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1 to 15 August 2013 16 to 31 August 2013
Friday August 16, 2013
Michèle bought this cute little table for our "new" living room, when it will be done.
I had to take it a part and glued it back together and made it solid again.
I put on a nice urethane on the top, a nice table for only $8.
The heat wave continues, +32 and with the humidex up in the low +40s. This is some freaking hot!
Even the birds had to open their mouth to keep from overheating.
A hot day and it was spent outside in the shade. We even had a nice fire with a +25 at 9h.
Saturday August 17, 2013
Sunny with some clouds, still in the low +30s.
Our friends Denis and Jody have left us this morning.
They are driving to Cold Lake to visit their two sons living there.
We really enjoyed have him them with us for a while.
I did my bike ride this morning, a nice 18 kilometers.
Michèle did some more yard saleing, here she is back with her treasures...
The rest of the day was mostly reading and napping...
We are a little tired of the heat so we spent the evening inside with the air conditioning on.
Sunday August 18, 2013
We had some fog this morning. The sun was burning it off quickly.
The dew left all the small spider webs on the grass visible, here is one of them, kind of cute, if you are not a bug.
As usual, I did my rounds of the campground looking for left over firewood from campers who had left.
Another good firewood harvest.
Some touch-ups were required on the paint job we did on Wednesday, less than five minutes later I was all done.
Our fire pit is also a charcoal BBQ. A nice pyramid, flames...
...and cooking!
With our meal behind us, I added some firewood on top of the hot charcoal.
Some smoke, but once started, it was a nice fire.
Heat wave is still going on.
We had a good day again.
My morning bike ride took me to the base and on the way back, I took a different way back home. This one was in gravel.
Where I was going and on the right, where I was coming from.
I am always ready to try something new, if it makes senses.
In the near future (6 months) we will buy a washer/dryer combo for the motorhome (after the new fridge).
I remembered having seen a hand washing contraption on the internet.
I had to build one. A bucket ($3), a toilet pump ($2), some modifications and we were ready for our first wash.
This is working very well and not all that hard to do.
Michèle even did a second load!
It does not replace a real washing machine, but for a load of "small" clothes, it worked well.
The clothes came out really clean and it was not very hard on the arms.
Tuesday August 20, 2013
We were off to visit the Claybank Brick Plant this morning.
The plant is less than one hour from Moose Jaw. Sure is flat around here!
I can tell some farmers are very "poor" around here!
The brick plant is located at the base of the Dirt Hills.
The Claybank Brick Plant is a National Historic Site of Canada.
We were a little early so we had to wait for the guided tour of the plant.
This was the bunk house when the plant was in operation. It housed the kitchen and rooms for the single workers.
Now it is the welcome center and a small restaurant.
Here are some of the molds used to make special bricks.
You can only find this clay in two parts of Canada, here and in British-Colombia.
What is particular with this clay is you can make refractory bricks (firebricks). The bricks were used in steam locomotive and on the corvette ship of WWII.
Many building, between Québec and BC have used the bricks from this plant.
Even Chateau Frontenac in Québec city used some bricks for the Claybank Brick Plant (blue arrow).
An old phone booth in the bunk house.
Cute couple with the plant behind them...
Lets get the guided visit started.
Notice the different color bricks on the building and chimney. They used unsold bricks from the plant to make addition to buildings.
The stock shed where the clay was kept before its use. The arrows shown where the tractor and clay cars traveled to dump the clay in the shed.
Here is the tractor and one car used in the early days.
This is the press used to form the bricks, four of them every 8 seconds.
The workshop. Take notice of all the belts used to run the different pieces of equipment.
This looks like a chain, but it is made of leather from bison's.
Michèle with a transfer car, the bar is for pushing/pulling the car and it is also used to apply the brakes.
Some drying carts going in the tunnels. You have 12 tunnels and each tunnel can hold up to 17 drying carts. They will stay the drying room for 6 to 7 days until the moisture content is near 0%.
