Sawdust Everywhere

Since The Cowboy’s shopping trip to Home Depot last week he’s taken on a few projects around here.

The first thing he made was a larger work surface for his Work Mate:

 

He’s using the vice grips of the Workmate to hold it on or it can easily be removed.

 

 

One of the first items we purchased before hitting the road was Streets & Trips GPS. We use this software to plan our trips and as a live GPS on the road. It really provides a lot of information and is very user friendly. The Cowboy sets up his laptop on the dash for easy visibility.

The Bounder had a flatter dash than the Phaeton so for his second challenge of  the day he made up this little shelf to keep the laptop in a better position

The top:

with a stopper on the bottom to keep it from sliding:

Both sides are covered with ‘non-skid fabric’.

The pictures is for demonstration only -  the plant does not sit up there when we are travelling.

And the finished project:

The third item on the list was a shelf or table to hold The Cowboy’s refreshments as we travel. Being a true cowboy he drinks a lot of coffee. He doesn’t like to eat a lot while he’s driving but if we are on the road for more than 3 or 4 hours at a time I try to keep some healthy snacks available. He enjoys fruit like bananas & grapes, nuts and granola bars. Actually, he really enjoys chocolate and salty cashews but I try to keep that at a minimum.

This is the before:

For those of you non RVers, that’s not our TV, it’s a back up camera. This one actually has an audio feature. That means that when I’m behind the motorhome and guiding (with arm signals the we really haven’t worked out yet) The Cowboy as he’s backing into a site he can actually hear me – that is, if he chooses to turn it on. For those of you nagivators out there who help the pilot with this I know you’ll see the humour in that.

Now with careful measuring he fit this piece:

like so:

then this piece fit:

like so:

and with a coat of stain, this is the finished view:

Now for some ‘behind the scenes’ shots:

This is what our (construction) site looked like:

He seems to be happiest when everything is covered in sawdust!

 

 

 

 

 

 

There’s 3 items scratched off of that never ending list.

Good Job Honey . . . and thanks for cleaning up too.

Today I’m grateful for Oak trees.

Whine & Dine

Port Stanley's uniqueness lies with it’s natural attractions such as the meandering Kettle Creek & the multitude of leisure boats that dot it’s banks . . . . . click on the link above to read more.

Our plans for today included a wonderful pot luck dinner with family and friends at Kanagio Yacht Club.

This is just one of the many benefits when your daughter marries into a family that shares the same interests as you do like RVing, boating and ahhh yes, eating!

Father’s Day 2010 with Dave, Dave Sr., Shy & The Cowboy. All healthy choices here . . . KFC & Tim Horton Donuts .

Dave Sr. owns a 5th wheel and winters in Florida, spending a lot of time in this area among family & friends during the summer. So far this summer, as much as we have been able to keep up, he has travelled out west and visited with friends. Originally, from Truro, Nova Scotia, he will be travelling back there after Labour Day weekend for a lengthy visit with more family & friends.

He also moors his beautiful cabin cruiser here at this Yacht Club and we are fortunate enough that he invites us out to enjoy this wonderful community.

Dave, Shy & Karen – Dave’s brother Joel’s wife.

Joel – had to sneak in a pic of him. He’s usually sleeping or working and isn’t able to attend a lot of these functions. He works full time driving truck plus plays in a band (or 3).

Same 3 again with hey . . . wait a minute! That’s Dave Sr. The Captain . . . what the heck?

Oh well, okay then. The Cowboy has everything under control. Whew!

Here’s Karen again at yet another event – Lobsterfest!

Every year, during the lobster season Dave Sr. has a few hundred pounds of fresh lobster flown in from the East Coast. If we play our cards right – meaning if we whine enough   he finally weakens and invites us too.

Yesterday (apparently we’ve got this whining thing down pretty good) we got to enjoy another food fest.

Just a reminder: Click on the photo for a larger image.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cook it and they will come!

 

Dave has a special cooker, that looks much like a turkey deep fryer, that he roasted that beautiful large beef roast. Plus someone else provided some delicious rotisserie chicken. With all of the other generous pot luck dishes we had all kinds of salads, breads, beans, fresh and cooked seasonal veggies plus desserts . . . everyone was stuffed!

We really enjoy the feel of community and we’ve come to know some of the fun & crazy people that hang out here. We’ve always had a great time with them.

Not only does Dave Sr. put a lot of work into organizing these events, he also, very generously, covers a lot of the cost. A sincere heart-felt ‘Thank You Dave’!

