Saturday, 12 September 2015

Vacation Hath Begun!

I am now at my new home for the next week, I check out of here a week tomorrow. It still hasn’t settled in that I will not move or have to move for a full week. All it took me was half a tank of gas and three and a half hours to drive 220 km's to my vacation spot. Where am I? well, here of course.
 

Oh, sorry, that’s not where I am, here is where I am staying. 
 

If you have trouble reading that, don’t worry, it’s not you. It is the fact that this nice, beautiful sign was not quite thought through all the way, like a lot of things here. 
 

That’s better, right? The office and staff were nice and welcoming. The check in procedure was relatively quick if a bit quaint. I actually had to handwrite my info on a carbonless triplicate form. Most of the places that I stay at have computer systems that they type your info into.

The sites are nice and picturesque and that is something. There is plenty of shade and I am backing right onto the river. 
 

(Yes boys and girls that is my firepit, an interesting use of a big rig tire rim.)


There were a few things about the campsites that leaves you to scratching your head. These things are manageable but a bit irksome. I don’t report these to nitpick but simply offer a balanced review.

For one the road is a single lane road and you have to back into your site which runs perpendicular to the road, no angle at all. This means backing up around a corner, a 90 degree corner, on a narrow road with rocks and trees on either side. Not to mention other obstacles on the other side of the road, like your neighbours very large and expensive RV. 
 

This is not a problem if you are driving a motorhome as you can just park like a regular car. The units with a trailer, like me, are the ones who will find this difficult. 

Then there is the placement of the utility hook ups. The power connection is where you would expect it to be, near where the back driver’s side of the trailer/RV would be. This allows you to hook up with relative ease as most of us don’t have extension cords for the main electrical connection. (Mental note to self to buy one.)

The water supply on the other hand was done cheaply. The water connection is for two sites and right at the road. Clearly they just ran two lines, one on either side of the campsite road and popped up taps between two sites.

What this means for the camper is that you have to run two hoses down to the water intake on your RV. This setup is odd because usually the water and the electricity is right there; usually the sewer connection too. 

Speaking of the sewer connection, there are none. There is the dump station at the camp office, and that is fine. The dumping is free if you are registered at the site. For me, I will be okay as I can last a week without dumping, but it might get awkward if my tanks fill up before then (as I have disconnected).

These are a few of my initial observations, but these oddities are small and manageable. The price is comparable to other places that I have stayed, at $35.00 a night. The scenery is nice and once you are situated, you are fine. 
 


I plan to explore the area a bit and see what Golden has to offer and hopefully uncover a bit of the history of this place. For now, I need to get to writing, as I want to at least finish the chapter I started this week.

Friday, 11 September 2015

The Degrees of Power Loss

There are degrees of power loss in my house. There are the lights getting a bit dimmer. Then there is the water pump slowing down and taking a little longer to pressurize the water lines. Then of course there is the time when the inverter won’t work so that means no running of the laptop. Who could forget the tic-tic-tic as the fridge tries to light the propane again and again, or just gives up and calls a fault, due to lack of power. 

My personal favourite is when the furnace just sits there and looks at you. It doesn’t warn you or light up a fault light. No, you realize that the furnace has quit by the fact that the trailer just keeps getting colder and colder. (This is the height of fun and frivolity in the dead of winter).

While the furnace flame burns propane it needs battery power to run the fan. When the power gets too low, the whole furnace just shuts down, without warning or indicating it is doing so. As an added twist of fun is that the little light on digital thermostat still indicates that it is telling the furnace what to do. 

Then there is the “seriously, not kidding, you are reaaaly out of power” sign that is the radio display is off. The radio is also my clock and it always is on telling me the time even when the radio is off. That blank display was what I came home to yesterday,y meaning the batteries were all but flatlined. 

Now I thought about not running Jenny, as I was going to my campground tonight, so why bother? I realized that I wanted to run the fridge during the day and during the drive, to keep things cool. Groceries and yes beer.

So I ran Jenny for a couple of hours and told myself that I would get up and write this morning. Did I? . . . no . . . no I didn’t. I decided that I would sleep in and rest up for the drive, or that is what I told myself as I rolled over to get more sleep at four this morning. 

I did have a nice warm shower, a quick one as the water pressure kept dropping, meaning I was almost out of water. Thankfully I did rinse off in time. Such is life when you live off the grid and your resources are finite. You are always aware of what resources you are using and when they are getting low.

Now, all I need to do is make it through today and I will be on my vacation! Don’t worry I will still blog (or at least try to).

Once again, for no reason other than it was pretty, here is your sunrise shot.
 

Thursday, 10 September 2015

One Sleep Until My Vacation

Okay, this morning I was able to get some more work done on the chapter, but not as much as I would like. I keep reminding myself that this is a honing process and it will take as long as it needs to take. I will be able to work on it more when I am on my vacation. 