After 6 to 7 days, the bricks are then moved to the kiln for "cooking".
The inside of a kiln. More than 300,000 bricks are required to build a kiln. Each kiln can hold up to 70,000 bricks.
No mortar is used to hold the bricks in place in the kiln.
A total of 10 kilns were in used at one time.
We are on our way to the storage shed.
The bricks were stored here while waiting to be shipped to destination. On the right, you can see that only gravity holds the brick in place, just like the kilns.
The bricks were shipped via railroad. On the left you can see the height for different material transported in a car, the bricks could only be loaded up to just below the 3 foot mark. Straw was also used between the layers of bricks to prevent cracking during shipping.
We took a short hike to the open mine up the "Dirt Hills" to look at the clay. Pretty thick clay deposit.
On our way back you can see the plant and the prairies.
We really enjoyed our visit of the Claybank Brick Plant.
Back in Moose Jaw, we stopped at the Jade Garden for a Chinese buffet.
OK, but not that great, it may be better if you are here at noon or at 5 pm so you can get lots of variety and hot food.
As for the tour of the plant, we highly recommend it.
Here is my wood pile and it is growing even if I burn lots of wood.
My electronic agenda for the motorhome/car was reminding me that I needed to wash the screens in the windows, also wash the shades on some of our light fixtures. Of course, we do clean them as needed, but it is a good thing to have a schedule to make sure I do not miss anything.
A nice cool day with a +21. Michèle was in the sun and I was in the shade.
So far no luck with the sale of our Lazy-Boys, but we have purchased a used TV stand as a temporary solution until we get to build our built-in TV stand.
The person we bought the TV from will deliver it in the next few days.
Maybe tomorrow evening!
Thursday August 22, 2013
With our TV stand coming later today or tomorrow, we had to wash our carpets in the motorhome.
We rented a small rug washing machine with the stairs/small area attachment.
I started with the bedroom where I could only use the small area attachment.
This is where the old couch was. I do not have photos of me washing the main carpets, but I did use the regular carper washing machine.
With the inside done, I worked on the car rugs. They really needed it.
One big squirrel was eating all the bird seeds hanging from the tree, I chased him with my garden hose with a small high pressure nozzle. The squirrel actually missed one of his jump.
Sadly our TV stand will not be delivered tonight. The person got off work late.
Maybe tomorrow?
Friday August 23, 2013
Railroad tracks goes right through the park and as you can see, many cars are for carrying liquids. They are brand new!
When you look at this picture and you see liquid carrying cars and pipe for a pipeline, which one is better?
Most of us will say "as long as it is safe". What will the same people say if the gas at the pumps goes up by $0.50 or more per liter because we think it may not be as safe as we would like?
As I continued my bike ride, I came across these horses and one donkey!
Here in Moose Jaw, most apartment building have a name, like this one, Parkview Apt.
We finally got our TV stand delivered. A good cleaning is required before we take it inside.
Once the TV stand is in place, we look at the many ways we could have it in the motorhome. More work for tomorrow.
Saturday August 24, 2013
First thing we did this morning was to go to some yard sales.
I found this GPS for only $2 and it works.
With the yard sales over, time for some modifications on our TV stand.
I have to install a mast to secure the TV to it. I measure and measure...
And measure again...
The TV is installed on the mast.
Now it's time to hook up all the wires...
Hey! We have image and sound!
This is where the TV was before, look at all the wires...
This robin came really close to us while we were reading outside. Lots of birds come close to our motorhome to eat the bugs in the grass.
So far we are very happy with our TV stand purchase.
Sunday August 25, 2013
More re-arranging of the living room this morning. Many months ago we switched the driver and passenger seat. Well they are going back to the way they were. This will allow the driver seat to swiveled around and be used as a computer chair.
With the temperature in the +32 this afternoon, I took the time to wash one of the purchase we did yesterday, one bicycle trailer.
With the material clean and dry, time to re-assemble the trailer.
