Watercolour Landscapes of the Yukon
Well, no rehearsal this week so I go back to being a plumber. Or an RV tech. Or, at least trying to approximate one or the other.
I borrowed a good basin wrench and found a file. So, other than a bit of memorisation over the weekend, I get the opportunity to run the new water lines and hopefully, deal with that little leak problem. Of course, this will take place after the game is over…
Did you ever have one of those days? I picked up most of the supplies to fix the plumbing on the camper yesterday. I managed to get the grey water tank off and cleaned off the other day and needed some new copper tubing and fixtures to patch into the water line and replace the leaking bits. However, that’s where it sort of ended.
Tapping in the new line is the easy bit. I do have to get the fitting off that meets up with the water heater. Here’s where the real fun starts. What I really need to do is latch on to it with an 18″ pipe wrench but, since it’s a camper, you have about 3″ of space to fit the 18″ tool into so you can remove it. The ideal tool in such a case is a basin wrench which should work, unless the fitting is in too tight to get it out. On my shopping list yesterday was a basin wrench (they cost about $10-15). Needless to say, I forgot to get it.
That’s okay. I wanted to put some penetrating oil on the fitting to make it easy to remove anyway and will pick one up today. However, when I cut into the line to put in a union and measure the tubing, I ran into a bit of a problem. Cutting the tube was no issue. But to flare the end, you need to file the end of the cut down to remove the rough edges left by the tubing cutter. In the 400 sq. ft. of garage, do you think I could find a flat file? More shopping, I guess…
After class today, I get to run the grey water tank to the RV repair shop to see if they can fix the leak. Hopefully, it is patchable since replacing it is a major pain. Patching it involves polyethylene welding, since there is no adhesive that will actually stick to the material. Think of it this way: try to glue something to a plastic milk jug. It’s the same material. When the black water tank gave up the ghost, I had another made from aluminum and added the holes, fittings, etc. to match it to fit. Hopefully, I find out this afternoon that I’ve avoided this…
This is the second time we’ve gone camping and the second time we came in for a memorial service over the weekend. I went out on Thursday definitely not in the mood for a camping trip, but under some profound encouragement, went out anyway. I didn’t think I was going to be the happiest camper in the world. I was a bit down in the dumps over Steve Cardiff’s death and have not been feeling well for a few days. Neither contributed to the possibility of a great weekend.
In spite of it all, it was a nice weekend. We went out with Shawna and little Hanna and the weather, in spite of a forecast that had rain as the high point for the entire weekend (thunder showers were the forecast for the less than good days). The weather did hold for much of the weekend although the Kusawa Lake road was not in its best shape. Actually, the road was some of the worst I’ve seen it since they upgraded the road about 10 or so years ago. This was kind of curious since, at the turnoff from the Alaska Highway, there is a big Canadian Economic Action Plan sign with Road Improvements listed as the project on it. I suspect that whoever was overseeing the project spent a lot of money on beer.
As mentioned, we did come in for a bit. I came in Friday afternoon to go to the play reading of Catherine Frid’s Homegrown. I was definitely curious to see what all the controversy over the play was, since the Prime Minister’s Office stated that the play “glorified terrorism” and may have resulted in the termination of federal funding for the festival where it first ran. In case you’re curious, the children’s book Goodnight Moon is probably as controversial.
Saturday, Clara came back in the morning so we could go to Steve’s memorial service. It was a nice service and at least 400 people came out for it. After the service, I went outside for a bit. It was held at the Convention Centre, next to the High County Inn, locally famous for the 20 foot high wooden mountie in front. The last time I stepped outside for a smoke with Steve was under the mountie, so I sat out there for a bit myself with a nice little cigar. It’s kind of a hokie thing, but…
We went back in that evening. It was incredibly windy most of the weekend. I’m glad that we didn’t bring a boat with us since we would have taken it for nothing.
Katrina came out Saturday as well, so we had quite a group. Ryan was supposed to come out that evening, but he didn’t make it. We had a bit of a panic and Katrina and I drove out to the highway to cellphone range and called him. He had left too late so wasn’t coming out.
The girls left on Sunday after we made Sunday dinner: salt beef, roast, chicken and vegetables. Clara and I decided to stay an extra day and spent most of the evening on the beach in front of the campsite. We got up early and came back so I could pick up the new outboard for the inflatable boat. There should be pictures of that coming up shortly. All in all, I did have a decent time and, as you can see, camping isn’t the most stressful thing in the world…
I seem to have a great deal planned, or overplanned, for the upcoming weekend. Its so loaded down that I actually took Monday and Tuesday as vacation days to do everything I had planned.
We have the reading of the play on Sunday, but that needs a fair bit of work to get ready, doing things such as cleaning, getting the BBQ ready, etc. Yes, I am bribing my readers with food and drink. I’m not above that. The menu is rib eye steak, baked potatoes, onions, sauteed mushrooms, cole slaw, potato salad and roast corn. We’ll wash it down with Keith’s and a nice red. You may want to consider this for the next time I need readers…
Once that is out of the way, it’s time to get the motorhome ready for the long weekend. I’ll probably be commuting to work a few days although I’m not sure what Clara’s up for. I will admit that I am not looking forward to the first camping trip without smoking. Maybe I’ll follow the rules. I am allowed to have a cigarette whenever I want. Its just got to come from my emergency pack. In case you’re curious, my emergency pack is the one I was smoking six months ago when I quit. Its been open in a drawer since then. I suspect that the contents may be a little… ahem… dry. OK, a lot dry.
Tuesday afternoon may be a bit interesting as well. A freind has been commissioned to do a photo shoot for Up Here magazine and we get to be models for photos on RVing in the north. He said he’ll try to get us the cover… or put me as the centrefold. Somehow, I can picture myself with staples in my bellybutton now. Its not a good picture…
Doug Rutherford 