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Monday 27th August
A trip to Home Despot for some wood and screws for RV repairs.

Movie of the day: J. Edgar – Somehow disjointed in spite of excellent performance from Leo.

Tuesday 28th August
Thunderous rain overnight with corresponding RV leak –sigh!

Working on a cupboard brace

Buddy got clipped and we made our customary trip to Crevette Plus pour les  langoustines.

Wednesday 29th August
Did some caulking round the antenna – could that fix the leak?

Ordered a telescoping ladder from Amazon.

Thursday 30th August
Moving on to the campsite in Shawinigan that we stayed at on the way East.

Movie of the day: Pirate Radio – misgivings confirmed, too silly.

Friday 31st August
On to Ken and Cheryl’s in Montreal.

Saturday  1st September
The people who sold us the replacement fridge cooling unit had suggested the reason it didn’t perform so well was a lack of insulation.  To fix this the fridge had to be removed so it was and I packed it with enough insulation to remove that excuse.

Baby sitting time for Ken and Cheryl when Mike & Jess brought baby Hunter over.

TV watching until quite late.

Sunday  2nd September
Ken helped me lift the fridge back into place, so let’s see what that does.

The whole family came round for Sadie’s (son Jeff’s ‘girlfriend’) birthday.

Movie of the day: Alice in Wonderland.  Second watching and still loved it.

Monday  3rd September
Turned the fridge back on and by the end of the day it’s down to 40 – promising.

Carol went on a trip with Cheryl to visit her cousin in Hawkesbury.

Tuesday  4th September
Shopping for bargains at Zellers as they slowly close their stores.

A PQ minority government – could have been worse and then some nutter shoots a tech at PQ headquarters.

Wednesday  5th September
Out longtime friend from our RCA days, Nick Tasker, is no longer living with Eve as per the last many years and now has a snazzy bachelor pad near Decarie. We met him for breakfast al fresco on Sherbrooke and then took a look at his place.  He seems very happy with his new single life.

We then bid adieu to Quebec and drove to Dennis and Madeleine’s in Ottawa and Madeleine’s fishcakes for supper.  Newfies know how to do that fer sure.

Thursday  6th September
On we go to Richard Hayward’s

Richard’s girlfriend Cheryl arrived around the same time and we all had supper together.

Friday  7th September
Our new telescoping ladder is down at the UPS store in Ogdensburg and our new Zune mp3 player is at the Wal-Mart there, so I’m off for a cross-border shopping trip.   I’ve decided the rooftop antenna is the source of much of our leak problem, so on the way down to the US I stopped at a metal supplier in Smiths Falls for a sheet of aluminum to cover the hole.

All went fairly smoothly until the customs guy at the border asked for the receipt for my rather obvious (sitting the Miata passenger seat) ladder.  I thought there would have been an invoice in the box but there was nothing indicating the value.  The problem was solved by the lady in the main building logging in to my Amazon account to see my recent purchases; fortunately the Zune wasn’t one of them.
Back at the RV the antenna came off and the plate went on.

Saturday  8th September
Thunderstorms and rain in the night (remnants of Hurricane Isaac) and guess what?  We still have a leak.
Supper with Richard and Cheryl and movie of the day: Moneyball, for the third time.

Sunday  9th September
Drove to Lena & Peter's place to pick up the Subaru only to find the muffler seems to be lying on the ground.

So we went shopping in Carleton Place.

Monday  10th September
Back to Lena & Peter's to deal with the Subaru.  We found a place in Smiths Falls to take it and called Good Sam towing and off the offending vehicle went to Hank’s Tire.

Back to the RV and more roof work.

We had supper with a solo Richard and caught the end of the 1812 TV movie.  Fascinating history.

Tuesday  11th September
Picked up the Subaru from Hank’s place – just some bolts and a piece of pipe, not a new muffler - phew!
We had decided that the RV needed to be fixed where water damage was affecting the integrity of the front driver’s side.  To this we needed a place indoors.  Echo Farm across from where we lived in North Gower and where we store cars in winter has big covered Nissan-hut-like buildings and in September they’re not yet full of vehicles and boats.  

With the Miata hitched on and Carol following behind we made our way there and put the RV under cover for what I’d planned would be a few days – optimism’s a grand thing.

Since living in the Big Easy while I ripped it (slightly) apart was not an option we availed ourselves of a kind offer from Carol’s friend Claudia to stay at her place.  Since Barrhaven is not that far from North Gower, it was a perfect situation.

Wednesday  12th September
Started right into the repairs taking out windows and peeling back the siding.

It’s a great place to work with its white vinyl roof giving lots of diffused light and it seems to keep a fairly even temperature.

Movie of the day: Brick – Wish we’d had subtitles even though it’s in English but pretty good anyway.

Thursday  13th September
Carol to the hairdresser’s and me back to the RV to remove wet and rotten wood.

Friday  14th September
Although the day is overcast and drizzling I’m nice and dry, cleaning up the aluminum frame.
Back at Claudia’s we tried to watch a Lebanese film that Claudia’s son had sent from the Middle East but since we had no remote we couldn't select subtitles so we watched Please Give instead.  We all enjoyed that.

Saturday  15th September
Tried calling around for fiberglass panels with no luck.  Talked to Brian at Echo Farm and got an extension for a week.

Talked to Brian - got 'til next Saturday

Sanded more frame

Movie of the day:  Winter's Bone – excellent!

Sunday  16th September
More or less a day off RV things.

Monday  17th September
After a trip to Canadian Tire for supplies I had a go at fixing a problem with the aluminum frame.