Not to bad for only $5.00.
The sky is clouding over, it is not as hot, time to wash the car.
I even had a fire for a few hours.
A good day!
The weather for the next few days, hot, hot, hot, +34.
This will be expensive to keep hydrated!
I was checking out the online classified in Moose Jaw and I saw this Tassimo for only $20.
It was very clean and it is working very well, a little big for our counter space, but for $20, I can live with it.
It sure make a good coffee and tea.
Even with our new hand washing machine, we still have to go to the laundromat.
Cooking some bacon for my breakfast, in the next few days.
Another hot and muggy day. It is now 8 pm and it is still +24.
Good weather for a fire, but the mosquitoes were some hungry.
Michèle bought this little angel with a candleholder behind it. Pretty looking at night.
The heat wave continues, farmers love it because it is harvest time here.
Tuesday August 27, 2013
Today with did hit +36C, but the humidity was way down and a little breeze which made it more bearable.
Now almost 8pm and it is still +26. We were a little tired of the heat because we did spend the day outside reading and bike riding. So we spent the evening inside with the air conditioning on and watched TV.
Usually by late afternoon the birds start to come by and feed on the bugs in the grass. Some of them are not afraid to come close to us to get the bugs.
Here is a Northern Flicker.
A pretty busy week.
Not much going on today!
Here I am cooking diner, some sausages on the charcoal.
We are still in the middle of a heat wave.
Thursday August 29, 2013
One of the purchases we did last weekend. A solar battery charger, I am trying it out right now.
It is not very fast, but cheap and "green".
Friday August 30, 2013
We are back at yard saleing right after lunch.
A neat way to attract customer at your yard sale!
Again we did some small purchases.
Saturday August 31, 2013
More yard saleing this morning.
On our way out we saw our saying behind a motorhome.
Our big purchase, two towers with drawers.
One of them will probably be in the motorhome and one in the basement.
Until next time.
Life is good...
January February March April May June July August September October November December
1 to 15 August 2013 16 to 31 August 2013
Friday August 16, 2013
Michèle bought this cute little table for our "new" living room, when it will be done.
I had to take it a part and glued it back together and made it solid again.
I put on a nice urethane on the top, a nice table for only $8.
The heat wave continues, +32 and with the humidex up in the low +40s. This is some freaking hot!
Even the birds had to open their mouth to keep from overheating.
A hot day and it was spent outside in the shade. We even had a nice fire with a +25 at 9h.
Saturday August 17, 2013
Sunny with some clouds, still in the low +30s.
Our friends Denis and Jody have left us this morning.
They are driving to Cold Lake to visit their two sons living there.
We really enjoyed have him them with us for a while.
I did my bike ride this morning, a nice 18 kilometers.
Michèle did some more yard saleing, here she is back with her treasures...
The rest of the day was mostly reading and napping...
We are a little tired of the heat so we spent the evening inside with the air conditioning on.
Sunday August 18, 2013
We had some fog this morning. The sun was burning it off quickly.
The dew left all the small spider webs on the grass visible, here is one of them, kind of cute, if you are not a bug.
As usual, I did my rounds of the campground looking for left over firewood from campers who had left.
Another good firewood harvest.
Some touch-ups were required on the paint job we did on Wednesday, less than five minutes later I was all done.
Our fire pit is also a charcoal BBQ. A nice pyramid, flames...
...and cooking!
With our meal behind us, I added some firewood on top of the hot charcoal.
Some smoke, but once started, it was a nice fire.
Heat wave is still going on.
We had a good day again.
Monday August 19, 2013
My morning bike ride took me to the base and on the way back, I took a different way back home. This one was in gravel.
Where I was going and on the right, where I was coming from.
I am always ready to try something new, if it makes senses.
In the near future (6 months) we will buy a washer/dryer combo for the motorhome (after the new fridge).
I remembered having seen a hand washing contraption on the internet.
I had to build one. A bucket ($3), a toilet pump ($2), some modifications and we were ready for our first wash.
