August on the Mountain
Cars, Critters, and Cool Nights
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The past three years have been focused on setting up a liveable space. Some days felt like pure survival and that I’d be living in the dirt forever, never to shower again. I’m so thankful to have the front room, a shower, and to be able to focus more on fun. Though it’s still far from finished and in its ‘ugly phase’, we can do other things while the weather is nice.
Shibby Shows Off Some Flex
Last year was the first annual Gold Rush car show in Greenwood B.C. I wanted to enter Shibby, but she wasn’t ready. This year we completed a few more things and drove her down. A first for both Curt and I, neither of us had entered a vehicle in a show before. It was so much fun! Everyone has a story about shenanigans in an old Toyota and the kids loved the Monster Truck. Driving there was hysterical since Shibby has very low gearing making me the slowest car on the road at 80km/h.
Proud Poultry
Tiny the hen is the last of the original chickens. Every summer she goes broody, meaning that she’s decided that she wants to be a mom. She sits on eggs whether they’re fertilized or not. I don’t have a rooster so when she went broody last month, I decided to help her out. My friends Becky and Jim gave me some fertilized eggs, I put them under her and 21 days later, 4 adorable chickies hatched! Great job, tiny the hen.
The Old Propane Fridge Works
On really hot days my electric fridge doesn’t do well, so I decided to try getting the old propane fridge going. It’s an old motor home fridge that we bought the first summer here and failed to get it going. Since then it sat behind the shed getting buried in snow for three winters. Trying again was a shot in the dark, but when we bought the propane deep freeze we learned that propane fridges need to be very level so I wanted to give that a try.
After getting it as level as possible I was having no luck. I’d also heard that flipping them over and cleaning the exhaust pipe can help, so I proceeded to roll it onto its top. When I rolled it back, an odd dohickey fell out of the exhaust! After a quick Google search, I learned that it’s a baffle which is meant to dangle a certain way in the exhaust pipe. After setting it up properly, to my complete shock the old fridge fired up and got cold. I now have a more efficient propane fridge.
Babe Gets New Headgaskets
I named my silver truck ‘Babe’ because when we bought it a couple of years ago, it already had high miles and was showing signs of needing a new head gasket. Until recently it drove well until it suddenly began overheating. Time to do one of the biggest jobs that there is, in a tent, on the side of a mountain. For this job, I put aside my ego and made my main task feeding Curt. It’s a big complicated job, and way outside of my depth as a parts person - but watching and learning was a blast.
Healthy Purr Monsters
When I took the little kitties home they were short a few meals, needed a bath and their ears cleaned. Now they’re well-fed and growing like weeds, already looking like they’ll be bigger than Luci. After weeks of the kittens trying to play with her, Luci has finally warmed up and engages them in her own slightly aggressive, funny way.
Another Headgasket?!
After a day of scrubbing and fine-tuning Shibby for the car show, my friend Hermosa messaged me. Her very cool second-generation Toyota pickup with a 22re (Toyota’s best engine in my opinion) was having issues and broke down nearby. Curt and I packed up in the dark and went to see if we could help. It had overheated, and was spewing coolant. Curt also noticed that it had a lot of ‘blow by’ - meaning that air was getting past the piston rings. Time for a rebuild including the head gasket, pistons, rings, and much more. So far we’ve had a ton of fun taking it apart. A rebuild kit is on order and I’m excited to get it back on the road.
Bunny Burgers
I love roasting rabbit whole or quartering and frying it, but when I want to make a quick meal it’s a bit of a pain. Whole rabbits also take up a lot of space in my freezer, so it was time to try grinding it. It went better than expected so I made spaghetti sauce with it that night. The meat cooks much like turkey, and I was able to make bone broth with the leftover parts. Next up, burgers.
My Place on the Mountain
I titled July as ‘the month that flies’ but holy did August fly too. Full of fun, productivity and friends. Summer on the mountain has been a lot of hard work, but it’s also been fulfilling and I feel like I’ve found my place.
Great times. I thought you guys would enjoy car shows, and you did.