Its been awhile since I've sat down to put together some thoughts...unimportant as they might be. Things around here are kind of boring, unless your talking about the lousy weather. Actually the lousy weather is the reason it's boring. Wednesday it rained all day and during the night we had thunderstorms. It didn't stop raining until Thursday afternoon. With the rain came colder temps and high winds. Low thirties overnight and just into the fifties during the day. Now the fifties wouldn't be that bad if the wind wasn't making the fifties feel like the twenties. Today (Sunday) the sun came out for the first time in the last five days. I know it's much worse up north, but this is Florida after all.
The weather keeps everyone in their RV's or away from the campground. We've never met our neighbors on either side of us. On our left is a fifth wheel where we saw a couple young boys the day we got here. Since then only the occasional glimpse of (grandma?). She seems to be there alone with no vehicle there in a couple weeks. On our right is a 46 foot Newmar RV. Newmar is the most expensive RV you can buy. The price tag is somewhere in the vicinity of $750,000. The occupants are a couple in their 60's. We've never actually seen the woman except in their car. They go away for the day most days. Parked next to this RV makes me feel we're in the wrong neighborhood. We've certainly brought down the value of that Newmar.
Speaking of the neighborhood, we are moving to our permanent spot tomorrow. I'm looking forward to it even though it means a lot of work tearing down and setting up. We'll be down much closer to the Santa Rosa Sound. Just three spots from the beach. We'll be right across the street from the only new people we've met (Russ & Beth Jackson). Diane and Jeff Bloss, our friends from last year will be in the spot next to us when they arrive in March.
Yesterday we attended Mass at our winter parish, St. Sylvester. Father Kelly is still the pastor. We didn't hear anything about a 'welcome snowbirds' luncheon like they had last year. Hopefully they do it again.
I think you know by now I've been working on a presentation to be given to the Grain Elavator and Processing Systems (GEAPS) group. I shared some of what I planned to say with my son Mark. I told him I was going to share some of my experiences with actually combining several rows of corn. Mark commented, "telling a group of farmers about your combining experience is like telling a firefighter that you've used a hose!!" I liked his comment so much I plan to share it with the real farmers! Thanks, Mark.
Till next time, "life is too short to stuff a mushroom".
jim
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
LOCK UP
Coffee and donuts this morning in the Pavilion. We met a couple from Joliet, IL. Russ and Beth live on a farm outside Joliet. Their 1200 acre farm has been in the family for 130 years. Russ' son has pretty much taken over the farming. I told him of my limited knowledge as well as my skills of combining. For those who don't know, when I was doing some work for an Ag retailer in Iowa, a very trusting farmer taught me how to run his combine. After some observation he actually allowed me to combine several rows of corn. I don't think Russ was all that impressed. Anyway, Russ and Beth seem like a fun couple. I'm sure we'll be seeing more of them over the next couple months.
After the coffee gathering, I told Mary Ellen to head back while I used the men's room. You have to understand there are two entrances to the men's room. One door is off the pavilion, the other is from the outside. When I went in I noticed they were obviously doing some renovating. They're putting up new tile. Ok, no problem. All the toilets were still there. When I was ready to leave I decided to go out the door to the outside. It was locked. No problem, I'd just go out through the pavilion. Oops. This door is also locked. Apparently the lady who ran the coffee and donuts took 'locking up' to a whole new level. What I didn't know was there was a CLOSED for renovation sign on the door from the outside. Of course the door that I went in was OPEN. Luckily I had my cell phone. I called my lovely wife, and when she finally stopped laughing she agreed, albeit reluctantly, to find someone with a key. Five minutes later I was a free man. Mary Ellen was still laughing when I got back.
We have about a month before our friends Diane and Jeff arrive. We were neighbors last year and will be again this year. We'll be on site 11 and they are on 12. Last year Diane gave me a very hard time because our trailer wasn't perfectly centered on the concrete pads. She thought I should definitely straighten it out. I refused on the grounds that we were all hooked up (sewer line, cable, water, stableizers down, hitch off the truck etc.) No way was I going to move. However, knowing that Diane will be here in a month will give me an entire month to get it right this year. I will pre-measure and chalk the concrete for accuracy. My goal this year is to pass the "Diane Parking Requirements" exam! I WILL PASS. Even though this year I have to back in!!
Today saw us doing several chores including washing windows, fixing a door and a drawer. Of course we had to make a visit to Wal Mart and Walgreens and return a hubcap that didn't fit to the RV store. Busy day.
