How Much Longer

Thursday

In bed early last night to read, up this morning 8 hours later and its nice and sunny again.  Leaves are starting to cover the ground so I will be setting up the Cyclone Rake again soon.  Catching up on the recorded TV this morning and blogs.  Then I hope to cut a little firewood.  Still letting the driveway dry and later today we can drive on it I hope.

Bonnie headed out with me and we cut up some more of the wood.  We only work on it for about an hour but we are making progress.

My cell phone rang just after noon, it was Jeff at Colton RV the Warranty Company has decided to send over an adjuster again now that the unit is out of the coach.  More delay, looks like we will not get out to camp again next week.

Before

Bonnie did the stacking

After, one more day of cutting to go

Adding another piece to the pile

The to be split pile is growing

I went out to the end of the driveway to bring the CR-V back in to the garage and take down the rope across the end of the driveway.

Freshly sealed yesterday

Hated leaving the dar out by the highway but it worked out

The driveway is now open for business

I worked on paying some bills, and we watched a few shows this afternoon.
Chicken spagetti leftovers for supper tonight, one of my favorites.

Love this meal

Thats abou it for today.

Friday

Up early again waiting on my bride to awake.  Got caught up on email and blogs, now for that second cup of coffee.  I took my second cup and went into my desk and worked on checking the credit card statement, wrote a check for the school taxes, and called State Farm about lowering my insurance.  Bonnie got up while I was doing that.  State Farm told me to check my mileage on the CRV and it turns out that we are under 7500 miles so that should lower our insurance.

After she ate and we had our devotional time we headed out.  First stop was down to Varysburg, I walked over to the Post Office to mail a letter for Bonnie, she went into Salon 20A to pick up an order for Thirty One bags.  Then back to the house, I forgot a check that needed deposited.  I grabbed that and we headed for the bank in Strykersville.  While there we grabbed a snack at the Red Apple and filled up the car with gas @ $3.739 a gallon, down over 10 cents.  Then across to the bank to deposit the check and pay the school taxes.

Our dishwasher has been stopping mid cycle for the last couple of months.  We decided to shop at Logal Appliances to see what kind of deals they had.  When ever possible we try to shop locally.  Keeps the money in the community and its easier to get emergency service when necessary.  So we found a good deal and even better they were at the house 90 minutes later to install it.  Try that that at most of the big box stores.

Logel Appliance truck in the driveway 90 minutes later

Fred unhooks the old machine

All ready for the new one

The new machine resting in the sun

So tonight we have a new dish washer with a nice stainless steel liner and hopefully its quieter than the old one.

Once the guys left we were both tired but we got ready and went out and finished cutting up the logs.

Last day of blocking up the logs

So the logs are all blocked up.  Hopefully tomorrow Elizabeth and Alexus will be out and we can split up these blocks and get them covered up and let them dry for a year.  Also now the logs are out of the way to get at this years wood.

I received my daily call from Colton RV as we got back in the house and the adjuster was there again today, now we are hoping to get approval on Monday.  Time to relax a little and enjoy the evening, I had my shower and Bonnie made some good chicken sandwiches with pickles for supper.  I think I have room for ice cream a little later.  We did notice today how quickly the leaves are changing and they are quite beautiful.

Saturday

I got up had breakfast, read email, and was out the door before Bonnie got up this morning.  First stop was at court to catch up on a little paperwork.  Then over to my SILs for a haircut and a little visit.  Grand nephew Jackson was there and I had a nice chat with him.  Then my MIL and FIL came and he took my place in the barber chair.  I headed back home.

The plan for today was to split up all the wood Bonnie and I had blocked up.  Elizabeth and Alexus were to come an help between 1 and 2.  I went out and got started.

Set up and ready to split

After about an hour they showed up and that kicked things into high gear.  I split Elizabeth stacked and Alexus cleaned up the bark and pieces.  I gave her a little instruction on the tractor and then let her solo on the rest of the trips to the brush pile.

Solo driver making trips to the brush pile

Todays pile

 We finished around 3:30 I am hoping we are done splitting wood for this year.  Elizabeth heated me up a piece of her new homemade pizza from last night.  It was good and now we are deciding if we want to go into Mayer Brothers Cider Mill.

So I talked everyone into going out to dinner.  We eat at Pages it was ok.  I had beef on week, Bonnie had Pittsburgh Salad, Elizabeth had wings, and Alexus had a hamburger.  Then we went to Mayer Brothers and had cider donuts, Bonnie got some apples and we all had an Apple Cider Slushy.

Great way to top off a busy day

After a quick stop at Kohl's Elizabeth drove us home, I forgot to mention that she got a 2011 KIA Sorrento.  It rides nice and seems like a very nice car.

