Free Firewood

We are surrounded by crown land from which we are permitted to harvest firewood for our personal use. The BC Ministry of Forest, Lands and Natural Resource Operations oversees this through it's free permit scheme which restricts us amongst other things to only harvesting deadfall and taking no more than 10 regular pick-up loads.

This weekend we exercised our rights and went to the forest at the top of our driveway to collect some fuel for the winter. 

Blaine and his trusty Husqvarna chopped up the wood

I followed behind to pick up the 1-foot lengths

Then I loaded up the Rhino and drove it back home

 

I dumped 10 loads (but only itty bitty Rhino ones not pick up) beside the wood shed

Me suited up in my Surplus Herbies redneck work wear

Blaine split the wood

I stacked it in the back of the shed to dry

We still have more to split and stack but are both just exhausted and can't handle any more this weekend. A good soak in the hot tub should help us recover and be ready to finish the job off next weekend.

Proper Winter Storage of a Class A Motorcoach

It snowed on Saturday October 20 and the weather has been cold and sometimes snowing since. Fortunately we had already moved the coach over to our house the week before and had drained the water system and filled it with RV plumbing antifreeze. However, there is more to winterizing your coach than just the plumbing. As with all things, the Internet offers varied and often conflicting advice so I telephoned Matt at Chemo RV.

Slides should be retracted. (first clear off the snow on the awnings)

Tires vs Jacks You have 3 options. If parking on the tires, put wood under them rather than parking right on the dirt. Or Jack it up to take pressure off the tires. The best option is to jack it up, put it on blocks and then retract the jacks thus alleviating the pressure on the hydraulic jacks and the tires.

Batteries should be removed and stored inside (somewhere heated) and put on trickle charge periodically.

Propane should be turned off.

Cover the coach only if you have a proper RV cover. A tarp will trap moisture and damage the coach. If you do not cover the coach, be sure to remove snow accumulation from the roof.

Starting the engine will only cause it harm. Avoid starting the coach until you plan to use it.

The Mega

The St Jean Garrison in Quebec is known as "the Mega". Amongst other things it houses the Canadian Forces Leadership and Recruit School where Justin has been resident since April.

We arrived at the garrison at 2030 on Wednesday so scooped Justin up and he took us for a quick tour of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu before heading to the local Legion for a celebratory beer. At CFLRS Cinderella turns into a pumpkin at 2200. We returned him and then checked into our hotel where we dined on Burger King since that was the only thing open.

Thursday morning I tried to sleep in but my attempts were thwarted by housekeeping loudly cleaning the adjacent rooms. Blaine and I breakfasted at Mikes, because we wanted to see if it was anything like Mr Mikes. It is not, this Mikes is an Italian restaurant. I have never thought the name Mike to be particularly evocative of Italy but they do things different in La Belle Province. My breakfast was a surprisingly delicious apple and cheese pizza, Blaine had crepes with Nutella and bananas.

The ceremony starts at 1400 but since seating is first come first serve we got there around 1230 and got spots in the second row of the Zengel platoon grandstand. Perusing the program we were surprised and delighted to read that Pte JD Wiggins was to receive the commandant's trophy as top student in his platoon.

Commandant Michelaine Lahaie presents Pte JD Wiggins (Platoon Zengel) and OS WM Howling (Platoon Topham) with the commandant's trophy for top student

They don't get to keep the trophy, just to touch it once!

 

After the ceremony we all gathered in the Omega Mess for a reception with the recruits and their instructors. Justin's instructors all spoke very highly of him and he was constantly being congratulated by his many friends. After the reception all the parents went out for supper with the guest of honour and his friends Chris and Kristyn.

Left to right: Blaine, Emma, Justin, Donna, Phillip

Before dawn on Friday morning the recruits were up and on a bus bound for the airport. Justin shipped out to CFB Wainwright for the next phase of his training: Basic Infantry Qualification. To the best of my understanding this involves learning to crawl through mud and to love your gun.

We got home late and collected the dogs from puppy camp. At home we lit the fire, poured a drink and scrolled through the 300+ photos I snapped!

Crock of Ages of Shite

I am writing this somewhere over Manitoba I suppose, half way on a flight from Vancouver to Montreal. For my first on board movie I watched J Edgar, an informative, moving and eye opening movie directed by the awesome Clint Eastwood. Blaine watched Rock of Ages and was giggling away throughout, my sister in law is even more obsessed with RoA as she was with Twilight. So I figured I would give it a go. Guys, you are both wrong. Less than 15 minutes in and I was compelled to pull out my iPad to write a blog post about how dreadful it is. Maybe it will get better soon... maybe if I have a Johnny Walker Black Label it will help?

Let me share my opinion on "dining" aboard Air F You. Domestic beer (aka piss) is $6.50, Heineken is $7, wine is $6.50, sparkling wine $7, spirits $6.50. It's a no brainer, give me the scotch.

The best snacks are the cheese and crackers $4, and the carrots, celery and ranch dip for $5.

For $9 you can get a drink and snack combo.

For $13 you can get a meal, snack and drink. If they have pizza do the meal deal. The other food isn't worth wasting the calories on.

Generally you are best advised to buy your "meal" at the airport before your flight. Advice in the regard requires a whole other blog post depending on which airport and which terminal.

30 minutes - I have my scotch. It isn't better yet. Blaine says it is because I am too young.

51 minutes - I am wondering if my brother's next inking will be Stacee Jaxx pistols.

