Review July 2023

Is July over yet!

There are times when everything seems to just kind of goes to Hell in the preverbal hand basket, and that pretty much describes July 2023 for us up to now at least, it’s the sixteenth of July and we are now seventeen days without a working refrigerator, our daily workload has increased, and we are not seeing any real chance of improvement for a while. There I got that off of my chest so I should start feeling better shortly. Every once in a while it just feels good to complain, not that it will do any good other than allowing some venting and I promise this will not be a negative post, in fact I have rewritten the entire blog, because when I reread it, to edit it, I realized that it was too negative and just could not be reworked.

So on the upside of this Sunday morning I once again have woke up, and I still have my reasonable good health and everything else can be dealt with. So as I ended our last blog we were waiting for FedEx to deliver our replacement cooling unit for our coach refrigerator, and as I start this blog nothing has changed on that front, the awaited package, is at a FedEx depot in London Ontario and we have no idea when it will make its way to us here in Goderich. The workload situation is just one that we will have to suck it up and carry on doing what we do best to take us through to our contract end date.

As I have said before Sundays at the park are our favorite day of the week, as the majority of the weekend warriors head home and here at the park the bunnies and the chipmunks come back out of hiding and the noise of screaming children is replaced by the chatter and song of the local birds. Somewhat soothing after three days of the screaming.

Monday morning and I don’t have to rush off to open the pool today, as Mark opens the pool as one of his first duties after arriving at eight o’clock, I had added a bunch of chemicals to the pool Sunday night so I’m curious if I have achieved the desired results after a busy weekend, but I’m not curious enough to rush out the door to check. But I have received an email this morning from JR Refrigeration telling me that FedEx had tracked the package and that I should receive it by Thursday. I have to run into town this morning to pick-up some fuel for the mowers and some diesel for the tractors, so after breakfast I check the pool chemical numbers (I was just curious) and then I head into town to run some errands. When I got home from my errands Miss Laurie had received a call from FedEx to confirm a delivery for Tuesday, of course they couldn’t pin down a time any closer than between 8 and 5, but at least it is starting to look like the replacement cooling unit may actually arrive. Of course I also got a text from JR Refrigeration warning me not to authorize or sign for a tailgate delivery, as that apparently is FedEx’s latest trick to try and score extra money for the use of a power tailgate at the time of delivery, ohh FedEx the company that just keeps taking and taking.

So we have started to watch another new series, this one is carried on HGTV, it is the beach renovations where three flippers remodel three gulf front houses in Alabama to see who can gain the most increase in value, each week they compete for a cash prize to see who accomplishes the best results. They all start with the same amount of dollars and they can decide where to spend the money each week. to get the best bang for the buck.

Ah Tuesday and a day off, but today with the threat of the new cooling unit being delivered I’m going to pull the refrigerator out of the cabinetry and proceed remove the old cooling unit, I have not done this yet because it will take up a big chunk of space in the coach when it is laid down. and with no firm date up until now it would have been a huge inconvenience to work around. So with a little help from Mark we have lifted the fridge out of the cabinetry and laid it face down on the floor, this was accomplished after stripping all the doors and hinges off of the refrigerator and spreading out a couple of blankets. The cooling unit is only held in place by a few #10 self tapping screws and of course the the spray foam sealant around the actual chiller housing, the chiller housing is a large square section that the cooling pipes run through that are insulated to get the most possible cooling effect. I must have done a pretty good job of sealing it up last time, because it took a lot to break it free from the back of the refrigerator. By noon I had it broken free and with some help from Miss Julie we are able to move it out of the coach. Now comes the cleanup and remove all of the old thermal mastic and the spray foam sealant as I prepare the refrigerator box for the replacement cooling unit.

Around 1:30 in the afternoon we heard a big truck coming down the mile long driveway to the park, and to my delight I see a FedEx truck sitting at the entrance gate, we waved the driver into the park and Richard and I picked the cooling unit off the back of the truck. It’s finally here! Now all I have to do is unpack the new unit and dispose of the huge cardboard box and disassemble the skid that it was shipped on, because it had been shipped as freight it had to be on a skid.

The installation of the new cooling unit is a major undertaking, not one to be attempted by the faint at heart, but because I had already done this once before almost six years ago, I was pretty sure that I could handle the task one more time. It is just a case of taking your time and thinking everything through, and remembering there is no prize for pretty, and the only reward is the best possible cooling possible. So it is all about dry fitting the unit to get the best thermal conductivity between the cooling coils and the radiating plates or fins, and that is achieved by getting those surfaces meshed as close as possible, so the dry fitting while time consuming and somewhat tedious will pay big dividends later. After getting the fit I wanted the cooling unit is turned over on its back to allow the conductive mastic added to the cooling coils, then it will be flipped over and reinstalled into the same position as the last dry fitting. This position is known by a couple of small screw holes and the guide of a magic marker mark. With the cooling unit secured by two #10 screws now the fridge can be stood upright and the cool radiating fins and plates are secured to the cooling coils by a number of screws, seven on the refrigerator fins and eight on the freezer cooling plates.

