Fall cruise to Quebec City, Canada.

This is a continuation of of our fall trip to New England from the last blog post.

Sunday 23 September, 2018

We checked aboard the Celebrity Summit at Port Elizabeth, New Jersey for a 2 week cruise to Canada for the fall color tour. We had been on her sister ship the Integrity a few years ago so the ships layout was familiar. In fact, I think we had the same cabin numbers.

Manhatten skyline from cruise ship.

Our first stop was Boston where we did a Hop On- Hop Off bus tour of the city as it was raining. We liked the tour so much we did it twice.

Docked at Boston.

In Portland, Maine we again did a Hop On- Hop Off tour with a stop at Portland Head Lighthouse as the highlight. Along the way we learned about potato doughnuts from the tour guide. After leaving the tour we walked back up the street looking at shops and the doughnut shop was right there so I popped in and bought 3 doughnuts for us to share. They really are the best doughnuts and yes, they are made with mashed potatoes.

Hop On - Hop Off bus in Portland, Maine.

Cobblestone street in Portland, Maine.

For our next stop in Bar Harbor, Maine we elected to take a ships tour to Acadia National Park and Cadillac Mountain. The tour was only 2 hours but we wanted to get the full tour guides perspective and narration rather than doing it on our own,

It was well worth the price.

View from Cadillac Mountain in Acadia National Park.

Our next day was at sea as we traveled the St Lawrence seaway to Quebec City, Canada, where we overnighted so had two days to explore.

We rented a car and spent the first day exploring Ile D’Orleans, an island North of Quebec city. This is a very picturesque island with farm lands, small farmers markets and a few restaurants one of which we stopped at for lunch. Lunch was pizza with fried dill pickles on the side. Not pickle slices which we have had in the South but spears battered and fried.

Ile d'Orleans North of Quebec.

After leaving the island we drove North to Sainte Anne-de-Beaupre cathedral which is a beautiful Catholic church with cooper panel doors and a history of medical miracles.

Medical devices from people who were cured of their ailments.

The next day we visited the hotel Frontenac which overlooks the city of Quebec. The ramparts surrounding the city are the only fortified city walls remaining in North America North of Mexico. We strolled the wooden walkways around the hotel, walked the nearby streets, stopped for coffee and hot chocolate (which was served in bowls) and bought Hop On – Hop Off tickets for a tour of the city. After the tour we had lunch of Crepes at La Petit Chateau nearby.

Clyda and Gary on the boardwalk.

Our next stop was Corner Brook, Newfoundland. Here we rented a car and drove to Gros Morne National Park for the fall colors. We stopped for lunch in Rocky Harbour at Earle's where the specialty is Cod tongues. Unfortunately they were out of cod tongues so we had fish and chips with partridge berry cheese cake for dessert.

Partridge berry cheesecake.

The next stop was Sydney, Nova Scotia where we again rented a car and drove to the Fortress of Louisbourg National Historic site. The site is very large, the buildings are awesome and open to the public. The history of the rebuilding of this 1744 fort alone makes it worth visiting.

Clyda on the left at the big fiddle on the dock at Sydney, Nova, Scotia.

Our last stop was at Halifax, Nova Scotia where we rented a car and drove about an hour South to Lunenburg, a very picturesque town. All the buildings are painted bright colors. We stopped in a small cafe to a bite of lunch and also to partake of a Canadian specialty, poutain. It is fried potatoes with meat gravy and cheese curds on top. Mostly it is served as french fries with gravy covering them. Actually, it was very good.

Peggy's Cove Nova, Scotia where all the tour busses go.

A "flight" of martini's to celebrate the end of our cruise.

Ed and Gary, Clyda and Cindy.

From Halifax we returned to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey to end our cruise.

To be continued.

More catching up - New York

September 19, 2018

Day 1

Clyda and I left for an extended trip back east with Cindy and Gary. This trip was not without its problems as I had purchased airline tickets months before but American Airlines kept changing our flight times and itinerary. Eventually I got disgusted and canceled the tickets and re-booked on Alaska Airlines direct from Los Angeles to Newark, NJ. This new schedule put us in Newark at the time we needed to be there to meet Cindy and Gary however, it meant catching a 3:30 AM Airbus to Los Angeles in order to make that schedule.

