Don’t You Just Love It When A Plan Falls Into Place

I’ve been procrastinating now for about two months on tackling that messy automatic water hose reel in my water bay. When we purchased this motorhome the reel was in pretty bad shape. It was real rusty looking at the mounting base and left rusty stains around the base. The hose was eight years old and needed replacing and the only way to do this is completely take the reel out. So, Friday morning Sandy and I were up early as we wanted to tackle this in the cooler morning than later in the day when it would be so hot.

The evening before I had sprayed the mounting screws with a rust penetrating spray so hop0efully it would make it easier to break the mounting screws. With Sandy’s help we identified the type of screws they were and I went to loosen them and the heads were so rusty they crumbled. As luck woul have it the reel was still mounted solid to the floor of my water bay compartment. The only thing I knew to do was get a drill with a small grinding wheel and grind the bolt heads off. This didn’t work as I could not get the wheel in the area needed to grind the heads. BIL James just happened to be here that morning working on his brush hog. I went over to ask him if he might have a smaller grinding wheel. The next thing I knew he and one of his helpers walked over to the motorhome to take a look. James instructed his helper to go get a large screw driver and small sledge hammer. Bang!…bang! and the reel broke loose from it’s mounting.  Their solution was quite simple.

Once we were able to remove the reel Sandy and I got busy and cleaned out the rust marks and the entire bay. In the photo you can see where the reel was mounted as we were not able to remove all of the rust stains. So the next step was to figure out how I was going to connect a 25ft water hose. As you can see I installed a short piece of hose to my check valve coming off the house water filter.

In this photo you can see the final results of our effort. By not having the reel in the compartment we have so much more room. Don’t you just love it when a plan falls into place. Thanks to BIL James and his helper our job went a little easier. I was to embarrassed to show pictures of the before we took on this project.
(Click on pictures to enlarge)

Until next time…. MtnAire Travlers.

PS BIL James said they could cut off the old rusty base and weld on a new base. Going to have to think about this or as my sweet wife would say “process it for awhile”.

Progress Being Made On BIL’s Land

This past Saturday James my BIL  was having 20 loads of iron ore and dirt mixture to his land to start the road into the property and someday our future RV pad  site.They started early and delivered six of the 20 (14 yards per dump truck) but had to call it quits due to a down pour we had most of that morning. So, we went back to the RV and that evening watched the Nascar race at Chicagoland race track. David Reutimann won the race and he is one of her favorite drivers.

Sunday was a do nothing day except we watched the World Cup Finals which Spain won. I’m not that much of soccer fan but for some reason I really got into the game and wanted to learn more about the sport. One thing I can say about the victors is their fans celebrated the win without burning down  Madrid. Their celebration was a  class act.

Monday James called and wanted to know if we were going to be home that day and we said yes. The reason he asked was the remaining fourteen loads were to be delivered that morning. While Sandy spotted the dump trucks so they would dump in the area her brother wanted  I mowed the three acres. It took a little longer than usual as the grass had really grown due to all of our rain. In fact in order to rid the cut grass that had pretty well piled up after cutting I went back with a higher setting of the blades to spread it out more. Monday evening James started to spread some of the loads for his driveway.  He was able to spread the first six loads that were delivered Saturday. The remaing fourteen will have to wait as he is mowing a pipe line over in Rusk County.

Tuesday we had to go into Longview to pick up supplies for Mom Alice and ourselves. We spent most of the day in Longview where we dropped by the AT&T store to look at the new Iphone 4.0. The screen is a lot better than our 3GS and 3G. It also has multitasking and file folders which is a great improvement. We’ve heard stories about the signal strength in some areas were not good if you held it in your hand and touched the lower left corner of the phone. We did not experience this as we were in a 3G area. Afterwards we had the salesman replace our film that protects the face on our phones. Sure made a big difference in the clarity of our screens.

This brings us to today Wednesday were we had to go back to Longview to visit my eye doctor. The cataract in my left eye (my only good eye) has matured to where it qualifies for Medicare with supplemental to be removed. My doctor has scheduled me for surgery on July 27th in Tyler. We will drive there from Canton that morning. I’m a little worried abut this but he has assured me everything will be fine.