Finally home time for some pain pills and a good nights sleep.

Sunday

Up this morning and off to church.  We did stop and pick up Alexus as Elizabeth went early for the nursery and Alexus was not ready.  We had a good service with Pastor Todd.  Pastor Pat has been in India with several others from Church, they have started their journey home.

We made a stop at the bank to deposit some checks and then headed home for some leftovers.  The leaves are really changing fast, the driveway is almost covered with leaves, good thing they sealed it last week.

Bonnie is taking a nap and I am watching the Bills and the NASCAR race from Dover.  The Bills are ahead at halftime.  The camping group had great weather for the campout and most are headed home now, some will continue to head South and follow the non-freezing weather.

The Door Bell rang and it was Bonnie's parents stopping in from their day at Apple-Umpkin a local annual craft fair.  We had a nice visit and they stayed for a couple hours.

Hoping to get good news on the coach this next week.  Well that's about it for this week Thanks For Checking In.

Still Waiting!

Monday

I was up before 8:30 this morning and had breakfast.  Then went to work on the Pork Loin.  I opened it up and used to forks to pull it apart.

After the night in the oven

 It pulled apart easily.

Looking forward to dinner

Two nice containers

So after about 24 hours we have about 5lbs of Pulled Pork I started with just over 7lbs.

Bonnie was not feeling well and slept in till noon.  This girls are coming for dinner so hope she is up to that.  I got a call from Wholesale Warranties and they are also going to get involved with my claim.

We got an alert from Verizon last night, Elizabeth called this morning and someone hacked my part of the account and tried to order a new iPhone.  So I had my account locked until I could come up with a new stronger password.

We took it easy for a little while and then I went out to jump on John Deere and cut the back section of grass and the grass along the driveway and out by the road.  The leaves are starting to fall and by the end of October they will mostly all be down.  I finished the grass and then jumped on the tractor and used the front end loader to move some of the logs that are past their prime.  They went to the big brush and compost pile.  I put the equipment away and headed for the rain locker.

I got stuck trying to cut to close to the edge today

I got my daily call from Jeff at Colton and the Hydro Hot is out of the coach and they will be sending pictures to the Warranty Company tomorrow.

The girls came and we all enjoyed some to the pulled pork, baked sweet potatoes and some vegetables. We spent the rest of the evening relaxing and watching some of the new season TV shows.

Tuesday

Woke up to a beautiful sunny morning.  I laid down in bed early last night to start reading Nick Russell's new kindle book "Dog Run".  Looks like it will be a good read.  I have read his other fictional books in the Big Lake series and enjoyed them.

I watched a little TV this morning and then headed out to cut a little wood.  I did not cut long as the saw needed sharpening.  I did move some logs to get them ready to cut next time.  Then headed in to get a shower.

Ready to be split

Will cut this next time

Nice surprise after I took out the trash and got back in the house.  Bonnie is making Chicken Spagetti for dinner, one of my favorites a recipe from Sharlene in Virginia.  Almost 4pm where does the day go.

Got my daily call from Jeff today and the pictures have been sent, just waiting now for the work from the warranty company.

Wednesday

Up at 6 this morning still dark out way to early.  I am headed to Buffalo City Mission to volunteer today.  Bonnie is still not 100% so she is staying home.  John Good called last night and is coming with his crew today to seal the blacktop driveway.  So I will leave my car at Elizabeths since we can not drive on it for a day or two.

I had a good day at the mission, worked on purging old data off of spreadsheet data bases.  Still lots of work to do there so hopefully I will be back there next week to continue.  I talked to Bonnie at lunch time and the guys had already finished sealing the driveway.  The day went quickly as I was busy all day.  Once we were back at Elizabeths I decided to go ahead and take the car home.  I was able to get it  back off the road and alongside the driveway.  Tomorrow afternoon we should be able to drive in the driveway.

Heard on the news today that stamps are going to $.49, I think the USPS is doomed unless they make some big changes.  Today I was expecting a delivery from UPS and maybe a pickup.  I figured they would bypass us since the driveway is blocked off from the sealing job.  So I settled in after eating supper.  To my surprise the doorbell rang and it was the UPS man.  He had walked all the way back alongside the driveway with our package and picked up the return package we had sent.  Now thats good service and why UPS makes money.

Jeff from Colton called and my claim has been forwarded to a supervisor for review, yes we are still waiting for the approval.  Hope to hear something tomorrow.  Our friends are now down at Ives Run Campground which is where we should be.  Maybe we can get out next week.

Well thats all for now.  Thanks For Checking In!

