Cedar Key - Day # 17 - The Vibrator

It's funny how long I will live with something that isn't working properly.  When we bought our coach on March 1, 2008 the vent fan in the shower had this loud vibration at start up, but would disappear after 30 seconds.....sometimes.  Sometimes it would run fine for weeks at a time, but if we rolled the wheels it would always come on with this loud vibrating noise that would not disappear until the next day, then it would be fine until we moved again.  There was a problem, but it always seemed to go away, but in Campbellsville it started the loud vibration noise again, so I actually went up on the roof, removed the protective cowling, pulled it out and used my 12 volt bench tester to run it with and without the fan blad on.  I applied a little 3 in 1 oil, and that seemed to do the trick....for about 3 days, then it came back again.  If it worked properly I would use it all the time......especially in this more humid clime we find ourselves in.....it's humid enough inside without adding to the moisture level with a long hot shower, so having the vent fan work properly has suddenly taken on a heretofore absent urgency.  These are 30 year old fans, so replacing any of them with an exact match might be difficult.  My solution?  We have four of these units in our coach (bathroom, shower, kitchen and pantry).....we never, ever, use the one in the pantry, and have actually taped off the switch so it cannot even be accidentally turned on....so why not take the one never being used and see if it is in proper working order, and just replace the shower one with that one?  Well, Sunday morning I finally did that, and it works wonderfully!  The "VIBRATOR" has left the building!

The culprit.....one more task crossed off the list

As I was getting ready to climb down the ladder I noticed a woman looking up at me, so I said "Hi!".  She asked "Do you ever receive compliments on the appearance of your Newell?" After a long, pregnant pause I replied "You bet!"   We started to talk, but then I suggested I come down off the roof so we could talk face to face.  By the time I was back on terra firma her husband had walked over and I was introduced to Tori and Bob.  They are just retired, and also just recently married this past October.  They are here in a rented a 31' Class C+ to see if this lifestyle is something they would like to pursue.  Judging by the looks on their faces I would say they like it a lot.  They had questions about our coach, and I am always eager to talk about our Newell with anyone interested.  Eventually TLE came out and joined in the conversation.

After we finished talking I headed in the direction of our trailer to stow the "VIBRATOR" away for future parts needs when I saw Lee walking over to his truck (he and his wife, Beth, also just recently acquired a Sea Eagle).  Lee and Beth have been fulltiming for over 5 years now.  We talked about solar panels, and batteries.....Lee has 4 panels on his roof, and loves to boondock out west on BLM land.  Both Lee and I are very interested in Chris and Cherie's Lithium Ion setup, and are both thinking about converting over to that in the near future.

And to think all this happened before 11:30 in the morning!  Sunday, of course, had two more NFL playoff games, the first beginning at 1 pm, so I was trying to get something accomplished before the first game so I would have time to watch.  The Seahawks lost a heart breaker after coming back from a 20 point deficit in the second half to lead by 1 with 31 seconds to go, and then losing on a last second field goal to the Falcons.  the night cap saw the Patriots dismantle, again, the Texans....it was close for the first half, but the Patriots pulled away and easily won the game.  

Mean while our neighbors on each side of us left.....it was Sunday after all.....so we suddenly have a view on each side of us again!  Every Sunday when the park begins to empty a little we keep saying to ourselves....."isn't it so cool that we are already 'home'?"

While I was outside working on the fan motor swap TLE was busy dong a thorough interior cleaning....she was vacuuming, washing dishes, clothes, bed sheets......I get tired just thinking about all she accomplished while I just replaced one fan motor.....:D

The rest of the day I watched the aforementioned NFL, did some napping, ran over to Chris and Cherie's dock to watch the sun set, and then ate a fabulous stir fry dinner TLE put together using the leftover roasted veggies, and chicken from the other night, which I chased with a delicious Bloody Mary.....haven't had one of those in months!

TLE's sunset picture beat out mine last night.....and thus the end of another island day in Cedar Key.  Tomorrow is another project day....I am going to install some LED accent lighting in the living area, aka: salon, of our coach.  There will be pictures!

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Cedar Key - Day # 8 - The Sea Eagle

To me every day seems like Saturday now, and I think that is a good thing.  Saturdays have always been one of the best days of the week for me going back decades.  I loved to wake up Saturday mornings with the realization that it was NOT a work day.  Sure, back in the days when our kids were in soccer Saturday meant we were up early, and on our way to the soccer pitch to coach and referee youth soccer all day, which can resemble work, especially with 5 kids, but it was not work in the sense it was something we chose to do for our pleasure, not required in order to pay the mortgage.

