Ya know, I would think that builders these days would be savy about computers. They use them daily. So why is it that they don't put in network wiring when they do the phone and coax wiring? Do they assume that everything will work using wireless. NOT!! I have just spent the past two weeks crawling around the attic through the mounds of cotton, identifing where wires, water pipes, wall headers and the like.
This house had no wiring to speak of, there were three wires sticking out of the bricks outside to bring telephone into the house. Two were cat5 and one was cat who knows. The cat5 wires went to phone jacks in the kitchen and the master bedroom. There were 4 coax lines there as well, one to each bedroom and the entertainment center. When AT&T installed our DSL service they put a box on the house and terminated the three wires for phone service.
After hours on the phone with AT&T, I ended up with the DSL modem connected to the phone line in the kitchen. Centrally located yes, good place, NO.
From the kitchen, I proceed to string up wires using pvc utility poles to provide network access to the various areas that I needed service. Bedroom, Family room both ends, master bedroom.
Along with these wires I decided to put my dvr security cameras up to evaluate the location I wanted to place cameras. So now my home is starting to look like a ruarl road with wires running everywhere.
There are lots of devices that want to chat on the internet for updates etc., not to mention my computers. I decided to make my network center in the master closet. It is where the security alarm system is centered and there is a phone line there so I can connect the DSL modem. Behind this wall is the family room entertainment center. Also this was the place I determend I wanted my security cameras. They can see the entry doors front and back.
I cut a hole 14+ x 14+ inches for the wiring box for my network. I got a good look at the dropped ceiling area over the entertainment center. It was a nice area wide open for wiring. I took advantage of that and installed 4 network drops in the entertainment area. I could also mount my cameras and run the wires through this area. A great start for networking.
It took two days to get my dsl modem to work correctly in the closet. I ended disconnecting the wires running to the kitchen and master bedroom to get the service stabilized. While I was at it I tied the wires from the kitchen and master bedroom together to use as a network drop between the two. One of those, I did it because I could, for no particular reason.
After several weeks of having wires strung around the house with pvc pipe holding them out of the way of a certain grandson and some old folks shuffeling feet, It was finally time to get wires in the walls and disassemble my temporary wiring.
I scanned for studs in the walls, I think I used two batteries in this process. I was amazed and dumbfounded to find fireblocks between every stud. This is not normal where I lived for 35 years. I finally decided to drive over to another community where my builder was actively building. I wanted to see what a house in the tooth pick stage looked like. Maybe it would answer some questions. I found one and jumped out of the car and camera in hand started snapping pictures. I was half way throu the house before I realized that the floor plan was our house. I slowed down and started taking more detailed pictures. Since these are cookie cutter houses, I figured it would be worth while.
Early the next morning, like 4 AM. I was going thru the pictures using an application that allowed me to quickly zoom to 100% and even 400% size. I was evaluating the structure. The more I saw the more I wondered if I could get wires inside the walls in some places. I finally had a plan in my head and had made enough trips to Lowes, Home Depot and Frys to collect enough stuff to do the job, I THOUGHT.
My plan, after consulting friends around the country, was to place some plywood flooring around the attic so I could make many trips with ease. I purchased 4 4x8 sheets of ply wood and had them ripped into 2 x 8 sheets. It took me one whole day to get all that into the attic. I was thinking 16 inch centers and 8 feet long would work well. I then found out that our house is built with 24" centers, not 16". I proceded to rip the 8 foot boards to 4 feet. A lot easier to manage when in the attic.
I took a simple broom and started moving the insulation out of the way. New problems arrise. Power wires run over the top. Putting plywood down would pinch the wires, I was not going to do that. So back to the hardware store. I picked up some strips of wood to place on the rafters so the wires would be protected. Now I start laying my yellow brick road. Very slow going. lots of hazards along the way. Can lights in the kitchen were the first. I had to shift my path about 12 feet into the process when I ran into an AC duct. Fortunately the AC ducts are attached to the rafters so I could go under them. Several days later, I finally reached my primary destination, the closet in the master bedroom. I had already cut a hole in the wall and mounted a box to hold all my nice wires.
Another handy recommendation from my cool friends was to poke a wire through the ceiling where I needed to run wiring. This worked great. I put 4 wires through and when I got into the attic I started spotting the wires. It made my job of finding wall headers and drilling a lot easier.
The work begun but still I was concurned about the ability to get wires down the walls with cross bracing. My first hole was into my box. No problem there as the box is mounted at the ceiling.
Now the fun begins. The easiest wire to run is in Cameron's room. It backs up to the master closet. I cut a hole in the wall to mount a low voltage wiring frame. I sat a lamp next to the hole hoping that when I drill the hole in the attic I would see light. I stretch over from my yellow brick road and drill a hole in the header. Light was visible, but not directly. The stud in the wall half way up was there. I figured I would have to use a long drill bit extension to drill through the block. I put it in the wall but never hit the stud. This was baffeling as I expected it to be 4 feet below me. My drill shaft was 5' long. I pulled it out and then put in a rod that was 10' long. it went down until I had 2 fee showing. I was at the floor. I put my wire down the hole and it went down 8'. Piece of cake.
Now the challenging holes were to come. Across the family room where my computer desk is setup and down the wall in the master bedroom is for the tv in there. The master bedroom has 3 walls which are outside. Fire breaks and insulation for sure. The 4th wall is full of doors and other stuff. After studying the pictures above, I though I may have a chance in the corner of the inside wall but it meets a hip joint in the roof so space would be limited. I pre-cut holes in the walls for the wire termination, made my way across the attic to the remote areas using temporary plywood steps and was able to get the wires down the walls. It is amazing how the insulation seems shallower then before I started.
It took days but finally I was able to tear down my utility poles in the house. I have one more drop to pull in the guest bedroom. I have two more security cameras to install for the outside so my work is on going.
The house is returning to normal slowly and now I can start thinking about my next mission, should I choose to accept it!
Monday, December 20, 2010
Thursday, December 9, 2010
Longer between post. How can it BE.
Hay, now that everyone has given up I can post here and no one will know.
We are back in Texas. It was a smooth trip. Since we had a lot of stuff from the Pod that needed to get to Texas, I had to rent a trailer and tow it back with the RV. This meant that the Ford got a break in not having to be towed, but Linda had to take on a long drive. It took us 3 days to make the journey. Wellllll, not really. We left in the late afternoon on a Thursday, like 3PM. We got to Nashville and kicked back in a road side rest area. I pulled between a bunch of semi's. I left the parking lights on so a semi would see us between the trucks. It was a dark night. Unfortunately I did one other thing that I did not think about. I left the key in the ignition. Most vehicles this is not an issue. In the RV when the key enters the ignition there are a number of things that take place. Anyway by morning the lights were dim. Dim enough to keep the engine from starting. I started the generator so it could start charging the battery. I don't have jumper cables. Evidently they departed my company in the move, like so many things have. Anyway we ended up calling AAA and waiting for a jump. By the time he got there we had been charging for a couple of hours. I was just about to try to start the engine when AAA arrived. He used a little hand held battery to jump us and it worked. So we didn't get on the road until about 8AM. We traveled thru the rest of TN and into AR. Most of the day was spent there. Along the way, a log hauling semi that was empty entered the freeway at a high rate of speed, whiped into the lane in front of me and was dumping all knids of wood chips. They were bouncing all over the road and off the RV. Along the way, the truck kicked up a rock that smacked the windshield. Yep, left a small crack.
We wrapped up the day in Texarcana, TX. We found a KOA campground and checked in for the night. Texarcana is being rebuilt all around Interstate 30 so we had to find our way to the campground, not and easy thing. We spent the night which was great after a night in the Road side rest area.
All refreshed, we headed out about 9AM and made our way to Austin. I immediately started unloading the trailer. First thing was I found a small dead mouse under the trailer door. I wondered what that cat in TN was doing diging at the door of the trailer before we left. I thought it was about the mouse that I found in the trailer after I had loaded it. I suspected the cat had put it there. It didn't take long to unload, but back in the trailer I found several little mice, all dead. I was getting suspicious. The couch we brought to TX had been in the garage for several months. I checked it over before putting it in the trailer and didn't see anything. So I got rid of the mice. I tried to get rid of the trailer but it was just after closing at the drop location. UHaul said they had a night drop. How d0 you night drop a trailer and know it won't be ripped off? So I held on to it. Next day we had some shopping to do, so we went to Sams Club and got several large items since I had the trailer. We went to load the stuff and guess what I found in the trailer when I opened the door? Yep! We loaded everything took it home.
Anyway that was our trip. It was great seeing the kids and Cameron had grown so much. he was a kick. We have had time to take care of Cameron a few days. He is a lot more work these days but such a joy. He is such a happy boy. NO BIAS applied, he is the best grandson ever.
We have been working on making our house a home and are really close to being there. We finally have internet which really makes us feel in touch. Unfortunately there are no network wires in the house so I am working on plans to install wiring in the house. I will soon be in the attic drilling holes and running wires. So many pieces of equipment need access to the network, TV, Blue Ray, Sat Ctlr, etc. Family room, bedroom, etc. Just don't understand why they don't do that while building. So much easier at that time.
One thing got lost in the move from TN to TX, my camera. I could not believe I would forget that. I brought the tripod, monopod, even the caring case for the tripod. I could not use the tripod or monopod as the heads were in the camera case. I looked all over and the camera was not here. I went to the storage lot and checked the RV twice. I finally looked at the security video at TN and could not see the camera sitting where I normally put it. I finally figured I had left it in the van in TN, that was the only place it could be. I remembered seeing it there just after Dave Smith's visit to TN. I also remembered thinking I need to remember to get this out of the car before we head out. I figured I had left it there. Ken picked up the mail in TN and gave a call while taking it to the house. After dealing with mail, I asked Ken to check the van. To my surprise it wasn't there. He then checked the rest of the house and no camera. It was fun watching him look for it as I connected to the security system. I finally bought a new camera as I had kind of planned on doing that anyway, but I was not happy at the loss. I finally went back to the rv and checked again. I found the camera. It had slipped behind a chair and it was so dark I could not see it there. I didn't see it even this time when I checked. I finally stuck my hand back there and there it was. Black case in the shadows! Still I am happy to have found it.
Well here we are. I have been off work since Oct 9th last year, so one year already. As of the week of Christmas we will have been out of our home in CA for a year. That will be soon. Then early Jan, 2011 Linda will have been off work for a year. Then Jan 20th or there abouts we will have been out of CA for a year. WOW! lot's of anniversaries for us.
The sad part is we miss all our friends we haven't seen for a year. We pray you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We do have guest rooms in TX and TN. They have comfortable new beds. We would love to have you visit.
We are back in Texas. It was a smooth trip. Since we had a lot of stuff from the Pod that needed to get to Texas, I had to rent a trailer and tow it back with the RV. This meant that the Ford got a break in not having to be towed, but Linda had to take on a long drive. It took us 3 days to make the journey. Wellllll, not really. We left in the late afternoon on a Thursday, like 3PM. We got to Nashville and kicked back in a road side rest area. I pulled between a bunch of semi's. I left the parking lights on so a semi would see us between the trucks. It was a dark night. Unfortunately I did one other thing that I did not think about. I left the key in the ignition. Most vehicles this is not an issue. In the RV when the key enters the ignition there are a number of things that take place. Anyway by morning the lights were dim. Dim enough to keep the engine from starting. I started the generator so it could start charging the battery. I don't have jumper cables. Evidently they departed my company in the move, like so many things have. Anyway we ended up calling AAA and waiting for a jump. By the time he got there we had been charging for a couple of hours. I was just about to try to start the engine when AAA arrived. He used a little hand held battery to jump us and it worked. So we didn't get on the road until about 8AM. We traveled thru the rest of TN and into AR. Most of the day was spent there. Along the way, a log hauling semi that was empty entered the freeway at a high rate of speed, whiped into the lane in front of me and was dumping all knids of wood chips. They were bouncing all over the road and off the RV. Along the way, the truck kicked up a rock that smacked the windshield. Yep, left a small crack.
We wrapped up the day in Texarcana, TX. We found a KOA campground and checked in for the night. Texarcana is being rebuilt all around Interstate 30 so we had to find our way to the campground, not and easy thing. We spent the night which was great after a night in the Road side rest area.
All refreshed, we headed out about 9AM and made our way to Austin. I immediately started unloading the trailer. First thing was I found a small dead mouse under the trailer door. I wondered what that cat in TN was doing diging at the door of the trailer before we left. I thought it was about the mouse that I found in the trailer after I had loaded it. I suspected the cat had put it there. It didn't take long to unload, but back in the trailer I found several little mice, all dead. I was getting suspicious. The couch we brought to TX had been in the garage for several months. I checked it over before putting it in the trailer and didn't see anything. So I got rid of the mice. I tried to get rid of the trailer but it was just after closing at the drop location. UHaul said they had a night drop. How d0 you night drop a trailer and know it won't be ripped off? So I held on to it. Next day we had some shopping to do, so we went to Sams Club and got several large items since I had the trailer. We went to load the stuff and guess what I found in the trailer when I opened the door? Yep! We loaded everything took it home.
Anyway that was our trip. It was great seeing the kids and Cameron had grown so much. he was a kick. We have had time to take care of Cameron a few days. He is a lot more work these days but such a joy. He is such a happy boy. NO BIAS applied, he is the best grandson ever.
We have been working on making our house a home and are really close to being there. We finally have internet which really makes us feel in touch. Unfortunately there are no network wires in the house so I am working on plans to install wiring in the house. I will soon be in the attic drilling holes and running wires. So many pieces of equipment need access to the network, TV, Blue Ray, Sat Ctlr, etc. Family room, bedroom, etc. Just don't understand why they don't do that while building. So much easier at that time.
One thing got lost in the move from TN to TX, my camera. I could not believe I would forget that. I brought the tripod, monopod, even the caring case for the tripod. I could not use the tripod or monopod as the heads were in the camera case. I looked all over and the camera was not here. I went to the storage lot and checked the RV twice. I finally looked at the security video at TN and could not see the camera sitting where I normally put it. I finally figured I had left it in the van in TN, that was the only place it could be. I remembered seeing it there just after Dave Smith's visit to TN. I also remembered thinking I need to remember to get this out of the car before we head out. I figured I had left it there. Ken picked up the mail in TN and gave a call while taking it to the house. After dealing with mail, I asked Ken to check the van. To my surprise it wasn't there. He then checked the rest of the house and no camera. It was fun watching him look for it as I connected to the security system. I finally bought a new camera as I had kind of planned on doing that anyway, but I was not happy at the loss. I finally went back to the rv and checked again. I found the camera. It had slipped behind a chair and it was so dark I could not see it there. I didn't see it even this time when I checked. I finally stuck my hand back there and there it was. Black case in the shadows! Still I am happy to have found it.
Well here we are. I have been off work since Oct 9th last year, so one year already. As of the week of Christmas we will have been out of our home in CA for a year. That will be soon. Then early Jan, 2011 Linda will have been off work for a year. Then Jan 20th or there abouts we will have been out of CA for a year. WOW! lot's of anniversaries for us.
The sad part is we miss all our friends we haven't seen for a year. We pray you all have a Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. We do have guest rooms in TX and TN. They have comfortable new beds. We would love to have you visit.
Sunday, October 10, 2010
Fall without falling.
Well, we are seeing Fall all around. Trees are changing daily. Still slight in Bristol but up in the mountains, things are well on the way. We visited a place called Grandfathers mountain. It was a beautiful place. We got to the top of the mountain and found a swinging bridge one mile above sea level. Only about 80 feet above the ground though. You can see for miles. It least that seems to be the case. My sister and brother-in-law came down for the weekend, they arrived Friday evening and we went out all day Saturday visiting the beautiful Fall colors and mountains. They left this morning at 7AM. So a whirl wind visit, but a lot of fun. We went sight seeing with Ken, Teddy, Wayne, Kathy, Linda, Lizzie and myself. That was a care full of fun.
