Wow, almost a week since my last post :-o. Not a whole lot going on here except work. Our work week goes by pretty fast and we are still enjoying being near family and friends this summer. We have 9 more weeks to fulfill our commitment with the KOA and are looking forward to being able to hitch up and see some different scenery again.
The staff here is shrinking again. The couple who cooks the breakfast shift Monday through Friday told the boss they will be leaving in a couple of weeks. They have workcamped here several years but decided they were done and put their 5th wheel up for sale. They have a winter home in Arizona and sounds like that will be their permanent residence for awhile.
I'm not sure what their leaving will mean for the rest of us. May see a schedule change and our duties change some. Guess we'll just wait and see. There is a new couple set to arrive in a week or so. They are currently having their 5th wheel repaired at the factory in Northern Indiana and will start work once that is completed.
Sunday we drove to our daughters house and helped them put the sweet corn crop into their freezer. They had most of the work done when we arrived so I spent most of time watching the Nascar race on tv :-).
Olivia, our youngest grand daughter, made the trip home with us. She is spending a couple of nights here for some one on one time before she heads back to school.
Yesterday we got busy and shampooed the carpet in the 5th wheel. We moved all the furniture out of the way and was able to give the carpets a good cleaning! I'm thinking we'll get better fuel mileage now that all that Texas caliche' dust has been removed :-).
Rudee will be driving to Plainfield today to take her Mom to a doctors appointment, take the shampooer back and deliver Olivia back to her parents. I'm going to be lazy and just hang around the 5er and have a "do nothing" day! I'll keep you posted.
Tuesday, July 31, 2012
Wednesday, July 25, 2012
time with friends and a crappy job.
We were off work Sunday because the normal breakfast cooks wanted last Monday off and traded with us. We stopped in for breakfast and man oh man were they ever busy! I guess they got a good dose of what we go through each week end :-).
After breakfast we returned to the 5er and found Rob waiting for us to take a bike ride. Jany was not feeling well and didn't want to fight the heat that was predicted. I already had the Harley out and ready to go so we hopped on and headed out.
I lead the way and took Rob through Terre Haute, crossed the Wabash river and into West Terre Haute. We headed out into the countryside taking a nice winding road that eventually led us into Paris, Illinois. Angling back towards Indiana we found our way to the tiny town of Eugene and stopped at the Covered Bridge Restaurant for lunch.
The weather was really heating up after lunch so we headed back to the KOA. We ended up riding almost 100 miles on small county roads and loved every mile of it! Once back at the campground Jany joined us for a quick dip in the pool to cool off and we ended up swimming for most of the afternoon.
For our anniversary dinner we decided on Kleptz's Restaurant in Seelyville, Indiana. We have passed by this restaurant many times over the years and always wanted to stop but never got the chance. They advertise steak and seafood and their building is a large older house converted years ago for their restaurant.
We each ordered a steak dinner to share, Rob and Jany had the "Australian steak" and we had a rib eye. Both meals were superb! The steaks were the best we had eaten a long, long time and the prices were not out of line at all.
We made it back home stuffed but happy and spent some time visiting in Rob and Jany's 5er before finally heading home and hitting the sack after a long day.
Monday Rob and Jany joined us and Rudee cooked all of us a buffet breakfast! She made bacon, scrambled eggs, fried green tomatoes and cinnamon rolls. Wow, what a spread. I'm gonna get fat again eating like this! :-)
After breakfast Rob and Jany headed back to their site to begin packing up since they had to leave to get back to work. :-(
While they were doing that I tackled a quick project in our little house on wheels. The toilet is supposed to hold a small amount of water between flushes and ours quit doing that several months ago. There are two rubber seals between the bowl and the pedestal stand that needed relaced and I figured I might as well replace the flushing valve and spring while I was at it in case this was also causing the problem. I had ordered the parts last week and they arrived by UPS on Friday.
I had replaced the seals a couple of years ago when, due to a design flaw, the company sent out new ones so I had a little bit of experience on taking the toilet apart. This would prove to be more of a hindrance rather than a help :-).
Everything came apart pretty easily but then I had to put the new parts back in! Getting the new valve and the little shaft that moves it back into place was a bear! Keep in mind that this valve sits on the bottom of the bowl inside where all the "stuff" goes! EWWWW!
