November 19- 20, 2024 - Steps for Celina - Internet Repair - Blocks Uncovered - Items to Perryville - Surgery Scheduled - Chairs Repaired

My Blog Reflection

Truth is like the sun. You can shut it out for a time, but it ain't goin' away.

Elvis Presley

November 19, 2024

Celina cooked us supper on Sunday night. On the way out of her place we noticed she had a small landscape rock on each step. She said that when going down the steps, stepping on these "half steps" was much easier on her knees. They didn't look all that safe to me.

Monday on the park's Facebook page a resident posted that he had some leftover plywood scraps from a project, free to anybody who wanted them. I thought this wood could be used to build Celina a half step on each of her three steps. I retrieved the wood to make step blocks. Here are the scraps.

There was plenty of wood to build a three inch tall box for each step. The problem was that I don't have a table saw here to make cuts for the sides and tops of the boxes. I got a little creative with clamping the work to the work bench and used my circular saw to make the cuts. The cuts weren't as good as if done on a table saw but it is plenty good for what she needs. Here are the finished blocks. Celina will paint them.

Tuesday morning our internet was out. I called Spectrum and the tech could see that the internet was going in and out since 7:00 a.m. He couldn't fix it so he scheduled someone to come out around 2:00 p.m. The repairman arrived right on time and soon determined that the problem was the line between the junction box and the house. He had to dig a trench to put in a new wire. As he was digging he kept hitting 12 x 12 paving stones laying just under the surface grass. When he got to the side we could see a double row of paving stones about two feet by six feet next to the sidewalk. This was PERFECT. I was going to buy some stones and dig out the area for a place for the grill to sit off the grass and level.  Here is a picture of what I uncovered while he dug.

This was GREAT! I swept it all off and moved the grill there. What a stroke of luck! The pile of weeds went into the trash.

Late in the afternoon I got an email that the parts I ordered for the golf cart, as well as two other items from Amazon, had been delivered. I looked all around and could find nothing. I then read the message closely and saw that the items had been delivered to Perryville! I thought for sure I had changed the address but apparently not. I called John to see if he could retrieve them and forward them down here. It is great to have good friends to help when you screw up.

November 20, 2024

This morning the internet was out again. It would go on and immediately go off. I called Spectrum and the tech said he would send someone out in the afternoon.

After that call I was off to my allergist appointment, which I made before we left home. The tech took an x-ray of my head and when the PA came in the room she said we had to do something about my Sinus Turbinates before addressing my allergies. I had never heard of "Turbinates". She showed on the screen normal sinuses and my sinuses. The Turbinates are growths, like adenoids, that close off the sinus passages. The doctor will also do a "Balloon Sinuplasty" at the same time. This is a procedure using a balloon to open up your sinus passages. I had this done about ten years ago with no improvement. She said this was because they didn't treat the cause at that time - the "Turbinates". All this blockage is causing many of the problems I have been dealing with. The doctor can remove the Turbinates in the office. It is about a forty-five minute procedure. She said once the Turbinates are removed I may not even need my CPAP anymore. I am scheduled for surgery on December 10th. The follow-up will be in January and then they will test me for allergies. I hope to get some relief.

In the afternoon the second Spectrum tech arrived. After double checking the work done the day before, he decided our modem was bad. He installed a new modem and everything seems to be in order now. Time will tell.

I think I mentioned in an earlier blog that the fiberglass springs broke on one of our two padded rocking patio chairs. I ordered new springs from a patio company and got the right address this time. The mail is delivered here about 3:00 p.m. In it were the springs. I got to work replacing them. Here is a picture of the broken springs on one chair. You can see the bolts slipping out because the pieces behind the hole broke out.

I installed new springs on both chairs because they are fifteen years old. When I examined the old springs I found that all four were cracked on at least one end.

Here are the chairs in our Florida Room awaiting me to sit in them in the morning and enjoy my coffee.

Tomorrow Kelly is driving Celina to her eye doctor appointment and then they are traveling to Tampa to check out a place for lunch for the "Red Hat Ladies" after they tour a mansion in the city next week. They will make a day of it. I will just hang out here at the house. I may go up to the library and find a good book. My sister-in-law, Joan, gave me five good books to read but I left them in Kelly's car. 

 

November 16th - November 18th, 2024 - Trip to Florida - The Projects Begin

My Blog Reflection

Where there is no struggle, there is no strength.

