Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show

Yea, I have stuff going on in my life.  

 Too much stuff lately. 

Too busy lately. 

I'm stealing a couple of hours to try to read, catch up on my blog reading. 

But I fear I won't get far. 

Going to need to get the pupsters done early today so we can go to a friend's house & watch The Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show on TV! 

Been there, it was fun! A few years back that is. And we got snowed in & stuck in New York for 3 extra days! (check out the link for fun dog show stuff - you can watch your favorite breed online!)

The Madison Square Garden was something else too. It was an experience to remember & value. 

But:

This little Texas Gal does NOT do snow. But her goofy dog does! She skated till her heart was content! She was cute all dolled up in her little red coat, snood made by me, to match & her little red boots. Too bad I don't have a picture of that. She would skate on the ice in those boots & did it on purpose! Silly girl.(a snood is a sleeve type of thing to slip over their heads to keep their ears clean when they eat -- in this case, it was to keep her little head warm)

Feather at the age of 2.

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

Easy Water Filter & New Welcomes

Welcome to Mocha Gypsy! This is one true lady in the world of living in an RV. She's living in her ClassB up north in snow! Brrrr, she's much braver than I am ;-)  I am so glad to have you along. If ya'll get the time, read her blog - it's very interesting.

Also welcome to LeeAnna & Ed. Traveling Tuckers & Tales of the Big Dogs.  I'm not really sure when they joined up, but I just noticed so thought it's about time I welcome them! They have a motorhome & travel with two Boxer dogs. I hope to follow some adventures of theirs soon!

Now for the easy water filter.

Many, many of us use this one.

The Camco "Taste Pure"  RV Water filter in the blue tube. Where I am, the water isn't really all that great, it has a lot of calcium in it, which causes that white chalky residue on things. With this filter, it really cuts down on that issue. Plus when traveling, I want my water to be purer than it is coming from just a straight potable source.

Even if I were tent camping, I think I'd still pack one along for water usage. Although you'd have to be sure it's in a leakproof container as it will hold water in it after use, which drains out of it, but will stay moist enough to get things wet. I keep mine propped up in one side of my double kitchen sink behind the dish drainer I have in there. 

                                                Internet Image

I found this video on youtube, which from watching it, I realized I was hooking mine up wrong. In my case, it probably didn't matter all that much since I only fill my water tank rather than keep it hooked up on the city inlet. 

I am in no way affiliated with this product other than the fact that I use one. I just find it important to find some kind of filtration system for your RV's water usage. 

 And this product is made in the USA! Yay! I don't know if the discarded ones can be recycled though? I'll have to ask at the recycling center next time I pay them a visit. I just bought a new one to replace the one I bought last year.

BTW, I saw in an email the other day where someone referred to an RV being only the motorized kind. Well, that's not true! That would be a motorhome rather than to simplify into an RV. RV's come in all different kinds of shapes, sizes & types! As we all know already anyhow.... 


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

3 Day Engine Battery

Why 3 day battery?

Because it took me 3 days to install!!! 

Follow photos for story:

Day 1. 1-31-2013

Old engine battery finally croaked. It didn't like me filling that empty minded tire every other day. So it died & could not be resusitated. 

I tried. 

I made it live when I charged it up. Then I ran the engine for awhile. Then I shut engine off & battery just wasn't to be anymore. 

So I got out my 1/2" wrench & took the sad dead battery out & away. Went to WalMart to buy a new sparkling battery, full of life! 

 Look Ma - No battery!

Wheeee, new battery!!! Booooo, new battery would not fit battery tray! Back to Walmart to do some exchanging. Brought home another brand & went to work. Brought home  a Champion brand this time around. And well, makes sense to stick a Champion battery in the same RV that I stick Champion Salukis inside of. Right? BTW, old battery was from 2005, so that's a pretty long time for a battery to work. 

(The Salukis are easier to install than the battery was though)

Day 2.  2-01-2013

Took EverStart Battery back & got the Champion Battery in it's place. 

Oh, did you notice the funky battery insulation jacket in the no battery photo? Well, mice did. 

They made themselves a great home out of it at one time! I think perhaps it's been there since I bought Ellie in '06. One day when I was fixing my utility drawer, I pulled it out & found a mouze nest behind it. This was right after I bought Ellie. Then I noticed a small corner of a dinette cushion missing as a chunk was eaten out of it. Those cushions are gone now anyhow. As is/are the mouze/meese!

But look at what I discovered on day 2 of my battery installation! Had the first battery fit, I would never have noticed this mess! They ate part of the battery insulated jacket & set up their mouze houze! 

Check it out below. The insulation is in a cavity behind my drivers side headlight area. 

