Latin (tem-pu̇s-ˈfü-git): Time Flies
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This is the chair where worries melt away as you look out over the bay in front of our cottage. It’s Thanksgiving weekend and we’re closing up the cottage at the end of another great summer season. I’m so very thankful for a wonderful family, Shirley, my loving wife, two great sons Eric & Scott, and Dez & Mandi. It’s been a fun weekend having everyone together. 
I was out walking at lunch today and found myself at Photo Central. And as you can imagine when you find yourself in a store that specializes one of your favorite hobbies, photography, you can’t help but look around and getting interested in some new gear. The first was a camera bag by Lowepro that was also a backpack, very nice. Then there was the tripod bag, which would be great for trucking around the Manfroto. Or how about a new monopod? Light, portable and flexible a great accessory. Then there was the Canon hand strap, a whopping $50, which also required that you use the battery pack. And of course I been looking at the flashes, 430EX & 580EX , which are both quite nice. There was also an announcement for some photography courses and it would be good to improve the technique. Any way, just in case anyone is interested, Christmas is coming.
We left Billings Montana at 8am this morning and decided on the scenic route as opposed to the Interstate. The scenic route takes us right through Yellowstone National Park, a first for Shirley and I. It was a sunny morning and the mountains and country side were quite beautiful. The road tracks along the Yellowstone River and then the Snake river and there are many guys out in the rivers fly fishing, something I’d like to try in a big way. several years ago I bought a very nice fly fishing rod in Banff and have never really used it yet and never caught a fish either. Anyway, the drive is very nice and views are spectacular. Around lunch time, we’re at Old Faithful and according to the predictions we’ll have 40 minutes to catch lunch in the cafeteria before the eruption. The cafeteria is quite busy but service and the food is good and we’re back outside with 10 minutes to spare. The forecast is pretty accurate and Old Faithful does it’s stuff for the crowd. Surprisingly nobody cheers and it’s very nice but somehow not as spectacular as I thought it might be, but then perhaps I’m just jaded. After all it’s been erupting for longer that I’ve been alive with great regularity, and that is something of a wonder all by itself.
The scenic route has added several hours on to the trip and now were really booking it to make up time but the 2-way highway, curves and mountain, and little towns ever couple of miles are making some of us wish we were on the Interstate. But, I’m having a good time and the whole day is dedicated to the trip and getting into Salt Lake will just put us inside a hotel anyway and I’m glad we’ve spent the time enjoying God’s creation.
We just drove through Paris, perhaps we made a wrong turn at Alburque, Doc! Shortly, we’ll hook back up to I-15 for the run into Salt Lake City and then we’ll play with the GPS to take us to the hotels. The next few days will be the USANA convention and we’ll start with the Head Office production tour where they make the bust nutritional supplements in the world.
Here we are on the road trip to Salt Lake City. Thanks to my Lotus Notes client I’m writing this from the back seat of the van at 3pm and it will get posted later tonight when we arrive a the hotel. We left town at about 7:30am with Keith & Barb and we’re on our way to the USANA International Convention. This will be our first and we’re looking forward to what we’ll learn and experience. We’re on I-94 heading west on the same route I’ll take in two weeks to go “Biking with the Boys” on our fifth annual bike trip to the Maah Daah Hey trail near Medora, ND. The big difference this time is that the sun is up. On the biking trip we’ll be driving through the night to arrive for a pre-dawn start on the day for a hard day of biking.
We should arrive in Billings at about 8pm and get a good sleep for the second day’s drive which will be a little shorter, only 9 hours as opposed to todays 12 1/2 hour haul. There has been quite a bit of construction on the road, but he delays have been minimal. On several stretches there have
been state troupers enforcing the construction zone speed limit, so we’re being careful now for sure.
I seem to have slacked off on posing anything over the last little while which is surprising since one of the big sign posts for time flying just flew by, Eric got married. That’s right, August 21, 2005 Eric & Desirae were married. The day was fabulous, and more exciting that I ever imagined. We’re thrilled to have Dez as part of our family and so happy and proud to see them both start out in their new life together.
All of us parents have heard the line that typically goes like “they will be grown up and gone before you know it”, and of course we try to ignore it or think it won’t happen to us or something equally lame, but guess what? Time Flies. So here we are, adjusting to having one less in the house and wondering when we’ll see him next, trying not to call too often and thinking of almost any reason to make the call anyway. A new stage of life for them and a new stage of life for us. The best is yet to come.
