Finished The Cabinet for The Fiver

Riverton, Utah High 61 Low 39

It is still unusually warm for this time of year, but is supposed to get a lot colder tomorrow.

I have been working on the cabinet for the fiver for the last few days. Today I finished it and got it installed. I won't get the doors until next Wednesday. Cindy came out to see how I was doing and brought Penny with her. Of course Penny wanted to help.

Since we have been home Penny has found a place under the Christmas tree to rest during the day. She needs the hair around her eyes trimmed, but has a fit if I get anywhere near her face with the scissors. I might have to cut it when she is a sleep, before she wakes up enough to fight me.

Other than more car repairs, this time on our Pontiac, there is not much going on.

Thanks for visiting.

Running around and Cindy's Friend From Tampa

Riverton, Utah High 57 Low 37

It was another nice day, although there was frost on the grass this morning.

I got my cabinet put together yesterday and now I have to put the stain and varnish on it. I hope it does what we want. I also got the doors ordered and they will be finished next Wednesday.

Cindy had another Doctor appointment today and she didn't tell me what they said, so I think everything is OK.

After the Doctor appointment, we went to Trader Joe's in Salt Lake. While we were there, Cindy called her friend Vicki, because she was supposed to be in Salt Lake for a little while. As it turned out, she was staying at a hotel about 2 miles from Trader Joe's and was free today. So Cindy made an appointment to have lunch at 11:30.

We had a little time to kill, so we went into a store called Modern Display and looked at their Christmas tree decorations and the Department 56 displays. I took a few pictures and couldn't believe the prices they were asking.

The Harley fans would like this one.

Cindy also stopped at where she used to work and talked to some of the people she used to work with. One man told her that the State had changed the retirement so that the retiree no could longer got their sick leave. Cindy had enough that they converted it to paid up insurance until she is 71. So it was good she retired when she did.

We then went to Vicki's hotel and went to Chuck a Rama for lunch. It is all you can eat.

I have put a picture of one of the Santa quilt blocks from Cindy's quilt on tonight's post. There is also a picture of Penny. She is getting a little shaggy looking.

Thanks for visiting.

Jr. Jazz and Cabinet

Riverton, Utah High 55 Low 37

It is still warmer than usual for this time of year.

Devon played his first Jr Jazz basketball game for this year. His team won and the final score was 24-18. He seems to be shooting a lot better this year. Of coarse he is a year older and having a basket ball standard seems to have helped. Devon made 8 (4 shots) of the 24 points. Needless to say, the boys were happy with the result. I'm sorry the pictures didn't turn out better, but no one seemed to pose for me. Devon is number 5 in the blue shirt (if you couldn't tell).

Today I hauled another load to the charity place. Cindy has been in the mood to get rid of stuff she is not using. Some of it has sat for over 10 years. It really is time to get rid of it.

I have been wanting to build a cabinet for the trailer to hide some of the stuff we haul around and don't seem to have anywhere to put it but in boxes by the dining table. It is also time to try to hide it from view. We are trying to get ready to leave for Arizona and have got a good start.

I signed up for the Good Sam Rally in Phoenix at the end of February. It looked like it would be interesting to go to.

Now we are going to the Good Sam Rally, and the Escapade, and Bead Week at North Ranch at the end of March. It feels like we are going to be busy in Arizona while we are there. We do have a month reserved at a Park in Wellton which is 30 miles from Yuma, so we will have some time to just relax.

We want to make it to Algodones for meds, tooth work, and maybe new glasses. We might stay at the Casino while we do that.

Thanks for visiting.

The Fiver’s Turn

Riverton, Utah High 57 Low 39

It was another nice warm day again. It is unusual weather for this time of year.

Today I took the fiver to Salt Lake to have an alignment done on it. When they got through, they showed me what had been taking place. All for wheels were aimed slightly to the left. I have been noticing that when I looked in the mirrors, it seemed to me I could see more of the left side than the right, but thought it might just be the way I looked in the mirrors. He also told me that the top of all the tires was in, and that and the other problem is why we saw so much wear on the inside of the tires compared to the rest of the tire. The total bill was $178.00, but if it helps on tire wear it will be worth it. He also said I might get a little better mileage and every little bit helps.

There was a truck wash not far from the alignment place but I wasn't able to even turn into the place to get in line, so I gave up on that idea.

I needed fuel and checked with Gas Buddy and the best place was in South Jordan, not too far from home, so I stopped there. It turned out that they had some kind of holiday special where you get 25 cents off per gallon if you use their credit card. So I paid $3.199 for diesel. It took 114 gallons to fill. I got about 10 miles per gallon since I filled it last, but all of it was pulling the trailer. The last place I filled up I believe was in San Antonio. It is still good not to have to fill up every few miles.

I got the binding sewed on Taylor’s quilt and now all that is left is for Cindy to do the hand work on the binding. She has been staying busy straightening out and organizing her fabric stash. It is looking a lot better.

I've still got a few things I want to build for the trailer and probably will have to get new tires on the truck. I’m going to have someone look at them and give me their opinion.  Hopefully there is enough rubber left on the trailer that I don’t have to replace the tires there as well. It has been an expensive week.

Thanks for visiting.  

Giraffes, Rhino’s, and Cows?

 

Riverton, Utah High 55 Low 37

It has been unusually warm here for the time of year. It got a little cloudy this afternoon, but there is no precipitation predicted for the next week.

