In which the SHTF.

Two weeks ago everything was coming up roses for Terry and me so you knew payback time was right around the corner.

The end of last week I discovered the 12-volt system in the Winnie wasn't working. I thought it might be the auxiliary batteries (some 7-8 years old) so I replaced them. Still a no-go. So I made an appointment up in Bath to have the system looked at and repaired.

We dropped the RV off and went to the Glenn Curtis Museum to look around. (More on that in the next post.) After a much too short a time at the museum, we got a call that the problem was fixed and returned to the shop to pick up the RV.

As it sat in the lot, we started to fold some bedding only to discover a momma mouse and four pink babies had made a nest in one blanket. *sigh* I removed the mice and we bundled up the blanket and bedding to be 1) tossed and 2) laundered. And, oh yeah, the 12-volt system stopped working.

The technician said he thought there was a problem with corrosion at the secondary shutoff switch and he had cleaned it, but perhaps the selenoid is bad. (There was considerable amount of water in the compartment where the selenoid was located.)

And, by the way, your tires are badly dry rotted and should be replaced.

So we left the RV in their care to have the 12-volt system taken care of and the tires replaced.

******

Got home and found the refrigerator was not working. Temperatures in the freezer compartment were rising as they were in the fridge compartment as well. Called for a repairman but they can't get here until Tuesday. Ate lots of ice cream (now more of a watery milkshake consistency) and moved what we could to the stand alone freezer and the two small dorm fridges we have from the kids. (Beer and soda were removed to boxes as they do not need to be chilled.)

Started shopping online for a replacement (just in case) but the space our current fridge occupies has unusual dimensions: 33" wide, 68" high. 33-36"deep. Most new fridges are wider and have ice makers/water dispensers--which we do not want.

*sigh*

******

It IS August, right? Then what's with the high temperatures barely in the 70s and the lows dipping into the 40s? Have we done anything to piss off Canada besides not completing the XL Pipeline? Why are they sending this cold, cold air our way?

My tomatoes will never ripen if this keeps up. And I can kiss any thoughts of okra or cantaloupes goodbye.

Cold and Waterless

A chilly 17 degrees here at the Aerie this morning. At least the wind has stopped so it doesn't bite right through you. The birds have found the feeders on the deck and have been putting a dent in my sunflower seed supply. It will get busier as winter takes hold. So far only one squirrel has been spotted on the deck/in the yard. Often there are a dozen or more fighting for their turn at the bounty of black oil sunflower seeds.

******

The water well at the Aerie is shallow (only about 150 feet) and slow to recharge. As a result, we have a 550 gallon cistern in the utility room to provide all the water we need. The well also passes through a mix of shale and clay which proves problematic. If we stress the water usage (doing lots of laundry and washing dishes, or trying to water a new lawn, or spending too much time watering the garden, etc.) we will get a cistern full of water that's just loaded with colloidal red clay. This despite limiting the well pump to just 3 or 4 minutes at a time and then only after a 90 minute interval, and we have a whole-house filter that is supposed to screen out anything over 1 micron in size.

Apparently, we over stressed the well (again) when Terry returned and commenced to do her laundry after three weeks on the road. Add all the bedding (which, in hindsight could have waited) and the dinner dishes. The "water" in the cistern took on the consistency of a mud wrestling pit and the water coming from the taps would have been useful for the folks filming the shower scene in Psycho.

Yesterday was spent draining the the cistern and swabbing out the insides using all the big fluffy bath towels we could scrounge up. I got the bloody (no pun intended) thing cleaned out and then tried a new filter from Monsanto's 3M company. It had no micron rating but said it was good for sediment, rust and soil as well as odor and other stuff. I should have read the label better. In addition to some red sediment, I got a shot of carbon from the damn filter which is not really meant for a cistern application. The directions state clearly that you should run the water for several minutes to purge the lines after installation. That must be to clear the lines of the carbon the filter releases.

This morning we went back to our plain old 1 micron filter. The water, after a night's rest in the well, is coming through clear. With luck, we should have water back in the cistern deep enough to turn the house jet pump (for water pressure and supply to the house lines) sometime tomorrow. I'll probably have to change the filter at least once before the cistern fills. I've three more filters on hand and a dozen on order. (They aren't on the shelves locally so I have to mail order them.)

It will be nice to have water flowing again. Jugs and bottles of water are okay for cooking and drinking, but the dishes are starting to pile up and flushing the toilet....

******

Today, Terry and I will be going up to Bath to pick up the RV from Camping World. They were doing some minor (?) repairs on the Winnie Access and finished a couple of weeks ago. We just haven't been able to find the time to go pick it up.

 The only other item on our schedule is to keep a close eye on the water situation. And keep warm.

Oh, and a Happy Birthday to my Little Sister, Ruthann.

