AN OFFER ON THE WINNIE & KELLY CLIMBS UP ON THE BIG EEE’S ROOF

KELLY UP ON THE RIG’S ROOF CHECKING ON HOW TO REMOVE THIS OLDER TV ANTENNAE

I had a part here for the Winnebago that I had forgot to put in the rig when we took it down to Ron's at FOUR SEASONS PERFORMANCE in Grand Bend a month ago.  Ron had emailed Tuesday night saying there is an offer on the table for the Winnie so Kelly & I took a drive down to Grand Bend this morning to drop off the part I had forgot to include & discuss the offer.  Ron said there has been other offers but none of them were in the ball bark until this one so we'll see how the negotiations go. 

Spent some more time working on the exterior of the Big EEE this afternoon trying to see if I could get a better shine on the duller white finish.  The painted bottom part of the coach has shined up great but the oxidation on the white fiberglass is another story.  I have been trying different products but it looks like I will have to first use something to de-oxidize the finish before I can even think of trying to restore the original shine.  Now I know this sounds odd coming from a guy who isn't into all that shiny sparkle sparkle stuff but I just don't like that dull oxidized white look on the rig.  A little bit of my late teen years showing through when I would buy old cars with faded finishes & work like crazy with waxes etc to get them looking like a new again.  Kelly thinks the white looks fine but maybe I have eaten just one too many peanut butter sandwiches or something………………. 

 

YOUNG SUMAC LEAVES & PERIWINKLE
ED in a comment on my Tuesday night post had this to say about my talk of cleaning the Big EEE’s roof,  “You are very attentive to having a clean RV roof. I am curious if you clean your sticks and bricks roof as frequently and what the benefits are in doing so to the RV?”  Well, Ed has a good point there.  First off we have never cleaned our sticks & brick roof because it is made of steel & just never seems to needs cleaning.  The Big EEE has a rubber roof….different story.  But Ed’s comment did get me to thinking so I headed off to the internet for some answers.  Well that just confused & educated me all the more.  I did come across this short little informative DITTY though.  Because of the shade our rig is parked in all summer there is a tendency for mould to accumulate so I will take another look at the roof in the early Fall to see if I need to get up there & get rid of the green.  In the meantime I think I will just cool my jets let things be…………………..  

DON’T KNOW WHAT IT IS BUT IT’S ONE OF THE WILDFLOWERS IN OUR FRONT YARD
And speaking of jets I spotted this one flying over today.  Ever since a small boy I have always turned my eyes skyward when I hear a plane.  On a walk with Pheebs this afternoon I heard a slow moving jet overhead & knew right away it was not one of the usual jet sounds I hear.  Sounded low & it was not moving in the direction of normal flight paths.  Grabbed a couple photos of it & when I enlarged them I saw this small single engined straight winged jet had it’s landing gear down.  Figured the only reason for the gear down was a landing in Goderich straight ahead up the lake although it seemed way early to have the gear down already & he’s heading north for an East-West runway.  Any idea what kind of a Jet this is Tom??  No flashy paint on it so I’m wondering if it might be military…………

In our Shout Box a Guest suggested we check a couple boondocking websites geared to boondockers both in Canada & the States.  Both HARVEST HOSTS & BOONDOCKERS WELCOME are an excellent idea for traveling folks looking for a place to overnight other than RV Parks, Wally-docks or Rest Areas.  A great gesture by fellow Boondockers opening their properties for fellow Boondockers to stay a night or two on their travels.  Great idea for most folks but as readers know Kelly & I are kinda the exception to the socializing norm.  Boondocking in someone's driveway, yard, or on their property while appealing for most folks is just not for us.  While on the road traveling between points A & B we are comfortable just quietly slipping into the far end of a Wal-mart, a Casino parking lot, County Park, or a tasty Cracker Barrel.  We are usually tired, not into socializing, & are usually gone again before the Sun is up.  No obligations, no reservations, no emails sent or received, no phone calls, no commitments, & no hassles.  It’s just the way we prefer to travel…………………..Someone mentioned Crown Lands for boondocking here in Ontario.  Yes, there are Crown Lands but they are generally further north & not readily accessible for the most part.  Heavily forested.  Boondocking for us here in Ontario is a difficult bit of business but we are working on it.  