Playing the Waiting Game

Thursday

Woke up to a beautiful morning again nice and sunny.  I had a leisurely morning as did Bonnie.  I did reset my iPhone to get the facetime and messages app working properly.  I hit the wrong button during the process and lost all my data.  So it took me a while to reload all the apps and set them up.  Here is a screen shot of the new look icons.

New look of the iPhone

I guess the new look has to grow on you.  Lots of new features and gestures to learn.

Then I got dressed and went out and jumped on John Deere to cut the grass, Bonnie did some wash and unpacked her suitcases.  I finished up about 4 after I ran down into town and filled up the gas cans.  I also put out some mouse poison in the shed to try to keep them at bay.

I came in to relax a little and then had supper.  I got my call from Jeff letting me know that they hope to work on the coach tomorrow.  I am still hoping we will get the coach back in time that we can get in another trip before the campgrounds all close for the season.  Then I headed to church, since I was home I figured I could help at the worship practice.  I got everything turned on and loaded up the songs.  I even made a pot of coffee.  Finally got home around 10:30.  Now at 12:30 I am headed to bed.

Friday

Warm and humid when I got up this morning,turned into hot and humid as the day progressed.  We unpacked all the new cookware and Bonnie packed up the old pots and pans.  I went up to court for a couple hours to catch up on paper work and then came home and washed all the new cookware.

Just getting off the oil used in manufacturing  

Pots everywhere

Finally finished

Then it was time to head to Elizabeth's she had two projects for me.

First was to program her new car so the homelink would open the garage door

Second was to assemble this wood rack, now she needs to fill it.

Bonnie had taken her sister to the Dr and shopping and finally made it to Elizabeth's around 7:30.  We headed home soon after that and relaxed a bit.  Now its time to head to bed.

Jeff called to let me know they were working on the coach this afternoon and hoped to get the unit out and take pictures to send to the warranty company.  I finally had to cancel our camping reservations for next Wednesday as there is no way the coach will be ready by then.

Saturday

Very dark this morning when I woke up hard to believe it was 8:30.  I got up and got going.  Bonnie also got up and got going.  She was going shopping with the girls.  I had plans to get the CR-V inspected and then to finish up working at court.  It began to rain and soon it was pouring down.

I headed up to Becker's garage and the car passed inspection without a problem.  Then off to court.  Finally home, in the early afternoon and it was still raining.  Bonnie got home after 4 and it was still raining.

I sent an email to Wholesale Warranties today letting them know that I thought the warranty company kept raising the bar every time Colton RV provided them with more information they have been asking for more.  I was surprised since it is Saturday to get an email from Jeff Shelton the owner.  He said they would get involved on Monday and find out what was going on with my repair.  Thats pretty good customer service.

Not much else to write about today.

Sunday

When I woke up this morning I realized I should have prepared the Pork Loin last night to go into the smoker this morning.  So I got going and made coffee and got the loin cut into three pieces and added the mustard and rub.  The mustard helps the rub stick.

We really like the Pappy's and Weber's

Rub applied

After the rub was put on I wrapped them in plastic wrap and then into the refrigerator for a few hours.  Then I ate my oatmeal and then jumped into the shower.  We were a bit late leaving for church, Bonnie was waiting in the car when I got out of the shower.  We picked up the girls on the way and still made it in plenty of time, like 10 minutes to spare.

Our Pastor and 9 others from church are in India for 10 days and Pastor Todd filled in today and did a great job, it takes a good sermon to hold my attention.  We stopped for fresh eggs on the way home and a paper for Bonnie.  But there were no coupons in it, looks like they missed the inserts.

Once we got home I set up the smoker and turned it on.  The Pork Loins are on the Smoke.

After 4 hours

 I smoke them for 4 hours and then 4 more hours in the smoker.  Then around 9 tonight I will take them out of the smoker and wrap them in foil.  Then into the oven to over night at about 210 or 220.  Then once they cool in the morning we will pull it apart.

I posted a picture of the pork on Facebook and got several comments.  One was from my niece which turned into an invite for supper and some help with her computer.  She is about to graduate from LPN school and needed her computer to work to take some practice tests for her boards.  So she came over and we got the computer to work and Bonnie made some chicken in the new cookware.  Which I washed later on and it did clean up easily.

She needs to visit more with that smile

We had a nice visit and watched the NASCAR race and some of the Bills game.

Well thats about it for this week.  Hopefully we will get good news on the coach repair this week.

Thanks For Checking In!

Family Time

Monday

Woke up to a wet rainy morning today.  Molly actually woke me when she was barking at the workmen at the neighbors.  When I cam down stairs she was curled up in Joe's chair napping.

