I got the grass cut the other day between rain showers and was surprised that it looked as good as it did when I got done. Sure, it started out looking like a pasture, but when it was clipped, it (almost) looked like real grass and not weeds.
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Yesterday (Wednesday) I took it upon myself to clean the cistern in the basement. Having been idle for several months, the water in the well was quite filled with red clay and it accumulated in the 500 gallon cistern to the point that the water was unusable for washing anything white. (I've got the pinkish BVDs to prove it.) Looking in the toilet bowl at pinkish water as you take a pee kinda puts you off the coffee, too.
Anyway, I bought a submersible pump and stirred up the tank as I pumped it empty. Then we flushed the pipe coming from the well. Sheesh! There was one spurt of water that looked more like rose wine but after that cleared the water looked pretty good. A few short flushes of the line and some dilution of what was still in the tank followed by more sump-pumping and we had water that flowed through the 1 micron filter with hardly a hint of discoloration.
We put the well pump back on line to the cistern and let it do its thing. That's about 10 minutes of pumping and 50 minutes of rest. The cistern is still filling more than 24 hours later. The water that's in the tank is still a little turbid, but it's not pink. What ever is discoloring the tank is smaller than 1 micron and grayish. When you look at a glass of water, however, it appears crystal clear and the filter is clean, too. We've had much worse.
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We went on a bird walk this morning with some others from the Tiadaghton Audubon Society. Things were remarkably quiet, but we did spot a few nice birds along the bike path leading from the Tioga River boat launch off Route 15 north of Mansfield. A pair of hummingbirds, a few red-eyed vireos, four or five cedar waxwings, and a chestnut-sided warbler were among the highlights.
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Afterward, Terry and I returned to the campground to see if we could get the slide out to work. A super big negative on that one! In fact, the motor has seen it's last days. Fried. Ceased. Got nothing out of it even when we tried to play Frankenstein and attach it directly to the 12-volt battery. "It's dead, Jim."
I had to retract the slide out manually after disconnecting the motor--which now sits in the bed of the truck. I needed the slide out in because I've got to take the trailer for its state-mandated annual inspection tomorrow before moving to another site in the campground. Can't travel with the living/dining room sticking out. It (the slide out) will stay in board until it gets fixed. Luckily having it in does not block access to either the bath or the bedroom. It does make the living area a little more cramped but it'll just be that way for a week or so.
I did call the folks up at Alpin Haus in Amsterdam, NY. I told them what parts I needed and set an appointment to have them installed. They said I could drop it off on September 2nd but that they wouldn't have time to do anything until around the 10th--assuming the parts get there from Power Gear.
Fine by me. I'll take the trailer up. Drop it off and then continue on to the Bolt Hole for Labor Day Weekend before returning to the Aerie. The truck gets serviced on the Tuesday after the holiday so it has to be back here then.
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We cleaned out the rest of the accumulated souvenirs, clothes, pots and pans that belong at the Aerie. The only food that's still in the trailer will be for meals during the next week or will go back to the Bolt Hole when I head north.
I'm beginning to feel like Road Trip 2010 has actually come to an end. Another month or two when the repair bills and the maintenance bills on the truck are paid off, I'll be able to relax.
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