We did arrive on time, met up with Cindy and Gary, and took Lyft to our hotel on Broadway in Manhattan. The hotel was the Broadway at Times Square which was only a half block from Times Square on West 46^th St. Perfect!!

After checking in we walked through Times Square to Ellen’s Stardust Cafe at Broadway and W 51^st St. What a hoot! The wait staff are all trying to get on Broadway so when not waiting on you they are singing. A great way to start a 4-day trip to New York!

Cindy and Gary at Stardust Cafe.

Day 2

We took Lyft to Circle Line Sightseeing Cruises on the Hudson River for a tour of Manhattan Island. We couldn’t do a complete circle of the island because of a bridge being repaired on the Northeast side. Still in all, a great tour and great views of Manhattan.

Circle Line Tour

We then again took Lyft to St Patrick’s Cathedral where we toured it. For Lunch we went around the corner to Bill’s Burgers where Cindy and I had an Impossible Burger which is made with out meat. Of course it went down nicely with a glass of wine.

From there we walked to Rockefeller Center where we did a tour of the Rockefeller Building. Great views from high up at 30 Rock.

St Patrick's Cathedral from the "Top of The Rock"

Empire State building from "top of the Rock"

We walked back to our hotel and got ready to attend a show that evening. From our hotel we walked South on Broadway or at least attempted to walk as the sidewalks were jammed with people watching the large video screen on the Marriott Hotel across the street. People were stopped and wouldn’t move so it became a scary situation as people were pushing and shoving and screaming. Eventually a cop came along and in good ol’ New York fashion got people to move.

We found a pizza parlor for dinner called John’s of Times Square Pizza in the theatre District. It looked like a hole in the wall from the outside but inside it opened up to a very large room with brick ovens in 4 corners, and a balcony with stained glass windows. We asked our waiter about that and he said it had once been a church.

After dinner we crossed the street to the Majestic Theatre and saw Phantom of the Opera. I has been playing here for 32 years. What a great show.

Day 3

We took Lyft to Battery Park where we had tickets for a tour by boat of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. We did not get off at the statue but continued on to Ellis Island where we had lunch and toured the building for several hours. Fascinating exhibits and movies of how our fore fathers came to this country.

Arriving back at Battery Park we walked to the 9-11 memorial. We toured the reflecting ponds then went into the museum nearby. We spent a lot of time looking at all the exhibits and the base of the original towers underground. It really is a hallowed piece of ground.

Freedom Tower

Taking Lyft back to our hotel, we went to O’Brien’s, an Irish pub across the street for dinner.

Day 4

We took the subway to Central Park. While Cindy sat and read, Gary, Clyda and I walked the park as far north as the lake. A beautiful day and families out in force to enjoy it.

We again took Lyft to Battery Park and rode the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island where we had a nice leisurely lunch and then rode the ferry back.

Clyda had her New York hot dog from a street vendors cart at Battery Park and we then walked to Wall Street. 

From there we took the subway back to 52^nd street and walked back to our hotel. Dinner was at  the TSQ Brasserie on 7^th Ave.

Day 5

I went to St Patrick's Cathedral for mass on Sunday then we packed our bags and took Lyft to Port Elizabeth, New Jersey where we checked aboard the Celebrity Summit for a 2 week cruise to Quebec Canada for the fall color tour.

To be continued...

Some catching up to do.

I am way behind on the blog so some catching up is in order.

Better late than never I guess.

August 23, 2018

On August 23^rd I flew to Wisconsin for 2 weeks to visit family and attend my All High School Reunion where I was the after dinner presenter. More on that later.

The 23^rd was a Thursday and on the previous Monday I had local surgery to remove 2 kidney stones. As as result of the surgery, a urinary stent was installed. This stent gave me problems all during my time in Wisconsin. In fact, I had my brother Ray take me to the Emergency Room on the Sunday after I arrived while visiting my sister Judy. They didn’t find any problems so I wasn’t admitted.

During my time there I visited all the local cemeteries and photographed family head stones for my Genealogy files. I had done this 3 years ago but somehow my photos all were compressed which made them unusable for most purposes.

Prior to the All School Reunion we had a gathering of all the cousins at a local bar and restaurant which was really great as some of us had not been together for 50 years. It was especially nice to have cousin Larry there from Connecticut. My brothers Denny and Ray and my sister Judy and husband Art as well as cousins Marlene and Bob were there as well.

