Yes its snowed---Our House on Wheels is back in the driveway

Thursday

Up this morning with no plans to go anywhere.  I was sitting here reading when I noticed that the rain had partially changed to snow.  It continued to snow most of the day and finally started to stick on the grass.

First snow of the season

Collected on the roof some

 I took some video with the I phone and posted it to Facebook, another first for me.

Took this just before dark kind of pretty

I continued to work on automating our bill payments today and did some research for my trip to Florida.  Also reserved a car.  My sister and I are headed down there next month for a vacation.  So I have been loading geocaches and tourist info into the computer and iPhone.

I also spent most of the morning writing and editing a letter to Freightliner in Knoxville making them aware of the fact that they installed my trailing arms and brake hose incorrectly and asking them to pay for correcting the problems.

So Bonnie got home and baked squash for supper and then we also had kind of a jello salad with fruit and cottage cheese.  Watched a little TV and hoping to get to bed early, but also wanting to watch the end of the World Series.

Well I did see the game end close to 1am with a walk off home run Game 7 tonight.

Friday

Sunny and cold this morning.  I slept in till 9 as I did not get to sleep until 2am, maybe there is caffeine in coffee ice cream?

Anyway today is wash day and work at court day.  Also I need to double check but I think I have all the bills on auto-pay now.  They still send you a bill so you know what they are taking so it should be good.  When I was stuck in Knoxville in July I worried I was missing some important bills, now that should not happen.

I headed for the shop to check on the MH.  It was up on the lift again and had been inside all night which is good since it was below freezing last night.  It probably would have been ok but better safe than sorry.  Brian went over all the repairs with me from front to back.  It all looks really good, neat, and safe.  They still needed to change one filter, test drive it and re-torque the u-bolts on the axle.

New Hose well away from the wheel

This is the worn hose looks worse in person

New exhaust pipes

Hopefully I will have it home tomorrow.  Then I will get it winterized and then off to storage.

Then up to court for a couple hours.  The new drywall is up.

The second coat of compound drying, notice it is sunny out.

Then finally back home and put up a new curtain rod in the kitchen before Bonnie got home.

We spend the evening catching up on reading and the shows on the DVR.  Watching the end of the world series and then off to bed.  I have more activities on the calendar tomorrow than I can possible do.

Well the Cardinals won and its not quite 11:30 so good night all.

Saturday

Best laid plans do not always work out.

Wet weather today so I will not we cleaning up the leaves in the yard.

Motorhome is not quite ready so will not be picking it up.

Too late to go to church workday when I found out about the motorhome so did what I could online from home.

Went to court and found more to do there than I thought so was there for longer than I thought.

So while I got a lot of stuff done it was not what I expected to get done.

Waiting on Bonnie now to go to Lowe's in Batavia and see if we can find a deal on closet materials to redesign her closet.

So we went to Lowe's what a zoo.  35% off today plus my 10% veterans discount.  It is starting to look cleaned out but there is still a lot of stuff there.  We were able to find all the parts we needed except for the main tower.  There was one on display and it was not screwed to the wall.  Bonnie had to ask three different guys, the first two said they were not selling the displays,  but the third guy helped me get it down and put it on a cart.  We took it all up front just as the store was closing and they checked out right out.  So now I have a closet system to install.  Of course that means taking down the old wire shelves, patching the holes, and painting the walls.

Parts for Bonnie's closet

So back home and finally ate supper after 8 but it sure was good.  It was wet all day but no measurable rain.  Now its time to head off for bed.  The key word today was flexibility.

Sunday

We were up while its was still dark getting ready for church.  Then off to church, another frosty morning.
After church we headed down to the Prospector for a late breakfast with some friends from Church.
They eat there often and the cook brought out cupcakes for the kids.

This one looked like a spider.

Then we left there and went over to their house to visit and see their beautiful new kitchen, very nice.  We had a great visit and left there shortly after 2pm.

Next stop was over to the Pastor's house for their annual open house.  We have sold the Parsonage and he now has his own house.  I got the grand tour and was impressed with all the work and changes they have made, its a beautiful home now and great for entertaining.  There must have been over 40 people and still room to move around.

Then we headed home pulling in just before 4pm.  Bonnie was listening to the messages as I walked in and Brian left a message saying the MotorHome was all done and we should give him a call.  So I quick gave him a call and he said I could pick it up or he would put it in the shop again tonight.  Since we are busy again this week and it is not to freeze tonight I said we would be right over to pick it up.  He said don't worry about the bill he will get it to me sometime.  So we jumped back in the car and headed over to the shop.  She started right up and we pulled into the yard before 4:30, with everything fixed and a new inspection sticker on the bumper.

