Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter Everyone

No matter what your religious values are, have a wonderful day! 

Maintaining The Clearance Lights

**I wrote this post a few weeks ago,around 3/08/13  but once again, fell behind with all the things I was doing at the time & it never got posted. So I'm finishing it today to get it posted & done with! :-)

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

Yep, I'm still at it!

I know, I know, ya'll are saying "Stop it Already!".

But it's gotta be done.

Then we all can sleep better at night.

So over the weekend, I maintained my clearance lights.

When they rebuilt the overhead cab, you would have thought that "maybe" they'd put on new lights? Or at least be sure they all worked???  Nope.

So it was bothering me that 2 of them were burnt out. It also bothered me that I saw dirt building up under the covers of both front & rear lights.

So I went to work. Of course, when I had the overhead leak again, I panicked. Imagine that huh?

I put duct tape over the tops of all the clearance lights! Perhaps I went overboard, but leaks will put you into panic mode & make you do things like that.

The duct tape left residue. Sigh...

 Light cover with residue - bottom light cover.

Residue all cleared off! It wasn't a hard job. I used some remover & it worked well. Goo Gone I think is what it was.

I had one light on the front that was too corroded to work. That bothered me. I'm a stickler for things like that. Could I have just left it as is? Sure. Texas doesn't inspect those, but it's one of those things that with me, everything has to work!

So I rewired it. 

I then took off all covers, cleaned them, cleaned the bases & returned the covers. Checked to be sure that all lights were working, then I caulked around all of them. Front, rear & side clearance lights. Done! Yay! DONE! I say, DONE! For at least another year or so :-)   I even caulked around the seals on the covers, not just around the bases. When I noticed how much dirt built up under the covers, that alerted me that moisture was probably getting in there too. So I wanted to cover all bases & I did.

 New caulk lined around the cover & the base to be sure to protect any moisture from penetrating.

Since I had my caulk out still, I also cleaned the old caulk off of my door handle & my exterior electrical outlet. I replaced that outlet last year. The old one was white & really weathered, just waiting to crumble at the slightest touch. It was an easy replacement though.

I use exterior outdoor clear silicone caulk, but I wonder sometimes if I should use the white caulk instead. I'm never sure which to use, but I kind of like the clear as it's just a cleaner look.

Below is a video of my step by step process of redoing the clearance lights if you are interested:

Leaving Pam's Place

I'm leaving Pam's today & heading back to Houston.

(This post was written on Tuesday, the 26th, I've not had a chance to finish it till today -- my computer became non responsive during the post on the 26th- grrrr)

I'm so grateful to have had this time to take this trip & visit close friends!

I'm so grateful for Ellie too! What a great way to travel! What a great way to live!

My dogs can stay inside in comfort & I have a comfortable place to lay my head (& body) at night!

It's a win-win situation!

Ellie parked & actually level in Pam's driveway. It's also nice to have power! The dogs get to listen to TV all day long, even if the channel isn't to their liking ;-)

 Meet Fonzie! Fonzie is Linda's dog. Pam is taking care of Linda's dogs while she is getting treatments & such. Linda has 3 salukis, Fonzie, Manitou & Rio. I don't have a photo of Rio yet, he stood right beside me, making it impossible to take any pictures of him! Fonzie is a tri parti marked coloration. Isn't he beautiful!?

Pam's place is full of charm. She has little garden  areas around the property. Little surprise flowers pop up everywhere. It's like a  secret enchanted garden here. Things are just starting to bloom - hopefully, last nights freeze didn't harm them.

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

Ft Worth Texas, Dog shows & Friendship

Welcome Greytlady11 -- glad to have you along! Does your name suggest you have greyhounds?

I've not really had much time to blog the past several days. Have been very busy with friends, this is the first time I've been able to boot up my computer since I left Southeast Texas! 

Now I'm in North Texas, but I plan on returning back to the Southeast Texas area tomorrow. 

I'm at my friend Pam's. 

She has a wonderful place in Euless, Tx on 5 acres of land. It's great here! 

Pam also has & exhibits Saluki dogs, so we have a lot in common. It was years ago when she got her first show dog, a beautiful black & tan colored female Afghan Hound was when we met.

We've been friends since. I'm parked in her driveway while we did errands (including the last post on laundry!). We did 3 days of dog shows, it was a nice time.

