Sunday ; Another day of temperatures nudging 100 degrees. I quite like it actually ! We went to Osoyoos today to deliver one trailer, the delivery that was postponed from yesterday. Since we were all the way out there, and didn’t have all that much work to do, Joanne decided we should cross the border and do some shopping. So … across the border we went, into Oroville, Washington. We refilled Lanoire with diesel ( cheaper in the U.S. ) and we shopped for groceries at Prince’s. Why are the prices for milk, eggs, and cheese a fraction of the price in Canada ? ! ? Does that mean Canada’s socialistic marketing boards just don’t work ? ! ? WOO-HOO … got the last tub of Tillamook Ice Cream with the peanut butter filled little chocolate cows.
Monday ; Another hot day. Hauled a very heavy, old compressor from the park’s garage to the trailer in the park that I have been hired to transport to Penticton. Inflated the trailer’s flat tires. Did some yard work. Did a Bo-gility session. Late in the afternoon, we washed the truck. WHEW … too hot for that ! Fortunately, there is a lovely indoor / outdoor pool here.
Tuesday ; Another hot day. When we were driving home from the South a few months ago our fridge wasn’t functioning properly on the propane function. Today my objective was to clean and adjust the fridge’s propane burner and igniter. While doing that I discovered that the igniter is not functioning properly. The problem might be the igniter. Or maybe the igniter’s printed circuit board module. Or maybe the thermocouple. ( sigh ) I did some Internet research but wasn’t able to learn much. I will try to get some helpful free advice from the RV dealer in Penticton that I do business with, and the mobile RV service technician that RV Days uses to service their rental trailers.
Wednesday ; Another hot day. We had to get up waaaaay too early this morning in order to be at Penticton Hospital by 8:30 AM for the last of Joanne’s annual cancer screening tests. Afterwards we did our regular shopping and errands, had a picnic lunch in Skaha Lake Park, and were back home by mid-afternoon. Our next door neighbour Stu asked if we heard a wildcat / bobcat late last night in either his or our yard. Uhhhhh, no, Stu … I think what you heard was Sully using his “outdoor voice” to tell Bo to hurry up and finish drinking water and get away from the water bowl. HA HA HA … Sully’s not “big” on standing in line and waiting. HA HA HA … that’s my boy … HA HA HA ( SNORT ) HA HA !
Thursday ; Uh-oh … smoke on top of the mountain ! ! !
Yesterday evening the sky turned grey and there was much thunder and lightning, although no rain. At dusk there was a beautiful double rainbow over the Ashnola River Valley to the south. This morning when I opened the bedroom blinds … uh-oh … smoke over the Ashnola ! ! ! The noon news on TV reported that last night’s electrical storm ignited over 100 new fires in the BC Interior last night. By early afternoon there were fire fighting helicopters filling their buckets in the Similkameen River beside our RV park, but they weren’t fighting the fire that was visible to the south. They were heading over the mountain on the west side of the river, returning with empty buckets within a few minutes.
I went into town today to get a haircut and beard trim. I sanded and painted the lower fiberglass skirt of the trailer where I damaged it with spray brake cleaner a few days ago. Did you know that spray brake cleaner eats paint ? ! ? Well, neither did I ! ! ! HMPH … as always, my spray painting work leaves a lot to be desired.
Friday ; This morning the forest fire on the nearby ridge was a lot worse than yesterday. It got no attention until mid-afternoon when a tanker plane finally showed up and dumped a load of fire retardant on it. Then a couple of helicopters with buckets worked it for a few hours. They managed to knock it back down to about the level that it was last night before they quit for the day. At 7 PM, while we were cooling off in the swimming pool, and watching the fire, it flared ! A lot ! Heavy smoke with visible flames ! I hope it gets more attention tomorrow !
I spent the day trying to solve two problems with the trailer. First, the thermostat that controls the furnace and air conditioner has not been functioning quite right lately. I removed it from the wall, disassembled it, cleaned it as best as I could, then reassembled and reinstalled it. If that doesn’t solve the problem I guess I’ll just replace it. Then I continued working on the malfunctioning fridge propane igniter. Following some diagnostic instructions I found on the Internet I was able to diagnose the problem as a faulty igniter module, a little box of electronics that costs about $50. Guess I’ll have to buy a new one. Harvey ( the trailer ) is now 12 years old, so the failure of some electronic components is neither unexpected nor unreasonable.
At 9 PM I went outside to look at the forest fire through binoculars. WOW … it was spooky to be able to see individual trees ignite and burst into flames like a blowtorch shooting fire up off the side of the mountain. Fifty to a hundred years to grow, and fifty to a hundred seconds to be destroyed !
The forest fire continues, although diminished quite a bit from yesterday.
Late at night, around 11 PM, an extremely strong wind blew up suddenly. I heard the “snap, crackle, pop” of a trailer awning being damaged by wind. We ran outside and met our neighbour Janet coming out of her trailer. Her husband Gerry wasn’t home ! The three of us began to wrestle with the awning, already damaged, making it difficult to close / roll up. Quickly some other neighbours joined in, and after 20 or 30 minutes of frustrating effort in the dark, we managed to get the awning closed, protecting it from any further damage.
DSK
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