Till next time (I asked you to remember this last year, but it's even more meaningful this year)."Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were in congress, but I repeat myself"!
jim
After the coffee gathering, I told Mary Ellen to head back while I used the men's room. You have to understand there are two entrances to the men's room. One door is off the pavilion, the other is from the outside. When I went in I noticed they were obviously doing some renovating. They're putting up new tile. Ok, no problem. All the toilets were still there. When I was ready to leave I decided to go out the door to the outside. It was locked. No problem, I'd just go out through the pavilion. Oops. This door is also locked. Apparently the lady who ran the coffee and donuts took 'locking up' to a whole new level. What I didn't know was there was a CLOSED for renovation sign on the door from the outside. Of course the door that I went in was OPEN. Luckily I had my cell phone. I called my lovely wife, and when she finally stopped laughing she agreed, albeit reluctantly, to find someone with a key. Five minutes later I was a free man. Mary Ellen was still laughing when I got back.
We have about a month before our friends Diane and Jeff arrive. We were neighbors last year and will be again this year. We'll be on site 11 and they are on 12. Last year Diane gave me a very hard time because our trailer wasn't perfectly centered on the concrete pads. She thought I should definitely straighten it out. I refused on the grounds that we were all hooked up (sewer line, cable, water, stableizers down, hitch off the truck etc.) No way was I going to move. However, knowing that Diane will be here in a month will give me an entire month to get it right this year. I will pre-measure and chalk the concrete for accuracy. My goal this year is to pass the "Diane Parking Requirements" exam! I WILL PASS. Even though this year I have to back in!!
Today saw us doing several chores including washing windows, fixing a door and a drawer. Of course we had to make a visit to Wal Mart and Walgreens and return a hubcap that didn't fit to the RV store. Busy day.
Till next time (I asked you to remember this last year, but it's even more meaningful this year)."Suppose you were an idiot, and suppose you were in congress, but I repeat myself"!
jim
Monday, January 25, 2010
OUR WINTER HOME
We arrived at the Emerald Beach RV Park yesterday. We're in site 16 until February 1st when we move to our permanent site (11). Even though it rained last nite and the nite before, we managed to get unhooked, rehooked, and unhooked again with not a drop of rain. Maybe our luck is changing. Our luck hasn't changed regarding our slideout. The motor keeps hesitating. We have to wait a minute or two when bringing it in or out. Then the motor will kick in again and move it a foot or so. I have this fear that waiting for a minute or two won't continue to work. We'll have to have someone take a look at it I guess. That's always a costly venture.
Navarre has opened a coffee shop right down the street from Emerald Beach. It's great, with wi-fi and everything. They've been open for nine months and doing very well. Prior to this opening, Panera was the closest place where you could get online, hangout, and drink coffee, but Panera is 11 miles from us. The new shop is called 'Higher Ground'. I have a feeling I'll be over there often. Of course there is the Santa Rosa Library, but for some reason they don't serve coffee. Mary Ellen and I stopped at the library today and she got a couple books. I'm back here now doing this blog. Very nice library and only a mile from the campground.
We made our first visit to Wal Mart this morning. It's only one mile from us. Mary Ellen did her initial food shopping. I sat at the McDonalds and drank coffee while she shopped. Monday morning must be the time to shop. I've never seen a Wal Mart as quiet as this one was today. Not very good for 'people watching', but great for shopping.
My two favorite teams won yesterday. The Saints and Colts will meet in the Super Bowl. I hate to root against the Saints, but my loyalty to the Colts and Peyton Manning outweighs my love of Brees and the Saints. By the way, how stupid is it to have the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl? Maybe I'm missing something here, or maybe they should do away with the Pro Bowl altogether. They never fill the stadium. And with perhaps 20 super stars sitting it out due to the Super Bowl, what's the attraction. Like I said, I'm probably missing the point.
I'm still putting some finishing touches on my Wichita presentation. Of course I will be doing that right up to the nite before. The way I look at it you never truly finish preparing for something like this. Don't know if any of you are old enough to remember Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. He had a weekly TV show during the 1950's and 60's. He was a great orator with a fine sense of humor. I remember him being asked how he prepared for his 30 minute weekly show. He said he outlined his remarks each day prior to showtime and threw away his previous outline. Just before showtime he threw away his final outline, got in front of the cameras and started speaking. For some reason at the age of 10 or 12, his show prep fascinated me. I try to follow a similar approach to preparing for a presentation such as Wichita. The only difference is I will have two hours and ten minutes "in front of the camera" so to speak. I don't think there are any cameras, but they are expecting 500 people!
