June 30 to July 6, 2013

Sunday ; Sunny and hot !

At my urging, Joanne used the Sun Oven today for the first time in a long time. First really sunny day in a long time ! First she cooked eggs and potatoes in the Sun Oven to make a potato salad for supper. Then she used our new bread maker machine to prepare a batch of dinner roll / hamburger bun dough, and cooked the buns in the Sun Oven. We used them for hamburgers for supper, along with the potato salad. Nicely done !

WOO-HOO ! I finally finished the trailer bathroom ceiling rebuild / replacement project ... sort of.
I installed all the precision cut moulding sections. Installation did not go as smoothly as I would have liked. I had difficulty countersinking the heads of the nails I used, and finally gave up trying. The white painted nail heads remain visible < shrug >. I trimmed off the vapour barrier excess. 
I caulked around the skylight. I caulked around the fan vent. I caulked around the light fixture. 
I caulked around the entire perimeter of the ceiling. That's it ! Sort of ! I didn't have quite enough moulding. I need to buy one more length of moulding, then cut and install it, but it's an easy vertical piece, along a wall from the ceiling to the floor.

I'm obsessing about the imperfections of the moulding installation. Joanne thinks everything looks great ! Thank you, my dear. If my OCD gets the better of me, and I'm still bothered by the visible nail heads in six months or so ... I guess I'll just have to do the mouldings again, and install them differently. It's odd ! The difficult and intimidating parts of the project, I accomplished quite well. One of the simpler parts gave me the most trouble, and caused me the most angst.

Over the past few days I have been having telephone calls and exchanging e-mails with a lady from Edmonton who is buying a new travel trailer in Edmonton and wants it delivered to Penticton. Today she hired me to pick up the trailer at the dealership in Edmonton, and deliver it to Penticton in a little over a week from now.

Monday ; CANADA DAY

WHEW ... VERY HOT ! Very high temperature made unbearable by humidity. Usually we have low humidity which makes high temperature ... nice, in my opinion. Heat, humidity, and ambivalence caused us to abandon plans to participate in Canada Day celebrations in Keremeos or Osoyoos or Penticton or Hedley or Princeton.

I fussed with trailer bathroom ceiling mouldings. < shrug > Slight improvement. I caulked the new shed's plastic floor to the wood base. WHEW ... 8' x 15' shed means 46 feet of perimeter to caulk. Joanne suggested we go cool off in the park's indoor / outdoor swimming pool. Great idea ! Afterwards we went out into the Crown land adjacent to our RV park and harvested raspberries and Saskatoons. Another great idea by Joanne. Raspberries were GREAT ! Difficult to get at, but plentiful. Had some for dessert after supper, drizzled with "con leche" from Mexico.

Tuesday ; WHEW ... the shaded thermometer just outside our door read 39.5° C / 103° F at 4 PM. Too hot to do much of anything today.

Joanne did some online research for our trip to Edmonton next week to pick up a trailer to be delivered to Penticton. She found us a lovely, riverside log cabin beside the Fraser River in Tete Jaune Cache, B.C., a bit more than halfway to Edmonton from here, at a reasonable price for next Monday night. Well done, my dear.

Wednesday ; Today was not quite as hot as yesterday's record breaking temperature of 40° C / 104° F., the hottest temperature we ... Joanne and I ... have experienced in Canada.

This morning I did an obedience session with Bo before it got too hot, then we went into Keremeos to run errands. I adjusted the air in the truck's spare tire then went for a haircut and beard trim while Joanne went to buy groceries and refill a water jug. I bought some toilet repair parts then we drove to the logging business in Cawston that makes logs for home building. We filled two large bags with wood chips to be used for landscaping. No charge ! Thank you ! Joanne says she loooooves getting something for free. HA HA HA ... my kind of girl !

After lunch and a nap with the animals I fixed the toilet, then we went to harvest Saskatoons. This year's crop of Saskatoons was ready about a week earlier than usual, they were large and juicy, but they are rapidly coming to an end as they dry out quicker than they can ripen due to the very hot weather of the last few days. Today might be the last harvest. And only five containers of Saskatoons in the freezer to be eaten next winter in Yuma. HA HA HA ! MMMMM ... I'm fantasizing about Saskatoon pancakes in January as I type this ... but I digress. HA HA HA !

