Aged but not deceased

We moved to our new camping location but not before going into Black Creek for a few more supplies: Yes, you guessed it, more wine. Rosalie drinks more than I calculated.

Our new site was better than the last one except we were worried that our connections may not reach the sewer cleanout. We made it, although we did have to get the maintenance guy to come by and modify our electrical plug-in once more.

Peter and Suzie came for a visit and we had a great day with them. We went for a walk, drank lots of wine, lit a fire, Peter and I told lots of lies and we generally had a great time. For lunch, I made my world-famous hamburgers. Then in the afternoon, I cooked my equally world-famous Jalapeno poppers. Unfortunately, they didn’t turn out a good as I would have liked. We forgot to bring a cookie sheet so I had to BBQ them and they made a right mess.

Most of the campsites around us have kids. It’s great to watch families at play. The kids were all great and the parents did a great job of keeping them under control. The other good thing is that we hardly saw any kids with cell phones or tablets; most were hurtling around on bikes trying to run people down. But it’s okay, they were having fun and Rosalie and I were in no danger.

Camping is a great way to raise kids. We saw many of them with their fishing rods heading to the marina to get the catch of the day. Unfortunately, we didn’t see any of them with a single fish. Much like my fishing experiences.

In the middle of the afternoon, a three-quarter-ton pickup truck pulled into the site behind us. A petite young woman and two kids hopped out and started to put up a tent; well the Mum did, the two boys took off playing. She was by herself and put up a  tent with great expertise. I guess her husband was working as he showed up later. Just another example of families having fun.

I think it’s sad to see fewer and fewer tents. My first experiences with camping were in a tent. When I was about six, my family would camp in the orchards and spend the late summer and early fall picking first fruit,  and then hops. During that time we lived in a surplus army tent.

Actually, my first experience with a friend was under a plastic sheet in the pouring rain. Rosalie and I still own a tent and I still enjoy the feel of sleeping in one. Sadly the time has come to move on, so we plan on selling it. I hope it goes to a young up and coming family.

There seems to be more money these days. When I was first camping, everybody had a tent and eventually, as we became more affluent, a  tent trailer and then perhaps a slide-on camper. Now, all young families seem to have huge trucks and equally huge trailers and campers.

I still wouldn’t trade the way we started camping, for starting out in an RV. Tents are great but you have to be a lot younger than we are.

We got cabin fever in our trailer so we went RVing in our little motor home; how silly is that?

First, we had to decide where and when are we going. As it happened our neighbours bought a new trailer and with it came 5 free days of camping at Pacific Playgrounds in Black Creek. They didn’t need it as their trailer, like ours,  won’t ever be moved, so, they gave it to me as a bribe to help them reposition their unit and help build them a deck. An awesome exchange. 

The next thing to do was to make sure the motor home had everything we needed for five days. I made a list. On the top was DON’T FORGET THE WINE. I also loaded a lot of firewood. On the drive there, we had the philosophical debate as to whether it was “campfire wood” or “camp firewood.” The things we discuss, it’s no wonder we are so worldly. That discussion didn’t last too long so we settled in, to ignoring each other for the rest of the trip.

We didn’t seem to forget too many things. Rosalie forgot a table cloth so we had to improvise, now we have a lovely “Frozen” motif. I’m hoping some kid steals it in the night.

 

 

Isn’t this just frickin lovely?

We stopped in Courtenay on the way to pick up a few extra things that we needed and carried on with our adventure. One of the things we needed was to talk to Best Buy about the keyboard on Rosalie’s iPad. It stopped working just three weeks after the warranty ran out. I checked the batteries and they seemed okay, lots of voltage etc. (don’t know what the etc is but it adds a little drama). The batteries are supposed to last for four years. It turns out that they only last one year and three weeks. We bought new batteries and everything is peaceful again.

After I had backed into our site, I started to do the hook-ups. The first thing I found, was that the electrical plug wouldn’t fit in the socket even though the pin configuration was the same. At the office, we were told that a maintenance guy would drop by and solve all our problems. I liked this guy: he took one look and proceeded to dismantle the socket with a pair of side cutters and some pliers. Once it was demolished my plug fitted perfectly. I was so happy I almost, but not quite, gave him a tip.

It was amazing that the campground was packed with trailers and fifth wheels. I thought that because of social distancing it would be mostly empty. However, how can you not abide by the rules in a campground and out in the open air and sunshine?

