I have been remiss in posting lately. Mostly because it has been a get up, go to work, come home, repeat kind of thing. Still being tied to a job is keeping us anchored to this one spot, so adventures in RV'ing are a little hard to come by for the moment.
But we did have a very enjoyable Christmas. We repeated the logistics of getting everybody together at my daughters house like we did at Thanksgiving. Cyndee's little red PT Cruiser looked like Santa's sleigh with all those wrapped gifts crammed full in the back. We were so proud of our kids. They gave very thoughtful gifts. There were no big, bulky items, heavy things, nick-knacks or anything else that was hard to incorporate into 400sq ft of living space that has weight restrictions.
And speaking of weight. Now that colder weather has set in and outdoor activities have scaled way back, we have taken the time to assess our choices in possessions we brought with us from the house. It has been roughly six months and a good rule of thumb is to look at things and ask yourself; "If I have not used this by now, will I ever?". When we downsized our possessions from the house we thought we had really cut to the bone and that there was no way we had anything left that could be done without. But it is amazing that in just six short months we had relaxed even more and found that, "eh, I don't need that". So in the last few weekends we have been completely through about half the drawers (there a lot of drawers) and the big closet and both wardrobes. We ended up with several more tall kitchen garbage bags full of clothes and stuff that went to Goodwill.
We also took on a rather significant project of switching from a tower workstation computer and a large all-in-one printer/copier/scanner to a laptop with a docking station and wireless everything. With all this bulky, cabled stuff gone, we have now eaten our first meal on the dining room table/office desk. I do have to confess that I could not give up my 22" monitor. So it stands there like a second television in the room but at least it can be quickly and easily set on the floor behind a chair when we want to use the table for what it was intended for.
Switching computers, for me, is more painful than doing taxes. I clocked over 30 hours on the phone with various hardware and software people trying to get the new machine to do all the things the old machine did. I also took the opportunity to "refresh" my banking software. I did not transfer any old data, I started completely from scratch and built it all back one account/item at a time. It was gruesome but worth it. My financial records are now in the best shape they have been in for years. All the automatic interfacing with the banks is working flawlessly. Life is good.
Since my last posting we have had some colder days. Consecutive nights with the temperature in the mid to low 20's and daytime temps breaking into the 40's. Not real cold by most foks standards, but typical for this time of year around here. But we still have not turned on either one of our 42,000btu furnaces. Those little ceramic heaters are still doing the trick. Plus, we added an electric blanket to the bed. We found that the blanket has much better control of the temperature setting. The thermostat on the ceramic heater would not kick off until it was too warm and then not come back on until it was too cold. The electric blanket evens that out considerably. However we did start each furnace just to confirm they worked. And boy did they. Being so large and ducted, they moved a lot of air and did their job quickly. Plus, they are designed to heat the space under the floor where the plumbing and water tanks are. So the floor warmed up more than it can by using the space heaters.
A few maintenance/warranty issues have come up. We are building a list for the factory to work on when we go to New Horizons in Kansas for a "tune up" this summer. But one that could not wait was the refrigerator. It had stopped working on electric power and was functioning solely off of propane. Another that could not wait was that we had developed a propane leak in the connections to the gas range. I was burning through/leaking a 40lb bottle of propane about every two weeks. That is a huge consumption. I typically go months without needing to refill a tank. I was able to find and fix the leak but I had to call in a pro to figure out the fridge. Turned out to be a fuse on the circuit board that operated the electric function. It was buried deep in the assembly and you had to know it was there. Thank goodness he did.
Just recently the electric side of the water heater stopped working. Like the fridge, it is now running 100% on propane. Don't know if we'll wait for the trip to the factory or call the repair guy to fix this one.
I think my family and friends have heard me say, more than they care to, how great it is to not be a property owner and have to do all the gardening, upkeep and repairs and never-ending list one-off things a homeowner has to do. But getting rid of all that and moving into an RV does not exactly rid you completely of these responsibilities. Today's RVs incorporate lots of systems and use a great deal of the latest technologies available. That translates into lots and lots of "moving parts" and complexity that just can not avoid the need for routine maintenance and repair. I still have to retain homeowner duties, albeit on a smaller scale.
