With April Gone.....It's About Time

The last night frost is barely a week ago and we are still wondering how much longer the cold weather will last.

This nasty type of weather is anything but normal and Bea is showing me pictures of previous years when flowers were out at this time of the year.

Ice cold northern winds are turning even sunny days into frosty experiences.

Finally yesterday, I saw the first forsythia starting to show their happy yellow flowers and today I saw a few daffodils near our front yard apple tree.

Finding something to do during cold days I have been trying to stick to indoors tasks.

Our motorhome had been sitting quietly, untouched, until the day I discovered something wasn’t right. The passenger-side rear inner tire had completely lost its pressure—and no matter how hard I tried, it refused to take on any air.

With no quick fix in sight, I booked an appointment at a repair shop just across the border, hoping for a straightforward solution. But things turned out to be anything but simple.

After dropping off the rig, the shop owner called with an update. They were struggling—big time. The wheel nuts wouldn’t budge. Even their air tools were no match for them. In the end, it took three mechanics, a very long breaker bar, and a good deal of determination to finally loosen them by hand.

As it turned out, this was the same troublesome tire that had caused us headaches throughout our trip, requiring assistance not once, but twice before. The culprit, yet again, was the valve stem.

This latest chapter in our tire saga set us back $150—an amount that, considering the effort involved, felt almost reasonable. Now, with the repair behind us, we’re crossing our fingers and hoping this will finally put an end to the issue for good.

As if the tire troubles weren’t enough, the list of little fixes around the motorhome kept growing. This time, our attention turned to the pleated window blinds. Over the course of the trip, they had taken a beating—some were crumpled beyond redemption, while another sagged helplessly, its strings long past their prime.

Instead of patching things up one by one, we decided it was time for a full upgrade. We ordered roller-style blinds for the entire coach, hoping for a cleaner look and a more durable solution on the road.

Of course, nothing in motorhome life is ever quite as simple as it sounds. What seemed like a straightforward swap quickly turned into a labour-intensive project, demanding patience, time, and more effort than we had bargained for. Still, step by step, we’re transforming the space—making it a little more comfortable and a lot more our own.

And while I had been spending time in the bus, Bea had been busy in the kitchen department baking delicious bread and buns. 

And speaking of baking, I can mention our dear  neighbour Deanna. Her cakes look just as amazing as her house.

If for once the weather turns out a little sun, we take Dixie out for a forest walk. The other week we had just returned to the van and were about to drive away when we discovered this little guy: Do you know what it is?

JUST IN:

Full winter in Nova Scotia and northern New Brunswick

The news of yet another return of winter is definitely a bit unsettling. Just when we thought we were finally past the season’s icy grip, here it comes again, reminding us that the weather has a mind of its own.

It’s a harsh reminder that no matter how many sunny days we might have ahead, the unpredictable nature of winter still has a few tricks up its sleeve. I’m sure many of us are hoping it’s just a brief cold snap, but either way, it adds a bit of a chill to the air—both literally and metaphorically.

Time to pull out the extra blankets, maybe huddle in for a few more cozy nights indoors. Here’s to hoping that spring shows up soon to stay!

So Dixie says Good-Bye and takes another nap waiting for better weather.

Happy Easter!

Between rain showers and snow showers I extend our greetings to my readers! 

Though my personal happiness may have been more pronounced in earlier years, we are trying to keep our anger and frustration under control. 

When power-hungry madmen around the globe are affecting everyone's life, there really is not much reason to be happy.

Our early return from the south, caused by health concerns, has probably saved us hundreds of $$$ as Diesel fuel has jumped with 2 dollars/gal.

The cold and unpredictable weather over the past 4 weeks has made us huddle inside, letting our wood stove work overtime consuming copious amounts of firewood.

And yes, I have seen the doctor and been to the hospital for a CT-Scan. 

Charlotte County Hospital

The result was uplifting (they couldn't detect any thing wrong) but that leaves us with a huge question mark about the reason for my still ongoing headaches. So for further testing I expect a date at an MRI to dig a bit more. 

As we now move through the month of April we are hopeful that we will see some better weather, so we can finally begin with outside work like starting the garden and doing needed maintenance on buildings and vehicles.

Winter Is Dragging Its Feet

FRIDAY THE 13th

4:30am is not my favorite time of the day. But it was Friday and I had a 7am appointment at the hospital's imaging department for my CT-scan.

