Sunday, July 31, 2011

Wow, Three in a Row

 

Today, I actually gave into the “itch”.  It didn’t involve the hitch, just a road trip.

After filling the truck with diesel, at 3.97/gal., I took a drive up to Nevada City/Grass Valley.  The gauge on the truck said that I was averaging 17.4 mpg.  It was a nice drive, even though there was a two mile stretch of road construction.  They are widening Hwy 49 (on going through 2012).

First I stopped at the RV Park at the Nevada County Fairgrounds. There weren’t too many sites filled, but will be in a week or so, the fair begins next week.  I was able to speak with the host there.  She is a solo and doing it by herself for now.  She gave me a lot of ideas for when I am out there myself workamping.

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It was getting close to lunch time so from there I went to Grass Valley and found a little place that makes Pasties, Cousin Jack’s Pasties. 

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They have more on the menu, but I had their most popular, a beef pasty.  (They also had chicken and turkey.)  It was very good, although it was a bit heavy on the potato.  I was able to have Angel with me on the patio and the waitress brought her water and a home made dog biscuit.  Angel really loved her treat, so I bought a bag of them for her.

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              Sorry, but I didn’t think about the camera until I ate half of it

After lunch, I thought that I would check out the Empire Mine State Park, but I ended up not going in, because it was kind of warm, and I didn’t think that I could take Angel in with me,  As I was leaving, I saw someone come out carrying a small dog,  so maybe I’ll go in the fall when it is cooler and take the tour.

I didn’t do anything else while there and headed home.  All in all, it was a nice afternoon.  I’m glad I went.  I will have to get used to just getting out there and doing things by myself and not hiding out in front of the “boob tube”.  I want to find some short hikes near Sacramento other than the American River Parkway.

Another  week to go and Ted will be back next weekend to install the capture plate on the king pin.  Then we get to practice hitching and unhitching to ‘My Spot”, to prepare for our RV Basic Training on the 27th.

I hope that you all have a great week.  It’s off to bed for us.

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel         http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com/

Saturday, July 30, 2011

Short Post

 

Last night, I had every intention of going out to do laundry when it got cooler, but that didn’t happen.  I just hung out here watching a movie and  then going to bed.  It is still comfortably cool at night.   No matter how I try, my body still gets me up early.  Now Ms. Lazy Bones didn’t crawl out from under the covers until after 8:30 am.

We left shortly thereafter to go get the laundry done while it  was still cool.  I think that  Saturday morning is the best time to go.  It wasn’t crowded at all.  I took Angel with and had her stay in her mesh carrier.  She isn’t the happiest there but she was a very good girl and endured the little space,  because she just wants to be near me. 

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                                 Treats were in order when we got home.

The rest of the day was spent catching up on all the blogs that I follow and reading some more of Campin’ and Computin’  the Second Edition   by Eric Anderson.  I’m almost finished. 

It is almost time to open up the windows to get a cross breeze.

I hope that you all are having a great weekend.  take care and keep cool and dry wherever you are.

Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel     http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com/

Friday, July 29, 2011

Another Work Week Over, Printer Gone, etc..

 

                                poppies at Nunnerie in Scotland

Tuesday, I finally got the last payment for the commercial printer.  Now if I can only sell the heat press, I will be a little more relieved.  I am looking into getting a smaller sublimation printer so that I can market my art and personalized gift services.   I, too like many others need to find a way to make a little money while on the road.  The things that I will be able to do, can be done anywhere.  I will be able take photos emailed to me, print a transfer and apply to various products that can be shipped to the purchaser.   Is there anyone out there that would like a mug, t-shirt, mouse pad, etc. with a picture of your rig, yourselves or grandkids on it? 

Here it is Friday.   Earlier this morning I had a chiropractor come to “My Spot” to give me an adjustment.  It is the first time that I have ever had one.  Wow, it sure does make a difference.  Normally I couldn’t afford something like this, but this is a barter situation.  It sure does benefit both of us.    I feel great, not as sore as I thought I would be.         Thank you  Dr. Cooper!

