Wasted but some good news!

I am wasted.

Got up this morning after about 4 hours of sleep.

I's tired. I's real tired.

But I have some fun news! I am going on a road trip. FINALLY, a real road trip! Yipeeeeeeeeeee Yay Yo!! Me. All by myselfs with my doggies & kitties. Yay!

Talked to the docs office yesterday. I'm still pending. I'm like a file in the government file cabinet. They put me there. To forget about for 30 days at a time. The docs office staff pokes them. Wakes them up. They yawn & go back to sleep. Leaving me pending in that file. Oh fun. So, I told my doctors office I've not been anywhere in ages. I'm going nuts here. Sitting in the same old driveway day after day. Taking care of other people & their animals. Along with mine of course, but for awhile, I just want life to be for me & my little 4 legged kiddos.

I feel like this right now....

So? What did I do?

I entered the Saluki Nationals! That's a big fat specialty specifically for Salukis. I've even won it before!
That was fun. So it's in Missouri. I'm giving myself a week to get there. Normally, I'd be there in 2.5 days, but with the foot, I'm taking it easy along the way. Plan to enjoy some state parks & mentally detoxing. Will do the same on the return trip as well. Pooey on everything else for now! I'll get to Pa eventually, but can't go that far till all this medical mess is over.

I plan on leaving on the 25th, which will be here before I know it. I have a lot to do. Still have to find a place to do a tune up on Ellie & do something about her starter too. She likes to tease me now, by not starting, not starting, not starting, then she starts! But I have fears that she won't want to wake up while I'm traveling. That would not be a good thing.
Today, I was cleaning out my van, then decided to run over the the optomitrist to get new eyeballs. I'm glad I got that over. What's with procrastination anyhow? I'm really bad good at that. I still need to find a place with climate controlled storage too so I can get all my stuff out of my van & into there instead. I'll feel better about that.

Soooo soon, I will be like this again!

This is a typical dog show set up. At the nationals though, we are there for a week, so we prepare with more stuff to keep the dogs comfortable. This photo was just for a 2 day show.

 I can't wait!

Too bad I'll have to turn around & return back here though. But I have to still follow protocol. Geez, I'm so tired, I fell asleep while posting this. I think I need a little nap. Later ya'll! Hope your day is going well.

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

Just say WOW!

Welcome Tesaje of The Arleth Adventures! Go check her out & give her some support. Her poor Collie needs surgery. All of us that have pets know the care & dedication involved with this. She also has a Motorhome built from a Sprinter! She's done some amazing work inside of it. She gets even more intense than I do with her RV. She recently replaced her own refridgerator & fixed the vents to it.

Today's post isn't about Ellie (my MH) for a change. It's about my dear old van. I should have a bumper sticker that states "My other vehicle is a gas guzzling conversion van"..then place a donation box on the bumper! ;-)  We bought this van brand new in 1996. It was gorgeous. My two previous vans were used vans, but we could not find another good deal on a used van. We actually bought the NEW van for the same price as someone had a used van listed for! So we jumped into her & drove her off the lot! They took the old van for her. Well the old van & a note. Some kind of note stating that we had to make monthly payments. But she's long paid for by now.

That was 16 years ago. She looked tired. Her a/c has an issue & doesn't work right now. I thought her transmission was sick, so she sat in the driveway for 6 long months. Then I finally gathered up the courage to get her checked out. Had her towed only to find out that she was not nearly as sick as I thought. It was just a transmission relay part. Total cost $247. Oh, my bad. So got her fixed up, got her street legal again (new inspection & new yearly license sticker). So it was GREAT to drive her again!! Then I found out that I could replace the dead cigarette lighter myself. I did NOT know that, so I did that & now have a 12volt fan plugged into it so I can get some air circulation till I get the a/c fixed.

This weekend, I decided to give her a bath. And wax her! Well, it's not actually wax, so I guess I polished her and WOW!!! WOW!! WOW!! I could not believe my eyes! My eyes could not believe my eyes. My mind could not believe my eyes. I was impressed! I picked up a bottle of NuFinish car polish. Designed for old tired paint on old tired vehicles. Now we're all sparkly & shiny! Look out, you might need your sunglasses to view! Here are some during & after pictures. I didn't take any total before pics as I never expected the results to be this fantastic! It didn't fare so well over the fiberglass tire cover, but that was a test area for me to try. The fiberglass top, running boards & tire cover need a new paint job. Actually before I polished her, I thought the entire van needed a new paint job. WOW! I'm soooo impressed! WOW! Did I say WOW???

