Goodbye To A Friend

Our housesitter Rae pulled out of the driveway this morning. She is off to more adventures in Canada's North. She was parked in our RV spot for six months and used the time (when she wasn't working) to take advantage of my workshop to renovate the interior of her 30 foot Class C. She did a remarkable job and it is now much better suited to her lifestyle. Great job, Rae.

You can read her Blog here.

It took a bit of maneuvering and back and forthing to get out of the parking spot but she was soon headed down the driveway, brakes squealing from the coat of rust they picked up from not being used for six months! She is going for an oil change and then will be headed for the ferry in Nanaimo. She called to say something happened on her way and that I should read the Blog tonight to find out what it was! I can hardly wait!

Switch To StarChoice

Campbell River always had a Co-Op Cable system called Campbell River Community TV Association. It delivered great programing at a cost of about half of surrounding communities served by Shaw Cable. The technology was not cutting edge and some people were unhappy about the lack of digital HD programming and eventually the pressure to sell CRTV grew.

There were meetings, arguments and presentations and the community was split right down the middle on the issue. We were all owners of CRTV and some of us did not like the idea of a big company moving in. They said they would not raise prices but we knew this was a lie. The sale went through and we were each paid $3,700 for our share in the old Co-Op.

When we got home this year we found we were only getting half the channels we got before we left. They had introduced a "tier" system and everyone was given the option to pay twice as much to keep the programming we had before the buyout. Not being around to "opt in" to the increased charges, we were placed on the lowest tier.

We have had StarChoice (ironically also owned by Shaw) for a few years to use in the motorhome and it was also wired into the big screen TV in the family room. We decided to get rid of Shaw Cable and switch over to StarChoice completely. Our TV costs will be cut in half, leaving plenty of budget room to add a few channels if we want to. The switch also requires buying a couple more receivers for the extra TV's in the house and bringing in a Co-Ax cable from the dish to each TV, something I am capable of doing myself. I will eventually have to install another dish as each dish has four outputs and we have five TV's. No problem, I have an extra dish.

65 Today!

Today is my 65th birthday and I am officially "Over The Hill". I don't feel a bit older than I did yesterday but time has marched forward one big step. I talked to my (18 year) older sister and she is doing just as well as I am. She told me she remembers the day I was born as if it just happened. We have some longevity in our genes.

I finished the taxes today and went for a ride to the dump with Rae who was getting rid of some of the leftovers after her RV renovations. She will be pulling out tomorrow on her way back to her summer digs in the Yukon. If you have not checked her Blog out yet, have a look. It will get interesting as she describes her trip back to Canada's North.

The plumbing problem turned out to be aging equipment. The pressure reducer was shot and had to be replaced and the outside tap had been plumbed into the high pressure side of the reducer and had to be relocated. He also replaced the main shutoff and relocated it to a spot I can reach from the crawl space hatch.

We are going to have a few friends over for a party on May 8th. We will do it then because Brooks and Linda are working in Vancouver this weekend and I cannot have a birthday party without them because Linda is making the birthday cake!

First Day Back

Yesterday we opened the two grocery bags of mail and picked out all the tax related stuff. I installed QuickTax 2009 in the computer and started entering data. I suspect we are missing some investment statements but they were not in the mail. Maybe they made no net profits over the year or maybe I just did not get them for some reason. Anyway, too late now, I just used what I had. If there is a correction to be made, I can do it later as an amended return. Between the two of us we only owe about $1500 so that is not bad! I will efile the returns today and send cheques.

There is a water pipe pounding in the crawl space and I am too "large" to fit through the small access panel. I have been wanting to get the main water shutoff replaced anyway as it is as old as the main part of the house (40+ years) and does not shut all the way off any more. I called a plumber and he will be here this morning. That will make up for the money I did not have to pay in taxes!

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Home!

We collected the motorhome from Brooks and Linda's friends house where they have a big circular driveway and were on our way by 10.

The house was in great shape and we spent the day setting up the new TV in the bedroom. When I opened the box I found the remote was broken. I called Toshiba Canada and was told to call USA support as that was where we bought it. I called USA support and was told that since we had taken it to Canada there was no warranty and I was out of luck! This is a brand new HD TV and I am out of luck! They did offer to mail a replacement to a USA address so I will work on that angle and find someone to forward it to me.

I had better luck getting the Windows 7 laptop set up. I dumped a bunch of the bloat and program trials that came with it and got Quicken installed and working so now I can officially get rid of the old eMachines. I have a couple more programs to install and will work on that after I get the taxes done. I am dreading finding out how many thousands we owe...

Back In Canada!

We spent the night on the Olympic Peninsula at the Seven Cedars Casino last night. Not a great casino, slots did not pay, didn't even tease us. I put $20 in and don't think it even paid once! We went into the bar for a drink after and there was a rock group that was very loud and not all that good.

We got up and drove to Sequim for breakfast where I had really good crab Benedict. We got to the ferry three hours early but that was not early enough! We were #5 on the overflow list and we waited with fingers crossed. In the end it turned out that two motorhomes (as well as a few cars) did not show up for their reserved spaces so we were home free! Not exactly "free" - $207 for the ferry! We got through the border with a couple of hundred dollars too much in imports and way too much booze. We schmoozed our way through one more time and are now at Brooks and Linda's relaxing for the night. Tomorrow we head home to do taxes!

