October 24, 2005

October 24, 2005

Nanaimo, B.C.

YEAR 2 DAY 129

 

Today was mostly sunny, and mild.

This morning I slept in a bit. While I was showering, Rhonda phoned from Ottawa with confirmation and details of my latest investment transaction. We sure are blowing through the money quickly lately. I did preventive maintenance, then refilled the empty fresh water tank. We are hooked up to the park's water, but the pressure regulator I use on the "city" ( external ) water connection reduces the incoming water pressure to a lower level then I like for showering, so I turn on Harvey’s water pump, and supplement the incoming "city" water with the trailer's fresh water tank when I shower. I finished up my morning by applying another coat of varnish to the base of the sofa table.

We had lunch, then set off for an afternoon of shopping and running errands. First we headed downtown to a shoe repair shop. The backpack purse I bought for Joanne in New Orleans last December, as a Christmas present, needs repairing. One of the straps broke. We found the little "hole in the wall" shoe repair shop, run by an aged hippie with hardly any teeth left in his mouth. He looked like he would fit right in, in the Ozark Mountains of Kentucky. The look of his shop made me marvel at how some people find a way to earn their living. From downtown we headed south to the suburban shopping mall area. First stop was the Bank Of Montreal to buy U.S. dollar traveller's cheques. < sigh > We waited in line for 15 minutes, before getting to a teller. It was a grim reminder of what used to be an agonizing ( for me ), daily chore when we were in business. From the bank, we went to Home Depot. I bought 3 sections of a gold coloured, metal stair nosing, to install on the lower front edge of the slide. It's going to give a really nicely finished look to the flooring job, at the front edge of the slide. From Home Depot it was over to Wal-Mart, and from Wal-Mart to Save-On Foods. Joanne drove back to RV Resort On The Lake from the mall. She needs more experience driving the truck in unfamiliar cities. If she does more driving in unfamiliar cities with me "coaching" from the passenger's seat, we'll both feel more confident about her driving around in unfamiliar cities by herself, to go shop for groceries, etc.. Back at the trailer, we put away today's purchases, then took Bo for an obedience training walk. I did today's accounting.

I drained the water, and refilled the pellets, in the 2 Damp Rid containers we have in the trailer. Moisture due to condensation is a big problem in RV's when the temperature is low outside, and the humidity is high, like in the fall on Vancouver Island. Damp Rid is a moisture absorbent system of pellets in a perforated plastic tub, nested inside another slightly larger plastic tub. As the pellets absorb moisture, and dissolve, the moisture drips through the perforated plastic tub into the larger plastic tub. Every couple of weeks, the pellets are all gone, and the tub is filled with water.

Since the sky was clear today, I decided it was an opportunity to barbecue for supper. There's not many rain free days here on Vancouver Island in October. I had purchased some salmon for myself, and pork chops for Joanne. I barbecued them on a cedar plank. It was stupendous ! Sharon gave us a cedar plank for barbecuing over a year ago. I had cut it into three pieces, and used only the second piece of it today. HA HA HA ! Some guys sure know how to stretch something that only costs a couple of bucks.

After supper I walked Bo while Joanne went to the clubhouse to reserve a time for laundry tomorrow. The laundry room here operates on a reservation system. Joanne washed dishes while I started working on today's journal entry. We watched Medium on TV, then the news. Geeez ... Hurricane Wilma has really damaged Cancun, Mexico and Naples, Florida. We're starting to feel a bit paranoid, like maybe we're jinxes. It seems everywhere we have visited in the last few years is being devastated by weather. New Orleans, Cancun, Naples ... watch out West Hawk Lake !

DSK