Aerie/Trailer Report, August 26, 2010

I got the grass cut the other day between rain showers and was surprised that it looked as good as it did when I got done. Sure, it started out looking like a pasture, but when it was clipped, it (almost) looked like real grass and not weeds.

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Yesterday (Wednesday) I took it upon myself to clean the cistern in the basement. Having been idle for several months, the water in the well was quite filled with red clay and it accumulated in the 500 gallon cistern to the point that the water was unusable for washing anything white. (I've got the pinkish BVDs to prove it.) Looking in the toilet bowl at pinkish water as you take a pee kinda puts you off the coffee, too.

Anyway, I bought a submersible pump and stirred up the tank as I pumped it empty. Then we flushed the pipe coming from the well. Sheesh! There was one spurt of water that looked more like rose wine but after that cleared the water looked pretty good. A few short flushes of the line and some dilution of what was still in the tank followed by more sump-pumping and we had water that flowed through the 1 micron filter with hardly a hint of discoloration.

We put the well pump back on line to the cistern and let it do its thing. That's about 10 minutes of pumping and 50 minutes of rest. The cistern is still filling more than 24 hours later. The water that's in the tank is still a little turbid, but it's not pink. What ever is discoloring the tank is smaller than 1 micron and grayish. When you look at a glass of water, however, it appears crystal clear and the filter is clean, too. We've had much worse.

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We went on a bird walk this morning with some others from the Tiadaghton Audubon Society. Things were remarkably quiet, but we did spot a few nice birds along the bike path leading from the Tioga River boat launch off Route 15 north of Mansfield. A pair of hummingbirds, a few red-eyed vireos, four or five cedar waxwings, and a chestnut-sided warbler were among the highlights.

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Afterward, Terry and I returned to the campground to see if we could get the slide out to work. A super big negative on that one! In fact, the motor has seen it's last days. Fried. Ceased. Got nothing out of it even when we tried to play Frankenstein and attach it directly to the 12-volt battery. "It's dead, Jim."

I had to retract the slide out manually after disconnecting the motor--which now sits in the bed of the truck. I needed the slide out in because I've got to take the trailer for its state-mandated annual inspection tomorrow before moving to another site in the campground. Can't travel with the living/dining room sticking out. It (the slide out) will stay in board until it gets fixed. Luckily having it in does not block access to either the bath or the bedroom. It does make the living area a little more cramped but it'll just be that way for a week or so.

I did call the folks up at Alpin Haus in Amsterdam, NY. I told them what parts I needed and set an appointment to have them installed. They said I could drop it off on September 2nd but that they wouldn't have time to do anything until around the 10th--assuming the parts get there from Power Gear.

Fine by me. I'll take the trailer up. Drop it off and then continue on to the Bolt Hole for Labor Day Weekend before returning to the Aerie. The truck gets serviced on the Tuesday after the holiday so it has to be back here then.

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We cleaned out the rest of the accumulated souvenirs, clothes, pots and pans that belong at the Aerie. The only food that's still in the trailer will be for meals during the next week or will go back to the Bolt Hole when I head north.

I'm beginning to feel like Road Trip 2010 has actually come to an end. Another month or two when the repair bills and the maintenance bills on the truck are paid off, I'll be able to relax.

eMail of the Day

This came from my buddy--and Terry's cousin--Joe, a recent transplant to PA from New Jersey. He's been hunting here for decades and therefore he's quite familiar with the concept of PA etiquette. We may be latecomers to PA but we've had the attitude for a long, long time.

The rules of rural Pennsylvania are as follows:

1. Let's get this straight: it's called a 'dirt road.' No matter how slow you drive, you're going to get dust on your Lexus. Drive it or get out of the way.

2. They are cattle. They're live steaks or walking milk bottles. That's why they smell funny to you, get over it. Don't like it? I-80 goes east and west, I-81 goes north and south. Pick one.

3. Pull your droopy pants up, you look like an idiot.

4. Turn your cap right, your head isn't crooked.

5. So you have a $60,000 car, we're impressed. We have $150,000 corn pickers and hay balers that are driven only 3 weeks a year.

6. Every person in rural Pennsylvania waves. We think of it as being friendly. Try to understand the concept.

7. If that cell phone rings while an 8-point buck and three does are coming in, we will shoot it out of your hand. You better hope you don't have it up to your ear at the time.

