The 'lido deck' repairs...........

7:54 am - Saturday - March 21st - Wittmann, AZ - 51° F, 65% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the northwest......partly cloudy skies with a forecast high of 70° F.....the view this morning.......↴

Morning health update.....TLE and I continue to be asymptomatic.  We are healthy, not so wealthy, and a little wiser.  The worldwide confirmed case totals as of Friday morning are still below a quarter million, and worldwide deaths just over 10,000.  I know as of Saturday morning those numbers have gone up.  Within the U.S. as of Friday night the death rate in the U.S. was 1.3%....far below the forecast 2%.  In Arizona we recorded our first death from the Chinese Virus, and we have 63 confirmed cases of the Chinese Virus.....nothing catastrophic yet.

 As of Friday morning

I had two projects Friday to occupy my time......fix the Zip Dee patio awning, which was not on my 'TO DO' list originally, but was added after the microburst, and finally install the new passenger door interior pull handle (to close the door from the inside) which broke a few weeks ago, which was also not on my original 'TO DO' list.  Over the past 6 years we have repaired most of the seams as the 38 year old thread has given up the ghost.  The two seams which came undone during the microburst are the last two seams.....the other seams, which had been previously glued using the clear silicone caulk held during the microburst, which made us very happy.  We use silicone caulk for the repairs as the Sunbrella® fabric is also silicone based, and it has worked, and continues to work well in repairs. The Sunbrella® itself is in wonderful condition considering its age.

To repair the 87" long seams I use black sail thread to stitch the seam back together in two, or three places.....

You can see the two places I stitched with the 

light shinning through the open seam in between the stitches

.......once that is done I wedged a 2" x 4" in between the roller mechanism, and the roof just under the awning, then get on my telescoping ladder and apply the silicone between the overlapping pieces of fabric all along the 87" seam then press the fabric down against the 2" x 4", and let it cure in the sun for an hour before removing the 2" x 4", and moving to the next seam.  I could only reach half of the seam from the ladder, so I had to go on the roof, lay on my stomach to apply the silicone, and then compress the seams together....it worked well....

.....one of the repaired seams can be seen in the picture above.......⤴  While I waiting for the first seam to cure in the sun I turned my attention to removing the old door pull, and installing the new one....the new, aftermarket, door pull is a much better design, and I think this one will last much longer than the first.......↴

The new door pull

......I had to make a run to the Wittman P.O. to pick up the Thetford rebuild kit I bought to replace the 38 year old rubber gaskets in one of the valves.  The kit rebuilds one Thetford valve, so  I removed the gaskets from the new Thetford valve I bought a few weeks ago for the second valve.  Ironically the rebuild kit cost more than buying the new Thetford valve.  I will endeavor to do the rebuild Saturday.  I'm hoping it will all go smoothly....hoping, hoping, hoping!

We continue to enjoy our stay here on the property of Tom and Darlene, and appreciate the fact we are in the perfect place at this time in history.  We are not stuck in the middle of large, dense population centers.  We have acres of open space, good air to breath, and very gracious, generous, and caring hosts willing to put up with us for weeks at a time each year.  Life could not be better right now in spite of the circumstances.  We will get through this, and we will come out stronger on the other side.....let's just hope the 'other side' is not too far in the distance.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

The ever shrinking 'TO DO' list.....

7:55 am - Friday - March 20th - Wittmann, AZ - 46° F, 80% humidity, wind 3 mph out of the north.....clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 65° F.

I don't really watch the news anymore, and haven't for years, but I have been tuning in first thing in the morning to see the latest Chinese Virus stats for the U.S. and for the world. As of Thursday morning there were 10,755 U.S. cases confirmed, and 154 deaths......

.....world-wide there were 229,289 confirmed cases and 9,324 deaths........

.....in Arizona, where we are, there are 64 confirmed cases, and 0 deaths as of this morning, Friday.  TLE and I remain asymptomatic as of Friday morning, March 20, 2020.

First thing Thursday morning TLE and I redeployed the patio awning, which we had to stow quickly, in sort of a panic, in the midst of a micro burst wind storm (rain going sideways at the same time) about 7 pm Wednesday evening.

About mid morning I received a notification that the new Girard tankless water heater door I ordered off eBay had been delivered to the Wittmann P.O. by FedEx, instead of being delivered directly to the street address where were are staying.  This is kind of odd, as they, FedEx, make deliveries out here all the time.  At any rate I had to drive into the P.O. with Tom, our host, to retrieve it, and that is a whole 'nother story, as they say.  

