ANOTHER BUSY TEN DAYS GO BY

Our quiet picnic spot

We had replaced the fridge in the motor home in January this year while in Quartzsite.   While we were dry camping a few weeks ago, we noticed the fridge was not working properly on propane.  It had been doing fairly well when plugged into electricity.  After having it worked on locally and deciding it was going to be a warranty issue we made the decision to swap it out for a house type fridge.  The RV tech is certain we have enough solar power to enable using it off grid.  We spent considerable time and effort attempting to find the "right" fridge.  Added incentive was having two coolers on the floor in the motor home and some other stuff in the fridge in the house plus some in the freezer in the garage.  We looked at several apartment sized fridges by driving to towns in different directions and finally found the "one" (12.4 cu ft) at Trail Furniture in Langford near Victoria.  We took our little trailer behind the CRV and spent the day driving down to pick it up. Richard and Georgia came and met us at the store then we found a quiet spot to have a picnic lunch. There was a birthday supper for our nephew here in the house that night so there was some muscle available to help get the fridge into the motor home.  The fridge slid right into the opening where the old fridge was but I had to do some modification to the back of the area to enable it to slide all the way in.   I had to come up with some creative means of anchoring the fridge so it stays in place while traveling but had received several valid suggestions from the ones who helped move it into the motor home.   Last thing was to place some insulation all around the fridge to prevent outside air from entering the living area.

The finished product.  It has at least 50% more space than the old fridge which we hope to get repaired under warranty then sell.

I had gone over to Port Alberni with brother in law John R and spotted this little dozer boat moving a bundle of logs.  When I worked at the mill before retiring, I sometimes operated a boat identical to this one.

One of the last rose displays here

Aileen and I and friend Bev D went down to Arbutus Point one evening where there are all these interesting rock patterns

This curious seal wandered by so I took this long distance shot

My brother Charlie recently had shoulder surgery so is out of action for some time.  Aileen, Sheila and I picked and pulled all the squash the other night.  Mitzy was a little overwhelmed.

We were treated to some nice sunrises a couple mornings this week

This is a long range shot of a curious horse while on our morning walk

Richard and Georgia met us at Spectacle Lake on the Malahat north of Victoria a couple days ago for lunch and a walk around the lake where we  also found three geocaches.

Georgia, Aileen and Richard

In the mossy cedar forest

With Mitzy against a rock face

Our time is starting to draw to the end here on Vancouver Island for this year.  This coming Friday we will move up to Campbell River until Tuesday when we attend our final SKP rally at Seal Bay. We will come back to Charlie and Sheila's for a few days then probably catch the ferry to the mainland on Wednesday September 16.  We may spend as long as two weeks in the Shuswap before heading down to the Kootenays until crossing the border.  Our earliest date to cross the border is October 8th, keeping in mind  the maximum 180 days in the US in a calendar year.  We are heading south a week earlier than normal as we plan to visit several of our southern friends in Grande Junction, Colorado for a couple weeks before heading to our winter hangout in Florence, Arizona.  So there you have our loose travel plans for the next while. 

BUSY AS USUAL

Time has gotten away on me again.  Fifteen days since my last post already.   I've been having quite a time with a corn under my big toe which has greatly reduced my walking this summer.  We've gotten rid of most of it now with the use of corn plasters.  The other thing that has been plaguing us is the fridge we bought new in January this year.  It works well on electric but poorly on propane.  After trying a few fixes, the fridge is now sitting on the shop floor of a local RV repair facility to be tested in accordance with the manufacturer's warranty instruction.  We intend to replace it with a house fridge, hoping we have enough solar power to cover most of the electrical requirement.  To that end we have spent considerable time trying to find one close enough to here to buy.  All the appliance dealers tell us 7-10 days to get one from their warehouse even if it is only in Vancouver.  We think we have one located in Victoria and will drive down with the CRV and ATV trailer tomorrow hoping to pick it up.  We are currently using two chest coolers in the motor home, Chas and Sheila's fridge and their freezer.

We participated in an Escapees RV Club rally at a small RV park north of Qualicum Beach last week. We had four nights and five days.  Just seven couples attending which made for a more intimate group.  It was easy to have happy hour and sit around the campfire evenings at one unit.  It was fun getting to know some of these people better.   Some of them made it to the golf course twice, we all went to wing night at the Shady Rest Pub in Qualicum on the Tuesday night and some of went for a hike up Rosewall Creek one day.  Several geocaches were found along the way as one of the ladies was a geocacher like me.  This past Sunday with help from Aileen, Charlie and Sheila, we got the winter's wood into the woodshed.  Eight big loads with my ATV and trailer.  A big job done!

RV friend Bev wanted me to be in some photos so I crossed the creek.  I was walking along the shore rock and it turned out my shoes didn't have any side traction so I slipped off the rock beyond me into the creek.

Not much water in Rosewall Creek Falls

My picture of RV friend Bev

One of our happy hours along side our unit.  Self timer on a tripod so I am in the picture

 seated left of center, way back there.

Sitting around the propane campfire beside our rig

I went geocaching by myself one day this week and this curious squirrel was giving me the eye.

WARNING -  SPIDER AND WEB

This spider web was on the fence alongside of where we are parked

WARNING - SPIDER CLOSEUP

That nondescript spider in the above shot is kind of neat when zoomed in on

WE TAKE A MINI VACATION

On July 26, Aileen and I drove to Duncan where we met up with my Cousin Judith who drove up from Victoria.  We went in our car up to the Lake Cowichan area where we spent the day exploring and geocaching.  It was a great way to visit and catch up with each other.

On July 31, Aileen and I drove down to Victoria for a mini vacation.  Our friend Bev D took Sophie into her house in Parksville while we took Mitzy with us.  The daughter and son in law of Aileen's cousin Pat and Irene were off on a motor cycle trip and had invited us to stay in their house for a few days.  It was certainly a different experience for us being in a monster house with at least ten foot ceilings and lots of halls and rooms.  When you have spent this long living in an RV, you tend to spend a lot of time just wandering around all that space.  We had a great time visiting with Pat and Irene who live in an adjoining house connected by an internal stairway.  It is a great way to age in place!

Along the road to Youbou while geocaching, I spotted this old stump with quite a twist to it and a little tree growing on top had its root follow the twist under the bark, before the bark fell off.  Nature can be very creative at times.

A couple days later while geocaching near Parksville on my bike I spotted this Polaris Slingshot from Alberta.  I had read about these machines but this was the first one I have seen.  Quite futuristic, I thought.

We have driven past this old barn north of Qualicum Beach countless times and finally decided to stop and try some photos.

These golden rocks along the ocean shore are the product of a nice sunset.  Without the sun's effect, the rocks were all dark.

I loved the peaceful effect of these rocks and gulls at Qualicum Beach

Several of these sparrows were flitting about while we were dining on the deck at the cousin's

The blue moon on July 31

The blue moon over the ocean

On Saturday we went to the Saanich Farmer's Market and met with Richard and Georgia who are on the left. Aileen and Irene are in blue while Cousin Pat, so named for being born on St Patrick's Day, is in green on the near right.

Smoky alpenglow on Mt Baker in Washington State

We spent the Sunday with Georgia while her parents went off on a short vacation.  Here, she and Aileen are on a forest path near her house.

We took Georgia to her Auntie Nan's in the afternoon where she would be staying for a few days.  We got to join Brian and Nancy in their pool on a gorgeous afternoon.  Nancy took the picture with my camera.

This is the living room in the house we vacationed in .  If you look really hard, you might see Mt Baker in the center window.  Pat and Irene's house is under the huge deck visible on the left, the deck is their roof.