Amazon Christmas....

7:40 am - Wednesday - November 20th - TWW - 27° F, humidity 40%, wind 7 mph out of the east by southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 62° F.  On this date in 2015 we enjoyed our final sunset at Rincon Parkway (north of Ventura)....the sky was on fire that night....

We were expecting Charles and Phyllis some time mid morning, along with their handyman, Matt, however Matt arrived around 8:45 am, with Charles and Phyllis following 20 minutes later, so we were still in our pajamas....lol!  

Matt was back at TWW to go under the raised foundation of the house to see if any of the plumbing was leaking, since we had lost water from the upper 2,500 gallon tank.  The upper tank needs to be close to full when priming the new water pump.  Last week they were unable to keep the pump primed, so they checked the upper tank to find the water was down quite a bit.  There were leaks originally detected in the plumbing for the two 2,500 gallon tanks and those had been fixed a few weeks ago, so now the leak is either under the house, or in the ground between the tanks and the house.

While that was going on TLE and I were opening Amazon/eBay packages like it was Christmas morning.  It's been about 10 days since Charles and Phyllis were last here so there were a lot of orders in the pipeline that all came in within the past 3, or 4 days.  One of the packages had a, new to TLE, pair of Carhartt bib overalls....

....along with the cool, used,  Born work boots she scored at 'Saver's on Sunday, she is now, officially, ready for some outdoor work!  She looks kind of fetching with that braid, and bib overalls, doesn't she?  She also received a pair of Carhartt bibs with a quilted lining for when it gets really cold.

The long and the short of Matt's excursion under the house was that there are NO leaks to be found, so it has to be underground between the house and the tanks.  He will come back Thursday with a trencher to run a new water line from the storage tanks to the house, and disconnect the old underground line, so we should be good to go, but I've said that before, haven't I?

Everyone was gone by 1 pm, leaving TLE and I to our own devices for the rest of the day.  I took time to assemble three more of those food storage boxes for our long term food supply, which were in one of the boxes we received, so now we have six....

....they'll get filled in short order.  Additionally, we received a boot scraper to scrub the dirt, dust and mud from our shoes before we enter the coach. Keeping the coach floors free of dirt, and outdoor detritus is a full time job as we are in and out of the Newell many times during the day....

.....the final big thing we received is another metal shelving unit for the garage, which TLE and I will assemble Wednesday, plus Charles and Phyllis brought a new roof, and windshield for the Yamaha Rhino they had ordered recently.  Finally, I received several packages of 12 volt electrical connections to resupply my stock in the trailer....I've gone through a lot of those since we arrived.

Another task needing my attention was getting Phyllis' Newell batteries recharged.  I didn't turn off the battery isolator switches soon enough after they arrived and the batteries totally discharged, so I pulled out the large Champion 7,500 kw generator and let it do the work.  Within a few hours the batteries were good to go again.  Now I just need to remember to turn off those two isolator switches...lol!

We had a beautiful sunset, but no sunset fire, as it was too breezy....

.....and thus another day in TWW came to an end....so much to do, but so much time to get it all done.  Just have to keep plugging away, one day at a time.

Thanks for stopping by!

It's an inside job.....

 8:30 am - Tuesday - November 18th - TWW - 31° F, humidity 43%, wind 6 mph out of the north by northeast....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 52° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I attended grand parents day at Sierra Vista Elementary School in Rancho Cucamonga, CA.....our grandson, Brayden James, son of our daughter Sharon, and son-in-law, Rod....

The two grandmas.....Lilian and TLE

I worked pretty much all day long Monday, but never got out of my pajamas.  I was working inside the Newell, so why change out of comfortable clothing, right?  My first project of the day was to get my two prescriptions (blood pressure meds, and cholesterol) moved from the Rite Aid in Alturas to the online Amazon Pharmacy.  I was sure it would be complicated, but within 15 minutes Amazon had transferred them, and within 3 hours my prescriptions were being shipped.....wow!  Of course the question remains.....why didn't I do that sooner?

The second project was a phone project.  I needed to call Yavapai Propane to set up propane service here at TWW.  In just one month we've gone through half of our 60 gallon tank, so there is no way we are going to make it another 5 months.  Within 10 minutes I had an appointment for November 25th here at TWW to set up a 120 gallon tank, and plumb it into the Newell propane system.  The cost of propane is $2.59/gallon....about half what we pay normally....cool!  It was only 10 am and I had scratched two things off my 'TO DO' list.

