Another Week and a visit to Freightliner

We started the week out with a road trip to our favourite Freightliner spot in Red Deer. Surprisingly although it was just off the QEII highway it was a pretty quiet place to spend the night, and they had me back the rig into the shop at 7 AM sharp so, no waiting. After a few minutes of head scratching they figured that it was probably a thermostat problem, but that had to come from elsewhere so it was parked just outside waiting for the parts truck. The thermostat arrived on schedule at 3 PM and they got right back at it. Now those who drive these outfits know that nothing is easy when it comes to changing things in a motorhome. The mechanic spent some time puzzling over how to get at the engine and then came into the lounge looking for some hints from me. Well I had never figured that out myself but I figured if some engineer had built it a couple of smart guys from the patch should be able to figure out how to take it apart. Tried to get a hint from the Fleetwood dealer in town but he was stumped so we just started taking things apart looking for a clue. Took us a couple of hours but eventually the mystery was solved. Pretty easy you just rip up the carpet, tear apart the floor, and the bed, remove a dozen screws, and a couple of nails, and presto there is the top of the engine. Changing the thermostat took about 5 minutes, getting to it, and putting the bus back together took 4 and a half hours.

Now this was the second time I have been in a Freightliner here in Canada and both of them were great to deal with and even included me in the operation. It is always nice to see how things come apart and watch the mechanics at work, you just never know when some guy will come and ask you how to get to something. Now I know….and once we got it done and finished the test drive I headed for home about 10 PM. Long day but hopefully the problem is solved.

Just thought I should throw in a picture of flower as that seems to be something that bloggers do. No idea what it is but it is growing wild in the old garden behind the house, that and about a million weeds.

The rest of the week was spent just doing the usual stuff around the farm, mowing grass, fixing fences and working with a horse that has a phobia about getting in the trailer, all fixed for the moment but tomorrow is a new day and the grass is still growing, moose still breaking fences and who knows what challenges the horses will think up overnight.

This weekend we had our oldest granddaughter, Claire, staying with us and we brought the last load of furniture down from Brenda’s house in Rocky Mountain House so while we are there we got an inspection from Ms. Ella, she was having trouble figuring out where all Grandma’s stuff had gone.

Once we got the stuff all unloaded Claire and I thought it was time to head out and look for a geocache nearby that has been stumping us for a while. A little different perspective and we managed to find what was advertised as a peanut butter jar, nobody mentioned the camo tape on it…..lol. Along the way we also managed to find a few million mosquito’s so we took the photo, logged our find, and ran for the truck.

Today we had a little time to get a ride in and Claire, and Brenda’s horse, Rosie were hitting it off pretty good.

Matt, Meg and Mack below here and Meg looks just a little like she thinks that puppy is getting to be a nuisance, but soon they were back at it rolling around and play fighting.

 

Here is a shot from a hill about 4 miles east of our place looking off towards the Rockies, if it wasn’t for those darn mountains we’d have a heck of a view of the ocean. There is a very small red tick on the far right in the upper third of the shot and that is where our little place down the road from Dogpound is located.

Now this evening I happened upon a scary sight for us folks here on the Northern Ranges.

Yep, nestled in amongst those nice green leaves there is a tinge of yellow and that my friends is a harbinger of things to come around here. Now Brenda’s house closes on the 16th, and if I can just talk her into moving out, we are ready to pull up stakes, and as Mark says, “slosh some diesel fuel” and get this outfit rolling, where we are not sure but hopefully somewhere the leaves are planning on sticking around for a while longer.