Note the area below the side window by the drivers door. Note how dull it is. The entire van was like that!

Now note how you can see the wash bucket & the rest of the driveway image on the side panel. You can barely see the bucket in the before picture.

Rear corner panel before.

Rear corner panel after.

Look at those dull, dingy back doors.

Now look at her shine! I think she's smiling!!!

OK, so after a long day of this stuff, I called it quits. Still needed to do the front headlights. But OW took over my WOW factor. I HURT! I took my poor battered body to the shower. Then I gave it pain pills & treated my poor foot with the TENS unit. That helped, but man-o-man, what a job. I think I should get a smart car! Bet I could do that little sucker in 2 hours!

So the next day, I did the head lights. I still have to clean up the chrome hubcaps & treat the tires. Maybe I'll armor all the rubber part of the bumper too. In my next life.

So here is how the headlights turned out! Very cool! Now I can blind deer at night again..oops, I really don't do that. Really.

I used the head light cleaner stuff that's for old yellowed headlights. Again, WOW!

Before

After

This van has taken me to the east coast & to the west coast. It's been a good van in all these years & still runs strong at 219,000 miles! I almost sold it a couple of months ago. Now I'm glad I didn't. I really need a vehicle to drive as I plan on opening a business in the future & will be needing the van to carry my supplies in. Too bad I can't tow it. But I don't want Ellie (RV) to puke out her transmission! That would suck. Then I'd be going oh wow...well, actually not. 4 letter words would be used then. ;-)

She also got beaten up once in a WalMart parking lot in Galveston. Someone side swiped her while towing a boat. So she does bear some cosmetic scars from that adventure...oh well.

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

~*~Happy Mothers Day~*~

Happy Mothers Day to all you wonderful mothers out there!

May your day be filled with Beauty

May your day be filled with Joy

May your day be full of love & bliss

I hope all you mothers have had a wonderful day!

It's a mothers love, wisdom & care that got us to where we are today

We should never forget that

Changing Genny Oil

Today was the day for me to change my generator oil. Of course, that also involved several weeks of procrastination before I finally told myself, "just get out & get it done!"  So I did. And yes, I was talking to myself again...only this time, not out loud.

When I first got my RV, I really didn't know a whole lot about maintenance. I knew there was some, but figured I'd learn as I went along. I think the first few times I use the genny, it would surge & surge like mad. I knew to check the oil, so I kept a check on it, but it still surged. So I took it to an RV place & they changed the oil for me. For $40. Then I learned how to do it & felt silly to pay someone that much money to do something I could have easily done myself! So I got the proper tools & have been changing it myself. No more surges. That happens when the oil starts to get dirty. But I change it more often now.

So today's post is aimed on how to change your generator oil. That is, if your generator is similiar to mine. Mine is an Onan, a small generator that fits my small RV's needs. I think mine is a Microlite 2800. Need to check that for sure though. Paperwork is in a cabinet & if I dare move, I'll lose my internet connection...oh bummer, lost it anyhow! grrrrr

So I got my MoHo in 2006. A weekend before a dog show that I was entered in. So I brought it home, set it up for what I needed for my first trip out in it. Got to the show, ran the generator - magic! What a cool invention RV's are! I can't quite remember what it was, but maybe I read the panel on the generator. It said to keep the cover on while running it. Cover? What cover?? Oh great, cover is missing & it was missing when I bought the RV. The place I bought it at wasn't far away from the show, so I drove over there, nope, they could not find the cover. So I ordered a used one. It came in the mail. It wasn't right for my model. I don't remember who I got it from, but they refused to take it back. Paid something like $60 or $80 for it? So I got stuck with that cover. To order a new one was going to cost $150 from Onan :-(  So I use the one I bought instead, but I have to be sure that I take it off when I shut down the generator or it will become a road turtle for traffic & get flipped, cracked & crushed.
Oh well. I did lose it once.

 Oh goodie.
It's late at night, I'm driving.
I hear it fall off.
Oh blast it!
So I turn around & get it off the middle of the road..it's laying on a dead skunk! Yea, that's my kind of luck.
I got the priviledge of smelling skunk for a few weeks!

