TRYING OUT SOME NEW COLORS FOR THE BLOG

Personally, I like the dark colored backgrounds but some readers have said they find it hard on the eyes for any length of time. And, some of my blogs can get a bit lengthy. Photos look better against a black background so that was probably one of my original ideas for doing that. However, there is much more dialogue than pictures so it's only logical to put the priority on the written word. But a white background....never!! I may change this color scheme a bit as we go along. We'll see how it goes................................

2 NEW WINDSHIELD WIPERS PLEASE.....WHAT!!!!

It was time to take the motorhome in for it's pre-trip inspection & tune-up last week. The windshield wipers were totally worn out, plugs were still original, needed a broken muffler hanger fixed amongst other things. That hanger had broken in Arizona last year & I had it wired up with about 2.4 miles of clothesline wire. I have a tendency to over-do things you know. Probably half the labor cost was for the mechanic cutting all that wire off. The bill for the tune up was about what I was worried it would be, but the real kicker was the price of 2 windshield wiper blades. Yes, they are 29 inch blades & specially made for that type of windshield I guess, but we were all flabbergasted at the price, including the people at the garage. $137.00 for 2 blades!!!! Guess that didn't make 8 spark plugs for S104.00 seem so bad. They are Iridium plugs which Google tells me is, "One of the world's finest spark plugs. The result are spark plugs that require less voltage to spark, burns fuel more efficiently, sparks at leaner air/fuel mixtures, and delivers higher horsepower and better gas mileage."
Well, I sure hope the engine appreciates all this pampering & the windshield understands it's being wiped clean by the finest of blades!! Maybe the tailpipe will even feel better now knowing it's not so wired!!
We sure had a go-around with the Actia company in Elkhart, Indiana who are the makers of speedometer/odometer clusters for motorhomes. There has been a software problem for quite awhile in their computer versioned set-ups. The cluster in our motorhome was originally replaced back in 2005. The software goes & the LED read-out becomes unreadable. You lose your mileage, trip meter, fuel calculations, oil & transmission pressures, etc. It does a lot more calculations, engine updates, & reminders but do I really need it to tell me when my next colonoscopy appointment is. I think not!!
We phoned Actia about the odometer problem & they said it would not be covered under warranty & would cost us $354 for another cluster. They sent us a form to fill out regarding mileage on the coach. We then had to get the form signed by a mechanic to verify we weren't shysters & the actual mileage was accurate. They then program that mileage into the new cluster before shipping it out to us. The cluster was sent by UPS courier which cost us another $107.00 because of tax stuff at the border + courier costs. We had wrongly assumed they would have sent it by post which would have been a fraction of the cost. The odd thing about this, is that 3 days after UPS brought that cluster, another one arrived via UPS & the shipping costs on that one was $51. Of course we refused the second cluster but why the two different shipping charges, & as it turns out.....that second delivered cluster may very well have been the right one!!!! When we had the motorhome tune-up we had the mechanic swap out the defective cluster for the good one which added some labor costs. After picking up the motorhome at the garage I was about half way home when I realized the new odometer cluster.......was the wrong one!!!! Unbeknownst to us, there are 2 clusters for these rigs. A standard one & a computer version one. I wanted the same cluster as had been in the motorhome so it was back on the phone for Kelly to Elkhart, Indiana. More back & forth calls finally led to them shipping us a third cluster & with that, it was back to the garage with the motorhome for hopefully the last swap. Success, the cluster was correct. While at the garage I figured I may as well get the rig's propane tank filled up, but then discovered another problem. Could not get the bin door open to access the propane tank. Well, out came the trusty mechanic again & within a few minutes was able to get the bin door opened from underneath with a wire somehow. Turns out there was a piece of white metal in the lock assembly that was broken. Glad that happened at the garage & not at some Flying J gas bar in the middle of nowhere someplace. And, once again, no way around the problem but to get a new part. And where do we have to get that part of course.........Elkhart, Indiana again. That is where Damon Motorhomes are made so it will be back on the phone this week & here we go again. We are familiar with Elkhart in more ways than one. Last year we had to make a special trip there on our way home to have a damaged screen door replaced. We had traveled & put up with that bent door for 4 months & finally got it replaced one day before arriving home. It just don't figure, do it!! By the way, we ended up shipping 2 odometer clusters (original broken one & incorrect one) back to Actia....C.O.D.!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday Sept. 8 Update on this Actia problem. Kelly has been on the phone this morning with UPS & it's looking like we are going to be re-imbursed for some of those shipping charges.) Ok, looks like I've nearly worn out another keyboard here but it's raining this morning so figured it was a good time to catch up the blog. Been a busy morning though. Kelly's working at the Lodge to-day. I'm on the second load of laundry, dishes are done, been to the store for milk & bananas, vacuumed the sunroom, have 2 of about 23 windows cleaned, dogs are fed, forwarded some jokes, took a picture of the wiper blades, made a coffee, & am contemplating making my bed. (that's always a tough contemplation) Might even go & BBQ me up a big bowl of oatmeal. All & all it seems like I'm quite the little multi-taskar this morning & I'm looking forward to my next favorite multi thing soon.........multi relaxing. Hey, I might even catch a few minutes of Sesame Street:))))) Oh ya, passed my 1rst complete physical in 3 years with almost flying colors last week. That cholesterol thingy is always a tough one but I've been working real hard at it. Have dropped from 212 pounds in June to 203 as of yesterday. Totally cut out all fried foods & sweets for starters. Doctor says I'm good for another 50 years or 50,000 miles, whichever comes first................ And with that, I'd better get back to my morning multi-taskinating. (Had to use a tele-photo lens shot through our living room window for the windshield wipers because it's pouring rain out there. RV television photo shows where the TV folds back to the wall for travel & is secured there. Forgot to add that pic in the previous post. The 2 geese on the pond photos was taken yesterday morning across the road from our place & once again I used a telephoto lens so as not to stampede the geese off the water)