1hr 3 minutes- grateful that the plane will land before the film finishes.

1hr 25minutes - seriously?

I didn't finish watching. The meagre offering of witty one liners was not enough to make up for the dross.

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Yard Work on a Grand Scale

before

This weekend was spent tidying the yard. The fenced area is only about 1/4 of our property which is just under an acre, extending up the drive to the road. Our sea can was delivered to the right of the gate because it was easier at the time to put it there, however we needed it the other side to make room for the coach.

To reposition the sea can we utilized the resources on hand: the Tahoe, the Suzuki with winch, and trees. First we drove up to the forest on the other side of the road and harvested a bunch of 4 foot lengths of dead fall pine. Blaine then jacked up the (empty but still 2,250kg) sea can while I placed the logs under the sides. With a chain hooked through the front bumper tow points the Tahoe did a great job of moving the load on the flat, but as we tried to turn up hill I couldn't get it to budge. In the end we hooked the winch on the front of the suzuki to the sea can, then chained the tahoe to the suzuki tow ball to act as an anchor. After turning the sea can, Blaine put the suzuki behind a big tree and winched it into place.

Next Blaine turned lumberjack and cut down a dozen trees. Some were blocking our satellite TV and Internet reception, others endangering our coach and our house if a big wind came through. fortunately for me Blaine used to fall trees when he worked with the forest service so He knew exactly what he was doing and dropped every tree cleanly. My job during this phase was to stay way out of the way.

Finally we drove the coach back over from the Fleming's place and with a few hiccups got it parked where the sea can was.

My dad was concerned about the extent of our tree chopping but as you can see there are still plenty of trees left. Plus now we have a huge pile of firewood curing for next year.



after



pet parenting

The dogs have a vet appointment this afternoon, to get their inoculations up to date so that they can stay at Wildwood Pet Resort next week when we go to St Jean-sur-Richelieu for Justin's graduation from Canadian Forces and Leadership School (CFLRS) basic training. It has been raining most of the night and is still raining now. This means I need to walk the dogs early so that I can restore Johnny to an approximate state of cleanliness to avoid the vet judging me for my poor pet parenting skills. Being black Sage always looks clean, even though she isn't.

Home

After leaving Iqaluit on July 7 we spent 83 days living in friends' places, hotels, vacation rentals, a tent and our coach. On Friday September 28 we took possession of our forever home on beautiful Tyee Lake in the Cariboo region of British Columbia. A huge massive thank you to everyone who helped us move out, move in and gave us food, shelter, emotional support and counseling on this journey.

The first thing out of the sea can was the box of cleaning supplies that Linda had left me when she and Craig left town in May. It cleaned their apartment and both our houses in Iqaluit, then travelled across the continent to clean yet another home! Friday afternoon I cleaned while the Internet and TV guys did their thing. Our neighbour Dale cut down a tree so that our Internet dish could see it's satellite clearly but Bell TV couldn't get a thing. I guess one out of two isn't bad but we sure wish we had known that we would be buying in a Bell free zone before we left Iqaluit, could have sold our receivers there easier than here. Blaine arrived home from work in the evening and hitched the small trailer to the Rhino side by side then we proceeded to unload the sea can until it was pitch dark and we were fit to drop. We dined on frozen pizza and slept on our mattress on the floor.

Saturday morning we were running loads before the coffee had brewed and by mid day we were unpacking things and arranging furniture. Downsizing before we left Iqaluit was necessary ( the sea can was stuffed full) but now that we have a 2,000 sq ft home it looks kinda bare! The downstairs walk out basement is mostly unfinished so we are pretty much just living upstairs now but even that looks sparse. With my kitchen mostly organized I made us roast chicken for supper which we ate at the kitchen breakfast bar since the dining table was not yet built.

Sunday was much of the same, unpacking boxes, finding places to out things and starting to unpack the coach. In the afternoon Val and Dale came over to visit and brought their friends Sharon and Ray to meet us. They came bearing housewarming gifts of wine and sunflowers and we visited a while but I must confess that Blaine and I were still shell shocked at actually having made it that we were poor hosts. 

On Monday Blaine had to leave for work and wouldn't be back for a few days so Johnny, Sage and I continued with the unpacking and making home. We also made time to explore our new neighbourhood and followed a quad trail from near the top of our drive that makes a 3/4 mile loop through the woods - ideal for a short walk. The week was also spent preparing for our first house guests, the Guertins were arriving on the weekend to celebrate Thanksgiving with us. My main focus in this regard was preparing the hot tub. I had no idea how complicated hot tub ownership is, thankfully the very sweet patient girl at New Waves hot tub store walked me through everything, gave me detailed (written thank goodness) instructions and sold me all the chemicals I needed to brew up our people soup. A different TV guy came out and hooked us up with Shaw Direct, we need to fall a couple more trees to get HD but at least Blaine can watch NASCAR and I have the Food Network.

Thanksgiving weekend was awesome and our house certainly now feels like a home. Shalla and I totally rocked the kitchen with little e as our assistant and we ate like kings for three days straight. The boys went out exploring the trails, clearing paths with the chainsaw and bringing back rocks to build a fire pit on the lawn. Sage and Johnny showed Oscar and Trixie around the area, Trixie is more of an inside girl but Oscar loved the forest... even after he fell/jumped out of the back of the Rhino at 40kph!

Everyone has gone again so the dogs and I are snuggled up in front of the fire in the living room with a bottle of wine. I have to keep pinching myself to check if this is really real.

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