That's the past, I need to figure out a way to secure the one I have so I don't have to put it away every time I shut the genny down. Can't use the genny & drive either unless I figure how to secure the darn thing. Cover that is. The generator had better be secure! It could kill the next skunk!

Anyhow, I'll supply ya'll with a bunch of photos as we go along:

Supplies:

Tarp to lay on. Paper towels. Plastic gloves if you don't like getting your hands greasy & oily. Tools as stated below. Cat is optional. Cat is not necessary. Cat thought it was party time, so he had to come help. As I'm crawling under my genny, he's curling himself against my side, purring & rolling. He thinks this is great! I came outside to lay down on the ground with him in his world! How great is life today for him! Geez. I put him in the house. I was afraid he'd get into the oil.

I have two tool kits. This one I bought a few years back at JCPenny's at Christmas time for $20. It's invaluable! I always put my tools right smack back into it when done! I don't want to lose a single thing!! My other tool kit is pink ;-)

A screwdriver that I can fit the torx screw into and a wrachet wrench.

You can see what size torx screw was needed for my genny. I saved the package in case I ever lose the screw.

15mm nut & one human nut.

I use the oil that is specified to use for my generator. I buy it by the gallon & carry it always. And I keep the orange spout in a bag with paper towels wrapped around it to keep it clean & the storage area clean. After every 8 hours of running your generator, always check your oil levels. If low, put more into your generator, being careful NOT to overfill! Overfilling is bad. I buy my oil at the auto dept at WalMart.

An oil drain container to catch the old oil. This type also has a plastic type of screen to catch your oil screw. Nut. Whatever you call it. You do NOT want to lose it! So keep the screen on the oil pan - the green lid screws off. The screen is under that lid & that's where you let your oil drain into. Container that is, not the lid ;-)

That yellow cover is screwed down with torx screws. So I take one screw off, being careful not to lose it & I loosen the other so I can slide the yellow cover sideways to access the nut that releases the oil. The screws are what I use the torx screwdriver for. Once you get the yellow cover open, then you will reach up & loosen the oil bolt. You will need the 15mm nut thingy on your wrachet thingy.
C'mon, you don't expect me to remember the real names & type too?? I suppose you think I can't walk & chew gum at the same time too huh? well, I don't like gum, so there! Nanners.

So wearing your lovely plastic gloves, reach the nut & take it off once you get it loose enough to screw off by hand. Place it on the drain screen & just leave it rest there till you need to use it again. Beware, oil comes gushing out, so be prepared! The first time I did this, I got a bit of an oil bath. Black gold. Texas Tea. Worthless. Not even good for your skin.

It's peeing!!! It was stronger of course, but I had to go get my camera!

Drain can screen with the bolt resting on it.

When done, put the plug back in it's hole, resecure it with your nut wrench. Then resecure your yellow cover. Cover the oil pan & take it to a recycling center to be poured out -- keep the container for future usage though!

Generator with panel off. Note the yellow dip stick. That's where you put the fresh oil into.

I know many of ya'll already know this, but this post also suffices as a tutorial for those that want to learn about this.

Yellow thing is the dip stick. Take it off, then insert your funnel. Slowly refill with fresh oil, using only a little at a time!! You do NOT want to overfill! So I pour a little, check, pour more, check. Keep checking. A flash light helps too. When you see oil at the bottom of the neck, then be careful not to over fill. Use the dip stick to see if you get a reading yet. If not, keep putting a little in at a time till your stick reads & is at a proper level.

When filled, put the dip stick back on. Move tools/supplies away. Place your cover back on and give your generator a good exercise on a full load for about an hour. Your generator will LOVE you! It will be sooo happy to have nice fresh oil. And will reward you will lots of future usage. You should run your generator at least once a month, with a full load for around an hour. Full load means using the a/c and other appliances inside of the rig. I turn on the TV & use the microwave sometimes too while running a full load. ****Please note, be sure to NEVER use shore power AND your generator at the same time! That is bad, very, very bad! In my case, it would fry my electrical system as I don't have an over ride switch that safe guards my rig! Some rigs do, some don't. And another side note, any time you plug into shore power, be sure to use a surge protector to also protect your RV's electrical system. They aren't cheap, but they are cheap insurance compared to frying your entire electrical system.

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

Basket Case!