They have a new Postmaster at the Wittmann P.O. and this person is a real piece of work.  They spent the first 10 minutes I was there trying to convince me they had returned my package to the sender, because they do not deliver, which I understand, mail to addresses.....pretty much everyone in Wittmann has a P.O. box to receive mail.  I kept showing this person the FedEx website, which shows they were told by the Wittmann P.O. that the package was being held for pickup, and that is what I was there to do.  This person finally called the postal worker on that route, who told this person that the package was, indeed, still at the P.O. in a special bin called the 'Pumpkin'.  The person finally went to check the 'Pumpkin' and, sure enough, there it was....what an ordeal!  It was all I could do to keep from losing my temper.

So, after returning from the P.O adventure I spent the rest of the day installing the Girard door, and then further modifying the existing door to fit around the Girard door.....

.....it came out pretty well......so, I was able to cross two more items off my 'TO DO' list: 1) The installation of the Girard door, and 2) The re-installation of the exterior original door which is painted to match the Newell color scheme......

.....oh, I almost forgot to mention that on our way home from the P.O. Tom and I stopped off at the local 'Dollar General' to see how they were doing, and found, not surprisingly, their TP, and paper towel shelves were stripped clean.  On the other hand, they are fully stocked with soda pop, and chips of all kinds.....I wonder if you ate Dorritos for every meal for a week if you could ever get the orange stain off your hands, and mouth......lol.

For dinner TLE had me grill the Santa Maria tri-tip she bought at TJ's the other day......it took about 23 minutes beginning to end, and it came out a perfect medium rare.....was it ever delicious!

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

The inside story......

8:01 am - Thursday - March 19th - Wittmann, AZ - 49° F, 88% humidity, wind 2 mph out of the south by southeast.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 58° F.

Wednesday was cold, and began with threatening clouds, but it stayed that way for quite a while.  Nonetheless, I had predetermined to spend the day inside working on two projects.  One was to get the Villa passenger chair we installed to replace the original Flexsteel chair that came with the Newell.  The new Villa chair is a power chair which moves forward and backward under power, as well as tilts backward, and forward, has a power foot rest that raises, or lowers, and a reclining feature.  The Villa chair was gifted to us by our good friends Richard and Rhonda (Inverness, FL) last January when we were visiting them.  They had taken the Villa chair out of their Newell and replaced it with a newer model.  When I finished installing it we found that the reclining feature, and the foot rest feature were not functioning properly. To get at the drive motors, and screw drive rods I needed to remove 70 staples from the back of the chair to get access these items.....

.....I'm not kidding....there were 70 staples used to staple the back leather panel in place over a distance of 24".....crazy.....take the staple gun away from that guy!  Next up was to figure out which motors, and screw drive rods controlled these two features.....

......in the picture below is the screw drive that raises and lowers the foot rest......↴

.....in the next picture you can see the screw drive which controls the reclining feature.....↴

.....I sprayed some penetrating oil on the screw drives, and also where they enter the motor on each side.  Within minutes they began to function properly!  Only took 15 months to get to this project.  Now all the power functions in TLE's 'new' chair work.....

 In full recline mode.....foot rest raised, and back lowered

 Traveling position

 ....next up was to finish the install on the interrupt switch for the charger/converter.  While I was working on TLE's chair the things I ordered from Amazon to complete this project arrived....

.....I already had about 6' of Romex 3 wire electric wire, so I stripped about half the outer insulation off the Romex and removed the black and white wire.  Normally I would make it all black as this is the hot wire we are interrupting, but that would mean stripping all the insulation off the Romex and wasting it all.  I used the black wire to run from the breaker switch to the interrupt switch, and the white wire to run from the interrupt switch to the black wire connecting to the charger/converter.  It didn't take long before it was installed, and operational.....

.....it works as it should, and with the installation of the wall plate I was done for the day with projects.  With the deletion of these two projects from my 'TO DO' list, I am down to just 7 things left!

