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

Blog 484

Day 2127

Well we have survived the Canada Day long weekend, there were just a few minor issues, the rain held off for the most part and other than being humid as hell the weather was reasonable considering the smoky skies that are affecting most of the east side of the continent. Saturday which was July 1st was a busy day for the staff, with set up for a vender sale, followed by live music, and capped off with a fireworks display just after dark. And of course I got to close off the evening off with security rounds, there were lots of people out tonight but everyone seemed very respectful of the quiet time.

The Sunday was a much more controlled day with only one vender (Lollies Cart) stopping by the park to sell, vegetables, and pastries, for a couple of hours, this vender is expected to be a regular every Saturday morning for the rest of the summer. We purchased a wild blueberry strudel, a half dozen butter pecan tarts, and some asparagus, everything seemed very good, fresh, and for the most part reasonably priced, when you consider the fact that it was delivered to within walking distance from our coach door.

Which brings us around to the topic of our coach, sixty nine months ago I replaced the cooling portion on the back of our Norcold 12 cubic foot RV refrigerator. And today the new cooling unit has started to act up, and by acting up I mean we are getting the dreaded “no co” fault code on the refrigerator display. This code indicates that the cooling unit is failing to chill the refrigerator properly. So when this fault code appears it is never a good thing, and each time it displays that code the refrigerator control board needs to be reset, and that just involves shorting one of the terminals on the control board to ground for approximately ten seconds or until you hear a noticeable “click” from the board, and after doing the reset the cooling unit will usually restart and run as designed. But I noticed that the cooling fans were not running, blowing air over the cooling fins on the cooling unit, the fans are controlled by a simple thermo-switch that is mounted on the cooler and switches the fans on when the cooling unit heats up. So I made the educated and hopeful guess that it was most likely a failed thermo-switch, so to try to get the unit operating for now I Jerry rigged a external fan to try to keep the cooling unit chilled.

When that did not work, I climbed up on to the roof and removed the refrigerator top vent cover, I was hopping to reach the thermo-switch, and to bypass it to get the actual cooling fans operating. But I couldn’t reach the thermo switch with out moving the refrigerator partially out, which I did and returned to the roof to start the cooling fans. It was at this point as I’m laying on the roof of the coach with my arm extended deep into the upper vent that I got a whiff of “ammonia”, and that little whiff of “ammonia” told me that the cooling unit had a leak, which means it needs to be replaced! These absorption cooling units use ammonia to cool similar to arenas, and any leakage of the ammonia would indicate that the helium gas which propels the ammonia through the system would have already leaked out. ☹️

So let’s recap, it’s a holiday weekend, both in Canada and the United States, our refrigerator has quit refrigerating, and we have no plan “B” at this point. All I know for certain is that I do not want another absorption style cooling unit! I had spent a good chunk of change on purchasing this Amish manufactured cooling unit, and at the time was very impressed with the quality, the design, and the workmanship. But less than six years later I’m right back with the same issue, the only difference is that we are living full time in the coach now, and our only back up is my little bar fridge in the basement. So the Amish cooling unit has worked flawlessly for five and a half years, so what will we do next?

A quick check (three hours worth) of available replacement refrigerators, brought up a short list of 12 volt hvac (compressor) style choices. This style of refrigerator operates the same as a regular residential refrigerator, only they use 12 volt DC power instead of 120 volt AC power to operate the compressor. This style of system is used by people that live off the grid, so these refrigerators are usually designed with thicker walls to house more insulation, which reduces the heat loss from the fridge and also reduces the power demand for cooling. But our fridge has cabinets designed all around it, and as an RV fridge it is screwed into position, so I checked and our little 12 cubic foot absorption fridge is still being used today and a new replacement unit will cost us approximately $7400 Canadian.

Now “Norcold” also make a 12 volt, compressor style replacement that would fit perfect into the same opening, it has a double door fridge on top and a freezer drawer on the bottom, it also has more storage capacity topping out with 15 cubic feet of storage and it is available for a mear $8450 Canadian. This 12 volt unit has a power draw of 12.5 amps, it uses a single compressor, and has some special button that allows you to put the refrigerator into night mode, this is reported to reduce the power load and is supposed to make the operation quieter by reducing compressor and fan speed over night. Probably a neat option, bit it requires manually input to work, which means another thing to remember before going to bed every night, but it claims reduces the power demand to 6.5 amps, so what does this really mean to a boondocker? Well if the power load is 12.5 amps @ 12 volts of power so the draw is 150 watts of power, so over 24 hours the maximum total daily load could be as high as 3600 watt/hours per day, but as I read the information, the company declares it can run up to 27 hours on a single battery. Thats the kind of claim that is so deceiving, it is similar to the mileage claims made by the car manufacturers, the numbers look impressive but the reality is just so, so different. And someone just reading the 27 hours on just one battery is going to be woken up by a refrigerator alarm long before morning!