The next project was to upgrade the LED lighting in the bedroom, which I wrote about wanting to do a couple of days ago. Again, I've had the LED strip lights for about 3 years for the project, but just never got around to actually doing it.  It's not that it is a hard job, it just takes about an hour for each side of the coach, and involves some soldering of connections, etc.  With TLE's help I succeeded in the upgrade, and WOW, it is ever way brighter in the bedroom now....

Before LED upgrade (passenger side)

After LED upgrade  (driver side)

Now there are three rows of LED lights...see how many more LEDs there are on the newer strip lighting

At night....about 3x brighter!  By the way, that comforter on the bed came from Savers in Flagstaff.....$13.99....really makes a difference at night!

....by the time I finished putting the alcove trim back, and putting away my tools, and materials it was 3:30 pm, and time for dinner.  TLE bought some thin sliced pastrami when we were in Flagstaff Sunday, and made hot pastrami sandwiches for dinner....a great way to end my work day....if it were the end...lol.  

My last task for the day was to order new control boards for two of our Suburban gas furnaces, as well as new sail switches (micro switch) for all three.  I found the sail switches on eBay, and the Dinosaur control boards on Amazon.  While all three heaters are working well, its time to service them, and upgrade the control boards, so we can be sure they will operate at their maximum potential when it gets really cold this winter.  I have already upgraded the control board for the salon heater, and wrote about that here in 2016.  

And with that final 'inside' task completed my work day was now officially done.  We got a lot done, and I did it all in my pajamas....lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

10 hour day.....

 8:01 am - Monday - November 18th - TWW - 32° F, humidity 47%, wind 7 mph out of the south....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 55° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were hiking to the top of Mt. Rubidoux in Riverside, CA.....one of our favorite loop walks when we are in SoCal....

....we first hiked this trail back in 2011 just after we began living in our Newell full time.  We were working, and living at Rancho Jurupa Regional Park, which sits in the shadow of Mt. Rubidoux,  for a year before hitting the road as full time nomads.

The ambitious buying/shopping day we had planned for Saturday, but postponed due to snow, came to fruition Sunday.  We were up, once again, at 5 am to get early start, because we had a lot of miles to cover.  Originally, we were going to begin our drive to Prescott at 7:15 am, but we decided to leave at 8:15 am instead.  We had made appointments with 4 Facebook Marketplace sellers to buy their advertised items ranging from 10:30 am to 11:30 am. I've been wanting to buy a drill press, a bigger air compressor, and a bench grinder for our CONEX workshop here at TWW since we arrived, but until Charles and Phyllis gave us access to their 2004 Ford Expedition, we had no way of hauling some of these items back to TWW from wherever we might buy them.

The drive to Prescott takes us through Chino Valley, where our first buy of the day was located....a skeet launcher (think clay pigeons, or targets).  Our appointment was for 10:30 am, but we got there 30 minutes earlier than expected. We owned one back in the 70's when I had a Smith and Wesson 12 gauge pump shotgun, and would go out to the high desert near Lake Isabella in California and shoot clay pigeons with friends several times each winter.  Well, now that I have acquired another Smith and Wesson 12 gauge shotgun (semi automatic) we want to do it again.  The skeet launcher is spring loaded, and mounted on an old tire rim, just like our original one was, and only cost $20....

Skeet launcher

Our next appointment was to buy that drill press, and bench grinder I mentioned earlier....we arrived about 30 minutes early for our 11 am appointment.  The drill press is from 1978, and built like a tank...weighs about as much, too.....lol.  The bench grinder is vintage, also, but in excellent shape.  Mac, the seller, lives on the side of a hill, so moving that heavy drill press down to street level where the Expedition was parked was tricky, but together we got it done.....cost for both items....$180....killer deal.....

Craftsman 1/3 horsepower bench grinder

Drill press

......the appointment to buy the fourth item, the 26 gallon, 150 PSI air compressor, was scheduled for 11:30 am, but we were about 30 minutes early....thankfully Quincy was home, and after plugging it in to be sure it worked properly, I traded him $100 for the compressor....