I have been installing a camera security system in the house. Three out of 4 cameras have been installed and wires run. Only one more camera to install and some power and network lines to run to finish the physical installation. Then I have to figure out how to get the images out the firewall. Seems small boxes end up being big projects. I have a couple more boxes out in the garage that will be projects soon. Then there is the yard!
A retirees' work is never done? Is that a saying??????
I have been installing a camera security system in the house. Three out of 4 cameras have been installed and wires run. Only one more camera to install and some power and network lines to run to finish the physical installation. Then I have to figure out how to get the images out the firewall. Seems small boxes end up being big projects. I have a couple more boxes out in the garage that will be projects soon. Then there is the yard!
A retirees' work is never done? Is that a saying??????
Monday, October 4, 2010
5:30 AM up since 3:00 Doggie had to go out.
Well we had a busy weekend. We took a drive Friday to cement that I knew how to get to some of the places we have been over the past several weeks. Then Saturday we went to the Apple festival in Erwin TN, The place was packed. We topped of the Erwin trip with a stop in Jonesboro TN at a quilting shop. We had Breakfast at Pardners in Piney Flats and then Lunch in Jonesboro. Jonesoro has quite a history. It was the capitol of the State of Franklin. Did you know we had a state called Franklin? Named after Ben Franklin. It emcompased Eastern TN, part of Western NC, and Part of Western VA, maybe even some of Eastern KY. Jonesboro was the first town, and so it is the oldest town in TN.
After church today, Linda and I drove out a road we had not traveled and found a beautiful park with a busy stream running by. It has lots of mini rapids. I need to return and take some pictures.
Then we stopped at subway and picked up lunch and headed home so I could watch the Nascar race. We missed the first few laps but caught most of it. Hay a Ford won. That doesn't happen much lately. I don't understand why though. There were some interesting dynamics starting to play out on the track with the drivers in the chase. Trend starting????? Huh Nascar???
Companies coming. Kathy and Wayne are coming this next weekend and at the end of the month Dave from CA is heading here. Love having company. Room's a waiting.
Lots to get done here so I have to knuckle down and getter done!
TTFN~ed
After church today, Linda and I drove out a road we had not traveled and found a beautiful park with a busy stream running by. It has lots of mini rapids. I need to return and take some pictures.
Then we stopped at subway and picked up lunch and headed home so I could watch the Nascar race. We missed the first few laps but caught most of it. Hay a Ford won. That doesn't happen much lately. I don't understand why though. There were some interesting dynamics starting to play out on the track with the drivers in the chase. Trend starting????? Huh Nascar???
Companies coming. Kathy and Wayne are coming this next weekend and at the end of the month Dave from CA is heading here. Love having company. Room's a waiting.
Lots to get done here so I have to knuckle down and getter done!
TTFN~ed
Thursday, September 30, 2010
Hi, I am Ed. ... It has been a long LOOOOng time.
Well we have been busy. My mom and dad stopped by on the way back to Florida and spent a couple of days. It was great spending time with them. We have continued our quest to get the house basically completed. The den is looking lots better. It will be the last to complete, I'm sure. We picked up a couple of area rugs for the great room. One in the family area and the other under the table. Lizzie has given this her whole hearted approval. Running on wood floors is tough for a dog. She streatched out on the carpet and rolled around. She is a happy doggie.
My workshop in the basement is finally shaping up and I have been working on computers for the past 2-3 weeks. My sister's computer died while mom and dad were there so they brought it by. I have it rebuilt with a new hard drive. Strangest hard drive failure I have experienced. Drive spins up but doesn't respond like a drive. I suspect circuit card failed.
I fired up my test computes two of which were loaded with pre-release Windows 7. So the update time had expired. I had to re-install the OS on both systems. My multimedia system is getting close to functional with some strange recovery problems and my multi-touch table system is back together. Now I have to build a table again. I trashed my table I was building in CA. I broke my home grown first serface mirror while packing and as we got the pod loaded it was clear that there was no room for the table. I pulled it apart and it ended up in the trash. All that experience was all I brought with me and the projector.
My R1900 large format printer is not loving the move and i am having trouble getting it cleared out and printing. I need some cartridges and none are available locally so I guess I need to order some online.
Linda's computer from CA is being a problem, so I am trying to fix it. I updated drivers on the mother board from the MFG (MSI) and went from bad to worse. The sound was not working. Now the onboard sound, onboard video, and onboard network are not working.
I have a mother board from Fry's I had purchased several months before we moved and tried to use it but the Pentium D processor would not work in it. So..... I ordered another processor from Tiger direct and hope to get it working so I can get Linda on line with sound.
I have been having a bug problem in the basement not related to the PC's that are full of bugs.
It stated with worms coming in and having to clean them up every morning. I used foam sealer everywhere I could find and the worms were gone. Now I am having crickets by the bucket load. I found that the mat I put outside the door on the grass, was a breading ground for them. It seems that the area is having more crickets than old time locals have ever seen. They were coming under the door. I adjusted the door jam up to seal better but they are still getting in but only a few each day. I sprayed all around the basement for bugs. Got a few spiders who decided thay didn't like the spray so they have been showing up belly up. Now I see that stink bugs are in abundance this year. I have only seen two or three outside.
Now for the yard. Or should I say the weed garden. The front yard is all weeds. I sprayed a weed killer a couple of weeks ago and it killed the weeds. Guess what, No green exist in the front yard after that. The back yard has only a few weeds and I sprayed it. It looks much better. I have a mess for sure. I need to get out there.
I have a camera system I bought to put in the house. It will allow me to monitor the house over the internet which will be great when we are gone. It will send emails along with pictures when motion takes place. I turned it on and got a couple hundred emails in about 6 hours. I think it works. Now I have to install it. THE HARD PART.
Ken, Carmen and Linda and I went to DollyWood. That is a great park. We really loved it. Awesome music groups and shows. Steam train ride that is really cool and a bold eagle bird of prey recovery facility. Carmen and I topped it off with a wood roller coaster ride. We headed to local communities that Linda and I remembered as kids. They look a lot different now. Grown up these past 40+ years. Serierville and Gatlinburg areas. There was an old car evet going on in Gatlinburg. We crawled down the main strip and thousands of people were sitting along the road watching the activity. Every parking lot was full of old cars and muscle cars. Ken and I were drooling all along the way. We wrapped up our day with dinner at 10PM in Johnson City.
The same weekend was an event in Bristol called Rhythm and Roots Reunion. This is a full weekend of bluegrass. Bluegrass has it roots in Bristol. We attended the event Saturday until after midnight and then Sunday after church until it ended at 6pm. As with the Nascar event they shut down State Street, the VA, TN state line road and set up venue's on side streets, in theaters, and in local shops. There were lots of groups of verious tallent performing. It was a great weekend.
This past Tuesday, after bible study, Ken and I went to a Bluegrass jam session that is around the corner from Bristol Motor Speedway. The place only holds bout 30 people. It was awesome. Different people show up there and they just jam. Some professional players and others new to music like one young man who is in high school was playing. It was really fun being there and listening to the music and having people share their tallents like that. All accustic instruments. Ken pointed out how as people left as the night wore on that the accustics of the room changed and got crisper. When we arrived I noticed the bass was very soft and almost hard to hear and it was only 10 feet from me. By the evening the bass was crisp, rich and vibrant.
Along with all the other computer stuff I am trying to get going, I purchased a program to identify duplicate files so I can clean up my pictures and file system in general. It found that my notebook had about 60 percent of the files duplicated, some several times. I am cleaning that up in the mornings for an hour or two before I get out of bed. I have a long way to go. Thousands of files are duplicated.
So if you have seen Collin's post on FaceBook of the picture of Lizzie and I crashed out on the couch with surround sound and remotes and drink you will understand that it was a well deserved nap!
My workshop in the basement is finally shaping up and I have been working on computers for the past 2-3 weeks. My sister's computer died while mom and dad were there so they brought it by. I have it rebuilt with a new hard drive. Strangest hard drive failure I have experienced. Drive spins up but doesn't respond like a drive. I suspect circuit card failed.
I fired up my test computes two of which were loaded with pre-release Windows 7. So the update time had expired. I had to re-install the OS on both systems. My multimedia system is getting close to functional with some strange recovery problems and my multi-touch table system is back together. Now I have to build a table again. I trashed my table I was building in CA. I broke my home grown first serface mirror while packing and as we got the pod loaded it was clear that there was no room for the table. I pulled it apart and it ended up in the trash. All that experience was all I brought with me and the projector.
My R1900 large format printer is not loving the move and i am having trouble getting it cleared out and printing. I need some cartridges and none are available locally so I guess I need to order some online.
Linda's computer from CA is being a problem, so I am trying to fix it. I updated drivers on the mother board from the MFG (MSI) and went from bad to worse. The sound was not working. Now the onboard sound, onboard video, and onboard network are not working.
I have a mother board from Fry's I had purchased several months before we moved and tried to use it but the Pentium D processor would not work in it. So..... I ordered another processor from Tiger direct and hope to get it working so I can get Linda on line with sound.
I have been having a bug problem in the basement not related to the PC's that are full of bugs.
It stated with worms coming in and having to clean them up every morning. I used foam sealer everywhere I could find and the worms were gone. Now I am having crickets by the bucket load. I found that the mat I put outside the door on the grass, was a breading ground for them. It seems that the area is having more crickets than old time locals have ever seen. They were coming under the door. I adjusted the door jam up to seal better but they are still getting in but only a few each day. I sprayed all around the basement for bugs. Got a few spiders who decided thay didn't like the spray so they have been showing up belly up. Now I see that stink bugs are in abundance this year. I have only seen two or three outside.
Now for the yard. Or should I say the weed garden. The front yard is all weeds. I sprayed a weed killer a couple of weeks ago and it killed the weeds. Guess what, No green exist in the front yard after that. The back yard has only a few weeds and I sprayed it. It looks much better. I have a mess for sure. I need to get out there.
I have a camera system I bought to put in the house. It will allow me to monitor the house over the internet which will be great when we are gone. It will send emails along with pictures when motion takes place. I turned it on and got a couple hundred emails in about 6 hours. I think it works. Now I have to install it. THE HARD PART.
Ken, Carmen and Linda and I went to DollyWood. That is a great park. We really loved it. Awesome music groups and shows. Steam train ride that is really cool and a bold eagle bird of prey recovery facility. Carmen and I topped it off with a wood roller coaster ride. We headed to local communities that Linda and I remembered as kids. They look a lot different now. Grown up these past 40+ years. Serierville and Gatlinburg areas. There was an old car evet going on in Gatlinburg. We crawled down the main strip and thousands of people were sitting along the road watching the activity. Every parking lot was full of old cars and muscle cars. Ken and I were drooling all along the way. We wrapped up our day with dinner at 10PM in Johnson City.
The same weekend was an event in Bristol called Rhythm and Roots Reunion. This is a full weekend of bluegrass. Bluegrass has it roots in Bristol. We attended the event Saturday until after midnight and then Sunday after church until it ended at 6pm. As with the Nascar event they shut down State Street, the VA, TN state line road and set up venue's on side streets, in theaters, and in local shops. There were lots of groups of verious tallent performing. It was a great weekend.
This past Tuesday, after bible study, Ken and I went to a Bluegrass jam session that is around the corner from Bristol Motor Speedway. The place only holds bout 30 people. It was awesome. Different people show up there and they just jam. Some professional players and others new to music like one young man who is in high school was playing. It was really fun being there and listening to the music and having people share their tallents like that. All accustic instruments. Ken pointed out how as people left as the night wore on that the accustics of the room changed and got crisper. When we arrived I noticed the bass was very soft and almost hard to hear and it was only 10 feet from me. By the evening the bass was crisp, rich and vibrant.
Along with all the other computer stuff I am trying to get going, I purchased a program to identify duplicate files so I can clean up my pictures and file system in general. It found that my notebook had about 60 percent of the files duplicated, some several times. I am cleaning that up in the mornings for an hour or two before I get out of bed. I have a long way to go. Thousands of files are duplicated.
So if you have seen Collin's post on FaceBook of the picture of Lizzie and I crashed out on the couch with surround sound and remotes and drink you will understand that it was a well deserved nap!
Friday, September 3, 2010
Lots to share. Still getting it together.
Well, LouAnn spent a weekend with us. It was great having her here.
We continue the quest of making our house a home. Linda has been working on the Den. It actually has the floor open. Things are appearing on shelves and it won't be long before it is functional. At least it will be when I rebuild her computer. It seems to have an issue that developed prior to moving out of our CA house. It is time to resolve the issue... As soon as the basement is ready, YEA that's it.
Speaking of the basement, I finally finished out the extra circuit I had run. It only had one plug in the basement, so while having the circuit run for the rv, I had them pull another circuit for the basement. There are two drops, so I have a 20 amp circuit to run my computers on. While I was at it I picked up a couple of light fixtures and mounted them. the basement has 4 individual light bulbs in the celing. One switch down in the basement to turn them on. Strange arrangement. I added a florscent light fixture and replaced an indivigual bulb fixture with a three light arrangement that is directional. I have also run some more wires up through the wall into the master bedroom and the family room so we have more options for our tv viewing and computer stuff. Seems that a number of devices require network connectivity in the tv area these days.
I also did a tour of duty in the Attic over the garage. Fortunately there is an entrance to the attic in the garage. No insulation so it is relatively easy to get there. At my age and conditioning, attic's and easy are not something that belong in the same sentence.
I put a full sized antenna in the attic. Spreading out the radials amongst the rafters was an expierence. I pulled a coax and a computer network wire through the wall in the garage to make connections. the coax for the antenna and the cat6 wire to drop a network connection to my computer in our family room. That little project is still in the works. Not as easy as I had hoped. Yep another trip to the attic. Should be cooler in the next couple of days. Maybe I can spend a few more hours up there without having to come down and cool off as often.
So it has been a busy time since our last blog. We are expecting more company, the sheets are clean, so make your way here and we will enjoy some hugs and a good time. Hope to add some pictures before long. Time for the second half of my nights sleep. Good night.
We continue the quest of making our house a home. Linda has been working on the Den. It actually has the floor open. Things are appearing on shelves and it won't be long before it is functional. At least it will be when I rebuild her computer. It seems to have an issue that developed prior to moving out of our CA house. It is time to resolve the issue... As soon as the basement is ready, YEA that's it.
Speaking of the basement, I finally finished out the extra circuit I had run. It only had one plug in the basement, so while having the circuit run for the rv, I had them pull another circuit for the basement. There are two drops, so I have a 20 amp circuit to run my computers on. While I was at it I picked up a couple of light fixtures and mounted them. the basement has 4 individual light bulbs in the celing. One switch down in the basement to turn them on. Strange arrangement. I added a florscent light fixture and replaced an indivigual bulb fixture with a three light arrangement that is directional. I have also run some more wires up through the wall into the master bedroom and the family room so we have more options for our tv viewing and computer stuff. Seems that a number of devices require network connectivity in the tv area these days.
I also did a tour of duty in the Attic over the garage. Fortunately there is an entrance to the attic in the garage. No insulation so it is relatively easy to get there. At my age and conditioning, attic's and easy are not something that belong in the same sentence.
I put a full sized antenna in the attic. Spreading out the radials amongst the rafters was an expierence. I pulled a coax and a computer network wire through the wall in the garage to make connections. the coax for the antenna and the cat6 wire to drop a network connection to my computer in our family room. That little project is still in the works. Not as easy as I had hoped. Yep another trip to the attic. Should be cooler in the next couple of days. Maybe I can spend a few more hours up there without having to come down and cool off as often.
So it has been a busy time since our last blog. We are expecting more company, the sheets are clean, so make your way here and we will enjoy some hugs and a good time. Hope to add some pictures before long. Time for the second half of my nights sleep. Good night.
Friday, August 27, 2010
Yep another week has passed.
Well we have had a busy time. Lots going on. We made major progress on the house. The place is finally relatively un-cluttered. We have pictures on some of the walls, we have the place organized so it can be lived in. The guest room is ready and already used once. My mom and dad arrived from Florida and spent the night on the way to Cincinnati. It was a stressful trip for them but they arrived ok and we were able to go to dinner and spend an evening together. We had breakfast the next morning and then they headed to Cincinnati. This trip for them went much smoother which was great.