My sick friend, Linda that I came to visit with has had it pretty rough. I had a really nice visit with her on Thursday, we took her in for her radiation treatments. While she was getting her treatments, Pam & I had lunch in the hospital cafeteria. I had no idea that they could actually have good food there! Had roasted salmon, mac&cheese & green beans. It was good. 

One of the valet parkers is an artist. He did this amazing painting on the whiteboard. He changes it out each month with a new painting. Seems a shame that it gets erased monthly! 

Linda also has Salukis & also shows them. She hasn't been able to show herself the past few years, but others have been able to show her dogs for her. She used to have a lovely girl from one of my breedings of the past. She's a great home & gave her a wonderful life into Micah's old age.
Linda has cancer, but we're all hoping & praying she can beat this! This is her 4th bout of this dreaded disease. Her's in in her neck. It just doesn't seem fair does it?

She was released from the hospital last Tuesday. I got here on Wednesday & was able to visit with her on Thursday & she came out to the dog show on Friday. Her puppy, Manitou was being exhibited by a handler, he's such a cutie! The puppy that is ;-) 

 This is Manitou, he's in the 9-12 puppy male class. 

Below are typical grooming areas at indoor shows. You can see the show rings on the bottom picture, where the white fencing is. We show the dogs on non-slip mats in the rings. 

 The shows were held in Fort Worth, Texas. What a fascinating city Ft Worth is, but I didn't have my camera in hand when we drove around the city looking for certain places. But I did manage a cell phone pic of the court house as we were driving up the road that actually passes by it. But it looks like you are going to drive directly in it when approaching! 

 Isn't it cool how the camera caught the sky colors?

Birdie was exhibited two of the days. She won her class, which was bred by exhibitor both days, but didn't get the ultimate win for the points! Oh well, at least she won Best Bred By at the specialty! 

Unfortunately, a damper was place upon us on Saturday & Sunday as Linda was admitted back into the hospital. We were really scared, as she was placed in ICU. Fortunately, she is improving & may go home tomorrow! So we plan on visiting her tonight & if she is improving, then I need to head back to Houston. I'm so very glad I made this trip. It's always good to reconnect with good friends. Treasure those you love,  you never know. 

And I got to make a new friend, so that's always good too! 

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

Vacation- Ft Worth, TX

Hey ya'll....I've take a small trip to Ft Worth, TX.

To visit with a sick friend.

And to attend a dog show.

Want to see how much fun I'm having???

Okey Dokey -- Here's a picture!

Ohhhhh, my friend Pam is having even more fun!

Exhaust Leak Repairs 3-13-13

So last Monday, 3-11-13, I took Ellie to PPL & had my generator fixed. Again, yipeeee! It's been blogged about already, but I'm still very happy about it!

On the way back, I stopped at a mechanics in Rosenberg, TX to see what could be done with an exhaust leak. They recommended a muffler shop. So I took the RV there. He said he was booked, but asked me to call him to see if we could work it in on the following Monday, which would have been today. I called him the next day & he said he didn't think he could work on it. He thought maybe my rig was too low to the ground & would not fit his lift. So Tuesday morning, I struck out, looking for another place. Went to one muffler shop, his lift was rated for 12k pounds. Ellie dry weighs 11k, with no gas, water, nothing in her. So we knew she'd be overweight for his lift. Went to another shop. He had a lift that could hold her...but...she was too tall for his garage. Sooo I went back to the first guy I was recommended to & he came out to see Ellie. He looked under her & said he could get under her. He asked me to wait, then after an hour or so, he pulled her into his lot & went to work! Oh joy! I don't have to wait a week or so! Plus I need to make that trip to Dallas, so this is good. 