Central Pneumatic 18 horsepower, 26 gallon, 150 PSI air compressor

....finally, our last stop was to buy Stihl chainsaw chaps and safety hat from the same guy I bought one of the Stihl chainsaws from a couple of weeks ago.  So, within 90 minutes of arriving in Chino Valley to buy the skeet launcher, we were done with our Facebook Marketplace buys.  We had planned to buy some things at COSTCO, but being a Sunday it was beyond packed, so we just used their restrooms, TLE returned a clothing item she had purchased a few weeks ago, and we were on our way to Flagstaff....  

Stihl safety hat and chaps

....we used to visit Flagstaff every couple of weeks when we worked at the Grand Canyon back in the winter of 2017-18, and really like its vibe, plus there is a great thrift store there called 'Savers', which is part of a large, Southwest thrift store chain.  TLE found a couple of things there (she always does, and for me pretty much the same) without which she could not live, and so did I. I found an ONYX by Brighton leather belt for $8.....virtually brand new. They cost $38 to $50 brand new....and it fits my slim midsection perfectly.....score....

.....by the time we finished shopping at 'Savers' it was around 2 pm, and we were hungry, so we headed to a local Starbucks for sandwiches, and coffee.....perfect for a cold Flagstaff day....

Both sandwiches were toasted.....grilled cheese for TLE, and a turkey/provolone cheese for moi

....by this time it was after 2:30 pm, and we still had a 90 minute drive home, so we began to speed up our shopping foray with a stop at the local Fry's Supermarket (part of the Kroger chain) where TLE did a big shopping.  Next we had to fill the big fuel tank of the Expedition (17 gallons) before heading home.....we only paid $3.03/gallon for unleaded regular....the lowest we've paid in quite some time.

By the time we merged onto I-40 westbound at the Butler onramp it was 4:30 pm, which meant we would arrive back at TWW around 5:55 pm....about 30 minutes after the sun sets.  The 90 minute drive home flew by quickly, and by 6 pm we were unloading our purchases from the rear of the Expedition.

That was a 10 hour driving/buying/shopping day, but we accomplished a lot in that time span....thanks for stopping by!

Snow day.....

 5:58 am - Sunday - November 17th - TWW - 30° F, humidity 69%, wind 8 mph out of the east by northeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 51° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I were enjoying our 6th Rincon Parkway sunset.....

The weather report indicated a small dusting of snow overnight, but you never know how accurate the weathers will be.  Personally, I was hoping for NO snow.  We were planning to drive to Prescott Saturday, so went to bed early, and were up by 5:30 am to find this....

....it appeared we had received somewhere between 3 and 4" of snow overnight.  TLE and I are no strangers to snow as nomads.  As you know we spent an entire winter (2017-18) at 7,000' elevation at the Grand Canyon and awoke to snow many times.  This was a very 'dry' snow, but when it melted everything got muddy.  With it still snowing at 5:30 am, and so much snow on the ground we made a game time decision NOT to drive to Prescott, postponing that trip until Sunday.  Since we had declared a snow day, what better way to spend it than in the big house with a roaring wood burning stove providing wonderful warmth, watching NCAA college football....

....so that is what we did for the entire day.  We never got out of our pajamas....perfect! You can see there are kettles on the wood burning stove....we used that very hot water to make tea throughout the day, whilst occasionally adding wood to keep the stove at its hottest.  

I wasn't a total slackard Saturday.  I think I've mentioned that Charles and Phyllis have a Gen 3 Starlink setup, but it was kept outside when they are here for internet, but when they would leave it would be brought back inside, and disconnected.  Charles ordered the 'wall passthrough' kit from Starlink, but hadn't had time to install it, so I offered to do so Saturday, and Charles accepted.....

Through the living room wall out to the deck

Now the router and power supply can reside fulltime in the house....they are water proof, by the way, but it is better if they are inside out of the elements

The deck pass through is complete

....Starlink provides everything for the installation of the 'passthrough' including a tube of clear silicone to seal the hole, a long drill bit to drill the test hole, and the hole saw to enlarge the hole.  All you need is a drill.  I took me less than 15 minutes beginning to end.