Salt Lake to Boise, Idaho

We did not make it all the way to SLC yesterday but stopped about 40 miles short in Springville, UT. Every time we have been through SLC the Interstate has been torn up and under construction and it is a nightmare to manoeuvre a 50 foot long motorhome and tow car through it. I set the GPS to find a Wal-Mart and that is what it did. We had not been parked long before the sun went down so it was for the best. Sorry Heidi, we did not get a chance to get together (again). Maybe next year or there just may be a high school reunion!

I went into Wal-Mart to pick up a couple of things and wandered over to the computer section. I have been thinking of upgrading the ten year old eMachines laptop for quite a while. It has served me well but has a couple of problems. The power cord will not stay plugged in and the screen flickers in a maddening way. Plus, The battery only holds enough for about fifteen minutes. Ten years is enough to expect for a laptop, especially one that has been used and abused as much as this.

They had a Compaq with an AMD Processor and 2 GB of RAM on sale for $348 that looked nice. It is actually a re-branded HP but what the heck, for $348... I specially liked it because it has a built-in numeric keypad that will come in very handy for working with Quicken. I cannot believe the prices of these things. I paid $1200 for the reconditioned eMachines in 1999 and those were 1999 dollars! This Compaq is much faster, has a hard drive that is six times as big and four times the RAM! The only thing I am nervous about is that it comes with Windows 7. I know this is much better than Vista which I managed to skip but I am concerned that some of my software will not install on it. I will wait until I get home before playing with it. Taxes are the first consideration before playing with Operating Systems.

We left Springville at about 9:00 and headed for SLC. The traffic was a nightmare. There was construction everywhere and the lanes narrowed until they were only a few inches wider than the motorhome. I tried driving in the middle of the three lanes to avoid all the merging traffic in the right lane but with trucks passing on the right and cars on the left it was a very stressful situation. We stopped for gas and lunch and headed north and the road soon became much less busy.

We are in another Wal-Mart in Mountain Home, ID. It rained much of the day and came down quite hard before we parked. It is nice now and there was actually a nice sunset a few minutes ago.

Tomorrow we head towards Portland and I-5 up towards Port Angeles and the ferry to Victoria. We will not make it all the way but should make the early ferry on Sunday. We will see Brooks and Linda and, with any luck, the grandchildren. After that it will be a fast run home to do our taxes in time for the April 30 filing date.

It is Friday Morning now and we are driving through heavy winds. We found a truck stop for breakfast with WIFI so you are reading this…

Colorado

We watched the weather channel for a while this morning and decided to make a run straight to Seattle. We headed west to Gallup and turned North. I just love this country of scrub desert and tall mesas. It takes me back to all the old western movies I watched as a kid.

We stopped in Shiprock, NM and talked to a Navajo woman about blankets. She told us the stores charge at least double what the weavers sell them for and if we want one, the best way is to get someone like her to take us to meet the people who actually weave them.

We could not stay long as our taxes have to be filed by the 30th and we still have a long way to go. I checked when we left Canada and it was actually the 28th and not the 25th so we do not have to be back until the 27th. This gives us a little breathing room but I still have to sort the mail for tax stuff and do the taxes on the 29th at the very latest!

We are at the Ute Mountain Casino a few miles from Cortez, CO listening to the cold wind whip across the parking lot. We might go for their $3.99 breakfast before hitting the road. Last night I spent a couple of hours breaking even on the penny slots while Norma made about $40. Another good night but we have to get a little more serous about getting home and hope to cover quite a few miles today.

On The Road Again

We got a phone call just before ten this morning telling us the alternator had been delivered and the motorhome was ready to go. We drove back to Albuquerque, paid the $1,200 bill (ouch), loaded the trailer and went to Sam’s Club to buy some six volt batteries for Brooks and a 26” Toshiba HD LCD TV that was on sale for $395 for the bedroom at home.

I had dropped my new Mexican eyeglasses on the tile floor in the hotel this morning and broke the frames in half. I showed them to the optometrist at Sam’s Club and he said he could move the lenses to a new pair of frames. He did this while we shopped for the other stuff and that cost me $103. Good deal!

There was a tire store across the street so we drove in there for new dolly tires. I told the guy that tires only last 10,000 miles on the dolly and asked him if that was normal. He said they get a lot of sideways pressure so they do not have a long life but when he took the old ones off he noticed they were bias ply and not radials. He said radials might last longer so that is what we put on and after another $170 we were on the road at about three.

About fifty miles down Interstate 40 we saw a sign for the Dancing Eagle Casino saying they had an RV park with full hookups for $10 per night. We checked in and went to join the Players Club to get the cheap rate on the RV park. When we signed up they also gave us coupons for $20 off a gas fillup and $3 each off meals in the casino restaurant! Very friendly folks these Pueblo! I put my normal $10 in the penny slots and took out $15 and Norma put her normal $40 in her favourite $.25 Wheel Of Fortune machine and took out $110. Not a bad night. We took our $3 vouchers to the restaurant where Norma had pork chops and I had fettuccine Alfredo. It is a dry reservation so no wine with dinner and that kept the bill at $14 after the discount but before the tip.

It is 8:00 PM and starting to sprinkle. There are five or six digital TV channels off air so we are settled down for the night and the box of Krispy Kreme donuts are calling my name. Life is Good!

Edit: Pat, a regular reader tells me the Dancing Eagle Casino is on the Laguna Reservation and the people are Pueblo, not Navajo. Pat knows as this is where he is from! Sorry Pat and thanks for correcting me. It is always appreciated.