Welcome to 3 new followers! I'm glad to have ya'll along & I've joined up with ya'll as well! :-)

Theresa    of A Wolf and A Lion - Theresa aspires to be a future RVer & wants to travel with her Standard Poodle puppy, whose name is Lion! Standard Poodles are very intelligent & happy dogs. They are just plain fun! I hope your dreams work out! I'm looking forward to following your future adventures! 

FD5, Retired  of Travels Of John & Bridget. John & Bridget are both retired & are living the life of fulltimers now! How exciting that they recently succeeded on their first full year of fulltiming on May 1st! John is retired from the fire department & Bridget is retired from working for the State of Mississippi. (I could abbreviate, but it's just a fun state to type). I've joined up with ya'll & am looking forward to following future adventures!

Jenny Johns  of Jenny Take A Ride - a wordpress user. Jenny has started new adventures in her van, traveling & selling her amazing artwork! Jenny, get some photos up on your blog please!! I wish you big success with your art & travels.
Her daughter Jena has also started some of her own adventures in a van as well. I was so surprised when I opened her blog only to find out that she bascially has the same van I do! I've asked her how many times she has hit her head inside of her van because I constantly hit mine in my van!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
OK, now onto my blog:


Yes, Basket Case -- as in using baskets for storage...or shelves. Actually shelves.
And you thought I was talking about myself didn't you? Ha!


My bed area had no space to put a clock, a box of kleenex, my glasses or the remote control. I like to watch TV in bed at night. But my bed is the overhead bunk area of a small ClassC, so it doesn't have a nightstand. Actually, nothing can stand up there! Trust me. I tried an air mattress once, that didn't work out well. I kept hitting my elbows on the ceiling! So I use a memory foam mattress (foam pad) on top of the cushions. It's a comfy bed. Anyhow, back to the shelves. Soooo, it was driving me nuts (nuttier) that I could not put my things anywhere without worrying that I'd find them under myself sometime during the night. Didn't want to break my glasses or turn the TV on only to wake me once I fell asleep.


So here are the baskets.

Pretty nifty huh? I can have a place for my clock now & actually see it. A place for air freshner. Then the seagrass basket can contain my kleenex's, hand lotion, glasses & remote control! Small paperback books would fit in there as well.


My other problem area is in my bathroom. It's small. My sink has very, very little space around it. Things fall off & bomb the poor trash can that sets in a corner of the bathroom, by the sink. It now has the hammered finish! So I got this to contain the daily items on. My cabinet door drives me crazy as it constantly tries to close on me, & it's small too, so not much room for stuff in there. So this shelf, which is actually a shower caddy, fits perfectly in the corner where I can put my daily items on top of! Thus not having to mess with that cabinet door, taking things out, setting them on the counter, etc.   But my toothbrush & toothpaste still remain inside of the cabinet! You do not want those sitting out on any counter tops in a small bathroom like that. It's not really all that sanitary to do so.


So now all I have to contend with is a pump type jar of hand soap on the counter. Much cleaner & much easier to deal with!

The orange thing is a cute air freshner container that contains orange scented beads & a lady bug on the lid. I didn't take a picture of my items on the shelf. But I'm very happy with the way they fit & another solution resolved! :-))

A sunrise from a couple of mornings ago:

Wow, yesterday was my 100th post & I missed seeing that! So today's is post 101.

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

Missing in action

Hi everyone, I hope all is well with ya'll.

I have some new followers! Yay. I hope ya'll enjoy reading my blog & I PROMISE I'll come visit you too! And I'll officially welcome you on my next post. I PROMISE!

Sorry, I've been kind of missing in action on blogger lately.

Busy & hot, hot, hot...very hot. Did I mention hot? Yes, it's hot here.

The RV should be nice & cool now, but it's not.

Why not?

Because I decided to set up my portable a/c today, but in order to do that, I have to go nuts & do other stuff first.

To read more about setting up a portable a/c in your rig, click here.

Could the stuff had waited?

Yes.

Then why did you do it all?

OMGosh, I'm talking to myself!!!

OK, yes, it's been a loooooooooong day.

So I got up this morning. Reluctantly. I wanted to sleep sooo badly. But had to get up. Then I thought I'd set up my portable a/c because it got so hot in here on Saturday that I thought I was going to die. I tried to take a nap, but I woke up red, hot & my body was thumping from the heat. It was 90. So I sat up & did some beading with fans on me.

Yesterday, I was gone most of the day. This morning, before I can get started, I thought, hmmmm, might as well armor all the cab area. So I did that. But me being my crazy self, I thought...hmmmm, I've not shampooed the seats or the cab area yet & it badly needed that after the rebuild. So I did that!