THIS IS NOT THE TOAD WE TOW BEHIND OUR MOTORHOME

  

BABY ROBINS ARE GROWING FAST

Just days before leaving Congress back in early April we bought something in Wickenburg (cheaper in the States) to replace our traditional RV TV antennae called a JACK digital HDTV antennae.  They are designed to bring in far more digital channels than the conventional TV antennae that comes with most RV's.  When I saw the parts in the box it discouraged me as to how to put it all together so it remained in the box.....until today.  Kelly went on-line & watched a video on how to install the Jack antennae & the immediate good news was that none of the parts in the box needed to be used for mounting it on the existing TV mounts atop the rig. Now that was a big surprise.  Found out all those parts were for mounting it on a pole atop a house, not an RV.  I was still sceptical but Kelly convinced me she could mount this Jack antennae on our existing roof set-up & with that up the back ladder of the coach she went with me right behind her.  And by golly between the two of us swaying back & forth on top of the rig we actually did get the new antennae installed after removing the old one.  And just like the computer video showed we didn't have to use one single part from the box except for the Jack head itself.  Just a couple pins & washers to be temporarily taken out, old antennae removed & the new head set atop the two antennae legs.  Holes lined up, pins & washers re-inserted & ‘walla’ we were done.  And the TV even worked too.  Now that was a bonus day thanks to Kelly.  Of course she told me she couldn’t have done it without me but I think she was just saying that to make me feel good.  Wives have a tendency to do things like that to us fellers you know.

REMINDS ME OF THE OLD ‘DRIFTERS’ SONG….’UP ON THE ROOF’

 

KELLY CHECKS OUT THE OLD TV ANTENNAE & I TIGHTEN UP THE CABLE NUT ON THE NEW JACK ANTENNAE

  

HANDING ME THE OLD ANTENNAE DOWN & THEN BEGINNING HER DESCENT

FIRST TIME TRYING OUT THE RIG’S TV

 

HAD OUR FINGER CROSSED THIS NEW JACK ANTENNAE WAS GOING TO WORK

 

AND YEP, LOOKS LIKE THE TV IS WORKING, CHECKED OUT THE BEDROOM TV & IT WORKED TOO…A BONUS DAY:))

<<< THE JACK ANTENNAE PARTS WE DID NOT HAVE TO FIGURE OUT OR USE
Asked our neighbor what the name of that 'bamboo looking' plant was that I dug up & planted.  It is called COW PARSNIP. INDIAN CELERY, OR PUSHKI & although the stocks had a bamboo look to them I mistakenly assumed they were a type of bamboo.  My assumption was mis-leading.  Kelly read up on Cow Parsnip this afternoon & apparently we are Okay.  It grows tall & does spread but that is what I wanted it to do.  We do have bamboo 'grass' here & I sure know how that stuff spreads alright but like the Sumac trees it can all be easily controlled by cutting & trimming.  Here is what is said about lacy white flowers such as Cow Parsnip...... {Cow Parsnip (Heracleum lanatum) is a wonderful flowering perennial, excellent for the back of the flower bed. The lush, green leaves emerge in early spring, and are followed by flower stalks up to 5 feet tall. The blooms, 1 - 1 1/2 foot across,  are a fabulous basis for flower arrangements (put one in the vase instead of a frog!), and the dried seed heads are excellent craft material--they look like big snowflakes. A most unusual addition to autumn decorations}.

 

ALTHOUGH LOOKING A LITTLE DROOPY THIS IS THE COW PARSNIP PLANT & THE STOCK i MIS-IDENTIFIED AS LOOKING BAMBOO LIKE

I WATERED ALL THE COW PARSNIPS AFTER TAKING THIS FINAL PHOTO

GROANERS CORNER:((  A vampire bat came flapping in from the night looking a little wrecked up & covered in fresh blood.  He parked himself on the roof of the cave to get some sleep.  Pretty soon all the other bats smelled the blood and began hassling him about where he got it. He told them to knock it off and let him get some sleep but they persisted in hassling him to no end until finally he gave in.  "OK!" he said with exasperation, "follow me," and he flew out of the cave with hundreds of bats following close behind him.  Down through the valley they went, across the river and into the deep forest. Finally he slowed down and all the other bats excitedly gathered around him.  "Do you see that tree over there?" he asked.  "Yes, yes, yes!" the bats all screamed in a frenzy.  "Good," said the first bat, "Because I DIDN'T!"

