Trailer Park Life

Last evening, I could see sheet lightning in the sky to the west and heard the odd distant thunder clap for about 45 minutes.  However, around midnight the sky seemed to clear up and there were stars twinkling when I looked up. I thought I was probably safe from any rain.

When I awoke however, the rains had come – and stayed. There’s a light drizzle going on and I’m glad that I got most of my gear under cover.  However, I forgot to pull the tarp over the firewood and also left our bikes out.  It looks like the rain could be with me for the entire day, which means I will probably get lots of work done without the temptation of the sunshine and the pool to call off in. The thermometer right now is reading  19.3C in the shade (all there is today is shade with no sunshine through the clouds).

Along with my regular work that goes with my business (and hoping my internet connection stays solid), I have a few other jobs today.  The water leak in the Glendale trailer is getting worse with water seeping onto the bathroom floor. I had one of the park staff guys come by to take a look hoping he’d be able to advise me where to start looking or what to suspect in regard to the water leak. He pointed to the “drip….. drip…. drip….” (once every five seconds)  from the water heater tank. But I don’t think that is the main problem. A “drip… drip… drip…” does not cause that much water to seep onto the floor and then cause a “drip drip drip drip” (about two or three drips per second) out of the corner of the trailer. The trailer park guy was not all that helpful in regards to the water leak.

He was helpful however in regard to another problem I had the other day. The toilet in the trailer had backed up which I thought was weird as it’s not used for any solid waste at all. Instead, we all use the park washrooms for that which are only a 30 second walk away. So I couldn’t understand how the toilet would be backed up or plugged. When I purchased the trailer, I had the staff tow it to the site and when I saw that they had hooked up the water, electricity and sewer, I assumed that everything was done that needed to be done.

Apparently not.

The pin or whatever it is called that opens up the holding tank to release its contents had not been opened. So the toilet back up was because the holding tank in the Glendale camp trailer was full.  The staff guy showed me how to pull the holding tank release pin and we heard the gross sound of everything in the tank being drained away into the sewer pipe. As well, there was some spillage through the connection that is clamped to the trailer pipe – the staff guy didn’t seem to care about the small amount that emptied on the ground.  I think I’ll try to tighten that up though.

Or plant some rhubarb in the vicinity of the drain.

Today, I’m going to try to fix the leak from the hot water tank. I picked up some clamps from Home Hardware the other day. I turned the water off last night so hopefully the leak will have drained the hot water tank over night and I can get at that soon.

I’m also going to try to figure out how to get the trim along the back of the bathroom wall removed and check the plumbing under it as that is where it seems the water is seeping from in the bathroom. Not sure how I’ll do it as there is not much room to work without getting my head stuck in the toilet.  Hopefully I’ll figure something out and it will be an easy repair.

The other problem that requires attention has to do with the propane. The other day, I got whiffs of propane odour but I couldn’t tell where it was coming from. I wasn’t even sure it was coming from my trailer, but about an hour later, there was no propane left in my tank that is connected. So I’m pretty sure I do have a propane leak somewhere. I checked under the trailer and the main gas line does have some surface rust on it – perhaps somewhere in the pipe there is enough rust that there is a perforation and propane is leaking.

It could also be the regulator which appears to be original equipment of the 1983 Glendale Glendette Cottager. One of the rubber hoses of the regulator unit that connects to a propane tank does have a hole in it, so I have that tank shut off.  But the other rubber hoses do appear to be old and probably the unit should be replaced to be on the safe side.  I’ll give Home Hardware a call and see if they can order me a new propane regulator unit.

If that is not the problem, I’ll replace the gas pipe under the trailer. That shouldn’t be an expensive job – it’s all standard pipe and I have a friend that is a pipe fitter who can probably make me up the correct size of pipe.  Hopefully either of those two fixes should fix any propane leaks as I don’t really want to get into replacing the smaller gas pipes to the stove, oven and hot water tank.

I do have a couple of Coleman stoves with plenty of naptha fuel so I don’t absolutely need the propane water heater and stove in the trailer. My first priority really is to try to fix the water leak to prevent any rotting of the floor. When we took the carpet out of the bedroom last week, we discovered that there was some rot in the bedroom floor and I’ll have to fix that up at some point.

Off to work I go! And hoping the Bell Mobility broadband is dependable today.

I know in my home country of Northern Ireland, right now there are bon fires going on.  Ah, the 11th night of July – and sad to say, many of those who are participating have never experienced the ability to celebrate much else with bonfires other than celebrations of events that ocurred over 300 years ago.  But I do understand… and have some feelings and pride myself.