We continued to work on the house and today Linda got the den organized and almost totally cleaned up. I continued to work on wiring for the computers and was able to get a good rough system working. The Dish network controller and our Sony blue ray player are connected to the net now which enables us to keep our video options open. We signed up for netflix and watched a movie this evening over the internet. The wiring is kind of convoluted but works well at this point. Lots of wire splits but hay it works.
Our magic jack is working but not well as it is on a wireless computer. I hope to get it running better shortly. Just have to figure out more wiring.
Well, company is coming so back to work. Busy weekend with LouAnn Lee in town doing a concert at our church. She is recording in Nashville this week. It will be good to see her again.
Later, Mr Ed.
We continued to work on the house and today Linda got the den organized and almost totally cleaned up. I continued to work on wiring for the computers and was able to get a good rough system working. The Dish network controller and our Sony blue ray player are connected to the net now which enables us to keep our video options open. We signed up for netflix and watched a movie this evening over the internet. The wiring is kind of convoluted but works well at this point. Lots of wire splits but hay it works.
Our magic jack is working but not well as it is on a wireless computer. I hope to get it running better shortly. Just have to figure out more wiring.
Well, company is coming so back to work. Busy weekend with LouAnn Lee in town doing a concert at our church. She is recording in Nashville this week. It will be good to see her again.
Later, Mr Ed.
Friday, August 20, 2010
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Now What?
Hi there. Once again, days go by and you hear nothing from me. I think we have established a pattern. For blogging it isn't good. Oh well maybe I will change my ways after we get settled.
Lots to talk about. Our basement is still empty. Even emptier (is this a word?) than before. I decided to epoxy the floor. Well my friend Herb pulled a Walker on me, long story I will get to some day, he told me about epoxy and the benefits of it on garage and basement floors. So I slow down a bit more with the move in plans because I am now going to do the floor and the time to do it is when there is nothing on it. So we made many trips to the local hardware stores to find all the stuff needed to allow me to make the floor nice. What a lot of effort. So far I have etched the floor to get it ready for epoxy. I had two gallons of etch which should have been enough. NOT. I had to go get anoter gallon. An all day event. Now it is drying. After I did the etching and was almost done, a thunder storm came through, then another and another. It is raining every day which is good for the locals. It has been dry. But the humidity has gretly slowed the drying floor. There are no drains in the basement so the gallons I put down had to be vacuumed up. New wet vac. Maybe today I will be able to put down the epoxy and wait for seveal more days for that to dry before I can start organizing stuff down there. I need to get it out of the garage so I can pull in the cars and we can stay dry when we get home from being out. OH wait, i am going to epoxy the garage as well. More days waiting. At least I don't have to suck it up. Just shove it out the door.
Now to continue. I have my wiring sorted out and now have no place for phones. I converted all wire runs to ethernet for computers. So what there is of it, it is working. I have a few more run's to make to get everything working. I need to run ethernet to my blue ray player so I can watch web content through the player. Wireless is working on it but wired would be better. So far my attempts to put a wire through the wall in the family room have failed. I used a 3/8's in long drill bit to drill up from the basement. First pass it went in perfect through all the layers and into a box already in the wall. I was so happy. Then I figured out that the hole was not big enough to pull a coax through so I did what any self respecting do it yourselfer does. I put the drill bit back in the hole and proceeded to try and grind out the hole so it would take a bigger wire. MISTAKE, the drill bit broke off in the wall and it is plugging the hole. Now I have another mess to figure out. Another delay getting the sat dish mounted in a more permenant location. That project is on hold for the basement floor at present. Drilling holes from the basement create mess. I need the floor clean soooooo.
While waiting for the floor to dry down below, I decided we need to pick up some of the furniture we had to part with in CA. End tables, book cases, computer desk's and the like. Well i am going simple( interpreted cheap ) and got furniture that has to be put together. So yesterday I was on a roll. I got two end tables with drawers, a book case, a pantry cabinet, a metal shelf system for a closet, and a computer desk put together. That was the easy part, now I have a garage full of trash that needs to be processed, ripped, cut, compressed and in the trash. And yes, I am going green and will put the cardboard in a recycle facility. Green, right? NOT, It just keeps me from filling up my can so I can't get real trash in it.
Now while I was getting wires to work, I was setting up stuff. Like Linda's computer on a computer stand I brought from CA. Yep one made it from the garage to here. I also setup my disk farm that has 1TB of stuff on it. It came by way of our van.. It was stored in the well under the back seats. It fired up and took some time but was running. I have been able to reference it from my notebook and all was well. WAS. I did not have it plugged into the UPS unit yet. While etching the floor and having thunder storm go through, we had a power failure and then another with in seconds and then another one a couple of minutes later. It lasted all of about 60 seconds. Before I could get upstairs to disconnect it. So it crapped out. It would not start. Yesterday I finally got to a point I was going to open it up and see if I could do anything to get it going and I pressed a switch that you are not supposed to hit. It was taped on one position. I started to press it and the box went off and then sprang t0o life. I saw it doing something, I wasn't sure what. Maybe that switch would reset the unit to factory new. I figured all would be lost. I sat down at my notebook and pinged the unit. It responded. Progress!!!! It still was not talking in a normal tone of voice. I continued building furniture and later in the day the unit was responding normally again. All my data was there! Yep, lucked out. It is now on the UPS. I hope to capture the data to some other drive before I turn it off again. I suspect the unit is almost toast and the company went bankrupt several years back. New plan needs to come together on this one but hopefully later.
Yesterday Lizzie got a new dew, her first in Bristol. The groomer is just up the street from Bristol Motor Speedway. This week is Nascar at Bristol again. So the environment is starting to change there. Lots of rv's, motorhomes, temp camp grounds, people showing up from everywhere. I got a call yesterday and my friend received two tickets to the Nationwide series race for Friday night. Guess where I am going. Friday is my first day off in some time. YeeHa.
So I better get busy and do something today. Time keeps ticking.
Lots to talk about. Our basement is still empty. Even emptier (is this a word?) than before. I decided to epoxy the floor. Well my friend Herb pulled a Walker on me, long story I will get to some day, he told me about epoxy and the benefits of it on garage and basement floors. So I slow down a bit more with the move in plans because I am now going to do the floor and the time to do it is when there is nothing on it. So we made many trips to the local hardware stores to find all the stuff needed to allow me to make the floor nice. What a lot of effort. So far I have etched the floor to get it ready for epoxy. I had two gallons of etch which should have been enough. NOT. I had to go get anoter gallon. An all day event. Now it is drying. After I did the etching and was almost done, a thunder storm came through, then another and another. It is raining every day which is good for the locals. It has been dry. But the humidity has gretly slowed the drying floor. There are no drains in the basement so the gallons I put down had to be vacuumed up. New wet vac. Maybe today I will be able to put down the epoxy and wait for seveal more days for that to dry before I can start organizing stuff down there. I need to get it out of the garage so I can pull in the cars and we can stay dry when we get home from being out. OH wait, i am going to epoxy the garage as well. More days waiting. At least I don't have to suck it up. Just shove it out the door.
Now to continue. I have my wiring sorted out and now have no place for phones. I converted all wire runs to ethernet for computers. So what there is of it, it is working. I have a few more run's to make to get everything working. I need to run ethernet to my blue ray player so I can watch web content through the player. Wireless is working on it but wired would be better. So far my attempts to put a wire through the wall in the family room have failed. I used a 3/8's in long drill bit to drill up from the basement. First pass it went in perfect through all the layers and into a box already in the wall. I was so happy. Then I figured out that the hole was not big enough to pull a coax through so I did what any self respecting do it yourselfer does. I put the drill bit back in the hole and proceeded to try and grind out the hole so it would take a bigger wire. MISTAKE, the drill bit broke off in the wall and it is plugging the hole. Now I have another mess to figure out. Another delay getting the sat dish mounted in a more permenant location. That project is on hold for the basement floor at present. Drilling holes from the basement create mess. I need the floor clean soooooo.
While waiting for the floor to dry down below, I decided we need to pick up some of the furniture we had to part with in CA. End tables, book cases, computer desk's and the like. Well i am going simple( interpreted cheap ) and got furniture that has to be put together. So yesterday I was on a roll. I got two end tables with drawers, a book case, a pantry cabinet, a metal shelf system for a closet, and a computer desk put together. That was the easy part, now I have a garage full of trash that needs to be processed, ripped, cut, compressed and in the trash. And yes, I am going green and will put the cardboard in a recycle facility. Green, right? NOT, It just keeps me from filling up my can so I can't get real trash in it.
Now while I was getting wires to work, I was setting up stuff. Like Linda's computer on a computer stand I brought from CA. Yep one made it from the garage to here. I also setup my disk farm that has 1TB of stuff on it. It came by way of our van.. It was stored in the well under the back seats. It fired up and took some time but was running. I have been able to reference it from my notebook and all was well. WAS. I did not have it plugged into the UPS unit yet. While etching the floor and having thunder storm go through, we had a power failure and then another with in seconds and then another one a couple of minutes later. It lasted all of about 60 seconds. Before I could get upstairs to disconnect it. So it crapped out. It would not start. Yesterday I finally got to a point I was going to open it up and see if I could do anything to get it going and I pressed a switch that you are not supposed to hit. It was taped on one position. I started to press it and the box went off and then sprang t0o life. I saw it doing something, I wasn't sure what. Maybe that switch would reset the unit to factory new. I figured all would be lost. I sat down at my notebook and pinged the unit. It responded. Progress!!!! It still was not talking in a normal tone of voice. I continued building furniture and later in the day the unit was responding normally again. All my data was there! Yep, lucked out. It is now on the UPS. I hope to capture the data to some other drive before I turn it off again. I suspect the unit is almost toast and the company went bankrupt several years back. New plan needs to come together on this one but hopefully later.
Yesterday Lizzie got a new dew, her first in Bristol. The groomer is just up the street from Bristol Motor Speedway. This week is Nascar at Bristol again. So the environment is starting to change there. Lots of rv's, motorhomes, temp camp grounds, people showing up from everywhere. I got a call yesterday and my friend received two tickets to the Nationwide series race for Friday night. Guess where I am going. Friday is my first day off in some time. YeeHa.
So I better get busy and do something today. Time keeps ticking.
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Time keeps on slippin into the future...
Well, we are still moving in. Still a big mess. We got rid of so much stuff. Now we find we have stuff with no where to put it. We need stuff to hold stuff. Stuff everywhere but where stuff should be. So we move forward slowly getting things done. No particular order other than to do something because it is in the way of doing something else. Moved lately? You would understand.
I find it interesting how much needs to be done to support doing nothing. Wow we are bogged down with all the things we had to have in our life. It was much simpler living in the RV. No clutter as there was no room for it.
Our day started with the painter coming to touch up some stuff that did not get completed when we moved in. He was here at 7:30 am. Do you know how long it has been since I got up by 7:30. Note I said got up not woke up. I have been up many a night earlier than that and could not sleep. Anyway we had an early day with company.
If you have followed this blog, what there is of it, you have seen all the wonderful trials that have come our way. Some day I will look back and laugh at it all, I think!
Well it is amazing how we set ourselves up for problems. The Vacuum cleaner that made it on this journey, trust me many vacuum's did not make it past Goodwill, was prepped for the journey in the pod. I decided to be smart and removed the bag. You know how the thing smells after not using it for a long time with dirt in the bag. Well this was going to be a many month journey. I removed the bag. Well, I decided to sweep the floors a few days ago. The fine dust was on the floors in the cracks etc. The sweeper did a rather good job of knocking the dust loose and picking it up. Toward the end of my sweeping, I did note that it was not being quite as effective. I put it away and continued my meandering style of moving in. You know, what ever is in your way you deal with it and move on to the next thing in your way. Well, I got to the basement and needed to clean it up a little before I consider storing stuff down there. I got out a push broom and swept the floor and picked it up. Amazing how much you can get off a bear floor. I then decided to use the sweeper to pick up the fine dust. I started sweeping and it was not doing so well. So I decided the fine dust was plugging the bag. I open the door and my SMART from CA was looking kind of STUPID in TN. No bag, just dirt, everywhere in the vacuum. All in the motor and the filters, especially the hepa filter. So the next mini desaster story was born.
I decided that I needed to replace filters that were dead and dyeing, like the refrigerator water filter and now the sweeper hepa filter. Also I needed to clean out the vacuum cleaner guts. Oh yea, the air compressor didn't make it to TN. NO Room in the pod. So off to get an air compressor. And while we are out maybe we can stop by a furniture store and see about some things like coffee tables, end tables, book cases, computer desk and chairs. You know more of the stuff that were deamed not fit for the pod and it's space limitations.
I had already spoken to some new friends about where to get my water filter so our first stop was Breakfast. It was 9:30 AM and time for breakfast anyway. It was going to be a quest day. Then off to the appliance repair depot in Bristol. First stop was successful. We found a water filter for the fridge. Unfortunately they did not carry parts for vacuum's so we were directed to a vacuum repair facility, you know the one we passed a few miles back. Next stop vacuum repair store. Success once again, we found a new hepa filter. We may be able to save the vacuum from the abuse. Now to the next town, Johnson City. Made it here once to pickup some items for setting up the house and went through there on the way to Florida. That makes me and expert on finding things in Johnson City;-).
We trek our way to Johnson City. Along the path is a furniture factory outlet. I decide I want to stop as we do need some furniture. It is visible along the highway so no problem. I pass the store and take the next right. Well that simple big store is nowhere to be found. I end up going around the block which isn't a block at all and before you know it I haven't found the store and now have lost my original bearings to my original destination which was Harbor Freight to get an air compressor and all the stuff required for me to blow dust out of the vacuum I am trying to save.
We roam for at least an hour, maybe more until I finally find the original road we were on and once again see the furniture store that derailed me. In finding my bearings, I now have a big clue on how to get to the furniture store, but first, Harbor Freight. I go there and pickup the compressor and enough stuff to use it to blow out dirt and at least put air in a tire or two. Lunch time has arrived and the old bladder ain't what she used to be, so we head back toward a familiar area so we can eat. Along the way we find a Michael's so we stop to see about maybe some material to put on the door windows to kind of cover them up from being a porn site for the neighbors. They send us up the road past McDonalds and turn right to find Hancock Fabrics for the material. So we stop and do lunch along the way and take care of pressing business as mentioned above. We head up the road and find McD's and turn right. Wa la the same place I was lost at earlier. Quest is in my head so I find the furniture store. Only a couple more wrong turns until I found it. Big old warehouse no AC. 97 degrees out and they have big fan's running to stir the heat. I check out the place and there are some potentials but prices aren't that great. On to Hancock Fabrics, so I thought. I head up my lost highway and no place do we see our goal. Back and forth around and around. Finally my iPhone starts to work a bit and it shows me that I am no more than a quarter of a mile from my destination. We twist and turn more and more and finally tucked behind a huge Target store sits this little building called Hancock Fabrics. There was a target on it and I missed it. It is 97 degrees out so I pull into the parking spot and leave the engine running so Lizzie and I won't melt. Linda goes in and we sit and watch people go in and out and in and out and........ No Linda. I catch up on emails on my iphone and catch up on facebook and play a few games of sudoku and then cards. Take a short nap and finally we are at least an hour and a half into this gas wasting stop. Finally I get out of the car and Lizzie and I head in to see if Linda had given up and ducked out the back.
It seems the lady at the cutting table decided that our order was so big that she had to cut other customers stuff while using her spare time to cut our stuff. As it turns out, she had just finished when I got in the store.
Linda is dead tired after standing all that time and rather irritated, so we get back on Lost highway and head toward home. We stop and get some late lunch since it is after 5pm.
I can report the air compressor doing it's thing and replacing the filters, saved the vacuum to sweep another day. I re-swept the hard wood floors, at least the parts I can see still. It was a sucky thing and that is good. Got a couple of other small task done so not a total wasted day.