After that was done I went out to Folsom Lake RV to get a replacement for the screen door latch.  I’m beginning to find out that RVing is not cheap.  Fortunately I get a 10% discount on anything that buy there, including service.  While there I talked to Derek about the RV Basic Training that I have scheduled on August 27th for both Ted and myself.   Since I have never done this before, I thought I had better learn how to drive it  and do it safely,   He asked if I could have them supply the store with some fliers.  I called Gary the owner to give him the contact and guess what, he is sending me $25.00 for the referral.  How neat is that?  For anyone interested, the link is http://www.rvbasictraining.com/rvb-instructors/about-us.html.

From there I went to Winco (a food store chain here in northern CA).  I stocked up on the things that I always get there and headed home to install the latch.  As usual, Ms. Angel was ecstatic because mommy was home.  (It has been too hot to take her with in the truck.)  

Later , when it cools down we’ll go do laundry.  It’s one of the things that really don’t like doing.  I will be putting a W/D in “My Spot” as soon as it is convenient.  I would rather do more small loads more often than carting everything to a public laundry where you never know what was done in the washers before you.  Last time I got some kind of green stuff on my light colored jeans.  (Don’t you just hate that?)

My son thinks that I should get a generator before I get the W/D.   He is probably right, since we will be boondocking at Pismo Beach in October.  I am thinking about getting two smaller Hondas and putting them together, mainly because I can lift one at a time and they are supposed to be quieter.  I can also use them separately.   Any thoughts?

I guess that I will post this instead of just rambling on and on.

Thanks for visiting

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Susan and Angel              http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com/

Saturday, July 23, 2011

Another Week and Got The Hitch and The Itch

                                                                                                                

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                                 Come on over, have seat and visit.

One more week closer to my goal.  This week I had to work all four days.  I can’t imagine how hard it will be in February to be at work when I will be so close to being out on the road.  When I am on the phones now I just take one call at a time and most of the time the callers are pleasant and happy that I can answer their questions and solve their problems, although in between calls my mind is definitely not at work.  I guess you could say that I have short timer’s disease.  Just  about everyone at work knows what my plan is and most of them are very supportive and wish that they could do it too.  Of  course I tell them, if they really want to, they can,  Where there’s a will, there’s a way! 

Friday

I decided that I would make some mini muffins.  Of course while in the process, I got a call from Folsom Lake RV letting me know that I could get the hitch installed, when I was finished, Angel and I brought the truck to FLRV to get it’s new addition. 

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I had the hitch installed,  It is a Super Glide by PullRite..  The next time Ted is here, he will install the capture plate on the king pin for me.(They would have installed that  too, but unfortunately, they don’t do house calls)  They also installed a Prodigy P2 braking control.  Now I will have to learn how to use both of them.  Now I know what the “itch” feels like.

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It has been awhile since I had been to enjoy Steve sing and play the keyboard at the winery.  I called Helen (from church) to see if she wanted to come with me.  She, fortunately was free, so I picked her up at 6 pm.  We decided to have dinner at The Spaghetti Factory in Folsom and then went across the way to Vintner’s Cellar Custom Winery (www.985cork.com) to have a glass of wine and listen to Steve on the keyboard.  We, as  usual, enjoyed his performance and our conversation.   If you are interested, you can visit his website at www.stevekroghmusic.com. It was getting a bit late, so we headed home.

Saturday

After breakfast I tackled cleaning my oven.  Last weekend I made a casserole for a potluck at church and didn’t realize that it had spilled over while cooking and baked it in when I made the muffins.  I never have liked cleaning an oven. (chemical, smells, etc.)  Awhile back, I purchased the Shark Steam Cleaning System.  This was the perfect test. It worked!  It took a little longer than I thought it would, but did a great job, no smell and sanitized everything.

A little while later got a call from Kyle, Steve’s wife.  She was able to find some time in her busy schedule to see my new “digs”.  She has heard so much about “My Spot”, that she wanted to see it, so of course she got the official tour.  I guess that she was pleasantly surprised, but not what she expected.  She had lots of questions and I was happy to answer them.