I just hope it is a good “11th night” – safe, not too rowdy, and somewhere deep down those celebrating will also realize the ideals of the times – freedom and tolerance. I’ve got my little bonfire going, and am thinking of family and friends back home … and thinking of my little big country – and am grateful for what occurred in 1690 – with the idea that it was meant.. and folks died for liberty and freedom… for all.

And that includes freedom of association – I can be proud of my heritage, and recognize others are proud of theirs, but what is is what is. No one can tell me here.. not a Prod, nor a Mic, who my friends should be.

My wee bonfire is one that symbolizes freedom of all individuals,  to think, test, examine, and be friends with whom I choose, not based on prejudicial nonsense.

Happy 11th night to all!

My National Geographic thermometer reports it hit 43C today. Admittedly, that was before I put the temperature guage in full shade. Even still, where it was sitting was not in direct sunlight – but partial shade.

C. decided she needed a fan! There it is, turned on with power, on the picnic table. Imagine camping outdoors and being so hot you need an electric fan!

Actually, as much as it was incredibly hot and humid today, we didn’t use the fan. Prior to picking David up, we went to Canadian Tire to get a few things, and C. wanted a fan for her apartment. There was the very nice model above on sale and we tested it out at the trailer before she took it back the apartment. It worked.  Almost provided enough breeze to make us more comfortable with the breeze from it in the almost unbearable heat and humidity. But the fan is not staying at the trailer. C. is leaving with the fan, and David and I are going to “rough it” in the heat and humidity without air conditioning – but with a pool nearby!

Admittedly, I do envy at times the folk with camp trailers that have air conditioning.  But we’ll be fine and this heatwave of early July will pass.

As I wrote earlier, the delivery of the bush cord of firewood is due tomorrow (Thursday, July 8, 2010).  But I whad several bags of the more expensive stuff that I had purchased before making arrangements for the wood delivery.  Ah, we decided we may as well have a warm and long campfire knowing we don’t really have to conserve what we have – we can enjoy it all night long if we wanted to.

And indeed we did! I discovered that there might not be anything more amorous than a campfire, knowing no one else is around, being in love, and staying up to the wee hours of the morning, laughing, holding hands, some teasing, and a few dares going on.

Yes, I’ve seen and looked at the stars many a night and enjoy them. But I saw them in a completely different light last night…. ah, it was a beautiful – and fun – night! Perhaps the best campfire I’ve ever had.

I am still smiling, C. is still smiling, and soon we are off to pick up my almost 8 year old son David after getting some supplies and groceries for the next few days. Sadly, C. needs to leave for a couple of days, but I’ll have some time with David which I’ll also value.

I had to stay in the city 45 minutes away on Sunday night as I had an appointment with Her Majesty’s representatives early Monday morning regarding a matter that required my attendance. As a result, I stayed at C.’s and made sure my suit and tie was well pressed. Monday morning turned out to be hot – one of those hot sultry days when wearing a black suit and a tie is more than suffocating.  After my appointment, the apartment heat was almost unbearable.

“Darling, would ye like to go up to the trailer?”

“Absolutely! Let’s get out of here.”

That’s all I needed to hear.  Forty five minutes north, it was still hot but much more bearable with a bit of a breeze going on. One of the nice things about the trailer park is it’s proximity to a place in Ontario where the highest elevation for a settlement is as well as the fact that although Lake Huron is more than an hour away, the west winds off the lake are prevalent and have a moderating effect on the temperature making it much more comfortable than areas like the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) that are only just over an hour’s drive away.

When we arrived, we turned the water on as well as the propane and got the water heater pilot lit. Then it was food preparation time. We picked up a pork loin roast, which I cut into sections to make pork loin steaks.  Roast potatoes and vegetables, all done in tinfoil over the campfire, completed the delicious meal.  We seem to eat quite late when we’re at the trailer or are camping, and by the time we had consumed our copious amounts of food, it was going on 11PM. But the campfire was crackling away and the beer in the fridge was calling our name… which meant for a few hours of staying up much later than most other people.

However, Tuesday morning arrived fairly early considering the time we finally got to sleep. And I had a lot of work to do.

Ah, this is the life! Working with a laptop, at a trailer park, with the outdoors all around – working at a picnic table while the birds sing! And a beautiful woman for a girlfriend enjoying the sun while helping with brunch!  It really doesn’t get much better than that – getting my monthly invoicing done, following up with clients via email, taking a break means going for a bike ride along a hardly used Ontario highway to a rural convenience store, and then going for a dip in the pool to cool off!

I do wish the internet connection was a bit better.  Bell Mobility’s broadband is better than Rogers in the sense that at least I can get a connection – but it’s flaky and I have to often wait until the modem picks up the signal.  I’m still tempted to call up one of the radio wireless internet providers to see if they might be able to service this area and have a tower within a direct line to where I am. But for now, being able to work outdoors is awesome!

