North America

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Mexico Visitors (Well, Really From Kelowna)

Colin and Contessa dropped by for a visit on Monday night! I was waiting for Contessa’s post about the visit before publishing my own.

I was still in Mexico when we started to plan this stopover and it’s a little surreal for it to have happened! They have been on a grand tour of western Canada for a couple of weeks and I was their next stop after Winnipeg, a couple hours detour versus taking the Transcanada straight through to Calgary.

Now that I have my own place, it’s really important for me to start paying back all the hospitality I have received over the years and I’m pleased that they accepted my invitation.

I thought that they could just park on the street in front of the property so they wouldn’t have to unhook, but Colin is particular about no trees touching the RV at all and there were a few low lying wispy branches that he was concerned about, so he decided to unhook and back into my driveway. They both felt more comfortable letting the slides out that way, even though I knew they would have been fine with the slides open on the street since we don’t get traffic worth mentioning overnight. All FYI for future guests of RV Park Chez Rae!

Two RVs and two toads fit comfortably on my driveway!

Two RVs and two toads fit comfortably on my driveway!

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Lots of room to move around even with the slides out.

I had run them two extension cords for 20A service and they hooked up to it. I spent the 2012 summer hooked up to 20A with these exact two cords and had done all the testing to check for voltage drop when running heavy appliances like the AC and there was no voltage drop worth mentioning. So the cords are well rated for this application. Colin had the necessary adapters to drop from 50A to 15A.

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This might look scary, but it’s perfectly electrically sound. 🙂

I let them get set up and take care of their dogs and then we sat outside with wine so we could catch up. It was the most beautiful day we’ve had since I got here and HOT. They’d just come from endless grey and wet, so this was a real blessing.

Once everyone was relaxed and a little lubricated, we got hungry, so I went in to cook. I don’t know how many times I’ve landed somewhere exhausted and been treated to a meal, so making dinner for us was really important to me. They eat very similarly to how I do, so coming up with a menu was super easy. I wanted something for which I could do all the prep ahead of time and then cook in under 20 minutes. So on the menu was zucchini ‘pasta’, a fresh tomato sauce, sautéd garlic shrimp, grated real Parmesan cheese, and a corn tortilla each. Contessa contributed a wonderful Caesar salad and wine! Dinner came together fast and was well received. 🙂

After dinner, I did the washing up while Contessa sat at my desk and wrote a blog post (since the internet signal doesn’t go beyond my office). She was several days behind, hence why this post is so late as I promised I wouldn’t blog about their visit until she did. 🙂

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This is a first, someone else sitting at my desk!

I lounged on the bed in the study with my own wine and my Chaco Canyon book while she wrote, just enjoying the end to a very full and lovely day.

We all went to bed fairly early and slept well. Like me, they appreciated the quiet and freshness of the air here.

Morning was very quick. Colin moved the motorhome onto the street and hooked up. They signed some paperwork that I had printed the night before and then I witnessed it before scanning it and emailing it. They left around 8:00. Seeing them drive off, I had a realisation and yelled out to Contessa’s waving arm, “See you in Mexico!” Don’t we have amazing lives?! 🙂

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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!