Basement is still empty and dusty. Today we try again with a happy vaccum.
I find it interesting how much needs to be done to support doing nothing. Wow we are bogged down with all the things we had to have in our life. It was much simpler living in the RV. No clutter as there was no room for it.
Our day started with the painter coming to touch up some stuff that did not get completed when we moved in. He was here at 7:30 am. Do you know how long it has been since I got up by 7:30. Note I said got up not woke up. I have been up many a night earlier than that and could not sleep. Anyway we had an early day with company.
If you have followed this blog, what there is of it, you have seen all the wonderful trials that have come our way. Some day I will look back and laugh at it all, I think!
Well it is amazing how we set ourselves up for problems. The Vacuum cleaner that made it on this journey, trust me many vacuum's did not make it past Goodwill, was prepped for the journey in the pod. I decided to be smart and removed the bag. You know how the thing smells after not using it for a long time with dirt in the bag. Well this was going to be a many month journey. I removed the bag. Well, I decided to sweep the floors a few days ago. The fine dust was on the floors in the cracks etc. The sweeper did a rather good job of knocking the dust loose and picking it up. Toward the end of my sweeping, I did note that it was not being quite as effective. I put it away and continued my meandering style of moving in. You know, what ever is in your way you deal with it and move on to the next thing in your way. Well, I got to the basement and needed to clean it up a little before I consider storing stuff down there. I got out a push broom and swept the floor and picked it up. Amazing how much you can get off a bear floor. I then decided to use the sweeper to pick up the fine dust. I started sweeping and it was not doing so well. So I decided the fine dust was plugging the bag. I open the door and my SMART from CA was looking kind of STUPID in TN. No bag, just dirt, everywhere in the vacuum. All in the motor and the filters, especially the hepa filter. So the next mini desaster story was born.
I decided that I needed to replace filters that were dead and dyeing, like the refrigerator water filter and now the sweeper hepa filter. Also I needed to clean out the vacuum cleaner guts. Oh yea, the air compressor didn't make it to TN. NO Room in the pod. So off to get an air compressor. And while we are out maybe we can stop by a furniture store and see about some things like coffee tables, end tables, book cases, computer desk and chairs. You know more of the stuff that were deamed not fit for the pod and it's space limitations.
I had already spoken to some new friends about where to get my water filter so our first stop was Breakfast. It was 9:30 AM and time for breakfast anyway. It was going to be a quest day. Then off to the appliance repair depot in Bristol. First stop was successful. We found a water filter for the fridge. Unfortunately they did not carry parts for vacuum's so we were directed to a vacuum repair facility, you know the one we passed a few miles back. Next stop vacuum repair store. Success once again, we found a new hepa filter. We may be able to save the vacuum from the abuse. Now to the next town, Johnson City. Made it here once to pickup some items for setting up the house and went through there on the way to Florida. That makes me and expert on finding things in Johnson City;-).
We trek our way to Johnson City. Along the path is a furniture factory outlet. I decide I want to stop as we do need some furniture. It is visible along the highway so no problem. I pass the store and take the next right. Well that simple big store is nowhere to be found. I end up going around the block which isn't a block at all and before you know it I haven't found the store and now have lost my original bearings to my original destination which was Harbor Freight to get an air compressor and all the stuff required for me to blow dust out of the vacuum I am trying to save.
We roam for at least an hour, maybe more until I finally find the original road we were on and once again see the furniture store that derailed me. In finding my bearings, I now have a big clue on how to get to the furniture store, but first, Harbor Freight. I go there and pickup the compressor and enough stuff to use it to blow out dirt and at least put air in a tire or two. Lunch time has arrived and the old bladder ain't what she used to be, so we head back toward a familiar area so we can eat. Along the way we find a Michael's so we stop to see about maybe some material to put on the door windows to kind of cover them up from being a porn site for the neighbors. They send us up the road past McDonalds and turn right to find Hancock Fabrics for the material. So we stop and do lunch along the way and take care of pressing business as mentioned above. We head up the road and find McD's and turn right. Wa la the same place I was lost at earlier. Quest is in my head so I find the furniture store. Only a couple more wrong turns until I found it. Big old warehouse no AC. 97 degrees out and they have big fan's running to stir the heat. I check out the place and there are some potentials but prices aren't that great. On to Hancock Fabrics, so I thought. I head up my lost highway and no place do we see our goal. Back and forth around and around. Finally my iPhone starts to work a bit and it shows me that I am no more than a quarter of a mile from my destination. We twist and turn more and more and finally tucked behind a huge Target store sits this little building called Hancock Fabrics. There was a target on it and I missed it. It is 97 degrees out so I pull into the parking spot and leave the engine running so Lizzie and I won't melt. Linda goes in and we sit and watch people go in and out and in and out and........ No Linda. I catch up on emails on my iphone and catch up on facebook and play a few games of sudoku and then cards. Take a short nap and finally we are at least an hour and a half into this gas wasting stop. Finally I get out of the car and Lizzie and I head in to see if Linda had given up and ducked out the back.
It seems the lady at the cutting table decided that our order was so big that she had to cut other customers stuff while using her spare time to cut our stuff. As it turns out, she had just finished when I got in the store.
Linda is dead tired after standing all that time and rather irritated, so we get back on Lost highway and head toward home. We stop and get some late lunch since it is after 5pm.
I can report the air compressor doing it's thing and replacing the filters, saved the vacuum to sweep another day. I re-swept the hard wood floors, at least the parts I can see still. It was a sucky thing and that is good. Got a couple of other small task done so not a total wasted day.
Basement is still empty and dusty. Today we try again with a happy vaccum.
Monday, August 2, 2010
We are in the house, barely...
Well, we made the trip to Florida and the Ford made the trip without smoking a tranny. I still need to check the fluid to make sure it really did it correctly though.
We closed a week ago Friday and the pod was delivered Tuesday. I started pulling stuff off the end. Like the Bear that was strapped in the end and all the stuff that Karen, Steve and I shoved in there. It didn't have much room to shift so we did good. I started pulling off boxes and staging them in the garage. I did pretty well and by the evening I had better than half the pod unloaded. Our friend Ken came over and we were able to get the couches off the pod and one in the house and the other in the garage waiting for me to decide if it goes to Texas or stays here. We got the piano off and into a bedroom where it will spend it's time. The refridgerator just barely fit in the space provided. It fit though. I connected the water line and turned it on. Water started running and I could not figure out where. Finally it started running out from under the unit and we ended up soaking up water like mad. I figured that it was busted while moving. We left the water disconnected for the time being. The second day I continued my quest to empty the pod. When I got to the piano it was over. Since that time the pod has departed back to POD HQ and we are shifting furniture what little there is of it and empting boxes. It is hard to empty boxes when there is nothing to put them in. We are realizing just how much storage was in that CA house. The built in cabinets in the family room, and den really heald a lot. We will have to purchase some book cases and shelves and the like to store the stuff we kept. arg! I am ready to take pictures. But who has time?
We closed a week ago Friday and the pod was delivered Tuesday. I started pulling stuff off the end. Like the Bear that was strapped in the end and all the stuff that Karen, Steve and I shoved in there. It didn't have much room to shift so we did good. I started pulling off boxes and staging them in the garage. I did pretty well and by the evening I had better than half the pod unloaded. Our friend Ken came over and we were able to get the couches off the pod and one in the house and the other in the garage waiting for me to decide if it goes to Texas or stays here. We got the piano off and into a bedroom where it will spend it's time. The refridgerator just barely fit in the space provided. It fit though. I connected the water line and turned it on. Water started running and I could not figure out where. Finally it started running out from under the unit and we ended up soaking up water like mad. I figured that it was busted while moving. We left the water disconnected for the time being. The second day I continued my quest to empty the pod. When I got to the piano it was over. Since that time the pod has departed back to POD HQ and we are shifting furniture what little there is of it and empting boxes. It is hard to empty boxes when there is nothing to put them in. We are realizing just how much storage was in that CA house. The built in cabinets in the family room, and den really heald a lot. We will have to purchase some book cases and shelves and the like to store the stuff we kept. arg! I am ready to take pictures. But who has time?
Monday, July 26, 2010
Yep, it is a habit. Long time between posts
Finally got my notebook out and blew off the dust. Did a bunch of updates and now I can post. We have been busy. We took the Ford out for a long tow. After getting back the Escape we drove a tank or two of gas out of it and it was working fine. Ford Motor Company called in reguards to the note I sent them concerning the car having it's third tranny put in and it being out of service for over 3 weeks. They checked with the dealer and the transmission installed had the proper build date and it should be towable. Well we gave it a try. 1600 miles worth of try. We went to Florida. We had a good trip. For one thing at no time during our trip did you find us along side the road waiting for a tow truck. A very positive direction for us, given our history of traveling lately. We went to Jacksonville Florida and visited with Doug and Dana Cody. It was great getting to see them and their new home. The community was beautiful and the homes back up to a golf course. We spent the night with them and then in the morning a snag entered the picture. I had taken the whole drive way as we had to disconnect the Escape so the rv and Ford could park in the driveway. I backed the Escape out of the drive and parked it a couple of houses down in preparation for connecting it to the RV. I started backing out of the drive and was not watching close enough evidently. I heard a noise in my rear view camera and hit the breakes. I was moving ever so slowly and hit the breaks. Just as I did that the front tire dropped off the curb which rocked the rv. The neighbors mail box was just above the back bumper and the rocking of the rv ripped the box off the pole. As it turns out the bumper got scratched. Even though the mail box ripped off the pole, it did not even scratch it as best I could see. I think the mail box won.
We headed on south to Arcadia Florida where my mom and dad live. We got to spend 3 days with them which was great. Our trip to Florida had been so delayed they were happy to see us even if it was just a few days. Oh yea, did I mention just prior to leaving for Florida we got a call from the Real estate company and our closing was moved up a week. So the trip was a quick one. We left Arcadia on Sunday afternoon and headed to Belleview Florida to visit Linda's dad and a friend of mine I used to work with at Intel in Folsom, Mark. We stayed in a nice rv park just off Hwy 75. We had a good visit with all. We had spent our mornings trying to get things done for the closing like inspections, appraisals, insurance, electric companies, city of Bristol. Minor stuff like that and took the rv to a dealer to check out a message we were seeing on the dash.
On Wed we had breakfast with Linda's dad and step mom and then headed up the highway. We needed to be in Bristol for our closing on Friday morning. We drove with little interruption and make good time. As the day pushed on it looked to me like we could make it to North Carolina by night fall. We did make it there. I decided to pull over and spend the evening in a rest area. We pulled along side some trucks and proceeded to take a nap. I was restless and decided to see how much further we would have to go to get to Bristol. To my surprise we were 120 miles away. I could have driven on in without stopping. I didn't have any place to stay so it was just as well we stopped. We got up and headed on in to Bristol. We got to town about 6am and had some breakfast at Mickey D's and then found a Wallmart parking lot to rest in until the camp grounds opened. So we had all day Thursday to take care of any last minute details.
I decided to stop by the power company. They didn't get any of the stuff I had sent them on email. Their application and my identification forms. It cost me 6 dollars to get the stuff scanned so I could sent it. Good thing I stopped. Filled out the forms and got all that stuff setup.
City of Bristol would not let me submit an application through the mail and they wanted proof of ownership. So I had to wait for closing. Well Friday arrived and closing took place so we are the proud owners of a home in Bristol. No furniture yet but it won't be long. Time to open the pod and see what we were doing back in December. Kind of like a short time capsule. Now we will see what I saved and what didn't make it. I could be in real trouble. It was a stressful time and I am sure mistakes were made. I just hope no big ones!
We have spent two nights in the house and have a bed and table and chairs. That is about it. I evidently bumped the power button on the refrigerator in the rv and it was off so we lost our freezer stuff. We have the pod arriving tomorrow afternoon so we can start unloading. Maybe we will be in a place that looks like home soon. At least on the inside.
We have been attending church at the church where Ken and Carmine are. It is great seeing them. Linda is going to play the piano Sunday. She got a warm up in Florida as she played for my parents church. During the summer they don't have a piano player. So maybe we are starting to settle in a little.
Lizzie had a nice romp in the church's yard with Teddy, Ken and Carmine's dog. It was fun to watch. I spent the day building the table and chairs and watering the yard. It has been un-seasonably hot here and humid. It is like their August weather. Tonight after watering the yard we had a small thunder storm go through. NO I didn't watch the weather. I don't have a tv yet.
So there you have it. The Ford traveled 1600 miles and the tranny is still working. I didn't smell any burnt fluid. Something else smelled but not the tranny. I need to check the fluid to make sure it is still red and clean. It has been resting the past couple of days as we drove the van.
So that has been our days. I am ready to crash after another long day, like 8 am to 9:30 pm. Retirement?
We headed on south to Arcadia Florida where my mom and dad live. We got to spend 3 days with them which was great. Our trip to Florida had been so delayed they were happy to see us even if it was just a few days. Oh yea, did I mention just prior to leaving for Florida we got a call from the Real estate company and our closing was moved up a week. So the trip was a quick one. We left Arcadia on Sunday afternoon and headed to Belleview Florida to visit Linda's dad and a friend of mine I used to work with at Intel in Folsom, Mark. We stayed in a nice rv park just off Hwy 75. We had a good visit with all. We had spent our mornings trying to get things done for the closing like inspections, appraisals, insurance, electric companies, city of Bristol. Minor stuff like that and took the rv to a dealer to check out a message we were seeing on the dash.
On Wed we had breakfast with Linda's dad and step mom and then headed up the highway. We needed to be in Bristol for our closing on Friday morning. We drove with little interruption and make good time. As the day pushed on it looked to me like we could make it to North Carolina by night fall. We did make it there. I decided to pull over and spend the evening in a rest area. We pulled along side some trucks and proceeded to take a nap. I was restless and decided to see how much further we would have to go to get to Bristol. To my surprise we were 120 miles away. I could have driven on in without stopping. I didn't have any place to stay so it was just as well we stopped. We got up and headed on in to Bristol. We got to town about 6am and had some breakfast at Mickey D's and then found a Wallmart parking lot to rest in until the camp grounds opened. So we had all day Thursday to take care of any last minute details.
I decided to stop by the power company. They didn't get any of the stuff I had sent them on email. Their application and my identification forms. It cost me 6 dollars to get the stuff scanned so I could sent it. Good thing I stopped. Filled out the forms and got all that stuff setup.
City of Bristol would not let me submit an application through the mail and they wanted proof of ownership. So I had to wait for closing. Well Friday arrived and closing took place so we are the proud owners of a home in Bristol. No furniture yet but it won't be long. Time to open the pod and see what we were doing back in December. Kind of like a short time capsule. Now we will see what I saved and what didn't make it. I could be in real trouble. It was a stressful time and I am sure mistakes were made. I just hope no big ones!
We have spent two nights in the house and have a bed and table and chairs. That is about it. I evidently bumped the power button on the refrigerator in the rv and it was off so we lost our freezer stuff. We have the pod arriving tomorrow afternoon so we can start unloading. Maybe we will be in a place that looks like home soon. At least on the inside.
We have been attending church at the church where Ken and Carmine are. It is great seeing them. Linda is going to play the piano Sunday. She got a warm up in Florida as she played for my parents church. During the summer they don't have a piano player. So maybe we are starting to settle in a little.
Lizzie had a nice romp in the church's yard with Teddy, Ken and Carmine's dog. It was fun to watch. I spent the day building the table and chairs and watering the yard. It has been un-seasonably hot here and humid. It is like their August weather. Tonight after watering the yard we had a small thunder storm go through. NO I didn't watch the weather. I don't have a tv yet.
So there you have it. The Ford traveled 1600 miles and the tranny is still working. I didn't smell any burnt fluid. Something else smelled but not the tranny. I need to check the fluid to make sure it is still red and clean. It has been resting the past couple of days as we drove the van.
So that has been our days. I am ready to crash after another long day, like 8 am to 9:30 pm. Retirement?