One of the projects I completed a couple of days ago, but forgot to report, was I called DirecTV to negotiate a lower monthly rate.  I am not a haggler by nature, but decided to see what would happen.  A few friends who have DirecTV have done this and had gotten substantial reductions of over 50% in their monthly payment.  I asked to be connected to the 'Customer Retention' department.  When I was connected to a CSR I advised him I was thinking about 'cutting the cord' and just start streaming my viewing content as my bill was way too high.  The CSR asked me what my 'ideal' monthly payment would be.....keep in mind my monthly bill was currently topping $130....I replied "I'm not sure what ideal is, or means, but I want to pay $40/month".  He kind of gasped, but said he would check to see what 'programs' might be available.  After a few seconds he came back and said "I can get your bill down to $69/month".....I replied "No, that's not good enough.  I've been a customer of DirecTV since 2004, and all I see is my bill going up and up".....a few seconds later he came back and said "I can get your bill down to $50/month" .....I let a few seconds pass before I responded "You've got a deal!".....it was that simple.  So, with a simple phone call I was able to save $1,000 over the next 12 months, and for us that is a lot of money!  I'm going to do the same thing for our XM/Sirrius Radio bill.  My friend Tom (with whom we are staying) got his bill with them down to $5/month from close to $40/month.....amazing!

Two other Amazon shipments arrived at the local Post Office, so I drove over about 2:30 pm to retrieve them.  One of the packages was a resupply of Datil Sauce (Dat'l Do It Pepper Sauce)....we fell in love with this sauce when we were in Cedar Key the first time back in 2012, and have been reordering it from a St. Augustine, FL source through Amazon since then.  In anticipation of our Alaska trip TLE ordered three bottles.  When I opened the box one of the bottles was broken.  I immediately contacted Amazon for a refund on the broken bottle, but they went me one better.....they refunded the entire $30 purchase price.....that was a nice gesture!

That was my Wednesday, and a good Wednesday it was......TLE are still asymptomatic, and still healthy.  She has lost about 6 lbs. on the Keto diet, and I about 4.5 lbs.  We are still talking about plan 'B' for this summer.....lots of time yet to change course.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Would you care for a very large bowl of Jello?

8:44 am - Wednesday - March 18th - Wittmann, AZ - 54° F, 79% humidity, wind 8 mph out of the east by southeast.....heavy cloud cover with rain in the forecast, and a forecast high of 57° F.

On Monday I called COSTCO to order a refill of one of my medications, and was told it would be ready by 3 pm Tuesday.  That immediately passed out of my brain.....old age I guess.  A little later TLE suggested we make a run into the Glendale, AZ COSTCO first thing Tuesday morning and I agreed, forgetting my medication would not be available until 3 pm.  Since COSTCO opens at 10 am we decided to leave at 9:30 am to make the 30 minute drive.  Just before 9:30 am I remembered the nice lady's words...."Will be available after 3 pm Tuesday" and told TLE.  Immediately our plans changed and we decided to make the drive Wednesday morning.  Now it gets good.....within 10 minutes I received a text message from COSTCO that my prescription was ready for pickup....wait, what?  Knowing it was supposed to rain all day Wednesday we changed our plans again, and were in the VW within 5 minutes heading for COSTCO.  Traffic was light, but as we entered the COSTCO parking lot around 10:15 am we could see it was packed, and there was a line of people with shopping carts snaking up an down the parking lanes waiting to get into COSTCO....doh!

We managed to find a rare parking spot way, way in back and began the long walk to the end of the now much longer line.  Just as we got in line I spied a COSTCO supervisor with a walkie talkie lurking nearby.  I walked over and told him I was just here to pick up a prescription.....he immediately called over a female associate and asked her to escort us into the Pharmacy.....whew.....no 1 hour wait in line!  So, one more thing as changed.....going early to a big box store to avoid the crowds no longer works.....go two hours after they open for the foreseeable future as the line outside will be gone by then.  Getting out is a whole 'nother thing.

One of the first things I observed was how well stocked the entire store was....I mean stocked to the gills...... 

 No empty shelves anywhere!

....while the paper goods section was also fully stocked with TP, paper towels, bottled water, etc. there was a ONE WAY line forming near the grocery section.....as you entered the line there was an associate there asking if you wanted TP, and if you said "Yes" he pulled a large Kirkland package off a pallet and put it in your shopping cart.  The same was true for paper towels, bottled water, etc.  I love accountability!

As we approached the Pharmacy I could see it was not yet very busy with only two people in line in front of me.  Within minutes I was at the counter and being handed my prescription refill......but wait, it never is that simple....I had ordered, over the phone, a 90 day supply, and the lady was handing me a bottle with just a 30 day supply.....doh!  I explained the error, and she went to check how long it would take to fix the order......40 minutes.  Okay, fine....we did want to buy some fresh salmon, and a couple other things.  By the time we finished finding our items I sent TLE to the checkout line, which was also quite long, and I went back to complete my purchase of my prescription refill....there were still 20 minutes of the 40 minutes left.  By the time the entire 40 minute waiting period had expired, my prescription was, indeed, ready. By the time I walked up to the checkout stations TLE was just two customers away from checking out.....perfect.