It is after those screws are all secured and tightened into position that I can start sealing the new cooling unit to the original refrigerator box. This is accomplished by laying the fridge back down on its face and me sitting on the cooling unit to hold it in position while I go around the whole unit with an expanding spray foam to seal and insulate the two sections together. After the spray foam had hardened up I trimmed the edges with a sharp blade and then added tape to protect that sealing surfaces and to neaten up the finished product.

Now for the fun stuff, with this new cooling unit because it uses compressors the original control unit and controller from the absorption cooling unit is not used, the new controller has both a refrigerator and a freezer setting, the freezer is set to 0F (-18C) and the refrigerator is set to 38F (3C), the new control unit also houses a light as well as circulating fans that blow over the refrigerator cooling fins to provide more efficient cooling of the refrigerator. The control unit now has to be connected to the compressors as well as a new temperature sensor from the freezer compartment. The unit came with over sixty pages of instructions that are detailed enough for the “do it yourselfer” I also had to reconnect the icemaker which while not a difficult task it does take some care as it uses both 12 DC volt and 120 AC volt power and these two different power sources don’t play well together, so a little extra care was required to not damage anything.

With everything connected it is time to stand the unit back up again to allow the freon and oil to settle back into the compressors while I prepare to connect the new 12 volt supply to the new cooling unit to confirm the operation before reinstalling the unit back into the cabinetry. This task will take a couple of people as the refrigerator lives above a couple of drawers and almost reaches the ceiling, after some settle time I connected the 12 volt power supply I flipped the power switch on and everything seemed to come to life, the light, the digital readouts, as well as both compressors sprung to life, always a good sign that everything has been attached properly.

It is now time to reinstall the unit back into the cabinetry opening then I can reinstall the doors and get this refrigerator back to refrigerating again as it has been a very long three weeks without a operating refrigerator. So with a little help from Mark and Don it is now slid back in position and I can proceed to install and adjust the four doors, and then the big test … just how good is this new system? Well it didn’t take long to find out just how superior the compressor units where as compared to the absorption cooling unit. Our previous absorption cooling unit would have taken hours (at least 12 hours) to get down to a temperature that would have been acceptable to use, with this cooling unit two hours and the freezer while not down to the set temperature was well below freezing and colder that the absorption unit would have been on its best days.

My first impressions are reasonably simple, the efficiency is far superior to our previous cooling unit, the new control unit gives real information at a glance. On the other side the compressor unit is certainly noisier than the absorption which was either operating on a propane flame or a pair of electric heating elements so the only noise heard would be from the cooling fan, although on a quiet day I could hear the propane flame. The new unit has two compressors along with a pair of cooling fans that run when the compressors run as well as a fan in the refrigerator portion that runs constantly. The added noise has not affected our sleeping and offers no issue while we are in the coach. as the noise level is similar to a residential refrigerator in most homes. On the issue of power consumption the power draw appears to peak at 135 watts, which during the daylight is easily carried by our solar system so the true test will show up after we hit the road and get back to boondocking. But because we normally head to warm sunny areas I’m not expecting it to be an issue, but only time will tell.

As a side note on the refrigerator upgrade, I’m having an issue with the icemaker, as it flooded out part of the freezer as there seems to be an issue with the water valve, on the upside of that issue the freezer works so well that there was one real big block of ice that Miss Laurie had to defrost (she was not amused), I will work on the icemaker on our next days off to figure out what the issue is.

So it is Friday and we are approaching another weekend, and again we are left on our own, and this weekend is the parks “Christmas in July” celebration, which involves decorating of sites by campers, a Santa Claus parade to be followed by music and a dance in the recreation hall with a disc jockey.

Saturday and the amount of decorated sites was really disappointing we have just under two hundred sites and there were maybe twenty who make any effort at all, there seems to be a lack of interest so it may be time to eliminate this event from the calendar. And the parade was less than impressive which is disappointing especially for the younger children. So in my opinion the parade which seemed to be a little disorganized and that should have been a highlight for most of the little ones. The crowd turn out to the music was also disappointing, as the DJ seemed to do a great job, but again if it is not well attended then why go through the effort or endure the costs of putting these events on?

Sunday July 23rd, Miss Laurie’s Birthday and her birthday this year is one of those milestone birthdays, but of course we have to work today, and I know that many of us have worked on our birthdays for many years, but it is always a bonus when it falls on a day off from the daily grind. So today I’m devoting a section of the blog to the celebration of not only Laurie’s Birthday but also celebrate our years together, and some of our adventures. And I think these pictures do much better job of showing our life, than many words from me, so I’m letting some photos do the talking please enjoy.

