Friday

Well, it's friday, and today at around 2:30 we will have been here in Moosonee for a week. It's kinda hard to believe it's only been a week. So much has happened that it feels much longer!
We are still having truck problems but we're starting to get a handle on them. We bought a magnetic heater that's meant to warm up the oil pan, but really can be stuck to pretty much anything under the hood. Right now we've got it stuck to the mounts that hold the battery. Near as we can tell with our rudimentary mechanical knowledge, the block heater failed, and while the rest of the engine was still warm enough to have gotten going, the battery didn't like that too much. It drained away dead. And probably cracked a cell. Once we managed to warm the battery up enough, and with a boost we got it going on Wednesday, but we had the magnetic heater turned off and by yesterday morning it had gotten too cold again and wouldn't start. There's some crusty crap on the top of the battery too, so we know it needs to be replaced, but the new one won't make it to town until next Wednesday. In the mean time yesterday we warmed it back up and got a boost from yet another buddy (we owe people a round of beers big time!) and she started up again. Sweet. We pretty much left it running most of the day for fear of not being able to start it again. We did as many of the things we need a truck for as we could think of. We went by the apartment and dropped off what was still in the truck. We went by the train yard and brought all our bins of stuff over to the apartment in three trips. We even picked up some groceries, so we can cook a little more here in the kitchen at the hotel. Last night we had soup and grilled cheese, it's not fancy, but it was filling.
I'm starting to get really excited about the apartment! Things are coming together, they need to hook up the overflow drain in the bathtub, turn the water on to the unit, finish up the kitchen counters, grout the tiles in the kitchen and entrance and finish painting the trim, then it's just a matter of cleaning up and packing up and letting us get in. They're not quite sure how much of it they'll get done today, but they've okayed us to have our new furniture and appliances delivered tomorrow, and we may be able to take possession tomorrow night or some time sunday. Cool! I can't wait to start setting it all up. Especially the kitchen. It's handy having something of a kitchen here in the hotel, but with one pot, one pan, and no bakeware except for a burnt crusty cookie sheet, and terrible dull knives, I'll be happy to unpack all my new kitchen gadgets!
This morning, after leaving the magnetic heater on the battery housing all night, the truck did start up. It was a little rough and it took a couple tries, but we got her going. It's about all we can ask for right now. If we can just baby her and keep her running until Wednesday, we should be in the clear. Moral of the story: the truck might be built for Canadian winters, but Toronto winters are very very different from Moosonee winters. And batteries hate cold weather.