Hence the strap and the screws.  Now to fill the cavity that was rotten wood with Bondo and firbreglass strands.

Movie of the day, the Lebanese movie that I managed to get subtitles onto: Caramel – definitely one for the ladies.

Tuesday  18th September
It’s pouring with rain and suddenly the Subaru battery is flat and the alternator isn't charging it.

Over to the RV for more Bondo and then back to supervise the Subaru being towed yet again.

Picked up some propane for Claudia’s barbeque only to find her landlord had installed a new burner - ---- badly - and when I lit the thing it melted the knobs.

Wednesday  19th September
Drove to Canus Plastic’s new location and ordered FRP (Fibreglass Re-inforced Plastic) panels and then to the RV for more Bondo.  Talked to my RV landlord and got a further extension.

Bought a jigsaw (NO battery) from Canadian Tire along with a new DVD player with a REMOTE for Claudia.

Thursday  20th September
The FRP panels were delivered and I mounted one up there with double sided sticky so I could use the peeled back siding as a template.

With my new handy dandy jjigsaw I soon had the piece cut to shape.

Then it was over to Cooley’s Automotive to pickup the Subaru with replacement alternator – a scrapyard special since the new one I got last time only lasted four years anyway.

Then it was over to Mike and Janet Simm’s for a party to honour a visiting old friend of theirs.  Mike and Janet’s parties are basically populated with people who Mike new when he worked at Computing Devices (now GDC) and since I worked there too I knew pretty much everyone and Carol’s met them too over the years.

A good time was had by all.

Friday  21st September
I have the wrong adhesive for this particular job so after a little Bondo work it was a short day.

Saturday  22nd September
Home Depot for contact cement.  Over to the RV.  Contact cement dissolves Styrofoam.  Back to Home Depot for PL Premium.

Back to the RV to glue the FRP with PL premium, clamps, screws and leaning 2x10s.

Sunday  23rd September
A day off mostly because we have an invite for supper.

Our good friends for many years, Richard and Felicity have sold their house and bought a condo apartment on the 20 oddth floor.

They have a magnificent view of the Ottawa River.

They seem very very  happy with their decision to ‘downsize’.

Monday  24th September
Back to work and chopping up some more FRP and sticking it on.

It’s our wedding anniversary so it’s out for supper with Ruth and Keith to the Punjabi Clay Oven for some delicious Asian cuisine and to top it off Ruth and Keith treated us.

Tuesday  25th September
Contact cement is the way to go to put the outer skin back on but the wood on the inside of the skin requires several coats so I did the first one.

Wednesday  26th September
Back goes the skin but not as well as I would have liked, contact cement never seems to quite work 100%.  However, it’s as good as it’s going to get as there’s no unsticking it.

Thursday  27th September
Back goes the trim and the window.

Friday  28th September
More trim re-attachment, caulking etc.

Saturday  29th September
Painting the roof with a waterproof paint while we are undercover seems like a good idea but first we had to wash the roof off, not a pleasant job.

Movie of the day: Get Low – Worth a watch.

Sunday  30th September
Roof paint day.

Claudia invited friend Irene & husband Al over for munchies & pizza so we had a late night.

Monday  1st October
Said goodbye and thanks to Claudia and then over the RV to re-install roof stuff before driving it and the Subaru to Kemptville for emissions tests.

Then to Service Ontario for new stickers for all vehicles

Then a night on our own in a deserted Sandy Mountain campsite.

Tuesday  2nd October
Carol has sore throat – oh no!

Back to Echo Farm to pickup a few odd things like a 4x8 FRP panel and then over to Richard Hayward’s driveway.

Wednesday  3rd October
Out for a teeth cleaning and a Costco run while Carol is feeling worse.

Thursday  4th October
Did another coat of paint on the roof while Carol went off to Carleton Place Emergency to see if she needed antibiotics.

Meanwhile, Richard’s daughter Sarah was staying the night and he invited Mike and Janet over and friend Nancy.  Girlfriend Cheryl was already there.  So we all had supper together while Carol sat in the Emergency room.

Friday  5th October
Re-installed the awning over the window that had been removed and put back.

Saturday  6th October
Rained all night with predictable results.

Driving round doing various shopping things and over to Echo Farm to put the Miata to bed and pay for our stay.

Had supper with Richard and Cheryl and tried to watch the movie Sweeney Todd.  After fifteen minutes it was a unanimous decision to try something else.

Movie of the day: Elegy – Not bad at all.

Sunday  7th October
Getting cold, time to head south.

Some roof Eternabonding.

Monday  8th October
Just hanging around.

Movie of the day:  The Burning Plain – Well intentioned but a little overwrought.

Tuesday  9th October
Went over to Mike Simm’s place to use one of his industrial table saws and cut the other FRP panel .

Wednesday  10th October
One of the things that can be done to find the source of RV leaks is blow in and then go round with soapy water and look for bubbles.  We took the Big Easy in to Primo for the procedure.

More last minute Ottawa shopping before picking the RV and getting the results – no roof leaks - ???

Drove out to Smiths Falls to use the campsite dump station only to find nobody there.

Thursday  11th October
Exciting time at Richard’s.  We dug up his septic tank so he could have it pumped out.

Carol went off to the docs while I did some FRP cutting and she missed this siting.

No, that’s not a big dog.  He/she likes to hang around down the road from Richard’s.  Everytime Richard and I tried to walk down the road towards him he’s head off into the bush and then when we went back he would come out again.  Cars drove past him and even stopped close but he took no notice of them.

Friday  12th October
Finished packing up, took our leave of Richard and started our journey south.