I can’t believe I’ve been back at Haven for five days now! I’ve been getting internet in snatches long enough to check email and sometimes do a little surfing, but updating the blog is always difficult on this connection and I’ve frankly had more important things to do up the hill.

Let’s backup a little bit to Wednesday, which was a little hazy since I got so little sleep and got up so late (about 10:00). I started by emptying out the truck and putting things away, then I cursed the internet connection for a bit before going up the hill for a spell. I was able to pick up Neelix mid afternoon and he was happy to see me! I couldn’t believe it! He came running when I entered C&C’s house and cuddled for a long spell, then followed me around the rig.

I had bought shrimp in Medicine Hat, so I treated myself to a shrimp boil for dinner, then went to bed crazy early.

Thursday, I had transcription work to do, but it had a generous deadline, so I just picked away at it and really didn’t get much done. I don’t remember anything else about Thursday, except that I spent some time up the hill.

Friday, I had to do some updates on the Windows computer and the internet fairly cooperated, so I was saved a trip up the hill. I continued with my transcription until 7:00 and then it was time to head over to Laura’s for canasta.

It was so nice to catch up with her and then C&C when they arrived, quite late but bearing cake, so all was forgiven. Charles and I were a team and lost three of four rounds, but did so well on the fourth that we won the game overall! I love Friday night canasta. 🙂

I got up early this morning to finish up my transcription since more came in for the weekend. Also, I wanted to go into Assiniboia for propane and gas for Miranda’s tank since I didn’t know if the Co-Op would be open on Sunday and Monday (turns out yes).

I left for town around 12:30, got to city limits, and realised I had left my wallet on the desk!!! I had come home to a just about empty on board propane tank (good thing I got home earlier than planned or the fridge would have been off!), so not getting propane today wasn’t an option. I turned around, got the wallet, and retraced my steps.

My first stop was Peavey Mart, a store I had never been into before. It’s basically Alibaba’s cave as you can find EVERYTHING in there, from clothes to cow ear tags.

I picked up:

-a 25L jerry can (I already had a 20L one and wanted to bring back a decent quantity of gas)

-a 7 gallon (okay, I’m being bilingual on my measurements) water container (I plan to have running water soon, but this will be useful for my upcoming excursion)

-a cherry tomato plant

-a weedwhacker-type thing (more on that below)

I then got the fuel and propane, picked up some veggies and fruit at the Co-Op grocery store, and headed home, stopping at C&C’s first for water.

After hooking up the propane, I added the fuel to Miranda’s gas tank. I had bought a siphon thing at Canadian Tire for 15 dollars, a length of clear hose with a ‘pump’, that was well worth its money as it emptied the jerry cans quickly and with no fuss at all.

Then, it was time to attack my lawn. Charles has been doing a great job mowing it (THANK YOU) with a tractor, but the edges were really tall and my boardwalk had disappeared under a cover of grass. A weedwhacker was in order.

The weedwhacker-type thing I found  is a ‘grass whip.’ You use it like a golf club. I was looking for something cheap and the least costly powered option was $99. I had never heard of a lawn whip, but could understand how it would work and it was just $15. But surprise at the till, it was on sale for $11!

Here is the boardwalk after the first pass with the lawn whip.

And here it is after:

After dinner, I went out to put some fuel stabilizer in Miranda’s tank and apply some carb cleaner to the genset. I only had a quarter tank of fuel on board, so I knew there was no hope in starting it, but hope springs eternal. I hit the start button and it sparked then tried to turn over. There is life in it! I am going to Willow Bunch on Tuesday to deal with getting water and garbage collection and I will get more gas so that I can try the start exercise again after cleaning the fuel line. I am probably being too optimistic, but I have a good troubleshooting manual and the confidence that if this generator is salvageable, I can fix it myself, thanks to the Onan dealer at the seminar thinking this.

Today, I had some transcription to do and I also wanted to tackle the rust on my truck. A guy came up to me at the RV seminar to tell me that he does body work and that the rust on my truck had to be deal with NOW. He is not the first person to tell me this in the last year… He said to go to Canadian Tire or Walmart and get some Tremclad for rust. I could apply that directly to the truck to seal in the rust, but the caveat is that I wouldn’t be able to get a colour to match my finish, nor could I apply automotive paint over top. This is the worst of the rust:

I got as much of the loose material off as I could, sanded, and then wiped it down. Next step was taping off the area I did not want to paint:

Here’s the Tremclad. I knew the green would be too Christmasy for my truck, but hoped it would dry a little darker than this. It didn’t. *spoiler* It dried lighter. I wish I had left the rusty look and just gone with a clear coat.

You can really see the difference in colour here:

I applied three light coats of colour, then two clear coats. Don’t laugh at the result. It’s better than rust!

I could not see myself applying any more of that awful colour to my beautiful Moya, so I blasted all her other rusty spots with just the clear coat. These are the worst of them:

So it’s been a productive few days. If I have no transcription tomorrow, I will likely tackle the driver’s side rear wheel well (damaged in the last blowout, sorry the connection’s too slow to load the blog to get back links). Tuesday, I want to go pay for garbage delivery and find out who to call to get a water spigot put on the property. I want water by the time I get back from camping next week!!!!!!

That’s the scoop. I’m off to see if my spaghetti squash is ready. 🙂