TLE and I knew at the beginning of the day we would HAVE to dump the black tank, so around 1 pm, when the outside temps were at their zenith, we did the deed, returning quickly to the warm confines of the big house for the rest of the day.  It was nice to have a day off work, and just laze about.  TLE made dinner (mushroom/onion Alfredo) in the Newell, but brought it into the house for our dining pleasure.

My USC Trojans finally managed to hold a 4th quarter lead and win their game against Nebraska Saturday 28-20.  They'd played 9 games prior to Saturday, loosing 4th quarter leads right at the end of the game in 5 of them I think.  Their record was 4-5 coming into the game, so they are at least back to .500 at 5-5.  For me, that was the highlight of the day, although there were several other interesting games of the 'close' variety.

We're slowing adapting to the cold weather.  As you know, we don't sleep with any of our heaters running, so when we get up, usually around 7 am on most days, there is a mad scramble to get all three gas heaters on, and warming up the Newell interior.  Most mornings it has been in the mid to low 40's inside, but this morning (Sunday) it was 37° F....ugh!  Thankfully, those Suburban heaters warm the interior up pretty quickly.  After turning on the three heaters I hop back into bed with TLE to let the interior warm before getting dressed.....takes about 10-15 minutes depending on how cold it got during the night.  Right now it is a 'balmy' 68° F inside...actually quite comfortable.

Thanks for stopping by!

A long deferred project.....

6:01 am - Saturday - November 16th - TWW - 35° F, humidity 77%, wind 4 mph out of the southeast......snowing right now....forecast high for today is 45° F.  The view this morning.....

....I think we've gotten 3" so far, and it is still snowing.....life off the grid at 5,500' elevation.  On this date in 2016 TLE was driving me home from my first cataract surgery....she stopped off at the local In 'N Out Burger to buy me a late breakfast....proof of love....

Over the past few days I've been doing a lot of work requiring me to access a lot of stuff in the trailer, and I did not really take the time to put everything away each day, so the result was a lot of chaos on my workbench.  I also never took the time to finish what I started in the CONEX, so Friday was the day that I would restore order to the trailer, and finish organizing the CONEX, and I spent until after 2 pm doing just that.

Another project I've been putting off for at least 3 years is to upgrade the lighting in the salon.  Back in early 2013 we installed LED strip lighting under the window valances with a dimmer, and it has served us well for almost 12 years.  Three years ago I bought some more LED strip lighting (has adhesive strip on back) to add to the existing strip, but never installed it.  It is a multi hour job, and I just never seemed to want to take three hours out of any day to do the job, so it has languished in the trailer awaiting my attention.  Well, Friday was the day.  I put the task on my rather lengthy 'TO DO' list on Thursday, to be done on Friday, so I had to do it, right?

Anyway, by 2 pm I had put away all of the stuff I had been using in the trailer, and had finished, for now, my work in the CONEX on both walls.  The CONEX turned out quite nicely.....I moved more of my big tools over to the CONEX, including an extra set of SAE open/closed end, ratcheting wrenches, and some very large 1/2" drive sockets, as well as my pancake compressor I've carried around in the Newell engine bay for 15 years.....

Left wall....finished for now

Large 1/2" drive sockets

Pancake compressor bought in Miami, OK back in 2009

Extra set of SAE open/closed ratcheting wrenches

The right side wall in the CONEX

.....after a short snack break at 2 pm I headed back to the trailer to retrieve the materials I would need to complete the LED light upgrade in the salon.  It took me a little over 2 hours (interrupted around 3:45 pm for dinner) to finish the task....most of the work was rewiring everything to accommodate the additional LED strip.  Once the wiring, and new switches were installed, the actual installation of the LED strip took less than 10 minutes.  By 4:30 pm I was done....below are the before and after pictures....

Before.....

.....after

....the pictures do not really show the dramatic difference, but we notice it, and we like it a lot....why did I wait so long?  I'm going to do the same thing in the bedroom with the alcove lighting. Right now I have two LED strips on each side, which replaced the original fluorescent lighting.  I think a 3rd strip will add just enough extra brightness, and it won't take as long....hopefully!

I spent the evening catching up on the YouTube channels I follow...I'm way behind....and TLE read.  We were in bed around 9:30 pm as we had planned to head into Prescott early today (Saturday), however, the snow overnight has postponed that drive until Sunday.  The 7 miles of dirt road between us and pavement get quite muddy after rain and/or snow.

Thanks for stopping by!