Jamboree Life (pt 5)

Part 1    Part 2    Part 3    Part 4

Well here we are, almost done this blogging adventure! This is the fifth installment of my trip, and I think it may be the second last. If you've come with me this far - holy shit, you're still here?

On the right here you'll see the entrance to Excalibur subcamp, which was where Offer Of Service stayed. The OOS subcamp comprised of Ventrurer Scouts, Rover Scouts and Scouters from all across Canada and even some people from beyond!

Offer Of Service is when someone goes to camp to volunteer and "work" camp. You get placed in a work detail which could be in food services, site services, medical services, transportation, programming, security etc. The list goes on and on, it takes a lot of volunteers to run a high scare jamboree like this. I believe there was around 700 staff at the jamboree.

Each subcamp runs with the theme of the camp, this year it was Myths and Legands. As you see here, this is the entrance to Saga subcamp and they had this amazing ship built there. Each subcamp has its own team of OOS to help organize, set up, tear down, and be there for the participants whenever needed.

I've added some photos of some of the OOS food and the food line up that was the staff feeding area. We were very well fed, but it's needed when so many of us were working very hard burning calories, I did lose about 10 lbs when I returned home.

Next up is opening ceremonies. I don't have a whole lot to say about that, it went about as normal as any opening I've ever been to in my life. They did hold back OOS, then made a joke about us being late - I'm guessing that was on purpose. We waited in line to enter the field for about 45 minutes.

On my travels I found the fuel prices a lot higher than I expected. I figured that they're closer to the source of oil that the price would be better, but boy was I wrong! When I left home I think the price was $1.08 per liter for regular fuel.

Well, I think that's about it for this one, if you're still sticking around, there will be one more to finish  installment of this story that will consist of our final day in Vancouver before boarding the plane and heading home on our overnight flight.. I'm glad I'm writing this down so that I can remember it later when my memories fail me.

I'll leave you here with a picture of a deer I saw during one my shuttle shifts to Sooke, BC to and from camp. We did a last minute shuttle daily so people could visit a nearby town and access stores, transit to Victoria, and all the town had to offer. Anyway, I was astounded at how many deer we saw, they were everywhere! They'd just waltz right into town and walk up on peoples lawns and eat their gardens. To the point that deer were bordering on being local pests. I don't know if there's just so many of them or if they have nowhere else to go, but it was very strange seeing them so up close all the time.

Another Jamboree

Well, we are leaving for a couple of weeks go to another Jamboree. We will be going to British Columbia this time, and of course I will post all about it when I get back.

If you want to read about my last jamboree you can find it HERE.

And here's the garden vlog that I did earlier today.

Spring - first look into the tiny garden

So I tried a video blog... tell me what you think? Here, or there. Would be great if you subscribed. Find me on facebook as Cyreks and on twitter @cyreks

Where Does The Time Go?

I spent only 15 days in the east coast, but by the time we got home and settled it felt like half my summer was gone. Now, only weeks away from the beginning of the school year I look back a little and boy was it fun!

Coming back home and getting back into the routine of (summer) life was unfortunate. I say summer life because I am only working one job for July and August. Only days after being home I was thinking of camping again already. Only a few weeks after being back we went to our annual Show n Shine and Race event where we camped over at the track for the night. I am now considering buying a small tent trailer for our family.

Back to work, has been a slower pace compared to last summer. Where I started working late July and we were crazy busy most of the summer. I like this summer better.

Tomorrow we're going couch shopping. I am excited to actually buy a couch set *new*. If you can't tell, it's a first for me and I hope nobody ruins my new couches too soon lol

There was no real point to this post, I only felt like writing something, so if you're reading this, sorry for time waster lol

My First CJ

For over a year now our scouts have been fundraising for a week long Canadian Jamboree that is held every 4 years in different locations across Canada. This year was held at Camp Nedooea, Nova Scotia. This was an excellent opportunity for our group (many of us anyawy) to visit the east coast of Canada for the first time. We planned a 15 day adventure for our group to visit New Brunswick, Nova Scotia and Prince Edward Island, with 7 of those days at the Jamboree.