It's a very sunny day today, but only 60 degrees. It would be alot nicer without the 20 mph winds rolling in from the Gulf. Oh well, no snow! Well I better get back to Emerald Beach. There a few things I want to get done before dinner. Till next time, always remember "there is nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won't aggravate."
jim
Navarre has opened a coffee shop right down the street from Emerald Beach. It's great, with wi-fi and everything. They've been open for nine months and doing very well. Prior to this opening, Panera was the closest place where you could get online, hangout, and drink coffee, but Panera is 11 miles from us. The new shop is called 'Higher Ground'. I have a feeling I'll be over there often. Of course there is the Santa Rosa Library, but for some reason they don't serve coffee. Mary Ellen and I stopped at the library today and she got a couple books. I'm back here now doing this blog. Very nice library and only a mile from the campground.
We made our first visit to Wal Mart this morning. It's only one mile from us. Mary Ellen did her initial food shopping. I sat at the McDonalds and drank coffee while she shopped. Monday morning must be the time to shop. I've never seen a Wal Mart as quiet as this one was today. Not very good for 'people watching', but great for shopping.
My two favorite teams won yesterday. The Saints and Colts will meet in the Super Bowl. I hate to root against the Saints, but my loyalty to the Colts and Peyton Manning outweighs my love of Brees and the Saints. By the way, how stupid is it to have the Pro Bowl a week before the Super Bowl? Maybe I'm missing something here, or maybe they should do away with the Pro Bowl altogether. They never fill the stadium. And with perhaps 20 super stars sitting it out due to the Super Bowl, what's the attraction. Like I said, I'm probably missing the point.
I'm still putting some finishing touches on my Wichita presentation. Of course I will be doing that right up to the nite before. The way I look at it you never truly finish preparing for something like this. Don't know if any of you are old enough to remember Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. He had a weekly TV show during the 1950's and 60's. He was a great orator with a fine sense of humor. I remember him being asked how he prepared for his 30 minute weekly show. He said he outlined his remarks each day prior to showtime and threw away his previous outline. Just before showtime he threw away his final outline, got in front of the cameras and started speaking. For some reason at the age of 10 or 12, his show prep fascinated me. I try to follow a similar approach to preparing for a presentation such as Wichita. The only difference is I will have two hours and ten minutes "in front of the camera" so to speak. I don't think there are any cameras, but they are expecting 500 people!
It's a very sunny day today, but only 60 degrees. It would be alot nicer without the 20 mph winds rolling in from the Gulf. Oh well, no snow! Well I better get back to Emerald Beach. There a few things I want to get done before dinner. Till next time, always remember "there is nothing wrong with teenagers that reasoning with them won't aggravate."
jim
Friday, January 22, 2010
DEAD OAKS
I haven't had much to say in the last couple days. I can tell you it rained all the way from Birmingham thru Montgomery and on to Greenville. In fact, Wednesday nite we had storms which rolled thru for 15 minutes, stopped for 5 and then repeated all nite long.
The Greenville campground was nice, but few amenities. The camp is owned by the city of Greenville. It's a few wooded and hilly acres west of downtown. About half the sites run parallel to the road. I call these 'pull ins' rather than 'pull thru'. Pull through sites, of course, are perpendicular to the road. I explain this for all those who may never have experienced the joys of camping and 'backing' a travel trailer into a camp site. I have a great deal of admiration for truckers who back up to loading docks with a 10 inch clearance on either side. Even more amazing is the fact they seldom have to make a second attempt. This is why I always ask for a pull thru or pull in.
Tonite will be our third and final nite at the Tall Oaks campground in NW Pensacola. I don't know quite how to describe it other than sandy with patches of green here and there. It's small, maybe fifty sites. The office is a shack with no services, and is seldom open. But it's nice. The sites are wide and the people friendly. The laundry facility and showers are great. I would change the name however. I'd call it 'Dead Oaks'
since at least half of the trees are long since deceased. It could be a dangerous place to park your RV if one of those Gulf Coast storms blew thru. I'm afraid you'd have a branch or two thru the roof. We'll be leaving here tomorrow and checking in to our home in Navarre for the next couple months.