Gosh, my three older sons are going to be shocked and surprised. I’m shocked and surprised!

Pleasantly shocked and surprised. C. and my youngest son David were quite both quite surprised.

As a child, I never did get much of a chance to take swimming lessons. When I did, I always felt very self-conscious about water coming out of my nose and always being told that my arms and hands were not working properly when I tried to do the front stroke or whatever the normal swimming action is called. I gave up on swimming although I could “swim” under water for a bit, holding my breath. Also, when I was younger, I never seemed to be able to get the breathing cycle right – I’d be breathing in water when I should be blowing out, and vice versa.

I did think it a good idea to put David in swim lessons a couple of years ago, but I’ve never spent any time myself in a pool with him. At the trailer here, there is a pool about 100 yards away, and it’s quite refreshing to walk over on these hot days and get wet.  I didn’t have a problem doing “cannon ball” jumps into the deep end – I’d just come up after the jump, gulp some more air, head down about 5 feet under water and make my way to the side where I’d get out of the pool. But actually swim?

Well today, I ended up going the wrong way when I was under the water, and when I came up for air, I just decided on the spur of the moment to try making my arms go they way others were doing it when they were swimming. And to my amazement, it seemed to work! So I kept going. All the way to the other end of the pool! When I finally reached the wall at the shallow end, I had an audience – a surprised but supportive audience of my son and C., who had been watching me.

David began shouting, “Way to go Dad!! Way to go!” while giving me the thumbs up. I thought I probably looked pretty dorky but C. said I looked like I knew how to swim. “Come on darling, don’t tell me you can’t swim!”

I reiterated that it had been probably 40 years since I had tried doing that stroke. My other sons, the eldest at age 22, have never seen me do that – because I just always thought I couldn’t do it. I was afraid to even try.

After being reassured that I did not look dorky while I swam, I did it a few more times and found the exercise it provided to be awesome.  I have to admit I’m feeling quite proud of myself for trying – and succeeding, and can’t wait to tell my other three boys that… I can actually swim!  And I’m looking forward to doing more of it and getting stronger in the water.

Thanks to my brother in law, I managed to make it “home” today! P. picked up bright and early this morning, I had some supplies that I wanted to take out to the Glendale trailer, that we tossed in the back of his pickup.  Then some shopping in town – and I was on my way.

Except when I arrived, and P. left, I discovered I had  forgot some important stuff in the back of that pick up.  Oh well…. sometimes you just make do.l

I was surprised that considering this was the Canada Holiday, that there weren’t more people here. Which was fine by me…..It let me break the “quiet time” rule about music after 11PM… and I really love “Wise, Young & King.”

About 10PM, I heard some booming noises… yup.. there are folk here celebrating Canada Day. It is very nice to be here with my little campfire (have to find a supplier of a bush cord or wood soon) and watching fireworks going off.

I’m sitting at “home,” and right now, the campfire is blazing. It’s about 1AM, and the wee fellow, my son, who will be 8 fairly soon is sleeping. I’m by the fire, enjoying my solitude so much that I thought I’d tell you all about it while I can.  In the morning, the wee fella wants to go swimming, ride his bike, eat lots of bacon for breakfast, and generally enjoy Father’s Day with me out in what is forecast to be a perfect sunny day, about 23C or the mid 70′s F.

On Friday, C. came up and we drove out to the trailer. I was expecting a mess of green stuff that would need cut down after all the rain, but it wasn’t bad at all. I’ll do the “mowing” tomorrow. We picked up some groceries and some adult beverages – I managed to get a couple of wonderful rib steaks for the barbeque, and we were set.  Did I tell you the kind of barbie I have? Ah, remind me to give it a review soon! I love it!

We had our own lovely campfire together after steak and baked potatoes for dinner. Went through another 7.50 bag of wood – I am very much needing to speak to one of the local firewood agents in the next town to see if I can get a full chord of wood deliered here. Camping for a living in the summer might almost be as expensive in firewood as heating a small home in the winter with a wood stove!

Today (Saturday), we drove to where my “wee fellow” lives and picked him up. Brought him back to the trailer. C. had to leave so it’s just been D. and  I all evening. Roasted hotdogs and marshmallows time along with some awesome father and son time.  I decided that because it was Father’s Day, that didn’t mean I should be expecting the gift.  I bought the wee man something I hope and believe, he will treasure and take care of.  I presented it to him this evening. It’s a small single blade Buck Knife. I think he is old enough and wise enough to have his own small knife, and tomorrow we’ll go over some knife safety basics. He’s not to ever take it out of his pocket just to show his friends, or anything except when I’m around.  He knows and understands that.

