Homemaking

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The Chasm to Prince George

I read for several hours Saturday night, well past sunset, and as it got chillier I moved to the bed where I read some more, until almost 11. I was given some great books by a supplier at the gas station, a fellow Quebecer in exile, including a trilogy that I have wanted to read for some time. A quiet night at the Chasm was the perfect time to start on them!

There was a surprise waiting for me in bed:

it’s rare I catch them together like that!

The night was dark and cold; I slept like a log and woke up around 6:30. It was very cold in the rig, so I climbed down, turned on the furnace, then went back to bed with my book for about a half hour until things warmed up.

I went out for a brisk walk to the creek and back before breakfast, savouring that crisp cold Chasm-morning air, listening to the ravens caw and watching the light change over that vast green hole I love so much.

morning at the Chasm

path down to the creek

Breakfast was a good cup of coffee and half of Mrs. H’s banana bread. Yum!

I rolled out of the Chasm around 8, after dealing with a leveler that jumped up after I rolled off it. It jammed itself in the dirt and wedged in next to the exhaust pipe. I surveyed matters for a second and decided that forcing Miranda forward would at worst knock my exhaust pipe loose.  It didn’t, but the leveler nearly snapped in two!

There was a lot of ground to cover today if I wanted to get to Prince George at a reasonable hour, so I drove straight through to 100 Mile House. I remembered from last year that the Save-on-Foods there has pretty good access and would be my best place to stock up on groceries before Whitehorse.

This is where my day went to hell in the proverbial handbasket (whatever that means). I had to figure out how to fit this:

awesome deals!

into this:

As it turns out, like so:

packaging takes up a lot of space!

I had checked the status of the freezer before going into the store, but some deals were just too good to pass up. The cashier swiped my member’s card first, so all my card savings were applied immediately, about $16 worth, bringing my total grocery order to $240, which was reasonable for what I bought. I find that Save-on’s prices are generally on the high side to make being a member seem like a good deal. I’m not sure what they get from members since the card is free, but occasionally the card makes a huge difference, like it would today. Once my order was tallied up the cashier added my members only coupons that are applied on top of the card discount. My total dropped down to $175! They claim that I got a $64 discount, but I think it was closer to $40 compared to no frills stores. Still a good deal!

And I might have done well with the freezer and fridge, but I ran out of pantry space and had to tuck excess stuff into the ‘spare’ cabinet under the dishwasher. Note to self: that’s where the chicken gumbo’s at! 😀

I got some work done in the parking lot there, but it was very busy and I decided to try my luck with the internet at the next rest area at 108 Mile House Ranch. There, I got a slow signal and was able to put in a good hour’s worth of work before having lunch.

Then, I drove. The sinuous roads of the Cariboo slowly gave way to the longer straight stretches of the Fraser Fort George. The weather alternated between blue sky and torrential downpour. Miranda groaned when going up and purred going down and everything was right with my world. I was heading north and everything was going so smoothly.

I was due for gas when I hit Quesnel, but there is only one gas station there I like and it was very busy. There was a note in last year’s Milepost that there is an easy access Race Trac station in Hixon, about halfway to Prince George, so I decided to push on to there. This was something I would never have done without a firm grasp of Miranda’s range vs. mark on the gas gauge. I have a 200L tank and took on 195L in Hixon!!!

From Hixon, it was an easy haul to Les’ spread outside of Prince George. I didn’t trust my GPS and decided to find his place by memory, remembering that I had to ‘turn left at the road with a friend’s name, right at the pink barn, and then keep left.’ I got there without incident (thank you, awesome brain cells!) and went down to the house. No one answered, so I unhooked and got Miranda squared away and reasonably level. I was just about to go back in when I heard noise from the house. I must have been quieter than I thought!

We caught up over a couple of beers then Les came up to look at my water heater and changed the probe. It performed perfectly for him but conked out minutes after he went home. Figures!

I’m so glad to be here and to have a day’s respite. I’ll put in a couple of hours worth of work tonight to finish up the week and tomorrow I will get a head start on next week’s since internet/cell access is going to get iffier and iffier. I’ll be moving out Tuesday; a day off is going to be welcome. I haven’t been on the road that long but the last few days have been very full.

