Suzie a busy lady today, me just goofing around.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

        What did we do today? Me not much, I ran to the store for a few things, research a bit and read for a while, a couple walkabouts between raindrops. 

        But now Suzie slaved away on the computer,  filling and printing off forms and making phone calls for ME! Ya see I turn 65 next month and qualify for Canada's Old age pension and the Old age Supplement, see getting older pays! We are going to get a pay check yippee. Not a lot but a heck of a lot more than we are getting now, gonna be rich. Maybe buy a newer rv? (not she says). Keep the old one on the road? (yes she says). Get a new tow vehicle? (not she says). Ok maybe save some money so we don't run out (yes she says) she is the brains of this operation ya know.

          Nothing new with the weather, cool, windy, overcast and damp so a good time to get this stuff done.

          Did not even take any pictures today, except for supper. And I did not even cook it. 

          So to reward Suzie for all that hard work we had a beer and she let me take her out for supper at the Trails Edge Tavern in town. So that I could satisfy my craving for chicken wings. I wanted to cook some here but it's really not great weather outside for the Weber Q and Fry Daddy the way I like to cook them. Besides its Wing night, can't turn down a deal. As good as it gets here, close to home, huge wings, .89 cents each. Not cheap but heck gotta treat my honey once in a while. Sounds good right? Actually treating myself she prefers I cook at home so I guess its my treat. Believe what you want. 

          If you read yesterdays posting of our expenses for going to California in the winter, hope it answered a few questions for people, and if you read the comments I added a bit more information. Thats what we spent, some can do it for less and some can spend a lot more, depends on your lifestyle.

        Now at 5 o'clock we headed to the Edge only three blocks way (love small towns). Of course we know the owners and staff and most of the customers in there. Actually one of the owners (Lyndsay) figure skated with daughter number two in town over twenty years ago. Chatted with a few people we have not seen since last year ordered my dozen chicken wings, suicide (bring my own hot sauce to kick it up a notch) Suzie's chicken wings were actually a chicken quesadilla and fries.

Chicken Quesadilla and fries

got my wing fix, huge !

        The service and food was excellent as usual, now we relax at home where it is much quieter. As in most restaurants they start getting real busy around 5:30- 6 o'clock, most the people around here actually "work",  so time for us to leave.

         Actually it was a pretty productive day, getting things done so we can move around to a few different places. and visit more people this summer.

         Thanks for stopping on by, so nice to see you again.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

What does it cost us to head south for the winter? And other stuff.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

         Looks like we are going to have a few days of cool, damp, windy and rainy weather here so can do some computing and research, instead of playing outside. But the plus side is No snow and No Tornadoes (that we know of right now).
        Suzie went to help her Mom and Dad purge a bit and I got to play with my computer doing stuff like this. I don't play games, there is so many other things to do.

         Had an email the other day about costs for our winter hibernation and we do have all the numbers right here. Suzie is still a book keeper and keeps track of all of our expenses.
         So below is a breakdown of our costs that relate to a typical winter for us. All of the expenses are converted to Canadian funds at a 10 percent exchange rate.

Total number of days we were in the USA                 =  175 days

Round trip mileage from Ontario, Canada to 

Palm Springs California and places in between           =  6,049 miles (9, 735 KMS)

Total cost for fuel (gas) for our coach towing our car  =  $3,153.00 (.51 cents a mile) 

Gas for car drove 3,000 miles (5,000 kms)                  = $443.00

Camping fees, membership parks and BLM lands       = $658.00

We purchased campground memberships many years ago and try to use them exclusively, over 700 parks to choose from from no overnight fees, to 9 or 10 dollars a night.

Entertainment cost includes, sightseeing, shows and restaurants  = $979.00

Repairs and maintenance, includes 2 oil changes,

 generator repair and new

 carbon monoxide detector and propane detector                         = $805.00

Total cost for our 6 months in the sunny southwest                     =$6,038.00

Take away the repairs that needed to be done anyway                  - $805.00

Our winter in the southwest cost us                                               $5,233.00

        Some people spend that much for one or two weeks down south. It would have cost us a lot more to stay in the cold blustery winter here in Canada.

