Whatta Day!

Trying Day for TiogaRV Team

3pm - Whatta Day!
Stuff happened today that kept on coming at us from 8am to just a little while ago at 3pm. That's the reason we are making our first Blog post now!

Here is what happened:
8am - We compiled a shopping list over the passed few days. At 8am, off we went to go shopping.

8:30am - Made an appointment over at RV Trailer Supply to install a dual propane holder onto Scampy’s tongue for Thursday, Dec 1st at 9am.

9am - Boid does not like his new seeds. Went to Kahoots Pet Supply to buy new seeds. Not sure if Boid likes these seeds either. I guess, time will tell.

9:30am - Went to Rite Aid Pharmacy for eye glass cleaner. While at Rite Aid, we were browsing and found a lot of stuff on our shopping list!

• Universal Mount for iPhone to use in Little Honda 
• Post-It note pad 
• Package of rubber bands [ we use these for lots of stuff] 
• Screwdrivers - tiny precision type [watches & eyeglases] 
• Scotch Bride heavy duty green scrub sponge 

10:30am - O’Reilly Auto Parts
At O’Reilly we were looking for a blind for Honda’s driver’s side window.

11am - To install the window blind, we had to lower Honda’s driver’s side window. After installation of the blind, the electric window would not go back up! All the other windows went up and down. Only the driver’s side window would not work.

11:30 - Search in the Honda FIT manual for help. Nothing there about the electric window.

11:45am - Looked up the phone number for Honda America, and called service for help. But service asked for data on Honda FIT. Lots of data! VIN number. My home address. Phone number. Email address. She notified me about a recall for driver’s side air bag. I told her that the bag exploded in December 2015. She wanted to know how that happened to the air bag. Told her the bag exploded from a vehicle accident. She wanted to know all about the accident. Question after question….ad infinitum!!

After all of those questions [during which about 1/2 hour passed] she informed that I needed to take Honda to a dealer to fix window!

12:30pm - Off to Honda dealer.

Honda engine would not start! The engine battery was dead!

1:45pm - O’Reilly Auto Parts
Went to O’Reilly located next door to Rite Aid Pharmacy. Bought a new battery for Honda.

2pm - Began installing new Honda battery. Had to go back to O'Reilly a couple of times. Once to have new battery checked. Once to return old battery for credit of the battery's deposit.

3pm - Posting about all of this stuff so that you would know about our day!

Whatta ya think?

4pm - One More Thing!
You will likely be incredulous to read learn that, just as we were about to leave the parking lot [The same parking lot where we spent most of the day], a boy passed by Scampy and using a key, deliberately put a scratch in Scampy's door!

Fortunately, it was a minor scratch. We once more returned to O"Reilly's Auto Parts, told about the boy putting a scratch in Scampy's door.

The manager at O'Reilly's suggested we use:

"Formula-1 Scratch Out" 

We bought the Formula-1 Scratch Out and a little bundle of polishing cloths. The scratch disappeared. Like magic!

5pm - What else could plague us?
We returned to John & Mimi's home. What more could happen to us that is bad while here at the home of our friends?


8pm - IT'S STILL NOT OVER!!!!!!
After supper with John and Mimi, I returned to Scampy. And here is what happened THEN:

* I went inside the Honda to get the extension cords to connect up to electric power. And locked the Honda behind me. After running the cords from the house to Scampy, I realized that I needed the 30amp to 20amp plug which was inside the Honda.

* When I went into my pocket for the keys, the keys were not there!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What is this F-c-kin Sh-t!!?? I lit up iPhone's flashlight and went searching everywhere that I could think of. Nothing! I retraced my steps. Nothing!

* But I knew that I opened the Honda for the extension cords. I had the keys then. So, I went back several times back over my path, looking in the dark for the missing keys. Finally, there they were! Just in front of the Honda on the street!!

8:30pm - Wait! It's still not over!
After getting the electric power to Scampy, I went to wash my hands in the Scampy's kitchen sink. NO WATER CAME OUT! Just the sound of the water pump cavitating [The sound this type of pump makes when the supply of water is missing].

