Goodbye Old Friend!...1981 Dodge Ram Camper

When we were living in Ottawa, Marie and I crossed over the river into Quyon, Quebec, the summer of 2001 and bought a used 20 year old 1981 Dodge Ram camper. It originally came from British Columbia, where it had been built, and the present owner had used it very little. We found it sitting in the shade of a few trees slowly turning green with moss and, after brushing away an accumulation of leaves and cobwebs, took it for a short drive. The rest, as they say, is history. We took ownership and brought it back to Ottawa where we spent the rest of the summer tearing out the old shag carpeting, drooping roof liner and generally giving it an update. We replaced a few minor mechanical parts, the toilet, alternator, the batteries (more than a few times!) and water pump over the years, usually on the road where they would fail, bought new tires and bit by bit the we freshened the old girl up and she looked like new. Yet always there was the chance of something falling off and breaking due to the age of the van but all in all we found it pretty reliable. So much so that we never hesitated to drive it down to Florida on a few occasions to visit Mom and Dad, Lyn, Don and Dee, down to Boston a few times to visit with Marie's family, out east to Nova Scotia and New Brunswick one year, up through the Gaspé one summer to see Marie's uncle, and a few weekends to the Maine coast these past few years to enjoy lobster and the fresh sea air. But back in 2007 we took our longest trip with the camper - across Canada, into the prairies and the States to Vancouver Island to see my friend Bruce, returning through Utah to spend a few days with sister Carolyn and Michael. As always Muffy our toy poodle accompanied us on our trips and she proved to be an excellent traveler. This past year though we found we were not using it much, the house construction taking up most of our time and, as the van passed her 32nd birthday, we found age was starting to take its toll on many things - rubber gaskets were drying up, propane leaks were developing, holes were starting in the muffler, the grey water tank needed replacing, the windows were leaking and electrical shorts caused probably by overwintering mice were becoming an annoyance. The old engine and transmission though still ran like new and probably will run forever but we were not ready to sink any more money into it. So last month, after advertising on Kijiji and getting interest only from people too far to drop in, we put a for sale sign up in the window and parked it on the side of the road. A few people looked at it and this past week a local couple decided it was for them and put down a deposit. After doing the appropriate paperwork and shaking hands a few days later they happily drove it away. We now have an empty spot in our drive (and hearts) but will always have fond memories of the old girl and its faithful years of service. gws

ferry, Lake Champlain, NY

Phil and Marie

North Carolina

Florida

Coldbrook, Nova Scotia

Gaspé

New Brunswick

Ormond Beach, Florida

BC

Devil's Tower, Wyoming

a hot shower after a long day on the road

Lac Mégantic

Muffy in her favourite spot

winter storage on the mountain

Saskatchewan rainbow

Lake Okanagan, BC

Oregon desert

Marie, Mike and Carolyn, Ogden, Utah

me enjoying Maine lobster and beer

me and Mom, Florida

fall on our mountain

Christina, somewhere in NY state

goodbye old friend! October 2013

Our Retirement Home Part Twenty-Eight ( Exterior Stone Veneer Part 1)

With October leaves falling and the weather still warm Marie and I decided to take advantage of the dry days and prep the walls under the deck and on either side of the house where the stone veneer will go. We had been given three quotes by local tradespeople but after doing more research thought we could probably do the job ourselves and save $5000. (Any 'yeah, right!' comments at this point will be disabled!) We had bought the stone from BuildDirect in the US in the early summer and it had been sitting in three large pallets on the driveway in front of the house so whenever I had a few moments I would grab a few pieces and pile it up on the patio slab, primarily to get it out of the way for winter snow removal, expecting to have it up and done in the fall. I first installed 3/8th plywood over the house wrap and covered this with 15lb tar paper. This was the easiest part of the job. Next came the cutting and nailing on the entire surface 2.5 lb diamond wire mesh to hold the scratch coat that would go on top of this. After losing half a pint of blood doing this I was ready with my handy wheelbarrow and shovel to mix up the type S mortar. We had tried to buy this particular mortar recommended by the manufacturer when we were in Montreal, Sherbrooke and locally but it was either out of stock or unavailable so we drove down to Kingfield, Maine one beautiful sunny afternoon to Jordan's Lumber and picked up 15 eighty-pound bags of the stuff. Naturally I wrenched my back off loading them from the truck and spent the next week in agony.

putting up plywood and tarpaper

nailing on the mesh

putting on the scratch coat

stone veneer waiting to be put up

With me basically out of commission Marie became quite an expert putting on the mortar over the mesh for the scratch coat so I let her go at it. Now we have to wait till spring and warmer days to put up the stone. Here on the mountain fall can be fickle, snow flurries one day and warm temperatures the next so it is best to wait for a run of good weather. Besides we have enough to keep us busy for the next six months! This week we are tackling the main bathroom in earnest and I will be reporting on our progress soon. Meantime the mountain is quiet and except for the birds and an occasionally hunter's shot (deer and bear hunting season started yesterday) it is typical early November. Next time I will be doing a special tribute to our old van which we sold last week after 12 years of faithful service! Till then have a great November! gws

view from my shed

2 woodpeckers that were doing some sort of mating ritual - I watched them for an hour

early morning fog in the valley below us

Our Retirement Home Part Twenty-Seven (Interior Staircases Part 2)

Another beautiful fall day here on the mountain - the trees are already a blaze of colour and falling and cool nights now the norm. I finished work on the mezzanine stairs before Marie and I headed to Montreal and Ontario to visit with the kids and help celebrate belated birthdays with Sarah and Christina - getting our monthly break from the never ending work here. It was nice to see everyone again although Lara and Jesse were no shows and we naturally were disappointed in not being able to see Joshua. Hopefully we will be able to see him before Christmas...Thanks for the good time Chris and Pat!

take me for a walk Grandpa!

me and Amy, Sherbrooke St, Montreal

Phil, Amy and me

Fer and Amy

Phil, Amy and Sarah

Sarah, Amy and Isabelle

the birthday girls!

 We are back home now, the main floor stairs done now and look good after those many days spent sanding, staining and varnishing. The hard part was trying to match the engineered floor that would complement the stairs going up to the mezzanine. As well as the staircase we decided to stain the birch plywood we had put up to cover the steel beam that holds up the mezzanine. After a lot of experiments with different stains we finally decided to apply two different colours using a local Quebec product called Saman. I first put on a coat of Honey Wheat, let it dry and followed with Dark Oak. Rather than blending the two colours we found the lighter shade under the darker almost matched the flooring. It may not have been the perfect way to do it and it wasn't a 100% match but it worked for us. After letting it dry a few days I put on three coats of Sico Crystalex Urethane Varnish, standing lightly between the first two applications. The last picture is of the finished result. The stairs to the basement are next and I am going to use Sico Crystalex interior stain tinted to match the walls, hoping to create a transition between the three levels. But while the weather is still nice Marie and I have decided to take advantage of the warm days and work on the exterior, prepping the walls for the veneer stone. That will be on the next blog so come back and see how we have done! Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! gws

putting on the Honey Wheat

first coat of stain

covering and staining the steel beam

putting on second colour

a few touchups on the wood before continuing

final results!