        All other expenses, like food, alcohol and clothes are day to day living expenses and again would have cost more here in Canada.

        Now our membership campgrounds cost us around $10,000.00 over 10 years ago, and about 1,200.00 a year to maintain. But compared to $30.00 a night camping fees we have saved close to $60,000.00  since 2006 factoring in all of our costs. This works great for us because we do enjoying being on the move year round, up to two weeks in most campgrounds and we have that hitch itch. Deals can be had by staying in an RV park for a month to 6 months, but that is not what we like to do.  We have wheels on our house and will keep them turning as long as we can.

        The rest of the day we did manage to read for while (inside) even though we prefer to enjoy our books outside. Only 45f but feels like 37f  (3c) heavy rain and wind for the next few days, so be it, always something to do. We have a couple doctors appointments over the next week or so then we can be on our way.

        Now time for supper, still raining, and had planned a nice one dish meal inside. A real easy chicken stir fry. One pan meal again, you can check out the recipe here.  But as I am doing this the wind dies down, rain stops and the sun comes out! Go figure, we could have cooked on our Weber Q. Such is the life of an Rv'er. Sure beats working for a living.

sure was tasty and hit the spot

after 6 pm the sun came out
and is wonderful

              All in all it was a pretty productive day, Hope some of that info answers a few questions you may have. And that you had a great day in the process.

          Thanks again so much for stopping on by for  visit. Too bad you were not here for supper, we had leftovers! Couple nice easy lunches for me then.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

Just doing stuff........too windy to use our Weber Q today.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

     We had a wonderful sunrise this morning looks like its gonna be a nice day.

morning sunrise, out our kitchen window

      But the sunshine and wind are not co-operating. Mostly cloudy today and winds at 22 mph and gusts up to 36 mph (58 kph). from the east. And that is right on our patio side with nothing blocking the wind.
      No problem we have stuff to do. First off to Pettigrew's garage in town, service our car, oil change and check the brakes. Back home by 9 am chat for a bit with Suzie then off to Waterloo visit my Ma , have a coffee and some really tasty oatmeal cookies that just came out of the oven! Wow were they ever good, just like I remember she used to make over 50 years ago (sure, sounds like I am getting old).  Well guess we all are.

fresh from oven oatmeal cookies, thanks ma!

       Then dropped Suzie at her Chiropractor for a tune up, read my book in the car and then back home. A bite for lunch then walkabout the windy 5 acres here let the dogs out for a run, and Suzie brushed the dogs for a while in the garage (got her doggie fix) Then we got to read and compute some more before supper time. Oh, she had a mess of phone calls to make as well for stuff, not sure what stuff, don't care, she just took care of it, amazing woman that she is.

Buddy getting brushed a bit more

        It was not raining but with those wind gusts was pretty chilly and not really a great day to fire up out Weber Q. Probably could have if I really want to.
        But hey its could be a LOT worse. So I get to cook inside again, something else we have been craving. Liver and onions that we both love, creamy whipped potatoes, peas and fresh tomato slices.

hit the spot again!

         We are getting stuff done and enjoying our time here at "Camp Awesome". Met daughter number 2 at the school, 3 blocks away, (she had a package for us) and I had a nice short visit with two grandsons in the parking lot as well.
          Now a relaxing evening, compute a bit more and maybe watch a movie or something, on the tube or possibly read for a while before calling it a night.
         Glad you took the time to give us a quick read today, not real exciting for you but us full time rv'ers like to take it easy too. Just because we can.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

Sunshine, and not too windy here, love it!

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

         Yep its a good day again today, we having a bit of morning fog then the morning sun hits our patio making things really nice and warm. Suzie had Molly and Buddy out for a run then they came right back to our house. They enjoy being petted and maybe even a treat too.

