Saturday, October 18, 2025

Handy Sandy and the Burnt-out Tail Light

 Hullo! Handy Sandy here! Today we are working on a slightly different project... You see, this tail/brake light is working...


But this one is not! And if you're wondering who is holding down the brake pedal while we are doing this...

It is "Large Paving Stone"!

So... we did some research and figured out which light bulb to get for this light. Because it is a tail & brake light... it needs a dual filament bulb...

Which we found at Canadian Tire (of course).

And yes, I did watch a YouTube video about how to remove the light assembly and replace the bulb...

First... we are going to remove the screws that are holding the light assembly in place. We had to open the back hatch to access those...

There... that's all done... Let's not lose these!!

Then we just wiggled our fingers (OK... the human's fingers) under the edges of the light assembly and popped it off. But it's still attached with this power supply

Again... if you're doing this at home, you will need human fingers to disconnect the power supply...

Then we have the three light sections - the bottom one with the coloured wires is the one we want.

You turn that grey bit and... voila! Out pops the socket with the light bulb...

So we changed out the light bulbs and... put it all back in...

That was easy! Let's test it, shall we...

Um... Houston... we have a problem...

What the heck??? Maybe the paving stone is not doing its job?

Nope... other light is working fine... just not this one...

We had to put our thinking caps on for this one... and check a couple of reddit forums where we saw one comment that said it matters which way you put the light bulb in... Because it has two filaments, it needs to be put in one way, and one way only... So we dismantled the whole dang thing, took the bulb out, rotated it 180 degrees (it has two little bumps on the side that slot into the socket)... and...

It works!!!! 

Handy Sandy saves the day! And note to others... if it's a dual filament bulb... it will fit both ways, but it will only work one way!





Wednesday, October 15, 2025

A National Historic Site Visit - Fort Rodd Hill - Part 2

 Hullo!! We are continuing our exploration of Fort Rodd Hill... it was a fortress that operated from the 1890s to 1956...


We are meandering past a few buildings and saw a sign for the search light batteries...

So let's follow this trail!

It's very pretty...

But the turn-off for the search light batteries was roped off...

This is annoying... 

But we could kind of see the old battery through the trees.

There it is!

We found a side trail that led us down to the beach...

That's the Fisgard Lighthouse over there... we'll visit that too!

But right now... this place is perfect for...

A picnic lunch!!

And we had fresh mangos... yum!!!

Excellent picnic spot!

Onwards!!

One thing we learned is that barn swallows LOVE to nest in these old buildings but they create quite a poopy mess... so they have built stand-alone swallow shelters to entice them to build their nests elsewhere...

I guess it's sort of working... there's one nest here...

But if I was a swallow, I'd much prefer a nice snuggly old concrete building as opposed to some wobbly wooden thing!

Let's go in here...

Oooh, this part was finished in 1898... nice puke-green colour...

Umm... see... poop...

And swallow nest... on top of an electrical junction box... maybe not the best spot!

We learned that during WW2, on 20 June 1942, a Japanese submarine shot at the Estevan lighthouse, north of Tofino, on the west coast of Vancouver Island. I imagine this place went on high alert after that!

There's another big gun up here...

Alright... on to the next bit!

TO BE CONTINUED

Saturday, October 11, 2025

Top Item on a Bear's Bucket List

 Today... we went to one of my Bucket List items...


If you look off in the distance... wayyyyyy over there....

Do you see them?? Those boxes... yes...

We are at a local honey place!!!!

Be still my beating heart... soooo much honey!!!

Creamed honey and liquid honey and honey pollen and honey in bear jars and... just... honey!

After a beary long browsing session... I chose this one... you might think this is a large jar for a little bear but... winter is coming and this little bear needs to stock up!