One Week Home - Getting Things Done

 Despite the "Homefeel", lately it's been somewhat difficult to enjoy being home, cause the weather just didn't play along. During a wintry night when temperatures got dangerously close to -10C (is it still January?) our trailer froze up. I had drained all freshwater out of the tank, but stupid me had all neglected to get the water out of the pump and the water lines. So, that morning everything was solidly frozen.

I simply hadn't expected such low temps or otherwise I would have let the furnace run and put a heater into the cubby hole where the pump sits. I removed the pump and took it inside. The furnace thawed out the interior and the boiler warmed up so I could drain the water there. Once we get lucky and the weather warms up, I will reinstall the pump for testing. Then we will see whether there is any leak in the system.

While temps were way down, the wind was way up. The strong North-West standing off the water was icy and outside activities were canceled.

Then it warmed up, but days with a nasty drizzle followed. So here we are at home and a full week has passed. With the sun out, (it was still blowing) today I drove the van to the garage door and started removing our wooden travel arrangement box/bed. A thorough round with the vaccuum cleaner followed and then we were ready to reinstall our bus seats. 

 

They had wintered in the house and luckily our house mice had abstained from gnawing holes into the upholstery. 

Installing seats in these vans is a work I would not wish on anyone. These bastards are soo unbelievably heavy and hard to mount and secure, that a lot of non-printable words escaped my mouth. But eventually, it was done and we could rest with some coffee and cookies.

The late afternoon was spent in a much more delightful way. 

We hiked to the Gibraltar Rock in the Prov. Park. The rock was once deposited there during the ice age. How the rock got his name escapes my knowledge, I can just imagine, that some (young) folks climbed to the top and imagined to look across the sea with Africa on the horizon. 

A smaller piece split straight through down the middle.

Mind you, today the rock is entirely surrounded by trees. And trees are even growing on its surface. 

I can't see how these trees could get that big, just by running roots across the surface where moss is providing moisture, but where soil is largely missing. And it seems they even withstand strong winds.

While we explored the rock from all sides, Dixie had been scraping in the ground looking for rodents. (She didn't find any)

Some of the trail has water puddles and we had step around them, but most of it was in good shape. 

Some stretches are a boardwalk. A few small trees had fallen across the trail over the winter, but we always found a way around it. Dixie hasn't been on this trail for at least 7 months, but she was always ahead of us showing that she remembered every bend along it. Dogs must have an amazing remembrance.