The next group of fridges we concidered are 12 volt compressor residential units, but they would mean some serious reworking of the cabinets around the fridge area, most likely the loss of a couple of drawers, and would take some serious cabinetry work to make it look good after the install. The prices are all over the map with these units but vary from $2400 to $6500 Canadian, with power loads being some of the lowest I’ve seen, but that is because of the extra insulation involved in these “off grid” solar refrigerators, and the couple of manufacturers that are claiming to be RV 12 volt compressor fridges are on the higher price side with higher power loads, but none that would fit in the original spot. And none of the replacement compressor units offer an ice maker either, and for a fellow who enjoys a happy hour as much as I do, the ice maker could be a deal breaker.

So by Monday we have made our decision, it involves me repairing the refrigerator that we have, well maybe not as much repair as upgrade the cooling unit to a new dual 12 volt DC compressor cooling unit. This upgrade is available from the same Amish company that I purchased the last cooling unit from. The cost for the unit is $1250 American, plus shipping to Canada, then of course our provincial and federal sales tax of 13% on the Canadian value, so I’m thinking it will cost us around $2100 Canadian, and will require four or five hours of my labour to make the conversation. Plus I will need to upgrade the 12 volt power supply to the unit from the original 12 gauge wire, so tack on another $120 Canadian for a new power supply with a 30 amp DC breaker. The new cooling unit will have a maximum power load of 11.6 amps, which converts to 139 watts or a maximum daily load of 3340 watt / hours. Luckily we have 7200 watt/hours of lithium power, and during the heaviest load time during the day the solar should more than carry the added load of the 12 volt cooling unit.

So are there any benefits to taking this cheapest way out?

And the answer is a surprising yes, there are number of benefits, besides being less expensive, the refrigerator and the freezer compartments will have separated compressors, and the benefit of that is with most residential refrigerators have only one compressor cool both compartments meaning either your ice cream is too soft or your romain lettuce is frozen. But with this unit we will now be able to keep ice cream hard, which with our absorption fridge normally would not happen, and the fridge will not freeze our tender vegetables, we will be able to digitally set the temperatures. The next benefit is the speed with which the unit works, with the absorption fridge it would take up to 12 hours to cool the empty fridge, while compressor unit should take two hours or less, and as a bonus I get to keep my ice maker. The third and another important big benefit is it will fit exactly the same in its spot, so no cabinet rework required and we don’t lose our matching cabinet inset fridge doors either, now to just get it purchased.

Well the wildfire smoke has been playing havoc with the normal outstanding sunsets here at LHR, as the sun has been just turning red and disappearing into the smoke layer, but we got a decent sunset tonight so I snapped a shot from a lake front site deck, and yes we we’re invited to the deck.

Well it’s Tuesday and the other half of the summer work team left town today, there is not much else to say about that, as they only fulfilled such a small portion of their contractual commitment. It will effect the guests the most with now not having enough staff now to keep the store and office open every day, and to be honest they had pretty much checked out when they gave their two weeks notice. So, we now have Tuesdays and Wednesdays off for now, subject to change as required to keep things running smooth, Mark will be picking up a few extra hours helping me out and Abby will be helping out more in the store, covering hours so Laurie can show sale units, and quite honestly we are still better staffed than we were our last year working here.

Well it’s Wednesday and JR Refrigeration opened today following their American Independence Day celebrations, but they were not able to process my order for our cooling unit today as they only have one person that can handle the task of shipping to Canada, and they are not in today. Somewhat disappointing, but not much I can do other than sit and wait, the last email said they would see what could be done tomorrow, somehow there is not a lot of urgency on their end. It seemed strange being off work today, Mark was off today as well so no power tools to interrupt my nap in the Clam. The heat is up and we have turned on an air conditioner to dehumidify and cool the coach to a more acceptable temperature for Mr. Sam and sleeping.

Miss Laurie went to the beach with Miss Bonnie this afternoon, while I stayed back at the coach waiting for a call from JR refrigeration for a credit card number to pay for the new cooling unit, which never came, just an email saying maybe tomorrow, that I received at nearly five o’clock. Miss Laurie returned from the beach at around six and after a quick shower we had dinner with Richard & Bonnie. Bonnie made a dish that she had seen in the latest LCBO (Liquor Control Board of Ontario) magazine for barbecued beef kabobs that were marinated in a Japanese style, along with bok choy and ramen noodles, as always great food, a couple of adult beverages and some lively conversation as we try to plan out the next couple of months at the park as jobs and tasks shift.

