More HiLo Painting. "Un-smart"

Ray had already applied several light coats of paint in the first picture. He is really good at this, and it looks good. I had bought several different types of paint while I was at Lowes. Krylon, Rustoleum, and Industrial Rustoleum. We tried out the different kinds to see which would shine the most, or spray the best. The only thing we really found out is that the Industrial Rustoleum cans seem to spray more paint than the regular Rustoleum cans of the same size, so maybe the extra dollar is worth it. Might even wear better. Getting down to the final coats of paint now.

We had got another late start, so we didn't get much done.

Now the lady who didn't change her address on eBay or PayPal, so that my poor plants went to her old address, is going to blame it on PayPal, and try to get her money back from them. She must have moved quite a while ago, as the plants came back with a sticker saying "Forward Time Expired, Return To Sender". So I sent her the receipt # and info, but I don't think that their Buyer Protection Plan covers 'unsmart'.

Another hot day.

Plants arrived back here. Titivating the Class B.

Yesterday afternoon the Mail Lady delivered the lost mailing tube with the big aloe in it to my front porch. If she rang the bell, I must have been in the side yard, as I didn't hear it, and I didn't find the box until this morning. I quickly got the poor plants unwrapped and potted. They had been in that box for 9 days. They were still alive but wilted, bruised and suffering. The box had a label on it "Forwarding Expired".














This is the sewer hose holder access door on the outside, I had one just like it on my Airstream Motor home. You can see the sharp bend it had to make, when we replaced the the 4" tube that holds the sewer hose. We fixed this a few days ago.

Ray and I had to do a couple of things to the Class B that hadn't been obvious before. Someone was coming to see it at noon. We noticed that there was some white paint missing right above the running board, so I taped it up, and Ray painted it.














The top burgundy stripe looked funky and weather beaten, so we took it off. All the rest of them, all over the rig are fine, just the top one looked ratty. You have to be shown that the stripe is missing. I arrived at Tasco's, the place that sells pinstriping, 3 minutes after they closed. I went into the next town to get paint, etc, after the guy had been to see the Class B. He looked it all over, checked that the fridge was cold, started the generator, looked at the solar panel on the roof, we took it for a drive, and he said that his wife would have to come see it, and would get back to me. I really think that he is interested, we will see.

An apprehensive day.

Making Shade Where There Is None.

Ray couldn't start until 10.30 am. He had been moving his sister-in-law's stuff. He didn't want to do it, as everyone, including me, that has helped her move before, has "worked like a dog". Oh, I don't think most dogs work, so make that "worked like a slave". Then she can't even say "Thank You" , and it doesn't matter what out of pocket expenses you have, like gas, or "Just pick me up some cigarettes on the way here", she could care less. No wonder she doesn't get many offers of help, and had to get her sister to cajole her BIL to help. You know the type.

As we were starting late, the hot sun had come around that corner and so I got a big piece of cardboard, and put it on top of the lowered HiLo, held it down with a board. The parasols on the ladders were to keep the sun off our backs. Lemonade was the drink of choice.

We went over the white paint on the trailer where it felt rough with 600 grit Wet and Dry, and then 1500 grit. Now it is as smooth as a baby's behind. But it was too hot to paint.

Tomorrow is another day.

More Painting. Such Stupidity, How Do They Survive ?

Here is the passenger side unveiled from it's newspaper, and so we started on the other side.

We had enough green primer, but when we went to paint it, one big can of paint was missing. Ray and I were both sure that there was one more can, but it must have got used up, and I hadn't been able to go to any Lowes while I was at The Woodlands. We thought that it wouldn't hurt to use some other brand of white paint to cover up the green primer, and then use what we had of the Rustoleum for the top coat. It just didn't do right, and looked gritty. So in the afternoon I went into town, and got some 1000 grit and 1500 grit Wet and Dry sandpaper, so that we could smooth the surface. I could only find one can of white Rustoleum in the whole town. I don't think that is enough, so it will mean another trip to Conroe. Thank goodness gas is going down !

I received an email from the lady who bought a very large aloe plant from me, wondering where it was. I had sent it Priority last Monday, it should have been there last Wednesday. It was a beautiful plant, and one of the few large ones that Minkie hadn't chewed or broken the very full juicy medicinal leaves. Come to find out, that the lady had moved 23 miles, and had not updated her eBay and PayPal info. She said that surely they knew she had moved as it is the new address that the credit card bill goes to. Now isn't that stupid ? EBay and PayPal don't know if you have moved unless you tell them, and how would they know where the credit card bill goes ? So keep your info up to date, or this could happen to you.

I am really worried about that lovely plant, and it's five little offshoots, they won't take that kind of transit time comfortably in this heat, and I hope that they make it, when she finds them. I always include 5 little aloe plants as a bonus, as I have too many to tend to, and they all need good new homes. But I don't know if this is going to be a good home for these plants.

A frustrating hot day.

Only 29% Humidity! I Think I will take a Walk.

Minkie was all better this morning, and started playing with my feet through the covers at 5.30 am, as usual. She was letting me know that she was ready to start her day and go out on the screen porch with Bobcat.

As I was checking my email and drinking my coffee, I quickly looked at the weather on the internet, and I happened to see that it was going to be only 29% humidity. I couldn't believe it, it is usually at least 70%.

Oh, good, I will walk down to the community mailboxes, which are down by the pool. I need the exercise, even though I get quite a few miles in when I go to WalMart, Lowes, and Home Depot.
Then below that it said that the temperature would be 100 deg. at that time, as it would be at 4.00 pm, so that nixed that idea !

So I tucked myself and the cats in the air conditioning and looked at places in the world that I will never see, through my monitor instead. I watched the web cam of Old Faithful, and tried to catch up on the Rving blogs, and just went from link to link around the world sightseeing.

