Fixit Time

 

Oh boy plumbing 101 my favorite pastime. For some time we had noticed a wetness under the sink and it was soaking into a fake wood (cardboard) partition under the sink. Now the carpet under the sink ... yes RV makers carpet under the sink ... was also wet. So out with the partition and a shelf and the soggy carpet you can see at the left of the pic, dry the real wood floor out, use some Clorox to kill the mold, and then when all was pretty again ... oh yeah, fix the leak of course ... lay down some vinyl tiles and super caulk the whole thing up. Then we put a new shelf in and some trays for the cleaning materials ... functional again and dry.

 

 Oops the next project. On the way up here this year the motor in the sun shade by the windshield quit and we had it replaced in Elkhart. Now the motor in the night shade quit working as well. We ordered a new one from the folks at MCD in McKinney where we had some other shade work done and then proceeded to replace it ourselves. It took a couple of hours, a bungee strap, some pounding, and the rewiring to have a functional dual shade again.

And the caption for this below is, "And he thinks he's done?!" I don't think there is a project either in the RV or a home that doesn't involve getting every tool out to get the job done.

Later that week we decided to tackle the coach or house batteries. They were almost 10 years old and had supplied power for much longer than ever expected. Over the last six months they began to leak quite a bit and were rusting the cabinet they were in. We found the proper 6 volt golf cart batteries (four of em) here in Barrie for about 130 CDN each ... not bad.

Then we devised a lifting device to get each 50 pound battery out of the Flying Scotsman and into the car for the trade in. With the handle we could both lift and split the weight ... hey ol guys with bad backs eh.

Then the trip over to the Total Battery folks here in town, get the new ones and repeat the process. First though, I scraped and painted the cabinet and roller tray to prevent any more rusting.

And lastly another resident of our little patio in the northland.

We've introduced you to Rodney who is a pretty good looking rodent ... well here is Vinny. Vinny for Vincent van Gogh, for the mostly missing ear eh. This animal has really had a rough short life. He has more scars, rips, tears, and a big chunk out of the tail ... man, he's just got to run got to run faster. Actually though we think he starts more of the neighborhood fights and does more of the chasing; kinda the town bully.

Happy Father's Day

 

While beautiful bouquets are usually reserved for mothers, as the horticulturist here I'm particularly awed by this specimen on this Father's Day.

 

We got this multi-flower arrangement about a month ago at the local Foodland food market. I've pampered, pruned, and fertilized the thing up to its present beauty. It's now about 3 feet tall and still going ... but what a beautiful and proportionate display. Jo-Anne remarked that this would be a perfect specimen for her art class ... yes.



 

Below are Jo-Anne, her dad Bill, and her brother Rick in the Waterford apartment. We had taken Chinese food up to Dad's place as a treat and then after the food was consumed and the mess was cleared off Rick did some routine maintenance on Pop's hearing aid.

Then a nice selfie-style pic of Rodney the Rocket Rodent as he says, "thanks for the nuts, my offspring will enjoy and prosper from your help."

And closing out a nice 75 degree day back at our place with some more of our patio flowers.

 

Actually the planters here have a growing (pun) history. It's hard to see the rolled steel planters that we have placed the hanging flowers in but they are in three sizes with the opening big enough for a 9" pot to be set in. Each planter weighs more than 40 pounds so once in place they'll stay, eh. Our good friends Trish and John who lived in the row behind us gave the planters to their neighbors who were Morgan and Jeanette who used them last summer. Then, because they also were not going to be here this summer, they parked the things in our lot where we found them upon our arrival. John's company here in Barrie made the things and they are awesome! Who knows where they will reside next summer ... definitely not in the basement of the Flying Scotsman though.

Out and About

 

First, as the weather is always a topic on most days, here is a weather station that is 100% accurate ... particularly for the Navy folks here in the Gravenhurst harbor with the 100+ year old wooden steamers in the background. You will have to enlarge it to see the weather conditions it describes.

 



And a couple of shots of the Barrie KOA where we live.

 

These two pictures are of the back row in the park in our 55 plus section and show the spacing and concrete pads ... really a nice place ... not a bad day to photo either!

And an artsy one below of our patio as the flowers and shrubs are starting to realize that summer is finally here; right now it's 69 and 40% humidity ... kind of a Chamber of Commerce day eh.

Then a big grin from one of our croakers in our pond.

 

Finally ... more rules ... I mean, you just can't do anything for fun anymore!