Accommodation

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Quiet Weekend

Now that the blog makeover is done, I can focus on my two other major projects that need to be done by February. I reserve the weekends for such work since few people are posting want ads on Saturday and Sunday. It gives me a break in my week.

Yesterday was a lovely day. I headed next door to Donna‘s and invited her for a walk. We headed up into the desert behind the RV park with Midnight, who soon grew tired. Donna wanted to take him back home, but he’s such a little thing that I decided to just hold him. A dog like him would be perfect for me…

While the days have been nice, the nights have been cold and loud. Imagine this: when the temps go down to near freezing, the vineyards operate huge wind machines to keep the air circulating. These machines sound like helicopters. For the last two nights, I felt like I was living right on a chopper pad from about 8:30PM to mid-morning.

As if that noise wasn’t bad enough, the RV park has been doing lawn maintenance during the day. So, the minute the chopper noises stop, the mower noises start. Try to concentrate on anything in such circumstances! I decided to formally extend my stay in Osoyoos to the end of January, worried that the RV park would rent my site out from under me (which they did), but I’m starting to regret that decision! Perhaps when the colder weather arrives things will quiet down.

Speaking of colder weather, I’m going to have to start thinking about hunkering down since I am now committed to wintering here. Many rigs in the park use foil-covered bubble wrap as skirting material (R4 rating). That seems to be the most cost-effective and easy to store skirting method for me, so I will go load up on that stuff shortly. The hookups here are badly done and I need about ten feet of water hose to reach the tap. I have five feet of hose wrapped up in heat tape and no intention of investing in more heat tape. So, I think I will live off my water tank when we start getting extended periods of nights below freezing.I’ve heard rumours that They (whomever They are) are predicting that Osoyoos is heading into its worse winter ever! I am not even willing to entertain the thought that anything could be worse than the winter of ’08 to ’09. I’ll keep an eye on weather reports and will start to consider blowing out my water lines at the end of November. I’m close enough to the park facilities to make using theirs a viable option.

Leaving Osoyoos just doesn’t make sense. Yes, the Vancouver area would have milder weather, but I’d be looking at twice the cost of living. I’m going to make a proper stand against cold weather this time around and see what happens. Last night, the bad weather didn’t hit until the middle of December, so I’m hopeful that I’ll be comfortable until at least then.

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Insourcing

When I work crazy hours like I did this past summer, outsourcing makes sense. I eat out a lot and rely on technology to do some chores for me. But when I’m paused like I am now and stretching the budget to the limit while I await a new source of funds, outsourcing is a waste of money.

Today, I insourced three things:

1) Laundry

I haven’t had to pay for laundry in almost a year and a half! Needless to say, the Wonderwash hasn’t been getting that much use other than for dishcloths and delicates. Today, I put it, and the drying rack, to good use and did a couple of loads by hand, saving a very tangible $6.

2) Dinner

!!! I forgot what a good cook I am! 😀 Tonight was definitely a ‘big’ dinner night since I’ve been moving around all day and was just about ready to eat cardboard by late afternoon. I made chicken breasts in a shallot/dried mustard sauce over spaghetti noodles with Brussels sprouts navidad. Last night I accidentally opened a can of corn instead of pineapple, so I threw the corn in with the sprouts. Since I’d just a tad overpeppered the veggies, the sweet corn balanced the heat out very nicely. I might make a chocolate cake for dessert, I’m feeling that domestic. 🙂

3) Dishes!

Rent here is site plus power. A good way to reduce my power usage is to reduce my use of power hungry devices like my beloved dishwasher. *sighs*

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Anatidae and Serpentes

My first day in Osoyoos was a good one. The weather was HOT! I can’t believe that just a few days ago I was scrambling to find cold weather gear!

One of my contracts picked up speed this week, so I was able to put in a full day of work (if only it would keep up steady like this for the next four months!). Having the attention span of a gnat, I like to break my work day into roughly one hour chunks, then take a break away from the computer. I work a much longer day that way, but I find I am more productive.

For one of the breaks I took today, I headed to the beach, just a couple of minutes from my spot. There are a bunch of ducks who like to lie around on the sand and I had fun watching them for a spell.