This is working very well and not all that hard to do.
Michèle even did a second load!
It does not replace a real washing machine, but for a load of "small" clothes, it worked well.
The clothes came out really clean and it was not very hard on the arms.
Tuesday August 20, 2013
We were off to visit the Claybank Brick Plant this morning.
The plant is less than one hour from Moose Jaw. Sure is flat around here!
I can tell some farmers are very "poor" around here!
The brick plant is located at the base of the Dirt Hills.
The Claybank Brick Plant is a National Historic Site of Canada.
We were a little early so we had to wait for the guided tour of the plant.
This was the bunk house when the plant was in operation. It housed the kitchen and rooms for the single workers.
Now it is the welcome center and a small restaurant.
Here are some of the molds used to make special bricks.
You can only find this clay in two parts of Canada, here and in British-Colombia.
What is particular with this clay is you can make refractory bricks (firebricks). The bricks were used in steam locomotive and on the corvette ship of WWII.
Many building, between Québec and BC have used the bricks from this plant.
Even Chateau Frontenac in Québec city used some bricks for the Claybank Brick Plant (blue arrow).
An old phone booth in the bunk house.
Cute couple with the plant behind them...
Lets get the guided visit started.
Notice the different color bricks on the building and chimney. They used unsold bricks from the plant to make addition to buildings.
The stock shed where the clay was kept before its use. The arrows shown where the tractor and clay cars traveled to dump the clay in the shed.
Here is the tractor and one car used in the early days.
This is the press used to form the bricks, four of them every 8 seconds.
The workshop. Take notice of all the belts used to run the different pieces of equipment.
This looks like a chain, but it is made of leather from bison's.
Michèle with a transfer car, the bar is for pushing/pulling the car and it is also used to apply the brakes.
Some drying carts going in the tunnels. You have 12 tunnels and each tunnel can hold up to 17 drying carts. They will stay the drying room for 6 to 7 days until the moisture content is near 0%.
After 6 to 7 days, the bricks are then moved to the kiln for "cooking".
The inside of a kiln. More than 300,000 bricks are required to build a kiln. Each kiln can hold up to 70,000 bricks.
No mortar is used to hold the bricks in place in the kiln.
A total of 10 kilns were in used at one time.
We are on our way to the storage shed.
The bricks were stored here while waiting to be shipped to destination. On the right, you can see that only gravity holds the brick in place, just like the kilns.
The bricks were shipped via railroad. On the left you can see the height for different material transported in a car, the bricks could only be loaded up to just below the 3 foot mark. Straw was also used between the layers of bricks to prevent cracking during shipping.
We took a short hike to the open mine up the "Dirt Hills" to look at the clay. Pretty thick clay deposit.
On our way back you can see the plant and the prairies.
We really enjoyed our visit of the Claybank Brick Plant.
Back in Moose Jaw, we stopped at the Jade Garden for a Chinese buffet.
OK, but not that great, it may be better if you are here at noon or at 5 pm so you can get lots of variety and hot food.
As for the tour of the plant, we highly recommend it.
Wednesday August 21, 2013
Here is my wood pile and it is growing even if I burn lots of wood.
My electronic agenda for the motorhome/car was reminding me that I needed to wash the screens in the windows, also wash the shades on some of our light fixtures. Of course, we do clean them as needed, but it is a good thing to have a schedule to make sure I do not miss anything.
A nice cool day with a +21. Michèle was in the sun and I was in the shade.
So far no luck with the sale of our Lazy-Boys, but we have purchased a used TV stand as a temporary solution until we get to build our built-in TV stand.
The person we bought the TV from will deliver it in the next few days.
Maybe tomorrow evening!
Thursday August 22, 2013
With our TV stand coming later today or tomorrow, we had to wash our carpets in the motorhome.
We rented a small rug washing machine with the stairs/small area attachment.
I started with the bedroom where I could only use the small area attachment.