I figured that the fresh water tank must be empty. I went outside to fill it. John has a hose bib in the front of his house in a raised area. I went up on this raised area, and to steady myself in the dark, put my hand out to a tree trunk. But the tree trunk was covered with spines. And I got stuck several places!!!!

Not stopping to attend to the bleeding places on my hand, I found the hose bib and connected my hose.

When I went to step down from the raised area, it was pretty dark. And I was not able to discern in the dark that what I thought was a 1-foot wall was actually a 3-foot wall!

Down I went falling and catapulting across the sidewalk and rolling over on my back ending up in the gutter next to Scampy.

During my fall, I tried to stop myself with my hand on the sidewalk. The same hand that got stuck by the tree spines!!!!!!!

I was not badly hurt. Just damned pissed off! And went about filling the fresh water tank.

Checking the water pump
Usually, cavitating a water pump for an extended period would destroy the pump. After the fresh water tank was filled, I started the water pump and it worked! The cavitation did not damage the water pump.

Lucky me!

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Fulltime Living

How Much Room To Fulltime?

7am - Scampy living space
Many times during MsTioga’s fulltiming years, we would wonder if our living space would be better if smaller.

MsTioga was 20 feet from the back of the driver seat to the inside rear wall.

Scampy is just under 10 feet from the wall of the toilet/shower room to the inside rear wall.

So Scampy’s living space is 1/2 of MsTioga’s living space. Amazing! Because Scampy is sooooo comfortable!


8:30am - RV Trailer Supply
Yesterday, we made an appointment with Brett, the owner of RV Trailer Supply, to plumb in the 3/8 copper tube going from Scampy's water heater, to the fridge.

When that tubing run is in, Scampy will have hot water for a shower! Also, Scampy's stove will then operate, and we will be able to cook food!!

10am - Tecolote Canyon golfing
My friend John and I are golfing the the Tecolote Canyon Course. John has labeled Tecolote the golf course that everybody loves to hate!

A golfer who makes par on every hole on the Tecolote course, will have a score of 56. I wound up with 174! 118 OVER PAR. Oh my God!

2pm - Repair people love Baby Boid!
When John and I returned to RV Trailer to get Scampy, the repair people were fawning over Baby Boid. And Baby Boid entertained by tweeting his best tweets!

Baby Boid was really hamming it up!



11pm - Scampy sooooo organized!
Every nite since arriving in San Diego, Scampy has been more organized than the nite before. Now at my bedtime, I'm looking around at how things are. I'm so delighted!

The big propane tank that was so out of place [but necessary for warming] is now in the back of Little Honda. Our propane now comes from a gas hose underneath the kitchen sink. There is a quick disconnect valve on the end of the hose. The heater may now be stored with no hose attached.

The pic below shows the propane plumbing job that I had sooooo much trouble trying to do. That plumbing job was completed RV Trailer Supply in El Cajon.

      

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Battery again?

Battery Charging 14 Hours

6am - Scampy's new battery has been charging on the Battery Tender Jr
for 14-hours. And the Jr reports a red color indicator. This red indicator means "Not Completely Charged Yet!"

We on the TiogaRV Team are concerned about the condition of our Interstate battery. We have been using deep cycle batteries since we began RVing in 2003. Our years of experience tells us that this Interstate battery may be defective.

To make sure what the condition actually is, we are taking this battery back to the Interstate store where it was purchased in order to find out what's what.


Propane line project
Do you remember reading in our Blog about the challenge we had installing a quick disconnect fitting into Scampy's propane line? First one thing stalled us. Then another thing. Then another. Ad Infinitum!

The thing that stalled this project completely, was finding out that Scampy's copper propane tubing had a non-standard outside diameter! Isn't that a kick-in-the-head?

In the City of El Cajon, not far from our Nite Camp at John and Mimi's home, is Rick's RV Center. A repair outfit for RVs.

We intend to ask Rick's to take a crack at our stalled out propane line project!