Oprah Winfrey

November 16, 2024

We left home at 6:00 a.m. and checked into a hotel south of Atlanta at 5:30 p.m. We gained an hour when crossing the Georgia line. The HHR (Bart) made it all the way to Birmingham on the first tank of gas. For the entire trip, at 70-72 mph, he averaged 30.5 mpg. I was thrilled with that. I chided Kelly that Bart's gas mileage was better than her fancy Acura. We took an entirely new route which bypassed Nashville, Chattanooga, and Atlanta. It was about a half hour longer but no traffic jams. Nice.

November 17, 2024

We both were up very early, well before the 6:00 p.m. breakfast time. We decided to skip the breakfast and head down the road. We were on the road around 5:00 a.m. We pulled up at the house at 1:00 p.m. Celina invited us over for supper so this gave us lots of time to unpack and access any damages. My neighbor, Doug, came over and showed us two small items he noticed. He said if they had been any worse he would have called me. The first is a piece of roofing over the shed which pulled loose. Here is a picture.

This should be a quick fix in the next day or two depending upon the weather. We are scheduled to get rain and high winds from hurricane Sara which is now in the gulf.

The second issue was the skirting on the back of the house which had been blown in. Here is a picture of that as well.

I was told last year by my "bug guy" that this skirting was installed incorrectly to begin with. He said it should have been set on top of the stones, not behind them. I will make that repair and improvement in due time.

Doug then showed me what had been deposited on the side the house from the hurricane. He had no idea where it came from and it did not do any damage to the house. I am hoping the trash guys will pick it up if I bend it into a small shape. If not I will take it to the dump. The lady behind us lost her carport so it could have come from there. A nice chunk for aluminum to be recycled I hope.

I am leaving the hurricane awnings down because I need to paint them at some point this season.

Everything inside the house was fine. It was a little musty inside but that is normal. It was a hot summer and so I think the AC ran enough to keep any mold or mildew from forming. I also put out about ten Damp Rid containers and they did a wonderful job. 

We were so pleased with all this that after unpacking the car we sat on the front porch for a little "Happy Hour". In the first picture I look like I have no hair. That is because I just got out of the shower and it was wet. In the second picture I am enjoying my drink and the warm weather.

While sitting on the porch Kelly and I noticed another little area of hurricane damage. Part of the lot number came off our mailbox.

I just put those numbers on last year so I'm hoping I have some extras tucked away somewhere. If not I'll leave it as it is. This damage was interesting because Doug said the only damage he received from the hurricane was the wind blew the paint off the top half of his carport posts and off his porch railing. Weird.

November 18, 2024

The first item on the agenda today was to go to Spectrum and get internet and TV. They opened at 10:00 a.m. and, although several folks were in front of us, we were out of there by 10:30 a.m. Unusual. Naturally the online installation did not go as planned and it took two phone calls to tech support to get everything up and running. All is well now. I even got Netflix working.

After eating lunch and doing a load of laundry I got to work fixing the grill I hauled home last Spring. It had been set out on the curb down the street for the trash pickup. It is identical to an old one I bought, two years ago which is a major rust bucket. I hooked up my LP tank to this grill and it fired right up, even the electronic sparker works! The only thing I could find wrong with it is that one of the mounts for one of the swivel wheels had been bent. This caused the nut that it screwed into to come loose. I don't have a welder here so the only solution was to use "JB Weld" to make a repair. Here are a couple of pictures. It will be ready to use tomorrow.

Last Spring the fiberglass springs on one of the two padded chairs on the lanai broke while a friend was sitting in it. Luckily he didn't fall back and hit his head. Here are two pictures. 

I got online today and ordered four new springs. These chairs are fifteen years old so it's time to replace all four springs which are only fiberglass. They were about $10.00 each plus shipping. They should be here next week.

I also got online and ordered all new solenoids for the golf cart. The cart is really touchy to drive and a guy who works on carts here in the park told me that the solenoids were the problem. He also told me to just order them online from Amazon. They will be here tomorrow. Getting the old solenoids out worries me because the bolts have not been touched since 1984. Yes, Buster is an OLD golf cart. A report to follow.

November 12th - November 15th, 2024

 My Blog Reflection

 "Measure your wealth not by the things you can buy but by the things no money can buy."

Kevin Kelly

November 12, 2024 - Damage at Lot - Truck Bed Latch Installed - HHR Packed

Alexa and I drove out to the lake lot to search for an item that a friend may have left out there a few weeks ago. We didn't find it but, upon driving up, we found some damage to the steps due to a large, dead tree branch that fell down. Another spring project.

While the rail was totally broken away from the post, it won't be a difficult repair.

After eating some lunch at the house, while Kelly and Alexa went to get their nails done, I installed the new tailgate latch on the truck. The new latch came with absolutely no instructions so I was hoping its installation would be pretty straight forward.