In all we were gone from home 2.5 hours (one our of driving time), and it was around 12:30 pm when we pulled up to the Newell.  With the time left in the day I decided to begin the installation of the new 'work' box which precedes, necessarily the installation of the new switch I will use to turn off the charger/converter without unplugging it.  I chose a spot just below three other light switches in the bedroom on the driver's side.  As I suspected the installation of the 'work' box was the most difficult part of the new installation.  It required a lot of trimming, not only in the wall, but behind the wall of other pieces of wood in the way of the switch.  By 3 pm I had the new 'work' box installed awaiting the delivery Wednesday of the new switch, and wall plate.  That part should go pretty fast.....just a couple of wires to connect, and then attach the 'wall' plate.....

......the rest of the day was spent puttering around in the trailer, and relaxing.

On another note, I was watching the news this morning (Tuesday), and they were, of course, talking about the Coronavirus.  The thing that stood out to me was the states where most of the diagnosed cases are right now....New York is #1 with over 2,200 cases....Washington is #2 with over a 1,200 cases, then California at #3 with almost 800 cases.  These 3 states account for over 50% of active cases in this country, and those cases are clustered in and around the large populations centers in those states.......New York/Manhattan, Seattle, and L.A./San Francisco.  If this isn't a convincing case for immediately moving to rural America, I don't know what is.

Additionally, President Trump closed the Canadian/U.S.A. border today to all but essential traffic.....we are not considered essential traffic, obviously.  The closing is indefinite, and could change in a month, but who knows.  So, there it is......Canada is now closed for the foreseeable future, so, therefore, is Alaska.  My brother-in-law, Glenn, sent me this text a couple of days ago......

.........LOL....it still makes me chuckle two days later, but believe me, it is beginning to feel like that!  The Jello is jiggling, and it may be time to make a plan 'B'......thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Free range.....

7:51 am - Tuesday - March 17th - Wittmann, AZ - 53° F, 78% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north......leaden skies this morning with a forecast high today of 68° F.....rain in the forecast for Wednesday.   The view this morning.......↴

Before I recap Monday I'll update the local Chinese Coronavirus stats for Arizona.....18 cases reported, and as far as we can determine, zero deaths.  Five of the cases are in one family.  Half of those 18 people had traveled outside the U.S. in the recent past.  We are still asymptomatic.

We've been ordering, as I previously intimated, a lot of things online to avoid going into town and large crowds.  We are not the only ones, coincidentally, doing this (what a shock), so it would not come as any surprise that shipping times from Amazon are beginning to slow.  It is currently taking about 5 days from the date an item is ordered to the item arriving at our doorstep.  It would seem Amazon is experiencing 'Peak Season' about 8 months early, and is currently rushing to hire on an additional 100,000 workers nationally to keep up with the pandemic induced demand.

All that being said, we did need eggs, and they are not available in our area through Amazon. I also had a few things left over from my Girard Tankless water heater project to return to Home Depot for refund, and TLE needed a new glass screen protector for her iPhone.  We drove into town around 11 am, and while I returned the Home Depot items TLE walked across the parking lot to the local Verizon store to get her free replacement glass screen protector.  After procuring my refund I bought one electrical 'work' box, and a new roll of packing tape......

.....the 'work' box is for the installation of the switch I will use to turn off our charger/converter when we are dry camping.  I will no longer have to go outside to the electrical bay to unplug the charger/converter.  I should receive the new switch from Amazon Wednesday, at which time I can install it.

From there we headed down Bell Road to the local In 'N Out Burger to get  'protein style' cheese burgers......aka: lettuce wrapped.  We started a  modified 'Keto' diet about a week ago, and TLE is doing very well so far.  I'm still awaiting results.  Normally the outdoor dining tables are little used, and most people are inside eating, but Monday we found exactly the opposite....very few eating inside, and most outside, or in the drive through line. The spacing of the alfresco tables complies nicely with 'social distancing' recommendations.....

