Independence Day

Thursday

Raining this morning when I woke up.  I went out to check on the wasps and there were still a bunch buzzing around.  Closer observation and I found the nest.  When I pulled the drawer out it must have knocked it down and it was on a shelf with some other things.  In the darkness last night I did not notice it.  I pulled it out onto the ground.

Bigger than I thought

So the nest was about 3 inches across.  It was full of hundreds of eggs and larva.  I have taken care of the nest now for sure.  There are still a couple stray Wasps flying around looking for the nest but hopefully they will find a new home.  Now to figure out how to seal up the cart.

It rained off and on all morning.  My post office app told me I had a package to be delivered and just before noon they delivered it and the mail.  It was the Cradle Point router that I had bought on eBay, it came quickly, finally score one for the post office.  I put the 3 antennas on it and plugged it in.  It also has wireless and it showed up on my list of networks.  It was the secured network that the previous owner used.  So I reset it to factory specs.  Five minutes later it was up and running and connected to my wireless.  This is called WiFi as WAN and allows me to extend not only my home network but also campground and hotel networks.  I am hopeful that this will give me a more usable signal when out on the road.

New MBR-1400

I took the router out to the coach a while ago and it reconnected to the network and is working great out in the coach.  The refrigerator is cooling off nicely should be ready for use in the morning.

Bonnie and Elizabeth have gone off to a home party, something to do with scents I think.  The rain may have cleared out and it is cooling off nicely.  I have another webinar tonight with the www.rvillage.com  Ambassador Program, then it will be time to relax.

Friday

Happy Independence Day! May God Continue to Bless America and Watch Over Those Who Guard Our Freedom!

Looks like it is going to be a Beautiful Day!  I was getting ready to head out and heard the sound of a chainsaw.  Must be Darien is getting some firewood.  I headed out to check on the coach in preparation for our Sunday trip.  I checked on the mouse traps, one was still set the other was missing.  I opened the other door and there was a mouse sitting on the sprung trap eating the peanut butter.  Well that one got away.  I cleaned all the stuff out of the bay, no mouse nest.  I did vacuum up the bits of paper that had been chewed up.  Then I got the crystal lite containers drilled with holes and put the cotton balls in them after I saturated them with peppermint.

Ready to drive the mice away

So after I spread the peppermint cotton balls around I reloaded our stuff in the basement.  Darien and the boys had come back to borrow a broom so we got to visit for a while.

Then I went up and cleaned out the smoker cart and loaded it in the ranger.  I am hoping to be able to block up the big gap under the top.

Shop Smith

 I rolled out the old Shop Smith I have had it since around 1978.  Used it to rip some strips of 1/2" boards.  Then I glued them in the gaps.

See the big gap under the glue line.

All closed up

There is still a little gap above the draw in the front, maybe some weather stripping.  Loaded it and the Grill up in the Ranger and took them back up to the deck.

All set to go with a new regulator

I set the grill up on the cart and gave it a try.  It looks like a lot of the holes in the burners are plugged.
and sections of the burner are not lighting.

The new set up

My Dad left me so many wonderful tools and every time I use them it reminds me of him.  I knew the perfect tool for cleaning the burner was down in the toolbox.  It is a set of Tip Cleaners.  They are like miniature round files and of course it worked perfectly.  While I was doing that Darien came up and asked if I could help him pull down a tree that got hung up as he cut it.  We hooked up the tractor winch and made short work of pulling the tree down and dragging it out of the woods.

Almost 2pm and boy were we hungry.  Bonnie had been cleaning the house while I was outside.  I fired up the Weber Grill and we gave it a good test grilling some sausage and toasting the rolls.  It worked great.

We relaxed the rest of the day, watched the NASCAR qualifying and my plans to load the coach with clothes and food today went out the door.  Its nice and cool tonight we even closed the windows as it in the 50s already.  The big Jam in the Valley is over on the other side of the Hill and we have heard them testing the fireworks off and on all day.  Hank Williams Jr. is the main act tonight.  We will stay home tonight and take it easy.

We have enjoyed our Nations Birthday even though we did not leave our property.

Saturday

Another nice cool morning.  We took our time having breakfast and coffee and checking our email.  Bonnie got ready and left to go shopping with the girls.  I got my clothes together for the trip and took them and some of the food out to the rig.  My new Passport America card had come in the mail and so I scanned it into Evernote.

Lots of 1/2 pricing campsites available through Passport America.  The new registration for the CRV came also.  So I scraped off the old one and stuck on the new one.

I was done outside and came in to watch some tennis, soccer, and Dirty Jobs.  Bonnie was home sooner than I thought she would be with some surprises.  I had mentioned wanting hamburgers and she brought some home to grill.  So I fired up the Weber Grill again and grilled some chicken breast that we will take camping and heat up for a meal.  Then I threw the hamburgers on the grill.  The Weber is performing better than it ever did before.  Bonnie made some coleslaw and boy it was good.

After supper we loaded more food and Bonnie's clothes into the rig.  Then back in to watch some more TV and maybe the race.  The NASCAR race was rained out for tonight, maybe tomorrow.

Well thats about it for me for today.

Sunday

Sunday

Well we were up and ready for church on time.  We picked up the girls and headed to Elma.  Today was Church under the Tent.  We have a big white tent set up next to the church and it was the perfect temperature to be outside.  The sermon was great.  It was about how the Declaration of Independence was a Covenant with God and how we as a Nation are breaking that Covenant.  Very interesting.  You can even Google it and there is a lot of information about it.

We watched a bit of the NASCAR race once we got home but around 1:30 we took more food down to the rig and fired up the big yellow CAT engine, hooked up the CRV and headed almost straight north to Golden Hill State Park for 3 nights.  Lots of people have left now that the 3 day week end is over and we have a sight the overlooks Lake Ontario.  I thought that we would have decent cellular coverage here but the maps lie and I can not get a reliable signal.  Looks like my next purchase before we head to Maine will be a Wilson Sleek Cellular Booster.

It is very nice here Lake Ontario spreads out before us and there is a very brisk breeze so it is quite comfortable.  

The lighthouse is off to our right only about 100 yards so we will visit it sometime during our stay.

I believe there is a small museum in the Fog Horn building.  So I am going to sit out here and read the latest edition of my Escapees Magazine.  I may not get this posted tonight but I will give it a try.

Nice Sunset

Well I did get my text messages to kind of work and I made two calls by not touching the phone and using the speaker-phone while setting outside the coach.  I also met a couple nice folks and we chatted for quite a while.  Got to introduce them to both Escapees and RVillage.com.  Bonnie came out after her nap and we watched the sun set.  The breeze has died down and some rain is expected over night.

Thanks For Checking In!

"Life is not a Race, find Joy in the Journey"