He finds not one, not two, but 3 leaks! He rolls over his welding tanks & goes to work under Ellie, welding pipes. We get the dog house off  (console) he finds one of the 3 leaks in an exhaust pipe there. He even has me listen to it, yep, there's definitely air coming out of it. But of course, that pipe has to be ordered. It's a $90 pipe! But I need it, so I tell him, yes order it. He says he can probably get it the next day & sure enough, he has it the next morning. So I go over & he puts it on. Alrighty then, we are fixed! Oh, not so fast cowgirl...we still have yet, another leak somewhere. Bummer!! He inspects the manifold. Oh crap, one of the rings that holds a bolt on is rusted! It falls right off into his hand! Dang. So not repairable. Will eventually have to get a new manifold, but at least she's still drivable & the work he did definitely improved Ellie's performance. He can't do the fix, so one day, I'll have to find a used manifold in a salvage yard & find someone that can put it in for me. This guy was a very nice guy. Works alone, but there's also a mechanic that shares the same building beside him, so they help each other on things. It's a good deal for them both. I like giving the small guy my business when they are capable of handling it. I don't like giving the big guys my business when I know their poor mechanics are only making $10 an hour & they are the ones doing all the hard work! Again, this guy was great, One Stop Muffler & Brakes in Rosenberg, TX. If it weren't for him, it would have co$t me a whole lot more at the bigger $hop! So I'm quite grateful for him. Please keep his wife in your prayers. She has cancer. She was cleared & 30 days later, it's back. I hate that for them. I do hope she can kick this horrible disease. 

 This pipe had a hole in it & was just spewing out air. This is the pipe that had to be ordered for ::gulp:: $90.00

                                                 My brand spanking new $90.00 pipe!

 Another good thing he noticed was this hose. It was sooo brittle that it was falling into pieces! So he cut more hose & made a new one for me! I don't know what it is for, but I'd prefer not to find out the hard way. 

The other hose thing  -  note little teeth marks on it! Dang, rodents! Good thing they didn't get through it! 
 

                             Thanks Mom for keeping Ellie safe for us ~ Houston

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

Dog Show - Birdie Scores!

Welcome Nan & John! I know you have a blog, but it's not showing up on the members page. If you want to share it, I'll be happy to link to it! Thanks for joining up with me :-) 

After getting necessary things done on Ellie, it was time to test her. So we went to a local dog show. Sure, I could have driven back & forth with just Birdie, but instead, I bathed all the dogs, loaded them  into the RV & off we went last Friday to spend the weekend at the dog show. 

What did I have done to Ellie? Got the generator fixed, which I blogged about already & had some exhaust leaks fixed, which I've not blogged about yet. The generator worked like a dream! Soooo nice to be able to use it again! And this time, to be able to shut it on & off with the inside switch! It's never worked right & now that switch does - so Yipeee! 

Saturday, Birdie won 3rd of 3 in her class. Well bad naughty Birdie has a tendency to get carried away with herself because she's too happy. Sunday, Birdie was not in a good mood, so no playing, so we won! 
I lay a nice blanket on the dirt floor for her to lay on, a young Afghan Hound puppy TOUCHED her sacred blanket! How DARE HE! She was NOT happy about it, and she took that into the ring. (the unhappiness that is, not her blanket) But in this case, there was no extra happiness, so she showed pretty good! I was the only one that knew she was not happy. Ha! I'll need him at our next show too! So she won Winners & got a 3rd major! All she needs now is one more point to finish her championship! We're off to Ft Worth on Wednesday. Actually the show isn't till Friday, but I need to visit with a sick friend in Dallas & am anxious to see her. 

Here is a pic of Birdie taken about a month ago. I always forget to take the camera inside to take pics! 

Now for our camping set up. This show was total boondocking. I try to park in the back 40 so I can pretty much not be sandwiched in between rigs. We have to use our generators when it starts to heat up to keep the dogs comfy & safe. I don't have a Gen-Turi, but one is on it's way! Yay! Thanks to Gypsy Jane!

She has one that she never uses because she rarely uses her generator, so she has already mailed her Gen-Turi off to me for a way decent price! I'm so grateful & excited! Thank you, thank you, thank you!! 

And it clears up space for her new ground mat, so it works out great for us both! Except I'll have to find a space for it now ;-) 

My little space in the big parking lot. 

My set up. I use 3 expens for my guys. I hook two together to make one long run, then I hook another to the side of it to still make a decent size run. This way, they can come out, play & stretch their legs. I also cover them with shade cloth. The crate sitting there is a grooming crate, I can put a dog on top of it & groom them there. Note the purple mat. I dumpster dived & saved it! A friend of mine threw it away because her dogs soiled it & she didn't want to carry it home, so I salvaged it when I noticed it in the dumpster, bleached & washed it. It's perfect! The blanket on that is Birdie's sacred blanket. Don't touch. Well, people can, but other dogs can't! 

