Packing Day

Sunday, November 23, 2014

It is a cloudy and rainy day here in Bloomington.  However, it is fairly warm (mid fifties), so a good day to pack the MH.  Got my list ready to check off as I go through the day.  Will wait till Tuesday morning to finish up with the food.  Tomorrow, I will turn on the fridge so it will be ready to be filled with stuff.  Tomorrow is also the day I am going to pack all my clothes. 

The current plan is for Evan, Kristi and the grandkids to come by here after Evan gets off work late in the afternoon on Tuesday.  We will leave from here and drive to Rolla, Missouri and spend the night at the Walmart parking lot.

This afternoon, I tied the two batteries down and connected a positive and negative cable to the batteries and ran them up into the MH under the bench seat to where I have placed the inverter.  Wanted to get the outside work done today while it is still fairly warm.  Tomorrow will be much colder, so I will work inside the MH to tie down the inverter and lastly, hook the two cables to it and then it will be ready to use.  Have to wait till the sun comes back before I can test the solar panel.  May have to wait till I am on the road before that happens.

Early this evening, Jim and Sarah stopped by to wish me well on my trip.  They also surprised me with my Xmas gift a little early.  I now have one more new electronic gadget to play with while on my journey.  I now have a wonderful Garmin GPS to make sure I stay on the right road during my journey this winter.  I had a seven year old Magellan that didn’t allow map updates, so it was getting quite outdated.

Dolly and I played cards tonight and I was winning easily.  All I needed was 10 points and she needed 130.  I could not go out and she ended up with 195 points and went out to win the game.  It was a horrible loss for me!

Watched a little football and time for bed.

See you later.

Last Day of My Work Life

Saturday, November 22, 2014

Went to work at 8 a.m. for the last time.  Got off work at 1 p.m. and now my working life is over.  I think I am mentally prepared to be retired now.  Almost 70, so I think I have done my stint.  No fanfare, just said goodbye to a few folks and said I would stop by for a visit next Spring when I get back from my winter journey.

Yesterday, I removed the lenses from the two Jeep rear lights and checked to make sure the bulbs were in properly and they were.  I knew the turn signal switch was okay because the Jeep signals worked properly when not attached to the MH.  It was cold out and I knew I was over my head, so quit for the day and called Evan to see if he could look at them on Saturday, and he could.

Stopped by Evan’s house with the Jeep at 2 p.m. so he could look at the blinkers.  He did a lot of testing for continuity and also checked the wiring diagrams on the Internet.  The short of it was this; the wiring harness that runs from the MH to the Jeep was wired for a trailer and the Jeep was wired to be towed by a MH.  I did not know that the wiring setup is different when towing a trailer and towing a Jeep.  He opened the wiring harness and switched a green wire and a brown wire around and all worked properly.  Evan is a smart guy and I am lucky to have him as a son-in-law.

I bought the wiring harness and tow bar from an individual who used them to pull a truck behind a MH.  Evidently, his wiring setup must have been different.  What is funny is I checked the lights when I first hooked them up and thought all was okay.  I guess I didn’t look to see if both blinkers were blinking when I tested the right blinker. 

We checked the lights each time we hooked the Jeep to the MH last winter but it wasn’t till the trip home last year, that I noticed the problem.  I think the spare tire and bicycle blocked our view as we checked each light.  We couldn’t see both lights without stepping further back from the Jeep and we evidently didn’t do that.  Fortunately, we did not use the right blinker very much, since we didn’t pass too many folks at our slow speed.

This day has significance.  It was the day President Kennedy was shot in Dallas fifty-one years ago.  I can remember the day vividly.  I was a senior in high school and sitting in my English class.  Ms. Shields was the teacher.  The only teacher I remember in all of my high school classes and it is because President Kennedy was shot.  The next class was the last class of the day, my Journalism class.  The class was cut short because the school shut down for the day.  That’s how traumatic it was for everyone.

Played cards tonight and was beaten for the fourth day in a row.  Dolly has no mercy.  After all, I have just retired for the last time!

See you later.

Jeep Fixed and Going Solar, Sorta

Wednesday, November 19, 2014

Evan received the PCM for the Jeep on Saturday, put it in and gave it a test drive.  The verdict is, it is now fixed and almost ready for travel.  Have one more item to look at before it is ready to pull. 

When plugged into the MH and I move the turn signal to indicate a right turn, both the rear lights blink.  Doesn’t do that when I move the turn signal to indicate a left turn.  Googled the problem, and It says to check the ground, then the bulb and lastly the turn signal switch.  Gonna do that if it ever warms enough to go outside.

So, I am on target to leave here next Tuesday afternoon.  The plan is leave after the grandkids get out of school and the parents get off work.  More on that next Tuesday.

Got a Flu shot on Monday and also worked my next to last day on Monday.  Work 5 hours on Saturday and then I will be officially retired from working for a living.  I will then live off of State Farm and the Government.

As if I don’t have enough to get ready for the journey, I went out to Amazon.Com and purchased:

1. Power Bright APS600-12 Pure Sine 600 Watt continuous / 1000 watt Peak Power Inverter. 
2. RenogyⓇ Foldable 100W Solar Suitcase Battery Charger that includes a
3. 10A built in 4-stage solar charge controller with LCD display and fully adjustable parameters setting
4. RioRand LCD Digital 7.5V-20V Voltage Panel Meter Voltmeter   

My logic for buying this is:

• Last year, I replaced two almost new 95 amp/hr wet cell batteries with five AGM 105 amp/hr batteries.  For the past year, I have kept them both charged while just sitting in my garage.
• Didn’t want to just get rid of them, so decided to use the batteries to charge my laptop and phones.
• But the main reason is to learn how solar works and make my mistakes with a small investment.