THE "LAST" TELEVISION RENOVATION.....OR ELSE!!!!

Pictures show Bruce lining up the wooden mount. Finished picture shows television fully extended on the mount. It can tilt up or down & swivel from side to side & folds back to the wall for traveling. Click on the pics to make them bigger.

I am hoping to-day was the "LAST" television renovation & I won't have to update this blog again!!!! After mounting the 23" LCD flat screen twice on the end of the kitchen cabinet I still wasn't totally satisfied with the way everything ended up. Afterall, I did all that myself so what could I expect. In an earlier post I stated that if I wanted something done right I have to get someone else to do it. Well, this TV project was no exception & by the time I was done I had so many mounting holes in the end of the kitchen cabinet that it looked like a woodpeckers convention. Had to call in my old buddy Bruce again to save the day. Bruce is retired & has the patience, tools, know how, & interest for little projects like this & was glad to bale me out of the mess I had made......again!! In the process though I did have a bit of a light bulb moment. When you look at the pics it makes things a bit clearer. We had a big hole where the old analog TV came out above the dash so I figured why not take the cabinet door off up behind where the LCD TV is now & use it to fill that hole up front. Bruce framed in a little place for the door to fit & put the cabinet door there. It matches the cabinet doors on either side. I had sawed out a couple of panels at either end of that line of cabinets to access co-axe cables so Bruce simply made a couple of nice hinged doors & covered up the square holed mess I had made. And I still have access to those cables plus some extra storage too. He just has to put a floor in that center cabinet yet. Now, where the cabinet door came off by the end of the kitchen cabinet & behind the new TV, Bruce made a wooden piece that the television mount bracket is now bolted to. On either side of that wood mount he made 2 hinged doors so I can still access that cabinet plus that's where the 3 co-ax cables for the TV are. In the pics you will notice I haven't got the TV wires hooked up yet but maybe to-morrow.
This re-locating the television has been quite an ordeal but had I had the forethought to have Bruce do it in the first place I could have saved myself a lot of time & aggravation. However, I am a man so it is expected of me to be a master plumber, electrician, mechanic, welder, auto body tech, gas fitter, hydraulic specialist, carpenter, roofer, painter, machinist, heavy equipment operator, etc. etc. etc. plus jack of all trades that I haven't thought of. And master of them all too!! Not easy being a man you know, but I keep trying. Now, where is that light bulb installation I've been having trouble with.....................

"IS THAT A DIESEL MOTORCYCLE SIR??"