C. was very happy to see that I really did order a flag of Nova Scotia along with my Ulster Red Hand. Now we’re trying to figure out the best place to put down a flag pole. Probably we’ll need two flag poles – but that’s fine.  There are enough Newfoundland flags here that Ulster and Nova Scotia definitely need to be represented!

Speaking of Newfoundland however, D. met one of the neighbours, and he has become fast best friends with Kerry. D.’s mother took him out for a ten day trip to Newfoundland, and Kerry was quite happy and surprised to find out they had visited Rocky Harbour, where Kerry had grown up.  But I had a little “argument” with Kerry the Newfoundlander.  He thought I had been playing music a couple of weeks ago that was “Newfie music.”  Not a chance! It was Irish music!

Ah, but I do love and enjoy Newfoundlanders.  They are practically cousins.

Another log on the fire, and I’ll be hitting the sack.

For the past week or so, I’ve had to “babysit” the office and haven’t been home to my trailer. I think I will be able to get there tomorrow and I’m looking forward to it!

The weather forecast looks good too – lots of sunshine and warmth is predicted with a wee bit of rain perhaps on Saturday.

I’ll have some tasks I need to get to almost as soon as I’m back.  I’m sure the grass will need to be cut.  We’ve had quite a bit of rain in the past week, and most people have had to mow their lawns twice in the past 10 days or so.

I want to find a supplier of firewood. I’m thinking I could easily go through a bush cord of wood over the summer and autumn with campfires, and  I hope I can buy it by the bush cord and have it delivered instead of buying the bags of wood.  They are over $7.00 per bag, and I can go through almost two of them in a long relaxing evening.

Then I need to research why there seems to be no power to the lights at the front of the trailer. Fuses and breaker switches all look good, and fresh bulbs are in the sockets, but no light.  Not sure if it is a wiring issue or something else I need to do, but it sure would be nice to have a bit more light in there.

Can’t wait to get home!

See that little ball of white fluff on the left side?  That’s a dog. Not my kind of dog – I like labs, shepherds, pit bulls, and the like.  That little ball of white fluff is actually a Maltese that is about five years old, named Rudy.

Rudy is my son’s dog.  When my son goes away with his mom, I am left to babysit the dog.  Rudy has probably never in his life spent more than an hour at a time outdoors. He’s not a stupid dog – he responds to “Need to go out?” with a wag of a tail and a bunch of yapping that makes me glad I don’t have a gun. He can “sit” and “stay” – for about 30 seconds.  He does know how to “sing,” which I taught him after getting tired of his yapping on and on. When told to “sing,” he’ll try to howl like a wolf, but it comes out more like a whine of a baby. But it’s better than yap, yap, yap.

So last night at the trailer, C. and I were babysitting a dog who’s life is mostly running around a livingroom and wagging his tail and yapping when asked if he needs to go out.

We weren’t sure how Rudy would respond to the Great Outdoors, a campfire, and a trailer. But we took along some dog food and hoped for the best.

Rudy enjoyed his first campfire last night, and I’m not sure if he was sure for most of the time, whether he was “in” or “out.” When we arrived, we rigged up a light rope and tied it one end to the picnic table and the other to the dog’s harness. If Rudy is not restrained, he tends to chase things, especially things that are bigger than he is and that could probably eat him in one gulp. Probably not a good thing in an area where coyotes and wolves are known to hang out.We couldn’t spend the evening outside holding on to his leash, so the only other option was the rope.  Rudy didn’t seem to mind at all, and almost immediately began running in circles, chasing his tail, jumping up and down onto the picnic table bench, and expending tons of energy.

After we got the fire started, C. made sure Rudy was comfortable on this cool evening, letting him cuddle up on her good winter jacket, placed on a lawn chair. The dog seemed to quite enjoy the warmth of the fire, and every so often would look over at me with his quizzical eyes.

At one point it struck me that even though Rudy had been drinking water, he hadn’t peed yet! “Does he not realize he’s outside?” I wondered.

“Hey Rudy,” I said to get his attention. He looked at me. “Do you need to go out?”

Rudy jumped up, wagged his tail, and started yapping.

“You gotta be kidding,” I muttered to myself. C. laughed! “This dog doesn’t actually know he’s outside, and needs me to take him with the leash so he’ll pee!”

Sure enough, I held on to the rope Rudy was attached to, walked with him a little bit over to an out of traffic part of the site, told the dog he was already out, and he peed so much you’d think he had been stuck inside for 8 hours.

Well, he’s smart enough to be well house-trained. But dumb enough to not know when he’s already out! I guess that is what he is used to.

All in all, Rudy did very well on his first camping trip – although I did threaten him that I’d turn him into a “hot dog” if he wasn’t good.  (Shhh.. can’t tell my son I made that threat though!)