I answered a few emails about my ads, which come in this screen name, the one I use most of the time. Then I tried to catch up looking at the jokes and interesting things that friends send me to my other screen name, which I don't have time to check very often. They usually send them to me, and a whole bunch of other people, with all those other folks email addresses showing, and I don't like to forward them like that. I guess they don't know about Blind Copy. So I like to take the time to copy and paste the articles, so that all those other addresses disappear. Less for spammers to feed on.

I also just piddled around, cooked some stuff, cleaned some stuff, and took it easy. Kashy "helped" me change the sheets, wrestling, hiding and playing with them, so she is coming out of her shell. She is a good little kitty who just needs to get over a lot of fears, and gain confidence. I think that being around wiley, extrovert Minkie is doing her good. Kashy is so tiny, and young to have had kittens already. The SPCA got her when already 'really' pregnant, and couldn't get her spayed in time. Two of her babies have new homes, and she saw the other two yesterday at Adoption Day, but showed no reaction, but she hasn't seen them for a month.

Just a lazy day.

Well, I Won't Do That Again...

Another boring post. After the fiasco with the couple of cats that weren't sociable at last week's Conroe Petco Adoption Day, I asked Kenya, my SPCA boss if I could take Kashy and Minkie to this Saturday's Adoption Day at the Petco in The Woodlands. Last Saturday the offending cats were in the prime middle height cages, and folks would try to pet them, through the cage bars, and get bitten or scratched, not hard, but enough to be off-putting. So the people would walk off thinking that we were trying to offer nasty cats, and wouldn't even look at the rest of them.

You wonder why Cashmere's name is really Kashmere. It is because she is really Kenya's foster, and the animals are give a name that starts with the same letter as the foster mom. I didn't know that was the proper spelling until last Saturday. When folks inquire about a certain animal either from the newspaper, Adoption Days, or the http://www.spcaofmc.petfinder.org/pcaofmc.petfinder.org/ , it is easier for Kenya to know, instantly, where each animal is fostered.

Kenya still doesn't have room to take Kashy back, but when she does go back there she will be caged most of the time, and she hates that. I have Kashy loose in the house, except for when we are working in the mornings, as we have doors opening and closing. She twists and turns into a little pretzel trying to get away from the door of her cage when you try to put her in there. She has a 'santuary' under my bed, and that is her safe spot. But this computer is in my bedroom, and I frequently have to see if I have any questions to answer about my ads. Minkie and Bobcat stay on the porch while we are working, or else locked in my bathroom if it is too hot. Kashy is still leery of the screen porch, and as she is so little and can squeeze herself like a mouse through the tiniest opening, I don't want her there unsupervised anyway. I can't remember how big the hole is under the plant sink cabinet where the plumbing drain goes through, and then underground, to water my Red Maple tree in the front yard.

I think it has grown in the last three months. On very hot days I let the faucet drip very slowly to keep it watered. It still will only shade a lizard, and not the house yet, as intended.

I knew I would have to leave earlier, as it was three towns away, but when I looked it up on the maps, it was further than I thought. I drove about 60 miles, there and back. It wasn't really in The Woodlands, it was almost into Spring, TX. As we went through Conroe, past the Petco there, Minkie started meowing "Mom, you have gone too far".

My two kitties were put in a bottom cage together, and Kashy seemed a lot happier with Minkie with her. They are getting to be quite close playmates, and wash each other. The cat cages usually have sheets draped so that they can't see the dogs being offered, but my two are used to doggies, and I wanted them be able to see around them, so I tucked their sheet up. They enjoyed watching the comings and goings, which weren't much. This Petco doesn't have the traffic that the one in Conroe does, and the adoption area is off in a corner. We had a few lookers, including a family that said they already have too many animals, and each family member held some of the cats. Minkie was already stressed from being in unfamiliar surroundings, the extra long trip, and she wouldn't start her motor for them. Very unusual. (A really 'not need to know'; she threw up in her carrier after we passed Conroe. Thank goodness I had a spare blankie with me.)

I had a good parking spot under a shade tree, so I wasn't about to move the truck. I had intended to go to a WalMart to pick up a few things, but I walked to the 99c Store next to Petco, and got a bag of 5 onions, a bag of 7 kiwis, a bag of 5 big bananas, a canteloupe (39c), a couple of pair of reading glasses at 99c each, 3-litre soda, a loaf of Sara Lee wheat bread, and few other things all at 99c. each. I got a lot for $14, and normally $20 worth of groceries will fit in the glove box, but this haul had to go in the back seat of the truck ! I really needed a little bottle of milk, and some eggs, but I didn't have a cold pack in my cooler. I was going to get them before I left, but by the time I had helped them fold the cages, helped load the Adoption Day stuff, signs, looseleaf binders with the all the animal's details, etc., and Kenya's foster animals in her big van, then got my two carriers loaded, and strapped down with seat belts, I just wanted to get home.

A very disappointing Adoption Day.

HiLo with New Paint on One Side.

Today was a great day for painting, as the humidity was lower than it has been, and the wind had gone down. The forecast was that we would have 20% chance of showers until next Wednesday, so we attacked it today. As a HiLo top half raises and lowers hydraulically at the touch of a button, we lowered it to a manageable height.

There are different grades of masking tape, priced accordingly. I had already taped off the windows and door with the better blue tape. That is the critical and precise prep taping. It is held at right angles to the sides of the windows and then folded over the front, sometimes even to the point of running it behind the window frame with your fingernail. That way you get a good clean line down the sides of your windows, and don't get paint on the edges of the window frames. The taping is one of the most important jobs, so that it doesn't look "painted".

The top part had already been painted the original goldy color, and as that new paint is more 'tender', I used the best purple tape for that. Tape can pull off the paint under it, if you don't use the right tape. Been There, Done That. Then I used a little slick topped table and got a lot of sheets of newspaper ready with tape on the long edge, for the rest of it. As that gets taped to the first prep tape, I can use the cheap masking tape for that. A few gusts of wind came up , so Ray helped me get the newspaper in place.