8. Yeah, we eat scrapple, pot pie, funnel cakes, haluskie, pierogies, shoo-fly pie, apple butter, chow-chow, and schnitz un knepp. Don't like the sound of them or the names freak you out because you never saw a "Bon Appetit" article on them? Great, more for us!

9. The 'opener' refers to the first day of deer season. It's a religious holiday held on the Monday after Thanksgiving.

10. We open doors for women. That is applied to all women, regardless of age.

11. No, there's no 'vegetarian special' on the menu. Order steak, or you can order the chef's salad and pick off the 2 pounds of ham & turkey.

12. When we fill out a table, there are three main dishes: meats (includes fish), vegetables, and breads. We use four spices: salt, pepper, hot sauce, and Heinz ketchup. Oh, yeah...we don't care what you folks in Jersey call that stuff you eat. It's not real chili.

13. You bring 'coke' into my house, it better be brown, wet and served over ice.

14. You bring 'Mary Jane' into my house, she better be cute, know how to shoot,and have long hair.

15. College and high school football are as important here as the Steelers and Eagles and a lot more fun to watch.

16. Yeah, we have golf courses. But don't hit the water hazards---it spooks the fish.

17. Colleges? We have them all over. We have state universities, community colleges, and vo-techs. They come outta' there with an education plus a love for God and Country. They still wave at everybody when they come home for the holidays.

18. We have a whole ton of folks who have been in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard - PA has one of the highest percentages of veterans in the entire country. So don't mess with us. If you do, you will get whipped by the best.

19. Turn down that blasted car stereo! That thumpity-thump-thump stuff is not music anyway. We don't want to hear it anymore than we want to see your boxers. Refer back to # 3.

20. Four inches isn't a blizzard--it's a flurry. Drive like you got some sense, and don't take all our bread, milk and toilet paper from the grocery stores. You're not in Alaska. Worst case you may have to live a whole day without your croissants. The pickups with snow plows will have you out the next day.

Come to think of it, most of the above apply to all parts of the fly-over country between the coasts. The food stuffs may vary by locality as will the percentage of former military personnel, but the rest...not so much.

Odd news

Not sure what to make of this. Being married to a woman of (half) Polish descent.

Man, shot in head, notices five years later

BERLIN (Reuters) – A Polish man living in Germany went about his business for about five years without noticing he had been shot in the head because he was drunk when it happened. Police in the western city of Bochum said on Tuesday doctors found a .22 caliber bullet in the back of his head after the 35-year-old went to have what he thought was a cyst removed.

Presented with the 5.6mm projectile, the man recalled he had received a blow to the head around midnight at a New Year's party "in 2004 or 2005," but had forgotten about it because he had been "very drunk," a police spokesman said.

"He told us he remembered having a sore head, but that he wasn't really one for going to the doctor," the spokesman said.

Hard head?
Thick skull?
Under the protection of Bacchus?
All of the above?

So, you think you've been in a traffic jam?

Just in case you've ever been stuck in what you consider the traffic-jam-from-hell...you know, the Garden State (NJ) Parkway on a hot, sunny Saturday of a Holiday weekend where things are blistering and you could actually fry an egg on your forehead and you creep along at one car length an hour because some idiot at the tool plaza DIDN'T have exact change. You might want to reconsider and count your blessings since you're not in this mess:

China's massive traffic jam could last for weeks

BEIJING – A massive traffic jam in north China that stretches for dozens of miles and hit its 10-day mark on Tuesday stems from road construction in Beijing that won't be finished until the middle of next month, an official said.

[emphasis added]

I love the comments about the villagers along the way doing what good entrepreneurs everywhere would be doing. Supplying a need (food and water) at inflated prices to a captive customer base. LOL Grassroots capitalism at work.

August 24, 2010: Noon Report

I've been staying in the trailer at Ives Run and driving over to the Aerie daily. The weather has yet to permit the cutting of grass but that may change this afternoon. We've not had rain since early last night and I'm just waiting for some of the moisture to evaporate from the grass/weed blades before attempting to put the mower to it.