 Some of the dogs in the pens. One run is  8', the other is 12' long. Wrinkles & Carlos in one. Houston & Zeus in the other. I did have to buy the checker board mat. I had an older one, but the weather pretty much killed it. These 4x7 mats are soooo much cheaper at dog shows. Only $20 compared to the expensive ones you find elsewhere. I didn't want my guys sitting on the stinky concrete parking lot. This place is an equine center & it smelled of cattle. 

Now for some of the other rigs around me:

Ellie looks crooked? Not sure why? She was level. I also need to get a new spare tire cover. Threw the old one away last week. It was too weathered. The big rig to the right of me moved in on Sat morn. Note the bbq grill. He bbq'd Saturday night. It smelled wonderful, he invited me to dinner, but I declined. I had already eaten & just wanted to be with my guys. It was really nice of him to ask though. 

                                                            Rig in front of me.

 View of the rig beside me & if you notice, you'll see a line up of some more rigs going down to the building. The sun was in my face at the time of the photo.

                                                 Another view of the rig beside me.

Rig behind me. I especially liked this set up! Lots of handlers carry a lot of dogs, to keep them more comfortable, they use the big box trucks. This box truck has it's own generator so they can run a/c for their dogs. Then he tows a TT & is able to hook the TT up to his box truck. Pretty clever set up! They kept their spot really nice & neat all weekend too.

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

Some people are lucky idiots

I truly have a guardian angel...

 

I was hungry, saw this parking spot and whipped right in

This was after sitting at a muffler shop for 3.5 hours..

Like I said, someone is a lucky idiot..

Generator fixed!

Yay, my generator is now fixed & working!! 

Yipeeeeee!!!

It was just a faulty ground wire. 

Go figure, all that worrying & that's all it was. 

So the previous guy replaced the starter, the selaniod, a few other things & it was JUST a ground wire! 

Oh well, at least it's working now. 

Thanks to PPL who worked me in & got it done right away!

While there, I bought a new clearance light replacement cap (& bought the wrong one, AFTER telling a friend yesterday which one to buy for her motorhome! duh). I saw ORANGE & didn't pay attention to the part number! Goofy me.

Bought new gaskets for my roof vents. 

Bought a new fan blade for the bathroom exhaust fan. The old one is really weathered & is crumbling.

Bought more RV wax. So I can torture myself some more in the future. 

And picked up their new free parts catalog. 

Anyone in the states can get one, just go here to order one. They come in handy for reference as well.

http://www.pplmotorhomes.com/parts/rv-parts-catalog.php

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

The Coachmen Dalmatian

Has anyone here wondered why Coachmen uses a Dalmatian as their logo?

I wondered this often - probably because I have such a strong interest in dogs anyhow. 

My RV is a Coachmen & it has a running Dalmatian on it. Actually a couple of them. 

Which caused me to wonder. 

Was this Dalmatian a former pet of the founder?

What was the founder's interest in the breed?

Why a Dalmatian? 

So since Google is our friend (& you must believe everything you see on the internet), I came up with the answer!

PETE! Yes, Pete. Pete was the company dog who could tell the difference between a salesman & an RV dealer. Plus since the Dalmatian is known as "the coach dog", hence the logo stuck. 

I was watching a video on youtube of an older coachmen rig & that one had a standing Dal rather than the running one on my rig. 

Anyhow, just a bit of trivia or info for ya'll. 

I need a life ;-)  

I did change my generator oil this morning!

Ok, yes, I need a life.....

******
Taken from an article:
By the way, the dalmatian featured in Coachmen’s distinctive logo was Pete, a company watchdog, who, legend has it, could tell the difference between RV dealers and salesmen, greeting dealers happily while growling at salesmen.
With Dalmations also known as “coach dogs,” a drawing of Pete leaping over the Coachmen name became a company hallmark logo.

See the rest of the article here:
http://www.woodallscm.com/2005/04/coachmen-rv-aims-for-consumers-sweet-spot/

So there you have it -- Arf Arf! 

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

Detailing the Motorhome

I've been a busy girl. 

Real busy. 

Real, real busy.

Time for a break! 