H14 is our site for tonight but tomorrow we move to B14. Ooh! Another adventure. At least it’s not C19.

Blog is a week late, but there you go!

We’re free! At last, we can go about our semi-legal business.

The first thing we did, even though we still had a couple of hours to go, was to go and liberate the wine from storage. We had to go a bit early as Rosalie was starting to get a bit edgy. I couldn’t handle the whining and crying anymore. We were so happy to be free that we took the long way home. Even Coombs looked good.

I did a deal with Bruce, our neighbour,  who gave us a cartload of firewood in exchange for? You guessed it, another cartload of firewood when we got ours delivered,

Laundry had been piling up for the last few weeks so Rosalie had to do it while I settled in by the fire with a nice glass of wine. I did drag myself up to carry it into the trailer afterwards, and spent a few tiring minutes watching her fold it all.

The problem with being free is that you have to go and spend money. Rosalie decided she wanted to torture me a bit more and sweetly suggested that we update the trailer. So for the foreseeable future, I will be painting hammering and generally wearing myself out in the name of marital bliss.

Since we’ve been home and I have to do my usual chores, I’ve noticed that I’m actually getting older. That was a shock! It started when I had to put the TV antenna on the roof. I realized that I should no longer be scrambling on metal roofs. As I said in a previous post, Rosalie was taking bets as to whether I would fall off or not. Fortunately, she didn’t make any money.

Then I had to stack the firewood. Rosalie was helping but after one load I had to quit. If I do one load a day I should get it all stacked by the time we leave again in October. But I’m hoping to burn it all by then.

The thing that’s holding me back right now is my hip. I was told 25 years ago that I would need a new one in five to ten years. Well me, being difficult and not wanting any more surgery, held it off for a few more years. But I think the time is coming. I have an actual face-to-face appointment with the Doctor in a few weeks so we’ll see if it’s ready for a replacement or I’m just a whining wussy.

“Come home,” they said, “It will be safer here they said.” That’s only if we don’t freeze to death first. It’s damn cold right now! I wanna go back.

Quarantine is coming to a close and we are making lists of things we have to do to get us up to speed for living here.

I’ll be out soon.

Monday is the big day. I drew up a list of supplies that we needed and then spent about an hour arranging it in order. I had to cut a few things because we just don’t have the time. And anyway who wants to spend all day buying stuff. I can hear all the ladies’ hands going up even as I think about this.

Of course, Rosalie will need to get her hair done.

Luckily we will be at Peter and Suzie’s at the end of it all and will probably have a glass of wine to help us relax. That’s if Peter doesn’t hold to his claim of wanting to keep a social distance of a half a mile from me. I think it may be okay because Rosalie will be with me and for some reason, he seems to like her better than me.

Sunday evening is the official end of our incarceration. At precisely 6pm I will be sitting in the car and ready to speed (not really) to our storage unit to pick up my wine.

Meanwhile, Rosalie will be sitting back relaxing at the campground laundry. Yes, they have opened it up so we don’t have to go into town to do it. It will seem odd having to change my undies every day again. Oh well!

Quarantine has not been too bad. I’ve had to talk Rosalie down a few times and actually sit on her to stop her from going outside the fence. She pleads “Just let me put one foot out. I’ll feel so much better.” But I have to say “No!” as there are too many little old ladies just waiting to turn us in. And not all of them are females. I usually give her a shot of tequila and she starts to calm down. I sometimes think she pretends just to get a shot of the good stuff.

I haven’t found it too bad but I’m looking forward to not having to sit outside watching my veggies grow for entertainment. Fortunately, the hummingbirds are prolific this year so I get to clean their feeder and refill it on a regular basis. If the weather was better I could hang out in my hammock and read. Even the firewood is conspiring against us by running out.

I wish we could say the same about our quarantine.

There’s no sign of Alan yet, or Alison or whatever we decided to call him/her. I’m going to stick with Alan and for me, that name is now gender-neutral. It’s lucky he’s not around as we ran out of peanuts at the end of last year and I planned to get more when we got back. So much for great plans. I found a few left-over human peanuts so if he shows up I can keep him distracted for a while so that I can get into the trailer just in case he gets mad.

So, Sunday get the wine, Monday supplies, Tuesday firewood. Life is good.

Considering that you only have one 75th, this was one in a field of one.