It was chilly in the house which made we wonder what kind of weather we had this morning. Stepping outside, I noticed a little fresh snow, just a dusting on the ground. Frost filled the air. Window wipers where frozen to the glass. Most of the night it had been raining then turned to snow. The roads would be treacherous. 1.5hr. drive to the hospital was not what I wanted.

An hour later I called the hospital and canceled.

They gave me a new time for Wednesday. I can live with that. It is only a little more than a year ago the hospital in St.Stephen had gotten that CT-scanner. Before that, people from Campobello had to travel 3 hours to Saint John.

Well, Bea had gone to sleep again while I made sure we had a fire in the wood stove.

Saturday, March 14. The curtains are still drawn. Daylight Saving Time and at 6:45am it is still pitch dark. So I have my coffee and another portion of disgusting news of the day. Why are we doing this to ourselves - filling our morning with atrocities happening around the globe? I make a mental note of stopping this morning madness.

Finally daylight arrives, and I pull open those curtains. What can I say...? Thick snowflakes have already covered the ground transforming it into a Christmas-style postcard picture, and more is coming down.

Oh my.....

Aren't we just a week from the start of spring?

We need to bring more firewood into the house!

Bea has an idea. She wants to bake breakfast buns. I love fresh-baked breakfast buns.

A couple of hours later the delightful smell from the baking stove is moving through the house. Meanwhile, the snow has stopped and the sun is now working overtime to melt the white stuff again. A cold wind is working against it, making outside activities unpleasant. Not even Dixie likes it outside.

So we stay where we are. Well - not quite. We are out of a few supplies and I drive across the border. My goal - the Dollar store. Milk is cheaper there. Another stop at the IGA and I get some more stuff. They got eggs for 2bucks.

But while eggs are cheap, gas prices are soaring. "A small price to pay", says the president. He should ask those people with a minimum wage who have a daily commute.

Let this lighten your day....

The Greyest Of Grey Days

HOME FOR A WEEK

Waking up on this day I found the outside world in a state of 500 shades of grey. So with a 100% of humidity we won't be moving around outside. 

So time for reflection.

Clearly, we have been busy getting ourselves reinstalled in the house. And that didn't just happen without hick-ups.

Like in years earlier, we found that we had way too much stuff in the motorhome. Our clothes, our kitchen utensils and our gadgets had to find their original places in the house.

The most overshadowing problem has been the water supply. We had days with absolutely no water from our well, and then suddenly water was running for 2 days, just to fail again. On and off it went, never to be reliable. We still hope that milder weather will help to restore a normal water supply.

Then one afternoon our power went out. There wasn't any storm going on, so we wondered about the reason. Shortly before dark, the power came back on. Later we heard that someone had hit a power pole in an accident.

Personally, I still had to deal with my headaches. After a doctor's visit I got a referral for a CT-scan, which will be done tomorrow, Friday. I hope that Friday 13 doesn't imply anything sinister happening.

The past 2 days have been warm and sunny. In fact, day temps climbed up to 10C (50F) and the warming sun even made it possible to sit down outside coffee in hand.

Snow was finally starting to melt and I was able to fix an electrical issue on our motorhome. Before we left in October, I had removed our Magnum Inverter/Charger as I couldn't get it to work. A 3000W Renogy inverter from our trailer was installed instead, which got us through the winter. Now, I tested our Magnum and to my surprise found that it actually was working. So the Magnum was reinstalled in the motorhome and it is working just fine. 

A successful job like this and it makes me feel good.

The coming days will be significantly colder with temps below freezing again. Thankfully, we have lots of firewood so we will stay warm. Our central heating which is run by an electric forced-air furnace has been disconnected. Running that in cold temps is the same as registering for bankruptcy. If I'd be 30 years younger I'd install solar for the house and kiss the power company Good Bye. Besides of firewood, we use a couple of electric oil radiators which are much more efficient than the furnace in the basement.

So we should be fine riding out the last weeks of winter.

I have had days with contemplating whether we left California too early in a panic. But two facts have made these thoughts go away.

As you all have noticed gas prices are on a steep rise due to the illegal and completely unnecessary war the orange pedo-ape has started. And now Iran promised that they will not allow any oil to pass through the strait of Hormuz. But we still got home on much lower prices, and if we have to stay home next winter we will do so.

Number two has more natural reasons: Temperatures in Holtville, CA have risen into the 30s C and will peak at 41C for March 20. This would have been forbiddingly too much for us and directly deadly for Dixie.

So with that consolation in mind, I can live through a grey day and stay in front of my wood stove.

Best way to spend the day