But we did have a very enjoyable Christmas. We repeated the logistics of getting everybody together at my daughters house like we did at Thanksgiving. Cyndee's little red PT Cruiser looked like Santa's sleigh with all those wrapped gifts crammed full in the back. We were so proud of our kids. They gave very thoughtful gifts. There were no big, bulky items, heavy things, nick-knacks or anything else that was hard to incorporate into 400sq ft of living space that has weight restrictions.
And speaking of weight. Now that colder weather has set in and outdoor activities have scaled way back, we have taken the time to assess our choices in possessions we brought with us from the house. It has been roughly six months and a good rule of thumb is to look at things and ask yourself; "If I have not used this by now, will I ever?". When we downsized our possessions from the house we thought we had really cut to the bone and that there was no way we had anything left that could be done without. But it is amazing that in just six short months we had relaxed even more and found that, "eh, I don't need that". So in the last few weekends we have been completely through about half the drawers (there a lot of drawers) and the big closet and both wardrobes. We ended up with several more tall kitchen garbage bags full of clothes and stuff that went to Goodwill.
We also took on a rather significant project of switching from a tower workstation computer and a large all-in-one printer/copier/scanner to a laptop with a docking station and wireless everything. With all this bulky, cabled stuff gone, we have now eaten our first meal on the dining room table/office desk. I do have to confess that I could not give up my 22" monitor. So it stands there like a second television in the room but at least it can be quickly and easily set on the floor behind a chair when we want to use the table for what it was intended for.
Switching computers, for me, is more painful than doing taxes. I clocked over 30 hours on the phone with various hardware and software people trying to get the new machine to do all the things the old machine did. I also took the opportunity to "refresh" my banking software. I did not transfer any old data, I started completely from scratch and built it all back one account/item at a time. It was gruesome but worth it. My financial records are now in the best shape they have been in for years. All the automatic interfacing with the banks is working flawlessly. Life is good.
Since my last posting we have had some colder days. Consecutive nights with the temperature in the mid to low 20's and daytime temps breaking into the 40's. Not real cold by most foks standards, but typical for this time of year around here. But we still have not turned on either one of our 42,000btu furnaces. Those little ceramic heaters are still doing the trick. Plus, we added an electric blanket to the bed. We found that the blanket has much better control of the temperature setting. The thermostat on the ceramic heater would not kick off until it was too warm and then not come back on until it was too cold. The electric blanket evens that out considerably. However we did start each furnace just to confirm they worked. And boy did they. Being so large and ducted, they moved a lot of air and did their job quickly. Plus, they are designed to heat the space under the floor where the plumbing and water tanks are. So the floor warmed up more than it can by using the space heaters.
A few maintenance/warranty issues have come up. We are building a list for the factory to work on when we go to New Horizons in Kansas for a "tune up" this summer. But one that could not wait was the refrigerator. It had stopped working on electric power and was functioning solely off of propane. Another that could not wait was that we had developed a propane leak in the connections to the gas range. I was burning through/leaking a 40lb bottle of propane about every two weeks. That is a huge consumption. I typically go months without needing to refill a tank. I was able to find and fix the leak but I had to call in a pro to figure out the fridge. Turned out to be a fuse on the circuit board that operated the electric function. It was buried deep in the assembly and you had to know it was there. Thank goodness he did.
Just recently the electric side of the water heater stopped working. Like the fridge, it is now running 100% on propane. Don't know if we'll wait for the trip to the factory or call the repair guy to fix this one.
I think my family and friends have heard me say, more than they care to, how great it is to not be a property owner and have to do all the gardening, upkeep and repairs and never-ending list one-off things a homeowner has to do. But getting rid of all that and moving into an RV does not exactly rid you completely of these responsibilities. Today's RVs incorporate lots of systems and use a great deal of the latest technologies available. That translates into lots and lots of "moving parts" and complexity that just can not avoid the need for routine maintenance and repair. I still have to retain homeowner duties, albeit on a smaller scale.
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