Q tip plumber!

I am a Q-Tip plumber!

Yeppers. I am. Really.

In the RV, I use Q-Tips to clean out the sink drain in the sinks. Even with the traps, catcher things, whatever you want to call them, stuff still manages to gather around the drain in the sink. So I often clean that out with Q-tips. My tub, I have a hair catcher that does a nice job. I've never had to clear the drain in the RV's tub. However, in my friend's house, there is nothing that really catches the hair. I have long hair. Their daughter has long hair. So from time to time, the tub drain clogs. Since I was a dog groomer in my previous life (& still appear to be one), I have a couple sets of hemostats that I clear the tub drain out with. But today, I did not have them handy. I wanted to clear the drain, so I grabbed the Q-tips. I quickly discovered that if you stick it partly down the drain, then twist the Q-tip, it grabs hair quite well! In fact, really well! So cool! But I opted not to take pics of that. No one really needs to see that. Yukems.

So I'll show ya'll a pretty apple bloom instead! My friends planted a couple of apple trees & a couple of pear trees 4 days after my surgery in November. Today, I noticed an apple bloom - they are really pretty blooms. So of course, I had to take pictures! Well they meaning that those blooms are pretty, but in this case, there's only this one cluster of blooms. & one bee.

Charlie Brown Apple Tree

*************************************************

Update on my recovery.

Looks like I'll be in therapy through the month of March. I'm not using or walking on the right foot correctly, so we're going for more aggressive therapy now. I just want to be done with all this now. So I hope it'll all be over by the end of March & I can March right on outta here! Well, drive actually...with Ellie. & my critters. Ellie Mae & her critters ;-)

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Where's Sara?

???Where's Sara???

Nope, that's only a part of Sara..

Where is Sara?

Oh, here she is! Hiding in a corner. You can't touch me says she! (especially if I don't look at you. If you can't see my face head on, you can't see me...)

Oh man, I looked at you, now you can see me!!!

I think I look fine. Just let me sport this punk look - otay? I am giving you my best "stink eye"...sneer, go away.

Whew, she finally finished abusing me! Clippers, scissors, combs, brushes! It's not a dogs life, it's a human thang. ...but please don't tell her, I do look rather adorable.

Here is what I looked like before. I don't know why she uses crappy cell phone shots. But the before is a crappy cell phone shot. Dolly thought maybe she could hide me. She should have put her pink coat on me to hide me. Then I would have been able to stay as a shaggy looking sheepdog type of puppy  instead of a cute...well...ok...cute huh?

Then after grooming me, she made this! Yummy! Potato soup! YUM! Hey, wait, she gave me DOG FOOD for dinner! What's wrong with this picture. Wow, my workcamper sucks. I'm going to give her computer back to her now....so long & arf - Sara

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

(& share your soup with them! --Sara)

Overhead fini!

The overhead cab rebuild is finished!! YAY! It looks good too. I'll share a bunch of photos on this page. Sorry if it takes too long to load, but this is also to document the before & after situation of the damages.
It's amazing how QUICKLY these things deterioriate when they get wet - well, especially when they get SOAKED! RV's are not meant to go underwater....

Before I share the photos, Felton's RV Service did right by me. They did a good job, no more mildew or mold to contend with now! They also wanted to do a new roof, but I did not feel an entire new roof was necessary. Had it been though, they did offer me a great price for the entire project, but I asked to just keep it to the overhead cab area. Then Mitch said he'd power wash the roof, prep it & put a new coat of dicor rubber roof sealant down. I told him not to bother. I can do that myself. After all, I did it last year. It's not that difficult to do & I need to keep the expenses down. I can't believe that it only took them 5 days! They still have to put the awning back up & a few other small details. We agreed that Ellie can stay there till next Thursday as I have a week full of doc appointments & therapy anyhow. And I want a quote on a possible exhaust leak (no silly, not for them to make one, to repair one!), a tune up & new shocks. Ellie got new shoes in Dec of 2010, but she badly needs new shocks. Too bad we can't do that for ourselves as well huh? Replace our body parts as they wear out. Today, I want a new lower back ;-)   Ouch. 

Felton's RV service url is once again:  www.feltonsrvservice.com  They are located in Houston & are very, actually, extremely fair about their prices! Plus he has a good crew of guys working for him right now, which makes a big difference.