......we made a quick stop at Trader Joe's to pick up some eggs, and a few other items to find the egg shelf stripped clean, as well as the fresh meat counter, and the produce section.  Why people are stocking up on eggs to the point they are gone from the store shelves is a mystery to me, because eggs are perishable, and have a short shelf life.  Maybe they're going to hard boil all of them?  Who knows.  Anyway, that leads to the next anecdote.....years ago when we began coming to Wittmann annually I joined the Facebook group called 'Wittmann Breaking News and Community Information'.  Tom's daughter, Laura, who lives a short distance away with her family put up a post about everyone in the community working together to help each other.  One gentleman posted that he had free range eggs to sell for $2.50/dozen.  I contacted him after our disappointing TJ's foray, and arranged to meet him at the front gate of his property around 5 pm to buy some eggs.  We paid $5.00 for the 2 dozen unwashed free range chicken eggs.  I learned that until the 'bloom' is washed off the eggs they do not need to be refrigerated......

Two dozen unwashed free range eggs

Just washed free range eggs

....when we arrived home I found that the two seatpost mounted bike racks I ordered from Amazon had arrived so I proceeded to install them......

.....we'll be ordering two new sets of panniers so when we ride our bikes to the store we can bring our spoils home.  Also arriving from Amazon was my MulWark  ratchet which will be used to remove that 9th screw on the Thetford dump valves.....I tested it and it worked perfectly, so now I can proceed with the repair as soon as the new Thetford rubber gaskets arrive......

....we had another interesting sunset courtesy all the clouds which arrived in the afternoon....

....and that was our Monday.  Things are changing rapidly on the pandemic front.  As of Monday afternoon the Canadian border was still open to Canadian citizens, and U.S. citizens. Of course, that can change, and we are actively discussing with my brother and sister-in-law (Glenn and Laureen) alternate summer plans should the Canadian border be completely shutdown.  We heard from a local Canadian who winters here in Wittmann that all Canadians not currently within the Canadian borders must return within 10 days, or lose coverage for the Coronavirus, should they become ill with it.  We also realize that some state borders may become closed at some point, and that will further complicate our summer plans.  All we can do is see what happens over the next 3 weeks, and then come up with a plan 'B'.  

Finally, my fourth and final Seiko Automatic watch sold on eBay Saturday.  I packed it up and delivered it to the USPS for shipment.....so, at last, the end of an era has come to pass.  It was a little bittersweet dropping that final Seiko in the mail receptacle.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

Cabinet wars.....

8:30 am - Monday - March 16th - Wittmann, AZ - 60° F, 65% humidity, wind 6 mph out of the east by northeast......mostly clear, blue skies today with a forecast high of 73° F.  The view this morning.......↴

I developed a rather long TO DO list Sunday morning to be sure I have even a small chance of getting everything done I need to get done before we depart Arizona in 21 days.  The list began with 18 items (including one I had already completed), and after Sunday is down to 14.  So, 20 days to take care of 14 things.  Some of them are small things and I can see scratching 3, or 4 more off Monday, but there are some bigger things, each of which may take as long as a day each like fixing the following: 1) Tachometer (hasn't worked in 6 years), 2) Getting the gauges for fresh water, and gray water to work again,  and 3) The Thetford valve fix.  Completing the list is doable, but I will have to be disciplined, and methodical if I am to get them all done.  No lounging around, and taking a lot of naps!

Sunday's task was reorganizing the trailer cabinets, and the drawers in the storage bay located to the right of our entrance door......

 Maintenance stuff I need with us after we drop the trailer in 

Washington was moved from the trailer to these drawers

 Before....

 I combined those two partially used Rainex bottles into one

 After.....yup, that is my old Alaska coffee 

mug....I just could not part with it

The overflow.....

.....this task took me the better part of the day.  I began by setting up two small tables in the trailer initially to hold stuff I was taking out of the cabinet for reorganization within the cabinet, and other things that would be transferred to the drawers in the storage bay to the right of our entry door.  Conversely I pulled stuff out of the storage drawers to be moved either to the cabinet, or into a clear plastic overflow container.  At the end of the day I ended up with almost as much volume in the storage drawers, but way different stuff....stuff we will need to take care of the Newell for 4+ months while we are away from the trailer. The same for the cabinet, but a little less volume to make it easier to access what is in there.

The process revealed a lot items about which I forgotten, and led to the "Why do I still have this?" question.  If you have to ask the question the answer is probably "You don't really need it!"....time to get rid of it, or put it into storage just in case you have a need for it in the future. It also revealed many things I forgot I had that are important to have no matter how long it has been since you needed them like an extra oil filter for the Kohler generator, solenoids, a large 90 amp fuse, extra red and amber lens for our marker lights, fan belts, etc.