A little while later I went to visit my neighbors, Eric and Carol Anderson. 

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They have a large MH (Allegro Bus) and 3 fur kids.  We shared what’s going on in our lives and then they came over to “My Spot”.  Eric and Carol have been RVing since 1999.  While here he gave me a copy of his book, Campin’ and Computin’ , A Basic Guide For RVer’s New to Computers.  I just started reading it and so far I like his writing style. 

I guess that I have rambled on enough for this post.

Thanks for sitting awhile and visiting with

Susan and Angel    http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com

Friday, July 15, 2011

Out of There and Settled in “MY SPOT”

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                  This picture is for Gypsy,to show the distance between sites.

 

 

Thursday night a week ago

The last of the sale items are gone, except for the armoires and heat press.  Tim (on the right in picture below), bought the steel shelves. Both he and Brian, his friend helped load up the truck.  Lilly bought the microwave.  (Sorry no picture.)

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I have everything that I want out of the old place. 

The next day,  I brought the last of the stuff to Saint John’s Center for Women.  It is a center where women and children are helped until they can get on their feet.  They have a warehouse where they are able to choose whatever they need when they leave at no charge.  Any other place that I could have taken it to would have charged for those things.  I wish that I had known that they took donations before, the leftovers from the yard sale would have gone there.  When I go through the rest of the STUFF, whatever doesn’t make the final cut will go there. 

Before it got too hot, Angel and I took a trip to Pet Smart to get her some  more food and treats.  She likes to go there because she can go inside.  We watched a little black poodle get some training and Angel discovered the “birdies”.  She, of course, had to say “hello”.

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Then Saturday morning, Steve,who is on my team at work came over to pick up some extra  camping stuff, so some more stuff went to his boy scout troop.

Other than a trip to the store,for some adhesive backed Velcro, a lock for the shed and a couple of pair of shorts, I haven’t done anything else.  It has been a laid back kind of day.

The Velcro was for putting up some of my watercolor paintings.  I found some really light weight  frames at IKEA and the Velcro works really well, no holes in the walls.           

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Sunday, I donated my Button Machine to church for the Sunday School to use for fundraising. 

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That’s Cindy showing the button we made.  If you click on the picture on the right you should be able to see the button in the machine.

 

The above was actually written last week.  My internet decided to go AWOL.  It would come and go for a couple of days, but then stopped completely several days ago.  I called ATT yesterday again to get some tech help.  They ran some tests but couldn’t get it up and running.  Fortunately they were able to send someone out today.  They couldn’t give me a time, just from 8 am to 8 pm.  I asked if they would have him call before they came.  Lo and behold, I got a call early this morning, I would be his first appointment. YEA!   The problem ended up being a bad modem.  Evidently, last week when we had triple digit weather, it got overheated.   He replaced it and after about an hour or so it was up and running, so I was able to get out and get some errands done.

I needed to go out to the DMV because my name is spelled wrong on my renewed driver’s license, but I need to show them a birth certificate or passport and of course I didn’t have either with me, so I will have to go back.  From there I went out to Camping World to check on prices for various things that I might want to get later before I get out  there on the road.  I ended up getting some spring loaded bars to keep things from shifting while in motion and magnetic propane tank gage.  One the way home I stopped at Costco for a few thing that I was out of, but forgot the eggs.  I guess that I will get those after doing laundry tomorrow.

I hope everyone is having a great weekend.

Thanks for visiting

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Susan and Angel      http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com/’

Sunday, July 3, 2011

Holiday Weekend, Named the 5’er

 

I have a tapestry that I really like.  It gave me an idea as to what I will call my Rig.

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                                                     My rig is

                                                   “MY SPOT” .

Wednesday

Here it is another week has gone by.  Most everything  is gone from the old residence.  I won’t be able to take care of it tomorrow because I won’t have the truck.