I first had to remove an inside tailgate panel to access the handle mechanism. All screws came out easily. Here is a picture of the handle mechanism before I took it out. It obviously had been hit with a little bedliner spray at one time.

First the two rod locks were disengaged and the two bolts holding the latch to the tailgate were removed. It then came right out. I had to remove the key lock from the old latch and install it in the new latch mechanism. This operation went smoothly as well. I bolted the new latch in place, attached the two lock rods, and then clipped the red retainers over them. The latch works great, much easier than before. I am quite pleased, even if it is plastic.

November 15, 2024

The HHR was packed this morning for the trip to Florida starting tomorrow. The grass will be cut this afternoon when the dew dries off, and we will ready to roll in the morning. We stop for the night around Atlanta which is about half way.

No blog for a few days until after we get unpacked and the internet set up down there.

November 4th - November 10th - Tailgate Latch - Truck Battery - Trip to Fort Wayne - Homer is Home - Several Homer Issues

My Blog Reflection

After the game, the King and the pawn go into the same box.

Italian Proverb

November 4, 2024

After doctor appointments this morning I ordered a new tailgate latch.  It will arrive on Thursday. I then called the transmission shop in Fort Wayne and they said Homer was ready to roll. With all that is going on here we can’t go to pick him up until Friday. 

Next I unloaded the truck with everything we brought back from California. One item we brought back was a like new twin mattress Annie had and wanted to get rid of. Although I have a bed cover for the truck, with all the hard rain we drove through, the mattress got a little wet on the bottom on the end near the tailgate. (The cover clearly does not seal water tight at the tailgate.) The top of the mattress was not wet, only the bottom that sat on the truck bed floor. I put a fan on the mattress and got it dried out. While it dried out nicely there was a resulting water stain across the mattress bottom. I went online to see if there was a way to get this stain out. I read that I should spray it with vinegar, put a towel over the area, and then iron over it with a hot iron. I did this and the stain came out entirely! Good info for the future. 

November 5, 2024

I took the truck in to the shop to be be serviced after the long trip out West. Over the last year I have been dealing with the battery going dead after the truck sat for a few days. I was sure there was a phantom draw because I had replaced the Walmart battery three times in a year because each one checked bad.  What are the chances of getting three bad batteries? My mechanic found no phantom draw and said the newest Walmart battery was bad as well. He had me install one of his batteries and try it for a month. It has worked perfectly. 

Instead of just using the Walmart battery for a core exchange for the battery from my mechanic, I took it to Walmart to see about a refund. I absolutely did NOT want another Walmart battery. After relaying my year long saga with their batteries, and after them checking this battery and finding it bad, they gave me a gift card for $119.00. They said they changed battery companies the first if the year. I don’t care I will still never buy another Walmart battery.

November 8, 2024

It is an eight hour trip from Perryville to Fort Wayne, Indiana. We left Perryville early in the morning in order to get Homer out of the transmission shop in Fort Wayne, Indiana, before they closed at 5:00 p.m. Upon arrival we paid the bill for the transmission rebuild and headed to Jim and Marilyn’s driveway to spend the night. This will be our last time driveway mooching at their house because they are selling their home and moving into an apartment. We had a great visit with them Friday night and headed to bed. It was about forty-five degrees outside so it was time to turn on the furnace. It hadn’t been used in over a year but fired right up and warmed Homer in no time. 

November 9, 2024

I slept like a rock and when I woke up it was daylight, unusual for me. I’m usually up way before it is light outside. The four of us visited over a nice cup of coffee and then we headed home at 9:00 a.m. Homer ran great all the way home. East of St. Louis the rain started and it rained pretty good all the way to Perryville. We arrived home at 4:00 p.m. After thirteen weeks in Fort Wayne, Indiana, Homer is happy to be home!

November 10, 2024

Today I winterized Homer. This is a multiple step process: 

1. Drain all the water out of the system. 

2. Take everything out that can freeze.

3. Put pink antifreeze in the water tank and turn the water on at each location to get the antifreeze pumped through the pipes.

4. Pull out the house batteries and put them on a trickle charger in the garage.

5. Put Homer in the storage shed and pull the chassis battery out and put it on a trickle charger in the garage.

While putting the antifreeze in I noticed that all of the pop rivets holding on the two  top hinges on the door frame had broken off. I had put a couple of shims in earlier in the year on the door side to help the door close better. I was shocked to see this. Here is a picture.

I drilled out the rivets and installed all new rivets. Here is a picture. I will have to watch this over the coming months to see if there is some other issue going on with the door.

Upon completing this repair I raised the hood to check the chassis battery voltage. When I did I noticed that the brake master cylinder cap was missing! 