So now, onto the photos:

From the damage to:

First step in covering damages, to:

Second step in more effective leak protection, to:

New fiberglass covering & newly rebuilt wall. The only thing I would have wanted differently is for the seam to have met along side the window in the corner instead of along the window. However, we did not discuss exactly where it would be. I blame myself for that overlook, but all in all, the work is well done. And well, it IS better than looking at the scary bare wood huh? Ellie must never show her bloomers to the public again -- nor to me!!

Drivers side sealed back down with a new wall under it as well.

I guess I did not take a photo of the front, but it too has a new wall built under it & all is sealed down there too.

Now for the interior photos:

When I first discovered the big fat nasty leak!

Here, if you look hard enough, you can see the split wallpaper beside the window,

and the warped deck damages. If  had torn back the wallpaper from the decking, you would see nothing but rotted wood.

The passenger side, you can really see the damages. Imagine the mildew that was developing under all that. It was nasty. I resorted to putting odor control pellets, an odor absorbing unit & sealed it all off with plastic as I still had to sleep in my RV at night (on the sofa of course). Along with all that, I also used an electric air purifier with a carbon filter in it.

View of the deterioration of the decking looking from the front.

New! New! New! New! New! And YAY!

Click on photos for larger images.

So am I happy -- YES!!!

Am I glad I had this done -- YES!!

Some folks thought I should have just sold Ellie as is & moved onto another rig. But in doing so, it would have cost me sooo much more in trying to find a newer bigger rig right now. So I opted to have mine repaired. She was bought outright in 2006, no loans, no money owed. It's nice to own it outright. I want my next rig to be owned outright as well. So in the meantime, once I get back to work (shudder), I will save money towards a bigger rig. I'll sell Ellie when the time comes & use that money towards another rig in the future. For now, I need my little home on wheels. My WheelEstate :-)

So hopefully, the other things I want done on Ellie will be affordable. The she can be road ready & by the time I'm done with doctors & therapy, I can be on the road to happiness!!

The money I saved from Felton's RV service's fee of the rebuild will allow me to hopefully get the other things tended to. I still can't believe I was quoted 12k for this job from PPL. Insane!

Have a great day everyone & thanks for your support over these past few months. It truly has meant a lot to me! :-) 

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Stuff & stuffed

I'm stuffed. Made & ate waaaaaaaay too much spaghetti tonight! Blop! That's how I feel. Like a big ole blop!
RV is still in the shop of course, I'm still RVless, I miss being in there! My allergies are taking hold of me big time right now. Looks like someone punched me in my right eye. I'm not so sure that someone didn't sneak in the bedroom last night & do just that to me! Then two other red dots appeared on my face, neck & chest. Loverly. I'm now a science project.


I so want to get back into doing this - showing my dogs again! This is Feather at the nationals in 2004. She was just a widdle kid back then. BUT then she went back in 2006 & WON the nationals!! That was a huge defeat for us! It's one of the things that dog show folks want in their careers, to win their breed's national! And my Feather did just that :-)   Then I took her to the Westminster Kennel Club dog show at Madison Square Garden in 2007. We had fun doing that as well. It makes for nice memories. We didn't win there, but it was still fun.

  
Feather is now 10 years old & retired. I need to get her daughter, Birdie, back out into the ring & try for her Championship. But in the meantime, she can just mature more & maybe mentally too ;-)  Birdie does have some points, I just need to be able to get her back out & show her more.

Birdie at the bay.

Soooo, I set my therapy appointments for next week. They said I only had 3 sessions left! Oh yipee. Oh Joy! Oh, I'll be done with this very soon!!! Well not so fast Cowgirl....the head therapist caught me aside & told me I was going to move onto the next step into more rigorous exercise!

Oh bummer!

And exercise?

More?

Me?

Oh poo!!

I had plans on leaving here in about 6 weeks to head on up to Pa...oh well, it'll probably be too cold up thar still anyhow.

But again, bummer!

I have no idea how long the next step will be.

So while Ellie is at the RV hospital, I snuck out behind her back & looked at an RV today. Actually, it's one of the ones I'd like my next rig to be...when I hit the pot of gold.

Or a lost wallet.

Or some rich unknown relative hands me down some dough.

Yea right.

There are two rigs I'd consider. I like the Coachmen Ramp & Camp. Saw this on ebay. What a cool rig! The back room could be my doggie room!

And I really like the Jayco Designer. They don't make this model anymore, it's now the Jayco Greyhawk. I did see a Greyhawk with the same floorplan as the Designer, so I'm glad they still make it. But the price diff is pretty big. But then, the GreyHawk is newer than the Designer is.

Another borrowed ebay photo. What I like about the Designer is the basement storage & the big walk thru bathroom! And the light. It has plenty of fresh sunlight that filters through. I really like this rig!