We drove up the road to Denny's for breakfast. I was about to go out and buy a paper when a guy just coming in said don't bother, the machine doesn't work. I said thanks and sat back down. About 10 minutes later this same man came in with 2 newspapers and dropped one on out table as he walked by. He said he'd gone to the Circle K convenience store. I thanked him. When we finished eating I walked back to his table and thanked him again. I tried to pay him, but he wouldn't take it. I've been waiting for an opportunity to 'pass it on'.
My broadband card started acting up this morning. It connected me to the internet, but booted me off after from 2 to 10 minutes. I called Verizon's tech support, and during the course of 2 phone calls and about 1 hour of time, Joyce suggested I take the computer to the nearby Verizon store. After 45 minutes of tech time, Chaffee told me I needed a new broadband card. Surprisingly, I beat my 1 year warranty by 3 days. I bought the old one on January 26th last year. So I got a new card with no charge. It normally works the other way around, so maybe my luck is changing.
After 72 degrees and sunny yesterday, today is cloudy with a high of 62. Thunderstorms are predicted for tonite and tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain while we hook up and go to Navarre. Of course once we get there we have to do the setup thing. A couple hours of dryness would be nice. We want to be all set up before the games come on. Colts will beat the Jets in the earlier game, and of course the Saints will overcome the Vikes. Colts and Saints in the Super Bowl. Write it down.
Till next time, "The person who never reads good books has no advantage over the person who cannot read."
jim
The Greenville campground was nice, but few amenities. The camp is owned by the city of Greenville. It's a few wooded and hilly acres west of downtown. About half the sites run parallel to the road. I call these 'pull ins' rather than 'pull thru'. Pull through sites, of course, are perpendicular to the road. I explain this for all those who may never have experienced the joys of camping and 'backing' a travel trailer into a camp site. I have a great deal of admiration for truckers who back up to loading docks with a 10 inch clearance on either side. Even more amazing is the fact they seldom have to make a second attempt. This is why I always ask for a pull thru or pull in.
Tonite will be our third and final nite at the Tall Oaks campground in NW Pensacola. I don't know quite how to describe it other than sandy with patches of green here and there. It's small, maybe fifty sites. The office is a shack with no services, and is seldom open. But it's nice. The sites are wide and the people friendly. The laundry facility and showers are great. I would change the name however. I'd call it 'Dead Oaks'
since at least half of the trees are long since deceased. It could be a dangerous place to park your RV if one of those Gulf Coast storms blew thru. I'm afraid you'd have a branch or two thru the roof. We'll be leaving here tomorrow and checking in to our home in Navarre for the next couple months.
We drove up the road to Denny's for breakfast. I was about to go out and buy a paper when a guy just coming in said don't bother, the machine doesn't work. I said thanks and sat back down. About 10 minutes later this same man came in with 2 newspapers and dropped one on out table as he walked by. He said he'd gone to the Circle K convenience store. I thanked him. When we finished eating I walked back to his table and thanked him again. I tried to pay him, but he wouldn't take it. I've been waiting for an opportunity to 'pass it on'.
My broadband card started acting up this morning. It connected me to the internet, but booted me off after from 2 to 10 minutes. I called Verizon's tech support, and during the course of 2 phone calls and about 1 hour of time, Joyce suggested I take the computer to the nearby Verizon store. After 45 minutes of tech time, Chaffee told me I needed a new broadband card. Surprisingly, I beat my 1 year warranty by 3 days. I bought the old one on January 26th last year. So I got a new card with no charge. It normally works the other way around, so maybe my luck is changing.
After 72 degrees and sunny yesterday, today is cloudy with a high of 62. Thunderstorms are predicted for tonite and tomorrow. I hope it doesn't rain while we hook up and go to Navarre. Of course once we get there we have to do the setup thing. A couple hours of dryness would be nice. We want to be all set up before the games come on. Colts will beat the Jets in the earlier game, and of course the Saints will overcome the Vikes. Colts and Saints in the Super Bowl. Write it down.
Till next time, "The person who never reads good books has no advantage over the person who cannot read."
jim
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
ALABAMA
Going through Nashville is always a challenge even without 31 feet following you. Like most big cities with 4 or 5 interstates converging and crisscrossing, lanes narrowing and suddenly telling you the lane you're in will exit somewhere you don't want to go, and soon!! I know that was a very rambling attempt at a sentence. Sorry (especially to two of my most favorite teachers and a couple of former teachers). It was my feeble attempt to illustrate tension, confusion and a sense of terror in the reader. No?