While Homer was in Fort Wayne waiting for the transmission to be rebuilt one of the front rotors seized up. He had to be taken to a different repair shop to get the caliper replaced. Obviously the mechanic neglected to replace the cap. I looked all around the engine compartment and it was nowhere to be found, not surprising after a 445 mile drive home. I went to Autozone looking for a replacement. They had a cap that said it fit all Fords. Unfortunately, it didn't. It was the right size but it just flopped and wouldn't tighten. I then went to O'Reillys Auto Parts and they did not have one. They suggested that I go to a "You Wrench It" place in another town to find one off a wreck since Homer is so old. It was Sunday and I couldn't do that. I looked at the cap I bought at Autozone and noticed it did not come with a gasket. No gasket was the problem. I drove to Buchheit's and purchased a couple of gaskets to try. None of them worked. I then looked in my plumbing supplies and found a sink drain gasket. It, along with an o-ring I had on hand, did the job. Here is a picture of the cap installed so no more dirt gets in the brake fluid.

Next on the winterizing list was to remove the house batteries. Homer has two 6 volt batteries. They fit quite tightly in the compartment and it is always a pain to get them out. This time it was worse but I couldn't tell why. I got them out and noticed a pool of water in the back of the steel battery box. I had never seen that before. When I investigated I found that the entire battery box had pulled down about an inch and a half from the four bolts in the floor above . The metal was stressed and tore due to years of the heavy battery box bouncing down the road.  Two batteries in the box I am sure put more stress on the box. Here are a couple of pictures.

Water in the battery box.

The metal flange torn away from the floor above on one corner.

The box tore away from the floor bolt on the other side as well. The arrow points to the bolt with broken metal above it and the gap in the back of the box.

Another view of the damaged area.

In the next two pictures you can clearly see that old age and rust played a big part in this failure.

The arrow points to the bolt pulled out of the floor and the box hanging down.

All that held the battery box on to the motorhome was four bolts through the floor above. Years of bouncing down the road, rust, and weight caused this failure. I am so so happy I noticed this before another trip. If the battery box and batteries had fallen out going down the road it would have caused MAJOR damage to Homer and maybe even an accident. 

Fabricating a new battery box mounting system will be quite challenging. It will require designing heavy metal outriggers that will jut out from the vehicle frame to hold the weight of the box from below rather than from on top where the metal has torn away. There are lots of vehicle cables, etc. in the frame area to complicate matter. This repair is way too complicated to take on before we leave for Florida next week. Once I get Homer out in the spring my plan is to fabricate an outrigger with angle iron I have on hand. I will then take my prototype to the welding shop in town and have them make a much stronger one with much heavier metal to be permanently installed.

Years ago I welded brackets to lock the generator slide in position. While winterizing the generator I noticed that one of the locks had fallen out.  You can see the hole where the locking bracket screws into.

Here is a picture of the bracket on the other side which remained in place but was quite loose. I will have to redesign this part.

After all of the issues after getting Homer home he is now is in the storage shed and the house and chassis batteries are on trickle chargers in the garage. 

Several projects for next spring wait me.

 

November 1st - November 3rd, 2024 - The Trip Home

My Blog Reflection

Be yourself; everyone else is already taken. 

Oscar Wilde

November 1, 2024

We left Mountain View, California, at 7:00 a.m. - in the dark. We are took the Southern route home. By driving this route you drive Southeast within California for 500 miles. We got gas in Needles, California, for $4.59 per gallon. A hundred miles into Arizona the price was $3.09 per gallon. I needed gas in Needles and I don’t like to push my luck in this area of the country where it can easily be fifty to one hundred miles between filling stations. It was a good day for a drive but nothing but dessert scenery so no pictures.  We arrived in Flagstaff, Arizona at 6:30 p.m. and stayed for the night at a Baymont Inn. 

November 2, 2024

Breakfast at Baymont was much better than at either Hampton Inn on the way here. After filling the gas tank we hit the road at 7:00 a.m. In Tucumcari, New Mexico, we stopped for a nice dinner at Del’s Diner, a Route 66 restaurant since 1956. The food was excellent. We hit the road and West of Amarillo it started to rain hard. As we drove the rain continued. The speed limit was 75 mph but the trucks were only doing 60 mph. I did good to stay with them because it was really hard to see the lane lines. Once the rain quit we had a beautiful, bright rainbow in front of us.

We wanted to get past Amarillo so while on the road Kelly made a reservation for the night at a Route 66 Motel, The Shamrock Country Inn, in Shamrock, Texas. It was only $55.00 per night. We have always been wary of such places because we have been burned in the past. This place had great ratings on Trip Advisor so we took a chance. Upon check in we received our 1960s room key and the WiFi password written on the back of a cash register receipt.

