I either have to live off savings or get a student loan. I cannot earn income while doing the program. I love our governments’ logic.

I always said that I would only go back to school if I could focus on it and enjoy it, so there is no way I would further put myself into debt to attend school, nor do I think it’s realistic to believe I could save up several years’ worth of living expenses. So it looks like taking the RV tech program is not the path I am meant to take.

There are more thoughts rattling around in my brain right now, but that’s all I feel like sharing at this point. I am curious to see where the next few months guide me. Right now, I’m still envisioning myself in Quartzite sometime next winter. 🙂

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Haven Without Internet

I have gotten zero access to the net since I got back to Haven, so I’ll be quiet for a bit as I have too much to catch up on to spend hours up on the hill. I have a Yagi-style antenna on order, but it’s coming from the States and I don’t expect it any time soon (I ordered it there since it was an all-in-one kit with the cable while I would have had to piece together something from a Canadian source). I am so annoyed since my phone is getting a signal with the booster, but the Mifi refuses to convert that signal into an internet connection. It was temperamental even with a strong connection, so it’s no wonder it’s misbehaving now. I’m working on a series of posts and will upload when I can.