Here's two photos of the bathroom:

(taken by me today, but I was too dumb to take exterior shots - duh)

Isn't this a great bathroom!

Incidentially, I thought I just lost this post! EEKs, the batteries died in my wireless mouse, I was fixing it & my blog dissapeared! Yikes. Glad blogger saved it! Cause I would not want to type all this all over again!

soooo,

If anyone finds a wallet

If wallet has money in it

It's mine

Really

;-)

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Defrosting the igloo & tarp curtains

Hi everyone, hope all is well today.

My RV, Ellie, is now in the shop for repairs! I wish it would never have happened, but it's being addressed now as I type. The entire day of yesterday was spent on prepping the RV, taking essential items out of the RV, overthinking & taking more out of the RV. I swear, I thought it would only take a couple of hours, but I lost my energy after the first couple of hours, so it all went slowly from that point on. So as I type this, I'm surrounded by my stuff! Too much stuff from the looks of it...but then, one container holds my pantry food items, one container holds some of the loose stuff that I tossed into there to go through while I wait for Ellie to return, a pile of clothes, toiletries, etc...And I decided to bring the African Violets in after all. I didn't want to miss the bloomies!
Felton's RV service also looked like they had gotten several more rigs in for this & that. So I'm sure they'll be pretty busy there.
After I got what I needed out of Ellie, I then got the tension bar that I used to use in my van & stretched it from the cabinets. I also kept the old shower curtain rings, so they finally came in handy. I popped them onto the tarps & connected them to the tension rod. So now the back of the RV will stay fairly clean...maybe. And I also took another tarp & covered my sofa with it. The plastic that was covering my overhead cab area, I took down & left it in there so they could use it to cover the seats up front & the dash.

Like my new furniture covers? Furturistic maybe? No?

I just realized I'm sitting in this really huge bedroom, all stuffed into the smallest corner of it I could find. I guess I like small spaces ;-) I'm kind of like a turtle without it's shell. I don't know how to act!

So one of the chores yesterday was to also empty out the RV fridge. I really thought that was going to be some insanely huge chore, for whatever reason. But of course, it wasn't. But maybe I thought that because I had just finished cleaning out one of my friend's big fridges in her house. Yes, they have two big fridges. I have on tiny fridge compared to theirs. But that's all I need anyhow. So I have this plastic carry container that I keep in my microwave to use for storage. In that container, I keep popcorn, chips, chip clips, hot chocolate packets & a few small items like that. I emptied the items into a container & used that for my fridge items. I fill it up, that's all I had to use. Tossed out an expired bottle of ketchup & mustard. Well the mustard, I could not tell the date on it, so since it's such an inexpensive product anyhow, in the trash it went. Then cleaned out the freezer, didn't have much there either. One frozen food item & frozen dog bones. No, not for me!! My doggies! Then I shut down the fridgemeister. Um, my freezer must have had an eskimo living in it. I saw an igloo. Really. So I attacked the igloo with a heater that I borrowed from my friend. But the heater had a shut off button on the bottom! So then, I had to find something to prop under that to keep the button pushed in. Found a box of baking soda (which is now residing inside the fridge) & two boxes of playing cards that were contained in hard plastic cases. Then I had to hold my breath, check my pulse, (no sneezing!), to stabilize the heater on top of the boxes hanging the top with a bungie at the same time. Presto, success! I walk away, it all falls down...grrr. So once again, I follow the same steps, this time it stays! Yay, it melts the igloo. I kept checking it in total fascination over the melting ice (I need a life huh?).  Oh & I also bought a shammy to place on the freezer floor to collect igloo debris. It worked quite well. Then at one bright light moment, it dawned on me to just pull the igloo off because it was all falling apart anyhow. Duh. So I did. Then I sat it in the sink so it could freeze the sink.

OK, so now WAKE UP! Because I see your eyes falling asleep over this boring post! So here's the boring pics to go with the boring postey. (& you didn't know I could see you did you? Please go put something on that is more presentable--Really!)

The heater doing it's balancing act. Oh & it got used at the very lowest setting!

Look at that back wall, I TOLD YOU there was an igloo in there!!

Shammy WOW!

Igloo debris melting all over the shammy wow.

Back wall of the igloo!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Odor Control & preparing the RV for service

Hi, hope all is well with everyone today.