We were also told at check in, if we wanted heat to turn the black knob under the thermostat - a timer for the heat. You gotta love it.

 I loved the bathroom - brown floor, green fixtures, yellow walls, pink and white tike, and a white toilet seat. 

The room was immaculate, the bed was comfortable, and the breakfast was better than at the Hampton Inns we stayed at on the way out, which is all that mattered. Glad we stopped here.

We left Shamrock, Texas, at 6:30 a.m. and arrived home at 5:45 p.m. Another long day. Some rain through Oklahoma and Missouri but nothing like the rain in Texas. Glad to be home. I doubt I will ever make that drive again.

October 27 - October 31st - Time in Mountain View, California

My Blog Reflection

Learn from the mistakes of others. You can never live long enough to make them all yourself. 

Groucho Marx

October 26, 2024 - Arrival in Mountain View, California

For supper Adam made a charcuterie board for us. Here are pictures. 

October 27, 2024

While we hung out at the house with the granddaughters and watched football, Adam made homemade pasta for supper. We had bowtie pasta, cavatelli, and meat ravioli. All were delicious!

October 28, 2024

I went with Annie to drop the girls off at school. Wren goes to pre-K at one school and Violet goes to a different school closer to home. Here is a picture of the girls with Annie ready for school. It’s chilly in the morning here in Silicon Valley.

Here is a picture of the school yard at Wren’s school as kids wait to enter their classrooms. It is organized chaos. They wait on geometric shapes by class until the teachers come out to get them. Being California there are no halls ways . All of the classrooms just open to the outside.

Adam and I then made a trip to the hardware store to purchase hooks, etc. in the stairwell we then hung the picture we brought out in the truck bed. Annie picked this spot to hang the picture so it could be viewed from a distance. Here is a picture of the picture hung in place. The picture is over 50 inches wide, thus the need to bring it out in the truck.

October 28, 2024

The four of us walked downtown for lunch at Limon, a Peruvian restaurant. Kelly and I had never tasted Peruvian food before so it was a new experience. We both enjoyed it, including dessert.

Since I had my hammer drill with me Adam asked me to drill holes in the concrete to insert bolts to secure the wooden gazebo in case of wind. I had a devil of a time drilling the holes because I kept hitting rebar and granite stone used in the concrete. When finished a shot of whiskey to sip after supper was just what I needed. I slept like a baby.

October 29, 2024

Annie had to work all day so Kelly and I went to the Hiller Aviation Museum about fifteen miles away. We both really enjoyed it. I never realized how many companies and how much early aviation developments took place in California. I took some pictures of the airplane exhibits but being inside they were too crammed together to be worth saving. The museum had the nose of a 747 Boeing jet. You could sit in the cockpit. The first picture is head-on. The second and third pictures are of the wall of switches and lights behind the pilots. Crazy

From there, at Adam’s suggestion, we drove to the town of Burlingame and walked the quaint downtown area. We stopped and had a great pizza at “Rise Pizzeria”. I had never had a “beef rib and arugula pizza” before. Here is Kelly getting ready to dig in.

October 30, 2024

After running some errands with Adam we came back to their house and loaded a mattress and frame in the bed of the truck. I closed the tailgate and realized I forgot to put something in. I pulled on the tailgate handle AND IT BROKE OFF IN MY HAND! It is plastic. I HATE plastic. Here is a picture of the lock with the broken handle piece laying on the top of the tailgate.

Unbelievable. This ticked me off.  I never dreamed this part is made of plastic. Luckily I can get the tailgate open with a screwdriver and pliers. I looked online and I will have to replace the entire latch mechanism. I can get a replacement in white, black, or chrome. I won’t order a new one until I get home. The prices range from $10.00 to $100.00. Crazy. Since all the replacement locks are plastic I doubt one is better than the other.

After getting sandwiches for lunch, Kelly, Annie, and I went to Goodwill to look around. I found nothing I wanted. Kelly found a few things. The evening was spent watching the World Series.

October 31, 2024

The girls were up early for school with their Halloween Costumes on - white and black cats.

Annie and I took Wren to school and watched all the kids parade around for the parents. Here is Wren waving at us.

Lots of parents lined up to watch the parade of pre-k and grade school kids.

After I gassed up the truck we packed our clothes in the truck since we are leaving early in the morning. Adam and Kelly stopped on the way back and bought a bear claw for breakfast. 

The kids went out for Trick or Treat. Kelly and I put on our costumes and handed out candy.Here are pictures of everyone on Halloween.

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