In the evening I received a phone call from the lady who has hired us to transport her new travel trailer from Edmonton to Penticton. Her brother would also like to hire us ... to transport a small motorcycle in the bed of our truck from Edmonton to Penticton at the same time.
< shrug >  KA-CHING ... I guess !

Thursday ; Today was sunny and very warm, a lovely day.

We spent the day running errands in Penticton. Ten months ago we bought an old TV at Salvation Army in Penticton. It was, and still is, in perfect working condition. It was meant to be "temporary" when we moved into our park model manufactured home, anticipating that we would purchase a new TV in Yuma, Arizona on American Thanksgiving / Black Friday, which we did. Today we returned the TV to the Salvation Army, as a donation. HMPH ! They refused it ! "Too old" ! ! !
It annoys me when charities are too "snooty" to accept donations, especially an item that was purchased from them less than year ago. We took it to Value Village who also refused it. We discarded it at the recycling place in Penticton. I hate discarding something that works perfectly fine !

Today I visited Southern Skies Aviation, a flight training and aircraft rental business that has been "starting up" in Penticton for the last ten months. I think they're finally ready to get off the ground, so to speak. And so ... it's time for me to resume flying !

Friday ; Today was sunny and hot.

In March when I replaced the trailer's skylight which had been destroyed in the Guasave, Mexico underpass accident I did not seal the edges and screws with the included tube of butyl caulking.
I did not want to do that and then discover that I would have to remove the skylight in order to replace / rebuild the bathroom ceiling. Now that I am finished the bathroom ceiling project, it was time to seal the skylight edges and screws. Oh, geeeeezzzzz ... the tube of butyl caulking that was included with the new skylight was the texture of ... bubblegum ! I found it very difficult and messy to work with, and the results look like it was applied by a < ahem > developmentally disabled eight year old. AND ... after making that mess on my skylight ... I went over to a neighbour and made the same kind of mess on his. HA HA HA ! I had previously committed to a neighbour that when I was going to caulk my trailer's new skylight, I would also caulk his trailer's skylight which was in need of some resealing.

After I was finished making those two messes, I discarded the remaining ¾ of a tube of butyl caulking, and spent a long time getting that "bubblegum" off my hands and legs and tools with paint thinner. I helped our next door neighbour move his large barbecue down to the lawn by the clubhouse where tomorrow's "yard sale" will take place. I did some refurbishment work on a patio table Joanne scavenged from a neighbour who was discarding it.

AND ... for the first time since we "moved" from lot 89 to lot 4 about eleven months ago ... I began to seriously consider the idea of moving our lovely cedar gazebo from lot 89 to lot 4. HMMMM !

Oh, for ****'s sake ! ! ! It's almost 10 PM ... the windows are open because it's hot ... and a "weekender" resident has begun to play his bagpipes. I hope he's tuning them up to sell them tomorrow at the yard sale !

Saturday ; Today was sunny and hot again.

This morning we walked down to the large lawn area by the park's clubhouse to see what our neighbours were selling at the park's yard sale. Nothing of interest.

Because I have been hired to transport a motorcycle from Edmonton to Penticton in the back of our truck, today I removed two totes that were bolted down in the bed of the truck, and sorted and rearranged everything that was in the totes and the truck's large storage chest. Having to get a motorcycle into the bed of the truck hastened the inevitable. Since we are no longer full time RV'ers, and have both a summer home with a storage shed and a winter home with a storage shed, and are planning to retire the fifth wheel trailer to Yuma and buy a truck camper ... it was time to stop hauling all our worldly possessions around in the back of the truck. HA HA HA ! It was hot and humid, and I didn't feel well today, so it took me all damn day to accomplish about two hours worth of work ! And I wouldn't even have accomplished that much if it wasn't for Joanne's help. Thank you, my dear, I was really off my game today.

DSK