As you can see, over the years the trailer had lost some of the original paint and primer, and was all the way to the bare aluminum. Ray had gone all over that with 0000 steel wool to prepare the aluminum for painting. Regular primers don't work with aluminum, so I had bought several spray cans of Zinc Chromate Primer at a marine store. Auto parts stores don't sell it. Ray cleaned the whole area with Denatured Alcohol, we always do that right before we paint, as even a finger print can stop the primer or paint from taking right.

This green primer comes with a spray tip, not like a regular spray can. Then I have a gun attachment for the cans, which makes life easier. That part is all Ray's forte. He sprayed several light coats of primer, there is no waiting between coats. We waited a little bit and he started to spray the white paint. But he had got spoiled with that spray tip, and I managed to find a tip off another can of paint that would fit these paint cans. The one off the primer didn't fit. He sprayed several light coats of the paint, and voila... one side is done.

A good painting day.

Cleaning Day.Cleaned Carpet,Van and Class B.

On Tuesday, Ray and I checked over the parts that I had bought at the local True Value Hardware store to hook up the water to the HiLo sink faucet. I was disgusted at the price I had to pay for a few brass fittings for the copper line. This is a vintage trailer, so I didn't switch to PEX or Qest. I knew that I was going into the next town on Wednesday, so I thought I would compare the prices at Lowes.

I found out, at Ellie's suggestion, that I could get into the RV-Dreams Chat Room, through Internet Explorer. Once I had done that, this computer knew it's way, and I could go in the way I always do, through AOL, and Howard's journal. I don't know why, but this computer is always slower if I try to use IE all the time. I also found out from trying different versions of AOL, that it works best with AOL 9.0VR, which stands for Vista Ready, but I have XP Pro. I had been using AOL 9.0 SE (Security Edition), and once I took that out, it seems to work better. You know how it is, messing with these infernal machines, it all takes time.

On Wednesday, I got outside early and started to tape off the windows and door to the HiLo, as Ray was going to start priming it today. But with Hurricane Dolly floating around, and not knowing what the weather was going to do, it wasn't a good day for painting. Ray spent some more time preparing the top half of the trailer for paint, the bottom half doesn't need painting, while Jay and I went to the next town. I had to get some things that I can't get in our town. Jay wanted to go thrift shopping, and I hadn't done that for a while, so I thought I might find something I needed. I did, I found some valances exactly the right color for the drapes that I am making for the HiLo, a cotton tank top, and a sleeveless summer dress.

In the afternoon I spent a lot of time watching the videos in Geeks On Tour, and copied some of my pictures that are important to me that are stored on my AOL Picture Storage, to Picasa. So now they are in at least two places.

Today, Thursday, it kept on raining, and stopping, due to Dolly. Ray and I knew that we couldn't paint the HiLo. Lowes didn't have the same brass fittings for hooking up the copper tubing to the faucet, so Ray installed the ones from the hardware store. We sure were glad to have the AC in the HiLo.


An auction house up the freeway, owned by someone I know, is having an auction on the 2nd. of August, and I am going to let them list the Little Van, with a reserve, of course. So Ray washed it, and got all the pine needles off it. I found a couple of tiny blemishes that he quickly spray painted between the raindrops. I was thinking about listing the Class B with them, so he washed that, too. But I haven't quite made up my mind about that. One line of the vinyl striping right up at the top of the Class B had got weathered and funky looking, so Ray took it off with a hair dryer, but we still haven't got the adhesive off, so I didn't want to commit it to the auction until we had that looking good. Also they usually do cars, and vintage cars, so I doubt if they have a 30 amp dedicated circuit RV outlet, and my Class B's AC won't come on with only 20 amps.

Jay got the now fixed carpet cleaner going and got some spots off my carpet, and freshened up the rest of it. He also cleaned a little area rug that he had bought at a thrift shop yesterday that had his initials on it. That was a true find as it even matches his decor. He would probably be the only person who would have bought it ! You never know what you will come across at a thrift shop.

I helped clean the Little Van, the Class B, the carpet, and did some laundry, and ran the dishwasher.

Today was a cleaning day.

Class B Sewer Hose Holder. More Aloe Plants mailed.

This is a picture of the access door to where the sewer hose stores, on the Class B.
The old holder inside this door had hung up on something at sometime, and was pretty beat up, bent out of shape, and part of it was missing.
Ray and I tried to make a new one out of thin wall PVC pipe, but there was no way that would work, with all the other stuff in the way under the Class B. So we knew why the original had been made out of 4" Heat/Air flexible expandable metal duct pipe.

Inside this little door the duct had to be bent at a close 90 deg. turn and we ran it all the way to the back bumper, under the rig.
The original would only have held a 10' sewer hose, but RVers know that often you need more than that. This might even hold 30', but at least 20'. The second picture is taken looking up under the Class B.

I mail out the aloe plants at the beginning of the week, so that they won't be languishing at some Post Office over a weekend. So today was the day. I have sold quite a few on eBay, usually the 10" ones, and those get mailed in flat boxes inside padded envelopes so they can go First Class Mail. This time it was the 20" ones that were sold, and they get mailed in 24" x 6" triangular mailers. I have some 36" x 6" Priority Mailers for the 30+" plants, but it doesn't look like I will need them. When I looked at my really big aloe plants, Minkie had either chewed on the leaves, or broken some of them off. No one expects to buy an ugly looking plant, so I guess I will just have to keep them until they look better, or just sell their "pups".

Thank goodness I was able to find enough pretty, 'un-Minkied' 20" ones to ship. She is such a sweet, loving, good, clean cat, does what she is told, comes when she is called, travels well, likes dogs, answers you if you talk to her, meows a 'thank you' if you give her something, but she can't be trusted around plants.

Another hot mailing day.

Busy Week, Didn't Get Much Done But HiLo Has AC !

Did a lot of things this week, but not much to show for it.

Ray and I worked on the sewer hose holder for the Class B. The old one had signs of wear. It isn't finished yet, so no pictures.