As a Rover Advisor, I went to camp as an Offer Of Service and worked with the Transportation team. The Minions went in two separate patrol units of our scout troop. We left on the Monday before the Jamboree and flew into Fredericton, NB. We rented 4 vans for the 26 of us to tour around. The OOS left the group and drove to camp on the Thursday before camp.

I began my work detail on Friday and helped over 2000 scouts and scouters arrive at camp via, plane, train or automobile. On Saturday the remaining 3000 (approx) people arrived at camp. We had many long days and nights trying to get everyone to their subcamp (close to 1000 people in each of the 7 subcamps) as best we could and as safely as possible.

Programming for troops began Sunday afternoon and included many fun things. I saw/heard of archery, mud pit, drones, giant bubble balls, bmx course and many things I can't remember but every kid I saw seemed to be having an adventure. Unfortunately it rained pretty good on the Friday and into Saturday morning so the rest of the week the campsites were pure mud.

On Wednesday of the Jamboree I had my day off and a couple of friends I met at camp and I went to Halifax. We had a nice meal, visited the harbour and boats, and the Citadel. Another long day of walking around on tired feet but lots of fun nonetheless. The time difference is only one hour, but I'll tell you something. When your body clock is used to getting up a certain time, it is very hard to change that, especially when its 5am Ontario time that you're trying to change it to!

I feel as though I now have a new addiction. I want to go to more camps, more jamborees and overall more travelling our beautiful country. I had such an amazing time not only in the maritimes but at camp, I miss all the people I met/spent time with. I miss the great times we had with the people I worked with. I miss the ocean. It calls to me. I can't wait for our next adventure!

I also felt like I came home with new eyes. I just spent 15 days living out of a backpack. I spent 9 of those days sleeping in a tent. I now see all this junk in my home that I just don't need. I want to clean out so much stuff right now it's insane.

Not Winter

I am so very thankful that there is no snow. It's just amazing to be able to go outside - even at night - with no winter jacket. To be able to sit in my chair on my front lawn and watch the clouds or the stars.

I put a couple of hours of work into the axle boot of my car the other day. Only to find out after I had it greased up, the one sold to me was not right, and is now a useless waste of money. Next time its decent out, I hope to finish it. While I did that, The Ole Man worked on a new shed to replace the half-assed dilapidated one, even with a real door! He's been hard at work building that, but for both of us it's still not that nice out. It's certainly not winter, but this spring has been a chilly one. Some really beautiful days out, but mostly still cold.

Today is rain. I got really lucky that it didn't rain on my birthday. That's unusual, but welcomed. It was one of those really nice days yesterday. We went to the Maple Syrup Festival. I had a Beaver Tail. I wish I had another one!

The girls and I have been hard at work making new paracord creations. We now have 10 colours to choose from and a wide variety of bracelets, keychains and ribbon keychains.

I've been thinking a lot about going up to McCrea Lake again. I'm really itching to go. I thing we are going to go up, just the two of us the next weekend that looks nice out. He got me a nesting camp set that I'm just itching to try out! I got a small two burner stove that I have to fiddle with and try to get it to stop leaking fuel. These things will help us pack a lot lighter for just the two of us.

The End.

Jane's Makeover

After a long wait, I finally got around to getting something done I'd wanted done for a long time.

The paint on Jane has been battered and bruised, and being over 20 years old since the factory laid it, I thought it was high time she gets some new gloss. Previously I had laid plasti-dip after I had done a lot of the prep for paint. Repaired dings and scratches, filled with bondo when needed, and sanded. That was a terrible idea. I'm pretty sure, although nobody says so, that plasti-dip was made to go over a gloss coat. If it's not on a gloss, it does not peel off like it advertises.

It took quite a bit of time to get it all off. Here's where we picked up from last years repairs.

Beginning to sand

Shout out to my amazing sponsor Vinyl By Trevor. Please look him up and follow him on facebook and twitter. He's been amazing to not only me but my car club.

 After all the plasti-dip was off the car we had to sand everything down again, and again with multiple different grit of sand paper.

Mopar or no car

 I found this on the door near the window while sanding and thought it was cool.

Taping

 There are some parts of the car you don't want to paint. I got this plastic shield stuff that we used to cover all the carbon fiber elements of the car so they didn't get painted.

getting ready for paint

almost there

Here we are in the booth after some paint has been laid.

paint booth

 Another shout out to my sponsor KMB Auto Service in Midland for letting me use their shop to paint my car.

