Max's propane problem, and granddaughter Sadie comes for a visit

I've been trying to work on the solution to our RV propane problem with our motorhome Max who is waiting for us over in Germany. What we want is tanks that can be refilled at a self serve style gas station type of propane pump that are common all over Europe. It's the cheapest and most convenient way of filling your propane.

But the problem is that I can't get anybody to install a system in Germany that is cost effective. 

So, there's another thing out of the way

We were back up at the house yesterday. We are almost done though... probably one more day to finish everything up, so we won't go up again until Sunday. I got both the back and the front entrance doors painted while Ruth's brother Colin had rented a heavy duty carpet cleaner at Home Depot and did the rug in the family room. It was in pretty nasty shape, and we considered actually changing it out but the end result using the cleaner was better than expected so I think we'll just leave it.

When selling a house it's always a big question mark as to how much painting and decorating to do, isn't it? Because many people will move to a new home and redecorate anyhow the way they want it.

You can't see everything

You may have noticed the header photos are showcasing our Africa trip during 2013-14. It occurred to me that we didn't have very good internet at times during that trip, and not as many photos got posted to this blog. Anyhow, we're not doing much that warrants a new header photo right now so I thought I would put some of the better ones up through this month.

We recently spent two months in Tanzania and never went on safari. We simply couldn't justify the ridiculous cost, especially right after we spent ridiculous amounts of money climbing Kilimanjaro. And actually, I don't regret not doing the safari thing.

September is the best time of year to be in Canada

In our opinion, September is definitely the best time of the year to visit any part of Canada. That's why we purposely try to plan our visits to Canada during this month.

In Canada, most of the kids go back to school the first week of September, so if you're out exploring things will be quieter. The mosquitoes and black flies that typically infest most of Canada during the other good weather months of May through August have pretty much died off by September. And September weather is usually exactly the way we like it... not too hot, and not too cold.

August Expenses

Not a bad month.

Considering we had pricey summertime flights from Germany back to Canada, and paid for an expensive 10 day car rental, our expenses were only slightly higher than we expected them to be.

We spent a total of $2,836 CAD ($2,255 USD) for the month. Here's how it all broke down...

Moving to another country

As most of you know, we haven't spent much time in Canada the last three years. Since we left in the fall of 2018, we have spent a total of about three months here. And the main reason we have come back at all is to visit family and friends. 

We actually have no intention of ever "living" here again. While we are currently nomads, and don't see ourselves settling down in the foreseeable future, it's impossible not to have a residence address somewhere because you need to for banking and tax purposes.

September plans

We've now been in Canada for just over two weeks already and August is coming to a close. We will still be here for the full month of September though.

Since we have arrived, we have seen all of the family except for my younger sister. We also haven't seen any of our friends, and we know how quickly the next four and a half weeks will fly by. So we need to make some plans.

Finally made it out for a bike ride

We hadn't been on our bicycles since September of last year! Almost a full year ago. 

The hot weather finally broke yesterday, and with some cooler temperatures (high of 24C, 75F) we went out fairly early to get some exercise before heading back up to do some more work at the house. There is a long mixed use rail trail near here, so we headed over there to see what there was to see.

How the other half lives

Our morning power walk takes us through a very wealthy neighborhood. On our 5 km (3 mile) route, we pass by many multi million dollar homes. Even the house that we're living in is a beautiful home, but it doesn't compare to these mansions.

I bet we could live a good life just on the amount these people spend on utilities and maintenance!

News from Germany

We had left Max at the dealer in Germany with a list of items that needed to be done. Most were minor warranty things, but they weren't even really that important. The important one was the upgraded refillable propane system that I want to have installed. 

Their service unit got back to me yesterday with a price of €1900 ($2,800 CAD, $2,250 USD) which is ridiculous. I had been expecting a price around €1,000.