May 13, 2006

May 13, 2006

Shediac, New Brunswick

YEAR 2 DAY 330

 

Today was sunny and mild.

This is a lovely campground. We've driven a long way in the last 3 days. We decided to stay here today and rest. We spent the morning lazing around. When Joanne went to the campground office to pay for another night, she commented on how high the water was late at night. The campground owners told her that in October our campsite is under water at high tide.

We had an early lunch. I printed a revised preventive maintenance checklist, then did today's preventive maintenance. I added some automatic transmission fluid to Lanoire. I carefully and methodically straightened out the bent fins on the top of the automatic transmission cooler. Somebody must have leaned over the transmission cooler to reach something on the engine, or they dropped a tool, bending the thin radiator fins on the transmission cooler. Only somebody as anal retentive as me would take the time and trouble to straighten out bent radiator fins. HA HA HA ! I walked across the street to Napa Auto Parts to see if they carried dually tire valve extenders. They didn't. Joanne left to walk downtown to do some errands. I took a photo of the rig in the campground, then walked across the street to take a photo of Shediac's giant lobster. I downloaded the photos from the camera to the computer. I prepared some outgoing e-mails. I went to the campground office to get online using their Wi-Fi. Their Wi-Fi signal is not strong enough to reach our trailer. I sent and retrieved e-mail, and updated my blog.

While we were in Ottawa, staying at a large, almost empty campground, we had a "neighbour" move in beside us for a couple of days. Their rig had B.C. license plates. They backed up into the site next to us, at an angle, with the back of their fifth wheel trailer about 3 feet from our door. I couldn't understand why somebody would park 3 feet from us, in a large, empty campground. Some people have a strange sense of personal space, I guess. The same rig has just moved in beside us here. Small world !

I put Teddy outside in his nylon screened kennel, on the picnic table. He prefers to be up on picnic tables, for a better view. I took Bo for an obedience session. He did excellently ! His reward was a tennis ball play session, then an off leash romp on the tidal mud flats. When the tide is low late in the afternoon, there are hundreds of feet of tidal mud flats before the water's edge. At night, at high tide, the water is right behind the trailer.

I did some minor repair work to a piece of stair moulding. I removed some screws from the dually mud flaps and replaced them with bolts and nuts, better suited to the application. I spent quite a bit of time working on remounting the moulding over the bed. I have installed it, and reinstalled it, a number of times in the last few months. I tried double sided adhesive foam tape. It didn't last. I tried Velcro. It didn't last. This time I'm screwing it into the wall with tiny screws. It's not as aesthetically pleasant, but it should be better able to withstand the flexing of the trailer that occurs as we travel.

I barbecued for supper. Salmon patties for me that I bought yesterday, pork chop for Joanne. After supper I finished installing the moulding in the bedroom, and as soon as I was finished, I realized I had done it wrong < huge sigh >. Darn ! I should have done it when the trailer was detached from the truck, because of the way the front of the trailer, and consequently the bedroom ceiling, flex slightly when the trailer is attached to the truck. Now, as soon as I detach the trailer from the truck, the front of the trailer will sag ever so slightly, the bedroom ceiling will sag ever so slightly, and it will either crack the moulding, or just strip the screws right out of the wall. Darn ! ! ! I'm sure not very good at "home improvement" type projects, am I ? ! ?

DSK