What a bonus for us – starting out as family – ending up as friends!

While we were eating the sky darkened with some threatening clouds but fortunately it passed over. It did, however, make for some interesting shots on our way back home.

Sadly, we’ve since learned that Goderich was devastated by a tornado.  Goderich is located northwest of us on the eastern shore of Lake Huron and is well known for it’s beautiful sunsets. Queen Victoria dubbed it as ‘The Prettiest Town in Canada’.

Our thoughts and prayers are with the area residents as they recover from this terrible devastation.

Beautiful Sunshine, Beautiful Women

Glorious sunshine & clear blue skies joined us today for our trip to London.

We both needed to renew our passports this year and while I chose to have mine mailed The Cowboy opted to pick his up. With that done we made arrangements with Shy, our youngest daughter, to meet for lunch at
The Dawghouse. We were literally welcomed with open arms.

Cindy, our oldest daughter

Good timing for us – Hannah, Cindy’s youngest daughter, was there and working on her resume. She works part time as hostess at the Dawghouse but she’s looking for something different and with more hours. She’s a bit envious of her sister Abby who’s working at McDonalds and bringing in some $. They are both excelling in high school but they’re finished around 2:30 or so in the afternoon so she would like to find something to fill in the summer and after school hours.

We are always treated royally here (Get it? Princess – treated royally?  aw, well) and today was no different with Teresa as our server. Teresa & her family have been friends of Cindy & Bill’s family for a lot of years and also works for them. Her daughter Stephanie works at the Dawghouse too. It’s definitely a family affair.

We always enjoy the food here and there’s a huge selection.The daily soups are simply ‘to die for’.  Not sure if they still make it or not but they use to have this awesome potato & bacon creamed soup topped with fresh kettle chips. Simply the best! Today we tried their Cheesy Jalapeno and we were not disappointed! Yum!

Shy opted for her usual steak wrap with a Caesar side salad.

 

 

 

 

The Cowboy ordered one of their specialty burgers and I went with the day’s special - chicken, spinach, cheese & mushroom wrap with poppy seed dressing.

My side choice was a greek salad which I shared with The Cowboy and check out the size of that burger!

The servings were so generous I ended up with a doggy bag. Pun intended.

Below is a collage of photos that I took just to give you a feel of the great atmosphere this establishment offers.

Who Me . . . Biased?     Nope.     Not Me.      *cough*

Actually, after looking at this collage, it’s only of the upper section where we usually sit. I was just concentrating on the collection of dogs in this portion. There is another larger area where the horseshoe shaped bar is and generous booth seating as well as several bar height tables and chairs. There’s lots of light from the front of the building which is all tinted glass. Lots of patrons enjoy the outside patio too. There is so much more but that’s another post.

After our good-bye hugs we waddled out of there to do some shopping. The Cowboy headed on down to his favourite store – The Home Depot. He needed some oak shelving for a couple of projects he’s got lined up for the motorhome. Most of the time we save our projects for the winter while we are in Texas and everything is usually cheaper. However, oak is pretty scarce down in the valley.

Shy & I decided that Michael’s Craft & Home Décor deserved our attention (and money).

From there we headed over to Value Village and Shy seems quite pleased with her treasures.

Our plans came together as we met up there with The Cowboy who apparently . . .

plans on doing some baking with his new cookie sheet & muffin tins.    Boy, I wish there was a ‘sarcastic’ font available on here

After checking out we parted ways with Shy for the day and headed back to Tillsonburg. After texting my girlfriend Patti we made arrangements to meet up for Chinese buffet. We sure didn’t need another big meal but for the last couple of years whenever we get together with John & Patti it’s usually at Ming’s and it’s usually on Friday night.

Since we’ve been staying down at the lake it’s been a bit more difficult to get together with them. Well, tonight John wasn’t expected home until around 10 but Patti joined us on her own.

Ming’s is just a little restaurant but the food is always fresh and hot and we’ve always really enjoyed their wonton soup. They have a small salad bar, a nice variety of main dishes and a small dessert table too. It was just such a pleasure to relax and visit with Patti.

We’ve been friends for about 25 years and she’s one of those wonderful friends that it doesn’t matter how often we see or talk to each other – the conversation just picks right up where you left off.

She’s a real nature lover so I’m going to end this post with one of my favourite nature shots recently taken here at the park.

Hope your day was as great as mine!