Not sure what we will do today, not much and I am ok with that, today is the first day in a week that we have no plans.  I do hope to get an update on the coach repair.  I think the best thing a repair facility can do is to keep the customer updated on whats going on.  I know that takes time and effort.  But in our case we have plans and reservations for the the rest of the month so we have to make decisions on canceling or keeping reservations.  So to do that we need information.  The phone rang awhile ago I was hoping it was an update but it was a doctors office reminding me about an appointment, but it was for people I had never heard of, yep wrong number.

We took it easy most of the day.  We did go over to the Giant Supermarket and I walked around in the Sears Hardware store while the women shopped.  We did see Andrea and Ellie in the parking lot.  Then it was back home and I guess I dozed off a bit.

Sharon memorialized my nap

We all read our emails and blogs and just took it easy.  It rained all morning but was nice this afternoon.  My niece and her two children came for supper and Sharon made stuffed shells, meatballs, and bread pudding for supper.  We had a good time with the kids and enjoyed watching them play.

Dan does a good job on his fire engine

Maggie and I played with some plastic blocks, she is good at both dumping them out and picking them up.  Supper time!

Maggie enjoyed her shells and actually ate more than ended up on her face

Dan did a good job cleaning his plate and was hoping for cake.  He did enjoy the whipped cream on his pudding

The kids left shortly after supper as they get to bed early and have to get up early in the morning.  My daughter called.  She bought a 2011 Kia Sorrento and was excited about that.  We are hoping to see pictures of it soon.  We talked about playing a game tonight but two of the group just wanted to relax.  Now its time for a little ice cream and then off to bed soon.  The bed here is very comfortable and we are sleeping good.

She looks innocent enough but watch out

Coach update, the adjuster did not show up today so we are still in limbo.

Tuesday

Woke up this morning to a beautiful day.  We had our breakfast and decided to try to visit a few factory tours.  We headed west to near Lancaster County and visited George's Woodcraft in Marietta, PA.  They showed us samples of their work in the showroom and then took us up to the wood shop to see how it is done.

Into the Wood Shop

Looking at the raw materials

 They stock Cherry, Red Oak, Black Walnut, and Hard Maple

This is one of 10 chair seats one of the craftsmen was working on

 Each piece of furniture is built by one of the 4 or 5 craftsmen.  They have about a 2 month backlog now.

The chairman is working on the spindles

History of the company on this story board

 Unfortunately George died a couple years ago at the age of 67.  His daughter now runs the company.
The grounds around the barn (factory) are beautiful

A natural spring supplies the water for this pond with falls, and a fountain

Rocker George designed that allows you to lean back and not tip over

Mother Goose had 4 of these cygnets

Then we headed for Columbia to look at a glass factory.

Susquehanna Glass

We missed the last tour of the day but did get to look around the factory store
Next stop was Lititz, PA.

First stop in Lititz

 We missed the tour here also and did not want to wait for the next one.

She was making parts for chocolate dolls and enjoyed visiting

 Just around the corner was a pretzel bakery.  We each got one as a snack and they were good.

Last stop of the day

Then we beat feet for home as it was almost time for the work traffic to start, people here drive bad enough let alone getting into rush hour traffic.  We decided on pizza for supper and Sharon called when we got close to the house.  We are leaving in the morning so I filled up with gas at $3.51 a gallon, a lot better than at home.

The pizza was good and we had a little bread pudding for dessert.  Well its been a good visit here and the time to head home has come quickly.

The adjuster looked at the coach today and filed his report.  Now they want the unit taken out of the coach and opened up to take more pictures before they can authorize replacement or repair.  So hopefully that will happen tomorrow.

Wednesday

Well we were up early this morning.  My sister and BIL had already left for work.  Molly greeted me when I got downstairs and then laid back down.  I had some coffee and cereal while Bonnie got ready. Then I showered and packed while she ate.  We were on the road by 9am.  We had an good drive and the weather was nice all the way, in fact the sun shinning in the windows was hot at times.  We were home and had the car unloaded before 4pm.  We stopped for lunch once and fuel once.  We put on a little over 1000 miles on the trip.  We also were able to stop at the Post Office and pick up our mail.  We had one package there and another one from UPS was at the basement door.

I got unpacked and Bonnie relaxed a bit before she headed off to a meeting for Thirty One.  I watched a little TV and updated my iPhone and iPad with IOS 7.  The iPad seems fine but the phone has an issue with messages and facetime.  They say it is because the servers are so busy.

Jeff at Colton has been calling me everyday and today he let me know that they did not remove the unit yet.  There are only a couple techs up to the task and he is hopeful they can get it out tomorrow.  Then we will still have to wait on the Warranty Company.  Then the new one has to be ordered and shipped from Alabama.  So it is looking doubtful that we will be able to make our camping trip next week.  I will wait a couple days before I cancel our reservations just to be sure.

Well thats it for today.  Thanks For Checking In.