Nice new inspection sticker

We were home in time to see the Bills win and Tony Steward win the NASCAR race.  Finished up the DVR recording and still time to relax a little before bed.

Its good to look out and see Our House on Wheels sitting in the driveway.  Hope to get it all winterized this week.

Home Sweet Home

Thanks for Checking In and have a great week.

Last Week of October---Trailing Arm issues resurface

Monday

Well I got up this morning with every intention of cutting grass, but the rain soon put the brakes on that.  I hadn't even finished breakfast by the time it started to rain. So I'm catching up on the some blogs and podcasts and watching a little TV before I head up to court.  (I am using dragon dictation on the iPhone to write this section).


Well it stayed wet all day.  I went out in the back yard to try to catch a picture of how wet it was and things started to move.  I did not see the deer until they moved, they blend into the leaves almost perfectly.  They never did run away guess they are getting used to me.

How many do you see

Two

This one is close

Almost in the center

Thats it for Monday because its past midnight.  Lots of running around tomorrow.

Tuesday

Well since I needed to get out of the house early this morning my internal alarm clock mal functioned and I did not wake until after 8, but my feet were on the floor seconds after I look at the clock.  I got breakfast and dressed and was out the door shortly after 9, with my second cup of coffee in hand.

First stop was the bank where I deposited the courts money.  Then headed across the street to my bank to make another deposit.

Second stop was at the dry cleaners to get my court robe cleaned.

Third stop was at the Dr's office for a routine check up.  Got a text and a phone call before I got out of the truck and took care of some court business.  Dr was happy with my weight loss and said my lab numbers are unbelievably good and my BP 122/70.  Next visit in February for an annual physical.

Fourth stop was at the EA Wireless store to pick up a case for my iPhone, I had a 50% off coupon that the owner had given me last week.

Fifth stop was at the Post Office to mail some certified mail for court.

Headed for Batavia and the NARFE meeting, looks like I will be a little late.  Made it about 10 minutes late everyone has already ordered lunch.  Someone went and found the waitress and I put my order in.  Lunch was good as it usually is.  I was also scheduled to speak today so I was ready to do that.  There was also a second speaker from the office for the aging.  So I deferred to her and she spoke for about 20 minutes on their programs.  My turn.  I had attended a seminar on Medicare back in June and this was the first opportunity I had to report on what I had learned.  It went well.  There were lots of questions and I think I was able to answer them all.  Wow its already 2:30.  Headed home finally.

Sixth stop, home.  Collected the trash, cleaned the cat box, and took it all out to the road.  Turned on computer to catch up on email.  Bonnie soon came home and we got ready to head to WW.  I loaded up a book case into the Honda to take to Alexus.

Seventh stop WW, we both lost some this week, yea a good week.

Eighth stop Subway for $5 foot longs for Elizabeth, Alexus, and us.  Elizabeth usually cooks for us on Tuesdays so once in a while we take something for supper.

Ninth stop, Elizabeth's.  Dropped off the bookcase and we all ate our subs.  I talked to Brian about the MH and need to stop over in the morning with information on the brakes so he can order parts.

Finally home and some time to catch up on reading the blogs I follow and write this post.  Its raining hard enough that I can hear it.

Its been a long day and its half past midnight, goodnight.


Wednesday

Up a little later than normal this morning but out the door a little after 9.  I needed to be over at the shop to look at the MH and see what needed to be done.  They had seen some things they did not like during the inspection.  One that needs taken care of concerns the trailing arms.  The u-bolts that hold the axle on looked funny according to Brian.  Brian had left to look at a bus when I got there but I met his dad Bill and we looked at the brakes, the damaged brake hose, the exhaust and the u-bolts.

Indeed the u-bolts did not look seated properly.  I called Holiday Rambler tech support and they emailed me the specs and directions.  Sure enough the bottom wedge plate is installed backwards and it clearly states how to install them.  $110 bucks an hour labor rate in Knoxville and the technician can not read and follow directions.  Here are a few pictures of the issue.

Interesting to see our coach so high in the air

Hard to see but the wedge shape piece above the bolts should have the wide
part of the wedge toward the front of the MH.  If you zoom in you can see that
the nuts are not flat against the plate and the u-bolt does not touch the top of the axle.
Also the bolts were cut off with a torch, making it tough to get the nuts off.