I found a nice curtain panel on sale - clearance for $5.00. I bought it. I wanted it to put over my dash & steering wheel. It gets dusty up there when I'm not traveling & just sitting. Probably because I like open windows when I can have them opened. And fresh air.

So I also opened it & put it over the dash & steering wheel. Perfect! And I also managed not to armor all the steering wheel this time!! Or at least I don't think I did. Time will tell. Otherwise, the next time I go in circles, it might not be the fault of a gps.

OK, finally done with my work. I think. I thought. Ok, I'll sit down for a min. :::pant pant pant:::   you know, trying to pant like a dog doesn't work? Only setting up that heavy portable a/c was going to work! The fans at this point aren't doing much for me either. So I did it. What works better is if I put my privacy curtain around it. Then the heat from the hose gets contained in the cab area & not through the entire rig...but wait! I got up to get said curtain, then I remembered I never put up a new velcro strip that holds the curtain in place! So drats. It's always something huh?

So now a/c is running, it says 86 on the panel & (ok, reads, it really doesn't talk) & my temperature thingy in the center of the RV says it's 84. Humidity is dropping though as it's also a dehumidifier! So yay!

Now I get to go run to the store for dog food. Yay. No a/c in the van either :-((( It broked. It now blows hot air through the defrost vents. Nice. OK, not nice. But it is nice having my van back after letting it sit in the driveway for 6 months thinking it had an expensive transmission problem! Found out it was only a transmission relay part. Repair $247. Duh. I also asked them to fix my dead cig lighter. But they didn't. :-(  they said they didn't know if it was electrical or what was wrong with it. They suggested that I go get a new cig lighter apparatus. They make them? I didn't know that! So I got one. Another stupid fix. Easy fix. Part $6.00   so I went for 2 years without a cig lighter & could have had one all along. Another duh. I think I'll become a mechanic!!! heehee...who wants to be first???

Before I come help you, I need to clean up this pig of a rig first. It got sooo dirty within the past couple of days. I have no idea how. I think it parties when I leave it. Really. Or it secretly contains mess bombs that explode when I sleep. That must be it!

Oh well, I think I'll go get the dog food, then come back & cook dinner. Then come out & sit in the tiny little cleared space that's left on my sofa because I'm too tired to give a rip about the mess right now. Wait, I don't want to mention rip & sofa in the same sentence. Might not be good luck. Friends tell me that if it weren't for bad luck, I'd have no luck at all. I believe them.

I'll try to catch up on my blog reading later. I've been missing ya'll!!!
I hope everyone are in nice cool spots enjoying their lives....  :::pant  pant  pant:::


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

That 70's era

Another era...gone.

 I went to the store today. I use alligator clips for my jewelry making. I needed more as I seem to only have one left.

I lose them sometimes.

I lose things sometimes.

Including my mind -- but that was from another era ;-) 
Now it's just lost.
With the gator clips.

The last package I bought, I got them to support the blasted pull up shades on my custom van. Yes, almost all the strings broke, so I'd just get frustrated & clip the darn shades to the up position & be done with it. Well today, none were to be found. I'm walking the aisles in the hardware, electrical, automotive & fishing departments of the store.
Nothing.
Not even one thing will do for what I need.
So I find someone that drags me over to all these same departments. The same ones I've already gone over with a fine tooth eyeball 3 times already. But hey, they work there, they know, right?

Wrong.

So then he hooks me up with another sales man...yep, I get dragged down the same freaking aisles. Again. But this time, the associate also has the front of my cart as he's dragging it along with me hanging on. Oh fun! I wondered if I could jump into the cart & get a free ride! But then I realize what I'm looking for, so maybe he'll think I need it for other purposes. But I would have been wrong. None of these people know what the heck it is I'm looking for! So I say ROACH CLIP!!!! Um, hey, that didn't work! They didn't even blink an eye. I just got blank looks. So I guess that really qualifies me as an old fart now.

So now they are all probably having a conversation of the weird lady that likes to put clips on roaches....

                                   ............I'll spare ya'll & will refrain from hunting up a roach picture....

Just put it in your imagination - that should do the trick.  Have a nice day!

PS, I use clothespins on my shades in the RV to keep them up or down. I wonder if store employees know what they are??
Nah. Not gonna ask.

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