After the dinner at the All School Reunion I gave a presentation about my Uncles tavern at Dorchester corner. The building had been demolished 3 years previously as the highway department declared it a hazard to traffic. As the highway was widened over the years the road came closer and closer to the building. There was a lot of history connected to that building.

I finished my presentation with a brief history of the families who lived around me when I grew up and told my audience how many of us were related through those early families.

I arrived home on September 5^th after visiting my cousin Janice in Menominee Falls, WI and then spending the night nearby on the 4^th.

Unfortunately, the only photos I have for this trip are of gravestones, which now need to be entered into my family history.

On Monday the 10^th I had the Urinary stent removed which took care of a lot of my problems.

I’m done!

Well, almost done with the wax removal and re-waxing of the RV. I do indeed have all the old wax off and new Meguiars wax on all sides, the front, and back and even under the hitch overhang. I even waxed all the sides on the slides to help them move easier against their seals.

Looking good!

I now want to add another layer of wax on the front and back cap to help protect them from UV rays. That will be an easier job with the wax layer I already have on those two ends.

Since I haven’t posted in some time, I will try to bring this up-to-date.

I worked Rancheros Visitadores from May 1 until May 11^th and it seemed like a very easy year. No real problems to speak of. It helps to have a crew that has worked together for several years.

When we finished on the 11^th we broke camp and packed up all of our stuff. However two of us were moving on to Lake Lopez for another 5 days of camping with a large group. I didn’t need all the camping gear I use at Rancheros so Craig brought Clyda up to where I was working, so she could go with me, and took home a trailer full of the things I wouldn’t need. I still had plenty of extra things but those were manageable.

We drove to Lake Lopez and camped in the Quail full hookup campground. I actually had a pull through site which was very nice. Eventually everyone else showed up. We had 17 people in all. A good group with lots of laughs around the campfire at night.

We had been warned about the possibility of bears raiding our campsites and per usual, we forgot to empty trash a couple of nights so it got scattered by something. One night I had left an ice chest outside my door on a table with some cool packs and a few ears of corn in it. In the middle of the night a noise work me and I knew it was the ice chest hitting the ground. I jumped up and opened the door to see a large black bear at the bottom of my steps. I drove him away but he had dumped all the corn out so I managed to get that back in the ice chest and put it in the RV. In the morning I discovered that the bear had bitten everyone of the ice packs and in fact I never found one of the soft sided packs. I presumed he ate it. No corn was eaten. A very selective bear I guess.

From Lake Lopez we moved on to Morro Strand RV Park for four days of camping with our Eugene Oregon friends who were on an extended RV trip. A great time was had by all. They are so easy to camp with. Very laid back.

So, we are back to a more normal routine. I work at the Elks Lodge on Saturday mornings in the woodlot, selling wood, stacking wood, and cleaning up the woodlot. It is 4 hours of manual labor but for a good cause. The proceeds help with lodge expenses. We are short handed in the summer time so last Saturday I was pretty much it. I loaded and sold 2 pickups full of eucalyptus and also delivered one of those loads to a customer.

I have my garden planted, at least what I intend to plant for now. I am looking for some Anaheim chili plants yet but so far haven’t found any. I tried seeds but none of them sprouted.

Pole beans.

Cucumbers.

The Boysenberries are looking good. Lots of berries on the vines right now. We still have one bag left in the freezer from last years crop.

An experiment gone awry.

Several years ago I got caught up in the “Red Wax polish” phenomenon of using this wax to polish my RV. The wax was then available at Lowe’s as a liquid. A particular friend had used it to make his RV shine prior to selling it. It really looked great!

After some internet searching I too decided to use it to make my RV shine. Bummer, “Red Wax polish” was no longer available but some folks were using Zep Hi Gloss floor Finish with similar results instead.

So, why not give it a try. The cleaning itself was brutal as all dirt had to be removed by a multi-step process by first washing the RV, then using a 3M white scrubby with Bar Keepers Friend on it to remove any old wax. The RV was again washed with TSP followed by another water rinse. I must say, the surface was now very smooth but dull.