The Joy of Owning an RV

Well this was an exciting day! With no winds blowing I decided to pull the protective cover off the RV even if I had to do it by myself. By lifting the end and slowly brushing the snow off the roof, I managed to get almost all the way across the length of the Winnie with out a problem. The very front end was a different story. The wind sun and wind hadn't gotten all the old snow off and there was a layer of ice fusing the cover to the RV's roof. The cover eventually ripped as I tugged and tugged. Still, I got it off. Mostly. A small patch of fabric is still stuck to the roof over the driver's side.

Then I tried to start the RV's engine. Nothing. Not even a click, click, click from the battery. Well, it's been very,. very cold so that wasn't much of a surprise. I hooked the jumper cables up to the truck and let it charge a bit while I installed the auxilliary batteries that had been fully charged in the garage. Then I tried starting the engine again. It wasn't easy since I couldn't rev the Tundra's engine while trying to crank the Winnie's but I eventually got it to start. I let the Winnie run while I disconnected the jumper cables and moved the Tundra back to its parking space. Forty-five minutes later I turned the Winnie's engine off and tried to start it again. Nothing. Not even a click, click, click.

I pulled the battery out of the Winnie and brought it into the garage, attached it to my battery charger and checked its voltage. The charger told me it was at 6.5 volts which didn't seem right. Thinking the battery--new in August--might have gone bad, I put it in the Tundra and, at 2:30 on a Saturday afternoon, headed down to Mansfield Exxon hoping against hope that Ryan might be there. Normally he's only there 8:00 AM to noon on Saturday IF he has any work to do.

Luck was on my side for a change and Ryan was doing some maintenance on his personal snowmobiles in preparation of a trip he's taking later in the week. He opened up the shop for me and tested the battery. It was so weak that it wouldn't even run his testing device. "Let me but it on my charger and then we'll test it again. I warn you it doesn't look good though. Go do some shopping or something and come back in an hour."

So I went off to CVS, the liqour store and McDonalds. (Hey, I had skipped lunch.) An hour later I got back to Ryan and we tested the battery again. This time there was enough charge to run his little hand-held device and it told him that the battery had only 5 volts, zero cranking volts, and was no good and...that's when it suddenly crashed to zero across the board. Luckily, Ryan had a fully charged battery just the same size and I had just enough cash in my wallet to pay for it.

When I got back to the Aerie, I popped the new battery into the Winnie, tightened the cables down and turned the key with my fingers crossed. VROOM! The engine started right up. I let it run a little while as I put all my tools away. Then I turned the engine off and started her up once more just to be sure. VROOM!

Time to sit back with a glass of bourbon and say a little prayer that the engine turns over again tomorrow.

UPDATE: When I left Ryan's garage, I told him that if he got a phone call in 45 minutes it would be me with a problem so answer the phone. Well, I didn't have a problem and dindn't have to make that call. Just now, Ryan called me. He had finished up his work on his snow machines and had just gotten home. (Did I mention that he lives just down the hill from the Aerie? And that it's his uncle who will be plowing our driveway if it needs it while we're gone?) Anyway, he thought he'd give me a call and if there was a probelm he'd swing by with his tools. 

Still Cold. Very Cold.

Another very cold night at the Aerie. It dropped to 0.2 degrees Thursday night/Friday morning. Thursday afternoon, in the sunshine, it briefly got up to 17 degrees but during the day Friday it never got above 15 degrees before some light snow began falling at 3 PM. It's not supposed to amount to much with only 2 inches before it ends tomorrow around noon. The weather gurus say it will get warmer during the next few days. We'll see.

Meanwhile the birds have been hitting the feeders to scarf down my sunflower and thistle seeds. There must be a hundred Common Redpolls (and probably a few Hoary Redpolls too) moving in waves in and out of the yard. The cats love the distraction.

Terry left this morning to beat the weather. She went into New Jersey to 1) pick up a load of boxes of Jess' stuff and 2) attend a baby shower Saturday afternoon. She should be home between 7 and 8 PM well after the snow has finished and, hopefully, after I've got the darn stuff off the driveway.

******

D-Day minus two for our trip to the Gulf Coast. I spent some of the day planning our route down to Louisiana and making reservations for the three campgrounds we'll stay at on the way. We're scheduled to leave early Monday morning with our first stop will be just south of Roanoke, VA. Tuesday night we'll be just south of Chattanooga, TN. Wednesday night's stop will be in Slidell, LA. Finally, Thursday we'll arrive in Berwick, LA on the west side of New Orleans and join up with the rest of our crew. With these cold temperatures I'm really looking forward to the warmer temps down south.

Tomorrow, in addition to removing any snow from the driveway, I'll be reinstalling the auxiliary batteries in the Winnie. Because of the cold weather, I've kept them in the garage after recharging them. I've also got to take the cover off the Winnie and make sure I can get the motor to turn over. Sunday we'll load our clothes and anything else that needs to go. Anything that might freeze will be staying in the house until Monday morning, however, as the temps will still be well below freezing.

Prepping the RV for Winter.