Monday, July 12, 2010
Spoke with Ford in Detroit today
We have been driving the Ford for two days now and Ford called today. They say the transmission put in the car is the proper one for towing. They say it should tow with out any problems now. I actually have the name and number of the person who called, should I have any further problems. I was going to ask for it but he read my mind and offered. Imagine that.
So we are ready to head to Florida.
We plan on pulling out for Florida at 7am on the 14th. We will see if the Ford can get to Florida without incident. Or will it be mia by he time we get there? Any bets?
Our plan is to come back to Tennessee just in time to sign papers and take possession of our new home. We will keep you posted as we head south east. We will finally get close to the East Coast.
First stop Doug and Dana's new home in the Jacksonvile, FL area. Then on to Arcadia to visit my mom and dad. We will then head north again to Bellview, FL to visit Linda's dad and step mom. And we will visit with my friend Mark, who I worked with my last years at Intel in CA. Amazing how many people I am getting to visit that I knew for years and years in CA.
So we are ready to head to Florida.
We plan on pulling out for Florida at 7am on the 14th. We will see if the Ford can get to Florida without incident. Or will it be mia by he time we get there? Any bets?
Our plan is to come back to Tennessee just in time to sign papers and take possession of our new home. We will keep you posted as we head south east. We will finally get close to the East Coast.
First stop Doug and Dana's new home in the Jacksonvile, FL area. Then on to Arcadia to visit my mom and dad. We will then head north again to Bellview, FL to visit Linda's dad and step mom. And we will visit with my friend Mark, who I worked with my last years at Intel in CA. Amazing how many people I am getting to visit that I knew for years and years in CA.
Wednesday, July 7, 2010
Well here we sit.
Holiday weekend is over. Our friends left for Texas, to visit their family there. My family left to go back to work. The home purchase is getting the details underway and ...... What now? Still no Ford. We are approaching 3 weeks. I have decided this is rediculus and have contacted Ford Motor company to lodge a complaint. I spoke with another rv'r who has a 2009 Ford Escape. He has towed it over 2000 miles without issue. His was a 6 cyl two wheel drive. I think the 4 cyl tranny is maybe not so good for towing. I am ready to head to Florida and my tow vehicle hasen't made it to Tennessee in a usable state yet. What is wrong with this picture?
Well, as you can see, I am sitting here with little to offer in way of blogging.
Oh, yes, on FaceBook I have made connections from our San Jose days. So we are connecting with some more people we haven't seen for years. And we lived just a couple of hours away. How bad is that?
Well, as you can see, I am sitting here with little to offer in way of blogging.
Oh, yes, on FaceBook I have made connections from our San Jose days. So we are connecting with some more people we haven't seen for years. And we lived just a couple of hours away. How bad is that?
Friday, July 2, 2010
Busy Day, not......
We made an offer on the house, got a counter and are accepting the counter. So we purchase our second house in 4 months. The retired life. SCARY!
My sister and brother-in-law arrived from Cincinnati and we took a tour of the area. Showed them my wealth of knowledge of the area. "That house we looked at yesterday, here we have a nice house we looked at the other day, oh, and here is where our friends live. You got the picture. The only good part of it was that TomTom didn't have anything to say about it. I was able to do this and even ended up in VA and get back to the RV. So here we go. Next phase of the plan soon to begin, trip to Florida. My mom is going to have surgery early July so we will be heading there once the house purchase is on auto pilot. Pray please. We need it. I still don't have the Ford back from the trip here. Maybe I can burn up this tranny with less than 500 miles on it.
I spoke with another RVer who is towing a 2009 Escape. 6 cyl automatic, over 2000 miles no issues. IS IT ME?
My sister and brother-in-law arrived from Cincinnati and we took a tour of the area. Showed them my wealth of knowledge of the area. "That house we looked at yesterday, here we have a nice house we looked at the other day, oh, and here is where our friends live. You got the picture. The only good part of it was that TomTom didn't have anything to say about it. I was able to do this and even ended up in VA and get back to the RV. So here we go. Next phase of the plan soon to begin, trip to Florida. My mom is going to have surgery early July so we will be heading there once the house purchase is on auto pilot. Pray please. We need it. I still don't have the Ford back from the trip here. Maybe I can burn up this tranny with less than 500 miles on it.
I spoke with another RVer who is towing a 2009 Escape. 6 cyl automatic, over 2000 miles no issues. IS IT ME?
Thursday, July 1, 2010
House hunting is task at hand.
Well we have been searching for a place to call home. The idea crossed our minds to maybe trade up the rv to a larger unit that we could live in. It was somewhat appealing. Until you figure the cost of a motor home that size is better than half the cost of a house. Then you have to figure that our president and the rest of the world leaders are working on tanking all markets for a couple more years. Maybe they are going to get it right? So buying two houses in this market? A smart plan? Hay who knows. I guess we will just have to wait and see.
My mom is facing surgery soon so we need to consider getting this house hunting done and move on to the next phase of our plan to get to Florida. My sister and brother-in-law are planning on being here to spend the 4th of July with us here in TN. That will be a good time and we will learn more about this area, I am sure.
So you can see that not much has happened. Linda and I did take a drive out the roads we have scoped out and shot some pictures. Hopefully I can get some posted here soon. I know.... I said that last time. You know the best laid plans of mice and men.
And we are quickly approaching the Nascar Bristol second race of the year. I have found that all roads lead to Bristol Motor Speedway. Even when you get into Bristol Virginia on the 81 freeway, there is a sign that says exit here to get to the speedway. That way you can drive down the city streets for miles and miles to get there.
You can bet I know how to get there by now!
Oh, wait! I still don't have the Ford back. It is still in Knoxville, TN. I am loosing my mind and can't keep track of dates but I do believe it has been almost 3 weeks at this point. If I go to Florida and it isn't done yet, I wonder if they will start charging me storage fees? Maybe I can off set a storage fee, by charging them a lease fee as they have had the car longer than I have. The way I see it they have had the car 1/26th of the time that I have owned it. It doesn't look like I will be driving the Ford several thousand miles before towing it again. I can't wait for our next adventure! gag!
Happy 4th to all our friends. Let's celebrate America the country we love. Then let's get to the task of taking back our country from all the illegals and the idiots who are giving it away to them.
My mom is facing surgery soon so we need to consider getting this house hunting done and move on to the next phase of our plan to get to Florida. My sister and brother-in-law are planning on being here to spend the 4th of July with us here in TN. That will be a good time and we will learn more about this area, I am sure.
So you can see that not much has happened. Linda and I did take a drive out the roads we have scoped out and shot some pictures. Hopefully I can get some posted here soon. I know.... I said that last time. You know the best laid plans of mice and men.
And we are quickly approaching the Nascar Bristol second race of the year. I have found that all roads lead to Bristol Motor Speedway. Even when you get into Bristol Virginia on the 81 freeway, there is a sign that says exit here to get to the speedway. That way you can drive down the city streets for miles and miles to get there.
You can bet I know how to get there by now!
Oh, wait! I still don't have the Ford back. It is still in Knoxville, TN. I am loosing my mind and can't keep track of dates but I do believe it has been almost 3 weeks at this point. If I go to Florida and it isn't done yet, I wonder if they will start charging me storage fees? Maybe I can off set a storage fee, by charging them a lease fee as they have had the car longer than I have. The way I see it they have had the car 1/26th of the time that I have owned it. It doesn't look like I will be driving the Ford several thousand miles before towing it again. I can't wait for our next adventure! gag!
Happy 4th to all our friends. Let's celebrate America the country we love. Then let's get to the task of taking back our country from all the illegals and the idiots who are giving it away to them.
Tuesday, June 29, 2010
So I have been MIA yet again. I think this is becoming a habit.
Ford still in Knoxville
Ford has graciously decided to replace tranny, yet again.
On order. 3 days to get to Knoxville - Arrived in Phx in 3 days from Tennessee first time. Slow truck this time.
I keep knoding off and typing ddddddd. Must of been a typo, should have been zzzzzzzzzz.
We have been looking at houses. Strange market. We have a couple that are getting close to the top of the list. Maybe we will get this done.
My sister and brother-in-law are coming to TN for the weekend of the 4th and my mom and dad are coming as well from Florida. Should be a good time. It has been awhile. My mom had what we thought was a stroke this morning but doctors say it wasn't one. I'm not sure what they called it. Maybe a TIA. She has good care and will be going home tomorrow morning and can travel so we are getting together as of now.
Pictures soon. Beautiful here. Great sky's and beautiful terrain.
good night all.
Friday, June 18, 2010
Arrive in Tennessee
So the trip from Texas to Tennessee could look like a Chevy Chase vacation movie.
We wanted to leave Texas by 10 AM Monday but were a little late. It was noon before we hit the highway.
We drove to Granbery, TX where we visited our friends Dave and Gene Huett, friends we had not seen for some 30 years. We became friends while living in an appartment in LA back in 1974. YES that long ago!
It was awesome to see them. As Dave said they haven't changed abit. hahaha
We went out on Lake Granbery which was great. Lovely homes along the lake. It was nice just relaxing and seeing a new part of Texas for us. We then went out to eat at Babe's, family style and awesome. I am already looking forward to when we can go back there. Dave was correct they had not changed. Same lovely people we knew back in the good ole days.
We left Tuesday morning and headed toward Tennessee. It was a good trip.......for awhile. Outside Granbery we pulled the RV through a Sonic drive thru. Glad I saw the over hang at the window. I would have hit it big time if I tried to pull next to the window. One problem avoided.
We moved on and things were going well. I followed the procedures for towing my Escape. We went along, went through Tesarcanna(sp?), moved along to Little Rock. I would love to have gotten farther but the book says to limit speed to 65 when towing the Escape. I set the cruise control so we were running 63 at the max. In Little Rock we were tired and found a state park, along a river and spent the night. Got there just in time and got a great picture of sunset over the river. I hope I remember to put it in here after I get done with our story.
We got up after a great night sleep and connected the Escape to our rv and hit the road. We once again drove no faster than 63 mph and continued our journey. We got to Jackson Tennessee and pulled into a truck stop to get fuel. This stop had a huge truck stop and a place for autos. I didn't see any green hoses that would represent diesel so I went to the truck side. I pulled into an island after a truck exited only to find that the hose had a big head on it that won't fit in the rv. I was now stuck waiting for the truck to move out of the way after he took care of his bill. So I was waiting and decided to start the Ford to let it run for 5 minutes according to the book. I opened the car door and it was exceedingly hot inside. It was hot outside but not that hot. I turned the key and nothing. All gages were working and everything looked fine but the starter never even ticked. I tried several times and finally thought maybe something happened that would require the thing to be put into park again. so big mistake, I put it into park. It did do that.
Now it would not start and hitting the break would not allow me to take it out of park. I was stuck. The truck in front of me left and here I sat blocking one of about 20 islands. I talked with the cashier and informed her that I was blocking the island and she got someone to place a trash can behind the car so no more trucks would line up behind me. I called AAA and they sent a driver to pickup the Ford. The driver tried several tricks to fake out or correct the problem but no luck. He then informed me I would have to sign a waiver absolving him of any damage to the transmission pulling it up on the tow truck. Option 2 was for him to disconnect the linkage and put the transmission into neutral. Then I could take the car to the dealer. I chose option 2 and he snapped the linkage off, in his hand, broke it. He did get it into neutral and told me where the dealership was so I headed for the dealer. The dealer listened to my sad song and had me pull the car to the back of the lot. I didn't blame them, it was kind of ugly with tranny fluid all over the back of the car. I can't help but wonder how many people I splatted their winshield with trany fluid? I digress... The tech connected to my Ford and said yep, over heat and the rain sensor is triggered which was stopping the car from starting. What the heck is a rain sensor? I thought it but didn't ask. It was not important at the moment. So, when can I have it back? Response, we can take a look at it next week sometime. We are really backed up? Again I wonder, how many flat tow cars they had to fix? No, again I didn't ask. I said so what is my options. They said I could leave it and hang around for a week in Western Tennessee, or just tow the car as is to our destination and fix it there. I asked the obvious question, can it cause more damage, they said no, it is toast already. I asked if it could possibly lock up and they didn't think so. I forgot to ask the important question which I thought up after getting back on the road. COULD IT CATCH FIRE? No, it didn't catch fire but it would be a nice touch for the movie edition. Anyway, I head up the highway, stopping every once in awhile to see if it is getting hot. In between the stops I am watching the video display to see if the hood is starting to turn colors other than the color of the paint. At one point I see images in the hood that distress me a bit. I have Linda take a look to see if she is seeing what I see. We continue to watch while driving and I am figuring out how quickly I can disconnect from the rv should a fire break out. We figured out it was about sunset and we were seeing a reflection of the sky in the hood with clouds, that kind of looked like melting paint. After all that stress we are now driving in the dark and getting tired. I think maby driving at night in cooler temps would help. We find a rest area and whip into the lanes next to the big rigs and set the phone timer to wake us in two hours. There are limits that they want to you hang out. Seems I was the only one following that rule. We wake up and hit the road. next issue begins for the day. The RV has no power. Every little hill I hit the thing slows down to next to nothing and I have to manualy shift the trany to lower gears and I find I am doing 30 in a 70 mph zone. Not good, especially in the dark. I drive this way as stress is building waiting for some truck to give us a boost in the rear accidentally. I start using the emergency flasher and half the shoulder for good measure. Finally i am down to half a tank of fuel so I pull off and get some fuel. I was thinking maybe I got some bad fuel. I fill up and crank up and all was well, we start traveling again and the rv is halling up hills like it is nothing. I was watching for another rest stop as my eyes were starting to cross. When a rain storm hits. I was happy about this because I was still worried that the Ford would overheat and catch fire. Unfortunately the rv started it's work stopage mode on the smallest of hills. We were making great strides as we were now approaching Knoxville. We are getting within smelling distance of our destination. Now we are past Knoxville and my stress level is going up as the hills are getting longer and I am really slowing down. I start thinking I am headed toward mountains, so these hills are probably going to get longer and higher. I finally pull off to get more fuel as I have burned another half tank. Thinking maybe I need to get more fuel to help get rid of bad.
This time when I start the rv it starts a beeping code. 15 beeps, and there is an error code on the console. So I pull away from the fuel island to a safe stoping place in the parking lot and decide I need to find out what is happening. I finally get out the book like all good computer geeks. It took 10 minutes to find the book. Amazing how many places you can hide things you don't expect to use. I start searching through the book for error codes and nothing exist. Since the trany wasn't shifting by itself I look up transmission and can't find it mentioned, except in some wierd place and it half way suggest the transmission is in distressed mode. This is the only place in the book I can find the word transmission. In frustration I find a flashlight and pop the hood.
Guess what? I can't find a dip stick for the transmission. Ok now I know I am really tired. I shut the hood and walk around the rv a few times expecting to open it again and find the dip stick.
As luck would have it, it still wasn't there. Ok this isn't fun anymore. Here we sit with a broken down rv and tow car. We are really starting to get into a fun mode now. I have already called AAA once today and now I have the same vehicle broken down and the rv. While opening the vehicle book for the rv, I found this wonderful card saying call this number if you need roadside assistance. Guess what I did? Yep, I called. We went thru 15 minutes trying to communicate the rv vin number. Once we got that figured out, he says WHERE ARE YOU? I only have one reply "somewhere other than where I wanted to be". So I remember Arizona and the tom tom has coordinates where I am. I give him my coords. He starts figuring out where we are, while I go into the station and ask what exit are we at off 40. I get back to the rv and he says you are at a Pilot station with a restaureant next door, I confirmed and then told him what exit we were located at. He checks and says we have a dealer two miles away from you. He offers to send a tow to pick us up and take us to their impound lot as the dealer has no night drop, or if we stay there he would have them pick us up at 7:30 and take us directly to the dealer. I opted for 7:30 after getting permission to stay the rest of the night. It was already 3:30 or 4:00 AM. We kick back and sleep. Next morning while waiting I order breakfast at the restaurant and before we get the food, the tow is here. We have time to eat as he has to pull the drive shaft of the rv before he can tow it. Food wasn't so good, first time I had pancakes I could not cut with a fork. anyway he has to call for a second tow truck for the Ford. I was informed that Dodge would not cover that vehicle. I am thinking maybe I should call Ford road service but I don't want to get into the positon that the rv is one place and the car in another. The second tow driver shows up, I told him what had happened and that I was going to pay for this tow. I figured should not be too bad for only a couple miles away dealer. We finally get all the vehicles hooked to tow trucks and Linda and Lizzie ride in one and I the other.