"Is that a diesel motorcycle sir" Thought it odd hearing those words coming from the young gas attendant fella at a Shell station in Goderich Ontario a few days ago. I had just rolled in on my motorcycle & topped up my gas tank. I generally run regular gas in the bike & about every 4th tank or so I fill it up with Premium. To-day I decided on premium, so by-passed the regular nozzle & without looking, reached for the premium nozzle on the other side of the pump & filled er up!! I said to the young fellow, "no, this is a gas motorcycle, to which he kindly replied, "well, you just filled up your motorcycle with diesel fuel......sir." ARRRRGGGGHHHHHH!!!! There it was, right on the pump beside me....DIESEL. Well, to say I could feel my stomach sliding right out from under me would be putting it mildly. What a huge feeling of frustration & anger I had with myself. (not to mention embarrassment) Just taking things for granted & not paying attention to what I was doing again!!!!
Wheeled the bike around the corner of the garage, slunk out of sight & got the owner's manual out of the saddle bag. Tried to find out if there was some kind of a gas tank drain valve. Couldn't find anything. Even got down on the ground & had a close look for some kinda valve or something. Suddenly dawned on me that if I had a hose I could probably siphon the diesel fuel out right out of the tank. No hose at the gas bar so walked across the large parking lot to a Canadian Tire store at the far corner. Got me a siphon hose with a plunger thingy on it & headed back. The young fellow at the gas bar fetched me a big white 5 gallon plastic pail. The siphon didn't work well because the siphon part was a solid plastic tube so wouldn't bend well to get down into & around the bottom of the bikes tank. Back to Canadian Tire for a second time & got a 3' section of flexible gas rubber hose. Should have done that in the first place because this hose worked perfect except for one little thing. No suction plunger on this one so I had to use my mouth to start the diesel fuel flowing. Diesel fuel in my mouth, up my nose, in my beard down my chin, on my pants & all over my shoes. The bucket I was draining it into tipped over at one point so I had quite a mess of diesel fuel going on all over the place. Moved the hose around in the tank making sure I got as much fuel out as possible & by the time I was done I had about 3 gallons of diesel fuel in the 5 gallon plastic pail. Probably another half gallon on the ground & another half gallon on me!! Pushed the bike back out to the gas island, DOUBLE CHECKED THE GAS PUMP & re-filled my tank with V-Power Premium....GAS!! This whole ordeal lasted about 40 minutes but luckily ended well. If that young sharp eyed gas attendant hadn't noticed my mistake I would have rode out of there with a tank full of diesel fuel & promptly ruined my motorcycle engine. That would have been a major repair!! I thanked him & insisted he take $20. Probably should have given him another ten for not laughing at me & calling me a dummy. He didn't want to accept the $20 but I pulled rank on him using my superior age factor. Truly a nice kid. Next stop was the car wash to hose down the diesel infested motorcycle & the last stop of the day was home to hose down the diesel infested & somewhat embarrassed human!!!!

BAYFIELD ONTARIO, CANADA......OUR HOME TOWN:))

It occurred to me awhile back that I had lots of photos regarding our travels in the American southwest posted, but I didn't have any pictures of our own picturesque little home town of Bayfield Ontario, Canada. Bayfield is beautifully located on the sandy, windswept shores of Canada's second largest body of fresh water, Lake Huron. I took my camera (Nikon D50 SLR) for a walk (& drive) on Wednesday August 20th & came home several hours later with a few pictures. The photos start in the harbor area & move up into the heart of town. Drove around some streets with my camera perched on my arm out the window & took pictures of some Bayfield homes. (kind of gives new meaning to the term, "drive by shooting") At the end of the day I moved back down to the harbor area & awaited the sunset out on the pier. A mighty fine way to spend a relaxing Bayfield day.
Another reason for posting these pictures on the web was to make Bayfield more pictorially available. Noticed there didn't seem to be a lot of Bayfield photos accessible on the net & the few websites about the town did not concentrate on the visual aspect............ No doubt about it, we live in one of Canada's prettiest towns.................... :))

Click here for the photos. Try out the Slideshow when you get there.
http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/BEAUTIFULBAYFIELDONTARIOCANADA