Tonight I will be doing the last bit of running around, picking up what last minute things that I need to pick up. As well I will do a review of what I have and see if there is anything that I overlooked. I really don’t want to get caught in rush hour traffic tomorrow, so delays leaving town is something that I want to avoid. 

This is why I recommend that you make the time to do that last check over the night before. As you head out of town is not the time to remember that you didn’t pack something or buy that thing that you were going to take.

I am in an interesting position, because Wanda’s batteries are out of power, to the point where they won’t run the inverter anymore. They will still run the water pump so that is good, yet history has taught me that it with batteries this low there isn’t quite enough oomph to let me have a decent shower. 

At this point I would just run Jenny and charge them up. Since I will be at a campsite and plugged in, what’s the point? So I will just muddle through tonight and tomorrow morning and be on my way tomorrow afternoon.

Wednesday, 9 September 2015

Sooooo . . . I Woke Up Alone

To be clear I went to bed alone (as in with nobody else in my bed), so it is no surprise that I woke up alone. (The real surprise would be going to bed alone and waking up not . . . but I digress.) 

So what do I mean when I say that I woke up alone? Well, since yesterday was payday (delayed a day due to the bank holiday). I ended up sleeping in my western home, as is typical after running around on payday.  

You see, when I went to bed I saw the usual RV’s and motorhomes still parked in their usual spots, a few with generators humming. The only notable exception was that the big rig pulling the older fifth-wheel was now gone. The motorhome that was being renovated was still there.

When I woke up I was the only RV or motorhome in the parking lot. One lone truck and camper was in a distant corner of the parking lot, but that was it. This is in startling contrast to the refugee camp that this parking lot became over the Calgary Stampede. 

It was an odd feeling to be sure and I wondered if I had somehow missed a notice not to park here anymore. I even glanced around to see if there was a fleet of tow-trucks or police coming to ticket and tow me. Yes, I even glanced at Trea to see if there was a boot in place, not allowing me to move until I had paid the extortion fee to the city. Happily, there was none of those things, so I just carried on with my morning.  

On a happier note, last night I did get my running around done and even some last minute shopping needed for my trip, as in a few extra groceries (and beer). Now just to get through today, tomorrow and then the longest Friday ever!!! (The last one before my vacation.) 

As far as writing goes, I did continue this chapter that I had been working on, and I got over the hump of it. This chapter is important because it is a new chapter at the end of all of the other chapters. I am not filling in space between other chapters, but entering into new and uncharted territory. 

The hump of a chapter, by the way, is what I call the point where you have a clear indication on where that chapter is going and just what needs to be said and done.  All you have to do is just need to write it down. This one, once again, increased tension and division so, things are heating up. As an added bit of fun, I made another character freak out and lose it . . . woo hoo.

This chapter is chapter fifteen and I estimate that I will have twenty-five chapters in this book too and keep it to around, if slightly over 100,000 words. So I am closing in on getting this book done, who knows it may be done before the end of the year, we shall see. It will take as long as it takes.

For no reason whatsoever, here is your sunrise shot.
 

Tuesday, 8 September 2015

Not Forgotten

Last month an article was written about me about me. It was a follow up article to one done a year ago. It was nice to talk to the reporter and meet the photographer. 

When this article came out I searched and searched yet for some reason I couldn’t find a copy of the newspaper. Obviously I was searching in all the wrong places, as newspapers generally want to be read and seen.

Well, this weekend the reporter came by my western home and hand delivered me a copy of the newspaper that I was in. I was impressed that she took the time, made the time to do so, when she didn’t have to. It was also nice to know that I was not forgotten and in fact, remembered. So, without further ado, here is the article, framed and on my wall, next to the first one. 
 

I was able to rest and relax this weekend, yet still keep moving forward on Book Two. While keeping the various storylines and motivations and goals of the various characters straight is challenging, somehow I am able to do it. 

The other interesting thing is that this book appears to be heading towards a different ending than I had planned when I started writing it. We shall see how that goes. I always tell myself to just let the story unfold as it wants to. To let the story unfold as it makes the most sense, from the character’s point of view (as in, treat them like people and respect their choices).

I also did a bit of shopping for the bits and pieces that I will need for my upcoming vacation. I’m looking forward to having everything ready. I want to be so prepared that I can just check my mail and drive out of the city and be on my way. 

On a happy note, not only is this week a short week but today is payday! Speaking of work, time to get at it.

Friday, 4 September 2015

Westlock’s Water-Wise Words, When Water Wanes

I grumbled yesterday as I quickly rinsed my lathered-self off as the water pressure dropped. I know what this means, this means that I was almost out of water in my main tank. I protested, futilely, that I had not used that much water as I hastily rinsed myself off, despite the obvious being true. 

So there I was now with effectively no water in my main tank. This leaves me with a few challenges and causes me to switch to my economy water mode. I get so used to this that I almost don’t notice it. It’s just what I do. I realized this morning that perhaps I should let others know what I do to conserve water.

