Getting ready

Where did the week go?

Please don't get confused by the question mark at the end of the previous sentence. It is not a question I am asking you, it is a question I am asking myself! No need to post comments about where your week went... I am saving you the trouble :)

Last weekend, which was Thanksgiving weekend for us canucks, was spent with our daughters at home. We had the traditional turkey meal, but mostly we had a lot of time together before we all went our way, to each their own journey. 

Monday I drove Julie to the airport and then came back home.

Tuesday we loaded the truck with stuff for the camping, did a lot of shopping, and drove back to our camping site in Val-des-Bois. That was a busy day, it reminded me our previous life (where work was a part of it). When we arrived at the camping, their was a carpet of pine needle to greet us, we just pushed some aside and started to unload the truck.

I had purchased a 12 Volt battery for the trailer, I replaced that. At Costco I filled both 30 pounds propane tanks, so if we get out of here before it freezes over... it should last us a couple of months!

Jo and André arrived around 5:30 and setup on our other site, just behind us. Most of the campers have already closed their trailer for the winter, so it is great to have someone else around.

Jo and André's motorhome

I couldn't see any of the 7 cats around, the ones we were feeding last week. I had purchased a large bag of cat food at Costco and was starting to think that I might be stuck with it. I filled up 2 bowls and waited for their visit. It took a couple of hours but 5 of the cats came back... plus several Blue Jays and a raccoon grrrrrr

Wednesday I was the first one up (guest included), and I started to rack the pines needles, I did both sites, by the end of the second one André came out and helped me finish it off. I was happy for the extra hands, my back was killing me, at one point, I was thinking that life was so much easier at work... NOT hahaha  I had read that the worst day you have in retirement is better than the best day at work... not too sure I buy that but you get the point :) 

Pile 1

 

Every day, I am out racking up more needles, I am considering going up in the trees and glue them there... permanently!

 

Pile 2

I installed an electric jack on the trailer. There was nothing wrong with the manual one but I felt that it was a justified expense considering that we will be setting up and setting down several times per week. My wife is usually the one that is doing the jacking up when we hook the truck and I didn't want her to have sore elbows...  I would be the one having to "feed" her her wine hahaha

The installation was easy, the holes in the new jack lined up perfectly with the old holes, the screws fitted, the only difference was that I had to run a wire to the positive side of my brand new battery... so easy I took 2 days to do it. The biggest problem was the temperature, it was cold and I stopped because there was rain coming down, I'm not fond of working on electricity under the rain. 

While I was outdoor in the bad element, my wife was inside setting up the interior... she was re-decorating to her liking hahaha just a joke, she was installing a rack to suspend our wine glasses at the top of one of the cabinet. She also started to load stuff inside  and finding a spot for everything. Those are the spots where I will never find anything anymore :)


Wednesday I had a shower... see, even retiree showers from time to time. I promise you I won't bore you with such trivial event too often but what was particular about that shower is that up until then, we had running water in the trailer. I expected the water to be cut off that day. I went by the office and saw one of the maintenance person and asked him when they were cutting the water. He told me it would be at the end of the afternoon Thursday... I was disappointed and told him that I had already taken a shower thinking it was my last shower but I could have just waited one more day... Frustration of retiree folks!

Friday, I installed the bike rack. It is a rack that go above the tongue of the trailer. I started when the sun was out, but the wind was sooooo cold, and then the sky opened up and let SNOW fall down... It kept switching from sun to snow and back to sun... I enjoyed thinking that in a week we'll be out of here!

We also winterized the water line in our model park trailer. This is pumping anti-freeze in the lines. Before we leave, we will also do all drains. We have water at the front building where we can get water, so for now, we just have Jerry cans, but it is OK for now... life is tough :)
 
Saturday, after I started my daily racking up of the needles, my neighbour Terry ask for my help with pumping antifreeze in his trailers. He has 2 trailers and he was also doing his daughter's trailer. My job was outside by the water entrance at each trailer, pumping antifreeze in... (I own the pump!) He was inside going from one faucet to the other to make sure the antifreeze got everywhere. At one point he was doing the one in the kitchen and there is a water pistols which he was doing by blocking the kitchen faucet. I showed up at the window just at that moment and got sprayed. He was telling me that he needed to do that to get enough liquid to go up the pistol. I didn't know how we do it at home so I asked my wife and she realized that she forgot to do that in ours. So today, we should be re-connecting the pump and shoot more liquid in... I considered having her sleeping outside because of this, but, I didn't want to sleep alone hahaha