Today we have had some amazing treats and as much as it is Miss Laurie’s day, I’m lucky enough to get invited along. Joe & Anita invited us for lunch at their site along with Dean & Trudy, Alex & Francis and Danny & Jill, it was what Anita described as a “Portuguese lunch” and consisted of sliced pork loin, marinated and roasted till tender, roasted peppers and onions, served on crusty buns. Francis made a pasta salad and Anita roasted potatoes, there were multiple wines and lunch was followed by pies and pastries. Most of the south side of the park could smell all that goodness as they prepared it. Lunch was at 2 pm but it was well after 3 pm before we got back to work, Miss Laurie checking into the store and I headed off to check on the pool, we then were able to sit on our patio and watch some of the weekenders head back to the cities, because we are on call 24 hours a day, having anything more than a beer or a cocktail with lunch would just not have been proper.

After Laurie finished off the day end at the store at 4 pm, we went to Mary & Julies for dinner and an evening on the deck enjoying the view of the lake. we still had to clean the washrooms and close the pool so again a beer with dinner is all that I felt comfortable having. Well we had a wonderful dinner and we getting ready to head back to work when we get a call, kids jumping through the windows at the pool. I just can’t make this sh!t up, again where are the parents? So I land at the pool to find underaged children in the pool with no adult, and then a gaggle of children at the pool window, to say I’m a little steamed would be an understatement.

It’s Monday morning and it seems like a long time since we had a day off, it has only been five days but it is feeling like a lot longer, Rich & Bonnie return today after the weekend we are looking forward to getting away from the park for a few days. There have been a number of complaints about the children gangs that have been roaming the park, and the parents are upset that their children have been spoken to. I’m thinking the answer to the problem may have something to do with parenting or maybe the lack of parenting, we will let the higher powers sort that issue out.

Tuesday and we are heading out of the park, we are headed to Laurie’s brothers in Stoney Creek for a couple of days, of total relaxation by his backyard pool. They have redone a spare bedroom since their son moved out and we are staying overnight as a mini getaway, we need to get away from the park for a while, being on call 24 hrs a day for five days straight, is just too much for us on our own and it is starting to show, we are starting to lose our sense of humor, which is not fair to the good people at the park.

Thursday and we are back on shift at the park for our next five day stint, we will see if anything has changed following an email that was sent out to everyone. I don’t foresee any change as there seems to be true level of entitlement in the park. At this point we just look at the calender and think everyday that passes we are one day closer to closing day, as well as our departure day, it is sad to think of it that way but it is what it is.

So another weekend is here, and there seems to be some minor improvement in a few of the areas, as the addition of more video cameras overlooking some of the common areas at least has some of the problem children wandering around looking up to see where the cameras are located. Richard did security on Friday night before they left on Saturday, it was reasonably quiet on Saturday evening after the children finally went back to their sites, with only a couple of campfire groups out at the eleven o’clock quiet time

July 28th 2023, and here is just more reason to think it’s time that July needs to pack its bag and move along. It is Saturday and quite honestly the day had been rolling by without any great issues and I was excited when my phone rang and I seen “Butch & Betty” pop up on the display, and I instantly had a smile on my face as any conversation with either Butch or Betty would add a bright spot to any day and would always have me smiling, so I was a little taken back when the voice on the other end was neither Butch or Betty. It was Lindsi (their daughter) on the other end of the phone, calling to tell me of Butch’s passing, and wow that hit me hard, in fact it just left me without words and as you know that doesn’t happen often, certainly not an expected call as everyone seemed in good health on our May visit. And Butch had just sent Miss Laurie a message for her birthday less than a week ago.

On a bright note I have resolved the ice maker issue, I was able to clean the water valve and also reduced the water flow to the ice maker and we are making ice like a champ now. So I’m now ready for those ice cold cocktails on a hot sunny afternoon, I have also purchased a digital refrigerator thermometer it is mounted on the wall, it has two sending units, one for the fridge and one for the freezer, it is also equipped with alarms if the temperature gets out of the desirable range. It was suggested by RJ Refrigeration as a good way to monitor the temperatures without having to open the doors, and for just over twenty dollars it seemed like a good investment.

So as July comes to a close it has truly been a month that we will want to forget, and over the past few years there have not been many of those with the exception of the Covid pandemic which was apparently all a hoax again. It never fails to amuse me what falls out of the mouths of the talking heads south of the border, we only watch the American news once a week, just to see who was indicted this week, heck old #45 is getting quite a collection of courtroom sketches built up there. And that other talking head from Florida is going to take on the whole justice system if he gets elected, easy to say when there looks like no chance in hell of even winning the primaries let alone a real election. But it all makes for entertaining television, in very small doses, of course our Canadian government is not much better, just on a much smaller scale and far less courthouse appearances right now.

Goodbye July – Hello August

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