Waiting

Once more our guest room has been converted to a nursery. The mom to be, our little dachshund Elsa, is pregnant with puppies.  When is it going to happen? Well that is a guessing game although we marked the calendar with an approximate due date, but I speculate it’ll be sooner than later so you’d have to check in every so often to find out if the little ones have arrived yet, as I will be posting a picture of them.

The whelping box is ready for the new arrivals

Elsa is checking out the accommodations. Reggy never goes in!

The dad, our Reggy, is very relaxed about the whole situation. At times I have noticed him trying to entice Elsa to play with him, like running around the house, but Elsa didn’t go for it. He then took Elsa’s favorite squeaky toy from her to get her to chase it from him, but all she did was to come to me begging to interfere and to give it back to her. Smart girl.  As Elsa’s belly keeps growing (at a rapid rate now) she rests at lot and just takes it easy. I don’t blame her. When she has the urge to scratch her ears her big belly gets in the way of her short legs and she moans and groans while she does this acrobatic performance. Poor thing.

Elsa's every growing tummy

Elsa is taking a relaxing sunbath

Both dogs love an occasional chewing bone

Reggy occupies the day bed while Elsa prefers the floor

While doing my weekly grocery run yesterday I saw lots of the frozen turkeys landing in the shopping carts of the customers in the store. Our Thanksgiving is a week away but I am hesitant to participate in this tradition this year. Maybe I will be too busy with Elsa and a bunch of little puppies to cook an elaborate dinner. I have a week to decide and to find out (or not) what is happening.

Rose of Sharon void of leaves

As of lately I have not paid too much attention to my garden, so I was shocked a couple of days ago to discover that one of my Rose of Sharon bushes was almost stripped off of its leaves. Last time I looked it was in full bloom. Obviously there was something in there or had been that was eating up all the leaves. Upon closer inspection I noticed a caterpillar underneath a leaf. Then I saw another one crawling up the stem. In short order I grabbed a bucket and a Kleenex and picked those crawly things off. When I thought I had picked all that I could see my count was at 62 Caterpillars. Whoa! Where did they come from and what are they?  They are not Monarch Butterfly caterpillars and they are not hairy either, to my knowledge. The younger ones seem to have quite a spring to them. Nowhere could I see any cocoons so what are they to become and where I still don’t know. But whatever they are, they are not going to develop themselves in MY Rose of Sharon plant because I evicted them!

These little buggers have been munching on the leaves

and there was a whole horde of them

Thanks for dropping by and hopefully I'll be posting exciting news real soon.

Is it already September?

The dog days of summer are almost over and hopefully we can breathe cooler air soon. We thought this past August was extremely hot, but that is probably due to the fact that we spent most of it outdoors with projects in the garden.  Even the birds seemed to be sluggish as they were hiding in shady spots and although there were plentiful flowers in the garden I observed Hummingbirds, Orioles and even a Monarch butterfly drinking from the feeder in our backyard. Must have been more convenient.

We had two sets of visitors to break up the month to take us away from our daily chores. Patsy and Bill with their adorable dog Clemson came to visit first. We knew of each other through our blogs. Patsy writes Chillin' with Patsy and Bill writes On Our Way They were in the London, Ontario area for several days with their 5^thwheel, which is about an hour and a half drive from us, and took this opportunity to drive down to meet us.  This lovely couple told us of places to visit down in Arizona and plans have been made to meet up down there. We think that would be fun and we are looking forward to that. Bill suggested that we take off the white plastic wheel covers which I had installed to keep the sun off the tires. Instead of doing a worthy thing I had unknowingly done more harm than good because the air cannot circulate behind the covers and the sun bakes the tires behind the covers. Benno tested it and he thought he could roast a chicken there in that heat when he put his hand behind the cover. Thanks Bill.

Next our friends Sofia and Leszek came for a visit. We met so many years ago through the Ontario Boat Builder Cooperative where we were all members. Les and Sofy sailed their first boat all the way to Australia from Lake Ontario and we saw each other again in St. Thomas, US Virgin Island, one of the Caribbean Islands. Now they have another sailboat and the plan is to duplicate the trip Benno and I did in our “Diesel Duck” around South America. In more specific terms, they like to visit Patagonia and to round Cape Horn in their own boat.

Patagonia is a vast, exotic, wild and infinitely beautiful area in the southernmost extreme of the American continent. We traveled through its fjords and channels in an unbelievable gorgeous and unspoiled wilderness while marveling at the views of the mountains with cascading waterfalls. We even inched our vessel close to many of the hundreds of glaciers. Of course it was not all sun and calm weather as storm fronts are frequent in that part of the world. So there was lots to talk about and Benno gifted Les a set of sea charts for that area to navigate by. What nice memories the visit from our friends brought on. Here are a few pics of Patagonia.

Several of our blogger friends have made plans already and set dates for a fall departure with their rigs. Benno thought it would be prudent to take advantage of the nice weather to get down and grease the wheel hubs of the camper in the shade under the pulled out awning of our 24 White Hawk trailer. Here are some pictures of the undertaking.

Benno has done this before, about 3 years ago on our previous 19ft Jayco trailer.

Working on the wheel hubs not all working positions are comfortable.

To lift the trailer Benno used a 10 ton hydraulic jack and after lifting, 

secured the axle with axle stands.

The Dexter Axle Operation and Service Manual that came with the Jayco White Hawk trailer explains the wheel bearing lubrication process. One page is dedicated to the approved grease sources. In our case Benno used "Valvoline Multi-Purpose GM" grease that he purchased at the

TSC store in Leamington. The grease nipple is hidden behind a rubber plug which has to be carefully removed first.

Notice above in the picture Benno is rotating the hub with his right hand while pumping the grease gun with his left hand. Rotating the hub prevents the grease gun pressure to bust the rear seal. The rear seal contains the grease to the wheel bearings and prevents the grease to get onto the electric brake system.

Don't loose the rubber plug and don't forget to put it back to the metal end cap. 

It keeps the road dirt out of the wheel bearing.

Picture below wheel hub with the rubber plug back on.

Benno used the opportunity while the wheels were off to give them a good wash. After installation he torqued the wheel nuts. In our case it is 14" wheels and the wheel nuts are torqued to 115 - 120 FT-LBS. The tire pressure will be checked just before we are hitting the road south and during the drive frequently during pit stops.

I might now spend more time indoors and on my computer so updates and comments will be more frequent. (I hope so)