I got a grocery bag full of the stuff out with my reliable little shop vac. And it smelled of rodent too! Yuck.

So day two. Lubricant to loosen the post that holds the battery in place.  You won't find this lubricant in stores as it's actually left over from when I had my dog grooming salon. I used it on my clipper & clipper blades. Now I use it around the RV. It's better than WD 40, but I need to get some of that PB Blaster to have on hand for future projects.

 Note the black plastic thing. It holds my battery in place & the other side of the tray has rivets that the battery fits into. Well, this darn thing was backwards! So my previous battery was always a little loose & I thought I was missing a part. Nope, just that the last person put it on backwards! Now the new battery is nice, solid & stable.

 Day 3.  2-02-2013
Let that post soak overnight, was finally able to get it out on day 3. But wasn't easy! My hands hurt trying to turn that thing, but finally, it budged!!! I finally got it off! Yay!

OK, got the post off, now to work setting the battery in place. 

Done. 

Now to change out the battery terminals. Note how rusted the old ones are. This could be a problem, so I decided to tackle it now while I'm working on all this anyhow. 

I should have lubricated & soaked them over night too! 

But did I?

Nope. 

So I sprayed them, let them sit for a couple of hours & had to spray them again.

Then I had to hunt, hunt, hunt, hunt & hunt for a pair of vice grips. 

Finally found a pair. 

Under the lawn mower seat. 

Isn't that where most folks store them?

My friends apparantely do! Ha!

She was changing out her battery on her lawn mower & left the vice grips there. I thought it the last resort to look when I remembered that little detail. 

So I get the vice grips so I can hang onto the rusted terminals so I can use my wrench to loosten the bolds. This took a 7/16" tool. 

Removing/installing the bolts that go through the terminals at the end where you see no bolt right now, requires a 1/2" wrench.

Then I got my wire brush & cleaned off the wires & grounding wire. 

You can see the rust over the wires. The ground wire had rust over it too. So I used the brush carefully to remove what rust I could, then I slathered petroleum jelly over them to protect them from future rust/corrosion. Note the new terminals! 

Pretty huh?

I also slathered petro jelly over the terminals & posts, including the new bolts.

Also, before I set the battery down into the tray, I lined the bottom of the tray with newspaper. 

Now it won't get bored. It has something to read. Unless the articles are boring. 

 

And without futher adieu - NEW BATTERY INSTALLED & WORKING! 

YAY!!

I DID IT MYSELF!!!

YAY!!

I kind of had to because the other battery was removed to go fetch the new one ;-) 

This project should have taken a half hour to an hour, but with all the complications I ran into it took me 3 days. 

On the 2nd day, I did not have much time to devote to this project as something else came up, so I was gone most of the day. 

I'm thrilled that this is DONE!! I could have saved myself  a lot of grief had I gotten it in when I noticed the battery was low, but then, with two bad tires, one going flat, it was safer that I chose to do this job in this manner than to attempt to drive the RV anywhere. And I doubt that most places would have changed out the terminals unless I asked them to. 

Thank you to those that gave me advice along the way on one of the Women's RV lists that I asked about this project when I ran into brick walls. 

Ya'll ROCK! 

 

Just one more thing on my resume of life!! 

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

Believe the signs

They've got to be true.

They just HAVE to be true!

So, pie will fix your shrinking clothes??

Awesome!

*****

Holy Batman! The BatCave!!!

I know. 

I shot it myself!

Wheeeeeee!!!

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

Tires And Wires

Hi everyone, hope all is fine with ya'll. 

So today's post is...Tires And Wires!

Oh how exciting!!!

Aren't you glad you stopped by??

So Ellie needed to be inspected. 

Of course, inspection was for January.

But we can ride on a couple of days in February & still be legal.

But it's only 3 or 5 days? I think 5, not positive about that though. 

Regardless, had to get things done first!

Soooo, HiHo, HiHo, off to the tire shop we go!

Tuckers Tire & Storage
1021 Ave. H, Rosenberg, TX 77471 
281-342-2470

They do city trucks & such, so Ellie isn't a problem for them. 

AND they are QUITE reasonable!

I needed two new tires because I had forgotten that I needed two new tires when I had them all rotated last year! I was so mad at myself. Then when I returned from my trip, one of the older tires took on a nail, just to remind me! I do have a guardian angel 0:-)   

Those two older tires were on my drivers side duallies. So I went there, & they got me fixed up with the new tires! Yay! 

Didn't take long while I waited inside either. So I took some shots at....er, of  Ellie through the surgery window while she underwent her surgery. 

 The Operating Room

Ellie is plain tireless! 

So, she gets her new shoes, I pay, off we go! 

Wheeeeeeee!!!