Still messing with this computer, it still isn't working right. Been on live chat to AOL Techs and other Techs, and I still can't get into RV-Dreams.com chat room. When I click on 'connect', it goes to chat page, and then says "Regular connection did not go through", then "Trying Alternative", and then "Disconnect". First thing I did was to get the latest Java. I hated to bother Howard, but I did email him and ask him if something had been changed, and he said no. I even tried other versions of AOL, but didn't make any difference and I didn't like some of their features, so I went back to AOL 9.0 Security Edition. I put Firefox in here, but I was like a dog chasing a car, I didn't know what to do with it when I had it. I don't know how to fix the chat thing.

Jay's mother and neighbor went casino-ing for a couple of days, so I boarded their little doggies, Muffy and MaeMae, who stay in the house with me. MaeMae ignores other animals, they are beneath her, she thinks that she is a people ! But Muffy had a good time playing with Minkie, then I even let Cashmere loose, and the three of them had a good old time. I groomed Muffy while she was here, too.

With Jay's mother away, he didn't want to be on his own, so he hung around here for those two days. The first day he lolloped on my couch all day, but the next morning when I picked him up he seemed to be feeling better and we started putting the AC in the vintage HiLo, and he was glad to be doing something.

I had intended to mount it on the tongue of the trailer on a slide going in and out, of the trailer, with the outside wall cutout hinged at the top so that the trailer could still lower into the traveling position. The more I thought about it, even though I hate to see AC's hanging out of windows, this was the least invasive, and could be removed. In 1968 RV roofs weren't built to support ACs, as they were only just starting to think about that.

Installing the AC in the back window meant that my new lovely cellular blind had to be taken down, and I will have to make special drapes instead. But I have to make them for the side windows anyway, and I have plenty of material. As you can see we have an oak board, which Ray sanded and polyed, going all the way across the back of the trailer. This is to take the stress off the window frame. Then today, Sunday, Jay and I cut, and installed some heavy duty plexiglas to fill in the rest of the window. The piece over, and to the right of the AC is plexiglas. The front isn't on the AC yet, the blind supports aren't removed, and we haven't removed the awning window off it's slider.

Yesterday was Adoption Day at Petco. Ray and I worked on a couple of maintenance jobs, but it was getting too darn hot. At 12.30 pm I had the truck AC running even though it was in the shade of the three sided carport, while I loaded up the cats in their carriers in the front seat next to me, and off we went. I thought that Cashmere would be going back to Kenya's now that she had more room at her kennel, but her grandmother had died this week, the Memorial was Saturday, and so she wasn't there for Adoption Day. Another one of the volunteers had to do the adoptions that were scheduled, and run things for Kenya.

I didn't know when my truck was last serviced as there was no sticker on it when I bought it. I had been keeping an eye on the fluids, but I took it to get it serviced at the nearby WalMart while the cats were safe and sound at Petco. I thought that I would have a long wait at WalMart on a Saturday afternoon, but it was ready after I had picked up a few things, and then on to Lowes. I had a list of parts to get, i.e. different ways that we could replace the sewer hose holder on the Class B, and hook up the water to the faucet in the new sink in the HiLo, and different blades and parts that we needed. That meant traipsing from one end of Lowes to the other, and I had done a lot of that at WalMart as they were remodeling and nothing was in it's usual place. I was beat. I hadn't really had time to eat much before I left home, I had taken a cold lemonade with me, but that was soon gone.

I went back to Petco, I just didn't feel like shopping any more, my shoes were bothering me, and I hurt all over. My fosterkids, Minky and Cashmere, two of the sweetest, most gentle cats were in bottom cages. One of the fostermoms had the four middle cages, where they get the most attention, (you know like the grocery stores place their most expensive wares), and two of her cats were mean and would bite and scratch people trying to pet them through the cage bars. That would put people off, and they wouldn't even bother to look at the other cats in the bottom and top cages. So we didn't do well.

It really hurt me to get up and down to tend to my cats right down there at floor level, and I was already hurting all over. I had to get Cashmere out as it was time for her to have her Revolution (Flea and Heartworm Preventative) and then we found out that she was scheduled for another booster shot, so I had to get down and get her out again. But when time came to fold up all 20 cages set up for the Adoption Day, I helped fold, and load them onto the flatbed trollies to take to the truck.

When we got home, I let Cashmere and Minkie out of their carriers in my living room, and got the rest of the stuff unloaded, and I must have downed 4 or 5 glasses of ice cold water. I think I must have got myself dehydrated, no wonder I felt so bad.

An exhausting day.

Just Did Odd Jobs, and Went Into Town

Here is a little bit better picture of Cashmere, laying on the kitty condo, watching what is going on.







I let her loose in my bedroom last night, after showing her where the box is in my bathroom. She slept under my bed all night and was quite happy. Minkie, who has been living in the house since Boots got adopted, is very outgoing, and she scares Cashmere. If Minkie is out of the way Cashmere will come out of her hiding place, be sociable and comes to me to be petted. Sometimes it is a chore to find out where she is because I have to put her back in the big cage, as that is the only time she will eat.

Friday, Ray and I got a little bit of work done before it got too hot. We got the drain hooked up to the new double sink that we installed in the HiLo. We moved the spare wheel bumper mount to the left, so that maybe we can put an AC in the back single awning type window temporarily. Then he started getting the outside top part prepared for painting with 0000 steel wool. I was still messing with this computer, and answering emails back and forth about the Class B and the aloe that I have for sale.

Yesterday, Saturday, Ray didn't work, and so I still messed with this thing, and even looked at some PC forums for ideas. Then in the afternoon, Jay called and wanted me to take him into town for a haircut as he was going to go to church this morning. I took him as his mother was not feeling well. I got a few groceries while I was waiting for him, and I was glad I carry a cold bag in the truck, as he wanted to eat while we were in town. We went to one of the six Mexican restaurants in town, and this one is named, when translated, "The Parrot", so I always call it that. I just took my cold bag in with me to keep my groceries cool. The beef fajitas were tender, and the plate also came with three huge butterfly shrimp, white cheese, mushrooms, refried beans, fried onions, rice, guacamole, lettuce, salsa and tortillas. One order was a lot of food for us to share, and still I brought home a 'doggie box', which I finished up tonight.