We are now in Decatur, AL at Point Mallard Park. This is quite the place. They have 217 campsites, an all season ice skating rink, a five acre water park, tennis courts, swimming pool, and an 18 hole golf course. And this is amazing, the cost of our full hookup pull thru is only $17.85! I'm sure the price goes up dramatically during the summer.
It's raining a little right now, but the temp got up to 63 today. Not much sun and more rain tomorrow. We'll be going thru Birmingham and Montgomery on our way to Greenville, AL and Sherling Lake Park and Campground.
Oh, a parting thought..."The only trouble with 'other countries' is that they're being run by foreigners."
jim
We are now in Decatur, AL at Point Mallard Park. This is quite the place. They have 217 campsites, an all season ice skating rink, a five acre water park, tennis courts, swimming pool, and an 18 hole golf course. And this is amazing, the cost of our full hookup pull thru is only $17.85! I'm sure the price goes up dramatically during the summer.
It's raining a little right now, but the temp got up to 63 today. Not much sun and more rain tomorrow. We'll be going thru Birmingham and Montgomery on our way to Greenville, AL and Sherling Lake Park and Campground.
Oh, a parting thought..."The only trouble with 'other countries' is that they're being run by foreigners."
jim
Monday, January 18, 2010
DAY THREE
We decided to stay another day in Bowling Green. The owners are great. Paul and Susan have to be the friendliest owners we've ever met at a campground. Last night we stayed hooked up. We were planning to leave today. Mom and I went up to the store at the campground looking for some milk. Paul explained that at this time of year they didn't keep any milk since traffic is minimal until spring. Mary Ellen told Paul we'd get some in the morning since we didn't want to unhook. Paul told us to take his truck and go a mile up the road to the convenience store! What? Did I hear him offer us his truck? Yes! Mary Ellen said she didn't want to take his truck. Paul said he'd take Mary Ellen to the store if it was OK with me. I said sure, and I haven't seen her since...just kidding! When she returned with the milk we hung around and talked with Paul & Susan. We decided to stay another night since we really aren't in any hurry, and I'm glad we did. We awakened this morning to find one of our tires on the trailer FLAT! The 'curse of Diane'? (sorry it's an inside joke).
We decided to unhook and take the tire to be repaired. No, we didn't remove the tire. We called Good Sam Road Service. A guy from Westside Towing was at our campground in 15 minutes, removed the tire and put on our spare. Free of course, though I gave him a $5 tip. We got the tire repaired and remounted at Sikes Tire. Nice bunch of "good old boys". Since we were out and about we filled the gas tank, stopped at Kroger and of course found a Panera
Speaking of Paul, which I did in paragraph one, I forgot to mention my first meeting with him. I asked if they had any valve stem caps. He said no, but he thought he might have some in his truck. He came back and handed me three. When I asked how much I owed, he said don't worry about it. This is Paul and Susan's first year in Bowling Green, but they aren't strangers to campground management. If they keep doing the things we've witnessed, they should be full most of the time and have numerous loyal customers. I know a couple owners who could take a lesson from Paul & Susan.
We are planning to re-hook and head to Decatur, AL tomorrow. The next stop has a lot to live up to. Once you've had your expectations exceeded, merely being satisfied doesn't quite cut it.
I failed to tell you why I was asked to speak at the GEAPS convention in Wichita, KS in February. They told me it was my warm personality...if you look up WARM, it means 'not so hot'!!
Till next time.
JIM
We decided to unhook and take the tire to be repaired. No, we didn't remove the tire. We called Good Sam Road Service. A guy from Westside Towing was at our campground in 15 minutes, removed the tire and put on our spare. Free of course, though I gave him a $5 tip. We got the tire repaired and remounted at Sikes Tire. Nice bunch of "good old boys". Since we were out and about we filled the gas tank, stopped at Kroger and of course found a Panera
Speaking of Paul, which I did in paragraph one, I forgot to mention my first meeting with him. I asked if they had any valve stem caps. He said no, but he thought he might have some in his truck. He came back and handed me three. When I asked how much I owed, he said don't worry about it. This is Paul and Susan's first year in Bowling Green, but they aren't strangers to campground management. If they keep doing the things we've witnessed, they should be full most of the time and have numerous loyal customers. I know a couple owners who could take a lesson from Paul & Susan.
