Monday, January 19, 2015

Things Fixed And We Will Be Moving Soon

Since Thanksgiving, I have had my share of “Happenings”.We had some heavy rains and I had several leaks. that since have been fixed.  Well, all but one. That one will have to wait.  It’s my one slide out.  It will just have to come in when it rains.  The bedroom window is fixed and I have removed most of the carpet, dried out the the base floor and reconstructed the shelving that covers the wiring.  The new flooring will have to wait awhile.  There is still the carpet under the framework of the cabinets that has to come out and that will take time.

My Refrigerator/ Freezer went out the weekend just before Thanksgiving, but has since been fixed. Fortunately I didn’t loose too much food as I have an extra portable freezer.

It has been cold here, under the trees in the Santa Cruz Mountains.

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Even though The weather on the internet says that Santa Cruz will be in the 60’s, where I’m at doesn’t get much sun, consequently it doesn’t get that warm here, maybe the mid to upper 50’s and that only lasts for an hour or two in the middle of the day. 

I had a small electric heater which didn’t help much, so at Christmas, Ted got me another one that works a little bit better.  My rent here at the RV Park doesn’t include electricity and with the colder weather, my electricity doubled in one month.  With needing to dry out the floors, I need to use my furnace.  It uses a lot of propane, but propane companies won’t fill an onboard tank.  The only other alternative was to get a freestanding outside tank.  It took over two weeks to set that up.  That was great, however the furnace wouldn’t stay on.  When Ted came out for a visit, he checked it out and I wrote down what was happening so that I could get the RV repair guy out to fix it.  He wasn’t able to come out until the next Friday, but because Ted was able to give them the information they were able to bring out the correct part and it was fixed within an hour. 

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IMG_3576 “Just making sure he’s doing a good job.”

Angel and I are finally warm and toasty.  Mitchell was able to fix all of my issues.  He has been out several times since October when all this started and has made sure everything was working and answered all my questions, even general RV ones, not related to the current issues,  Here is the link if you need their service when you are anywhere in the area.  (  http://www.ctsmobilervrepair.com/ ) So far only the R/F and the Furnace has been covered by Easy Care Insurance.  Unfortunately leaks aren’t covered.  That’s why the leaking slide out has to wait.  I now have enough propane to last through the winter.

When Ted was here a week ago, he brought his GF, Leslie, with him.  It was the first time to meet her.  She is an absolute delight.  They came early and we spent the day searching out places to go in Santa Cruz.  She used to go to school here in SC, so she is fairly familiar with the area.  We decided to go to Riva’s out on the Wharf. We parked near the beach and walked out on the wharf, had lunch and the took in the Monterey Bay Discovery Center on West Cliff near the wharf. (Free Admission)

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We also checked out Natural Bridges State Park.

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Nearby we checked out some of the stores by Kelly’s Italian Bakery.  I had been there earlier in the week after my Physical Therapist recommended it to me.  The sandwich that I had was really good.  But after having lunch already, we decided not to have dessert there.  Another time, perhaps.

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We had a fun visit.  I hope that I will see them more often.

As to the Move.   I spoke with Theresa at J D Grant Co Park and I will be returning there on March 1st for the summer.  If you are in the area come and visit

It’s countdown time again.  Getting out the list of all the things that need to be done before I leave.

Thanks for visiting

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Visiting with my next door neighbors, Samson and his Mom

Susan and Angel

Friday, January 2, 2015

New Happy 2015

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                                 Low lying clouds near Santa Cruz

Just a short recap as to what 2014 has been for me.  I feel blessed that I can live this dream.  It’s not to say that there aren’t problems,  only that I can work through them with a better attitude.

I sit here thinking about this past year and there is a lot to think about.  I started 2014 working through Physical Therapy for my broken left arm.  Even after exhausting the allotted 12 visits with Medicare I still had problems, but lived with it. 

I finished my commitment workamping in Mesa AZ and in April drove to CA with my son’s help and got set up at JD Grant Co Park where I would be a Camp Host through October. I’ve enjoyed working at both places.  Of the two of them, I think I prefer Camp Hosting. 

Since my arm wasn’t getting back to normal, I checked with a specialist in San Jose, who suggested that I have additional surgery, which I did in late October.  Because of the surgery, I wasn’t able to workamp for the winter.  Instead, I have been paying for a site in an RV park in Santa Cruz and going to additional PT.  So far the arm is getting better, even the numbness seems to be getting better.  I mostly have to work on strengthening the arm, but have got most of my mobility back.

As much as I like living near Santa Cruz, there have been problems.  I seem to be trying to keep warm and dry.  There have been heavy rains and leaks.  I have never liked  having carpet in the bedroom and bathroom and have wanted to replace it with other flooring.  It seems that I will do that sooner than anticipated.  The bedroom window leaked and saturated the carpet.  I have removed it and am now trying to dry the base floor.  I certainly don’t need to have mold.  The window has been fixed as well as the W/D Vent to the outside.  The rubber gasket on the slide also leaks, but that will have to wait, so the slide will stay in until I can get it fixed.  It is still damp in some places.  Someone suggested using salt crystals that draws moisture out of the air.  My son suggested that I try Damp-Rid.  I have purchased a couple and put one in the bedroom and one under the Sofa/Sleeper.  I will see if that helps.

I was able to make a couple of trips to Sacramento for the Holidays.  Ted and I stayed with friends, Steven and Kyle.  Thank you both for your hospitality.

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              Ted, me, Spearman, Kyle and Steve having Thanksgiving Dinner

I have had some issues with how I download, store and retrieve pictures.  For some reason I’m not able to put them in folders like I have in the past.  I’m sure it is some thing that I have done,so until I figure it out there won’t be too many of them.

I hope that you all have a Happy. Healthy and Prosperous New Year.

Thanks for visiting

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Susan and Angel