SPENT THE HUMID MORNING ON THE END OF MY SHOVEL & THE AFTERNOON IN MY RECLINER IN FRONT OF A COOLING FAN

 

FRUIT TREE BLOSSOMS IN NEIGHBOR KATHERINE’S FRONT YARD…..AT SUNSET

The bulk of my entire morning was spent on the working end of a shovel first digging up plants then digging them back into the ground in a different location.  I liked a thick stocked bamboo looking plant our neighbor had planted along his fence line for privacy.  Said he dug it up in a ditch less than a mile from where we live.  With directions in mind I set off in the Jeep & dug me up over 30 plants.  Forgot to take a pic of the plants but I will be going back for more.  Took me awhile to get them all replanted & watered around our property but if all goes well they should form an additional heavy growth of vegetation around us.  Humidity was up by the time I finished planting & that drove me back Into the house & right into the shower.  From there it was off to my recliner for a few zzzzz's in front of my stack of 3 cooling fans.  We held off from hitting the A/C button.

I did manage to remember a few questions from readers tonight.  The  last photo of flowers in Monday night's post are Primrose………  Someone asked about the windmill in my POST about the WINDMILL LAKE WAKE & ECO PARK near us.  At the moment that windmill is in a state of disrepair but the new owners of the property have plans to restore it back to it's original state.  I remember years ago when it was a tourist attraction & tour buses would make stops at the mill.  It was operational & I understand it had a gift shop.  I know a Dutch family lived on this large piece of scenic property years ago & I am assuming they were the folks who built it……..  And I sorta recall another reader asking if there were free places for boondocking here in this area of Canada.  Unfortunately we do not have those nice big free BLM (Bureau of Land Management) areas like the South-Western States.  It will be a real challenge for us locating places to stay & I'm just not sure how we are going to handle that yet.  As long time readers know we prefer to stay away from RV Parks.  Kelly did phone one National Park called CYPRESS LAKE NATIONAL PARK but RV sizes are restricted to 26' there.  Too bad because we have been to Cypress Lake before & really liked it………  Remember, if you have asked me a question & I haven't answered it please don't think I am ignoring you.  I just have a very frustratingly short term memory & have a habit of simply forgetting to answer.  Happens to me with emails as well.

THESE UNDERWATER LILY PADS HAVEN’T QUITE REACHED THE SURFACE YET >>>

And speaking of forgetting here is a good example of how my mind works.  Last week I was taking some photos in the rig & around our carport.  I was using the flash on my camera & when I do that I have to remember to take the lens hood off my lens or the flash casts a shadow across the bottom of my photos.  Amazingly enough I did remember to take the hood off for a change & I distinctly remember unscrewing it.  That was about 7 or 8 days ago & I have not seen the lens hood since.  I remember taking it off but have zero recollection as to what I did with it only seconds later.  I have gone through shirt & pants pockets, jacket pockets & nowhere is that lens hood to be found.  If I had laid it down I would have found it by now.  Only logical explanation is that it was beamed up immediately after I removed it from the lens by a passing Alien spaceship.  If I ever find that shade again I will let you know where I found it or if that Alien spaceship decides to beam it back to me again I will let you know about that too:))

 

CAN YOU SEE THE HUNGRY LITTLE BABY ROBIN BEAKS 
Bob from THE CARETAKER CHRONICLES made a good point in his comment on my Monday night's post when he in part said, "Most RV folks tend to claim that whatever they're driving is just about the best they've ever had. Well, mostly".  I have found that to be the case over the years as well.  If someone didn't think it was the best RV then why buy it.  Sounds nice in theory but most of us are not in the position to order a new rig from a factory custom built to our own likes & preferences.  Over the years any rig we have ever had I always trot out the ‘what it is I like about it’.  All the pluses, all the positives.  Readers of my blog also know I trot out the negatives as well & there are always some negatives.  Unless you live in a perfect world of course.  I came across a good example of that this morning with the Triple E.  On all our RV's the rear ladder was full length & could be easily accessed from the ground.  I have always liked that.  Decided to slip up onto the rig's roof this morning for a first close up look around.  Before I could do that I had to attach another ladder to the rig's already attached ladder.  You see these partial ladders on a lot on Diesel Bangers so you have to carry another ladder attachment along in one of the bins.  I don't like that ladder attachment idea.  I suppose it's done that way so Cows wearing horseshoes, clumsy climbing Chickens, oogling Ostrich's, rambunctious baby Elephants, & salt water Crocodiles can't climb up the ladder & stomp around on the roof at night keeping everybody awake inside. 

