May 19 to 25,2019

Sunday ; Sunny and warm.

Today was a productive day of successful repairs. I reinstalled the living room air conditioner vent window panel. After breaking the previous panel made of plexiglass I fabricated a new panel made of thin wood panelling, and Joanne painted it. I checked the camper water heater’s sacrificial anode, removed and replaced yesterday, to see if there were any leaks. There weren’t ! I checked the water heater’s winterization bypass plumbing, reinstalled correctly yesterday, to see if there were any leaks. There weren’t ! I checked the roof top solar panel’s charge controller, repaired yesterday, to ensure that it was working correctly. It was !

I replaced the truck’s “permanent” air filter. It was about twelve years old. I bought a new one in The Dalles, Oregon ( tax free ! AND … a $10 discount coupon ! ) on our way home from Yuma. Removing, cleaning, oiling, and reinstalling the air filter has been an annual chore that I dislike. So I expected that removing the old filter and installing a new one would also be an unpleasant chore. It wasn’t ! It went relatively smoothly and relatively quickly. My last outdoor chore of the afternoon was to remove, repair with glue, and replace the camper bathroom door’s latch. It’s made of plastic, and had developed a crack. That repair also went relatively well. That will extend the life of the door latch for awhile, postponing the difficult task of finding a suitable replacement for a latch that is now over twenty years old.

I did some banking and budgeting and investment records keeping work. I posted my weekly journal to my blog. I barbecued jerk chicken for supper. After supper Joanne had a long telephone chat with her sister. I went bicycling.

Monday ; Victoria Day ( Canadian holiday )

Sunny and warm, a bit windy.

This morning, after treating Ozzie’s ears and brushing his ( six ) teeth, I went outside and watered our composters, plants, and gardens. Joanne helped me load our old mattress into the back of the truck, then cover it with a tarp, and tie it down. I’ll take it to the dump on Wednesday.

After lunch and a nap ( for me ) we gave Ozzie a bath. As we were finishing that our neighbour / friend Jeanine came over for a visit. We visited, then took Ozzie for a walk, and walked Jeanine back to her home.

Back at home I refilled the camper’s freshwater tank. After supper ( baked salmon ) I prepared and submitted our ballot for our community’s upcoming special general meeting to vote on the “firing” of our Board of Directors. < sigh > Over twelve years of this sort of nonsense drama !

Tuesday ; Penticton

Mostly cloudy, mild.

We left at noon for a day of running errands in Penticton. Didn’t get back home until 8:15 PM. After shopping at Wal-Mart late in the afternoon I had to get a battery boost start for the minivan. HMPH … ran the battery down having the fridge plugged in all day. Put the battery charger onto the minivan battery as soon as we returned home. Might be time for a new battery in the minivan.

By the way … the female cashier at Value Village who served us today was two months older than me / seven months younger than Joanne. And I couldn’t help but comment to Joanne as we left the store … she looked a LOT older than both of us ! SO … I guess we both look relatively good for our age !

Wednesday ; Sunny and warm.

Late this morning I headed into town ( Keremeos ) in the truck. First stop was Autumn Rain Hair Design where I got a haircut and beard trim. Then I drove the truck to the Keremeos Landfill where I disposed of our old mattress. Back into town and I dropped the truck off at Total Performance Automotive for a new muffler and tail pipe. I walked across the street to Westland Insurance ( a.k.a. Similkameen Insurance Agencies ) and renewed the vehicle registration and insurance for the truck and the insurance for the camper.

And that resulted in … the demise of Similkameen Trailer Towing. Now that Joanne is 65 years of age she is ( we are ) eligible for a seniors’ pleasure use rating for vehicle insurance, with a considerable discount. BUT … that rating does not allow for any “business” use of the vehicle whatsoever. Our previous pleasure use rating allowed for up to six days per month of business use. So … I “retire” Similkameen Trailer Towing. Which I have been contemplating doing anyway.

Joanne came into town in the minivan and picked me up at the insurance agency. Back at home we “tested” the suitability of a fuel can that I bought yesterday as a means to get water into the camper’s freshwater tank refill inlet, in the event that we are unable to get access to a threaded faucet / spigot ( to attach our water refill hose ). It worked excellently ! We suspect that some of the remote wilderness campgrounds we will be visiting on our upcoming Cassiar Highway trip will have old fashioned well water hand pumps only.

Now that the long weekend is over, and all the “grandchildren” have left, it’s safe for us to use the swimming pool once again … < raising my eyebrows > ! So we went to the swimming pool for a cardiac exercise session before supper.

We had our annual treat of fiddleheads for supper tonight. We bought them yesterday at Superstore. Fiddleheads are available around here once per year only, for a very short period of time, grown at an Abbotsford area mushroom farm in the spring. We tried a new recipe for fiddleheads. My creation / idea ! It was EXCELLENT ! What a treat ! After supper we watched tonight’s two back to back episodes of Amazing Race.

Thursday ; Cloudy, mild, brief thunderstorm in the afternoon.

Around noon a truck and utility trailer with Saskatchewan license plates showed up on our next door lot, where Gord and Marcie ( and Ozzie ) used to live. It was the purchasers of that lot, and our new neighbours. Welcome to the neighbourhood, Ken and Lorena ! We chatted with them for awhile, then headed into town to pick up the repaired truck.

After a very late lunch at home we trimmed the hair on Ozzie’s feet and head. Then … < sigh > … had a vicious squabble that ruined the rest of our day !

Friday ; Cloudy, mild, intermittent heavy rain.

This morning we removed half of our side yard “fencing” to allow the new next door neighbours to get their trailer into their lot. It will be arriving tomorrow from Saskatchewan. Then I torqued the lug nuts on the truck tires and reinstalled the valve extenders, wheel liners and hub caps. This new style of valve extenders that I have been using for the last year are much easier to reinstall than the previous style that I had used. I crawled underneath the truck and examined the new muffler and tailpipe.

I removed the hard wired smoke alarm in the house, Joanne vacuumed it, and 

I reinstalled it. Maybe that will reduce the number of smoke alarm “incidents” occurring due to Joanne’s cooking … < snicker >. I repaired a crack in the aluminum skin of the camper. Joanne did laundry. We went to the swimming pool and did a cardiac exercise session.

I barbecued burgers for supper. First time this season ! I posted some online ads for items to sell. I “synchronized” our Government of Canada and Revenue Canada online account user names and passwords. HMPH … not as easy as you might think ! I paid our ( massive ) May MasterCard billing. Late in the evening we watched the final episode of season 1 of Downton Abbey. Gee … now it’s all starting to make sense !

Saturday ; Mix of sun and clouds, heavy rain briefly in the afternoon.

This morning we were awakened at 6:45 AM by the arrival of our new next door neighbours’ trailer delivery. Not pleased ! Enough said !

I rebuilt our side yard fence. When I began to back the truck under the camper, to remount the camper onto the truck … < fume > … the “check engine” light on the truck dashboard came on ! F*** ! I postponed putting the camper onto the truck. While Joanne was in town running errands this afternoon she stopped at my mechanic’s and made an appointment for me to take the truck in for a diagnosis on Tuesday.

Late last night I posted a couple of “for sale” ads on Kijiji. My first response to one of the ads came about 5:30 AM ! By noon I had four responses and the camper tie downs were sold, paid for by Interac e-transfer … < blink blink >. WOW !

I bought my 2019 fishing license online today. I reconciled our May MasterCard statement. I responded to a trailer towing quote request today. My last one, no doubt !

DSK