So Thursday and still no early morning call from JR Refrigeration, then around noon an email stating that they would not be able to ship out cooling unit till next Monday. Not exactly what I wanted to hear, meaning that we will be struggling along for another week without a refrigerator. Well we got some very needed rain today, while not as much rain as we wanted it will at least be a little relief to the parched lawns. I have ordered the parts for the needed upgrade to the coaches electrical to allow the new 12 volt cooling unit to operate effectively, it is coming from Amazon and It should be here tomorrow.

The weekend is here again already and the Friday afternoon crowds are rolling in already, we are catching up on a few items before the weekend such as pool filters and some mowing that got rained out on Thursday. Amazon came through with the items I needed for the fridge unit that hasn’t been shipped yet, but I took some time to install the upgrade wiring, and I was pleased with the outcome. Richard took the Friday night security and I just enjoyed a quiet night after we closed the pool and cleaned the washrooms.

Saturday and they just keep rolling in, we are getting more rain and it has the makings for a busy night from a security point of view. There is an event in the hall from 7 to 10 but luckily we are not involved it the set up. We are on our own tonight which is not an issue, other than an event in the hall tonight, and the regular issues with children out after their curfew, and drivers that can’t read signs. Of course there is always a group that has to push the quiet time limit but by midnight everything seemed to be calming down.

Sunday is always one of my favorite days, that’s the day the weekend warriors go home, the people that still have real jobs that keep them away from the park during the week. Of course now school is out so now grandparents are bringing their grandchildren to the park, so we will have a couple of months of hyped up grandkids and exhausted grandparents. But that is just a normal summer at the park, post covid at least, and the children would cringe to here us say that its only eight weeks till they go back to school, but we can’t wait to hear the quiet that comes from the schools being in, come on Labour Day! Today was an average Sunday, open the pool, pack down the garbage bins for the onslaught of Sunday garbage, replace one breaker, boost one campers vehicle, pick up someone elses dog sh!t, while Miss Laurie cleaned up the hall after last nights event, worked in the gardens, closed off the store cash, along with pulling the winning 50/50 draw ticket, and of course cleaning the park washrooms tonight. I know it sounds pretty glamorous, and we are looking for another work couple to enjoy some of the fun.

Monday and I’m hoping to hear that our cooling unit is on the way today, and eventually that did happen, and for a mear $590 American dollars, FedEx has indicated that the unit should be here Thursday. Well call me a pessimist, but I don’t have that much faith, in either FedEx or the Canadian Border services, but at least it is officially in the works. Now I have got to help with the dreaded pump-outs this morning, not a real popular task but not by any means the worst job at the park, but one that always seems to make everyone step back.

Tuesday and it’s the first of our two days off, it will be a very special day as we are planning on going out for a Chinese food fix, our first since the fall of 2021. Now you may wonder why? Well as crazy as it may sound finding good Chinese food in the States is nearly impossible, similar to trying to find properly prepared French fries. Our American friends do a lot of things well like barbecue, fried chicken, biscuits & gravy but Chinese food is not one of their strong suits, oh I’m sure there is good Chinese in areas of the big cities, but small town USA not so much.

To make this an even more memorable experience we are also celebrating Jullie’s birthday, so we have decided to head to London to the closest Mandarin restaurant. The Mandarin is a local chain of Chinese buffet restaurants, and while not the greatest Chinese food, the variety of different dishes available kind of makes up for any shortcomings. Now don’t get me wrong, but I would still prefer to order take out Chinese food, and we always order enough for another meal of leftovers a couple of days later, but with no operating refrigerator right now that just would not work. And any kind of an outing is always an adventure, and I always enjoy the deserts at the buffet, like the crème brûlée which is a staple at the Mandarin.

I think I would be amiss if I didn’t take at least a paragraph to tell a little of Miss Julie’s story, we all have a story, but some of our stories are just more interesting than others. And Miss Julie’s is more than a little unique as stories go, as she is now a newly minted Canadian, born in the United States, she has had a number of interesting careers, like working with the gas company in California, and being the first woman to work in what was then considered to be a man’s world to becoming a grief councilor. Now I would never mention a lady’s age but I admire her interest in learning, I first met Julie in the fall of 2020, after the purchase of a travel trailer in the park. Now lots of people who purchase trailers have never camped in their lives, which is great, because a trailer in a seasonal park is a great option to owning a piece of property with a cottage on it and all the maintenance that comes with it. As I worked with Julie she was like a sponge, picking up as much information as she could and filling in the spaces with extra Google research. A nice change from many of the people we meet, that are only interested in a cold beer and a swim in the pool.

Over the next couple of years, there have been a couple of trailer upgrades, and Julie has studied and perfected most of the operating systems found on most RV’s and has now graduated to doing the seasonal winterization and opening on her own trailer, the learning continues as she has now repainted and redecorate the interior (a lot and tedious task) of the most recent trailer. So hats off to Miss Julie, and her never ending quest for information and knowledge, and a very happy belated birthday.