The Zep polish is a liquid so I used a white micro fiber cloth dipped in the polish and an aluminum pie tin to hold a small amount of the wax (a colored cloth will bleed into the wax). The idea was to coat the surface of the RV in multiple coats not worrying about perfect coverage as subsequent coats would cover any missed areas.

Only a small area is covered at one time so that means many, many trips up and down the 8 foot step ladder. In all I did 4 coats over a couple of days. After the first coat the surface looks blotchy but by the third coat the shine is something to see. Adding a 4^th coat really made it look show room new.

About a year later I noticed that the top of the front and rear cap were loosing their shine so I reapplied more wax to those areas. After about 3 years the wax was beginning to peel as the suns UV rays got to it (my RV sits outside) and it wasn’t looking so nice.

What to do? More Google research and now folks are saying “Don’t use Zep Hi Gloss floor finish” because of the UV ray damage to the wax. Even Zep has issued a disclaimer about it.

So, after much research I decided to use the Meguiar 3 step process to remove and restore the gloss to the Gel coat finish.

Not so fast! First I need to remove the old wax. I tried using the old tried and true Bar Keepers Friend method and a white scrubby. I worked sort of, but was really labor intensive, so I did what boating users do and that is to use Xylene which is a slow evaporating heavy duty cleaner.

Nada, It didn’t work. Now what? Lets try Acetone in a small out of the way place. It works but still is a slow process as it evaporates very fast. I used old cut up t-shirts as rags. Putting a small amount on the rag and wiping removes the wax but requires constantly turning the rag to a clean spot and redoing each small area a few times to remove all the wax. By looking at the surface from a side view any missed areas are visible. Caution should be used on painted surfaces as Acetone will remove the paint.

I decided to do one side at a time starting with the door side as it took the worst of the sun and was peeling badly in spots. All of this process should be done in the shade so in my case I could work for a few hours in the morning before the sun came around to that side. It took me 3 days to remove just the one side. It took me 3 more days to complete the Meguiar’s process on that one side. Do you have any idea of how many trips up and down that ladder I made or how many old t-shirts I cut into rages? Fortunately, because of the sun getting to that surface I only worked a few hours some days. At other times I got up at 6:30 in the morning and started right to work.

After removing the wax I wiped the surface with the Xylene to remove any remaining wax. Then I washed it with TSP using a long handled brush. This was followed by a fresh water rinse and drying with a chamois.

The first step in using Meguiar’s is the cleaning process. The second is a polish, restorer, and the third is a pure Carnuba wax protector. All are applied using a 6 inch buffer to a small area at a time and immediately after in the case of the first 2 steps, remove the polish using cut up t-shirt rags while the final wax is polished with a Terry Cloth pad.

Three weeks later, I have now completed that one side, the back, and the front and have removed some of the old wax on the remaining side. I am not completely happy with the front and back so I will probably do another layer of the Carnuba wax when I am at Visitadores in 2 weeks. While I am there I can easily reach both of those ends. The remaining side will get done later as it is in the shade more than the other side was and has been somewhat protected from the UV rays.

The final result is a shinny surface, much like it was when I bought the RV in 2005.

Not a good view but the sun was shining on the other surfaces.

I bought my wax and polishing pads on Amazon. So far I had to reorder once but I think I may need another order of wax and pads before I am done.

I don't know why the difference in text within the blog. It is all the same until I post it on-line. Something to do with Blogger i guess.

A "Keyhole" garden

It seems I am a little behind the times here as I haven’t posted since February 21^st. Maybe it is because we haven’t gone anywhere since then but have just been doing things around the house.

I did have one project that intrigued me and that was to build a “Keyhole Garden” after talking to son Tim about the one he was working on. Some Google research told me a lot about them and it soon became apparent that a true 6 foot diameter keyhole garden required a lot of compostable material, something in short supply right now in my garden. The name drives from the slot shaped much as a piece of pie removed from the circle which allows access to a wire cage in the middle to add compost material and to harvest vegetables.

However, I did have enough material for a 3 foot diameter keyhole garden, minus the keyhole (keyhole not needed for a 3 foot diameter circle), which would go nicely in a spot from which we had removed a very thorny cactus, think big pointy spikes.

Keyhole gardens originated in England and are used in some African countries which had little good soil. They basically are used to grow vegetables. A well known authority is Dr Deb Tolman of Texas who teaches classes in building Keyhole gardens. Her videos are available on YouTube.