But we only go a few blocks. Mechanic is next on the list!

I went to the mechanic I used last year, TexSalv, but they were too busy, so they suggested Garcia's around the corner. TexSalv recommended them because they knew it was crunch time for my inspection. 

TexSalv

3312 Old Richmond Rd

Rosenberg, TX  77471
281-232-2797

Garcia's Mechanic & Body Shop

817 Jennetta St, Rosenberg, TX 77471  
281-232-0364 

(these are mostly for my records, but I don't mind sharing them)

I'm ALWAYS grateful to find ANY place that WILL work on a motorhome!

Garcia's was wonderful! 

Ellie decided it would be soooo much fun to fast blink on the front & no blink at all on the rear with the right turn signal. BAD ELLIE! 

I googled. Usually, it suggests that the Multifunction switch has gone wacko, bad, elsicko. 

So they go off to get that part. They install it, uh oh. Ellie is still winking!

Naughty girl that she is. 

Soooo, they take off her tail light! He is great, he asks if he can do this or that on the next step. I tell him yes. 

Then I go inside of Ellie because the tail light backs up to my kitchen. I take my drawer of pots & pans out of it's slide (darn slide broke off, still have to fix that), take things out of my bottom cabinet so they can access the wiring. 

They test the wiring. There's a short in the wiring. So they cut it & fix it. Now Ellie can stop her shameless winking! 

And wow, the charge AFTER 3 hours of work was only $50.00! 

Ellie also needs an oil change. I asked about that. They didn't have oil there, but they told me if I got the oil & a new filter, they'd only charge me $10.00 so I need to do that too. Good deal! I'm glad this place was recommended to me! 

But I was a little worried that they'd put a sign on the fence stating "No Motorhomes" after I left...

The guy that worked on Ellie was concerned about leakage after putting the tail light back on. I told him not to worry, I can fix that myself. But when he put the tail light back on, he also sealed it all down with window repair stuff. Black stuff :-(  I did NOT complain to him though as he really was being thoughtful & helpful. I'll see if I can't scrape some of it off with a razor blade to neaten it up.

It's raining today. So that little task will wait. 

Then we go off the the inspection station! I have this look about me. They just KNOW I carry tools. They just KNOW I'm capable of fixing things myself. They just KNOW I'll do it too! 

So instead of just taking my RV like they typically do, he asks me to turn on the lights, the signals, the back up lights, the brake lights, um....Houston, we have a problem. The license plate light does not light up!

So here I go. I get out my little pink tool kit, I take off the light plate. I go back, turn on the lights, it's lit!

But that light cover was really dirty! So I went in to get Q-tips & the guy cleaned it off for me. 

Whew, all's well again & we pass inspection! 

Ellie is good for another year :-)  

BTW, inspections on Motorhomes in Texas are exempt from emission testing, so it only costs $14.50.

Be sure to tell anyone inspecting your motorhome in Texas that they are exempt! I didn't know this until I started using this place:

Pecan Grove Car Wash

1620 FM 359  

Richmond, TX  77406

832-595-8008

It's actually a Conoco station as well.   

I meant to fill Ellie's belly with gas on the way back home, but I FORGOT to! 

What the heck is wrong with me??? Geez.

As soon as I got back to the house, I put her rain bonnet back on her. There is a small leak on the overhead cab area. Ellie is going back to Felton's RV Repair next week to get that fixed & for them to repair some other things due to some of the work they did previously failing! 

I hope this is the LAST time! And of course, I'll have to fill her belly before we go because Motorhomes  definitely don't run off of fumes.

Kind of looks like those old fashioned rain bonnets that women used to wear huh? Do they still make those? I could use one today myself!

Tomorrow, my van goes into the shop for a new fuel pump. 

That's gonna be fun as they have to take the fuel tank off. Yay. Not Yay. Really.

She actually needs a new fuel filter, but she's fuel injected, which means the fuel filter is built INSIDE of the fuel pump, so it can't be bought seperately. 

Always something. 

Oh & I forgot about the battery in the smoke detector last night. It chirped around 2am. I got out of bed & pulled the old battery out! Guess I'd better go put a new one in now. 

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

I'm still alive & new welcome

Welcome to Evonne Llewellyn! Happy to have you along. Evonne doesn't appear to  have a blog yet, but I hope she will start one soon!

Seems I've been missing in action. 

Again. 

Sorry, life has been kind of hectic lately. 

I am way behind on my blog reading & I miss ya'll! 

Maybe tomorrow, I'll have a little time to play catch up.  

I've had some work done on the Motorhome, which I'll blog about tomorrow. 

Hopefully. 

Today, I had an EMG test on my ankle. 

Guess what?

IT HURT!!! 