Now, I do have my five gallon jug that I use for drinking, cooking and washing dishes, so I am not completely out of water. 
 

Using this helps me not only helps me see how much water I am using but also ensures that when I run out of water in the main tank, I still have water to: drink, cook and wash dishes with. I also have a five gallon jug of water as a reserve amount, so even if I don’t go to fill up (as I probably will this afternoon) I will be fine all weekend.

The first challenge is flushing the toilet and washing your hands when no water is coming out of the main pipe. To solve this I pump some water into a spare pitcher. To flush the toilet I just pour, sparingly a bit of water down the toilet to “flush and clean it out.” 

If further cleaning is needed, I spray some household cleaner in the bowl and use a scrub brush. RV toilets do not flush as well (or waste as much water) as regular toilets, so cleaning them is occasionally needed after use (that’s life). 

To wash my hands, I hold the pitcher with one hand and pour it into the other hand which I cup. Then I put the pitcher down and pick up the soap with the still dry hand. Then I lather my hands up and once scrubbed I pour a bit of water over each hand, each hand taking turns, then dry off with a towel. 

An alternate method is to put a bit of water in the plugged sink and dip your hands into the small amount of water there. In the dead of winter, you have no plumbing and so, no sink. This means that you are doing this over a wash basin that you will empty out outside (find a thirsty tree or bush).

In the mornings I will boil a kettle of water, or more like three quarters of a kettle of water. I use one cup of this to make my oatmeal and leave the rest, still warm, in the kettle. Oatmeal is important for me because after forty fibre becomes reeeeeaaaaaal important (oh joy).

Once breakfast is done I go in for my shower. Since I have no water for the shower there are two methods to get clean without using much water. The first method can be used in situations like this, as I have plumbing, yet no water in my main tank. 

What you do is pour some of the hot water out of the kettle into a cup, a tumbler will do. Then pump some room temperature water out of the jug to mitigate the temperature. This way you have warm water, yet not cold or scalding.  Now go stand in the bathtub/shower. Pour some of the water from the cup over your head and over yourself.  Be sparing and spread the water around with your hands. Then lather yourself up, then pour what is left of the water in your cup over you to rinse off, you may have the added joy of mixing up another cup of warm water while still wet and partially soapy.

In winter, when you can’t do this method, then you have to go with the old “Bachelor’s bath” method. To do this you put a towel down in an open area, for me it is in that great room area. Stand on this, naked. Put the basin on a nearby surface you can lean over. For me it is on the underside of the flipped over table which is on my couch. 

Put your washcloth in the bottom of the wash basin, all spread out. Overtop of the centre of the washcloth you put a cup, (filled with warm water). Then lean your head over the washbasin and pour the warm water over your head so that the water goes back into the wash basin and dampens the washcloth. 

Now (since it is winter) lather up the washcloth with the soap and wash yourself while cursing about the cold and how the wet cloth amplifies this effect. Then dry off, if needed or desired, rinse out the washcloth and rinse yourself off with the now damp, yet not soapy washcloth.

To do your dishes, spread out a towel over a nearby hard surface, such as a table. Organize your dirty dishes on one side of it, Pic a bowl, frying pan, pot or other item which will hold water and put this in the bottom of the dry sink. Put a bit of soap in the bottom of that item and then pour in the water from the kettle. Using a scrub-brush scrub and wash your cutlery, put them aside in the sink itself and rinse them all at once, pouring water from the kettle over them.

Then continue to wash and scrub your dishes, leaving the item which holds the soapy water for last. Once rinsed, place each item on the towel spread out. Then dry and put them away. There, you have just done your dishes with about two cups of water. In winter use your wash basin and toss the water out outside (again, find a thirsty tree or bush).

There are always ways to conserve water, if you have to. Thankfully, most of you don’t have to do so. For those of you who do, I hope that you might find these little tricks handy.

Thursday, 3 September 2015

Boris Has Been Busy

Seriously, this spider just won’t quit, this is what I came home to (the picture is taken after I moved).
 

I keep tearing it down, and he keeps building another web right there. I think that tomorrow afternoon I will wash Wanda and Trea and see if that flushes him out. My theory is that he hides inside the side mirror.

I took a risk and moved back to the area I have parked for quite a few months: that spot by the old garbage dump. I wanted to run Jenny during the week and I didn’t want to run it by a business. There were no trucks there so I took the risk, so far so good. 

This morning, editing went well and I even have an idea for the chapters after what I have written. In essence I have new ideas for new chapters. So, progress is being made on this after all. 

As for me, I am just happy that the long weekend is almost here. While I briefly thought about going to a campground, it seems silly when I will be doing that next weekend and the week after that.

I will rest, relax and do some writing this weekend; then again, that is what I do every weekend.