Late May and Early June Activities

Wednesday May 30th I went into Hamilton to play a round of golf at Beverly Golf and Country Club, where I started my golf career as a 13 year old. That evening, with my brother Peter, I attended a fundraising dinner, lottery and auction at Beth Jacob Synagogue, the one I grew up at. I purchased one of the auction items, a pair of tickets to the Labor Day football game between the Hamilton Tiger-Cats and the Toronto Argonauts in the new stadium (built on the same site as the old one, but with the field turned 90 degrees) in Hamilton, which I had not been to yet. An event to look forward to throughout the summer, which my brother agreed to go with me to. (Many moons ago, when I was a football official in Hamilton, I worked some high school games at the old Ivor Wynn Stadium.) I stayed over for a few days. On Saturday morning we went to synagogue. In the afternoon we went to the Busker Fest in Dundas 

This performer was from Israel.

A good juggler and unicycle rider.

Street artwork piece in progress.
(One of my old nicknames was Wonder Woman, so this resonated with me.)

and on Sunday we went on a hike at the botanical gardens in Burlington. 

We encountered a lot of very friendly chipmunks. It turns out that they are that way because despite the signs saying not to feed the wildlife, many people bring nuts and seeds with them, for just that purpose. 

We visited the Iris gardens.
These large purple ones were among my favorites.

Nice quality time spent with my oldest brother.

Monday June 4th I played my first Mixed Seniors Golf league round. Registration was $10, which covers a season ending banquet. Each week is an additional $1, for prizes. They play closest to the hole on a par 4 and a putting game, where you have to predict how many putts you will have in the round and then match it with your actual performance. It didn't take me long to figure out it was better to predict a higher number, so that you had wiggle room towards the end of the round, as opposed to using them all up with several holes left to play. 

Wednesday June 6th I played my first night of Euchre at the Dunnville Legion. They have a good group of very serious players, much more serious than the Monday game at Lowbanks. They have a few different rules and give more points for lone hands than what I am used to, but the adjustments are easy to make.  

June 8th I headed to Kingston for the annual Cataraqui Golf Club Field Day (Invitational) and Eastern Provinces Match Play. The plans were the same as last year, when I also went with the trailer.

One of the prettier green complexes at Cataraqui.

View from my campsite, close to the river.

I played pretty well in the Field Day, shooting 81, and the fact that my early season play at Freedom Oaks in difficult scoring conditions helped to elevate my handicap a bit, allowed me to win Low Gross, worth $100 in the pro-shop and qualified 5th in the Match play. 

I was able to win my first round of match play rather easily. In the second round I lost a very close match. My opponent in that match went on to loose in the following round. They are planning on making this event into the Provincial Match play championship going forward. I'm not a big fan of that idea. Time will tell if I decide to continue playing in it.

The folks camping next to me were newbies and needed some help with setting up, packing up and dumping their tanks. I was able to help them a bit as the few moments I was around was when they seemed to be in the greatest need of help, so it wasn't like I had to go out of my way to be nice. 

Late May Plumbing Issues

On Monday May 28th, while I was cleaning up from dinner prior to heading to Lowbanks for Euchre for the first time the hot water tap of my kitchen faucet decided to break off! This sent a stream of hot water upwards reaching the ceiling. As the trailer plumbing system is not equipped with in line shut off valves, thinking quickly I realized that I had to run out the the water tap at the post to shut the water off. Until this problem was resolved I would not be able to use any water, because it would leak out of the opening. I didn't want to miss Euchre so I quickly cleaned up the mess, wiping off the ceiling, counter top, cabinets and floor and headed out. 

I arrived at Euchre a few minutes later than I had originally planned, but not so late as to not be able to play. Thankfully one of the ladies I played against mentioned that her husband was a plumber. She gave me his contact information.

When I got home from Euchre I filled a pail with water from the hose at the post to use to "flush" the toilet and used bottled water I had on hand for other needs. I would be able to make due, under the circumstances, until morning. 

First thing Tuesday morning I went to the local Home Hardware store and with the help of their plumbing expert purchased new faucets (l figured I should replace the bathroom sink faucet at the same time) and all the fittings (including shut off valves for hot and cold water lines on each), I thought I would need, half way thinking I could do the repair myself, but then thought better of it. I called the euchre players plumber husband and the local mobile RV repair shop. I decided to go with the plumber as his hourly rate was half that of the RV shop and was able to get there several hours sooner. 

Within 20 hours the job was completed at a total cost of about $350. Part of the repair likely would have been covered by my RV extended warranty which had a $100 deductible, but going that would have taken longer and been more inconvenient, so I'm fine with the way I handled it. 

I'm really glad the faucets have been replaced with better quality ones than the original and that the shut off valves that should have been installed originally are now in place.  Hopefully these changes/upgrades will allow me to have no or few further problems with these components of the trailer.