Okanagan Lake

Okanagan Lake

Mallards chilling out

beautiful mallards

Mallard making sure his boy parts are still there?

For my lunch break, I decided to walk into town to see if there was anything practical within reasonable walking distance (nope). I made sure to capture this sign placed just before the entrance to the RV park:

 snakes crossing sign

Longtime readers will not be surprised that my reaction to this sign was Ooh! rather than Ew!

I have to say that this geographic area astounds me. There is no doubt I am in a desert, and many people practice xeriscaping, but there is still this lush abundance that fits in with what I think the Mediterranean coast would look like. On my walk, I saw cacti in one garden and grapes in the next!

lush desert

Sometime in the middle of all this, I met some more blog readers (thank you for stopping in!) and soon as I hit publish, I’m off to the pool. This Okanagan stay is off to a good start and I hope it stays that way!

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No Resolution

Miranda started up fine and performed normally and optimally to the repair shop, Elite Auto Service. They spent about a half hour scanning the rig to see what trouble codes came up:

P0118: ECT circuit high input
P0743: TCC system electrical fault
P1290: cylinder head temp sensor low input

They said that there was one part, the name of which escapes me, which might need to be replaced, but the rig performed normally for them and they felt there was no sense throwing parts at a problem they couldn’t see. I was advised to go for a long drive, see if the problem recurred, and, if so, under what circumstances. They did not clear the check engine light, but gave me the list of codes so that the next time someone looks at Miranda they won’t have to start from scratch.

I left feeling a bit bummed that there’s still quite likely a problem, but very pleased with the service. I was there a half hour and was not charged!

Since I was feeling uncertain about the rig and had also just found out I could have my spot in Osoyoos for $15 a night plus tax (Full hookups! Pool!) I decided to just head for Miranda’s fall mooring.

I drove the 150km or so to Osoyoos and had one stall when I had to come to a pretty sudden stop at the bottom of a hill in Summerland when a light went straight to green from red. But Miranda started back up normally. The drive was otherwise 100% normal. I’ve spent enough time in this thing to recognize an odd sound or behaviour and there was nothing.

So, ironically enough, mechanical troubles saved me money on this trip. Well, so long as they don’t end up being ‘something’ after all. 🙂

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At Walmart’s Mercy

People shop early in Kelowna! By the time I got up at 8, manoeuvring out of the parking lot would have been a real challenge. I popped the hood and saw nothing amiss, then started Miranda. She purred and idled beautifully, but I didn’t try to put her in D and move out of the spot.

First order of business was to see how Walmart would feel about my staying a day and second night here if I had to, and then to find some help. No sense wasting time here if they were going to make me move on.

Walmart required some groveling, writing a letter to management, leaving a note on my dash, and promising to spend oodles of money here. I wish I could have actually spoken to management and laid out my case: why make me move to an RV park when the garage I found is literally only a couple of blocks away?

The first place I called this morning was the Ford dealership. They couldn’t accommodate a 31′ motorhome. I’m learning to not take no for an answer and pushed the lady to refer me to someone else, which she did.

I called these other folks and gave only the bare bones story to secure an appointment. They can see me at 8AM tomorrow, which is perfect since it’ll enable me to manoeuvre out of the Walmart parking lot before it’s choked with cars.

The man I spoke to asked for a bit more of the story and told me I surely have one of three problems, all of which are at the top of my list, too: leaky or loose hose, clogged fuel intake, clogged air filter. If it’s a best case scenario, which is that there is no actual problem except a sensor that needs to be reset, I’m looking at $73 bucks with tax. Otherwise, I’m probably looking at a $122 job with tax. Worst case scenarios aren’t even worth considering at this point.

He told me “There’s no reason to panic, this is likely something minor!” and I had to smile since I haven’t been panicking. I know enough about the causes for a check engine light to not be worried about a super costly repair. I’m just still pissed off that this had to happen in the middle of nowhere in some of the most beautiful country I have ever seen!!!

Once I have had Miranda looked at and know that I can hit the road, I will decide if I’m moving to the RV park early or not, provided they can accommodate me.