WE HAVE A NICE TREED AREA AROUND OUR HOUSE TO PARK THE RIG & KEEP IT OUT OF THE SUN

  

ON THE RIGS ROOF LOOKING FORWARD, REAR, & OFF TO THE AWNING SIDE --- ANGLED SKY LIGHT IN FIRST PHOTO IS OVER THE SHOWER & THE LIVING ROOM SKY LIGHT IS VISIBLE IN THE FOREGROUND OF THE SECOND PHOTO --- OTHER DARK RECTANGLES ARE SOLAR PANELS

THE ROOF IS IN NEED OF A GOOD CLEANING & KEEP IN MIND I’M USING AN 18mm WIDE ANGLE LENS FOR THESE SHOTS WHICH MAKES THE RIG LOOK LONG IN THOSE 3 VERTICAL CENTER PHOTOS…

The power awnings on the Sunseeker & Winnie Wagon really totally spoiled us & the manual awning on the Triple E seems like a Dinosaur to handle compared to the power awnings.  But of course we are used to those big manual awnings because that was what we had on our Damon Class A all the 6 years we owned it.  I really liked how the transmission automatically geared itself down on steep grades in our Class C Winnebago Ford V-10.  As I recall that has to be done manually with the Chevy transmission.  Liked how we didn't have to mess with the levellers to get our slide out in the Damon too.  Not so with the Big E but I think I just discovered Monday that the jacks or a single jack does not have to be all the way down for the slide to work.  I have recently written about all these things & as I come across more comparisons whether positive or negative ‘in my opinion’ I as always will write about my thoughts right here in the blog.

GROANER'S CORNER:((  The co-ed came running in tears to her father. "Dad, you gave me some terrible financial advice!" she cried.  "I did? What did I tell you?" asked the dad.  "You told me to put my money in that big bank, and now that big bank is in trouble."  "What are you talking about? That's one of the largest banks in the world," he said. "Surely there must be some mistake."   "I don't think so," she sniffed. "They just returned one of my checks with a note saying, 'Insufficient Funds.'"

HAD THE RIG OUT FOR A SPIN & A LITTLE STORY THAT HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH FLORIDA & MY AUNT JEAN:))

Nice that our forests are still bug free for morning walks.  With our weather warming up I'm sure our bugless times will soon be coming to an end.

 

TWO SIDES OF MR. RED BREASTED GROSBEAK
I was feeling a need to take the Big EEE out for a drive so late this morning we loaded up the little Bugsy Buns & headed ourselves out for a wee drive in the countryside.  All paved roads of course as we headed south of Bayfield down around the Zurich area to have us another look at all the big wind turbines going up.  Just a weather perfect morning for a half hour or so drive in the rig.

 
I am so impressed with the handling capabilities in this Motorhome.  We've never had a rig as smooth & quiet as this one.  And I'm especially happy we were able to again have us a rig with the powerful Chevy 8.1 Vortec engine & Allison transmission in it again.  Our Damon Motorhome & Class C Sunseeker had that Chevy engine & they were way peppier than the Ford V-10 engine we had in the Class C Winnebago.  This 36’ Class A Motorhome has far more torque than our 26’ Class C Winnie had.  The transmission is much smoother off the line & does not over-rev itself like the Ford V-10 seemed to do. 

WE HAVE THIS PHOTO ON OUR SIDE BAR NOW
We didn't quite get off Scott-free on our morning drive though.  We have never had full length rear sliding closet mirrors in a coach before so we forgot to lock the doors.  Yep, by the time we arrived back home one of those doors had jumped it's track & a handle came off.  Lucky for us Kelly was able to fix it.  I went in the house & fixed something too.  A peanut butter & honey sandwich.  Second silly thing I did on our drive was a no brainer.  I am in the habit of putting my 4 way emergency flashers on when backing out of our parking spot onto the road here at home.  Did I remember to cancel those 4-way flashers once on the road ready to go?  Nope!!  The steering wheel position was such that it blocked me from seeing the flashing signal on the dash & sure enough I did our whole morning drive out on the area highways with my 4-way flashers going.  Didn't realize that until I stopped for some construction in Bayfield.  Any stop I make on a highway I always hit the 4-ways to alert traffic coming up behind that I am either slowing down or stopped so when I reached for the flashers in the construction zone today......they were already on.  Geeeezzzzzz:((