Since I had the overhead damages, I bought plastic to seal the area down with till the RV goes in for repairs. This is an effort to cut down on odor smells & hopefully, cut down on any mold issues as well. I got my electric air purifier out of the cabinet, which uses a carbon filter to help clear molds out of the air. I got odor absorbing pellets & put a Dri-Z-Air unit in the over head area sealed under the plastic to aid in the war of the overhead cab area. They are my temporary soldiers ;-)

My curtains look green here. They aren't, it's just the lighting. However, I've listed them to come down too so they don't get damaged!

Dri-Z-Air is a product developed to take moisture out of the air. You put Dri-Z-Air pellets in the container & they will dissolve into liquid, which the container holds in the bowl portion of the unit. You throw that away, but not down the sink. I dispose of the liquid outside on the grass. It will damage metals, but I also place the unit inside of a bowl as a precaution of it not spilling outside of it's own little bowl.

The odor elimator pellets should last years! I just took them off the overhead cab area & put them out in the sun so they can rejuvinate. I think you're supposed to do that every six months, but I thought it best to do it today so the sun can destroy any mold thingys (spores I guess?). I think I'll place that in the back part of the RV during the repairs as well since the RV will be closed up when they aren't working on it.

This is a smaller version of odor absorbing crystals that are meant for the fridge. So they are out in the sun right now too. Sun? YES SUN!!! We gots sun today! yay! But I did think that maybe the world was simply coming to an end when I saw a bright light in the sky. Truly. We've not seen that bright light in days. Or maybe I was heading for the heavens & just didn't realize it?? Ok, back to reality.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I had prepared the RV for temporary usage, now I have to prepare it for the repairs. And take items out that are needed for daily use. Also remove important items that I should not leave inside Ellie during the time of reconstruction of the overhead cab. I started making a list on paper. This way, although I plan on trying to keep pretty much everything together in the same spot (cept fridge items -- because they could get gross in a box beside my other stuff..they could grow legs & arms & attack other things. really.It can happen. It might happen in your dreams tonight), I can check the list when things have to return to Ellie when she returns to her space in the driveway.

I will call Felton's RV service tomorrow to see if I can take Ellie over there on Tuesday morning to drop off for the start of the repairs. I hope I won't be without her too long! Another thing that I was impressed with was, since I told them that I live in my RV, their first question was, how will you get around? Do you have another vehicle to drive? I said yes & they actually looked relieved that I'd be ok! Wow. I wasn't going to get that kind of concern with the other folks, I was impressed. They were also concerned where I'd live in the meantime, but I told them that I had planned on staying in my friend's house.

Another friend of mine suggested that I seal the back part of the RV up with a plastic sheet. Great Idea!! That way, that part can remain somewhat clean from debris & such from the rebuild. So I'll need to see if I can get a tension bar long enough to stretch from the walls & hang a sheet of plastic over that. GREAT IDEA! Otherwise, if I can't find a tension bar that long, I can probably use the wall puddy stuff that's removable. I bought extra when I did my cute kitchen plaques.

I debated whether to take my plants out or not. But I think I'll just put them in the kitchen sink & leave them in the RV. They should be ok for 10 days. The African Violets are in violet containers that hold water & the other is a succulent, so doesn't need much water. One of the violets is starting to bloom. Bummer, it'll be in it's stages of blooming while gone, but they usually last for quite awhile before the little flowers die off.

See the new little bloomies? Cool!

Ok, I've yammered on long enough. I must get busy. Have a great day everyone!

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

I am over my head..er uh, overhead

Hi everyone, hope all is well with ya'll. It's been a few days since I've posted. Have been very busy.

I finally have some GOOD NEWS!! I have found & chosen the place to fix my RV - YAY! And at a good decent price, not a scalpers cost. A price I can afford & whew! Complete overhead rebuild - $3,200.  Much better than the other estimates I've gotten. OK, so now I'm going to blow the horn on PPL. They were the ones that rudely told me that it would be 10-12K to rebuild my overhead cab! I was shocked over that & even more shocked over the attitude that was tossed my way. I tried to complain, but was there at a bad time as all the important people to complain to were out to lunch. However, this was not my bad first negative experience with PPL, so I am now done with them. They sent me to the wrong person last year when I wanted to buy another rig, so I lost the opportunity to buy it. One of the associates made me feel bad that I live in a motorhome. Then there was the time I parked in the handicapped section (it was shortly after my surgery & I have a placard on the window's rear view mirror). They hunted me down & made me move while I was hobbling around the parking lot! They apologized, but I still felt they were wrong with their actions. They did damages to my rig when I had it in for a fridge install. ( I need to mention that Joy in the service dept came through with flying colors, & made things right for me during that time - she was great) However, with the other things I've mentioned, I will from now on, take my business elsewhere. So onto the good news & the place I found. It's Felton's RV service  http://www.feltonsrvservice.com/  They have been around for 25 years. I am soooo glad to have found them! I think I saw a link to them on the internet on someone's RV blog & followed it, which led me to them. They said they could have my rig done in 5 days, but asked for 10. I allowed them 10 as I feel it won't be rushed through that way since they did ask for the extra time. It's not there yet, I'll get Ellie there next week when the weather clears back up. I told them I didn't want to drown while I was driving her ;-)  And I met & spoke with the guy that is going to be doing the actual work. I find that impressive as well since so often, the repairs are done without one knowing the parties, & never really get to meet them.