You can see the gap under the u-bolt better here.

Same problem on the other side

See the white on the edge of the rim the hose was rubbing here and is almost warn through.
So it needs to be replaced.

So I heard late this afternoon that some of the parts came in and Brian hopes to put them on early tomorrow like between midnight and dawn.

Then I headed up to court, they are repairing the walls from when there was a leak.  New studs, insulation, and drywall.

The plastic is keeping things pretty clean.

New Studs

New drywall ready to go up after they insulate

 The next picture will let you know what the town highway crew was doing this afternoon and what is in the forecast for tomorrow night.

Yep putting on the plows

They are putting on the Wing plows also

So by this time tomorrow we will know if we get the first snow of the season.  The iPhone 4s is still working flawlessly and about half of these pictures were taken with it.

Well thats about it for Wednesday

Thanks for Checking In!

Fall has fallen and a new Tool arrives

Thursday

Well almost another 1/2 inch of rain over night.  That puts us at over 5 inches this month.  I just saw the forecast and we are to get more tonight.  It rained off and on today and I did manage to get a wardrobe moved down to the garage.  Its next move is into Elizabeths for her to use.

Moving the wardrobe 

Ready for its ride to the garage

I would have put it in the truck but it would not lad down under the cover.  Then I headed out to get the mail, on the way out the driveway was clear.  Thirty seconds later this sapling had blown down.

Small sapling blew over

So I pulled it out of the ground and dragged it into the woods out of the way.  Before I headed in to warm up I set out the empty propane tank from the grill.  Hopefully they will fill it when they fill the big tank.

Hope its not too rusty

I cleaned up a little on the porch today and now need to go through all the paperwork and stuff that is in the containers.

I did catch the end of game two of the World Series tonight as Texas won.

Thats about it for today, its been a little boring around here lately and the MH is still in the shop.

Friday

It was raining pretty hard when I woke up this morning and so was pretty dark out.  But I got up and got started on things.  I had an email that FedEx was to deliver my new tool today and I needed to sign for it.  So I was housebound until that came.  I did a few loads of wash and some research on the internet to pass the time.  Then along about 2:30pm FedE pulled in and dropped off the new tool.

New "Tool"

It really is

Yep the iPhone 4s.  It is quite impressive.  I had done a backup on my Mac to get ready for it and checked a few things out online.  So when it got here I hooked up to iTunes on my Mac and in about 30 seconds it was ready to go.  I then called #228 at Verizon and the phone part of it was ready to go.

So I headed up to court and caught up on paper work and I did notice the phone did some down loading and updating but it never missed a beat.

Elizabeth and Alexus were here for dinner when I got home, and Bonnie was not feeling good.  Elizabeth had some medicine at her house to help her so I rode in there with her to get that.  We also brought back her computer for some upgrades.

After supper I put Lion on her Mac and set up iCloud so she is all set now and matches my systems.

Look what I missed out on yesterday by not being in Alabama.

Not only the pie

Someone got a nice big piece, looks delicious

But I missed the pie baker

She and her helper did a great job

I am sure this cutie helped also.

Miss them all

Maybe it was big brother who got the big piece of the pie.

Well it after 1am I better hit the hay.

Saturday

Another early dark morning but no rain.  I was up shortly after 7 and had my oatmeal and coffee.  Downloaded a couple apps for the iPhone and headed over to Attica to help winterize a friends Motorhome.

Access door open and we are draining the Hot Water Heater

All went smoothly and it only took about 30 minutes and should be all set for the winter.
I checked in at court and no new work so I headed home.  Bonnie had a Rx that needed picked up in Warsaw so I headed there to get it.  She was full speed ahead washing up all her enamel ware so best I be gone.

Got home and did some more computer work.  Then we watched some TV together had supper and I typed a letter for her.

Now its after 11 and I am heading to bed.  The iPhone has worked flawlessly all day, the WiFi has been connected all day and is down to 11% on the battery, the Droid died in a few hours without the WiFi on.  I think I am going to like this.

Sunday

Still dark again today when we got up 37 degrees, burr....

Breakfast and then off to church.  We had an envelope to drop off at some friends that missed church because their daughters were sick and we had a nice visit with them.

Turned out to be a decent day, Bonnie planted bulbs and moved some plants outside.  I watched the start of the race and rested for a while.  Then I went out and washed both cars, they really needed it.