This is where the old couch was. I do not have photos of me washing the main carpets, but I did use the regular carper washing machine.
With the inside done, I worked on the car rugs. They really needed it.
One big squirrel was eating all the bird seeds hanging from the tree, I chased him with my garden hose with a small high pressure nozzle. The squirrel actually missed one of his jump.
Sadly our TV stand will not be delivered tonight. The person got off work late.
Maybe tomorrow?
Friday August 23, 2013
Railroad tracks goes right through the park and as you can see, many cars are for carrying liquids. They are brand new!
When you look at this picture and you see liquid carrying cars and pipe for a pipeline, which one is better?
Most of us will say "as long as it is safe". What will the same people say if the gas at the pumps goes up by $0.50 or more per liter because we think it may not be as safe as we would like?
As I continued my bike ride, I came across these horses and one donkey!
Here in Moose Jaw, most apartment building have a name, like this one, Parkview Apt.
We finally got our TV stand delivered. A good cleaning is required before we take it inside.
Once the TV stand is in place, we look at the many ways we could have it in the motorhome. More work for tomorrow.
Saturday August 24, 2013
First thing we did this morning was to go to some yard sales.
I found this GPS for only $2 and it works.
With the yard sales over, time for some modifications on our TV stand.
I have to install a mast to secure the TV to it. I measure and measure...
And measure again...
The TV is installed on the mast.
Now it's time to hook up all the wires...
Hey! We have image and sound!
This is where the TV was before, look at all the wires...
This robin came really close to us while we were reading outside. Lots of birds come close to our motorhome to eat the bugs in the grass.
So far we are very happy with our TV stand purchase.
Sunday August 25, 2013
More re-arranging of the living room this morning. Many months ago we switched the driver and passenger seat. Well they are going back to the way they were. This will allow the driver seat to swiveled around and be used as a computer chair.
With the temperature in the +32 this afternoon, I took the time to wash one of the purchase we did yesterday, one bicycle trailer.
With the material clean and dry, time to re-assemble the trailer.
Not to bad for only $5.00.
The sky is clouding over, it is not as hot, time to wash the car.
I even had a fire for a few hours.
A good day!
The weather for the next few days, hot, hot, hot, +34.
This will be expensive to keep hydrated!
Monday August 26, 2013
I was checking out the online classified in Moose Jaw and I saw this Tassimo for only $20.
It was very clean and it is working very well, a little big for our counter space, but for $20, I can live with it.
It sure make a good coffee and tea.
Even with our new hand washing machine, we still have to go to the laundromat.
Cooking some bacon for my breakfast, in the next few days.
Another hot and muggy day. It is now 8 pm and it is still +24.
Good weather for a fire, but the mosquitoes were some hungry.
Michèle bought this little angel with a candleholder behind it. Pretty looking at night.
The heat wave continues, farmers love it because it is harvest time here.
Tuesday August 27, 2013
Today with did hit +36C, but the humidity was way down and a little breeze which made it more bearable.
Now almost 8pm and it is still +26. We were a little tired of the heat because we did spend the day outside reading and bike riding. So we spent the evening inside with the air conditioning on and watched TV.
Usually by late afternoon the birds start to come by and feed on the bugs in the grass. Some of them are not afraid to come close to us to get the bugs.
Here is a Northern Flicker.
A pretty busy week.
Wednesday August 28, 2013
Not much going on today!
Here I am cooking diner, some sausages on the charcoal.
We are still in the middle of a heat wave.
Thursday August 29, 2013
One of the purchases we did last weekend. A solar battery charger, I am trying it out right now.
It is not very fast, but cheap and "green".
Friday August 30, 2013
We are back at yard saleing right after lunch.
A neat way to attract customer at your yard sale!
Again we did some small purchases.
Saturday August 31, 2013
More yard saleing this morning.
On our way out we saw our saying behind a motorhome.
Our big purchase, two towers with drawers.
One of them will probably be in the motorhome and one in the basement.
Until next time.
Life is good...
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