Here are some pictures of recent visitors to our feeders. Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Our Heat and Heat Index’s Are On The Rise Again

We’ve had some nice rain bands roll across our area everyday for the past four days. These all are coming up from the Gulf Of Mexico as the result of another tropical depression. Our humidity is high again and our heat is climbing back up there. Of course this appears to be happing all over the country now.
Sunday evening rather than drive back to Lone Star, we parked in our usual spot and as dark approached we heard these series of booms. We open our windshield  curtain and witness the prettiest firework display we’ve seen in awhile. It turns out the fireworks we saw Saturday night must have been a private showing as the one we saw Sunday night was by the City of Canton. They lasted for about thirty minutes. I missed the grand finale as my battery in the camera died. We returned to Lone Star Monday morning and set up our home in the muggy humidity and later that evening I mowed the three acres. Since it had been about ten days since I last mowed the grass was quite tall but the Scagg 48” cut mower never slowed down. It did take about three and one half hours to complete the job. The sun was setting in the west as I was cleaning up the mower.

It poured down rain both Tuesday and Wednesday and I can actually see the grass growing. Won’t be long I’ll be doing it again. I don’t mind though as setting on that lawn mower is very peaceful and allows the mind to reflect.

I had a doctors appointment Thursday with VA where they checked my INR level (1.9) they prefer that it be in the 2.0 – 2.3 range to make sure I’m not taking too much warfarin. Also saw my nutritionist and she was pleased I dropped six pounds since my last visit. Also since I quite adding table salt to any food I eat my blood pressure average for the past sixty days is 123/68 and heart rate of 65. Its surprising how eliminating something like salt can do so much for your well being. I've had to learn that taste for bad health isn’t good for ya though. Like eating fresh garden tomatoes and cold watermelon, eggs and beacon was a little tuff at first but now I’ve acquired a taste that I can eat these without salt. I sure do douse my food with black pepper though.

BIL James is making more progress on the land, he is suppose to have some iron ore gravel delivered this week to start on the bed of his drive way into the property. After this bed is put down he will decide on the final surface. Right now he is leaning toward asphalt depending on cost. So, maybe it won’t be long and we’ll start laying the water and sewer lines over to our future pad.

That pretty well sums up our week…… Kind of boring isn’t it.

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Happy 4th of July!

 Photo by Getty Images

Happy 4th of July everyone. Even though we are at Canton’s First Monday we still were able to celebrate the tradition on July 4th. Friday night we watch Dale Jr take the checkered flag driving a tribute car to his father in the Nationwide  Series race.  Dale Jr drove the No. 3 Wrangler car honoring his Dad , Dale Earnhardt Sr. Last night we grilled hamburgers and watch the fireworks done by the city. Afterwards we watched the Sprint Cup Coca-Cola 400 race and boy did it have excitement. Today we had the traditional watermelon. We also    want to honor our men and women in the military who help protect our freedom to allow us to celebrate the 234th birthday of our nation.

Here’s a poem that was sent to me and boy does it cover the bases of  “ Why I Love America”.

I LOVE AMERICA

By Dr. Jack Hyles

It was the Monday morning of the opening of the 1977 Pastors' School. Several thousand men of God were traveling from all across America to assemble at our church for a week of training. America lay heavy on my heart. While in tears all the time and on my knees much of the time, I expressed the reasons that I love America. This poem was read during the sermon, "One Nation Under God," which was preached before several thousand at the aforementioned Pastors' School.

I love Thanksgiving when we pray,

And July 4th and Labor Day

With picnics, ants, and hungry flies,

And barbecue and hot French fries,

With Cokes and chips and apple pies

Beneath some hazy, lazy skies.

I love Miami's royal palm

That oozes forth a healing balm

Beside the ocean's quiet calm.

And Betsy Ross, and Orville Wright,

And dear Ben Franklin's flying kite;

And Thomas Jefferson's mightly quill,

And Alamo, and Bunker Hill,

And Paul Revere's midnight ride,

And Wilbur Wright's successful glide.