I had a supply of bricks available so that became my material for making the walls. First I drew a circle and then I first dug down to increase the depth of the keyhole and also to level the spot. I next laid the bricks 5 layers high. I cut and fit chicken wire in the bottom to discourage rodents and a certain snoopy dog, (Craig’s).

I then wet large sheets of cardboard and fitted them into the circle including up the sides. I built a chicken wire cage about 8-9 inches in diameter and tall enough to reach above the expected top of the soil. I inserted a tin can in the top of the cage with a lid on it again to keep pests out. This cage will be filled with kitchen garbage and shredded paper and watered well each time it is filled. The hope is that the water will wash nutrients from the kitchen vegetables down into the soil and the surrounding plants will send their roots deep to get moisture thereby needing less water.

I added rough compostable materials such as old tin cans and rough wood cuttings. All of these will break down over time and supply nutrients to the soil.

Next was several layers of wet newspapers and newspaper type magazines.

On top of this was added brown leafy cuttings and branches, shredded waste paper, kitchen garbage, green leafy material, and finished compost. Each layer was wet down with a hose. A top layer of about 6-8 inches of good garden soil was used to finish of the garden. The soil was sloped to be high near the center so rainwater will drain off.

So what has been the results of this experiment? So far, I have 3 of the wire cages in use, 1 in the Keyhole garden and one each next to 2 rose bushes. The 3 of them use up most of the compostable kitchen garbage we generate. I plan to add 3 or 4 more cages in my garden when I plant my tomatoes, zucchini, and squash. The hope is that we will generate more kitchen garbage in the summer time.

I don't know why I have larger text in one paragraph as it is the same text height in my original copy. Leave it to Blogger to change something. Always an adventure!

Back home again.

We arrived home on Sunday afternoon having driven from Arabian Oasis RV Park. We actually left early as the wind was blowing when I got up. We did have wind from Boron until we got to I-5 on Hwy-138 but it was not too bad. Later, winds were projected to gust to 55 MPH and last for 2-3 days. We did not want to spend 2 more days at the RV park at $30 per day so pushed on especially with Domingo restaurant still not open although rumors have it that it may open soon.

To back up and cover the time from the last report, I picked up Clyda on time at the Las Vegas airport and we drove to Henderson to visit Carl and Janis who lived near us until Janis retired. We had a nice visit and later went out to eat at their Golf Club. Nice to visit with good friends.

On Monday morning we left Las Vegas and drove to Quartzsite with a stop at Needles for lunch where I introduced Clyda to Carl’s Jr $5 lunch. We shared one.

We spent the next 2 weeks dry camping in the Plamosa Road BLM area. The weather was perfect, not to cold even at night, with nice warm days. Different friends stopped by to camp for a few days which was really nice.

Launching a Chinese lantern.

We then moved on to Bouse and camped with Jack and Judy. Good to see all of our Bouse friends. We ate out a few times, had happy hours and generally enjoyed ourselves. Thanks to Jack and Judy for the use of the washer and dryer and the dump station. We even managed to get in a nice ATV ride over Preacher Pass which is steeeeepppp. A good ride.

Looking at Preacher Pass.

After a week we moved on to Casa Grande and a one night stop at the Elks Club. We then met Jim and Michele at the Pinal County Fairgrounds for the Gourd Festival. I always enjoy camping here because of the ambiance, the music, and the incredibly talented gourd people.

Gourd covered with small beads.

Such detail.

After four days we again moved back to the Elks Club for 4 days so we could visit with Clyda’s cousin and family. Nice to have dinner with Nicky and to spend time with her brother Jerrod also.

From Casa Grande we drove back to Quartzsite and again camped on Plamosa Road for 2 days. I had a few things I wanted to pick up in town while we were there. I had started to replace all of our old LED light bulbs in the RV as they were slowly dying from what I suspect is the lack of regulators in the bulbs. I had bought some while we were there the first time but had a few more ideas of where to use them so I bought 2 more fixture’s and bulbs. The new bulbs are a world of difference from the old LED’s. Much more light.

Camping at Plamosa Road.

A nice sunset.

After the 2 days we drove to Boron for one night and home the next day.