KMB Auto Service

 Jane on the beach, soaking up the sun.

beach shot

The finished product is a white pearl paint. It shimmers slightly in the sun.

bridge shot

Although it's not perfect, she's still got a soft spot in my heart.

Raceland Coilovers

I really wasn't sure what to expect when I actually clicked "purchase" online. I had buyers remorse, immediately. I regretted not spending the money on other things, things that I actually need. I then told myself: You know what, self? (yes?) You deserve it. When was the last time you did something for you? Sure, you need new tires, or a new windshield, but that can wait till next month. This month is the time to spoil yourself for working so hard all summer. Self,  you deserve this. (Okay.) So I promptly forgot about the whole experience.

Until the day they showed up, and wanted sixty-fucking-dollars for duty (heh yeah, DOOOTYYYY). So I had to pay that shit. I was kind of pissed off to find out that a friend who purchased them only weeks before, from the same company, and lives not far from me, was not charged any duty. (heh) What in the actual fuck? Why is he so special?

Now the plan was to do these over winter... but they were just sitting here, in my living room, calling my name.... They were mocking me. Heyyyyyy.... you! Look over here! Aren't I so shiny? And pretty? So I caved, and decided I was going to get 'er done. I called a few friends and after some slight mishaps, they are now installed on Jane.

It pretty much took all week to figure them out. ALL. FUCKING. WEEK. fuck. I had major issues with rubbing the top of my rear fender when turning or bumps. I'm not entirely sure I like the ride. What's done is done though.

Work in progress

Next? Windshield, new tires, fix some shit (steering column, leaky tail lights, I can't even brain right now as to what else), a good cleaning, then she goes to sleep for another winter.

FUCK. That means I need to start the work on the beater. Ugghh lol

Better get to work.

FACK

Holy Shitballs it's been a while. By a while I mean, forever.

After being discouraged on the car, there was a happy ending.

I have much to write. So many ideas, so little time.

The anniversary of Gramma's death was not long ago and I wanted to do a piece on that. Then the conclusion to the alignment plus the trip to the track and show. After that, there's The EDGEFEST.

See? All of the things to write about.

It will be soon.

On the edge of your seat yet?

Who am I joking?

fack.

Progress Report

Well, have I been a busy bee lately? Why, yes, yes I have.

The unfortunate part is that I've been feeling very unproductively busy. The kids were at their father's for a week and I really felt like I didn't get anything done. I told my new work that I could work anything they wanted me to that week. A guy quit, and a guy was on vacation, so I was picking up hours. I worked my sweet ass off.

On top of that, I had some welding work to do. Most of which did not get done.

A couple of weeks ago I pulled out the clarion 7" fold out screen deck out of my car because the touch screen was no longer working and I couldn't deal with it anymore. I had a few friends up and we tried putting in another deck that was lying around here, which ended up not working. Another friend loaned me another one until I can afford a new one, and I wired it up myself. Which I decided I never want to do again.

Last weekend some friends helped me put the newly rebuilt rack in my car and the door speakers.

I had some unfortunate luck to have my car not start on Thursday night and had to get a tow home. Luckily it was only a few blocks, but I was without the car for almost 24 hours. After troubleshooting (wrongly) the car just started again. I'm pinning it down to wiring. Which is great.

The parts that really piss me off is that it was booked in to get the alignment on Friday, which I had to move to Monday. Also, I thought I could possibly get the pigtail to the fuel pump from work and what is listed looks absolutely nothing like what I need.

The next most shitty thing is that yesterday I ended feeling very unaccomplished because everything I tackled was a waste. The pigtail was not what I needed. I had ordered in a cam sensor in and it was the wrong one as well. I made two trips up to work, and had nothing to show for it. Yesterday felt like a complete waste.

So it was good that today was not. Although I wasted the first half of the day, and didn't even get to sleep in, I got the hitch fixed (hopefully) and the bumper sanded with a coat of the plasti-shit.

And now. It's late, and I have to work in the morning, after I drop my car off. Hopefully it's not too much of a whore, and it would be nice if it didn't need any work before the alignment.

One can hope.