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1 to 15 October 2014 16 to 31 October 2014

Thursday October 16, 2014

A weird day today! It was raining, but it was so humid with a +18 C.
I worked on the last part of the "packing" before we leave. I taught I was done, but no, you look around and you see the little stuff all around... It got done!

To keep surprises to a minimum for tomorrow, we got the motorhome all ready for leaving tomorrow morning. This means the slide in, the hydraulic jacks in, the airbag inflated (for the suspension).
Tomorrow morning we only need to disconnect the fresh water, the sewer and the electricity.

Friday October 17, 2014

I was supposed to get up at 10 to 6, but I set the alarm to 10 to 7, oups!
I woke up at 20 after 6 and we had to get our butt in gear to get ready to leave by 7 am.
We made it and we were on the road by 7 am.

Our first stop was at Action Towing to get our "E-Test" done on the motorhome. This year was the motorhome's turn to get it done.

Once it was done we tried to hook up the car to the motorhome, but the tow bar was not co-operating at all. A few months back I did lubricate it, but it still got all rusted out on the inside. Thanks Ontario humidity!
I managed to "un-rusted" one, but not the other!!!

We still got on the road, but this time Michele had to drive the car and follow the motorhome to our next stop in Sherkstone Shore in the Niagara region.
We were on the road by 9 am.

We got to Sherkstone Shore by 2 pm.

After we got all installed, we went to Canadian Tire and bought some liquid penetrating fluid to help break down the rust in the tow bar.

It was not very warm in the Niagara Region, the wind was blowing at 40 with gusts at 60 km/h.

Saturday October 18, 2014

We spent the afternoon in Port Colborne looking for Thrift Shops.
Our first stop was at the information center of the city.

Port Colborne is a summer city and when fall comes it pretty well goes to sleep. We still picked up some brochures.

We walked around West Street along the Welland canal.

I really love this door on the old St-James Anglican Church.

Along West Street.

This is bridge 21 and it is one of three remaining working lift bridge on the Welland canal. It was built in 1921.

The rain comes down every now and then so we headed home for the rest of the day.

Sunday October 19, 2014

Old Sol was out in force today, even the wind had died down.
We hopped on our bikes for a ride in the RV park.

What? Snakes too!

One of the many streets in the park. This RV park has 1800 seasonal sites.

A quiet Sunday evening watching TV.

Monday October 20, 2014

As I mentioned a few days back, our tow bar is stuck in rust.
Over the last few days, I had a chance to think it over on how to fix it.
The only solution was to cut the gold collar that locks and unlocks the tow bar.

Here it is in two parts now.

I phoned Demco, the manufacturer, and ordered a new collar. It should arrive by next Monday.
So, I unstuck everything and one side is working properly now and I have to wait for the collar to rebuild the other side.

We went to Niagara Falls to check out the Thrift Shops.
We were not looking for anything in particular, just checking stuff. It will also give us a reference point for when we will be in the US.

Tuesday October 21, 2014

We had a night of heavy rain and this morning it is still raining, but only lightly.
Between two rain falls, I went out for a walk.
A view of the park.

Our site, it was full service with 50 amps for only $17.50 a night.

The weather for the end of October are usually like this in the Niagara region.
Rain, wind and cool temperatures are the norm, but we know we will be in warmer weather in less than a month.

Wednesday October 22, 2014

WOW!
No rain today!
But it was still on the cool side at +8 C.

We had to get out of the motorhome for a while so we went to Walmart in Fort Erie. We took the back roads to get there.

After a little grocery shopping, we took the road that follows the shore of Lake Erie.
The small town of Ridgeway had used old bicycles for Halloween decoration. Here are a few of them.

Some boats resting for the winter.

Why would someone put a bison statue on his front lawn?

Lake Erie and the US in the background.

It was a good thing that the electricity was included in the price for the site because we sure use the two electric heaters.

Just a small sidebar:

If you have followed the news on this day, you are aware of the incident in Ottawa. It is sad to lose one of our soldier this way.

Thursday October 23, 2014

Dear, dear, the sun was shining today and we had hardly any wind.
I went for a bike ride in the park and I finally took more photos of the park.

We had a very nice site.

The man made lake comes from a quarry that used to be there.

And the other side.

The park's beach.

And the other side.

At certain place on the beach you had lots of small shells.

It was a nice little bike ride of 8 kilometers.

We went back to Port Colborne to drop of my prescriptions and order the medications for the next six months.
To get to the drugstore we had to cross the Welland Canal, but the lift bridge was up. This is bridge 21.
It is up because employees were doing some cleaning under the bridge. The red arrow indicates the "road".

Now the arrow indicates the road coming down.

One of the employee cleaning up the area.

With our prescription dropped off we headed back home.
I decided to take of the Styrofoam off and replace it with the wooden support that was there before we made the pantry.
With the styrofoam off the wind sure got into the motorhome.

Because of the new pantry I had to shorten the support.

Once the support was installed I still had to cover the middle of it because it was an open space.

We got a phone call about the collar we had ordered and I only have to call and pay the duty and taxes and it should arrive tomorrow, wow!

Friday October 24, 2014

I finally decided to seal the joints in the pantry. The back of the pantry is in the fridge compartment and this means it is basically open to the outside.

Boy does that sealant stinks. I had to cover the opening for the night.

We had all the windows open and the temperature outside was about +18. Michele under some blankets.

I decided to go and visit the Port Colborne Historical and marine museum. Michele decided to stay home.

This museum was free. The William House from 1861. This was also where were the exhibits.

