Haven

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The Day That Time Stood Still

It’s been one of those days where I have no idea what time I got up, but it must have been early because every time I look at the clock it’s a full two hours earlier than I feel it rightly should be based on how much I’ve gotten done!

Today was a Town Day. There were a bunch of really good sales starting and a number of items that have been on my to buy list were heavily discounted. So the first thing I did this morning was revise my shopping lists and make sure I had everything in the truck that I needed to bring to town. This included a 5-gallon water jug and a couple of packages for the post office that I spent quite some time preparing.

I would have been ready to leave by about 7:45, but I wanted to wait for the post since I was expecting a cheque. Thankfully, the cheque was in my box at 9:30 and I was able to leave at 9:45.

I wanted to go to Assiniboia by way of Willow Bunch because my Co-Op equity cheque would be waiting for me there. It was obviously a detour (an extra 30KM), but the Assiniboia pick up date was on Wednesday, when I didn’t need to go to town. It was much cheaper fuel-wise to detour to Willow Bunch this morning than to just go to Assiniboia for the cheque and no other purpose on Wednesday. Plus, it would give me a chance to take highways 36 and 13, which I don’t often have an excuse to travel and they are scenic!

The detour was really worthwhile since there was a $101 cheque waiting for me! I get a refund based on the previous year’s purchases and I bought a lot of building materials (my roofs) as well as propane in the colder months.

I got to Assiniboia around 10:45 and my first stop was obviously the bank. Then, I went to Peavey Mart to pick up paint for the interior of my shed ($29.99 for 10L instead of $39.99), a paint tray ($0.99 instead of $1.49), a fluorescent light fixture ($19.99 instead of $29.99), and two cans of Rustoleum Leak Seal ($8.99 each instead of $12.99).

Next stop was for fuel so I wouldn’t get caught like last time! Fuel is at $1.08 right now, which is better than the $1.30 I was paying in the fall! We were apparently below a dollar while I was away!

After fuel, I popped into the Co-Op home store since they were advertising a 75′ 14-gauge extension cord for just $34.57, about 55% lower than the best price I’ve ever seen for that product! Small hiccup when I came in, their 14-gauge 75′ extension cords were marked at $54.57. They didn’t come up in the computer as being the product advertised on sale, even though they clearly were. No worries, we’re all part owners of the Co-Op, so the manager tends to rule in the customer’s favour. She figured that the one on the shelf was equivalent and gave me the discount after looking at a few other products on the shelf. She was very impressed that I could correctly identify all the cord gauges from 20′ away. 🙂

14-gauge is still a little light, but I can string two 75′ sections and have no voltage drop on a full 20A load, so that’s good enough for my needs. I don’t have power to my outbuildings yet, so I rely on extension cords. I have one running to the cabin for the freezer and washer and I need two to get to the shed and the front part of the property for the mower. So I’ve been needing an extra 14-gauge cord since I got the freezer and have been cautiously making do with a 16-gauge one.

Next, I dropped my truck between Home Hardware and the post office. I went to the latter to mail my packages and found the prices surprisingly reasonable, although it was twice as expensive to get a tracking number for a US parcel as it was to send it without one (I took a chance and opted for the cheaper option).

Home Hardware was my next stop for some self-sealing silicone tape for a plumbing repair. When I came out, it was only 11:40!!! I was ravenous by this point and decided to just go to Andy’s for the buffet. At $11.50, it’s really the best value in town and I knew I could get in and out quickly. I pretty much just had pizza and broccoli. The server remembered how much I love their broccoli and told me as I sat down that it would be right out. I can’t believe she remembered that! They put sesame oil on it. I should try that at home.

My final stop of the day was the food store since they were having their 10 for 10 canned good sales. Those are always super good value, but you have to buy 10 to get the deal. I have enough beans, chickpeas, ham, and spaghetti sauce to get me through the summer! I’m eating a lot of spaghetti sauce again now that I’m doing the zucchini ‘noodles’ I discovered last year. At $1 for a large tin (Hunt’s brand, which is excellent!), it’s just not worth making my own sauce anymore (something I used to spend a day slaving over the stove doing).

Groceries packed into the truck, I headed home, where I pulled in at just past 1:00, just a little over three hours since I left! I’m telling you, time stopped at some point today!

First project when I got home was to get on the roof and apply another very generous layer of Rustoleum. I used up the whole can and sprayed over a wider area. While I was up there, I trimmed back some branches that were rubbing against my front window last night and actually woke me up at one point.

The next project was to install the light fixture in the shed. This was really easy, to my immense surprise. I just had to install two eye hooks into the ceiling (thankfully, I had some), attach chains to them, insert the fluorescent bulbs in the fixture, and then hang the fixture from the chains.

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It’s so great to finally have a decent light source in that dank and mousy cave! My friend Charles is going to install a window for me in a bit, but I know that natural light won’t be enough. The fixture plugs into an extension cord and there is a string for turning it on and off that I can easily reach.

I knew that painting was going to be a huge job because of the rough wood and all the nooks and crannies, so I just wanted to start today. I don’t care about a nice well-feathered paint job and any runs.

I used EcoCoat paint, a recycled product made in Alberta. It’s a low VOC paint, so it doesn’t have strong fumes, but it smells terrible. I am very impressed with the coverage, however, although I don’t think I’m going to have enough! 🙁 The label says $34.99, but there was a sign saying that the price has increased to $39.99.

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I started with the roller to get as much on as fast as I could and then followed up with the brush until I ran out of steam.

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The difference is already phenomenal! They had several colours and I decided that lighter would be better than darker, but that I didn’t want white or an actual colour. So this beigey ‘birch’ was perfect. I have a lot of work to do this weekend, but I want to try to get in a couple of hours each day of painting in the late afternoon.

Then, it was time for one last project. I have a small leak in a shut off valve for my water heater that is turning into a dramatic issue (mould starting). Normally, I would try to fix the bad valve and if that failed, I would cut it out and replace it. But there is literally no room to work and the IDIOT who put it in did so backwards so there is no hope of getting at it to try to at least repair it!

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The valve is a bypass that separates the water heater from the rest of the water system. This way, you don’t have to fill the water heater with potable antifreeze in the winter. I blow out my lines now, so I decided that I didn’t care if I couldn’t use my valve and I wrapped the whole thing in a giant wodge of self sealing tape. Don’t try this at home folks, it was desperate measures!

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I have no idea if this will be enough. It was very hard to get the right tension on the tape. I have half of the roll left to add more if needed. We shall see.

Something I bought last year made this job a wee bit easier. I can’t believe I waited this long in my life to get one!

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Then, it was time for a shower, a beer, and a break. Now, I’m thinking about dinner. It’s Friday and so I may be having a hot dog… in a corn tortilla. 🙂

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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!