Today, Sunday, I was still fooling around with this darned contraption, trying to stop it from freezing up, and answering people's silly questions. They don't tell me their zipcode, so how am I going to know how much it would cost to send 2 or 3 big aloe plants? I have a shipping calculator on my eBay listing. As registered eBay users, it puts their zipcode in the shipping calculator for them, so they just have to put in how many of that item they want, and it works it all out for them. I have the weight of the item, and any handling charges, already loaded in the part of the listing that the public doesn't see, so the calculator can work out how much it would cost to ship 2 or 3. That is one great thing about computers.

So it has been a quiet few days.

Re-arranged Screen Porch.

Nothing interesting going on today, but I stayed busy.

This morning I did a lot of re-potting and re-arranging on the screen porch, which is on the front of the house, through a patio door off my living room. It is a separate place, and has no door to the outside. My front door goes into a hall. I hung up several hanging plants, and made more room on the shelves for the aloe.

I hope that Minkie won't mess with the hanging ones, like most cats she likes to play with dangling things. She had already batted the "spiders" off my spider plants. Bobcat could care less, she just likes to sit out there and watch the world go by. Cashmere's cage is right by that patio door so she was enjoying watching what was going on. Minkie was "helping" me, by knocking over potting soil, and putting bite marks in leaves. But she is very good, when I tell her "no", she stops. She has been raised like a dog, and comes when she is called, and listens to everything you say. I do hope that she gets a good forever home soon. She will make somebody a good companion, and travels well in her carrier.

This afternoon I was bill paying on line with http://www.mycheckfree.com/ My bills: lights, phone, cable, insurance, Lowes, Sears, Valero, etc. all go there and I just click which bank account I want them to come out of, how much to pay, and get a confirmation number, and I am done. It is all free, not like some online bill paying. I can't have my bills paid automatically, as I am one of the folks that gets their money at different times of the month, no set dates, and I like to do it myself, anyway. I can feel the flinches, as I hit the 'Pay' button !

This computer gives me fits sometimes, and today was one of them. I had a bunch of trouble trying to change a picture on an eBay listing, so I spent a lot of time messing with that. I already have free McAfee, but I had installed Norton, and they scanned it; AVG, and they scanned it. Avast scanned it. But it didn't seem to help. I had un-installed them, too, as I didn't want a bunch of programs cluttering up my machine. Then I bought a "scan and fix it" program, and it got rid of a bunch of junk, so it runs better now. But I will see how it goes in the next few days. It does have a money-back guarantee.

Just a 'nothing' day.

"Jim Beam" Hits my Truck.Cashmere Moved.

Ray and I got the little boudoir chair repacked in smaller box. It wasn't such a sturdy box, but I packed it well.

Then we put new "chrome" trim around the wheelwell of the Little Van. The old trim looked like it had scraped something, and didn't look good. Thank goodness I had bought a new roll of it at a thrift shop some time ago. We rivited it at the ends, just like the original.

I thought someone was coming to see it today, but that didn't work out. Come to find out after several emails, that he wanted to trade an S-10 pick-up, that would be fine by me, but unfortunately after I checked it out on NADA, Edmunds, and Kelly Blue Book he seemed to think the truck was worth a $1000 more than they did.

I checked my Little Van out on NADA too, and I am asking less that what it books out at. He wanted me to give him $ and my van ! I don't think so.

Then we installed the long surge protector on a wall, up off the floor where I could get to it. When I read the instructions to my laptop, it said not to unplug the charger from the unit, but to unplug it at the wall. That surge protector was stuck behind my desktop, and there was no way I could get to it there.

We moved the German Shepherd cage into my living room, with Cashmere in it. She had been all alone in the grooming room. Now that she will come out of the Kitty Condo, and lay on top of it, she needed to get used to "house" noises, and Minkie wandering around. Bobcat ignores her. Cashmere ate some more of her dry food in the night, and even ate a little canned food this morning. I had held her in my lap yesterday evening and I think I even felt her "motor" running. But it sounded more like a bicycle going by.
I gave her some more water with a dab of honey, I think that is helping her.

I need to learn more about my camera, I can never take good indoor shots with it. This is the best I could do, to show you what she looks like. She is a tiny little tabby with white feet.

This afternoon I went to the Post Office and got the chair mailed off, and then to the water company to pay the bill. As I was backing out of the parking space, after looking left and right up down the road, this red flash caught my eye, and this guy in a little red car ran right behind me, not from the road, and we collided. He had just left a parking space at the liquor store, and said that he didn't see me. I called the local cops, and a local Constable car came by, and then a police car. The police did a sobriety test on him, making him walk a line, etc. and eventually hauled him off in handcuffs. Then they searched his car and found a plastic glass with booze in it and an open bottle of Jim Beam. His mirror had hit my tail light and broken it, and that made the corner below it bend. It was difficult to see if my truck had done any damage to his car, as it had been hit before, and there was rust on the previous dents. I hope that is one more drunk off the road for a while.

Not really my day.

Packing stuff for shipping.Cashmere ate a Smidgeon

Today, Ray and I got this Boudoir Chair, which is sold, ready for shipping. We cleaned up the metal part, vacuumed the upholstery, took the back off, found a box, packed it in the box which is really larger than we needed. But is a nice sturdy microwave box.

Then I had some more aloe plants to send to new homes too. The size that I was selling right now come out of this batch. So I got out the scales again, and weighed and packed them up. When you choose the ones of the size that you are selling, there are always other smaller ones, and larger ones in the same pot. They grow and multiply so quickly, so they have to be re-potted. So I spent some time getting more pots ready, Large and small.

Ray took the Puddle Jumper around the corner to the convenience store with two gas cans. I know that a generator won't start unless you have at least a quarter of a tank of gas, and the TranStar gas gauge was near that mark. They are made that way so that you can't get stranded. I usually keep more than that amount of gas in it, but the last time I drove it to Cleveland, TX we were too tired after loading up all that building material in it, to stop for gas. I wish we had now, as gas was so much cheaper then.

