I started the starboard engine and let it warm up for 20 minutes to
hopefully get all of the “bad stuff” stirred up in the oil. While that was
going on, I got all of my equipment ready, including the oil filter wrench, the
5 gallon can with the oil pump and massive amounts of paper towels. The actual
oil change takes about 10 minutes to pump out the 3 gallons of used oil. The drain
plug at the bottom of the crankcase has been replaced by a pipe fitting with a
hose attached. The hose is routed up alongside the engine where a slip fitting
is attached. The photo at the right shows the slip fitting from the bottom of
the crankcase (left) and the one from the pump on the 5 gallon can (right).
The oil pump on the 5 gallon can is shown
in the photo at the left. After the oil is out, I change the filter and add 3
gallons of new oil. The oil pump on the 5 gallon can is a reversible, 12 volt
DC motor. So, I can pump the used oil back out of the 5 gallon can into the
containers that the new oil came in. Since Canada has been totally on the
Metric system for about 40 years, instead of buying 1 gallon containers of oil,
I bout 5 liter containers, which are closer to 1.32 gallons so I had to
incrementally add the last of the oil and keep checking the dip stick to see
when the oil was full. Anyway, two hours later I had finished the oil changes
on both engines, but I still had to clean up all of the tools and the 5 gallon
can. However, lunch was calling…
We walked into town and found a
delightful local bakery/restaurant (photo at right). The old house had been
converted into a bakery/kitchen in the original kitchen with the cashier and display
cabinets in the dining room, and we ate in either the old salon or drawing
room. It was the kind of place where everyone greeted you and chatted. Much
fun! I had my first sandwich in over 13 months, and it was ham with lettuce,
tomato and onion on freshly made wheat bread. We have been on the Whole 30 Diet
since June 1, 2015, and mostly since then I have lost 49 pounds and my
arthritic ankles have been more or less pain free since then. Anyway, part of
the diet is no processed flour, no sugar, and organic vegetables and meat.
The downtown is mainly on one street, and
almost all of the store fronts were occupied, but there were some vacant lots.
This unique park bench (photo at left) was in one of those lots along with
wooden planters and some shrubs. The carvings depicted stylized fish and waves
and either were new or very well cared for. We also visited the hardware store
for the second time as well as two larger stores that I would describe as
department/variety stores with a really eclectic range of goods for sale. Then
it was back to the boat to finish the oil change. I ran each engine for several
minutes to make sure that there was oil in the oil filters, and the I needed to
add about 1 quart of oil to each engine. This marina does not recycle motor oil
so we will be carrying the old oil with us until we find a marina that does.
We stayed on the boat for dinner and in
general had a quiet evening. Lucky was always on the lookout for a beach with
rocks where she could pursue her new found hobby of fetching rocks. The best
that I could do was the boat launch ramp at the marina, which unfortunately was
paved with concrete. However, she could go down the launch ramp, splash around
and drink the cool lake water. On several of her walks “we” stopped to examine
some of the many local outcrops (photo at left). The last of the glaciers
retreated through here about 6,000 years ago. There is not much soil around
here, and many of the local buildings are actually built on bedrock or have out
crops in their yards. The rock is a granite with quartz, feldspar and very
minor amounts of mica. This is they kind of rock that would polish very well
(i.e. make a good kitchen counter top), but you can also see some “scratches")
on the surface that are oriented from left to right in the photo (nail clipper for scale).
The glacial ice carries rocks with grains that range in size from dust size up to
“house” sized or larger. As these grains are dragged over the bedrock they
abrade or wear the surface down. Small particles tend to polish the surfaces,
but larger grains can scratch it. The scratches can then be enlarged by further
abrasion into glacial striae (shown here) and ultimately into large grooves
several feet or more across and deep. The alignment of the striae here show the
movement direction of the ice.
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