The layout of the museum.

The wheelhouse of the tug boat Yvon Dupre Jr. Built in 1946, it was used in the Montreal are until 1974.

One of the lifeboat from the S.S. Hochelaga, it was built in 1949.

Dating from 1870, this is the Carriage House. Inside you can see a restored Arabella's horse-drawn carriage.

Also located in the carriage house, a counter from a general store for the area.

In the center of the photo you can see the top of a lighthouse. It houses a Marine Exhibit of Canadian warships.

It is believed to be the first log schoolhouse in the township in 1835.

The original door with the engraving "B.I. Hilton, 1835". He was the teacher.

This bell was used at Central School in Port Colborne between 1865 and 1970.

Inside the log schoolhouse.

A log house from 1844.

I got a kick of the gutters. The middle arrow shows you the hole for the water to drop in the other gutter. Simple and efficient.

Inside the log house.

An old Jacquard Loom.

I found this small latch pretty cute.

The next stop was at the blacksmith shop from 1880.

This is a "slice" of a tulip tree or a liriodendron. This tree was very important to first nations because it was used to build canoe.
It is also a very good wood for sculpting.
This tulip tree was 235 years old when it was cut down.

This house was built in 1995 and it is used as a resource center and storage for artifacts.
But inside there is a 1901 Neff Steam Buggy.

The Neff Steam Buggy 1901 and it was built here in Humberstone. Humberstone is now part of Port Colborne.

I really enjoyed the little museum and if you ever stop in Port Colborne, visit the museum.

I also received the collar for the tow bar.

Saturday October 25, 2014

After breakfast, I rebuilt the last part of the tow bar with the new collar (gold color).
Everything works fine now.

This afternoon we went to Welland for a little shopping.

We took different routes, we got to go under both tunnels going under the Welland Canal.

Today was a "warm" day with +18, but still a lot of wind.

W spent the evening watching the Netflix season 2 of "House of Card".

Sunday October 26, 2014

Weather change again, today it was cooler at +10 C. The wind was still present.

In the afternoon we watched a few episodes of House of Card and did so again in the evening. We are now done with season 2...

We had a pretty sunset tonight.

Monday October 27, 2014

No wind, but sunny so I went for a bike ride in the park and the beach.

I have noticed that many of the park models have a piece of metal on the edge of the roof. I had to think about this one.
Here is my conclusion. That deflector is there because being in a strong wind area, from the lake, the shingles would lift and let water under the shingles. The deflector prevents the shingles from lifting.

While I was on the beach, I notice a lot of round little "balls" on the sand.

It turns out to be millions of lady bugs!!!

I was doing some research this morning on the Scotiabank website about fees for using the debit card in the US.
I ended up chatting with a representative and did not get the information I wanted, I think I was informing the person more than he was informing me!!!
So, as we were driving to Niagara Falls, we stopped at the local branch of the Scotiabank for better information on the issue.

Here is the answer to the question about fees on the Scotiabank debit card used in the US.
As per the example card below, my card also has the visa debit logo. Having this logo "removes" all service fees when you use it for stores purchases or withdrawal at the Bank of America ATM in the US.
Now this is for Scotiabank, before you go to your bank/Credit Union and start saying stuff, inform yourselves on your bank and credit cards fee. I am not talking about the exchange rates here, just the fees for transaction.
My credit card charges me an extra 2.5% for every transaction above the exchange rates in the US. Over 6 months it does add up...

We took a walk to the falls and up on Clifton Hill.

Us!

The Falls.

To get to and back from the Falls, we took the road along the Niagara river by Fort Erie.

This was a good day.

Tuesday October 28, 2014

It was a warm day and I decide to wash the motorhome one last time before we leave for the south.

Even the wheels got washed.

After lunch, we went to Ridgeway for a small grocery.
On our way there, we saw a horse on the loose.

We stopped by a neighbor to let them know that a horse was loose and he said he would look after it.

Wednesday October 29, 2014

We were on our way to Toronto this morning to visit Odette one last time before we leave for Texas.
This is our exit. Dundas Street where she lives is the same name of the street as our address in Trenton.

This is the high rise where Odette, Onyx, Alix and Han.

Denis, Alix, Odette, Onyx and Michele.

Once again we went to the Chinese Buffet Mandarin for lunch.
It was very good and lots of choices.

Odette working on a curtain for our pantry.

While she was working on the curtain with Michele, I was having a good conversation with Onyx.
You can see we were pretty high, on the 14th floor actually.

We left them at 1900 hours and the trip back was uneventful.

Thursday October 30, 2014

I was full of energy this morning.
I started with defrosting the fridge and freezer.

Next was the in-depth cleaning of the stove top. Here it is with the cover closed.

The first step was to remove the cover.

The back part of the stove top is covered by the cover even when open. You have to remove the top to clean it good.

I also cleaned under the stove top..

Once clean, cover it up with aluminum paper.

Put the stove top back on.

All is clean, with the cover open and closed...

I was on a roll. I modified a curtain rod to fit the opening of the pantry.

Here is the curtain made by Odette yesterday.

The curtain is only a temporary solution.

I spent the afternoon looking at option for the future of our blog/website. It does require a lot of time to do and I think it can be done a little easier and faster. I will let you know...

Friday October 31, 2014

Happy Halloween!
Here, it was not a great Halloween weather. The rain started by noon and did not stop until 11 that evening.
The temperature is about +12 C.
We spent most of the day/evening watching the series "Suits".

Until next time.

Life is good...