I had the TV in the trailer, and the outdoor TV playing old NBA games from the 80's during the Magic Johnson/Larry Bird era in the background, and then the last day of the Mecum Auction in Glendale, AZ while I worked.   I also spent about 20 minutes vacuuming the floor, and rugs in the trailer to rid them of a couple of months of dirt/sand accumulation.

TLE and I continue to be in good health and still asymptomatic to you know what.  The weather continued to be perfect Arizona March weather (other than the 3 days of rain) with temps in the low 70's, and mostly clear skies.

Thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!

You just need the right weapons.....

7:52 am - Sunday - March 15th - Wittmann, AZ - 51° F, 83% humidity, wind 4 mph out of the north by northwest.....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 71° F....getting back to normal and drying out!  The view this morning......↴

TLE and I were running low on adult beverages so we decided to make a run Saturday morning into the local BevMo in Peoria on Happy Valley Road off the 303 loop freeway....about a 20 minute drive.  We went early to avoid large Saturday crowds arriving there just as they opened at 9 am.  We were in and out of this fully stocked store within 15 minutes, and walking over to the Target to buy a few necessities such as 1/2 and 1/2, some fruit, more Zicam (fully stocked by the way.....virtually every other cold and flu remedy was stripped from the shelves), and yogurt, which were all in plentiful supply.  The other items which have been stripped off the shelves of virtually every market (toilet paper, paper towels, hand sanitizer, latex gloves, Kleenex, etc.) where not available.  Target is now, like many other stores, limiting the purchase of the items to one item each per household.  If you have been unable to find toilet paper, or the other paper products try Office Depot, or Office Max....they stock many of these items and according to one of my daughters are in plentiful supply as of Saturday.  Most people do not associates toilet paper with office supply stores, but they do carry it. After all, businesses have restrooms, and need TP.

All of the shopping malls we passed by, including the one where BevMo is located, appeared to be doing business as usual Saturday, and we saw no one wearing surgical masks, or latex gloves, or any panic buying.  

After returning home I decided to tackle the replacement of the black tank Thetford dump valve.  In all there are four Thetford dump valves in the water bay.....two on the driver side (see below), and two on the passenger side, making it possible to dump from either side, and this has come in handy on more than one occasion over the last 12 years.  The leaking black tank valve is the one on the right in the picture below......↴

......in order to get at the black tank valve I must remove the screws from both valves as they are both glued to the 3" wipe drain pipe in the foreground, as well as on the back side where the pipe enters each tank.  These valves split in two once the screws are removed, and it is just a matter of swinging the 3" pipe outward to expose the internal workings of the valves.  So, after emptying both tanks, and rinsing the black one several times I began to remove the screws.  There are 9 Phillips head screws on the backside of each valve as you can see on the new valve pictured below.....↴

The 'back' side of the Thetford valve

....initially I thought there were only 8 screws on each, and it was relatively easy to remove them, however, I discovered when I had removed the first 8 that there was a 9th one, and a very, very difficult one to reach at the very bottom of the valve.  Keep in mind that when I am removing these 18 screws that I am doing it mostly blind as they are between the dump valve and the tank with very little clearance.  Try as I might over the space of a few hours I could not remove either of those bottom screws.  I finally had to admit temporary defeat, and put the partially disassembled Theftord valves back together so I could fight them another day.  I will need a special tool, or 'weapon' to reach, and remove the 9th screw on each valve (why is there always one screw you cannot remove?), which has been ordered via Amazon.

The rest of the day was pretty much a wash as my other projects are awaiting delivery of additional materials, pieces, parts, etc. to finish them.  I spent more time puttering around in the trailer with the Mecum auto auction on the TV, which just so happens to be in Glendale, AZ this week.

TLE gave me 'breakfast for dinner' Saturday evening.....more proof I am loved.....bacon (no nitrates), and scrambled eggs with spinach and cheese......yummy!

 Love breakfast for dinner

.....while it was clear most of Saturday some clouds moved in late afternoon and provided us with an interesting sunset......

.....still asymptomatic here on Sunday, March 15th....thanks for stopping by!

When you shop Amazon, please use our link (below) to access their website.......we will appreciate every purchase you make using our Amazon Affiliate link, and  remember, using our link will not add one penny to your purchase, plus we will receive a small commission which over the course of a year adds up to enough to by a tank of diesel for which we thank you very much!