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Speaking of waiting...A man from Sears will be here shortly to take a look at the fridge. It's trying--futile, I must add--to kick on. Every few minutes you can hear the compressor attempt to cool the fridge portion but failing to make it over the last hump. The temperature in the freezer compartment is at 38 degrees (what the fridge should be) while the fridge is at room temp.

[UPDATE: The Sears man came at 1:30 PM. Diagnosed the problem as a bad motherboard. (Refrigerators have brains?!) He then had to call tech central to have them go through some test with him, the results of which showed that the fridge needed a new motherboard! Well, gooollly! No kidding! The field man explained that a lot of the newer guys on the job tended to put in a new motherboard first without diagnosing the problem. Mother boards are expensive. Ergo, Sears instituted a procedure whereby the field man had to get "permission" from the desk techie before a new motherboard could be installed. Luckily, the field man had a motherboard on his truck so the fridge is humming along producing colder and colder temperatures deep in the cavernous confines of the freezer.

BTW The field guy says that he--with some 10 years experience--sometimes resents the desk guy telling him that he can't insert the motherboard since he must follow orders and do what the desk guy says. Even when it is the wrong repair. Bureaucracy exists even in the appliance repair field.]

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Terry had to rush out to get her hair cut this morning. Don't know why she didn't take me up on the offer to do the job. Could have saved her some bucks and would have been done in no time with the hair clippers I employ. Just ZIP! ZIP! ZIP! and I'd be through. But, I have to say the beautician did a nicer job than I could have done.

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Speaking of getting clipped...The cats' claws were needle sharp and scimitar length after going 75 days without a clipping. When they reached up to touch you you really knew it. Therefore, today we rounded them up one by one and clipped their 18 toenails (each--that's 54 all together). And I only got scratched and bit once--by Julie, the smallest and oldest of the lot. I had to put a choke hold on her to pacify her and let Terry do the clipping. But we got 'em done!

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Renewed the registration on the Aveo, trailer and Tundra on line with PennDOT yesterday. Also renewed my driver's license the same way. You get to print out temporary documents good for two weeks from the date of the transaction and they promise to get you the real thing within 10 days. I'll still have to go get my picture taken for the driver's license once that arrives but that's not a real big deal.

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Arranged to get the trailer inspected this Friday when I have to move it from the site in which it is parked to another site a few slots down anyway. Might as well take advantage of having the dang thing hooked up for the move.

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Now I've got to schedule a tune up for the Tundra. It's done yeoman's duty to this point and needs some TLC after the 12K miles it's put on since June 9th.

Road Trip 2010: Days 74-76: HOME!

No, I didn’t fall off the face of the earth. Although, it’s mighty tempting to jump right about now—as you’ll see if you read all that is below.

Day 74: Terre Haute, IN to Seville, OH
We made our way still further eastward on I-70 across the balance of Indiana and into Ohio. We passed Dayton and skirted Columbus, Ohio before heading northeast on I-71. At the junction of I-71 and I-76 we took the turn on to I-76 for a few miles before looking for the Maple Lake Recreation Park. We had called ahead and found they had a back=in available but when we got there the person who had been there the previous night was still there and we were preparing to head on down the road when the owners, no doubt fearing the loss of a night’s rental, realized that a semi-permanent guest would not be back until Saturday night and that their drive through was available. Needless to say that suited us fine as we were going to be on the road quite early anyway.

We found our slot, pulled in and set up. Then we hit the pool for an hour before dinner.

Day 75: Seville, OH to Ive’s Run/Hammond Lake, PA—aka HOME

We left Seville, bright and early and headed northeast on I-76 and then onto I-80 east near Youngstown, Ohio. After that, it was “just” across PA and then north on Route 15—call it another 200 or so miles.

Only about 200 miles to go!

OOPS!
A couple days previously I had made reservations on line for the Corps of Engineers campground at Ive’s Run. I thought I had made them for Saturday night through next Thursday for one site and then from Thursday night through September 2nd for a second site. Even had the confirmation email to prove it—I thought. This would have been ideal as some foul weather from out by Lake Michigan was headed our way and we would beat it to the campground and get set up before its arrival around midnight Saturday. Somehow I had screwed up and our reservations. They were to start on SUNDAY not SATURDAY. We were a day early and everything was booked. They did have some overflow camping with no hook-ups available however. So I put some water in the freshwater holding tank and pulled into the dry camp for the night. The good news is that I finally learned how to use the refrigerator on its gas setting.

