Proof Of Life!

Sorry, I have not been posting but I have an excuse. For the past couple of years my life has pretty much been a daily rotation from my bedroom to the kitchen to the TV room - repeat ad nauseum.

I have had both Pfizer shots and have been following the recommendations of medical and government folks and have been staying pretty much at home except for exciting trips to the grocery store and the odd food takeout venues. I wear a mask whenever I am out even though the mandate has changed. I did break out on Fathers Day and spent four days at Brooks and LindsLee's place in Shawnigan Lake where I also got to spend time with both granddaughters! That was a welcome treat! Jayde lives in Vancouver and Sierrah in Victoria where both are busy. Sierrah will be starting Acupuncturist school in September so that will be interesting!

I have not had license plates on the motorhome for a year and a half so it has not moved out of it's parking place for a long time. My young friend Kelly, who keeps the house clean and the garden under control and then fights me when I try to pay her properly, put in a few hours in the motorhome a couple of days ago  and now everything is spotless and fresh smelling out there. Neither one of us had noticed how bad it was out there so it's good to get it done.  

Otherwise I am well. I can't highly recommend going through the pandemic without a partner or someone to talk to every day but many of you are doing that yourselves so I have little to complain about. I suspect the virus will be around for at least the rest of my life but am hoping that it will become under control to the point that transmission is slowed almost to a stop and effects will be minimized even more than they are now.

Anyway, everyone stay well and stay safe! I promise to not take so long to check in next time!

RV Maintenance - Propane Detector

 Even when I am not using it!

I was picking up the garbage tonight when I heard a "beeping" coming from the RV. Going in, I noticed the light on the propane detector was flashing on and off telling me it was time to replace it. I checked back in the Blog and saw I had last replaced it in April 2016, so it lasted exactly five years. 

They are $100 US (plus $16 shipping) on Ebay or $147 Canadian. I will check around locally before I order one. In the meantime I took it off the kick panel below the sink and cut a wire. No more beeping until it is replaced.

I Think It's Spring!

I have gone from long sleeved, heavy shirts to t-shirts.  I am still wearing jeans but that will not last much longer. I have the furnace turned off as it always seems to be up around 70 by the time I get up. What more could I ask for.

I am looking at the motorhome every day and wondering when I should license it and get out somewhere. Where? I have no idea but somewhere on the Island. I think the ferries should have been shut down on day one of the pandemic for all but medical and commercial travel It has been running at almost full capacity with weekenders tired of being cooped up on the mainland bringing the virus over here. I am still waiting for my second Pfizer shot which will give me 95% protection. Something I can happily live with. In the meantime, it is just same old, same old. I am fine but really sick and tired of being locked in all the time. Is that a glimmer of light I see at the end of the tunnel?

I Got My Shot!

I got my first dose of the Pfizer vaccine today. It was very anti-climactic and painless. It was in me before I felt a thing. There was no crowd and I got the impression that they could have allowed at least twice as many people in at the same time.

it has been 4 hours and no ill effects.

Maytag Update

I have now done ten or twelve loads with my new Maytag washer and dryer that was delivered in December. So far I am happy with it, it performs as advertised. I bought the larger washer ($50 more) because the smaller one was not in stock and I had a load of wet wash to do after the 31 year old Kenmore destroyed itself half way through a load. 

The capacity of the washer is HUGE, I have never come close to more than half filling it, even with bedding. It is one of the new "high efficiency" models that uses a very small quantity of special soap and more concerning, uses hardly any water. I do not understand how it can clean but it does. I started out adding a gallon of water but soon stopped after I noticed it just drains out, taking some of the soap with it.

The dryer works great and the annoying end signal can be turned off which I did after the first load. We will have to see how long this new set lasts. Probably not 31 years like the Kenmore set I had but I will be 106 by then.

Checking In

Just a quick note to check in. All is well with me, I am feeling great and having no problems except I am really done with this COVID-19 induced isolation! I have been making the odd trip to the grocery store but that is about all, I have not even been down to visit my son.

The weather has been cool with a little bit of snow but nothing to complain about. The highway construction has come to  halt. They are almost done and will start up again later in the year when they will re-surface my driveway and landscape my lawn after burying the services.

I am eating well and watching too much TV. I signed up for Netflix and am working my way through their documentaries, The purchase of the big screen TV in late 2019 was good timing.

Well, everyone stay well and follow the rules, this too will come to an end.

Salmon Dinner!

Well, I tackled Norma's Baked Sockeye creation and must admit it came out very close to hers. I bought a large Sockeye fillet at Crabby Bob's down on the dock and cut it in half. Rather than make the stuffing from scratch like Norma always prided herself in doing, I took a friend's advice and bought the Butterball Frozen stuffing to which I added a finely chopped onion, a chopped celery stalk, some vegetable stock and a quarter pound of butter.