Despite feeling a little under the weather Kelly's been doing a lot of purging while re-organizing her room these past couple weeks.  Kelly buys a lot more stuff than I do.  I’m still wearing my old tattered & worn shirts from years ago.  It is rare for me to go out & buy a new piece of clothing.  Why would I do that when my decade old stuff is still hanging together.  Kelly’s already taken a couple Jeep loads of her stuff off to the Consignment & Thrift Stores in Goderich.  Another big load ready to go soon as we get the larger cargo area Santa Fe back.  Anyone with a house knows how stuff accumulates.  Seems stuff just begets more stuff.  At least we stopped going to garage sales & scratch 'n' dent stores years ago.  Maybe I’m long overdo for a big Thrift Store bash & super-duper make-over…………….

WE SEEM TO HAVE A LOT OF BUMBLE BEES THIS SPRING

Back in the late 90’s while in the last stages of recuperating from some foot surgery I flew down to Sarasota Florida to visit my Aunt Jean for a week.  We bopped around to different places & one of them was MYAKKA RIVER STATE PARK.  The thing I remember most about Myakka was the ba-zillion Alimagators we saw on a boat ride there.  Fellow RV Bloggers Chuck & Geri have been volunteering at Myakka for awhile now & just love it.  They have a month to go & recently posted about their remaining time at the Park.  You can read that post at HAPPY TRAILS.  We met Chuck & Geri at Darby Well Road near Ajo Arizona a few years back just about the same time we first met RV SUE & HER CANINE CREW.

 

ON OUR BIRDBATH TODAY

Reading Chuck & Geri’s post about Myakka reminded me of a little story about that trip to visit Aunt Jean in Florida & about the Sunday I flew back & landed in Toronto.  Can’t give you the reason’s or details why my Mother would have gone ballistic if she had known I was in Florida visiting her Sister but I’ll tell you what happened on my return.  Kelly & I lived in an old farmhouse at the time near a little place called Fullerton west of Stratford Ontario.  My Mother lived in Tavistock east of Stratford.  Sometimes on a Sunday evening we would meet in Stratford for supper at Swiss Chalet a favorite chicken eatery of my Mother’s.  Turns out while I was in Florida my Mother called Kelly at the farmhouse to say her & Dayton (remember my 2 part LAMP part one & LAMP part two story) would meet us at Swiss Chalet Sunday afternoon at 5 p.m.  My Mother had no idea I was in Florida but as would have it my return flight was for that very Sunday.  My plane landed in Toronto around 3:15 as I recall & luckily the company I was working for in those days (Stratford Airporter) had sent a van for me so I would not have to wait until the 6 p.m. Stratford shuttle left the Airport for Stratford.  I told the driver who was a good friend of mine about my predicament & having to be at the Swiss Chalet in Stratford by 5 p.m. or a family situation could turn ugly & go off like nuclear blast.  He didn’t spare the horses & had me back to the Stratford Airporter office which was in the East end of Stratford just minutes before 5.  Kelly was there waiting for me with the engine running.  Swiss Chalet was about 4 blocks up the street & just as we pulled out & made a right hand turn we spotted Dayton’s car in the distance approaching from Tavistock to the east.  We quickly got into some traffic & they didn’t see us.  We made it to the Swiss Chalet about 3 minutes before they did.  Both Kelly & I had to be very careful over the next couple hours so as not to let anything slip about where I had really been for a week.  We ended up getting away with it & my Mother never ever did find out about my flying down to Florida for a week to visit her Sister, my Aunt Jean:))

GROANER'S CORNER:((  A four year old was at the paediatrician for a check up. As the doctor looked in her ears with an otoscope, he asked, "Do you think I'll find Big Bird in here?"  The little girl stayed silent.  Next, the doctor took a tongue depressor and looked down her throat. He asked, "Do you think I'll find the Cookie Monster down there?"  Again, the little girl was silent.  Then the doctor put a stethoscope to her chest. As he listened to her heart beat, he asked, "Do you think I'll hear Barney in there?"  "Oh, no!" the little girl replied. "Jesus is in my heart. Barney's on my underpants."

   <<< AND JUST IN CASE YOU WERE WONDERING WHO BARNEY IS:))