I can't wait to get my bedroom back!! I found these pics. I know most people use the little RV ladders they get with their C's, but I don't have one. I went to buy one when I got my RV, but I didn't really like them. I was afraid they looked too unstable for me. So I bought a step ladder instead & it's so very valuable! When I'm not using it to climb into bed with, I can use it outside for a few things as well. Like the time my awning saver jammed, so I needed to climb up the ladder to unassemble it as my awning also was jammed too.

Here are some pics of the ladder & how it fits well into my RV. Click on each image to make them bigger for better viewing if needed.

From this picture, you can see the view coming down the ladder. I never would try it going forward - ladders are not meant for that anyhow. But you can see how the footing is great on this!

Cept there have been times where I miscounted steps & thought I was at floor level, only to find a foot stomp while it hit the ground! But that's another story huh?

And here is a pic of Ellie in the snow! Once in a very rare while, we get snow in Southeast Texas! (oh, this isn't new snow, it's an old photo)

And what is snow without a snowman?

My cute little snowman that I built on top of my mailbox  ;-)

It was funny, the breeze would catch his arms & he'd wave at the drivers passing by. He even made Fox26 news! heehee

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~

Sleet & shred!

Hello all, hope all is well with everyone today.

We had Sleet today! Yes, sleet. Yes, really. Yes, sleet. A rare occasion here in Southeast Texas!
And it was cold today. Ok, so I can see some of ya'll sneering at me. Stop it. It was cold for us here in Southeast Texas, so there! And well, I was wrong, but I already did a video & I was wrong. It's not in the freezing temps tonight like I thought it would be. But I will not be complaining about that. So you're surprised huh? No? I didn't think so ;-) It's actually 2 degrees warmer tonight than it was today. Today was 42, tonight, 44. Break out the burmuda's baby! Bermudas? Ah well, you know what I'm saying. But my electric heater is churning on HIGH! Because I'm cold. It was 64 in here, so I kicked up the heat. Will turn it back to the 1st level though once I turn on the electric blanket. I should be snuggled in bed now, but this is the only time I've had today to blog, so be it.


Here is a video of our sleet. Ok, so you really can't see the sleet, but if you listen REAL HARD, you "might" be able to hear it! Yea, ok, don't strain your ears...



So what else did I do today, other than the regular chores? I went through 3 boxes of paper work & shredded away! So what's one of the things you grab from your home when a hurricane is approaching? The shredder?? Well, I guess because I still have it. Strange what we do, but I'm glad I have it.

What did my computer do while I was shredding away bits of paper, credit card invites, receipts, etc? It was doing this:

And it did that for 3.5 hours. I thought it would never quit! But I had to defrag because my computer became non-responsive. When that happens, I am usually tempted to go toss it in a pond. I used to want to toss my computer in the bayou when I lived near the bay, but there aren't any here. There are ponds though! :::blurp:::blurp:::blurp:::   I don't leave it on 24/7. If I did, it would have to have CPR. Computer Program Rescue. (that sounds lame). So I usually defrag it myself rather than let the computer auto defrag because my computer is off at night. And I don't want it defragging when I'm trying to use it otherwise.

So much for that boring subject. So much for my boring day. So now ya'll can sleep well after reading this post. ;-) 

My puppy dogs all got raw bones today. They were happy campers. They don't get cooked bones because they can become brittle & actually be life threatening to a dog. And cooking them also makes them harder, so bad for the teefeys. They have to wear snoods when they eat so they don't eat their ears too. I just realized I don't have a picture of a saluki with a snood on. Oh wait, yes I do. Poor Feather wore one when I stuck those leaves in it for her Thanksgiving photo!

I think maybe I embarassed her that day...ya think?

OK, time to call it a night. Sleep well everyone.

~As always, be kind to your pets, clean up after them on your travels & respect your neighbor~