Bonnie has not felt real good the past couple days and so she went to bed extra early tonight.

I am still researching the iPhone and what it will do and while doing that I found that I could sell my Droid 2 for $64 at Gazelle they are even sending me a box and postage paid labels.  Stay tuned to see how it turns out.

Droid 2 still like new

The case did a good job of protecting it.

I also signed up to try Amazon Prime since I order quite a bit from them.  Free 2 day shipping on most items and its a free 30 day trial.

I think I forgot to mention that I got the check for my motel, car, and food expenses from my July adventure in Knoxville last Tuesday.  Not bad just over 3 months, but at least I got it.

Well thats about it for this week, Thanks for checking in.

A new week, new issues

Monday

I tried to sleep in a little as I had plans for this morning.  I got up a little before 9 and the sun was out.  My plan was to head into East Aurora to Quest labs for routine blood work for a regular checkup next week.  So I got up and got going signed into the lab at 9:04 and was out of there before 10am.

My tradition is to stop at Charlie's diner on lab days and so I did.  I had the #2 special and it was delicious.  They use homemade bread for toast and I had the rye.  Then I stopped at the EAVerizon store to get a look at the new iPhone 4s.  But they did not have one seems everyone is sold out until the end of the month.

So back home and I took down the flag and the flagpole putting them away for the winter months.  Then a little TV and rest.

Time to head to court for the evening.

All went well at court.  I called about the MH today.  They have been looking it over as they have time.  The oil and filters are changed, there is an exhaust pipe cracked, a front caliper that needs flipped, my frozen rear caliper, and a brake hose that is rubbing on a wheel rim.  So all that will get fixed as they have time.  As I said they are a school bus company and this time of the year the buses take priority.  We do not have any more trips planned for this year so no big hurry.  I just need a few hours to winterize it and clean out the food before we put it to bed in storage for the winter.

Boy it felt cold today when I was out, cold and damp.  Had my first hot chocolate of the season.

Time for bed, calling it a day.

Tuesday

Nice and sunny this morning.  I have a couple hours and then off to court for the afternoon.  To bad it would be a good day to pick up leaves.  Then off to WW tonight.

All went well today.  Gained a little at WW so having carrots for a snack tonight.  We had dinner with Elizabeth and Alexus, delicious roast beef and veggies.  It was raining when we left there and is to continue for a couple days.  She also got the word that the septic tank is full and hopefully they will pump it out tomorrow.

We got home and watched a bit of tv and I worked on some bills.

Wednesday

Well it was not a very pleasant day out.  The good news is that the septic got pumped out at Elizabeths and the pipes cleaned, it took two different companies.  So far all is working as it should.

I headed for the bank this morning and then up to Batavia.  First stop was to get gas at Top's saved 50cents a gallon.  Then checked at the Verizon store.  I got to see the iPhone 4s but they will not have any to sell until the end of the month.  Then up to Lowe's they are closing this store, the only one to be closed in New York.  Right now items are 10% off and going to 20% off on Saturday.  I will check back later hopefully I can pick up a deal or two.

Then tonight we headed for a new Honda owners clinic in at Ray Laks Honda where we bought the CR-V.  It was very nice about 100 new owners were there.  We met the owner and all the managers.  They each told a little about their areas and made us feel like they really cared about us as customers.  They had lots to eat and gave away a lot of nice door prices which we did not win.  But everyone did get a free "A Service" which includes an oil change.  No other dealer where we have bought a car has ever done this.

Back home it was a windy drive home and I it is very windy out now here.  Time for a little TV and then some sleep.

Thanks for checking in.

Rainy Weather has set in and now the Wind

Thursday

Well after all the rain yesterday it turned out dry today and a little sun.  I spent the morning in the house at the computer and then went outside after lunch.  The leaves were pretty dry so I picked up 5 loads or about 220 bushel.

Lots of leaves on the side hill

Here is the solution the Cyclone Rake and John Deere

You can see the difference it does a nice job

Came in and cleaned up now waiting for Bonnie as we have an appointment to see our financial advisor this evening.  NWS just issued a High Wind alert for the next couple days along with rain.  There will be lots more leaves soon.

Had a good meeting with Rick and then home for some Sloppy Joe's, and a little TV.  Time to turn in now

Friday

I had a great nights sleep and even slept in a little this morning.  No rain or wind yet.
The rain showed up and by this evening we had almost 6 tenths of an inch.  Now the wind is to start early morning.  It has rained pretty steady all day long and very heavy at times.