Today I spent most of the day quilting the twin size quilt for Taylor for one of his Christmas presents. The quilting pattern is called Animal Friends Giraffe. It is by Ann Bright. There are mostly jungle animals, but includes milk Cows. I wonder why the cows are included with the other animals. Taylor should like having his own quilt.

Nancy asked what quilting machine I have. It is a Gamill with a Statler Stitcher. I don’t do much free hand, but I do like using the computer.

I made an appointment with an alignment place for aligning the trailer. Hopefully they can get it so it doesn’t wear tires on the inside so much. The repair shop is blaming a lot of the tire wear and front end on the truck on all the rough roads in Alaska. Could be, but I tried to take it easy driving there last year. Actually, the roads through Canada were probably worse than Alaska.

Rod said his EGR valve was very expensive on his motorhome, but I had no idea just how expensive.

Cindy got some pictures of The grandkids and I putting up our Christmas tree. She also got Tammy helping out.

Thanks for visiting.

Got The Truck Back

Riverton, Utah High 54 Low 39

It was raining a little this morning. After it quit, it turned into a nice enough day.

I got the truck back today. When I took it in to get repaired, the shop owner called back and asked if I was sitting down. He also suggested I bite down hard on something. He then told me the repairs I wanted would be in excess of $2500.00. I gulped, but told him to go ahead.

Today when I picked up the truck the bill was $2813.00. It seems some of what I needed came from the Chevy dealer and they charge plenty. After he got the Chevrolet EGR valve installed, he had to take the truck to the dealer, where they have to re-calibrate for the new EGR valve. One transmission cooler line had to be replaced plus the front end work and the lube and oil, plus the emission test just added to the bill. Now we are good to go.....EXCEPT..... for the new tires I will have to have put on the truck and trailer.

We have driven a long way the last two years. We have put over 40,000 miles on the truck, most of it pulling the trailer. With that and all the material we bought in Maine and have been hauling around for the last three month, I'm not too surprised. It's just a shock to my system to have to put out so much money all at once.

Now on a different note. We signed up for the Escapee Escapade in Tucson this coming March. Today I talked to Jan Mains and she asked if we were planning on going to the Good Sam Rally in Phoenix at the end of February. I hadn't known about it, but we are toying with the idea, since we will be kind of in the area.

We also reserved a camp spot at North Ranch for Bead Week at the end of March, so it sounds like we will have a pretty full schedule when we get to Arizona after the first of the year.

My youngest daughter and her husband have built a log house near Sandpoint, Idaho, and we have already told her we would be up to see them when the weather warms up a little in that part of the country. Jokingly, but maybe seriously, I kidded with her about putting in an RV pad while they were building. She called me about a month ago asking how long the trailer was and how wide. I told her, and they went ahead and put in the pad. They used to live in Irvine, California and to be honest I didn't like to visit because of all the people, but now I don't have any excuse not to go see them. We do like that part of Idaho in the warmer weather. They both like to ski, so should be happy there in the winter.

Cindy got through sewing the quilt for Taylor, (the little 5 year old grandson) today and I will try to get it quilted tomorrow. It is going to get a nice easy all over pattern, so shouldn't take too long.

We have both been busy since we got home, but are looking forward to traveling again, but will probably stay put longer next year than we did this year.

Thanks for visiting.

Doctors and Truck Repairs

Riverton, Utah High 50 Low 32

Today Cindy and I both went to the Doctor. Cindy went to have her blood taken so she could have the results for her Doctor on Friday.

I went to get my usual check-up and get my prescriptions refilled. I have slightly elevated blood pressure and that is what one of the meds I'm taking is for. When we get to Yuma, we will fill most of the meds in Algodones. The Doctor told me other than that I should loose some weight I'm in pretty good shape. With Cindy as good a cook as she is, the loosing weight part is going to be a problem. The Doctor I went to see also wanted to have blood work done, so I didn't get to avoid the vampires. I got my flu shot while I was there.

I took the truck to the repair shop to have it serviced and to see if they could find a transmission oil leak I've had for a while. Also the left front tire has been wearing funny. They found a loose tie rod and idler arm. The repairman says that is why the tire is wearing funny. He blamed some of it on the rough roads we took the truck over in Alaska and Canada last year. Could be, but I jokingly asked him "What rough roads?". Even though I tried to drive slow, some of the roads were terrible. The oil leak turned out being one of the transmission cooler lines and it will have to be replaced because of the way it was built.

I have been trying to take Rod's and Sandi's advice on finding an RV Park in Apache Junction and finally got hold of two of the nicer ones there. But unfortunately they didn't have anything to offer us in February, One of them because I guess they don't like dogs and only have a small area of their park that they allow dogs. Sandi had already forewarned me about their policy, but I had to try. So we probably will spend February in Wellington which is a little ways away from Yuma. Some of our friends are staying at the Park I talked to and they still have openings.

Sorry to our friends in Apache Junction and Casa Grande, but we will still see you when we go to visit Scott in Phoenix, and maybe in Quartzsite while we are there. We will be in Quartzsite most of January.

I also made a reservation for a week at North Ranch for the end of March during Bead Week. It is something Cindy has wanted to do since we were there last year and hopefully we get to see some of our friends while we are there.

I'm still working on the Santa Quilt, but might have to stop and do some of the others that are needed for Christmas. Cindy knew it was going to take a lot of time and since it is our's, there is no big hurry to get it done, after all she has been working on the embroidery work for several years.

The kids like Penny and she likes them, but she seems to like everyone she meets.

Thanks for visiting.