We then went home to the Aerie to see how things stood. The rain gauge said we had had between six and seven inches of rain since we left. The lawn was a mess, of course. Three large branches on the red but near the rain gauge were broken off. (Wind or critter?) The pumpkins hadn’t set many (read any) fruit but they did have some very nice vines. The winter squash had also grown lots of vines but they had also set a bundle fruit. Problem was that something (squirrels or raccoon? No visible foot prints could be seen) had eaten half of each of them so we will be lucky to get three or four. The onions looked as good as when we left except for a few that had sent up some flower heads. The contractor who said he would do the stone work and staining while we were gone had not gotten around to it yet. (I had spoken to him a few days ago and he says he got hung up on some other projects. Example: He was called in to rewire a room and ended up doing the whole house. Then there were several calls from folks who had leaky roofs. Those have to be fixed ASAP and take precedence over a job that could be considered cosmetic versus emergency care. All very understandable, but still frustrating to me.) He did have all the materials delivered and they sit in the garage and basement. The stone in the garage completely blocks my use of the ATV for awhile.

Then there was the Aerie’s refrigerator. When we left, we took what little we had in the way of frozen vegetables and meats and packed them into the fridge’s freezer compartment so we could clean out the chest freezer. Some time while we were gone the fridge went cablooey. The freezer compartment temperature rose to 38 degrees and everything defrosted. The Fridge compartment was at room temperature which ruined everything in there.

The phone had a full compliment of messages (18), nine of which came from the bank holding the loan on the Jeep telling us to call about changes to our loan status (probably due to the uncashed check from June’s payment). We’ll get some of that straightened out once we get to see our mail on Monday morning.

I went back to the trailer at the campground feeling a little sick to my stomach having seen all the work that lay ahead and repairs that need to be arranged for. It started to pour around 11:30 PM and continued all night. When I got out of bed at 7 AM, the campgrounds I was in (grass, naturally) was a marsh and it was still raining.

Day 76: Ive’s Run

Terry showed up with the Jeep at around 11 AM. We hustled to carry some stuff up to the Aerie, head down to Beiter’s Home Furnishing to see about getting someone out to service our GE refrigerator (they didn’t sell it to us, but we have bought a bunch of stuff there and they should honor our relationship), pick up the cats at Adams house (Julie and Chester were easy to get into their carry cases, Shadow not so much—but they all survived as did Dodge, Adam’s yellow lab), eat lunch, move the trailer into the reserved campsite (it stopped raining around 1 PM and remained dry skied while we were moving things about), fight with the slideout (finally used jumper cables to run the motor directly off the battery—hope it slides in using conventional means!), load the Jeep with most of Terry’s clothes, eat dinner and, now, take a deep breath. Terry is back at the Aerie. I’m in the campgrounds for the night.
The Road Trip 2010 is officially over. All that remains is the repair of the slideout and the clean-up and winterizing of the trailer.

Monday I’ll pick up all our mail as soon as the post office opens at 8 AM. Then we’ll see about getting things straightened out vis-à-vis: finding out what’s up with the Jeep loan (I’ve a feeling either the stick on label or stamp came off and it was returned to sender); getting the refrigerator fixed (Beiter’s should call early—I hope); cutting the lawn and weeding—if the rain holds off some; arranging for both the truck and trailer to get registered and inspected (the truck also need some service after logging 12K miles with just one oil change since June 9th); seeing if I can get my driver’s license renewed; look into getting my hunting licenses for PA and NY; and a ton of other things.

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Well, Beiter's can't come until Friday, but Sears will be here this afternoon. It's still raining. THREE checks mailed out the day we left were never cashed. All were sent from a post office in Tioga Junction. That will be three stop payments and three new checks to write. (Everything handled on line went swimmingly but these three can not be done that way.) And the IRS has been dealt with. (Had to explain that even though my pension comes from the state, I was not a state employee. Never had this problem the last three years.)

Now, If you'll excuse me I've got to run to the bank to stop payment on three three month-old checks and then to the bank to mail out three new checks.

*sigh*
Wish I was back on the road again!