Seventy-five is such a milestone that we plan it for years ahead. Mine was a little different. We were in quarantine and I didn’t expect much to happen. We couldn’t go out, nobody could come in, so I reconciled myself to spending the day feeling sorry for myself and sucking my thumb. Rosalie gave me lots of hugs and fed me wine to make me feel better but it only helped a little…Heavy sigh!

And then it happened!  Zoom!

Barb said she wanted to do this and connect us all on Zoom using my birthday as an excuse. Glen and Cheryl had set up an account so that we could talk past the 40-minute limit and we all logged in.

It was awesome! We, friends from around BC,  reconnected and had a really good visit thanks to Glen and Cheryl and Zoom. They say that the security on Zoom isn’t very good right now. Well, anybody hacking into this session would have to have a serious rethink about what they are doing.

Of course, all the usual B.S. happened. Those drunken bums singing happy birthday sounded great because I was also half drunk. And I really appreciated it.

Gordie read me a telegram from the Queen but he was a bit premature. Gordie, IT’S MY 75th NOT MY 100th !! What were you thinking?

Peter had trouble connecting. For some reason, Peter always has the gremlins getting in his way. However, Rosalie talked him on board and he soon became part of the group. It wouldn’t have been the same without him and Suzie.

We bantered about a lot and I, as usual, took all the cheap shots with dignity and aplomb, and the afternoon went really well.

During all this, I was trying to cook a pork roast on the big green egg. I frantically checked the app on my phone every few minutes to see if I was ruining it as I am wont to do. I needn’t have worried as it wasn’t ready for several more hours. When it was finally done it tasted awesome.

I couldn’t have wished for a better 75th birthday.

Thank you all my friends, and especially to Rosalie who keeps me on an even path.

This quarantine lark can be fun. We have had a few people inadvertently wander on to our property and we can with authority and complete justification request that they leave or else.  Oh!  The Power. Although we have no idea what the ‘or else’ would entail.

There are other benefits, when people come by uninvited and we don’t like them, we can tell them to f… off without feeling that we have insulted them. We are doing it for their own good after all.

Rosalie is having a bit of a hard time with it. However, she’s stuck with me 24/7 and has the worry of running out of wine so guess that’s somewhat understandable.

We have had a great time with a few people whom we decide not to name because we don’t want to incriminate them in any way. They sit outside the fence and we sit in and we have a great old time swapping covid 19 stories and trying not to cough on each other. I placed a propane fire pit between us so any germs will be burned up if someone does cough.

I’m going to need a haircut soon!

Laundry is a bit of an issue. I just turn my undies inside out and they are good for at least another couple of days. Rosalie though is a bit more discriminating and insists on new undies every day, I think it’s a girl thing.

I hand washed some of my stuff and hung them out on the line to dry but forgot that this is not Mexico and stuff doesn’t dry in a few hours like it does there. It was going to rain the next day so I had to haul it all in and wait for another day to dry it. In the meantime, I may have to go commando. I see Rosalie smiling, I don’t know why.

For the last few weeks in Mexico, I had been Zooming with the pub guys. This week however was different. I went to all the trouble of setting up the meeting, but just because the pub is open now,  the buggers scooted off there and ignored me. Just to add insult to injury, Peter rubbed it in by sending pictures of them having a great time without me. This will not be forgotten!

We were getting a collection of garbage and had no idea what to do with it. we can’t leave the site so we had to come up with something else. I wanted to burn it like they used to do in Mexico back in the day, but it smells bad so we discounted that idea. Then Bruce next door asked if he could take it for us, and with tears in our eyes and after spraying it with an alcohol hand cleaner we handed it over.

In the evening we sometimes watch Netflix or Prime but mostly sit by the fire and read our books.

Quarantine ain’t so bad.

 

We should have stayed in Mexico. Since we’ve been back it’s been work, work, work.

John and Lesley did a lot of the work for us but we still have to do the rest.

I thought quarantine was all about lazying about drinking wine and being bored. Wrong!

Firstly, I had set up the gazebo so we have somewhere cozy outside to sit. That entails putting up the privacy curtains. Which in itself is quite the challenge: What section goes where? Do the zippers match up etc?  Actually, it was easy. It was me that needed sorting out.  

Next, lay the carpet down. Carrying all the chairs from out of the sunroom. Set up the chiminea. Position the tables. And finally, wire the TV out there. Only have a small glass of wine as the supply is diminishing. If only I could persuade Rosalie to stop drinking it, I just might have enough to squeak by.