Two lawnmower gas cans, and it was over $16. What is the world coming to ? Let's drill for our own oil, the caribou and whales will get over it. They did before. No wonder motor homes are getting harder and harder to sell. I have had folks tell me that they are going to little travel trailers rather than motor homes, to save gas.

This afternoon I went to the Post Office and got the Aloe mailed, but the chair box was too big, and I brought it home to repack it. I could have sent it as an oversize box, but as I have to go back into town tomorrow it wasn't worth the extra cost. I am going to hate re-packing it as we had loaded it up with styrofoam peanuts, and they are a dickens to move without making a mess.

Cashmere finally ate some of her dry cat food in the night, Hooray ! But she won't touch the canned cat food, tuna or sardines. So I ate the rest of the sardines for lunch. I brought her in here a little while ago, and held her on my lap, and got some more honey water down her. Tonight I will give her some more Feline Supplement.

My 'get packing' day.

Tried to Air Up Inside Duals. Cashmere the Cat.

When you see the temperature here, don't forget about the 70%+ humidity !!

As the TranStar was out of it's RVport so that we could fix the sewer line, it was a good day to air up the tires and start the genny. Ray got the fancy hubcap off which is held on by two of the lug nuts. Here he is using a long 'cheater pipe' on the lug wrench. I have tire extenders for it, but they didn't work right so they are not on there now.

When I get the next set of tires for it, I will make sure that the right extenders are on there. Jay said that he used to check the inside duals when we did the "Monthly check list". Well, Ray and I found out that he couldn't have. It is impossible to air up the inside dual the way it is. We tried to take the outside dual off, as we had managed to ascertain that the inside one was 20 lb below normal. The floor jack kept on trying to move. So we got this 2 x12 board and drilled dents in it, to make the jack stable. We had chocked the wheels and I had applied the emergency brake. But it wouldn't go high enough to get the outside wheel off, we would have had to crawl underneath it to jack it up by the axle.

Now it is parked on a slope, and if the chocks and handbrake should let that nearly 10,000 beastie roll into the road, it could be a calamity. With the axle lifted, and as emergency brakes only work on the back wheels, there would only be one side chocked to stop it from rolling. We decided that we were going to let someone else do it. Better safe than sorry.

Cashmere will lie on top of the Kitty Condo now, but she still hasn't eaten. I have tried to tempt her with all kinds of things. I have held her, petted her, talked to her and she just won't eat. This evening I held her on my lap and got some honey & water in the side of her mouth with a syringe. (No needle, of course). Before I go to bed I am going to put some Feline High Calorie Food Supplement down her the same way. The Canine equivalent works great on dogs that don't want to eat. It either bucks up their appetite, or they decide that they would rather eat than have the supplement !!.

An unsuccessful day.

Sewer Fixed. Found "Cashmere".

Ray and I got the sewer all primed and cemented together this morning. Getting that Schedule 40 PVC pipe in the right position required that I levered the old pipe up while Ray primed and glued it, and then we gently got it into position. With that cement you only get one shot at it. Fortunately, everything was cut to the right length, and we got it done. After it had set up for a while, we checked it, and not one drop of leak. I had bought some River Rock yesterday, and we put that under the pipe to help support it. We got the dirt back in the trench and tamped it down, and also buried a piece of treated plywood over the place where the big heavy B+ motor home would ride over it.


I still hadn't seen hide nor fur of Cashmere, the cat that arrived yesterday. I knew that she was in the grooming room, but I wanted to see her, to make sure. I did finally find her, about 10.30 this morning, she was under one of the kennel cages. I petted her, talked to her, and left her alone. She still hadn't eaten anything, and that worried me. I knew that she had mostly been in a cage at Kenya's as she had been tending her kittens, and some animals feel safer in ther own "house". I really wanted to get her in my big German Shepherd cage, so that I knew where she was, and keep an eye on her.

I looked where I had found her before, and she was gone ! Another search, even with a flashlight behind things, didn't find her. She is really traumatized by all this, poor thing. Finally about 4.00 this afternoon I found her. I had to move some heavy things to get to her, and I gently picked her up and petted her, and got her in the big cage. First she got inside the red 'kitty condo', then she burrowed under this tan blankie on that white fluffy toilet seat cover. I gave her some more food, some fancy food out of a little plastic container with foil on it, some other fancy food that comes in a pouch, but she still won't eat. I looked it up on the internet and it said to tempt her with tuna, even though it is not good for her, the main thing is that she EATS. Then I tried sardines, no success. Cats go into Fatty Liver Disease if they don't eat for two days, so now I am getting worried. I just called Kenya, my SPCA boss, and she said that I should just leave her alone, she might snap out of it, but if she doesn't eat tomorrow, she will have to go back to Kenya's.
Now that I have her caged and a cover over some of it so that she feels more secure, I can keep her quiet and hopefully she will come out of it.

So tomorrow it will be me eating up the tuna and sardines for lunch that day.

Best laid plans of Mice and Men..and Cashmere Cat.

Today, we attacked the sewer line. It was not leaking at the guest house laundry room end of my RVport, the problem was at the entrance to my RVport. The pipe had been crushed, probably by my heavy dually B+ running over it for the last 10 years, and was stopped up with dirt.

Here you can see where we cut that section out. Ray baled it out, and we put that liquid down one of my RV dump stations which is downline from there. We temporarily put in some couplings and an old piece of pipe, and put sawhorses over the trench, as I had to get Minkie to Adoption Day, after a shower of course.

When I got to Petco, I was informed that Minkie's prospective adoptive parents couldn't come today to see her. The husband had come down with a fever, and would re-schedule for next week.

So that is the fourth time this week that I have made plans to be somewhere at a certain time to meet someone about something, and it has not happened, so best laid plans of mice and men....., and don't count any chickens.....