I’m thinking of caving in and buying an MP3 player and of course an iPod would be high on the list. This as got to hurt Apple, not just in the wallet, but I’d think their pride would be damages a little too.
I stopped in at our local Christian Book store, Hulls to do a little browsing on my lunch hour. While cruising the CD section I noticed a new touch screen system that allows you to browse their selections and hear about 1 minute of every track on a CD. This is a very nice system that was developed by a local Winnipeger and friend in BC. I had a couple of CDs in hand that I was doing to buy on spec, so I looked them up and played a few tracks. I liked what I heard, so that confirmed my selection. But the system was so nice to use I browsed several other selections and DVD videos as well. Good stuff guys.
The Aquarobic System is what powers our septic system at the lake. Somehow, when it was installed over 22 years ago, I became the custodian of the system. This involves some shutting down and opening up maintenance that some might find objectionable, but it doesn’t seem to bother me especially after learning to deal with diapers. For many years the system ran with very little attention. Then there was a period where the belt between the electric motor and the compressor seemed to fail on a regular basis, followed by failures of the electric motor itself. A more careful alignment of the motor and compressor pulleys seems to have solved the rapid belt deterioration and the return to putting the whole unit inside for the winter seems to make the electric motor last longer.
Breakdown is inevitable as the unit runs 7X24 May long weekend to Thanksgiving every year. But, over the last couple of years a new problem has arisen. The system is comprised of the air compressor, a holding tank, a settling tank and the actual septic field. Cottage waste water arrives in the holding tank where it is aerorated to speed the breakdown process. An air lift send a small amount of effluent over into the settling tanks where of course it “settles” and the more or less clear liquid rises up through a filter and out into the field. On a twice daily schedule the air flow from the compressor is diverted from the holding tank into the settling tank which causes a pump back action, forcing the contents of the settling tank back into the holding tank for a “re-mix”.
Here is where the problems begin. The diverter valve started to malfunction and was not closing either of it’s paths completely. This resulted in high water levels in both tanks as each tank was umping into the other at the same time. Not a good situation. After testing some stuff and poking around with he diverter mechanism, I determined it needed to be replaced. However, the company that sold the Aquarobic System is long gone and a source of parts is not available. After some searching on the web determined that I need a Honeywell 4044 diverter valve. I stop by the local Honeywell distributor only to find their doors locked and nobody to assist me during business hours on a week day. Bad on you! But, there is a nearby valve place so I explain my problem to them but they can’t help me, but I do get referred to Central Controls.
This really the highlight of the story and the reason for the post. The guys at Central Controls were really great. Vince and Jim went out of there way to help me solve my valve problem. Vince called a valve manufacturer and came up with two great solutions and emailed me a quote in short order. The solutions were good, but a bit of overkill for my application. Since Vince went on vacation, Jim picked up my case and located a Winnipeg dealer who could supply an exact replacement for the Honeywell 4044 and even ensured that they had it in stock and sent me over to pick it up directly without any markup. This is what all customer service should be like. Well done guys, and thanks.
We took the boat out for a cruise on the lake this afternoon. It’s a great day, very calm and hot which made for great boating. We headed south west and planned on looping by Queen Island and up thru Crow Rock Pass and back home. But, the GPSr showed a geocache in the neighborhood so we made a little side trip. It was just 28km round trip off our planned route, but it was such a nice day we headed off further south. Well there is noting like 4 hours on the open water under a hot sun to for on your tan or fry you to a crisp. One of us survived, but Shirley is looking a bit like a lobster tonight!
See that little spec at the head of the white line? It’s a plane. And more that likely it’s heading to Toronto. Poor them. This picture is from my boat on beautiful Lake of the Woods. It’s sunny 25-27, breezy and a great day.
Several times on business trips to and from Toronto I’ve been able to look out the window and spot the point of land where our cottage is located from about 30,000 on a clear day. You see, right over Lake of the Woods is where the Air Canada Toronto to Winnipeg flight starts it’s descent into Winnipeg. When I’m at the lake and look up and see the contrails of jets going east and west overhead I can’t help but think of the people in that amazing flying machine going to and from the big TO. Hopefully, they are traveling for happy and good reasons and not just another business gig. I’m so much happier looking up from the dock and viewing the plane that when I’m on the plane looking down on the dock.
Today, we were heading into Kenora (see the pictures) to return some movies and I couldn’t help but think of the people on the plane. Friend’s are moving back to Toronto, but they are driving, and that’s another story.
