I was awoken by heavy rain this morning that let up by the time I got up. But the wind has been roaring ferociously and there’s a severe thunderstorm and high wind warning for the region. So bummer, no working on the battery bank today.

That said, I did pull out the battery monitor connection kit instructions and schematics and, *gasp*, they all made perfect sense! Finally!

After lunch, I decided to brave the mighty winds and the threatening clouds and walk to the grocery store since I was out of pita and tomatoes. On the way there, I decided that I wanted to make fettuccine Alfredo with steamed broccoli for dinner, so one of the first things I did was grab a head of broccoli on the way in. I also snagged a mini ciabatta baguette for lunch tomorrow.

Quebec grocery stores being, generally speaking, more refined than other grocery stores in Canada, you often can’t pick up a block of shrink wrapped Parmigiano Reggiano, but rather must order it by weight at the deli counter, the way you would at a fine cheese store or Italian deli. Needless to say, the taste is much better!

The line at the deli was long, so I had a lot of time to look at the offerings. The lady ahead of me got some Polish sausage that looked absolutely divine, so my dinner plans changed. I’ll have the fettuccine tomorrow and will be dining on baguette, cheese, sausage, salad, and white wine tonight. Thank goodness you can buy wine at the grocery store here! I don’t have wine glasses or a cork screw, but I can run into the house and get some. 🙂

I always like to get a treat for the walk home from the grocery store and try make it a fruit I’ve never had before. Today, I noticed something called a pluot, which I’ve since learned is a cross between a plum and an apricot. Looking at the Wikipedia page, I am certain that the variety I had was a ‘Dapple Dandy.’ I wish I had bought more! It was so sweet and juicy, merging the best attributes of the plum and the apricot.

I’ll send the rest of the afternoon firming up my plans for the electrical upgrade. One of the things I need to decide on once and for all is where I want to locate the charging station for the small electronics, like the cell phone.

Part of me really wants it in the study, but my original idea of the living room makes more sense. I want to add a 120V outlet to the passenger side of the rig. If I’m going to do that, I might as well create a charging strip using a power bar that I can plug into the new 120V outlet or the inverter. My mother has a couple of ideas that sound good, so I will definitely listen to her input.

Whatever I do, I am bringing 120V power from the inverter to the study via a hardwired connection. We’ve traced the best path for the wiring under the rig and I’ll be putting under my desk a 120V outlet powered by the inverter.

So when I am off shore power, I’ll be able to unplug my power bar from the 120V outlet fed by shore power and plug it into the one fed by the inverter. End result, no more extension cord running from the inverter in the living room to the study. A whole house inverter continues to be an enticing idea, but this plan is less expensive. 🙂