Dogs love treats

     I drive about the village a bit this morning before stopping by the garage for the sunday morning gossip with the guys. Plattsville is really growing! New Fire Hall is being built, the Arena and Curling club were expanded last year, and the subdivisions are building huge houses!

New Firehall

Arena and Curling Club

huge houses

more huge houses being built

A block away we have country, love it

        Back home I took a walk across the road down the trail to the river, not too far, but so nice almost right in town. The trail is along the top of a berm to prevent flooding the low lying areas in town.

nice area by the Nith River

river is flowing good in the spring

in the 1940's this was Plattsville Lake,
 houses in the distance

heading back home, our coach is across the road

love the Daffodils !

         Got a call about noon Suzie's Mom, Dad, brother and sister inlaw coming to Plattsville for lunch. Local restaurant is very busy (after church), so we met them, chatted for a while and eventually had a very late light breakfast. Was a nice get together.

         Now just back to "camp awesome" and found a sunny spot out of the wind and really got to enjoy reading our books outside once again. Really a pretty nice day, so we need long pants, but had to take my sweater off it was too hot.

          Just need a light meal tonight so grilled up a couple salmon burgers and a few tater slices to fill the holes in our bellies.

nice to fire up our Weber Q again

simple, easy and quick,
hit the spot

        Another fun day in Ontario, spring time and really the weather was not too bad. We found sunshine, and a spot out of the wind, not beach weather, but not freezing either.
        So glad you  could stop by and join us, hope you had lottsa sunshine too.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

Doggie fix for Suzie, and a fundraiser for the church.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

         Another cozy night with no wind, thats good. Some sunshine today and temps got all the way up to 41f, but the weather channel says it feels like 36f (2c). Also had a couple light rain showers, just because it could I guess.

Trees across the road, broken from ice storm this spring

        A comment yesterday mentioned that we like the heat in the southwest and are OK with the cooler temperatures as well. Well its not that we are ok with the cooler temps its just that we do not have a lot of choices. We are allowed only 182 days a year in the USA and we have pretty much used that up from October to April. Need to spend 5 months on Ontario Canada to qualify for our government health care. So thats why we are here now so we can head back south the end on October in search of warmer weather. We did miss the real bad winter weather here.

         We got stuff done a few walkabouts, replace one shock to hold a compartment door open and Suzie got to brush the dogs (Molly but mostly Buddy) for a bit, in their garage.

Molly

Molly's puppy, Buddy

Suzie enjoying brushing Buddy

         I was shopping this morning and picked up this great deal below at the store. The Hamilton Beach single serve blender for $19.99 and included free the True Almond Milk, Yogurt and frozen berries. Could not turn it down, so now we can enjoy some great tasting fruit smoothies!

         A bit more computing and read a while, just an almost perfect day except it could be a lot warmer. Daughter number two stopped by to drop off our dinner tickets for the fundraiser and we were able to give her the hand made quilt that Suzie had worked on for years, cross stitched all nine squares buy hand and was hand quilted by her Suzie's mother and a few friends.

and she can make good use of it

a lot of work into this cross stitching

        Then we met up with her and family at the Plattsville Christian School in town to check out the silent auction, the buffet dinner with live entertainment and the live auction afterwards. This is a yearly fundraiser for the school two of our grandsons attend.

one of two rooms of items to bid on

Lots of larger items for the live auction too

       We arrived shortly after 5 pm, check out all the interesting items until 6 pm when the buffet was ready to go. Lots of great tasting food salads, roasted tiny potatoes, carrots, corn, stuffed roast pork and roast beef. Over 200 meals served.

oh so very tasty, all you can eat too

          They had a huge desert table that I forgot to take a picture of. We went back to keep an eye on the auction items and when we came back most deserts were gone, thats ok though we were still pretty full, and don't usually eat desert anyway.
           The silent auction ended at 8 pm (Suzie got her tiny hand made trinket boxes) that she has a use for. At a decent price, remember this is a fundraiser. Then the live auction began, they are a lot of fun too and we stayed about another 1/2 hour then time to get home, almost bedtime! I am sure they would be at it for at least another hour.
           It was a fun day despite the weather, the auction meal, fundraiser and some more time with daughter and the grands.
          Thanks for stopping in again, we do enjoy your company.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

Relocating, stop at a dump station, check out our coach at the garage and setup in Plattsville for a bit.

