New flooring...preview

I had to post a couple of pics just so you know I have been working! It's a bigger job than I thought it was going to be. Cutting out the old carpet on the entrance stairs was difficult and they had so many staples holding it in there that it was apparently not meant to be removed!

Seven more sleeps!

We leave a week from today, and it's going to be a busy week! Didn't get much done during the day yesterday because we went into Ottawa for lunch with my Mom and two sisters. So after supper I worked on the floor until about 10pm last night.

Europe in a motorhome?

We got into this motorhoming thing about four years ago. In fact, we had never even been in a motorhome until July of 2007. We always thought of motorhomes as being crammed into RV parks with your neighbor being parked about 10 feet away and we knew that wasn't for us. But then we met Glen and Steve.

Saturday

I got some more of the old carpet cut out from around the entrance steps. We're going to replace it with the same fake hardwood laminate that we're putting through the kitchen and bathroom. Of course they had it held in there with a gazillion staples, but I guess that'a the way they do it. At least it never came apart in 16 years!

Route south

Well it's only 10 days until we leave so we were looking at our route south. We have a few things we want to see along the way, and I've included some of them on the map below, but we've been known to stray as we find things to do that are close to our plan.

New Carpet!

Well the carpet is done and we're very pleased with it. It was a bit more difficult than I expected though, and my hand is sore this morning from cutting the old carpet out yesterday!

New carpet coming!

I took a small patch of the old carpet with me into the city yesterday, and the first place I stopped at was able to match it up pretty good with a short roll they had in stock.

Two weeks to go!

We leave here September 6, so there's only two weeks to go! We're making good progress though and I'm confident we'll have everything ready by then, including replacing the carpet. That's the only real big job left on the list.

License plate sticker (part two)

So I made the phone call to the Ontario Ministry of Transportation. You would kind of think that the people who answer their help line have probably heard it all, but this girl said she had never come across this problem before.

Sunday

It kind of rained on and off all day yesterday, so didn't get much done. I did adjust Sherman's drivers door window, but I don't think it's getting any better than that. I have a feeling it's not the original one and that it was changed at some point, so this is as good as it gets, but at least it's slightly better than it was.

License plate sticker

Okay, so we're going to Mexico and odds are good that it will be for an extended period of time. Sherman is registered in Ontario, and so has Ontario license plates and a renewal sticker that expires in February 2012.

Two more jobs done!

Picked up Sherman's new heater control valve and got it installed yesterday. Fired him up, tested everything for leaks and everything works great!

New cupboards

Making some more progress on my list of things to do to Sherman. Got the new cupboard doors made and installed, and I'm very impressed, even if I do say so myself!

Busy day

I had a busy day yesterday. After we finished with Whiskey's vet visit, I headed down to Ottawa with a list of things to do.

Update on Whiskey

Well, we spent an hour at the vets. They gave her fluids because she was dehydrated and some medication to settle her stomach. We also have taken home fluid replacement  and have to administer them ourselves for the next three days.

Not a good night

We're off to the vet again this morning. Whiskey has been getting progressively worse the last two days and now can't keep any food down. I was up four times with her last night, coming out both ends. Worse, is that now she's not even interested in eating.

Progress

Some of you think I've got lots to do over the next three weeks! Well it's true, but I'll do a little bit every day and before you know it, I'll be done!

A quiet Sunday

Didn't get anything done to Sherman yesterday, and when I look at what I still have to get accomplished we can't have many more days like that! We're only here for another three weeks and I don't want to be rushing around near the end trying to get things done.

Tired

Might have got two or three hours sleep last night. Poor Whiskey had a bad night with an upset tummy, so Mom and Dad had a bad night too. We think it's a reaction to the rabies vaccine and so all we can do is see it through.

Red Pine Camp

So we visited Red Pine Camp yesterday. It was about an hour and 15 minutes drive to beautiful Golden Lake from Ruth's Dad's place. We got up there about 11am, and went searching for my sister Alison and her son Marshal.

Vet bills

So we took Whiskey to the vet yesterday afternoon. She needed her rabies shot updated for her to be able to enter the U.S. next month.

Slept in!

Whiskey actually let us sleep in this morning. She's been waking us up at just after 6am for the past while because she wants to come down to Ruth's Dad's house. We are sleeping in the motorhome, up at the top of the backyard.

Streets and Trips

You might remember that we won a GPS edition of Microsoft Streets and Trips from Sam and Donna's contest back in February. We installed it on the laptops in early April, but for whatever reason we never really sat down to figure it all out until now.

Interesting times

If the U.S. government were a family, they would be earning a fairly decent $58,000 per year. But they would be spending $75,000 per year. On top of that, they would owe $327,000 in credit card debt. Currently planned deficit reduction measures would reduce their annual spending to $72,000 per year.

Interior decorating

More puttering around on Sherman yesterday. Ruth got the panels recovered between the cupboards. They had a green coloured fabric on them and Ruth made them the same as the curtain valances she had recovered last year.

Fireworks!

Spent some time yesterday morning working on a water leak in my father in law's car. Think we got things fixed, but that pad under the carpet sure does hold a lot of water! Got to let things dry out before putting it all back together.

A little bit every day

Most RV's and motorhomes weren't designed to be lived in, so when they are subjected to that lifestyle they get a lot more wear and tear than they were designed for. Plus, Sherman is a 15 year old motorhome so we need to keep on top of things in the repair and maintenance department so that he will be with us for as long as we need him.

Plans for 2012

It's difficult to plan too far in advance. Certainly there are things that you want to do in the future and you can have goals you want to accomplish, but a lot can happen to change your plans.

Another productive day

Went into the town of Arnprior today and to their DMV office. One person in line in front of us, and we were in and out of there in less than 10 minutes. Paid $10 to replace my lost drivers license.

A productive day

We left here around 10:00am yesterday and headed for downtown Ottawa. We had a whole list of things to get accomplished, and it turned out to be a pretty productive day.

July expenses

Well July was another expensive month. We did a lot of driving, and with two vehicles, so we bought a lot of gasoline. And, I had my border visa thing for $585, so that upped our miscellaneous expenses.

Motorhome projects

I mentioned yesterday that I have quite a few things to accomplish with motorhome repair and maintenance. But there are also some upgrades and changes we want to make. Fortunately, Ruth's Dad has a full workshop and all the tools necessary to do jobs like this.