We are planning to re-hook and head to Decatur, AL tomorrow. The next stop has a lot to live up to. Once you've had your expectations exceeded, merely being satisfied doesn't quite cut it.
I failed to tell you why I was asked to speak at the GEAPS convention in Wichita, KS in February. They told me it was my warm personality...if you look up WARM, it means 'not so hot'!!
Till next time.
JIM
Saturday, January 16, 2010
On The Road
Nice day. We left home at 9 this morning. Very dry all the way to our campground for nite one. I don't think there's another person staying here tonite. There are a number of RV's parked here, but nobody home. I assume a lot of people store them here.
This campground (Woods & Waters in Columbus, IN) needs some work. The owners, Larry & Helen have a home on the property. They've owned the place for 22 years. I don't know how much help they have, but by the looks of Larry, I don't think he'd be capable of doing much of the outside work. He must weigh over 350 lbs. and he's not very tall. Helen doesn't look much better.
We tried calling the campground from the road. In fact Mary Ellen called them several times over a three hour period. The phone rang and rang. No voice mail. No humans. The list of TV channels is all incorrect. These are little things, but annoying. Just so we can watch the Colts tonite. We found CBS, so we're all set.
It got up to 42 degrees today, but no sun. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same. We aren't going very far tomorrow. Of course we didn't go very far today. You may remember from last year that my motto is "what's the rush"? We're planning to go as far as Bowling Green, KY. It will take us about four hours, not counting a lunch and gas stop.
By the way, I'm somewhat peeved (yes I said 'peeved') at all of you. In my last blog I asked for comments regarding map making. I thought it a simple request that might require 45 seconds of your very valuable time. I've heard nothing. Now I know you may be upset with me for making you open 3 e mails and 3 attachments before I got it right, but really that shouldn't be an excuse for not commenting. I promise I'll give you the correct link this time.
Since the Colts/Ravens game will be coming on shortly I'm forced to quit. Let me leave you with this thought to ponder. "Did you hear about the guy who was soooo old, his social security number was in Roman Numerals"?
jim doyle
This campground (Woods & Waters in Columbus, IN) needs some work. The owners, Larry & Helen have a home on the property. They've owned the place for 22 years. I don't know how much help they have, but by the looks of Larry, I don't think he'd be capable of doing much of the outside work. He must weigh over 350 lbs. and he's not very tall. Helen doesn't look much better.
We tried calling the campground from the road. In fact Mary Ellen called them several times over a three hour period. The phone rang and rang. No voice mail. No humans. The list of TV channels is all incorrect. These are little things, but annoying. Just so we can watch the Colts tonite. We found CBS, so we're all set.
It got up to 42 degrees today, but no sun. Tomorrow will be pretty much the same. We aren't going very far tomorrow. Of course we didn't go very far today. You may remember from last year that my motto is "what's the rush"? We're planning to go as far as Bowling Green, KY. It will take us about four hours, not counting a lunch and gas stop.
By the way, I'm somewhat peeved (yes I said 'peeved') at all of you. In my last blog I asked for comments regarding map making. I thought it a simple request that might require 45 seconds of your very valuable time. I've heard nothing. Now I know you may be upset with me for making you open 3 e mails and 3 attachments before I got it right, but really that shouldn't be an excuse for not commenting. I promise I'll give you the correct link this time.
Since the Colts/Ravens game will be coming on shortly I'm forced to quit. Let me leave you with this thought to ponder. "Did you hear about the guy who was soooo old, his social security number was in Roman Numerals"?
jim doyle
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
Will We Ever Be Ready?
We're only a few days from our planned departure for the chilly south. It seems we are never done with prep until we actually pull away from 1519 Ash Dr. West. Of course there are always some unplanned and costly setbacks. For instance, yesterday I discovered pinkish fluid droppings in the snow where the truck was parked. I took the truck to our trusty mechanic to "patch the leak". Well of course it was slightly more than a patch job. Fifteen hundred dollars later I picked up the repaired truck and headed home.
It turns out it was 'steering fluid' that was leaking. This required replacing the 'rack & pinion cooler lines'. They also found a need to service the front differential. They changed the lubricant and sealer. Apparently this little maintenance is supposed to be done every 30,000 miles. It had never been done and I have 80,000 miles on the truck. Nothing like 'just in time' maintenance I always say.