While Minkie was on display at Petco, I went to Home Depot and Lowe's and picked up plumbing parts from a list I have been making since we put the double sink in the HiLo. Now maybe we can get that sink drain done, as well as our new sewer line.

A sweet small tabby cat, "Cashmere", that the SPCA rescued when she was just about to queen (have kittens), had her 4 kittens 10 weeks ago, before they could get her spayed. Two of the kittens have been adopted, and Cashmere was there at Adoption Day with the other two kittens. Now that Cashmere has been spayed, she was supposed to go to prospective adoptive parents herself today. They didn't show up, and Kenya was counting on her leaving as she has other rescues that she has to take in. The last two kittens did go to their 'forever' homes. That left Cashmere with nowhere to go. I opened my big mouth, hoping that after the first two days when Minkie and Cashmere could "meet" each other through cage bars, that they might play together. Minkie misses Boots so much.

So I came home with two cats in two carriers. I just turned Minkie loose in the house, then I took Cashmere's carrier into the dog room and opened it. I turned around to put litter in a box for her, and she was gone. I have hunted high and low, and I cannot find her. I have put some canned food, dry food and water out, where I can watch it through the glass door. She hasn't touched it yet. I know that there is no way that she could have got out of that room. I used a flashlight and looked behind the fridge and deep freeze that are in the middle room, behind the kennel cages in the grooming room, everywhere, but I can't see her. I have left the TV on for her, and there is a night light in there, so maybe she will come out during the night from wherever she is, and eat.
Poor little gal, she loses her last two kittens, and is hauled off to a strange place that smells of dog by a strange person, and is probably petrified.

It was not Cashmere's day.

Running Boards. Shipping Plants to Canada ?

Oh, What an interesting life I lead right now ! Not really.

Yesterday, Ray mowed the whole place after he got back from a pressure washing job.

Also, I was expecting Mindi to bring the dogs again, and I was going to groom Suggy, but then she called and said it would probably be next week now. She sounded tired. Maybe having a 15 month old in the house, when you are not used it, was the cause of that !!

As she wasn't bringing the dogs, I worked on the plants some more, and got caught up on reading some of the blogs of my friends on RV-Dreams chat. Some are Fulltimers, and I love to look at the pictures of the places they travel. Some are Gonnabees, who have contracts on their houses, waiting on the closing date, having the yard sales, giving their "stuff" to their kids or charities, and getting ready to get on the road. Some are Wannabees, and have the date set for when they can retire, sell their houses and "stuff", and get on the road. Some like motor homes, and some prefer fivers (fifth wheels).

Today, I was expecting someone to come at noon to look at the Class B, and I had noticed that the running boards looked a bit grubby, so Ray and I scrubbed them with soft brushes, scrubby sponges, and aluminum cleaner. They look a lot better. I had turned on the fridge, so that they could see that it worked. They didn't show up, and emailed me 15 minutes after they were supposed to be here, and said they could probably make it on Monday. Gee, I had even put on a dress !

My long utility trailer is next to the Class B, and so it reminded us to remove the flat tire. It had just got old, and when BOOM one day. We jacked it up, put jack stands under it, and the wheel is in the back of the truck until I can get into town and buy a new tire. Probably tomorrow, as I have to take Minkie to Adoption Day to meet her prospective new "parents". While we were at it we packed the bearings on each wheel.

I worked some more on the screen porch, re-potting aloe for a long time, and trying to find out more from the USPS site for shipping plants to Canada. Just one more thing to learn when you ship stuff, that takes time, until you have done it before. Domestic Mail is a lot easier.

I started writing this at 4.00 and it is now 6.46.pm. I have spent all this time finding out more about shipping plants to Canada. It take a special certificate and inspection through Canadian Customs. Our Post Office, and their main 800 # didn't tell me all this when I asked them about shipping plants to Canada. I need to go take shipping to Canada off my listings. Be right back.

Now, I didn't do just that for the 2-3/4 hours, I also put a pork roast into my electric frying pan, fed the cats, and kept on checking on the roast, etc. I could have put the roast in my big convection oven, but it is easier for me to do it in the big electric skillet, as I can add veges later easier. I love potatoes, onions, carrots, celerey done around a roast.
Not good for my cholesterol, but once a year can't hurt much.

I have to go put the potoates in with the roast, or I won't get any today !

Truck's Back.Got Mindi's Dogs.Minkie New Home?

Mindi called and said that she would be bringing the most boisterous dogs today, after all. She and her husband are adopting a 15 month old people baby and now this was finally the date that he would arrive. She didn't want to have all the dogs around when the baby got there.


She brought 5 medium size dogs, and the great big fat Lab, "CD". I had already got the big cage out, again, and set it up in the grooming room for CD. Sometimes she isn't too nice to the smaller dogs, and I didn't want any issues as long as they are in my care. She wouldn't get in the cage. Ceasar found a chew bone in the toy box, and CD took it away from him, and was growling at the smaller dogs. I had already put a big collar on her, as I can kind of guide her gently with it, but she wasn't having any of that. I am not going to argue with a growling dog that weighs over 100 lb. !


So let I them all out into the back yard, rushed in and got the chew bone in the cage, and when CD came back in she went into the cage. Phew ! She still growled when one of the smaller dogs came near her cage as long as she had that bone. I found each of the smaller dogs a little rawhide chew thing of their own.

Also the truck was ready, so Ray and I went into the next town to get it. We took the Puddle Jumper, not his car, so that we could pick up the lawn mower from the repair shop. If I had it in the back of the truck, I wouldn't be able to stop anywhere. Whereas, if Ray had to stop anywhere, he could lock up the little old Mercury Tracer wagon. We got that done, but never got to do the digging to see where the leak is from the guest house washing machine drain.

Ray had to go do an unexpected pressure washing job, and I had to finish grooming at least one of the dogs, Ceasar, and I worked on him. In between all this, I was printing out the list of all the last month's calls on Ray's cell phone, so that Ray could look at them, as his bill said he had gone way over his minutes.