This job, I did last Sunday. I detailed the truck part of the Motorhome, which was tough work. I'm sure glad it's done though. Then on Tuesday, I replaced some bulbs on the clearance lights, with the intention of caulking around the covers, but could not get it done. It started to get too late & I was hurting too much. 

I tried again yesterday to do the lights, but could not make it up any ladder. Still hurt too much, leg kept getting cramps & my foot hurt like someone had twisted it backwards. I need to listen to my body. 

BUT I don't have anyone to do these things for me. I don't have an expense account to pay someone to take care of these things for me. 

AND I'm a perfectionist. Which makes myself my own worst enemy, yet, it gets the job done right. Very few service centers pay attention to the stinky little details like I do...so I do it all myself. I probably saved myself a few hundred dollars of work this week anyhow.

So onto the truck part that I did last Sunday. It looks marvelous -- even if I say so myownself!

We'll go step by step & I'll add a video at the end of all that went into detailing the truck. 

Here are my supplies:
See photo below - 
Rubbing Compound because the hood was so covered in caulk, sap, debris, glue (grrrr), & needed to be deoxidized. 
Turtle Wax for the truck part only. The last step in the process. 
A car wash brush on an extended pole. I also have a window squeegie on an extended pole. Both are a MUST!
A rag for the rubbing compound. 
The yellow chamois is to keep moistened to wipe rubbing compound away as I go. 
The blue chamois is to wipe any dust off the places I'm working on before hand. 
I washed the rig the day before, so it was still pretty clean.

Photos below are what I was dealing with. 
Notice all the stuff on the hood. It's caulk, it's sap, it's gray oxidation & two spots were glue :-(  
 From now on, IF I ever have to have the overhead cab worked on again, I will supply a canvas TARP for them to cover the truck with! I swear, it was a real mess. 
Some of it was because it really needed a good deep cleaning, but there's no excuse for the caulk & glue. One spot of glue would not come off, so I had to leave it....

 The rust scrape below is probably from their scaffold. Fortunately, the rubbing compound did a marvelous job of removing it! Whew! Their scaffold is rust colored.

Below, rubbing compound. One thing I was told I did right was that I got Turtle Wax brand. The person that told me shows cars, so he was glad to tell me it was the proper product as it's not as abrasive as some of the other brands. Use it carefully on painted surfaces though. It can scratch & if you go to intensive, you can do some damage to your paint.
I dipped my moistened rag into the compound & worked small areas at a time. 
Then wiped each area as I went along with the damp yellow chamois to keep it from drying on the surface. 
It states not to let it dry onto the painted surface.

Oh & I used the typical kitchen yellow gloves that I bought at the 99 cent store to save my hands & nails.

Then I moved onto the other parts of the painted metal surfaces. I lightly compounded the entire truck part because I soon discovered that cleaning up small spots with the rubbing compound left white spots against the area that needed to be deoxidized anyhow. Be careful when doing this, but you won't be sorry of the end result if you do it right! 
So I compounded it all, wiping it off with my wet chamois as I went along.

OK, now time to wash the truck part again. Need to be sure to get all this comfounded compound off...sorry, I simply could not resist saying that ;-) 

I use the Gel-Gloss heavy duty RV wash & wax soap. I use that on the entire rig, it does a pretty good job. 

Note how much better this hood looks! Smashing! Wait, I'm a little afraid to use that phrase...strike that...outstanding! Wait, that's a little scary too. Well, you get my point. It just looks damn good! 

Note how the water is puddling & not beading though. 

So now to protect the surface, I waxed the truck part! I'll spare you photos of that process. 
Why? 
Because I forgot to take pictures - heehee. But I did capture it on video! 
Why wax since it all looks so shiny & clean? To protect the paint from all that work I just did!

OK, now ElFinished! YAY!!! Collective cheers world wide! Do you hear it? I do. Even if it's in my own head. C'mon. Try. YES, YOU CAN HEAR IT!!!!

Just look at that beautiful hood! YAY!!! 

Just look at that beautiful shiny motorhome! Yay!!!

Ellie enjoyed her day at the spa. So much so, that she requested that I put her bonnet on her to keep her windows clean. She needed to close her eyes for a much needed rest. We girls really do feel better after our spa treatments & must get our rest!

And if you've not been driven to suicidal boredom, there's even a video! But don't blame me if you need mental help after wards. Really. I did warn you....












 

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