I know what some of you are thinking. He's telling me far more than I ever wanted to know about auto care. Especially when it's not my truck that he's talking about. So if you're going to have that attitude, I'll stop right there!
There are some positive things to report. Mark shoveled half the street in front of our house (only a slight exageration). The snow plow only plows up to where our front lawn starts. This makes perfect sense, since plowing up our front lawn would not be appreciated. You see we don't have sidewalks. Since we'll be getting the 'Villa' (our travel trailer) out of storage tomorrow, we need somewhere to park it in front of the house while we load virtually everything we own into it. It takes up so much room on our street, we (Mark) added about five feet of width to the street.This should keep our neighbors happy; not to mention the fact they'll be able to drive past. That is if our neighbor across the street doesn't choose to park directly across from where the Villa is parked. He has been parking one of their two vans on the street, even though they could park four cars in their driveway with ease. If he parks across from our trailer, no one will be able to drive past.
The other good news is that we're getting our tongue jack installed tomorrow. I may have mentioned this before, so I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say it lifts and lowers the trailer onto the hitch which is mounted on the back of our truck. No more hand cranking!
I failed to mention that my 'Nook' e-book reader arrived a week ago. I love it. I think it's better than the Kindle. The Nook is Barnes & Noble's version and was $50 dollars cheaper than the Kindle with more features. It holds thousands of books, and B & N has more than 15,000 titles at the moment. Most books are $9.99 or less. I can have every book I want to read while we're in Florida ready & waiting in my Nook. The Nook is about the size of a large paperback. No more hauling a box full of books. It's quite nice, and did I say I love it?
Lastly, I am conducting a highly scientific survey of directional map drawing. I'm talking a simple map you might include on an invitation to a wedding or party. The question is do you first label the map north, south, east & west and then draw, or do you draw the map and then if you're so inclined label the map indicating north, south etc.? I would be very interested in your comments regarding this. I will publish my highly scientific results in a future blog.
I'll be blogging as we make our way south where there is no snow to shovel.
jim doyle
1/13/2010
It turns out it was 'steering fluid' that was leaking. This required replacing the 'rack & pinion cooler lines'. They also found a need to service the front differential. They changed the lubricant and sealer. Apparently this little maintenance is supposed to be done every 30,000 miles. It had never been done and I have 80,000 miles on the truck. Nothing like 'just in time' maintenance I always say.
I know what some of you are thinking. He's telling me far more than I ever wanted to know about auto care. Especially when it's not my truck that he's talking about. So if you're going to have that attitude, I'll stop right there!
There are some positive things to report. Mark shoveled half the street in front of our house (only a slight exageration). The snow plow only plows up to where our front lawn starts. This makes perfect sense, since plowing up our front lawn would not be appreciated. You see we don't have sidewalks. Since we'll be getting the 'Villa' (our travel trailer) out of storage tomorrow, we need somewhere to park it in front of the house while we load virtually everything we own into it. It takes up so much room on our street, we (Mark) added about five feet of width to the street.This should keep our neighbors happy; not to mention the fact they'll be able to drive past. That is if our neighbor across the street doesn't choose to park directly across from where the Villa is parked. He has been parking one of their two vans on the street, even though they could park four cars in their driveway with ease. If he parks across from our trailer, no one will be able to drive past.
The other good news is that we're getting our tongue jack installed tomorrow. I may have mentioned this before, so I won't bore you with the details. Suffice it to say it lifts and lowers the trailer onto the hitch which is mounted on the back of our truck. No more hand cranking!
I failed to mention that my 'Nook' e-book reader arrived a week ago. I love it. I think it's better than the Kindle. The Nook is Barnes & Noble's version and was $50 dollars cheaper than the Kindle with more features. It holds thousands of books, and B & N has more than 15,000 titles at the moment. Most books are $9.99 or less. I can have every book I want to read while we're in Florida ready & waiting in my Nook. The Nook is about the size of a large paperback. No more hauling a box full of books. It's quite nice, and did I say I love it?
Lastly, I am conducting a highly scientific survey of directional map drawing. I'm talking a simple map you might include on an invitation to a wedding or party. The question is do you first label the map north, south, east & west and then draw, or do you draw the map and then if you're so inclined label the map indicating north, south etc.? I would be very interested in your comments regarding this. I will publish my highly scientific results in a future blog.
I'll be blogging as we make our way south where there is no snow to shovel.
jim doyle
1/13/2010
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