Then the internet cable went out so I turned on my laptop, as I have it connected to dial-up. Everytime I turn it on, it is updating something, Windows, Microsoft, AOL, AVG, etc. That's because it has been sitting in a corner just about ever since I bought it, until now. At least I could check my email on it, and answer some questions about my ads. I still can't get used to the keyboard, the main thing is that I am an old typewriter gal, and I am used to having a long space bar, and on this keyboard, too. So I keep on hitting the keys on each side of the little short space bar with my thumb, and so the laptop does unexpected things. As the little buttons, and holes around the sides, and above the keyboard aren't marked with anything but little hieroglyphics, I could see that I really needed the "destructions" for it. So when the cable came back on, I looked up the manual for it, and printed it out. I haven't had the nerve to try to get my printer attached to the laptop yet !!

Kenya called and they have an approved adoption application for Minkie, my little black foster kitten, and they want to meet her on Saturday. I will be so glad when she gets a forever home. For her sake and mine. As you know, she and Bobcat spend their mornings on my screen porch. I used to have some Spider plants (Airplane plants, to ole Brit me) with lots of little dangling spiders, (or airplanes). Minkie has caught all the spiders, and they are no more. On top of that she has chewed the bottoms of the hanging leaves. Then she lays down in the trays of little aloe plants and flattens them. Bobcat would never think of doing anything like that !

I took pictures of big CD, and of my injured plants, but I am back on dial-up as the cable went out again, so they won't load. I hooked the phone line to the desk top this time. I will add them later. Maybe when the cable company gets it all together my machine will run faster ?

Mindi picked up her dogs, so I am done with dogs for today.

Busy with the Ads, and Aloe, and Lumber

These last few days have just flown by. Ray and I worked some more on the lumber pile, getting it moved so that the fence can get repainted. We got a lot of the mess and pine needles cleaned up, that the high winds had blown all over the place the other day. We tore apart some racks that my late Johnnie had built years ago, I hated to do it, but they were no longer needed. Jay wanted to bring his lumber up to my pile. I think he was just trying to see if I would let him work here, which I didn't, as he was still acting up. But I knew he needed his little bit of lumber out of his mother's way, and so we loaded up my truck and brought it up here, and stacked it with mine. (Jay couldn't keep his paws off the fancy radio/CD in the truck and pushed buttons that made it do all sorts of weird things.) Ray and I had the burn pile going again, getting rid of everything that wasn't of any use, and the pine needles.

EBay was having a '5 for free' listing sale for certain sellers, including me, and I spent a lot of time on that. This machine always seems to get into low granny gear when I am on eBay.

I have been putting different spyware and virus searches on my computer, and running them, and removing them. I thought they might show up something that was slowing this thing down.
Nothing showed up, so maybe it isn't my computer, maybe it is the cable !! I got the laptop going on dial-up while the cable internet was out, thanks to Bill KY, who told me how to turn it off WiFi. But I am not at all comfortable with that keyboard, and you can forget that touch mouse pad thingy. When I bought it, the deal was that they would throw in a real mouse, and I make sure that he/she has it's own 'pad' !

It was time to renew some ads on Craigslist, and when the ads are new is when you get all the inquiries. I had to answer questions and sent pictures to prospective buyers. Craigslist only lets you post 4 pictures, so I have albums of each item, stored on AOL's Picture Storage, ready to send. That all takes time.

Before I took the truck out, Ray looked at my radio/CD, and tried to figure out what Jay had done to it. I had found the Sony "destructions" on the internet, and printed them out into a little book. We sure needed them. It still had a CD in it from the PO, and that was the terrible racket that the radio was making. Gee, who would WANT to listen to that !! We found out from the book, that the 'eject' button was behind the removable face plate of the radio. We got it back onto radio again, thank goodness. Now, I don't know which is the 'bass' button. They don't call it that anymore so I will have to study the book again. I wish it just had a plain old radio in it. All I want is the news, the weather, and some easy listening music, not too loud. I don't ask for much.

Finally, I got into the next town, with a big list of things to do, when one of my front brakes started smoking. Good Sam ERS kept me on hold for a long time, and then said that they would only take it to an authorized repair facility in that town, and I would have to pay the difference to get it to my town. The wrecker fee to my town was going to be as much as having it fixed, so I crept about a mile with my flashers on, to a little mechanic's shop and left it there to be fixed. Ray came and got me. Thank goodness he wasn't in a hurry, as there were two things I had to get before going home. Sand for re-potting the aloe plants, and some dry kitten food for the foster kitten, Minkie. We didn't feel like fighting the crowds, and always full parking lot at the Wally World there, so a quick stop at Lowe's and Krogers, on the way home.



Now that I had the sand to mix in with the potting mix for the aloe, I spent a lot of time the last few days on the screen porch, which is also my potting area. I had run out of sand while I was re-potting some of them the other day, and I couldn't just leave them out of the dirt, so I had to re-pot some of those again, too. I needed to know if they had rooted well, as folks don't want to buy plants that have root rot from over watering or something. So I took some pictures for my ads. I think that they are well-rooted !! I have some that are supposed to be sent to Canada. USPS said it was OK.

We have had thunder and lightening some days and in between them, Ray painted a little part of the Class B, just inside the side door, where it looked like someone had scraped their boot. The sun visor wouldn't turn sideways in the truck, so we fixed that. The snappers that hold the passenger side visor up on the Little Van, needed new snappers, so we fixed that. Mindi never did bring the dogs and the big black Lab, so we folded up the big, heavy German Shepherd cage and put it up. We got some of the monthly list done, as it was raining, i.e. cleaning and repacking the filters in the air cleaners, vacuuming the ceiling fans, cleaning AC filters, checking tire pressures of the vehicles that are under cover. We still have to start the generators, and check the tires on the other vehicles.

It never ends, the joys of ownership again. Now there is some kind of a leak coming from under the guest house utility room, there are suds are coming up from the ground in my RVport, whenever Shay uses the washer !!

Tomorrow will be a digging day.