I cooked it in the convection oven in the motorhome but it took about twice as long as I expected, probably because It was wrapped in two layers of aluminum foil and it had been in the fridge. Anyway, aside from having to reheat the vegetables in the microwave, everything was perfect!

My fellow widower friend Brian came over to share the meal and brought a bottle of the Signature wine from Dr. Bonnie Henry's Keromeos BC Winery which tied everything nicely together. A perfect dinner that Norma would have (perhaps begrudgingly) congratulated me on!

I Have A Craving

 I Have A Craving!

For Norma's stuffed Sockeye Salmon. Only one problem. Well, two. The second of which is I have never made one. My job was to go and buy the ingredients and then to eat most of it. Unfortunately I didn't pay close enough attention while she made the stuffing and like virtually everything she made, there is no recipe.

 

So I Googled recipes for vegan stuffing and found a couple of versions that look like they will taste good. I will head down to Crabby Bob's on the docks tomorrow and try to buy either a small whole sockeye or maybe even better, a couple of fillets that have been boned.. I will put stuffing between the fillets, wrap them tight in aluminum foil and bake them. I may even use the "half time convection oven" in the motorhome as the baked salmon we did in New Orleans turned out perfect and I recorded the time and temperature on the blog. Wish me luck!

 

 https://croftsmexico.blogspot.com/2013/12/christmas-dinner.html

 

New Washer and Dryer

Well, not entirely accurate as I don't have a new washer and dryer yet but I will have soon. When we sold our house in Terrace in 1989 we left our 15 year old washer and dryer there and bought new ones here in Campbell River. The laundry room here is short of wall space. One wall is the doors to the furnace room and the third bathroom. Another wall is all window and linen cupboard. The third wall is sink and freezer, leaving the shortest wall for the washer and dryer. Norma decided she wanted a stacked unit to save room so that is what we got, a stacked unit. It was a Kenmore brand from Sears and it lasted 31 years so it owed us nothing.

This morning I decided the washer was full enough of my clothes to do a wash so I put in some soap and started it. Soon I heard a loud "Squealing" and I went to investigate. I opened the door and saw the agitator was not working and then I heard water pouring onto the floor at the back. The washer was done for! The dryer had been making strange noises for a couple of years although it still did it's job but it was not long for this world. And Kelly (in her capacity as part time housekeeper) has been after me for two or three years to replace it. 

My demands are very small, one load every week or two plus bedding whenever I remember to do it. I don't need a heavy duty unit. So down I went to Home Depot to see what they had. They are pushing Samsung which I did not want, too many bad reviews so I looked at the GE's and a Maytag. They are all "on sale" but the Maytag has a manufactures $100 discount as well. All in all it will only cost me a couple of hundred more than the more expensive of the GE's and I think it is a better unit. I will run it past Kelly tomorrow as she uses it more than me and see what she thinks but I imagine they are going to get my $18 or $19 hundred bucks after taxes, delivery, hookup and removal of the old one, 

Early Beale Street, Memphis Tennessee

 

Back in the late 30s and early 40s Memphis' Beale Street was one of the centres for Blues in the United States. If you were a blues Man without a regular gig and were broke you could go to the back door of the Elks Club and talk to Rufus Thomas "Walking The Dog" who was also stage manager at the Elks. If he knew you and you were good he would let you go on, play a few songs and he would pay you $1.

You then went to the Minute Cafe to buy a large bowl of chili for $0.15, a large roll for a nickel and a "bottomless" coffee or lemonade for another nickel and this meal would last you all day. So as BB King said in a documentary I just watched you could get by for 4 or 5 days on that dollar! You had to get the odd regular gig to pay the rent but that dollar from Rufus Thomas saved the careers of many struggling Blues Men including BB King's.

 

Norma and I spent an afternoon and evening on Beale Street a few years ago wondering from venue to venue and listening to a lot of really good blues music. She asked someone on the street where she could get a good hamburger and he referred her to a building down the street which turned out to be the oldest standing house of ill repute in Tennessee. 

 

The main floor was the old bar which still had the old mahogany bar that went the entire length of the building. We were the only ones in there at the time so she ordered a burger which in fact turned out to be one of the best greasy burgers she has ever had. They only sold burgers but he made this non meat eater a grilled cheese sandwich. 

 

The current owner came down the stairs and we all chatted for a while and then he offered to take us upstairs for a tour. The working part of the establishment was a long hall with maybe eight tiny bedrooms. At the end of the hall was another small bar where the gentlemen would sit and wait until a bedroom became available. That building actually appeared in a movie back in the 90s the name of which I can't remember.

 

And that is the rest of the story.