My Amazon Adventure!

 No, not THAT Amazon, the Amazon.ca one.

I have taken to ordering some things from Amazon. Things I can either not get locally or cannot get locally at a reasonable price. I know, I'm a horrible person.

Well, I put in an order of four items a few days ago and was told they would arrive Monday (yesterday). They have always been very accurate with their shipping dates and things have always been here on time. At about 3:00PM I checked the website and saw that my order was, "On the truck and will be delivered by 10:00 PM." I checked again at 9:00 and saw, "Delivered. Handed to resident"! Well, it wasn't handed to me and I would have seen the truck in the driveway, and I hadn't. I checked the porch and even the workshop porch. No parcel.

I found the Customer Service number and called, it was answered quickly and by a human! Score one point! I explained my dilemma and the woman was sympathetic. I told her I lived alone and was the only "resident". She asked what I wanted, a re-shipment or a refund. I wanted a re-shipment and she started the paperwork but discovered one item could not be re-shipped. OK, I will take a refund on that. By now it was about 11:00 PM. All taken care of.

At about 1:00 PM today (Tuesday), my neighbour called to say a parcel had been left on her porch and she had only now discovered it! The driver left it at the wrong address and certainly did not, "Hand it to the resident"! 

I called Customer Service back and explained. We tried to cancel the re-shipment and may have been successful. One item may get through and if it does she says I will either have to pay for it or return it. Returning it is a pain so I will just pay for it and keep it until I need it.

So, all's well that ends well but I had to spend about an hour on the phone over two days. Am I discouraged? Na, I will give them another chance.

A Very Late Update

 Well, Norma has been gone three years now (on March 24). Sometimes it feels like longer and sometimes like it was just yesterday. Anyway, I have to get the motorhome back on the road this year, it is too big of an investment to just leave parked and that is pretty much what it has done for the past five years except for my one trip to the Okanagan in late 2019.

Having said that, I will have to invest quite a bit to get it on the road again. The tires are eight years old and have to be replaced before I go anywhere. Not worn out, just aged out. The batteries appear to be good but I have four six volt batteries, two purchased in 2016 and two in 2017 so they are five years old and getting close to the end of their life. They have been on trickle charge for the past four years but I will have to watch them very closely. The engine probably needs a new battery, I will have to check the date but I know it is a few years old. It has been on trickle charge as well.

The engine/transmission needs a major service and the generator desperately needs an oil change, filters and plugs. I have been running it for an hour a month pretty regularly since it was parked. Brooks has a neighbour backyard mechanic who is willing to take all this on. He is highly trained, fully capable and willing to take it all on. He charges about half the normal shop rate. I will wait a couple of weeks and head down there with a possible stop at Cedar Tires in Nanaimo for tires. I will give my local OK Tires a chance first but I was impressed with Cedar Tires for my Mazda tires. It all comes down to price. Hopefully the old ones will get it that far. This is going to be expensive.

I still do not really know what my adventures are going to be. I really do not relish traveling alone. We have seen many people doing it, male and female in Canada, the US and in Mexico but I just think the adventure would be lacking without someone to share it with. Norma was an excellent traveling companion, braver than me to head out into the unknown and to take on challenges and to top it off, she could produce amazing meals in that tiny kitchen! I guess I have to give it a try and this is the year, I am not getting any younger. I will probably stay on the Island this year to get my feet wet, so to speak. Stay tuned!

One day at an isolated Mexican gas station we asked permission to spend the night in their parking lot. We were getting settled when Norma saw this armed guard making rounds. She charmed him with her personality, a couple of cups of coffee. four or five Cokes in a cooler beside the door and $50 pesos to take "special" care of us that night. It was a quiet night LOL.

Merry Christmas!

I have very little to write about and hate boring you with it but then again most of you are probably bored enough to take the time to read it.

I am alive and well but bored out of my mind with Covid and the isolation. I have been doing very little besides eating and watching TV, thankfully I have both Netflix and Prime so I have yet to run out of subject matter.

If the weather allows, I will be going down to Brooks' for two or three nights on Thursday. They are calling for freezing rain tonight and maybe tomorrow and if that is happening on Thursday I of course will not be traveling. My friend Kelly is coming up from her dad's place in Nanaimo to visit her two daughters here and will be spending a few days in my guest room so that will be a welcome change for me to have someone in the house to talk to,

I hope you are all well and getting to visit family and friends. We never thought the isolation and travel restrictions would last this long and it is harder and harder to see the light at the end of the tunnel! Anyway, everyone have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. I have it on good authority that Santa is fully vaccinated and will still be making his rounds. We will talk again soon!

Got My Booster Shot!

I got my third Pfizer shot yesterday. No real problems but the minor headache I had after the first two was not there but was replaced with a slightly sore arm that I never had before. It only showed up when I laid on it in bed so not even worth mentioning.

The anti-vaxx fools are still at it. One of the most vocal here in BC was found dead in his apartment in New Westminster and I see anti-vaxxer Green Bay Packers QB Aaron Rogers who was convinced he knew more than doctors and scientists is now sidelined with Covid.

I still feel that anyone has the right to decide for themselves if they want the vaccine or not but I also believe these people should not be allowed in any public or private building, including hospitals. This would apply to the public as well as employees. With choice comes consequences. You may choose to not get a drivers license but you can't then go and demand your "right" to drive without one. Consequences.

Still Alive and Kicking!

And still hanging around home avoiding the virus! There are rumours of a third shot becoming available for us old farts before the end of the year so I will be in the front of the line for it as soon as they release it. In the meantime I hear the seniors flu shots are available.

I winterized the motorhome so I guess that means no heading south for me this winter. The Canada - US border is just opening up for land travel but there are far too many anti-vax, science denying idiots down there for me to feel safe enough through the US and I don't think Mexico is completely ready for a snowbird invasion. Driving down there and hunkering down in one place might be OK but that is not my way to do it, I want to keep moving and mixing with the locals.

So, I will stay here for the fifth winter in a row. People keep asking if I am going to sell the motorhome but I know if I did I would immediately regret it. It is paid for and costs me very little. It is parked beside my house so no storage fees, just minimal insurance and depreciation. I have an electric heater in it to keep it above freezing but it so rarely freezes here across from the beach that that cost should not go above a few dollars a month. 

I will have to decide if solo travel is something I would enjoy. The jury is still out on that question. To me. most of the enjoyment of RV travel came from having someone to talk to about our daily adventures, to enjoy funky seaside restaurants with and to just talk to. A few times every week when we were traveling I would ask Norma, "Should we go on an adventure today?" and unless there was some good reason like curling on TV she always said yes. We would choose some nearby town and go and explore it, finding a nice place to eat along the way. I just can't see doing that by myself and fear I would just do more of what I do at home - stay in the house, read, play on the Internet and watch TV! I can do that here and save a few thousand on ferries, gas, maintenance/repairs and RV park fees.

I am thinking about all this. It's a process.

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.