A DIFFERENT TV MOUNT & AN ODOMETER MALFUNCTION

Just didn't feel comfortable with the television mount we had used for our new 23" flat screen television. It had a plastic type bushing in one of the joints that I just could not tighten up enough to stop the television from tipping too far down. Also felt there was a significant strain on that mount despite it saying that it was good for up to about 33 pounds. Our television weighs in at 24 pounds. To ease my concern I picked up a heavier all steel mount last Saturday morning at, The Source, (formally Radio Shack) & swapped the old one (from Wal-Mart) out. New mount is good for 40 pounds. TV is now much sturdier & I feel more comfortable with the all steel construction & the different way the joints are engineered. It seems I always have to do things back asswards all the time:(( It lends credibility to my earlier post about having somebody else do stuff if I want it done right!! The photo shows the newer mount. Awhile back when I started up the motorhome to run the engine for a bit I noticed the digital odometer cluster was not legible. This is the computer driven little device that gives you info like how many miles you are getting to the gallon, how many miles of fuel left in the gas tank, trip meter, plus a host of other technical info. To make a long story short, we found out that these clusters made by the Actia company have faulty software in them & many people with the Chevy Workhorse Chassis like ours have had to replace them. Some folks have been lucky enough to get it done under warranty, but of course, not us:(( In fact when I re-registered the motorhome with Workhorse a few months ago we found out that our coaches cluster had already been replaced once in 2005. It's been quite a run around but after many phone calls to local dealers, Workhorse in Arizona, & finally to the Actia company itself in Elkhart Indiana we're finally getting the problem solved as how to go about getting it fixed. I guess I should say Kelly is getting the problem solved because she is the one who makes all the phone calls. To make an even longer story even shorter.............the cluster is in transit right now & UPS should be delivering it to-morrow. Our motorhome is scheduled to go in for servicing shortly so we'll have the garage do the cluster switch. It certainly has not been cheap!! $354 for the cluster & we had a call from UPS at the border to-day saying it's going to be another $107 for taxes & duty to bring it into Canada. Had we known that we might just have simply stopped in Elkhart Indiana on our way south this year & picked it up ourselves. Oh well, so much for the old saying about the older we get, the wiser we get. Ya right!!!!

THE SUMMER IS WINDING DOWN

It's a cool, gray overcast, & rainy Sunday morning here in southern Ontario & a good time for catching up on computer stuff & doing inside neglected chores that need some attention. Might even kick the furnace on for a bit to get that nice cozy warmth in the house to take off the early Autumn chill to-day. Yes, the seasons are a changing & I'm glad they are. It's nearly mid August & once again the signs of our summer slipping away are beginning to emerge. The tiny invisible crickets have a different chirp to them, once lush green leaves are taking on a harder edged look, days are becoming noticeably shorter, & our ever present resident pond frogs are quieter now as they contemplate their long winter's hibernation. Who's going to get the best spot in the mud this year. The nights are definitely cooling down & soon the Autumn crispness will be in the daytime's air. It is my favorite time of the year which approaches. The exciting freshness of spring is long gone & summer's steamy rush is rapidly winding down. Autumn is a time for quiet reflection. Everything seems to slow as we shift to a lower gear. In a month from now the kids will be back in school, the Labor Day week-end will be behind us & a few trees will be starting to show some of their early artist's brush colors. Autumn is also a time of anticipation & preparation for the long cold winter months ahead. It's a cozy time as we scurry about like little squirrels getting ourselves organized & hunkered down to await the chilling winter winds. It's also a time of new learning. I've always had a theory that I think is probably true. Ever since we were kids first starting school we have become programmed to begin an educational process every September. This continues for many years in our early life & becomes embedded in our very beings & I think it lasts forever. Even though I've been out of the school system since the early 60's I still feel that learning process beginning to kick in around mid August. Over the years I have enrolled in various night classes starting in September. Half a dozen photography related courses, a beginners computer course, Tai Chi exercise classes & probably a few others I've forgotten about. It's always a nice feeling to be learning something new & especially at a time of year when we have been programmed to do our very best learning. It takes me back to my early public school days & that fresh smell of new books, erasers, new ink in the ink wells & fresh apples in our knapsacks. Aw yes, Autumn. My favorite time of the year:)))))) Think I just talked myself into brewing up a fresh cup of coffee, lighting up a cinnamon scented candle, & kicking on the fireplace for a cozy stay at home musically relaxing day.
The photos are from our flower gardens around the house. The one above shows a white Yucca growing up through some orange Day Lilies.