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Sick of Trim

I did most of the dressing room trim today and am not happy with a single piece of it, especially in the shower area, which had some wonky angles. I think some putty will cover a lot of the problems, but not all. Someone needs to invent flexible trim that is at least an inch deep. The only thing I truly felt I accomplished today was build up that little strip between the vanity and the shower.

It also needs a little bit of trim to finish it, but something much thinner than what I’m using on the floor. There is now no more carpet in the living area of Miranda. I can’t wait to get rid of the carpet in the cab!

All in all, today felt like a real waste of my energy. I’ve bought the rest of the trim I need to finish the rig and I will try to continue this week just because I have the miter saw handy, but it’s no longer a priority. I have a hand saw and miter box, so I can finish this part of the project later if need be. I think I’ve hit renovation burnout.

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Study Window Coverings

The study has been in dire need of new window coverings since day one. It has pull down opaque roller shades. Great for a bedroom, not so great for a room where you want privacy and light. The shades were getting to be very brittle and the two on the side windows ripped, with the one on the passenger side being too far gone to salvage.

I really want blinds for this room, but they would have to be custom sized and would therefore be much too expensive for my current budget. I decided that I’d have to go with curtains for the time being. I thought of securing them to the bottom half of the window and having the top part attached with snaps or similar fasteners so I could fold it down. Not a bad idea, just needed to find fabric that would work with my design plans well enough for me to be able to live with the curtains as long as possible, but also be very cheap.

Which is how I found myself hauling home a load of really cheap stiff polyester sheets from Zellers today:

Not the nicest material in the universe, but the colours definitely work with my paint choices and the design is also suitably ‘cottagey.’

I brought home three double sheets and one twin sheet, all flat, all costing $4 each. I may exchange one package for a twin fitted to cover the ‘sofa.’ It’s not the best material for a sofa cover, but it would at least make things look unified enough until I get around to the decorating portion of the makeover.

I may even have enough blackout material to cover the bottom third of each curtain; I’ll need to dig it out and do some measuring.

This will probably end up being a summer project, but the fabric was too good a deal to pass up!

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Still Sorting It Out

Today, I’m working at making the study travel ready and decided that I might as well make one pass through all my storage boxes in the overhead cabinets. While they were all very neat and well labeled, I had a feeling that the contents wouldn’t be that useful. I was right. For example, I found lots of neat things in the box marked ‘hardware’ that I really don’t need in a motorhome like solder and incandescent 120V light bulbs!

I also found a box marked ‘decor’ that is filled with small pictures I aimed to frame and put up. I need to go find some frames! One particularly special picture was already framed and I wanted to give myself a huge kick for leaving it in a box so long:

This is my dad circa the mid to late 1950’s. I’ve put him up on the pop out wall in the study so he can look down on me while I work.

I also had a large basket filled with music cds that I inherited from him and which I have ‘been meaning to go through.’ It’s been three years (!), for pete’s sake, and I’ve already transferred over the stuff I know I like. So, the basket was added to my pile slated for donation. Done and dealt with, whee!

My friend was promised a grand tour tomorrow, so I’d better get back to work!

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Securing the Cloth Dresser

I’m not enamoured with the cloth dresser, but I do believe it is a good solution for the space. Today’s project was to finish securing it for travel.

The Gorilla Glue I used on the dresser frame did the trick so the next step was to secure the frame to the wall. Since I don’t expect the cloth dresser to have a very long lifespan, I wanted to make as little damage to Miranda as possible. I therefore used eye-bolts and tie-wraps to keep the dresser from tipping over:

I used one eye-bolt each for the the bottom and top part of the frame.

Once the bottom dresser was secured to the wall it was time to insert the body portion. How it works is that the top has stiff cardboard that theoretically keeps the body from slipping through the top of the frame. Once you add any weight to the drawers, however, the body slips through most annoyingly. So, I decided to secure the body to the frame using tie-wraps after strengthening the holes with grommets:

I used one grommet and one tie-wrap in each corner.

Once the bottom dresser was installed, I secured the top one in the same way:

I’m not worried about the drawers shooting out since they do not slide easily, so I’m considering this project done pending a travel test. I may cave and secure the bottom to the floor with a couple of eye-bolts, but I’m optimistic that this will do.