We get to the dealer and sitting outside the service depart is a small truck which has the same chasis that the rv. I figure this is a good sign. They say, we don't service that chasis. Not only do they not do it but neither does any of the other dealers within a few miles. He says the only dealer who can work on this vehicle is in Knoxville, some 60+ miles away. WOOPS, I am going to have to pay for the Ford to be towed to Knoxville, this could get expensive at $5 per mile. The tow drivers get on the phone to their boss and Dodge to get permission to tow to a new destination. The driver with the Ford was a kick, he was what you would classify as a colorful individual. He starts ripping Dodge for the troubles I am having and convinces them to pay for the Ford tow. So we start our journey back where we were the night before. I asked the Dodge dealer if he knew if there were a Ford dealer close to the Dodge dealer in Knoxville, surprise, it is across the street. Ok enough playing around. Drop the RV at Dodge and drop the Ford a Ford and lets get this done. The Dodge dealer jumped on the RV, and made it a hot priority. While I was at Ford dropping the car, Dodge took the rv, Linda, Lizzie and all in and got started.
Ford on the other hand said we can't get to it for a week. SOUND FAMILIAR? This time I am not keeping it. I am only about 100 miles from my destination so I can handle that trip to pick it up.
In a couple of hours the RV is fixed. Seems a sensor assembly associated with the turbo boost fell apart and the tube from the turbo boost fell off. We finally can hit the highway and it takes us about 30 minutes to get back to where we had broken down. This time I can drive 70 mph so we head to the RV park in Blountville, TN. Finally we are at the destination location. We get a really nice spot for the month, backed in around trees blocking out the majority of the sun's heat, which is good in a black rv.
Our friend stops by after work to welcome us and he has Teddy his toy poodle with him, so Lizzie has a new friend. After getting caught up on the journey, we go to his house to pickup the Chrysler van. It was been sitting in his yard since Late January when we shipped it to him from Sac. You remember that story where Collin took my car because it did not get picked up when expected. Well the car is now back in our posession. It had low tires, dead battery and a few ants looking for a new home. We took care of the ill's of this car. Add a tank of gas and it is ready to go until I run the wipers and washer. Wipers now on the list of got to have items.
We had a nice breakfast this morning and dinner today with our friends. Great evening catching up on old times.
The Ford, no word yet.
We wanted to leave Texas by 10 AM Monday but were a little late. It was noon before we hit the highway.
We drove to Granbery, TX where we visited our friends Dave and Gene Huett, friends we had not seen for some 30 years. We became friends while living in an appartment in LA back in 1974. YES that long ago!
It was awesome to see them. As Dave said they haven't changed abit. hahaha
We went out on Lake Granbery which was great. Lovely homes along the lake. It was nice just relaxing and seeing a new part of Texas for us. We then went out to eat at Babe's, family style and awesome. I am already looking forward to when we can go back there. Dave was correct they had not changed. Same lovely people we knew back in the good ole days.
We left Tuesday morning and headed toward Tennessee. It was a good trip.......for awhile. Outside Granbery we pulled the RV through a Sonic drive thru. Glad I saw the over hang at the window. I would have hit it big time if I tried to pull next to the window. One problem avoided.
We moved on and things were going well. I followed the procedures for towing my Escape. We went along, went through Tesarcanna(sp?), moved along to Little Rock. I would love to have gotten farther but the book says to limit speed to 65 when towing the Escape. I set the cruise control so we were running 63 at the max. In Little Rock we were tired and found a state park, along a river and spent the night. Got there just in time and got a great picture of sunset over the river. I hope I remember to put it in here after I get done with our story.
We got up after a great night sleep and connected the Escape to our rv and hit the road. We once again drove no faster than 63 mph and continued our journey. We got to Jackson Tennessee and pulled into a truck stop to get fuel. This stop had a huge truck stop and a place for autos. I didn't see any green hoses that would represent diesel so I went to the truck side. I pulled into an island after a truck exited only to find that the hose had a big head on it that won't fit in the rv. I was now stuck waiting for the truck to move out of the way after he took care of his bill. So I was waiting and decided to start the Ford to let it run for 5 minutes according to the book. I opened the car door and it was exceedingly hot inside. It was hot outside but not that hot. I turned the key and nothing. All gages were working and everything looked fine but the starter never even ticked. I tried several times and finally thought maybe something happened that would require the thing to be put into park again. so big mistake, I put it into park. It did do that.
Now it would not start and hitting the break would not allow me to take it out of park. I was stuck. The truck in front of me left and here I sat blocking one of about 20 islands. I talked with the cashier and informed her that I was blocking the island and she got someone to place a trash can behind the car so no more trucks would line up behind me. I called AAA and they sent a driver to pickup the Ford. The driver tried several tricks to fake out or correct the problem but no luck. He then informed me I would have to sign a waiver absolving him of any damage to the transmission pulling it up on the tow truck. Option 2 was for him to disconnect the linkage and put the transmission into neutral. Then I could take the car to the dealer. I chose option 2 and he snapped the linkage off, in his hand, broke it. He did get it into neutral and told me where the dealership was so I headed for the dealer. The dealer listened to my sad song and had me pull the car to the back of the lot. I didn't blame them, it was kind of ugly with tranny fluid all over the back of the car. I can't help but wonder how many people I splatted their winshield with trany fluid? I digress... The tech connected to my Ford and said yep, over heat and the rain sensor is triggered which was stopping the car from starting. What the heck is a rain sensor? I thought it but didn't ask. It was not important at the moment. So, when can I have it back? Response, we can take a look at it next week sometime. We are really backed up? Again I wonder, how many flat tow cars they had to fix? No, again I didn't ask. I said so what is my options. They said I could leave it and hang around for a week in Western Tennessee, or just tow the car as is to our destination and fix it there. I asked the obvious question, can it cause more damage, they said no, it is toast already. I asked if it could possibly lock up and they didn't think so. I forgot to ask the important question which I thought up after getting back on the road. COULD IT CATCH FIRE? No, it didn't catch fire but it would be a nice touch for the movie edition. Anyway, I head up the highway, stopping every once in awhile to see if it is getting hot. In between the stops I am watching the video display to see if the hood is starting to turn colors other than the color of the paint. At one point I see images in the hood that distress me a bit. I have Linda take a look to see if she is seeing what I see. We continue to watch while driving and I am figuring out how quickly I can disconnect from the rv should a fire break out. We figured out it was about sunset and we were seeing a reflection of the sky in the hood with clouds, that kind of looked like melting paint. After all that stress we are now driving in the dark and getting tired. I think maby driving at night in cooler temps would help. We find a rest area and whip into the lanes next to the big rigs and set the phone timer to wake us in two hours. There are limits that they want to you hang out. Seems I was the only one following that rule. We wake up and hit the road. next issue begins for the day. The RV has no power. Every little hill I hit the thing slows down to next to nothing and I have to manualy shift the trany to lower gears and I find I am doing 30 in a 70 mph zone. Not good, especially in the dark. I drive this way as stress is building waiting for some truck to give us a boost in the rear accidentally. I start using the emergency flasher and half the shoulder for good measure. Finally i am down to half a tank of fuel so I pull off and get some fuel. I was thinking maybe I got some bad fuel. I fill up and crank up and all was well, we start traveling again and the rv is halling up hills like it is nothing. I was watching for another rest stop as my eyes were starting to cross. When a rain storm hits. I was happy about this because I was still worried that the Ford would overheat and catch fire. Unfortunately the rv started it's work stopage mode on the smallest of hills. We were making great strides as we were now approaching Knoxville. We are getting within smelling distance of our destination. Now we are past Knoxville and my stress level is going up as the hills are getting longer and I am really slowing down. I start thinking I am headed toward mountains, so these hills are probably going to get longer and higher. I finally pull off to get more fuel as I have burned another half tank. Thinking maybe I need to get more fuel to help get rid of bad.
This time when I start the rv it starts a beeping code. 15 beeps, and there is an error code on the console. So I pull away from the fuel island to a safe stoping place in the parking lot and decide I need to find out what is happening. I finally get out the book like all good computer geeks. It took 10 minutes to find the book. Amazing how many places you can hide things you don't expect to use. I start searching through the book for error codes and nothing exist. Since the trany wasn't shifting by itself I look up transmission and can't find it mentioned, except in some wierd place and it half way suggest the transmission is in distressed mode. This is the only place in the book I can find the word transmission. In frustration I find a flashlight and pop the hood.
Guess what? I can't find a dip stick for the transmission. Ok now I know I am really tired. I shut the hood and walk around the rv a few times expecting to open it again and find the dip stick.
As luck would have it, it still wasn't there. Ok this isn't fun anymore. Here we sit with a broken down rv and tow car. We are really starting to get into a fun mode now. I have already called AAA once today and now I have the same vehicle broken down and the rv. While opening the vehicle book for the rv, I found this wonderful card saying call this number if you need roadside assistance. Guess what I did? Yep, I called. We went thru 15 minutes trying to communicate the rv vin number. Once we got that figured out, he says WHERE ARE YOU? I only have one reply "somewhere other than where I wanted to be". So I remember Arizona and the tom tom has coordinates where I am. I give him my coords. He starts figuring out where we are, while I go into the station and ask what exit are we at off 40. I get back to the rv and he says you are at a Pilot station with a restaureant next door, I confirmed and then told him what exit we were located at. He checks and says we have a dealer two miles away from you. He offers to send a tow to pick us up and take us to their impound lot as the dealer has no night drop, or if we stay there he would have them pick us up at 7:30 and take us directly to the dealer. I opted for 7:30 after getting permission to stay the rest of the night. It was already 3:30 or 4:00 AM. We kick back and sleep. Next morning while waiting I order breakfast at the restaurant and before we get the food, the tow is here. We have time to eat as he has to pull the drive shaft of the rv before he can tow it. Food wasn't so good, first time I had pancakes I could not cut with a fork. anyway he has to call for a second tow truck for the Ford. I was informed that Dodge would not cover that vehicle. I am thinking maybe I should call Ford road service but I don't want to get into the positon that the rv is one place and the car in another. The second tow driver shows up, I told him what had happened and that I was going to pay for this tow. I figured should not be too bad for only a couple miles away dealer. We finally get all the vehicles hooked to tow trucks and Linda and Lizzie ride in one and I the other.
We get to the dealer and sitting outside the service depart is a small truck which has the same chasis that the rv. I figure this is a good sign. They say, we don't service that chasis. Not only do they not do it but neither does any of the other dealers within a few miles. He says the only dealer who can work on this vehicle is in Knoxville, some 60+ miles away. WOOPS, I am going to have to pay for the Ford to be towed to Knoxville, this could get expensive at $5 per mile. The tow drivers get on the phone to their boss and Dodge to get permission to tow to a new destination. The driver with the Ford was a kick, he was what you would classify as a colorful individual. He starts ripping Dodge for the troubles I am having and convinces them to pay for the Ford tow. So we start our journey back where we were the night before. I asked the Dodge dealer if he knew if there were a Ford dealer close to the Dodge dealer in Knoxville, surprise, it is across the street. Ok enough playing around. Drop the RV at Dodge and drop the Ford a Ford and lets get this done. The Dodge dealer jumped on the RV, and made it a hot priority. While I was at Ford dropping the car, Dodge took the rv, Linda, Lizzie and all in and got started.
Ford on the other hand said we can't get to it for a week. SOUND FAMILIAR? This time I am not keeping it. I am only about 100 miles from my destination so I can handle that trip to pick it up.
In a couple of hours the RV is fixed. Seems a sensor assembly associated with the turbo boost fell apart and the tube from the turbo boost fell off. We finally can hit the highway and it takes us about 30 minutes to get back to where we had broken down. This time I can drive 70 mph so we head to the RV park in Blountville, TN. Finally we are at the destination location. We get a really nice spot for the month, backed in around trees blocking out the majority of the sun's heat, which is good in a black rv.
Our friend stops by after work to welcome us and he has Teddy his toy poodle with him, so Lizzie has a new friend. After getting caught up on the journey, we go to his house to pickup the Chrysler van. It was been sitting in his yard since Late January when we shipped it to him from Sac. You remember that story where Collin took my car because it did not get picked up when expected. Well the car is now back in our posession. It had low tires, dead battery and a few ants looking for a new home. We took care of the ill's of this car. Add a tank of gas and it is ready to go until I run the wipers and washer. Wipers now on the list of got to have items.
We had a nice breakfast this morning and dinner today with our friends. Great evening catching up on old times.
The Ford, no word yet.
Sunday, June 13, 2010
Did you give up yet?
Yes, it has been about a month and no new blog stuff. Kind of defeats the purpose of a blog I guess. But I am back. We begin the next leg of our journey with this present location setup as home in Texas where we are Texas residants, finally. The Escort and Motorhome are now Texas vehicles and Linda and I are the proud carriers of a temporary Texas license.
We went to a softball game tonight to watch the kids play and take care of our grandson one last time before we leave for awhile. Parting is dificult. This place has really become a part of us and feels like home. I love having Mindy and Mike living close to us. Once college bound we kind of lost our daughter. Not like you lose friends but close enough. We really are enjoying seeing them and living around them. But alas we move on to the other part of our journey.
Tomorrow morning we plan to depart for Granbury Texas where we are finally going to visit with some long lost friends from LA, CA. We all lived in an appartment complex north of Pasadina. We enjoyed our time together but like everything else we allowed life events to make the friendship a thing lost. But the joys of Facebook and we are back in communication. We started this process many months back before we even sold the house in Roseville so it has been a long time coming. We are so looking forward to finding out what our friends have been up to for so many years. With Facebook we have a clue but face to face always trumps the computer. The computer is a strong second though.
Then on Tuesday of this week we start our last leg of the journey to Tennessee, it will be a 1000 mile journey, any bets on us making it in one day? I did reserve a campground for Tuesday night but left open the last minute call should we just feel a little too tired to press on the whole distance.I did note that Tuesday we will pickup thunder stormes around half way there so those could have some influence. The RV has a way to go to be ready to role. Still several more trips from the house to load it up. Still have to load the fresh water tank and fire up the water heater.
Got to wash the windows etc. etc..... It kind of feels like it did when we were moving stuff out of the house in Roseville to the RV and POD. Not the best feeling but it is not as much of an unknown as that Roseville departure.
Ya know if you were on Facebook you would have known some of this and I would not have had to spell it all out. Or maybe I would have...... hummmmmm.
Well my intent is to blog our journey. Tennessee is not the final part of our journey, we have a trip to Florida and Ohio. In Florida, we had some Citrus Heights, CA friends who spent the night with us in Texas while on their way to establish a new home in the Jacksonville area. Guess where the maps programs route us when we go from Bristol to Ocalla and Arcadia, Florida? Yep Jacksonville. Guess that will be a two day trip from now on. Also a Roseville friend moved just before we left, to North Carolina, so we have more to look up.
Do you see a pattern here? Many of the people I intend to visit are from CA. Many of them recently, like within the last year. Oh yea, I know others in Tennessee from Ca some years back who live along the way. I need to make some contacts with them so we can visit and they can fill us in on the ins and outs of the great state of Tennessee.
Well, time to quit messing around and get things ready so when 10 am tomorrow hits I will be hitting the road. Stay tuned, as I really really really, intend to keep updating this thing for some time now.