When I bought the truck, there were several things that had to be fixed.  There are some dings and little cracks in the windshield, so it needs to be replaced.  The tail light has to be fixed too.  Ted says that most of the Dodges taillights fail when the overheat.  He has already done his three times,   I believe they will also be detailing the truck so that it will be easier to maintain.  They can also give me a quote to do the 5’er.  Last Tuesday we had quite a bit of rain.  When I came out of work, it was pouring and when I got into the truck it was raining inside.  Well, not really raining, but dripping, so that will be fixed too.  I will bring the truck in to Folsom Lake Dodge for a 9:00 am appointment on Friday.  They will have the truck for the whole day.  They have a shuttle and will take me home and pick me up to bring me back to the dealer’s service center. 

There is plenty for me to do at home.  I have two more crates of papers to sort through and purge.  More sorting!  Now, how many years of tax records do I need to keep?

One of the residents has to leave and can’t take his plants, so I now have more containers on my patio.  I hope that I can keep them alive, because I tend to kill plants, even silk plants.

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I have Corian Countertops in the kitchen.  One of them has a crack in it, about 6“ long.  Has anyone had that experience, how did you take care of it and was it really expensive?   I want to get it fixed before I get out on the road and it gets worse.

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When I called about getting it fixed, they quoted a price of $550.00/$700.00.  He also told me that one of the most common reasons for the countertop to crack is when something hot is put directly on it.  A footed trivet should always be used, so that there is air between the hot surface and the counter. The reason it is so expensive is because of the way that is repaired to make as if it were new.

Friday

Well the truck is detailed, the windshield is replaced, taillight is fixed and the leak fixed.  Three out of five of the marker lights on the cab roof  have been replaced, the other two have been ordered.  As it turned out, they supplied a rental car instead of the shuttle.  I just came home and went through two more crates of papers and tossed a whole lot.  That’s about all that happened to day, boring put productive. 

Saturday

One of the residents here in the park are moving down to Manteca, CA, closer to his job.  Last week Carmen showed me the best way to light my oven, so I thought that I would bake them some muffins as a parting gift.  I sort of tagged along behind Rick watching how he got ready to move out.  I figure that the more I observe before I have to do it, the more that I will know what every thing is and how it works.  Thank you Carmen and Rick.  I hope that you enjoy your new address.

Shortly after they left, Glen, one of my other neighbors helped me move a 5’x6’ shed over to my site.  He has a couple of furniture dollies that we used.  All of a sudden it was moving along really fast, John, another neighbor jumped in to help.  It only took 15 or 20 minutes to get it moved and set up on some existing pallets,  Thank you both, I couldn’t have done it without you.  More muffins went out in payment.  Now I have to get over to the old place to move the rest. 

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By the time I was able to get over to move the rest, it was hot.  Fortunately , my former neighbor, Lily helped me load up the truck.  Thank you Lily!  While loading the truck, I thought, oh my, I don’t think that all this will fit in the storage.  Before I put everything in the shed I used some dryer sheets and some expanding foam.  Hopefully that will keep out the critters.  when I put the STUFF in the shed, lo and behold, it fit with plenty of room to spare.  There is just a little bit left and I plan on getting that early tomorrow before it gets too hot.

Sunday

Today was pretty much uninteresting.   On my way to church I dumped about 40 or more pounds of papers and other things in the recycle dumpster.  On the way home,  I stopped to do laundry.  I sure miss having my own.  I plan on getting one installed after I get a hitch and can take the 5’er to have it installed.  The rest of the day has been quiet and hot.  I actually broke down and turned on the A/C, but I keep the temp high.

Last night, I did have a bit of problem with connecting with the internet.  I was able to get it back on after I unplugged the modem and plugged it in again, then rebooted the laptop.  I think that it must have gotten overheated.

Enough for today!  Tomorrow is the holiday.  Other than what I do in the morning, I have no idea what I will do to celebrate.   I hope that you all have a great day celebrating our independence.   

                                                  HAPPY 4TH OF JULY 

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Thanks for visiting

Susan and Angel      http://whatsupwithsusanandcompany.blogspot.com/