Today was one of those days where we got stuff done, but it was a bit hum drum and kind of routine....and the rain and grey all day didn’t help much either at +3C.
Richard spent the morning on the phone with UPS in the Phillipines trying to track down the hinges that he bought from an RV Used Parts place in Kentucky, USA. If you will remember, the basement door of Newman is off its hinges from the last time we drove to Bowser for propane. St. Stephen helped fix the door, but the hinges were wrecked from driving down the road in our RV park, with the door hanging off. St. Stephen found the hinges at a Used RV Parts place in Kentucky and told Richard he should order them. So on January 11th Richard called and ordered the hinges. It took until January 20th before they decided to finally ship them to us and they might be delivered to the UPS depot in Courtenay on Thursday January 28th. I think the RV place in Kentucky is on ”Island time”.
Richard has had text messages from UPS asking him if he wanted them to be his broker for this shipment and despite replying yes, he continued to get messages from UPS about being his broker. So today he finally took the ‘bull by the horns’ and called UPS - who happened to be in the Philippines, to get the matter straightened out.
We need the basement door fixed on Newman or we cannot drive him anywhere. We are ‘captive’ so to speak, until the basement door has new hinges.
We stopped at the Post Office in Union Bay on the way into Courtenay today and noticed that there was snow on the ground! We have no snow in Fanny Bay, but just 15 minutes up the road there was a lot of snow on the ground! It’s amazing how the small difference in elevation here can mean the snow stays, vs melts.
After visiting the Post Office and getting our mail that our good friend in Fort Erie had sent to us, we headed into Courtenay so I could visit my strength trainer and Richard could do some shopping for the trip directing job he has to do on Thursday and Friday.
I am getting stronger! Today my strength trainer couldn’t believe that the new program he had put together for me just last week, I was able to do without a ton of effort this week. And I’m up to 7.5lb free weights now for my arms! It feels good to be getting stronger and understanding what I need to do to keep getting stronger. Understanding how each muscle contributes to walking and not limping is very helpful to my recovery. It is a long, slow process though. I never want to break anything, every again!
Richard was able to call the Chrysler dealership in Courtenay while I was in my strength training session to see if they had a new rear wiper blade in stock for Jerry, as well as to see if they could turn off the “check engine light” which has been on for 3 weeks now.
The dealership said that if he came in this afternoon, they would be able to help him as they did have a rear wiper blade in stock.
We headed over to Comox to grab some lunch and visit my osteopath and just as we were heading into downtown Comox I yelled at Richard to “pull over!”.
Sitting on a post in the water in Comox Harbour was a bald eagle.
It would appear the eagle had caught something for lunch which he was nibbling on. I was too lazy to get out of the car and try and get a bit closer to the eagle, since I had my running shoes on, and the embankment was very steep to get down to the beach. And it was pouring! I know...excuses, excuses! Sorry these images are not the sharpest. I was afraid I would get out of the car and the eagle would fly away.
I’m still waiting for my 2X magnification ring for the zoom lens I recently acquired. Vistek in Toronto had to order the magnification ring since it is not a ‘stock’ order and I should hopefully have the 2X magnification ring by the middle of February. Regardless, its very neat to be driving along and seeing bald eagles so randomly along our journeys.
We had a limited amount of time for lunch today and didn’t want to walk around downtown Comox looking for lunch in the rain. Richard had seen a small soup stand indoors in a very small annex to the mall, where my osteopath has an upstairs office. Soup sounded good to us today on such a damp, rainy, grey day!
Richard had muligawtawny soup and I had Moroccan stew. We both got the last two bowls of soup from their pots!
Mulligatawny soup. Mulligatawny actually means ‘pepper water’ and curry is the particular ingredient that gives this incredible soup such a delicious flavour. Chicken, vegetables and potatoes made his soup really chunky and delicious!
Moroccan stew. My stew had lots of chunks of squash, beans, tomatoes and beef. We both enjoyed our soups and the cheddar cheese tea biscuits which came with the soup. We just wish both of these soups were a bit warmer! Two soups and two tea biscuits was $17.
While I headed off to the osteopath, Richard went to the Chrysler dealership in Courtenay. He was able to get the rear wiper blade replaced for $18 and they re-set the check engine light for free. We still get the error message “gas cap warning“, but none of the “codes” lit up on the dealership’s testing machine, so we know that Jerry is ’good’, even though the warning light is still on. Richard did replace the gas cap, but the light is still on.
On the way home we stopped at Canadian Tire and London Drugs in Courtenay to see if they had any 7.5 pound weights that I could use in Newman to continue doing my home work outs. I have been using 5 pound weights, but now that I’ve graduated to heavier weights in the gym, I want to be consistent in my workouts at home, using the same weights. Unfortunately Canadian Tire only had 9 pound weights and London Drugs had 8 pound weights. I will keep looking this week as we are heading to bigger towns this week, which might have what I need. While we were in Canadian Tire we couldn’t help but visit their Garden Centre today to see what they were selling outdoors. Inside the aisles in Canadian Tire they are now selling seed trays, soil and seeds. Imagine? Starting seedlings for spring planting in January? We wouldn’t be starting seedlings until late March back home!
While I was in London Drugs I wanted to see if they had any more Fuji lens for my Fuji XT-4 camera. They did have a few lens which looked interesting but I needed to do my research on the lens before I buy the next lens. I think the wide angle XF 16mm F2.8 might be the next lens, but I’m torn between that lens and the XF 16mm F1.4. You Tube here I come! I find You Tube is so helpful in not only explaining the differences in camera lens, but the reviewers also show you different images, to help you make up your own mind on what the benefit of one lens vs the other is. I’ll keep doing my research before I pull the trigger on another new lens.
Tomorrow is such an exciting day for us! We are heading to the spa at Tigh-Na-Mara Seaside Spa Resort! We can’t wait to experience our 5+ hours of spa pampering and enjoy unlimited tapas after the spa. We have to be at the spa at 10am tomorrow. The spa is 32 minutes down the road in Parksville. Besides ourselves the only thing we have to bring is our bathing suits and that’s it! We are provided with masks, robes, footwear and the spa is following all Covid protocols. We even got a call today telling us if we were not feeling well to stay home! With the weather forecast looking to be cloudy, grey and rainy/snow all week at +3-4C we are really looking forward to this day!
It’s hard to believe that 1 year ago today the first Coronavirus case was discovered at Sunnybrook hospital in Canada. I remember being at my office on Bay Street in Toronto watching the Tv’s we had positioned around the office and wondering how on earth was the government going to contain the virus, when plane loads of people were still travelling to and from Canada every day! Then on March 13th, 2020, we all got sent home to work and I never did go back to the office. What a difference a year makes! It’s very sad to see how many lives have been lost over the past year around the world. The good news is we do have hope and some timelines now on when the vaccine will be rolled out, so that we can get back to living our best life - travelling, visiting with relatives and friends, and enjoying seeing people in person, and being able to eat out again - safely. It’s funny how we take for granted the way things had always been in our lives and the freedom we were so used to before the pandemic. The good news is we have HOPE now and 2021 will be the year that things start to turn around for all of us. Stay safe everyone! We’ll get through this!
The Blog will probably have a day off tomorrow in case you’re looking for a blog post tomorrow. I’m not sure if I will have time to write the blog when we get home from the spa. Cheers!