Let me stop right here and say that I think plumbers earn very dime they make and I will probably never shake hands with one again! :-)
I eventually got the valve installed and was ready to put the bowl back on the pedestal. I first had to lay the seals down on the top of pedestal and then sit the bowl in its place sandwiching the seals between the two. Rudee helped me center the bowl and I tightened everything back up. Last test was to turn the water back on. No leaks and the toilet flushes like normal except the water in the bowl now runs past the closed valve even faster than before! Rats!
By this time Rob and Jany were packed up and hooked on. We met them in the driveway by the office and said our goodbyes. For some reason they skipped the "hugs and handshakes" when they said goodbye to me. :-)
Rethinking my repairs to the toilet I decided to take it apart (again!) and make sure the new rubber seals were not pinched or moved somehow. Off came the bowl again and the new seals were laying there nice and flat right where they were supposed to be ..... hmmmm. One of the seals is thinner but bigger around than the other one and has "this side up" printed on it and I had put that side up. What could be wrong? I decided to dig the directions out of the trash where I had tossed them. Remember, I had done this before so I knew what I was doing? Well after fishing through the trash and reading the directions, the thinner seal goes on the bottom with the words this side up "up" and then the thicker seal goes on top of it. I decided to try it "their way" and guess what. It worked! The toilet now holds water and flushes like a new one! Guess that reading directions thing you women are always yacking to us men about may not be a bad thing after all! Sorry guys, but I guess I have surrendered to the other side on this one :-)
Nothing special going on this week, just back to work for another "hot" week at the KOA. I'll keep you posted.
After breakfast we returned to the 5er and found Rob waiting for us to take a bike ride. Jany was not feeling well and didn't want to fight the heat that was predicted. I already had the Harley out and ready to go so we hopped on and headed out.
I lead the way and took Rob through Terre Haute, crossed the Wabash river and into West Terre Haute. We headed out into the countryside taking a nice winding road that eventually led us into Paris, Illinois. Angling back towards Indiana we found our way to the tiny town of Eugene and stopped at the Covered Bridge Restaurant for lunch.
The weather was really heating up after lunch so we headed back to the KOA. We ended up riding almost 100 miles on small county roads and loved every mile of it! Once back at the campground Jany joined us for a quick dip in the pool to cool off and we ended up swimming for most of the afternoon.
For our anniversary dinner we decided on Kleptz's Restaurant in Seelyville, Indiana. We have passed by this restaurant many times over the years and always wanted to stop but never got the chance. They advertise steak and seafood and their building is a large older house converted years ago for their restaurant.
We each ordered a steak dinner to share, Rob and Jany had the "Australian steak" and we had a rib eye. Both meals were superb! The steaks were the best we had eaten a long, long time and the prices were not out of line at all.
We made it back home stuffed but happy and spent some time visiting in Rob and Jany's 5er before finally heading home and hitting the sack after a long day.
Monday Rob and Jany joined us and Rudee cooked all of us a buffet breakfast! She made bacon, scrambled eggs, fried green tomatoes and cinnamon rolls. Wow, what a spread. I'm gonna get fat again eating like this! :-)
After breakfast Rob and Jany headed back to their site to begin packing up since they had to leave to get back to work. :-(
While they were doing that I tackled a quick project in our little house on wheels. The toilet is supposed to hold a small amount of water between flushes and ours quit doing that several months ago. There are two rubber seals between the bowl and the pedestal stand that needed relaced and I figured I might as well replace the flushing valve and spring while I was at it in case this was also causing the problem. I had ordered the parts last week and they arrived by UPS on Friday.
I had replaced the seals a couple of years ago when, due to a design flaw, the company sent out new ones so I had a little bit of experience on taking the toilet apart. This would prove to be more of a hindrance rather than a help :-).
Everything came apart pretty easily but then I had to put the new parts back in! Getting the new valve and the little shaft that moves it back into place was a bear! Keep in mind that this valve sits on the bottom of the bowl inside where all the "stuff" goes! EWWWW!
Let me stop right here and say that I think plumbers earn very dime they make and I will probably never shake hands with one again! :-)
I eventually got the valve installed and was ready to put the bowl back on the pedestal. I first had to lay the seals down on the top of pedestal and then sit the bowl in its place sandwiching the seals between the two. Rudee helped me center the bowl and I tightened everything back up. Last test was to turn the water back on. No leaks and the toilet flushes like normal except the water in the bowl now runs past the closed valve even faster than before! Rats!