We landed home around 5:30 after our lunch and drive back from London, and I was pleased to see the that FedEx had picked up the cooling unit from the manufacture in Indiana and the expected delivery date was showing as Thursday afternoon. Now do I expect the cooling unit on Thursday, absolutely not if there is anything I have learned it is that FedEx over promises and under delivers more times than not, and that’s without an international border being involved, so time will see.

Wednesday morning July the 12th, we are now 13 days with no refrigerator in the coach, I think it would be safe to say that this is getting old pretty damn fast. We are lucky to have the use of the refrigerator in the recreation hall kitchen, but that walk can become a little tedious as each day rolls by. FedEx indicates that the cooling unit has made it to a depot in Indiana and is now officially shows as “in transit” according to the tracking site. Our second day off and there is not a lot more I can do in preparation for the cooling unit replacement job ahead, there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so Mark is mowing the lawns today, it was much quieter when Mark was off on Wednesdays. I shouldn’t complain as Mark is picking up some of the void left by the other couple that quit, so thank you Mark.

The balance of the day rolled along without much fanfare, grocery shopping has been a challenge for Miss Laurie, with limited space available for a weeks worth of supplies. We have started watching the last season of Jack Ryan on Prime Video and so far it looks good, I hate it when a great series like this comes to an end, but I will enjoy it while it lasts. We watched a couple of the first episodes and as we turned in for the night I checked FedEx tracking and was disappointed to see that the cooling unit was now in Ohio, but would be delayed by a border clearance issue, as I said disappointed but not surprised.

Thursday and back to work, nothing big on my agenda today, a few maintenance issues, but nothing too serious, a repair on the old Toro mower at the park, this old mower has seen better days but the Toros were such good old work horses that they just keep running. A tube in the tire on a golf cart then back to the electric site map that I have been working on for a couple of months now. This mapping task works out well on rainy days as it is a lot of tedious computer work, but should be a great asset to whoever is on this crew next year. And we did get rain and lots of it, and I fear that this will cause havoc with some of the septic systems in the park, but that will be tomorrow’s worries, a late afternoon check shows the cooling unit still in Ohio with a clearance delay. Another episode of the Jack Ryan series and we will call it a day.

Friday and an early morning check showed no change in the status of the cooling unit, I really didn’t expect any updates but a guy can always hope. I did send an email to JR Refrigeration to see if the clearance issue was something that they had messed up, or if there was something that I could do to expedite this shipment along.

It is pump out day on the southside of the park today, and with the rain a couple of the septic tanks will need some attention today as well. I also called in the big tanker truck to help with a couple of the holding tanks, not a cheap endeavour, but definitely a necessity and just one of the many expenses of operating a campground of this size.

After lunch I received an email from JR Refrigeration, just kind of “oh well” response explaining that once FedEx picked it up there was nothing they could do. Pretty much what I expected, but at least it made them aware of the service that I was receiving. The rest of the afternoon was spent preparing for the weekend and the arrival of the “weekend warriors” and working on the ongoing electrical site map, we had some dinner and filled the night with some television till it was time for a security check at eleven o’clock. I guess the cooler weather kept a number of people home because the security round was without incident. Before turning in at midnight I checked the FedEx site and was excited to see that the cooling unit had made it to London but saddened to see that it had no delivery date or time.

Saturday the 15th of July, 16 days with no working refrigerator in the coach and let’s just say things could be getting a little tense in the coach. The normal weekend day, out the door to have the pool open by by nine o’clock, certainly not a tough task but a quick vacuum of the sand on the bottom of the pool, chemical check and of course fire up the propane heater and it’s ready to open. Back to the coach for some breakfast and kick back and wait for sh!t to happen, and rest assured it will happen. The weather this weekend is cooler so the pool is being used and abused as no one is heading to the beach. The downside is that it makes chasing the correct chemical levels more difficult but it also means less sand in the pool for tomorrow morning because people won’t be using the pool as a rinse off after the beach. We are on our own again this weekend so security will be my issue again tonight, if it is as quiet tonight as last night it should not be an issue.

It’s just the little things like that, two late nights every weekend for a guy that is usually in bed by ten, now it’s usually midnight by the time I walk the park and make any required revisits to sites that needed a reminder that it is quiet time. Apparently the look for help to assist us has come to an end with no luck, so we will finish out our contract for this year because that is what we do, but the next year thing is not looking promising at this point. And we are now thinking in terms of when does the park close, again not our normal positive outlook, and most likely means something new for next summer.

Well we survived another Saturday, security was not too bad, just a few of the usual hot spots, but most groups were breaking up and heading back to their sites. Before I went out we finished off the Jack Ryan series and Miss Laurie headed to bed at ten as I waited for my rounds at eleven, no status change on the cooling unit so stay tuned.

Sometimes it’s the lack of words that speaks the loudest!

Blog 482

Day 2110