Saturday started off mostly clear with lots of early sunshine.....yay!  TLE and I got around 8 am up to see off Todd and Lucy, NuRVer friends, who are heading south to Naples, FL for a multi month workamper job Lucy picked up.  We enjoyed getting to know Todd and Lucy for the week we have been here, and are already missing them.

Lucy and Todd

When we last left off we had just received the Sea Eagle kayak via FedEX, along with TLE's new I-Phone 5.  Whilst TLE spent time on the phone with Verizon activating her phone I opened up the very large box and began assembling our new toy.   We got the Sea Eagle Sport SE-330 Pro Package which includes two double bladed paddles, two deluxe seats, a foot pump, storage bag, repair kit, and dry bag.  The SE-330 measures 11.5 fee in length when inflated, and has a 500 pound load capacity.  Their larger model, the SE-370 is one foot longer, and has a carrying capacity of 650 lbs.  Delflated the kayak weighs 31 lbs. and is 24" X 17" X 7"......great for easy storage!

Around 2:30 we decided to take our, almost, daily walk into town to buy two life preservers, 10 feet of boat line for the bow, and have lunch.   By this time is was getting a little cloudy, but was still balmy.  We stopped in at the "Big Deck Raw Bar" on Dock Street in downtown for lunch.....I had this amazing "Black and Bleu Burger" with curly fries chased by a couple of pints of their draft "double stout".....I am sorry, I do not remember the name of the brewer, but it was excellent!

We picked up the 10' length of boat line on our way to "Big Deck" and the two life preservers on our walk home arriving back at Sunset Isle around 5 pm.....just in time to catch the rising tide.  Forrest Clark, NuRVer, joined us in his single kayak, and eventually we caught up with Bill and Debby Kasson in their canoe meandering aimlessly, to quote Debby, around the oyster beds.  She took the picture below of our maiden voyage in the "Eagle".

Forest in his "single"

We paddled around for about 20 minutes and then decided it was getting dark quickly....time to head for shore!  We'll make a couple of changes to the seat spacing to give me a little more leg room, but overall we like our Sea Eagle, and are looking forward to getting out in it again. We found it to be very stable, and were never concerned with capsizing....well, maybe TLE was for a couple of minutes, but within minutes she said she realized it was not going to flip over.

We said our "good evenings" and thanked Forrest for allowing us to beach our kayak at his water front site where there was a nice sandy beach, and no mud....yay!

I finished watching the Texan vs. Bengal NFL wild card game, and then settled in to watch the Packers vs. Vikings.....a pretty lopsided matchup compared to last Sunday's very close game.

It's supposed to rain today, Sunday, but so far it looks a lot like yesterday.  There will be more NFL in a few hours.....and it still feels like Saturday to me!

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The countdown will resume 5:30pm, 12/18/2012

I had been looking forward to Sunday since last Tuesday when we started our 5 twelve hour days.  It did not disappoint.  I slept until almost 2pm, and TLE until 2:14pm.....she smelled the coffee and just had to join me before I drank it all!  Of course, the NFL games were well underway by that time, but it's all good.  I was glad to see Peyton Manning win his 9th game in a row with the Broncos, and happy for my Cowboy friends that the 'Boys once again came from behind to win a close game against the Steelers with a field goal as time expired.  Of course the nightcap on NBC between the Pats and 49ers ended up being a great game.  The Pats, trailing by 28 points in the 3rd quarter, scored 28 straight points to tie the game late in the 4th quarter only to see the 49ers run the ball back on the ensuing (I've always wanted to use "ensuing" in a sentance) kickoff to inside the 5 yard line where they quickly scored to go back up by 7.  They ultimately won by 10.  It was a great day to watch the NFL, and a very relaxing day overall.  If only I could have 4 days in a row like that.....wait, soon I will have a month of days like that, only it won't be cold and rainy outside.....it will be Cedar Key.

Around 7 pm I realized I had not gone outside.  Usually I'm outside first thing in the afternoon doing something around the coach, but now it was dark and I had not even unlocked the front door and stepped outside once........so I took out the trash, and then closed the door once again, and locked it again.  

I loved sitting in my recliner at 4:45pm when we would normally begin our walk down to "that building", and I loved still sitting there at 5:30pm when I would normally turn on my scanner to see where the faceless computer would send me that night.  Instead I just sat there enjoying the tingling feeling in the soles of my feet, which meant I was not standing on cold concrete......yay!!!