By this time Rob and Jany were packed up and hooked on. We met them in the driveway by the office and said our goodbyes. For some reason they skipped the "hugs and handshakes" when they said goodbye to me. :-)
Rethinking my repairs to the toilet I decided to take it apart (again!) and make sure the new rubber seals were not pinched or moved somehow. Off came the bowl again and the new seals were laying there nice and flat right where they were supposed to be ..... hmmmm. One of the seals is thinner but bigger around than the other one and has "this side up" printed on it and I had put that side up. What could be wrong? I decided to dig the directions out of the trash where I had tossed them. Remember, I had done this before so I knew what I was doing? Well after fishing through the trash and reading the directions, the thinner seal goes on the bottom with the words this side up "up" and then the thicker seal goes on top of it. I decided to try it "their way" and guess what. It worked! The toilet now holds water and flushes like a new one! Guess that reading directions thing you women are always yacking to us men about may not be a bad thing after all! Sorry guys, but I guess I have surrendered to the other side on this one :-)
Nothing special going on this week, just back to work for another "hot" week at the KOA. I'll keep you posted.
Sunday, July 22, 2012
Long week end
We had to say goodbye to another set of workcampers. Mary and James had to return to their home base so James could have some medical tests performed. They pulled out Tuesday morning and we met them as they were hooking up their toad and wished them well. We are hoping to see them at Amazon in Campbellsville, Kentucky where we are both scheduled to work later this year. We are even staying at the same campground just a few sites from each other. Good luck guys, hope all the tests turn out well.
Rob and Jany arrived yesterday morning and got their 5er set up before coming into the cafe for breakfast. They timed it so they were our last customers and we were able to sit with them and have our breakfast as well. I hope they enjoyed my cooking, they cleaned their plates so that was a good sign! :-).
Once we got off work we hung out at their site sitting in the shade under their awning. We made a run to Harbor Freight Tools for some browsing and, luckily, there is a Big Lots store in the same strip mall so the girls had a place to browse too!
On the way back to the 5er we stopped at a small restauarant called Benjimen's and had a nice meal. Rudee, Rob and I had breaded tenderloin sandwiches while Jany had the homemade lasagna. The servings were "super size" and we all had left overs that we brought home.
We have plans today to do some motorcycle riding and are looking forward to being on two wheels again. The weather has just been too hot to do a lot of riding and of course we have worked 10 of the last 11 days so we have not had a lot of time anyway. We are now off until 4pm next Wednesday so no more excuses, it's time to ride!
Today is also a very special day, 34 years ago Rudee and I were married. Our wedding day was just the start of a great adventure together and here we are 34 years later still "taking chances" and exploring what this life has to offer! Thanks Rudee for being a great partner, love ya Babe! I'm sure looking forward to the next 34 years worth of fun! I'll keep you posted.
Rob and Jany arrived yesterday morning and got their 5er set up before coming into the cafe for breakfast. They timed it so they were our last customers and we were able to sit with them and have our breakfast as well. I hope they enjoyed my cooking, they cleaned their plates so that was a good sign! :-).
Once we got off work we hung out at their site sitting in the shade under their awning. We made a run to Harbor Freight Tools for some browsing and, luckily, there is a Big Lots store in the same strip mall so the girls had a place to browse too!
On the way back to the 5er we stopped at a small restauarant called Benjimen's and had a nice meal. Rudee, Rob and I had breaded tenderloin sandwiches while Jany had the homemade lasagna. The servings were "super size" and we all had left overs that we brought home.
We have plans today to do some motorcycle riding and are looking forward to being on two wheels again. The weather has just been too hot to do a lot of riding and of course we have worked 10 of the last 11 days so we have not had a lot of time anyway. We are now off until 4pm next Wednesday so no more excuses, it's time to ride!
Today is also a very special day, 34 years ago Rudee and I were married. Our wedding day was just the start of a great adventure together and here we are 34 years later still "taking chances" and exploring what this life has to offer! Thanks Rudee for being a great partner, love ya Babe! I'm sure looking forward to the next 34 years worth of fun! I'll keep you posted.
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