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Another Moving Day Circus

I am partially moving back into Miranda today, just to sleep and cook most meals. I hadn’t moved back in right away for a number of reasons, the main one being that we were going through record highs here and it didn’t make sense to move back into a space where I couldn’t run the AC continuously being on 15A power. Finally, the strong cat odour in the rig kept coming back. I wound up doing a full sweep of the rig with a black light and an enzymatic cleaner and finally got  to the source of the issue and resolved it.

Now, why am I only moving back in partially? My mother came into the motorhome at one point and said, why don’t we do this, this, this, and this, all of which was on my to-do list for the summer. So we’re going to take advantage of the rig not being fully inhabited and the cats still being in the garage to do some final mods. The cloth dresser’s days are numbered!!!

It’ll be sooooo nice to sleep in my bed tonight!

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Replacing the Tailgate Handle in my 2000 Ford Ranger

My biggest complaint with the operation of my Ranger was that the tailgate was a pain to open. Eventually, I couldn’t open it at all. This is why:

After researching the cost of a used and new tailgate handle for my 2000 Ranger, I decided to order one from eBay seller directauto. The new tailgate handle cost me peanuts and arrived today. It is not a Ford part, but it appears to be just as robust and it fits perfectly.

I used the following video as a guide for installation:

The only thing I can add to that video is to have a pair of pliers on hand to grab your nuts if you drop them. Otherwise, installation was just that easy. The hardest part was finding the right screwdriver bit for removing the tailgate cover screws and then for the nuts holding the handle assembly.

I can’t believe the difference a little grease, WD-40, and a new handle makes! My tailgate now opens effortlessly.

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Chez Lien Vietnamese Restaurant, Saint-Constant

It was a spur of the moment invitation from old family friends and former bosses that brought us to a Chez Lien Vietnamese Restaurant in Saint-Constant, a place my mother had been to a few times and really enjoyed. Chez Lien is a chain, but she says that they have different owners and vary in quality. The one in Saint-Constant is the cleanest.

I’ll just make a parenthesis here to say that I started working for my bosses more than 20 years ago. I can’t believe it’s been that long! I last worked for them 14 years ago. We are still close and I can’t believe their boys are all grown up and starting to have children of their own. It makes me feel about 10 years older than I am.

Anyway, back to Chez Lien. They have a basic but mostly authentic Vietnamese menu with some Thai and ‘Chinese’ items as well as a very opinionated server. My mother gets a kick out of him. Everyone else had a combination fish and seafood platter with soup. I went for one imperial roll and the lemongrass chicken sauté. I wanted rice but when the server told me he was bringing me vermicelli, I felt it best not to argue. My mother said that I would have heard about it for five minutes if I’d argued with him for wanting the wrong carb with my meal. That sounds unpleasant, but he was hilarious!

The hearty roll came with fish dipping sauce (a clear and sweet sauce made with fish but not tasting like it at all) and a nice salad with a yummy peanut dressing. My dinner was very late coming out; my companions were halfway finished with theirs when mine arrive. But it was worth the wait! I had a huge plate of perfectly sautéd veggies and nice pieces of chicken swimming in a thin and fragrant lemongrass sauce that had just a bit of kick to it. I threw the noodles in to absorb some of the yummy sauce. Mmm! I adore lemongrass!

Chez Lien serves a variety of fruits deep fried in a wonton wrapper as dessert. Only two of us opted for dessert. My mother chose banana and I chose apple. Dessert was a bit ho hum, needing a little cinnamon or nutmeg, but the sweet sesame sauce made it pretty special. The coffee was very good, albeit a little too close to tepid to really savour.

I really enjoyed our meal at Chez Lien, especially when compared to my last experience at a Vietnamese restaurant! If I were to go back there, I would most likely have the lemongrass chicken again. It was just too good to try something else!

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Dealership Estimate on the Motorhome Repair

The replacement adjuster at Aviva called me this afternoon very confused about Boisvert Ford’s estimate because there was a $600 difference with the idiots’ estimate. I told her that my adjuster told me many times that the number doesn’t matter. As long as the adjuster in the US said that A,B, and C needs to be repaired and that Boisvert says that A, B, and C needs to be repaired, then the numbers, within reason, don’t matter.

She went on to say that there were a lot of questions about the estimate. The French speaker on staff couldn’t translate half of it into something that made sense. Could I call Boisvert and figure it out?

I called and got the body shop guy immediately. He was available to discuss the estimate and once he realised that I really needed to understand each item to explain it to someone else, he took the time to walk me through the whole thing very patiently. Wow, what a difference in service!

As it turns out, his estimate is just more detailed. Instead of just saying ‘repair bumper’, he spells that that repairing the bumper means that we have to repair the side and rear exterior panels the bumper is attached to as well as the inside of the compartment. Uh, inside of the compartment? *note to self: empty the compartment* He also had the proper French terms (plancher and seuil, literally floor and threshold) for the three twisted metal pieces. Finally, he added the hitch receiver and the hitch.

So I emailed Aviva back and said that the estimate makes perfect sense to me, detailing and explaining each item, and that I can provide more pictures for clarification. I also told them that a dealership working on its own product should trump any other estimate for repair and the adjuster agreed.

I think Miranda is going to be in good hands!

 

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An Assumption Results in a Potentially Major OOPS

This morning, I moved the truck out of the driveway so I could move the motorhome in. I then went to get the truck to park it closer to the house and it wouldn’t start. Oh, silly me! I was using my motorhome key! Put the correct key in and… nothing.

I immediately knew what was wrong. My Accent had a little phony anti-theft gauge to ward off truly idiotic thieves so I assumed that my Ranger’s flashing anti-theft gauge was the same thing. Um, no. As it turns out my Ranger has an active and functioning anti-theft device and was convinced I was trying to steal it so it went in lock down mode. OOPS.

I immediately got online and found a tip for possibly regaining control of the truck, but was warned that it fails more than 95% of the time and that I would likely need a tow to a dealership to get new keys made. Eep!

I followed the tip and, thankfully, it worked!!! I am going to have to start keeping the motorhome engine key far away from my truck key!