Several naps were taken in my recliner, and around 11pm we turned on Survivor to see who would win, and were totally surprised at the winner, although all of the final 3 were deserving, I never thought it would be Denise, but she certainly played a strong game and deserved the $1 million dollars.  After playing such a strong game for 38 days Malcolm made a critical strategic error in not committing to Denise to split the vote and force a tie breaker, which is always making fire, which he would have won handily against Lisa, and, therefore would have been in the final 3.  He thought he would win the final immunity challenge, which he didn't, and that sealed his fate.  

It sprinkled briefly several time during the afternoon and early evening, but the big storm hit around 8am this morning when a torrential rain hit.  I slept until almost Noon meaning that I got almost 10 hours of sleep last night.  It looks like more rain today into the evening so there goes the trailer brake job I was planning for today.  I guess I'll just have to take a few more naps and gird up for the resumption of the countdown beginning tomorrow evening at 5:30pm.

Only a week of shopping left before Christmas so get on your computer, log on to Amazon.com and order away.....we are "eagerly" standing by to fill your orders with leg cramps, arthritic elbows, aching feet, blurred vision and dirty knees from kneeling on cold, hard, dirty concrete to pull your special item out of the "A" bin.  Don't worry....there are millions of Kindle Fire's left.....I see large crates of them every night on my nocturnal journeys hither and yon through "that building".

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Daze Off......

Sunday at 4am our "daze" off began.......that is what I am now calling our weekly vacation from "that building".  Two "daze" off, because after 4 ten hour days we exit "that building" in a little bit of a daze.  It's really a 4 day marathon where it seems you only leave "that building" for a few hours each day.....after sleeping 6-8 hours you are only awake and conscious for a few hours, and then there you are right back pushing a cart up and down endless miles of cold, hard concrete looking for a teal colored IPHONE hard shell case in BIN # P-1-A-123-G-6.  Wait, didn't I just pick that item a few hours ago?  Yes, yes you did......probably about 200 times in the last week.....and that is just one of a dozen color variations of that case.  I have gotten to where I don't have to bend over to peer into the "A" bin at floor level to find the item....I can find the item in the bin by "feel".....I don't have to see it to pick it anymore.  Pick it, scan it, toss it in the tote and then move 10 feet to your right to P-1-A-133-B-6 and find the GLOCK holster.  It takes about 1-3 minutes to fill a tote.....no more than 25 items per tote.....probably averages over the course of the night around 5 per tote.....depends on the size of the items you pick.....so every 9 minutes you drop 3 full totes on the conveyor belt, pick up three more empty totes and do it again.....about 20 totes per hour, and 200 per night......about 1,000 individual items per night.  If my math doesn't add up, don't blame me.......I'm in a daze.

The only way to get through each night is not to focus on the 4am, or 6am exit, but on each break....2.5 hours then the first break at 8pm; 2 more hours then "lunch" at 10:15pm; 3 more hours then break at 1:45am; 2 more hours then at 4am exit "that building" in a daze.  It's how I got through a long day at the soccer pitch....each half was 45 minutes....break it down into 15 minute periods, then 10 minutes to sit down between halves, then 3 more 15 minutes periods, then 15 minutes to eat, rest up, and then on to the next game.  It works for me, and for TLE.

It rained on and off all morning while we slept, and was raining when I got up at 1:30pm, and continued to rain all day long, sometimes so heavily that I lost my DirecTV signal, and one time for 20 minutes.  I watched some NFL,  and then went to Krogers to do a much needed restocking of our pantry......a fast way to make $200 disappear quickly!

Of course, Sunday is NFL day, and I watched the Cowboys vs. Bengals, but, of course, right when Dallas is driving for the winning field goal I lose the aforementioned signal, and miss the end of the game.  We left for Krogers in a driving rain storm, and returned to same.  The Giants vs. Saints was a good afternoon game.  For the night cap we watched the 2 hour season finale of "The Amazing Race" starting at 11pm (yes we still have the west coast feed).

It rained all night long, and as of this writing (10:12am) it is still raining.......where is my ark when I need it?

Monday is the second of our "daze" off, and then back to "that building" Tuesday at 5:30pm for our first 12 hour shift, which will see us exiting "that building" now at 6am Wednesday morning, and for 4 more mornings after that, until we exit "that building" next Sunday morning at 6am in a daze.

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