Split some wood for the fire. That’s going to be fun in the next little while as we are rapidly running out of wood. We can’t order any in as we are in quarantine. We don’t sit at the picnic table too much so we have that as a backup. Wait…Rosalie says “No!”

But wait! I remembered that last year I stocked up the motor home with wood. I checked and there was enough for at least five more days. The picnic table is safe after all. (Maybe)

Pressure wash the trailer, which sounds easy but is a lot of hard work after all the winter grunge has settled in. Dig the garden and start putting seeds in.  We were going to use the hanging upside down tomato planters again this year but they fell apart when I picked them up. I’ll have to talk to Peter who gave them to us, to see if the warranty is still good.

Putting up the TV antenna is becoming a chore. It’s not heavy but still has to sit on top of the roof. I’m looking into an alternative to that scenario. I’m getting too old to be scrambling around up there, especially with Rosalie sitting back with neighbours taking bets as to when and if I’ll fall off.

Next, clean up the propane BBQ; re-season the griddles; then have a great grilled breakfast.

When we first got back from Mexico, the inside of the trailer looked as though a bomb had gone off. We both knuckled down and slowly it started to look reasonable again. The problem is, when we are leaving here to go south, some things have to get left to the last minute. There is always the “we’ll take care of it when we get back” attitude. Now we’re back we have that “I wish we had done that before we left” attitude.

I know this sounds like a whine, but I’m actually enjoying myself. After seven months of doing very little, it’s nice to get my teeth into some good physical work. At least this year we didn’t have to clean up what was left of the arbour. The car took a bit of a pounding and we have to deal with the insurance company about that though.

In the evening I sit and groan with my aches and pains. and have a drink of tequila and tonic to try to eke out the wine. Rosalie is not helping with that problem though.

A shout out to all the people who supported us while trying to exit Mexico.

Linda and Art:

Thanks for checking up on our site at Spidey, checking out the damage to the car and and getting all the supplies for us.

Thanks to Art and Linda we won’t starve.

Art Sr:

Thanks for paving the way by going home with  Alaska Air and offering to get us even more supplies from Costco.

Jim and Ylda:

Thanks for the offer to let us stay in your yard for quarantine. We would have done it because we know you have a good supply of wine. But I think you should have let us empty our black tank into your pond.

Mike and Pat:

Who made numerous suggestion to help us get home. I think you guys just wanted to be rid of us. 🙂 We look forward to seeing you again in the fall. Maybe a dinner at Marlena’s is in order.

Peter and Suzie:

Thanks for the help signing your life away when we sold the condo, picking up our mail and every other thing that we asked you to do, including picking up our car and meeting us at the airport with our keys. You guys are the best.

The guys at the pub:

I really enjoyed the Zoom meetings. It was great to get up to date on the B&B goings on. I miss Steve and his conspiracy theories.

To Garry and Patti:

Who have become great neighbours and friends. But still need to learn how to make a good coca loco. Yes Patti, I do owe you two tacos in Jaluco because you didn’t have to quarantine in the hotel after all.

To John and Leslie:

They cleaned up our whole yard and took down the the tarps on the sunroom for only a few pesos.

To Omar:

Who works in mysterious ways, his wonders to perform. And who presented us with some mangos on our last day after taking off with our only ripe papaya.

The BC Government:

Great job of managing this crisis. They called us this morning and wanted to know if we were okay: Do we have any symptoms; do we have enough supplies and meds. They will call again in five days to check us again.

All our friends and family who understood what we were up to and didn’t put pressure on us to return when we couldn’t anyway.

To all the other offers we got from friends a family:  Just Thanks!

Although it was hard to leave Mexico, we wanted to be back with you fabulous people. That’s the tough part: We wanted to be in Mexico but we want to be with you guys too. Now that we’re back, we realize how much we needed the change of pace.

I started to read this to Rosalie, but couldn’t. I actually got choked up. Thats’s not like me, a tough Macho guy. (in my mind anyway.)

And of course to Rosalie:

Who calmed me down when I wanted to hit somebody, or sue somebody or just generally go on a rampage when each of the cancellations occurred. Thank you for your love and support, I love you!

To West Jet:

Fuck you!

The following morning we thought we would have to get a taxi back to LAX which would cost about $40-$50 US, but found that the shuttle started at 5 am so we were in luck.

The flight from LAX to Seattle was uneventful. But when we got there we had to navigate through their underground train system. It was a bit frustrating but we finally made it. Before we got on the flight to Vancouver we had to answer three Covid-based questions. Of the four major airports we went through, Seattle was the busiest. Alaska Aircraft were lined up for take off and they went every few minutes.