Hang on and I hope you enjoy our ride.
ed
We went to a softball game tonight to watch the kids play and take care of our grandson one last time before we leave for awhile. Parting is dificult. This place has really become a part of us and feels like home. I love having Mindy and Mike living close to us. Once college bound we kind of lost our daughter. Not like you lose friends but close enough. We really are enjoying seeing them and living around them. But alas we move on to the other part of our journey.
Tomorrow morning we plan to depart for Granbury Texas where we are finally going to visit with some long lost friends from LA, CA. We all lived in an appartment complex north of Pasadina. We enjoyed our time together but like everything else we allowed life events to make the friendship a thing lost. But the joys of Facebook and we are back in communication. We started this process many months back before we even sold the house in Roseville so it has been a long time coming. We are so looking forward to finding out what our friends have been up to for so many years. With Facebook we have a clue but face to face always trumps the computer. The computer is a strong second though.
Then on Tuesday of this week we start our last leg of the journey to Tennessee, it will be a 1000 mile journey, any bets on us making it in one day? I did reserve a campground for Tuesday night but left open the last minute call should we just feel a little too tired to press on the whole distance.I did note that Tuesday we will pickup thunder stormes around half way there so those could have some influence. The RV has a way to go to be ready to role. Still several more trips from the house to load it up. Still have to load the fresh water tank and fire up the water heater.
Got to wash the windows etc. etc..... It kind of feels like it did when we were moving stuff out of the house in Roseville to the RV and POD. Not the best feeling but it is not as much of an unknown as that Roseville departure.
Ya know if you were on Facebook you would have known some of this and I would not have had to spell it all out. Or maybe I would have...... hummmmmm.
Well my intent is to blog our journey. Tennessee is not the final part of our journey, we have a trip to Florida and Ohio. In Florida, we had some Citrus Heights, CA friends who spent the night with us in Texas while on their way to establish a new home in the Jacksonville area. Guess where the maps programs route us when we go from Bristol to Ocalla and Arcadia, Florida? Yep Jacksonville. Guess that will be a two day trip from now on. Also a Roseville friend moved just before we left, to North Carolina, so we have more to look up.
Do you see a pattern here? Many of the people I intend to visit are from CA. Many of them recently, like within the last year. Oh yea, I know others in Tennessee from Ca some years back who live along the way. I need to make some contacts with them so we can visit and they can fill us in on the ins and outs of the great state of Tennessee.
Well, time to quit messing around and get things ready so when 10 am tomorrow hits I will be hitting the road. Stay tuned, as I really really really, intend to keep updating this thing for some time now.
Hang on and I hope you enjoy our ride.
ed
Sunday, May 9, 2010
Yes, I know, it has been awhile... AGAIN
I did not drop off the face of the earth and abandon the blog. Well, I guess I did abandon the blog but it was because we have been so busy. Everything still takes huge amounts of effort. I think I blogged about my experience with Sony blue ray dvd players that I bought and would not work with my LG tv I had purchased. Well, after buying a third and different brand blue ray player I found the same problem. So we tried power conditioning, and the ups burnt up but before it did it did not solve the problem. I took back the LG and got another deciding that it was a bad tv. The next one failed as well. So I now have a Visio tv and it is working fine. So the nice Sony blueray player that I liked was not bad at all. I now have a Samsung player that I don't like as well as the Sony but it is working and so goes the saga of a 1000 miles of running to get just a TV working off an antenna working. See what I mean?
Then our bedroom suite I ordered did not go through. It seems the manufacturer stopped making that model and did not pull it from the books, so we had to cancel our order for that. So no bedroom yet. We did however get the mattress and foundation so we now have a bed.
The Washer, Dryer, and refrigerator are due to arrive in another week so we hope to be done with the laundrymat. Time will tell if this becomes the next debacale.
We just completed a week of taking care of Cameron. He is a lot of work, but worth every bit of it. I spend most of my day with that little guy. He and grandpa and grandma are really busy. If he isn't eating or sleeping, he has developed the ability to really focus in on things. It is fun just figuring out what has his attention. The tv gets his attention when it gets busy. He likes the weather, I think. Cam and grandpa work out a lot. we stand and do belly time together. We do air belly time where I hold him above me in the air so grandpa also gets a workout. I better keep up with the workout though as my weights seem to be getting heaver as we go. What a natural.
Cam's mom reports he sleept most all night on Thurs and Fri. So that is a great thing. Mom can get a little more rest before having to head off to work. He is such a happy boy, grandma gets the good job of feeding him, and holding him while he sleeps sometimes. Other times I have found he likes grandpa's Lazyboy chair. Put him between two pillows and rock him to sleep. He does well with this as I don't have to move him so he sleeps a little more solid. Week two starts soon. Stay tuned.
I spoke with our friends Doug and Dana, who are moving from CA to FL. they have a house they have purchased there. They were in Phoenix yesterday which means they will be with us this afternoon. We are looking forward to spending the evening with them. I told them we have an air mattress on the floor from the rv as a bed and they were welcome to use it. So we are having our first overnight house guest in our new home. Awesome.
Also today we are going to have some first and some long time coming experiences. We are having mothers day lunch with Mindy and Mike. First time in quite a while that Linda and Mindy are together for this day and the first is Mindy's first mothers day.
So I think that kind of gets us up to date on the tale of Ed and Linda's adventure into retirement.
Sorry for the long delay. I will try to remember to take care of this a bit more frequently than recent past. I did have and excuse though as I lost contact with the internet for a bit. My sprint link didn't work for some reason and I was thinking the link. Turns out an update took me out. go figure!
Happy mothers day to you all, or is it y'all?
Then our bedroom suite I ordered did not go through. It seems the manufacturer stopped making that model and did not pull it from the books, so we had to cancel our order for that. So no bedroom yet. We did however get the mattress and foundation so we now have a bed.
The Washer, Dryer, and refrigerator are due to arrive in another week so we hope to be done with the laundrymat. Time will tell if this becomes the next debacale.
We just completed a week of taking care of Cameron. He is a lot of work, but worth every bit of it. I spend most of my day with that little guy. He and grandpa and grandma are really busy. If he isn't eating or sleeping, he has developed the ability to really focus in on things. It is fun just figuring out what has his attention. The tv gets his attention when it gets busy. He likes the weather, I think. Cam and grandpa work out a lot. we stand and do belly time together. We do air belly time where I hold him above me in the air so grandpa also gets a workout. I better keep up with the workout though as my weights seem to be getting heaver as we go. What a natural.
Cam's mom reports he sleept most all night on Thurs and Fri. So that is a great thing. Mom can get a little more rest before having to head off to work. He is such a happy boy, grandma gets the good job of feeding him, and holding him while he sleeps sometimes. Other times I have found he likes grandpa's Lazyboy chair. Put him between two pillows and rock him to sleep. He does well with this as I don't have to move him so he sleeps a little more solid. Week two starts soon. Stay tuned.
I spoke with our friends Doug and Dana, who are moving from CA to FL. they have a house they have purchased there. They were in Phoenix yesterday which means they will be with us this afternoon. We are looking forward to spending the evening with them. I told them we have an air mattress on the floor from the rv as a bed and they were welcome to use it. So we are having our first overnight house guest in our new home. Awesome.
Also today we are going to have some first and some long time coming experiences. We are having mothers day lunch with Mindy and Mike. First time in quite a while that Linda and Mindy are together for this day and the first is Mindy's first mothers day.
So I think that kind of gets us up to date on the tale of Ed and Linda's adventure into retirement.
Sorry for the long delay. I will try to remember to take care of this a bit more frequently than recent past. I did have and excuse though as I lost contact with the internet for a bit. My sprint link didn't work for some reason and I was thinking the link. Turns out an update took me out. go figure!
Happy mothers day to you all, or is it y'all?
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Wow it has been awhile again! I am sorry!
Well, we did it. We closed on our house purchase in Texas. Hay, for the first time since mid December, we are close to having a place to sleep that doesn't have the bed, bath, living and tv area all in the kitchenj! We have been preparing to make purchases but could not do much until we were sure we would have a place to put the items purchased. Can you imagine all that stuff being stacked outside our rv! So anyway we now have a lot of space and nothing at all to put in it.
We don't even have toilet paper for the bathrooms. I intend to remedy that problem as well as many more over the next days and weeks.
We have made another decision that we need to let you all know and that is to delay a little longer our departure from Texas to head east. Mindy is going to have to go back to work soon and Mike doesn't get off for the summer until after the first week of June so we are going to take care of Cameron for a few weeks. That kid has already spoiled grandma and grandpa.
We will use the time to establish our home here in Texas prior to heading east. So we will delay our visits of friends and family a little longer. I am sure all will understand. I HOPE!
I am sure our president will take note of my efforts to expand the economy and redistribute the wealth. Aren't we good? Will this help my taxes next year?
We don't even have toilet paper for the bathrooms. I intend to remedy that problem as well as many more over the next days and weeks.
We have made another decision that we need to let you all know and that is to delay a little longer our departure from Texas to head east. Mindy is going to have to go back to work soon and Mike doesn't get off for the summer until after the first week of June so we are going to take care of Cameron for a few weeks. That kid has already spoiled grandma and grandpa.
We will use the time to establish our home here in Texas prior to heading east. So we will delay our visits of friends and family a little longer. I am sure all will understand. I HOPE!
I am sure our president will take note of my efforts to expand the economy and redistribute the wealth. Aren't we good? Will this help my taxes next year?
Monday, April 12, 2010
The long lost blogger returns
Ya know, time flys when you are having fun. I have been having fun, so time is flying. EXCEPT working with banks. Anyway the bank called today and said all is well and we can go forward with our house purchase. Now we wait on the builder. They are supposed to be setting up a walk through but they haven't worked on my lists' of things. I just fired off an email to see if I can get things moving sooner. I would love to get taxes done and the home purchase done and actualy put my fate back into our hands insteading of waiting on others.
Like I am not enjoying my grandson and being around Mindy and Mike. Ha, I am liking it for sure. Mike's family is in town so we got to see his parents a couple of nights ago. Always nice to see them. Great family.
I will have to work on more pictures. I may even clean up this blog and make it more readable, with more pictures. Until then you are stuck with my boaring ramblings.
Ya know we did have a refrigerator problem this week. I woke up early in the morning and saw a check light. I went back to sleep but then spent a big part of the day looking for the problem. I knew we were out of gas and could not figure out why as I had not used any gas for some time. Well the check light ended up being an indication that the gas process is not working, i.e., out of gas. It was supposed to be running on electric all this time. I opened the back of the unit outside and found a plug hanging on the wall with no wire plugged into it. I follows a wire I finally found up behind the tubing and there was a plug. I plugged in the unit and then powered it off and on and I have not had another check light. So problem solved. I will have to get gas though when I pull out of this park. First order of business will be to go pickup some propane. Interesting how some mystries are solved. thanks to all my Face Book friends who shared concerning rv'ing and the little things that make it so fun.
Hay life is an adventure.
New things to come as soon as we figure out what we are up to. Tomorrow is another day!
Like I am not enjoying my grandson and being around Mindy and Mike. Ha, I am liking it for sure. Mike's family is in town so we got to see his parents a couple of nights ago. Always nice to see them. Great family.
I will have to work on more pictures. I may even clean up this blog and make it more readable, with more pictures. Until then you are stuck with my boaring ramblings.
Ya know we did have a refrigerator problem this week. I woke up early in the morning and saw a check light. I went back to sleep but then spent a big part of the day looking for the problem. I knew we were out of gas and could not figure out why as I had not used any gas for some time. Well the check light ended up being an indication that the gas process is not working, i.e., out of gas. It was supposed to be running on electric all this time. I opened the back of the unit outside and found a plug hanging on the wall with no wire plugged into it. I follows a wire I finally found up behind the tubing and there was a plug. I plugged in the unit and then powered it off and on and I have not had another check light. So problem solved. I will have to get gas though when I pull out of this park. First order of business will be to go pickup some propane. Interesting how some mystries are solved. thanks to all my Face Book friends who shared concerning rv'ing and the little things that make it so fun.
Hay life is an adventure.
New things to come as soon as we figure out what we are up to. Tomorrow is another day!
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Well days seem to fly by. I can't figure where they go.
We just seem to wake up and find days have gone by. Here it is Thursday and last I knew we were looking forward to Monday and having the house inspected. That did happen. And the pictgure of Cameron happened. I'm lovin it.
We continue to work on getting things done for the house purchase. I meet with a guy to get estimates for window blinds. That will Occupy my Friday. For some reason one thing happens a day and I find the day gone. I guess when you don't have to be accountable for your time there is no accounting for it disappearing. Maybe if we didn't have to account for time at work it would go faster?
So we are in the Leander KOA for another month. April is here already!
Have a great April fools day. DON'T GET FOOLED!
We continue to work on getting things done for the house purchase. I meet with a guy to get estimates for window blinds. That will Occupy my Friday. For some reason one thing happens a day and I find the day gone. I guess when you don't have to be accountable for your time there is no accounting for it disappearing. Maybe if we didn't have to account for time at work it would go faster?
So we are in the Leander KOA for another month. April is here already!
Have a great April fools day. DON'T GET FOOLED!
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Time keeps on ticking, into the future
We are purchasing a home in Texas. We were going to buy and build one but we found that two doors down the same road on the same side of the street, they had built a spec home. Same elevation and and the color bricks I liked. It has some options we would not have chosen and some options that we would have chosen are not in it. We decided it fits the need nicely and are now extending our stay in Texas to complete the purchase of the home. We will then be moving on to visit friends and family back east. So we signed up for another month in the rv park and we are working with the persons necessary to purchase our house. We love the house. It is comfortable and homey. Monday morning we are having the property inspected 3/29 at 10 am.
Monday, March 22, 2010
Grandma and Grandpa babysit for the first time.
Yesterday evening, Linda and I had the pleasure of taking care of Cameron while his mom and dad attended a wedding. They got a few hours out on their own, I think for the first time since Cameron's arrival. They really looked sharp. Cameron and his grand parents were hanging doing the Cameron thing. They say we are supposed to spoil our grand kids. I think Cameron is spoiling us! Anyway it was a wonderful evening of cooing, eating, doing the diaper thing and a few moments of napping. FOR Cameron, not grandpa!
On the home front, we found that the lot we selected for our new home was available so we move one step forward in this process. We took care of more paperwork that was being held up pending ratification that the lot was available we wanted.
So today I have to get out of this blog and start pulling together some paperwork so we can do the bank financing thing. So I amd done here.
No more pertant info, back to work! ........ You ! not me. hahahaha ;~)
On the home front, we found that the lot we selected for our new home was available so we move one step forward in this process. We took care of more paperwork that was being held up pending ratification that the lot was available we wanted.
So today I have to get out of this blog and start pulling together some paperwork so we can do the bank financing thing. So I amd done here.
No more pertant info, back to work! ........ You ! not me. hahahaha ;~)
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Something about time and future. Good song stuff
Time keeps slipping into the future. As it does things change. Go figure.
I know it has been a few days since my last update. I need to figure out how to work this blog stuff better. I guess using it daily would probably help that a bit.
Anyway, here we go. As my time in Texas grows to a close, I have been looking at houses on Zillow and driving around the area as we are now much more comfortable with where we are.
As I have done this I find more and more houses sold and more and more on the market and they are selling in some cases days. The price on the houses was a little more than I had expected but then Texas real estate had held it's own compared to the rest of the country and especially CA. I have been watching and it still is slipping down in CA. Anyway given the pick up in sales I decided to get a little more serious about buying a home here now instead of waiting to come back next winter. We found several new home tracts building in the area and decided to take a look. We did this just after arriving here back in January before our grandson arrived. Well as it turns out, we ended up back at a home builder we visited in Jan and decided we liked their home layout and price etc. So we are doing the paper work and let's see if we can buy a house now that we are retired. It will present some interesting challanges to us and the bank I am sure. So pray for our purchase would be appreciated.
As you can see brick is the word for this house.
Now as for the real reason we are here, we have been enjoying Cameron as he grows and he is growing. 6 weeks old already. What a hoot.