I spent most of the morning upgrading my Apple devices to IOS5 and setting up the iCloud.  Then it was off to court for most of the afternoon.  Now Alexus is here as Elizabeth is at her churches woman's retreat.

We had a nice supper and are catching up on TV.

Still raining as I head to bed just before midnight and the wind has picked up, I hear lots of wind chimes outside.

Saturday

The rain and wind are here in full force.  Still pretty dark out at 9am.  I got up and had my coffee and oatmeal.  Then woke up Alexus about 9:30am to see if she wanted to go with me this morning.  She wondered out about 10.  She made a last minute decision to go with me.  I think the idea of food interested her.

We headed up for a quick stop at court and then headed to my SILs so I could get a haircut.  We called Hogans and ordered a couple of their delicious breakfast sandwiches.  Carol was watching her grandson so Alexus had a good time playing with him and they entertained each other for several hours.  I got my hair cut and then headed home with another quick stop at court.

Early evening now and still windy and rain, we have 1.26in in the gauge for the day.  Bonnie had to go into work for a bit and some shopping in Warsaw.

Almost time for bed now, waiting for the race to end.  Rain gauge is now at 1.61" for the day.

Sunday

It was not raining when we got up but it was by the time church was over and it has rained all day.  We got home and started lunch when Elizabeth called and wanted us to come in and help her hook up the washer and dryer and put up shelves.  The bathroom is pretty much done and so she is putting it back together.

Washer and dryer go here

Washer and Dryer in, shelf up, ironing board hung up

Mirror is up and light installed

Well she did a load of wash and water ran out from under the toilet which is across the room from the toilet.  So she called the property manager.  Now the toilet does not drain, oh my.

We finally headed home, relaxing a little so will post this.

Thanks for checking in.

What Now

Monday

My day began early on this holiday with a 12:45am phone call for court.  I was back home by 230am and got to sleep pretty fast.  Go up around 8:15 and started the wash and then made breakfast.  I caught up on blogs and made sure I had the part numbers I will need for the brakes and ABS sensor on the MH.

Then a former coworker came over and we went to the woods to get him some more firewood.

A beautiful day to be in the woods

These were all dead Hickory Trees

Used my Farmi winch to pull the logs out

Plenty more to pull out tomorrow

Here is what we pulled out in just a few hours.

Lots of logs to cut up.

Bonnie called and was stopping to get her hair cut on the way home from work.  That gave me time to get in the house and take a shower.  When she got home she served up a very delicious work roast from the crockpot and her coleslaw.  Then we caught up on a little tv.  I am trying to get to bed earlier tonight so will sign off for now.  It was a great day to be in the woods and I really enjoyed being out there.

Tuesday

Busy day its almost midnight and I almost forgot to update the blog.
Started early before 8 this morning.  Threw in a load of wash, cleaned up the kitchen and did the dishes from the pork roast.

Then made a couple phone calls and headed out.  First to the post office to pick up stamps for court, then up to court.  Got some paperwork done and then headed for the post office and bank in Strykersville for court mail and deposit at the bank.  Finally finished up at court around 2.

Got home changed clothes and headed for the woods.  John has been here most of the day cutting up what we dragged out yesterday.  I pulled out more logs for the next couple hours.  I ran into my neighbor Bob out in the woods and we chatted for a few minutes he was cutting wood also.  I finished up about 4:40 without getting all the wood out of the woods.  If it is not raining in the morning I will get some more out.

After a quick shower and a bite to eat I headed to Batavia for court training.  Finally got home around 9:15.  Caught up on the days email and a little TV and now it is bed time.

Wednesday

Very overcast most of the morning with just enough rain to keep me from picking up leaves.  So I finished up the wash (we emptied all the clothes out of the MH) and worked on paperwork and email.

Then I put all the filters and oil in the MH for the maintenance that needs to be done.  Then about 4 I headed over to Becker's.  They run a local school bus service and repair shop.  They are going to fix the brakes, change the oil and filters, and inspect it.  Then it will be ready to go into storage for the winter.

Here are a couple more pictures from last weekend taken by another member of the club (she gets up earlier than me)

This is Ives Run

Excursion train, hope to ride this next year

This was under water a couple weeks ago during the flood

Early morning fishing event

Well we are catching up on TV tonight and have some meetings tomorrow night.  So I guess I will get this published.

Thanks for checking in.