I love United's friendly skies;

And baseball when the umpire cries,

"Play ball!" as thousands quietly rise

To turn their moistened sober eyes

Toward waving flag that proudly flies.

And Casey Stengal's Stengaleze,

And Dairy Queen, and Tastee Freeze,

And cotton candy at the zoo;

And corny dogs and Big Macs too;

And Burger Kings, and shopping malls,

And hockey pucks, and basketballs.

And Mississippi's cotton fields,

And Holland, Michigan's spinning wheels;

Monotonous midwestern plains,

Florida's sun, Seattle's rams.

Atlanta's lovely, dogwood trails,

And Santa Fe's long clicking rails.

I love the Rocky Mountain peaks

Beneath a sky which mutely speaks;

And Disney World, and Disney Land,

And Georgia's fertile blood-red sand:

The Mississippi, and Rio Grande;

Wisconsin's cheese and dairy land.

I love McDonald's chocolate shakes,

And Minnesota's thousand lakes;

The Royal Gorge's mighty yawn,

A sleepy Alabama dawn;

The harvest moon that shineth on.

I love to gaze at Yellowstone

While licking on an ice cream cone;

And Howard Johnson's Motor Lodge;

And Ford, and Chevrolet, and Dodge.

I love the stately Empire State,

And San Francisco's Golden Gate.

I love St. Louis' friendly arch,

The Statue of Liberty's burning torch,

The Washington Monument's prickly goad,

And Colorado's trail ridge road.

I love "My Country, Tis of Thee,"

Oh, blessed land of liberty.

Long may our glorious land be bright,

With freedom's wondrous holy light,

Protect us by Thy matchless might.

I love to stand with hand o'er heart

And think of those who did their part,

Who left a mom a lone gold star,

Whose bodies rest 'neath fields afar.

I love New England's rolling farms,

Its quaint decor and blushing charms.

I love the azalea's freshened blooms,

East Texas' roses sparkling plumes.

I love it when my church choir sings,

And know the peace that worship brings.

There beats within my breast a dream

That that small faint and flickering gleam

Will soon become a mighty flame

To spread to all His matchless name:

That those dear four who call me "Dad"

Will know the country I have had;

Where freedom's flag flies proud and high,

And those dear ones may loudly cry,

"I'm free! My dad helped make it so.

That faint small gleam is now aglow!

That Christian land that he once knew

Is now the kind that we know too!

God's judging hand has now been stayed,

So I and mine are not afraid,

For churches like our own abound

In every city, village, town!

We're free to witness, visit, teach

The same dear truths we heard Dad preach!

And now we vow to God above

To pass it on to those we love."

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.

Thanks To Alex Things Are Much Cooler!

Even though we hate to see hurricanes in the Gulf, Alex has managed to bring our temperatures down. We right now no longer have the high temperatures with the high heat index's. We are having bands of showers rolling through that is keeping our temps down. The moisture is also much needed.

The rain has not effected our July 4th weekend crowd. It’s typically slow this time of the year anyway and the dog days of August that's coming up will also assure us of even smaller crowds. Our fall shows are the ones most vendors wait for and usually are good enough to keep us coming back to First Monday.

Thanks to those that have given me info on the Lumix camera. I haven’t purchased one yet but did find you can get it through Amazon.com for only $240.00. Of course Jerry with Our Life On Wheels says he got a ZS6  at Costco for $239. Our closest Costco is Dallas which is a three hour drive for us. Will continue to look into the possibility of getting one someday down the road.

Right now I need for Sandy to make up her mind about the Ipad or the eBook readers that are available. Sandy does a lot of reading and feels she would like to have a reader and pretty well had her mind made up on a Kindle but then the Ipad comes along. If any of you readers out their have eBook readers, we sure would like to hear from you. I know their are pros and cons on everything and believe me Sandy has done the research about those that are available on the market. I lean toward the Ipad as it has much more going for it than just a reader but again its quite costly. If she did get a reader I'm sure our weight would go down drastically on the home, as we would not have the need to carry all those books with us. hahaha Yes, guys she going to kill me for saying this!

Until next time….MtnAire Travlers.