I spent some hours today winterizing the Winnie Access. I needed to drain the fresh water tank, the hot water tank, and all the lines before pumping RV antifreeze into the pipes.

I've done it before with the trailer, of course, but this was a "new" vehicle for me. That meant I first had to locate all the plugs and valves. So--and this is hard to say--I read the manual and directions. Okay, I admit I skipped over a section and went right to the table that tells you where the plugs and valves are located before actually reading all the step by step directions.

I succeeded in draining the hot water tank and the pipes. Then I had to reread the section about where the valve was to drain the fresh water tank (under the bed next to the water pump). Found that and dumped 3/4 of a tank of fresh water that was there when we bought the vehicle. (Wonder what our mileage would be if we weren't hauling those 35-40 gallons of water around.)

Then it was time to pump the antifreeze into the system. I pulled out the siphon line from the water pump, stuck one end into the antifreeze jug and turned the pump on. Whoosh! The antifreeze got sucked up and the gallon jug was empty. The second jug went just as quickly, as did the third and fourth. But nothing was coming out of the shower--the only faucet that was open.

Terry and I went down to WallyWorld to buy more antifreeze. On the way down I realized the shower faucet was on but the head was turned off. (The trailer had a tub and the plunger on the faucet would allow water to flow if the handle was turned on. Not so the shower in the Access.)

When we got back with our six gallons of antifreeze, I opened the shower head and pumped another gallon of antifreeze into the system. Finally I got a little dribble of pink fluid from the showerhead. But not as much as I should have been getting. And I heard a trickle of water UNDER the RV. Sure enough, there was pink fluid pouring onto the ground. I had pumped 4 1/2 gallons of antifreeze to the line drains under the stove. I had opened them but forgot to close them. (Hey! It was not mentioned in the directions! Not. My. Fault.)

I closed the two drains. and put a gallon and a half into the system as I opened and closed all the faucets (shower, kitchen sink, bathroom sink) as I watched the pink antifreeze flow out.

Live and learn.

Next will be putting the cover over the RV. THAT requires climbing on the top. Another new experience.The trailer got its own barn. At the Bolt Hole. The Access will stay here in PA. At least until I get doors on the barn. Or it becomes really difficult to plow snow with the 32-foot vehicle in the way.

******

Terry has packed her little yellow Aveo and will be heading out at 0-dark-30 with a destination of Sumter, South Carolina and her cousin's home. After a few days visit, Terry will head to Atlanta for the Smocking Arts Guild of America National Convention.

My not so lazy day.

We got 0.86 inches of rain last night and it was still misting a bit this morning. Of course, that meant no chance of staining the deck. The sun did come out--eventually--around 4 PM and things are looking much better. Too bad Terry and I have a meeting with our financial planner tomorrow morning. Might have to wait until after lunch to start staining.

I did get some things done today. I went to Lowe's and picked up a new set of drawer glides to replace the broken one in the RV. Then I installed them. They both got replaced because the replacements were just a little bit larger (wider) than the originals. Pulling out one of the other drawers I noticed a missing plastic piece on one of the glides. The same piece lead to the failure of the drawer I just repaired. Luckily, I had a spare glide from the set I had to replace so that got fixed pronto.

While at Lowe's I also got an adapter and a cap to go over my freshwater intake so as to keep dust and dirt out. Still have to see about a 30 AMP extension cord and getting the power cord from the camper repaired. (The plug end has separated from the thick insulating rubber coating on the wire. The three wires are still connected but they are now exposed. I could live with it, but Terry is concerned. And when Terry gets concerned....)

Then we got a call from the notary down in Mansfield. She had just received all the papers and payments from Camping World and we could come pick up our registration and license plate whenever we wanted to--which was now. (Ever drive around with out a license plate? Even if you've got one of those temporary paper tags in the rear window, you are constantly waiting for some cop to pull you over. Mine wasn't even in the rear window but on the side. I thought sure some cope would pull me over as we drove to and from West Wareham, MA but it didn't happen. They were out there. I saw them. But they were either setting up or manning radar sites or already had someone else pulled over. Whew!) Anyway, so now the Winnie has a real plate on the rear and I don't feel so paranoid anymore.

Having gotten the PA plate and registration, I had to schedule an inspection. There's a place just over the other side of the valley in Mansfield that does inspections of motorhomes. I called and will take the Winnie over on Friday morning.

Oh, and I called Camping World to find out about the shower caddy that needed to be replaced. The part came in yesterday and I set an appointment to have that installed September 20th. They should have the tow dolly assembled when we get there.

Other than that, we had one meal of delightful clam chowder and another of left over fish with quahog stuffing, corn on the cob and sweet potatoes. MMM-mmm GOOD!

R.A. Dickey won his 18th game (18-4) for the Mets. Not bad for a 38 year-old knuckleballer.
Beer is cold, Chips are available. The NFL starts tonight: Cowboys at the Giants. Go Giants!