I will now have two chassis battery systems. 

1. One powered by the MH engine, land line or generator. 
2. The second will be solar powered with a battery charger back-up using the first option.

I am hoping the solar system will allow me to use the generator less often.  Last year, I used the generator for about two hours each morning to make it through the remainder of the day on battery power.  I averaged 6 amps/hr. and the major amp users were the TV, laptop and charging all our gadgets.  This year, I will not use the TV as often as Dolly did, and hopefully the solar panel can keep up with my laptop and accessories.  We shall see.  I am sure I will learn some things and that is the main reason I am doing this

Lost at cards, but watching my favorite TV program “Survivor”.

See you later.

Coyote in the Snow

Friday, November 14, 2014

My middle son, Steve, works for Illinois State University.  Yesterday morning during the snow showers, he took some brush to the landfill on the west side of Normal.   As he was throwing brush into the pile, he noticed this coyote, not far from him, just watching.  He looks very big and very healthy.

It has been a very cold today.  Never got out of the mid-twenties.  More like January around here.  Dolly, Fergie and I stayed in all day watching TV and resting.

This evening after dinner, we played a game of Gin Rummy and I managed a win.

Didn't hear any news on the part for the jeep today, so guess it is still in the mail.  Hopefully, tomorrow will be the day.  I did receive the tag renewal for the motorhome in the mail today, so I will be able to get the tag renewed next week.  The jeep isn’t due till February, so I will ask if I can renew it early; otherwise, I will have Dolly send it to me.

See you later.

Slow Snow Shower Day

Thursday, November 13, 2014

Woke up to a cloudy morning with snow showers.  Nothing is accumulating, thank goodness, but still cold.  It is one of those days where we just stay inside and watch TV.

Got a copy of an email from the company with the jeep part, and they indicated it had been shipped by USPS on Wednesday.  Hopefully, it will arrive on Friday and it works.

Did get a photo of a Blue Jay on the feeder yesterday.  They are a cautious species, and will bolt in a second if they see anything.  This guy wasn’t so cautious.  Had to knock on the window to get him to look up from his feeding.

Early this evening, we went to the local school to watch Erin in her class singing recital she is in each Fall.

Home now, watching a little football and playing a game of Gin Rummy.  Dolly got the perfect hand, and went out without even drawing a card.  What’s bad is that I dealt her the hand.  She went on to beat me in the game.

See you later.

Giving Blood on Veterans Day

Tuesday, November 11, 2014 - Happy Veterans Day

 

The weather took a big turn for the worse today.  The temperature dropped all day, and is now down to the freezing point of 32.   Cold rain this morning, but is now only cloudy and windy and it looks like this is here to stay for awhile.  Sure hope I get out of here on schedule.  Just heard from Evan, and the vendor says they just received a CPU and it should be here by the end of the week.  Things are looking up.

For the past four years now I have been seeing a blood specialist.  My regular doctor found something in my regular blood test and ordered a Complete Blood Count (CBC).  This test revealed that I have elevated Red Blood Cells (RBC), Hemoglobin HGB and Hematocrit  (HCT).  Every year, they are elevated, but bounce around to some extent.  The doctor has not found any specific cause, so they monitor me every six months to check for any changes and so far it stays about the same. 

 The reason I mention this is because the doctor said giving blood would temporarily reduce my red blood cells.  This would be good for me and good for someone needing blood, so I have had a goal of giving blood two times a year.  This year, I tried something different.  I made what is called a double red cell donation.  This is an especially important donation for Type O donors, which I have.  I figured that since I am a veteran, this would be a good day to give to others.

 
Dolly beat me badly in Gin Rummy tonight.

See you later.

Trying to Beat the Cold

Sunday, November 9, 2014

(Click on the photos to enlarge)

After breakfast this morning, I went out into the cool breezy air to cut more of the back yard and pick up the many leaves back there.  Did about half the back yard and called it quits and went inside to watch football for awhile.  It is supposed to get to around 60 tomorrow with sunshine, so will finish up tomorrow.

   I took the screen out of the kitchen window over the sink, so I could get better photos of the birds and animals that use our bird feeder as their restaurant.  Birds were scarce, but did get  several shots of one of the many ground squirrels or chipmunks as they are called around here. He is filling his pouches and going to his underground home to store food for the winter.

The farmer across the road is plowing his field in preparation for winter too.  Those propellers you see are two of the many wind turbines filling the landscape about 5 miles north of our front yard.  The next photo gives you a better idea.  It is a fairly large wind turbine farm with probably 50 in all.

Late this afternoon, my brother, Dick called me on his Skype.  Glad to see my laptop works with Skype.  He just bought his first smart phone, and wanted to try Skype on it, so we both got to test our new toys.  I was happy to see that our connection was much better using my new Verizon hotspot.  Did not lose the signal one time.  With my AT&T connection, I was always dropping the connection on Skype.

Beat Dolly rather badly tonight in Gin Rummy.  Let’s just say 0 was a long way up from her score when I reached 500. Heh,heh, heh.

We’re watching our team tonight – Da Bears.  In our football pool, Dolly is sticking with Da Bears, but I know they don’t stand a chance, so I jumped ship and picked Green Bay.  Just heard the announcer, Chris Collinsworth say that the game was becoming “embarrassing for a proud franchise.”

Love my new camera.

See you later.