When we got to Vancouver the real fun started. We filled our customs forms and went through the process of filling out all the quarantine forms. Then went to the passport control and got a lecture on quarantining. Once through that we had to get checked out by the B.C. control people. In both instances we had to explain our quarantine plan. Finally, we got through and went to find Garry and Patti plus some food.

We had some Timmie’s and went to find our gate security. We had been through three security checks with no problem. But Vancouver opened both of our carry-ons; one to check if Rosalie’s packet of yeast was going to explode and the other to see if a plaque we had bought back was a block of drugs.

We met Peter and Suzie outside the airport. They threw us the keys. It’s lucky that Peter’s aim isn’t too good else I would have had scars.

We got back to the campground at 6 pm, exactly 36 hours after we left the ranch. Everything looked good but very untidy. Well, we have a few weeks to clean it up before anyone can visit, so we’re not too concerned.

I had been telling everyone that we were being taken care of by several people (more in another blog) and we had lots of food. Also we didn’t have to worry about wine as I had 10 gallons of homemade. The problem was, I couldn’t find it. The trailer sun room and the shed are the only places it could be, but it wasn’t there. I suspected trickery but then the devastating truth hit me: We had put it in storage and can’t go get it for two weeks.

After a while, when I had calmed Rosalie down and she wasn’t sobbing anymore I explained that we had lots of other booze. She finally stopped clinging to my leg and sat in the corner sucking her thumb and muttering to herself. Anyway Art and Linda , our saviours, will bring a box on the weekend.

As we flew over major cities I noticed the absence of vehicles. Even LA with its busy motorways was only lightly traveled. All the flights we were on were social distanced and even then, not full. No food or drink was served except for pretzels and water. It’s a great way to travel with no people around and no line-ups, but I hope it doesn’t continue for too long.

Our itinerary:

Leave Pinal Villa 8 am drive four hours to PV

Take plane from PV to LAX

Spend night in hotel.

On the shuttle at 5 am for the airport.

Fly to Seattle

Change planes and fly to Vancouver.

Fly to Nanaimo

Pick up car and drive home.

The slightly longer version:

Eddie showed up at the ranch at 8 am, we loaded up his car and away we went.

Just after leaving it actually started to rain. It was only a mist and stopped after a few minutes.

We went through the usual nasty road works about half an hour out. Dust everywhere. There was a bathroom break half way to PV so we got to stretch our legs a bit.

There was a police road block just outside of PV to make sure we all had masks on. We didn’t, but soon put them on. The roads in PV were almost empty compared to the usual hustle and bustle. Arrived at the airport at about noon, four hours early. 

The airport was just about deserted. We found a restaurant and started the wait. We were the only ones in there. 

After a while we strolled down to the check-in and then proceeded to security. 

On the way we had our temperatures checked. Rosalie had forgotten about a bottle of juice that we had so I was anticipating a strip search by the cute security lady, but no such luck. They confiscated it and we went on our way.

While we waited for our flight Rosalie bought us a wee bottle of wine each. They were about 6 ounces each. They cost $178 pesos each, or about $10.96 Canadian.

The flight was okay and had lots of leg room. Not too many people on the plane when we got to LAX airport we scooted through Border security and customs. The bus at the airport usually carries 75 people but because of  social distancing only carried 35 so two busses were needed.

There was to be a shuttle bus to the the hotel so I called and we got to there a half an hour later. We found that we weren’t in the best part of town. 

The first thing we had to do was go to the  liquor store for some wine. When I knocked on the other Wells’ door, Patti said she didn’t think it was me as she hadn’t seen me with cloths on, as I usually only wore shorts with no shirt.

There was a fairly busy street to cross. There was nothing coming in any direction so we started to cross. Half way across, a motorbike came roaring around doing about sixty. The guy got really ticked off because he had to slow down for us. He shouted and gave us the finger and at one point I thought he was going to come back and harass us. Welcome to the USA!

We had all been dreaming about getting Chinese food when we got to LA, so we found a delivery menu and Rosalie called to order. Patti had a Visa card and wanted to pay with that as we didn’t have a lot of US cash between us. She got on the phone and managed to get so pissed off with the procedure she cancelled the order and hung up in disgust. There was an Arby’s next door so we went there. There was no eat-in service so we got take out went back to the hotel and drank wine.

No wiFi. Can’t send blog.