Owies. 

Then I proceeded to get lost - stuck - doing circles around Houston as I was trying to avoid the Great Spaghetti Bowl! Dang, it gets cornfusing! 

But after a few different circles, I finally found my way on the correct direction. 

I'd show ya'll an image, but they are all copyright protected & I must honor those copyrights!

But you can google Spaghetti Bowl + Houston, TX & get a view of what it looks like.

                            ****

Today I have a little freebie tip I found on the internet some time back - it looks like a cool idea, although I've never tested it: 

 Ellie is chirping. At first, it alarmed me because I could not figure out why my sensors were going off. 

Once again, it's the smoke detector telling me it's hungry for a new battery. 

It fools me every time. 

I guess I'm easily fooled ;-)

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

Beautiful Day

It's been a beautiful day here today.

I could not stand it, I just had to take my bike for a ride!

So off for an evening ride I went.

Saw the cutest thing ever. 2 adults and 1 little girl on horseback. Adults on big horses, child on a small white pony. Adorable!! Could not get a pic though. Darn.

Then I rode past the pony farm, they have parties on the weekends. Lots of folks playing on the little puttputt range, playing with the ponies and mini donkeys.

Then I rode past a house, they were flying kites.

Then I  spotted this beautiful sunset:

OK, going to close this post now. The phone and Blogger are having an issue.

I hope ya'll are also having a beautiful day! 

Good deal on 30amp cord! And more things

Hi, hope all is well with everyone!


Welcome to Gay & Joe  of Good times Rollin! They just finished their first year as fulltimers, I'm so glad they are joined up with my blog now. They have 4 canine companions, so how could I miss that! 

And welcome to w6pea! I don't have any blog url for you, so if you have one, please share. That's some cute little doggie on your profile! 

Now onto business...Camping World has 30amp 25' extension cords on sale through the 27th of this month! 

I rushed over & bought one. I'm not too far from a CW, so it was a real treat to save $$ & be able to drive over to fetch one.


Sale price $22.99  - regular price $49something. So that's a nice savings! And they made a mistake. 

Instead of placing their sale items where you'd have to browse the store, they placed them at the front of the store! 

Therefore, they saved me more $$$ because I didn't browse the store for temptations! 

CW to me is like an RV candy store. Hard to resist some things. 

Whew! Thanks CW! 

I love gizmos. 

I love gadgets. 

I found this neat little gadget at Big Lots. 

No, I don't have a tablet. I don't have an ipad. I don't have any of those things....

B-u-t

What I do have is a cool smartphone that I have added apps on that are cool apps! 

I have two different movie apps, so I can now set my phone on the stand on the back of my sofa & watch movies or some tv shows on it. 

What a geek I can be  ;-) 

So I finished my 30 days of the Chronic Pain Program. 

We're still waiting for approval on further tests. 

And I'm now using a cane. I hope this is VERY temporary!!! Actually, they haven't approved the issue of a cane yet either, so I'm using my trekking pole as one. It really does help. I'm amazed how much it helps, but again, I hope it's just temporary! 

I'll finish this post with some purdy pics. I keep shooting purdy pics, but never seem to actually sit down to get them into the computer. A lot of my posts lately have been posted via cell phone. 

So here are the pretties! 

 

The two photos above are from the same sunrise from 1-11-13. As the sun rose, the rays reached out through the skies. It was simply beautiful!

Last nights sunset below:

I tried to zoom in on the hawk, but of course, could only get a black silhouette. So then when it flew off, I tried to catch it with my lens, but it flew too quickly. But I love the pink cover over the clouds in the distance. They look like mountains! It's pretty flat here, so I just pretend they are mountains. 

Take care everyone! 

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

Very Cool video - What a country!

This came through on one of my RV lists.

It's too good not to miss.

Hope you can view videos! Someone did an amazing job with this.

Check it out ~ or go to this url for a full sized version:
http://www.youtube.com/watch_popup?v=KcuDdPo0WZk

Dog gone weekend

Hi, I Hope all is well with everyone.

I took Birdie out to a local dog show this weekend. Normally, I'd load everyone in the RV and off we'd go.

But the show was only about 20 mins away so we jumped in the van and off we went.

Yesterday wasn't great. She was just too full of herself and was just too silly, so only a 2nd place for her.

Today, she showed MUCH better. She won her class, but did  not bring home the points. Oh well, at least she performed well.

Below are pix of her relaxing ringside.

Blogger and my phone are having issues tonight..grrrr

so I'll cut tonights post short.

I should have walked around to take some pics of the amazing rigs at the show, but I tried to curtail my walking to a minium due to my foot and wearing the foot brace.

I'll have to do that in a future post.

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