I still don't have any pictures of the area. My camera eye has been really distracted with stuff going on. I am finally starting to spot things that I think have potential for pictures. But catching lightning in the middle of the night through a window that is sweating due to the temp difference between the rv and outdoors is just not something I am up to challenging at this point. We had a duzy of a storm night before this, some of the thunder concusions were enough to actually shock the RV. Of coarse the 50 mph wind gust were already doing a nice job of it. The wind lasted all day yesterday and into the night last night. I really need to get some jack stands for this RV. It was like being on a ship in a huge storm.
So my friend Dave is coming to Texas Monday. He will be working in the area and we will be able to spend a few days together this week. That will be great. I have been missing friends. Dave and I did a lot of photography work together. Lots of trips around northern CA to get shots. Most of my pictures I like were taken with Dave at my side or was it...me at Dave's side. Guess it doesn't really matter. Point is we get to do it again.
As for leaving Texas, we are trying to make plans but the purchase of the house may slow our departure and will probably mean we will be coming back for a quick visit to take care of business. Thing that will be an interesting project once we get the house purchased will be getting furniture into it. A couple of pieces on the pod in Johnson City will need to be moved to Texas I am sure. However that doesn't do much to fill a 1600 sq ft house. So we are going to have to get creative. I have been putting together a budget with prelim numbers and it scares me for sure. I think sleeping on the floor may be a thing in Texas until we get some months under our belt. Think I can get Social Security rates increased to help with my need to furnish a house? I already know the answer, "don't let the door hit you in the behind on the way out", and then they will probably put some detective on us to detgermine if we are sane!
That is what is happening in our world. Please drop me an email from time to time. You see what I am up to but I don't hear much from many people since leaving CA. My friend Steve has called a few times and that has really lifted my spirits to hear a familiar voice on the line.
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
so ListenUP dog! Oh wait. I am not posting idle
So it has been a few days since I updated this thing. I don't know what I was thinking. Stuff has been happening ya know. Our grandson is now over 10 pounds. Really going at this growning stuff. We had an evening or two of sparks in the sky, I kind of shared this in the FB account. Hay ya know I did communicate, just not here. We finally got our insurance cards from Cobra. That was a good thing. We opened the available DR's list and picked one that was close. We really like her. So we are getting to order med's, unfortunately we did 90 days and the insurance would not accept 90 days for some reason. So we ended up not getting credit for over $1,000 of med's so now I have to figure out how we get credit for our expenses. Ya know they just don't make it work easy. What is wrong with these people. Do they really want the government to take over the insurance business? They need to wake up and smell the coffee or the roses. What ever will wake them up and make them understand that when they are jurks they will in the end lose. Just like the credit card companies. Now I'm on a soapbox. So I better get off the box before it falls apart. Anyway sorry for the delay in posting. I will try to do better.
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
We got out today about 3pm.
We got breakfast at Carl's today about 3:30pm. Hay why hurry!
I did get a call from Citi bank. Seems we had a .83 cent finance charge that was added based on our last balance that had been paid off. We never saw the bill and by the time they called a month and a half later my .83 cents was $85. You are reading correctly. Citi is a rip off company. Thank you mr Obama for bailing this bank out. They have learned well how to rip people. I moved my funds from Soloman Smith Barney a Citi bank company to another company this year as I can't stand Citi. I had not realized they had our At&t master card. Guess what is going away really soon. I encourage you to get rid of anything that Citi holds. They will find a way to rip off your funds and then tag your credit rating. They are extorsionist.
Hay Mr President how about killing off people who do this to the conutry. I can not for the life of me understand how they can justify their charges. It's time for a net campaign to start taking out the idiots.
Just my two cents worth.
I did get a call from Citi bank. Seems we had a .83 cent finance charge that was added based on our last balance that had been paid off. We never saw the bill and by the time they called a month and a half later my .83 cents was $85. You are reading correctly. Citi is a rip off company. Thank you mr Obama for bailing this bank out. They have learned well how to rip people. I moved my funds from Soloman Smith Barney a Citi bank company to another company this year as I can't stand Citi. I had not realized they had our At&t master card. Guess what is going away really soon. I encourage you to get rid of anything that Citi holds. They will find a way to rip off your funds and then tag your credit rating. They are extorsionist.
Hay Mr President how about killing off people who do this to the conutry. I can not for the life of me understand how they can justify their charges. It's time for a net campaign to start taking out the idiots.
Just my two cents worth.
Monday, March 1, 2010
Wow! We are finally feeling like we don't have anything to do!
All the pressing stuff seems to be up to date. Now, we have to ask ourselves. What NOW!
Oh, yea, we have to find a place to live in Texas and in Tennessee. Piece of cake given our process so far. Then Again.....
Now we start to think about the stuff we have wanted to do, but do we really want to do that? That is the question!
Stopped by to pick up our mail from Mike and Mindy's and you guessed it, Cameron was feeding. That boy is growing. He actually turned over. I saw a video of it that Mindy shot with her iphone. Put him on his stomach and he extends his arms and rolls his head back over his arm and rolls over. Only one direction at present but wow, at 3 weeks!
I have been looking at a website for houses in Leander. Seems to be a number available. Question is, what do we really want? Guess my comments above may be a little pre-mature. Guess I should get out of bed and start my day. It is 10:00 A.M. CST. So on CA time I am good!
Oh, yea, we have to find a place to live in Texas and in Tennessee. Piece of cake given our process so far. Then Again.....
Now we start to think about the stuff we have wanted to do, but do we really want to do that? That is the question!
Stopped by to pick up our mail from Mike and Mindy's and you guessed it, Cameron was feeding. That boy is growing. He actually turned over. I saw a video of it that Mindy shot with her iphone. Put him on his stomach and he extends his arms and rolls his head back over his arm and rolls over. Only one direction at present but wow, at 3 weeks!
I have been looking at a website for houses in Leander. Seems to be a number available. Question is, what do we really want? Guess my comments above may be a little pre-mature. Guess I should get out of bed and start my day. It is 10:00 A.M. CST. So on CA time I am good!
Saturday, February 27, 2010
Month 2 starts in the Leander KOA park
Yep, the 28th of Feb is the end of one month in the park here in Leander. Time flys when you are having fun. Our grandson is 3 weeks old today. What a change. It is so cool holding him and rocking him to sleep. As many of you know I can't stand still. So I am well suited at putting him to sleep. I like being grandpa.
We are continuing to explore a little at a time. We went to Round Rock to find the outlets and found that coming out of the outlets we were in Georgetown. They are really close. Then we went the other direction to find a mall that I have visited a couple of times with Mindy and been totally lost. Found it and was STILL lost. What a confusing place.
Lizzie is getting used to her digs. I think the RV is a dog house and she is sharing it with us. Not sure when I lost control. I opened the door yesterday and she was out before I took one step. Where is the discipline?
Our cobra medical cards still haven't arrived and here we are making another payment. Whow what a great benefit! Maybe I need to fly back to the bay area and escalate the process. Couldn't cost any more!
So we have spent a lot of hours watching the Olympics. I'm ready to start curling, seems like a great way to throw rocks and not get into trouble!
We are continuing to explore a little at a time. We went to Round Rock to find the outlets and found that coming out of the outlets we were in Georgetown. They are really close. Then we went the other direction to find a mall that I have visited a couple of times with Mindy and been totally lost. Found it and was STILL lost. What a confusing place.
Lizzie is getting used to her digs. I think the RV is a dog house and she is sharing it with us. Not sure when I lost control. I opened the door yesterday and she was out before I took one step. Where is the discipline?
Our cobra medical cards still haven't arrived and here we are making another payment. Whow what a great benefit! Maybe I need to fly back to the bay area and escalate the process. Couldn't cost any more!
So we have spent a lot of hours watching the Olympics. I'm ready to start curling, seems like a great way to throw rocks and not get into trouble!
Wednesday, February 24, 2010
We have been cold and busy
It is that time of year when taxes are on my mind. I have been trying to keep track of all the paper work as we go through this process of life change. Linda and I have been working on it for a few days. I finally got it all together and linda spent the night working on all the stuff we took to Goodwill, determining the value of it all. The next morning we were going to mail it to Kay for processing and we wake up to a white out. It snowed all day. I had several inches on the top of the car. It was a packing snow. All you had to do was grab a hand full and you had a snow ball.
I got some pic's from the rv park but forgot my camera when I took a trip to Georgetown. What a strange thing a full day of snow. This morning the only snow left was what fell off the car.
So Cameron is looking good. What a young man he is. Mindy got a picture of him in a big yawn. I think I am hooked.
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Oh, yea, I forgot.
Last night while relaxing at the kids house and Cameron was sleeping, I decided to update the maps on my TOMTOM. I ordered the new maps and then a year of updates. I suspect it may be handy with the traveling. Well I install the update maps and it failed. Not enough memory. So I remove some stuff like different languages and other country maps etc to make room. i retry and get the maps downloaded. After that I had no maps of the US. All I had was Great Britan and some other place. I worked for two hours and no luck. I was about to decide that TOMTOM was dead. It would freeze when starting etc. Finally I got to a point I could manage it from the computer so ended up deleting the us maps from my computer and TomTom and reloaded from the net. Finally I could see our country. I used it today and it worked. CLOSE!
After that wonderful experience, I noticed my iPhone had a new load so I installed it as well. Fortunately it worked without an issue. Had it broken, i would have been really frustrated with my evening.
Well back to watch Curling. i kind of like that. i would like to try it some day.
After that wonderful experience, I noticed my iPhone had a new load so I installed it as well. Fortunately it worked without an issue. Had it broken, i would have been really frustrated with my evening.
Well back to watch Curling. i kind of like that. i would like to try it some day.
Cameron and mom and dad are doing well Austin made news big time!
Well, a new day and being a grandpa just gets better. I was rocking my grandson and observed him focused on something on the wall and he followed it with his eyes while we were rocking. Yep, another milestone. What a guy. I have moved back into the motor home as he is sleeping and doing well with his circumcision healing. So grandpa and grandma needed to back off and allow mom and dad to adjust to their new life with grandparents that live in the area not in the house.
On the local front I'm sure you heard about the nut case who flew his plane into the irs offices in
Austin. His plane was parked just a few miles from where we have our rv parked. Also I heard that the plane is registered in California and that when he was there, he was flying out of Lincoln. The airport that was directly in the flight path where we flew our powered parachutes.
Small world!
Linda and I drove out to Georgetown Texas this afternoon just to look around. It is a nice area. We really liked it. It had some of the old Roseville flair as far with respect to old roseville look and feel. No rail road yard though. I kind of miss the trains. On our trip to Texas we were constantly next to rail tracks and trains. Once we got to Texas we have a track going through the area but seldom is thre a train. We heard one a couple of nights ago. Felt good!
Ya know there are some things we have to deal with no matter what or where we are. Taxes. I have been working on tax paper work. I hope to put it in and envelope and ship it off to get the paperwork done tomorrow. It will be nice to get this behind me.
Oh yea, I ended up making another call to the cobra people. i swear they seem to me like they try to find anyway possible to cause you to loose coverage. Finally they cashed the check for our first months premimum. It would not have happened, I am sure, had I not made another call to them. So Feb will be over soon and we have had no access to medical. You just got to love it!
On the local front I'm sure you heard about the nut case who flew his plane into the irs offices in
Austin. His plane was parked just a few miles from where we have our rv parked. Also I heard that the plane is registered in California and that when he was there, he was flying out of Lincoln. The airport that was directly in the flight path where we flew our powered parachutes.
Small world!
Linda and I drove out to Georgetown Texas this afternoon just to look around. It is a nice area. We really liked it. It had some of the old Roseville flair as far with respect to old roseville look and feel. No rail road yard though. I kind of miss the trains. On our trip to Texas we were constantly next to rail tracks and trains. Once we got to Texas we have a track going through the area but seldom is thre a train. We heard one a couple of nights ago. Felt good!
Ya know there are some things we have to deal with no matter what or where we are. Taxes. I have been working on tax paper work. I hope to put it in and envelope and ship it off to get the paperwork done tomorrow. It will be nice to get this behind me.
Oh yea, I ended up making another call to the cobra people. i swear they seem to me like they try to find anyway possible to cause you to loose coverage. Finally they cashed the check for our first months premimum. It would not have happened, I am sure, had I not made another call to them. So Feb will be over soon and we have had no access to medical. You just got to love it!
Thursday, February 18, 2010
Well this time it worked. Diaper Changed and sleep
So why is it that when you feed him he toots. Usually after you just changed him when he woke up hungry? It must be a viral implant by diaper manufacturers. They must be in cahoots(sp?) with the hospital or something. I love it when the halo appears around kids. It shows up about the time they nod off. I had forgotten how that was. It has been a few years since I paid much attention. It is wonderful to hold a child and feel them fade into a restful sleep. So peaceful.
Now it is time for grandpa to nod off to sleep once again. A few hours later we will start the process again.
On the Lizzie front, she goes to the groomer tomorrow morning to get trimmed up a bit. Her last cut in CA is really growing out. Almost like growth hormone. Maybe there is something to this thing of bigger in Texas. Maybe it is in the water? Lizzie's hair is growing so fast! I'll have to take a before and after pic.
Good night my friends!
Now it is time for grandpa to nod off to sleep once again. A few hours later we will start the process again.
On the Lizzie front, she goes to the groomer tomorrow morning to get trimmed up a bit. Her last cut in CA is really growing out. Almost like growth hormone. Maybe there is something to this thing of bigger in Texas. Maybe it is in the water? Lizzie's hair is growing so fast! I'll have to take a before and after pic.
Good night my friends!
Do you see the time?
Well here we sit. Mom and grandpa. Cameron is awake. Just fed and did his business which we changed and now he should be ready to sleep. NO! Let's warm up this new diaper! So here we go again. Back to the changing table to clean up another mess. For some reason he seems to be more tollerant at night. THAT IS A GOOD Thing! Helps he rest of the house sleep.
So why should that happen? Because we are nice! Shhhh don't let any one know that. Ed and nice don't fit in the same planet let alone a blog. So we are going in. Hopefully for the last time tonight. Never fear though, gramps will be waiting for any sign of need.
We are going in!
So why should that happen? Because we are nice! Shhhh don't let any one know that. Ed and nice don't fit in the same planet let alone a blog. So we are going in. Hopefully for the last time tonight. Never fear though, gramps will be waiting for any sign of need.
We are going in!
Wednesday, February 17, 2010
Guess what happens to little boys a week or so after they are born.
Yep, they did it to my grandson. He took it like the little man he is. Other than just after the procedure he is doing very well with it. It takes two of us to change his diaper. He is doing great though. We actually got a good nights sleep last night. He slept for 4+ hours.
On the long lost car front, our van finally made it on to a truck. My friend Collin was getting ready to auction it off as it had been in his shop for about a month. I am greatful to him for his help in getting that one last thing taken care of. It would have really dampened our trip to have had to wait there until the car was shipped. I think the car haulers are in with the dmv. My tag's expire in Feb. I knew if I did not renew it would become a problem. I renewed and it was a problem anyway. Go figure. Like other things on this trip I can not second guess the events to follow.
Grandpa got some extra sleep last night as well. That was great. It has been getting down to freezing in the evenings so I guess it is a good thing we are with the kids. The rv gets a little cold when the temp gets that low.
Well we have errands to run so I better get off the computer before Linda leaves without me.
TTFN
ed
On the long lost car front, our van finally made it on to a truck. My friend Collin was getting ready to auction it off as it had been in his shop for about a month. I am greatful to him for his help in getting that one last thing taken care of. It would have really dampened our trip to have had to wait there until the car was shipped. I think the car haulers are in with the dmv. My tag's expire in Feb. I knew if I did not renew it would become a problem. I renewed and it was a problem anyway. Go figure. Like other things on this trip I can not second guess the events to follow.
Grandpa got some extra sleep last night as well. That was great. It has been getting down to freezing in the evenings so I guess it is a good thing we are with the kids. The rv gets a little cold when the temp gets that low.
Well we have errands to run so I better get off the computer before Linda leaves without me.
TTFN
ed
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