Where are we today ?

Plattsville Ontario

      Another cozy night and temps today supposed to get to 51f (10c), but don't think it ever made it, at 3 pm was 45 f but felt like 36f (2c) with the wind and the rain. But we did manage to pack up this morning, stopped at Nith River campground to dump our sewage tanks, stop by Pettigrews Garage in Plattsville. Got Dale our Mechanic to check the engine codes on our coach. Ended up just a false reading from the on board computer.

      After this, moved to our friends John and Lea's place in town. They have 5 acres here that we can park at and its very convenient when we are in the area. We have labeled this stop as Camp Awesome over the years, lotsa space, peace and very quiet here. Plus they have two dogs Molly and her huge puppy Buddy, Suzie gets her doggie fix. All set up here before the rain began so that was a bonus. We have a 15 amp connection and that is plenty, we try to use mostly solar, if and when the sun is shining.

34 kms (21miles) today 

        Chatted with Lea to catch up, for a while before she headed off to work. Then just puttered around here, reading and computing to get caught up. Inside where it is toasty warm.

         No Weber Q tonight with the wind, cold and rain. So gonna try out a one pan meal in our oven tonight. A recipe I came across and the improvised, Oven Roasted Garlic Sausage, sweet potatoes and carrots. Check out my recipe Blog on the top right corner of my sidebar for the recipe.

the view out our kitchen window

yummy

         Supper was very tasty, we really enjoyed it and will do it again sometime, this is a keeper for us.
         Even though it was cooler, overcast and windy, it still could be worse. Northern Ontario had a lot of snow today, something we really don't want to see. Soon we will have some wonderful warm weather. That's my prediction and if it does not happen, too bad, I can only think positive, I can't change the weather.
          Thanks for stopping in again for a peek, we do what we do best, live in our house that keeps moving around from place to place.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle.

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Summer 2014 in a larger map

Almost a heat wave, last day here.

Where are we today ?

New Hamburg Ontario

     Another great night for sleeping, just above freezing. Bedroom window open a tiny bit, fresh air and our big old heavy quilt on the bed, toasty warm! No furnace needed, just fire up the Mr. Heater first thing. Temps got to just over 11c (52f) today perfect!

     Up early before the sunrise so I can watch it and enjoy a fresh brewed pot of coffee. Bit of computing too.

as the sun begins to rise, love it!

        Then I do the Plattsville trip to see whats new in town, (check lotto tickets too, no luck) and back home by 8 am. Take Suzie to her Mom and Dad's so she can help them purge a bit more. Much easier doing a bit at a time. I ran a few errands then we back home in time for a light lunch.
        Now with another great day here we spent the rest of it outside. Just puttering a round, burn a bit of brush in the firepit, relax in the sunshine (no wind today). And enjoy our books for a while, really loving this spring weather, so far.
        With another great day gotta fire up our Weber Q 100 again and load it up. Had 16 pieces chicken legs and thighs and 5 large baked potatoes. Added some Hickory wood chips, for extra flavor, the foil package at the rear.

        To that we did some steamed broccoli, cauliflower and mini carrots. Sure hit the spot and guess what? Only one potato left over from the 4 of us. Guess it was pretty good. Mind you we all love chicken.

whats better than BBQ'd chicken?
in our opinion not much.

        That pretty well wrapped up our day. 
        Sure was wonderful, lots of fresh air, exercise, good books, great company and wonderful tasty food. 
        Now tomorrow we gonna relocate, not far, but new places and new faces the way we like to live. Never a dull moment in our lives.

Posted by George, a.k.a. "The Weber "Q" Man of Blogland" according to Rick Doyle. 

 Check out the map below to see where we have been this Spring

View Larger Map