2pm - NEWS!
Interstate Battery:
When we arrived at Interstate and informed them about the battery, at first the guy I was dealing with claimed that the battery was fully charged when we received it last Friday. But after he checked the voltage and specific gravity, he stopped making statements like these because they were obviously untrue. Then, he reversed course and went about installing a brand new battery.

Some of the cells on this replacement battery registered 1300 specific gravity [SG]. It does not get better than that. The remaining cells of the replacement were only partially filled with battery fluid! So the SG could not be checked on those cells. This guy did not even know how to fill the battery cells properly. Amazing!

Anyway, after driving around for awhile we parked and checked the specific gravity. 1300 on every cell! Perfect!

Appointment to replace propane line
We phoned Rick’s RV at 8am asking for an appointment to replace the copper tubing propane line that we Blogged to you about earlier. The guy we need to speak with was busy. We left a message.

We waited until 11am. The guy doing appointment scheduling at Rick's was apparently so busy, that he still had not phoned us. We found another shop that did that work, named RV Trailer Supply. We were told to drive over to check the job out.

We now have an appointment for 8:30am tomorrow at RV Trailer Supply. In addition to doing the propane line work, the Honda will be fitted out to charge Scampy’s battery when towing. THAT will be a very good thig!



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Battery

Scampy's New Battery

7:30am - Battery Specific Gravity

When we bought Scampy’s new battery from an Interstate Battery Center a few days ago, they informed us that the battery was fully charged.

However, yesterday we took specific gravity readings. All of the cells read around 1225. This reading indicates only a fair condition for this brand new battery!

This morning, first thing, we are going to a nearby Home Depot and buy a Battery Tender Jr. This device should bring this Interstate Battery up to a specific gravity of 1300. Excellent condition!

Click [link] to see about Battery Tender Jr.

11am - Souplantation

We are at a salad bar restaurant named Souplantation. The chowder soup was good. Now I'm eating the salad.

So far this morning we bought:

• Battery Tender Jr 
• Bird treats for Boid
• Some stuff to allow the hanging of clothing in the shower.

Battery Tender Jr.
We believe that Little Honda's engine starting battery and Scampy's marine RV battery may be brought into top condition by the use of Battery Tender Jr.

Little Honda's battery has been abused by over using an inverter which caused the battery's charge to go low enough so that the starter would not turn over. This happened to Honda three times!

Scampy's battery was not fully charged when we got it. And, if the specific gravity does not go up near 1275 after charging with BatteryTender Jr, that battery shall be returned to Interstate.

Battery charging at John and Mimi's home

6:30pm - Improvements!
We wanted to be able to put clothing on hangers. When MsTioga was around, clothing was hung in her shower. So, we wanted to the same thing in Scampy.

Initially, we planned on mounting a hanger bar from the wall of the shower. That solution was not appealing. We came up with two different methods to attach the hanger bar to the shower wall. We could not go for either one!

Then, this afternoon while thinking the problem over, an answer dawned! Here it is shown in the pic below. Clothing hanging from the existing shower curtain rod!

We like this way to hang our clothing

Another improvement
How to tell time? Our clock has been sitting on Scampy's dining table bench seat. That's a pain.

This afternoon, a place appeared that delighted the TiogaRV Team!

Easy to answer: "What time is it?"

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When?

When Are We Going Back Home?

12 Midnite - Some Readers have asked, "How long are staying here? When are you going home?"

The answer: "We are fulltiming RVers. Everywhere we are, is our home. And.....we may be out here for a long time!"


Things have not changed!
When MsTioga and I made our very first Nite Camp on February 25, 2003, it dawned on both of us that our home was everywhere! That's why we felt comfortable everywhere we went. That has not changed.

It's a great feeling. 😎


10:30am - We are Busy Bees!

• Picked up our replacement eyeglass frames from Newport Avenue Optometry
• Bought at Ocean Beach Hardware: Stuff to install a hangar bar in Scampy's shower, Dust Pan and brush to sweep Scampy's floor
• Bought at Target [before the crowds arrived]: Hangers for the new hangar bar, Hanes Boxer Briefs, Hanes Sweat Shirt, Wrangler Cargo Long Pants, Merona Short Sleeve Shirt

12 noon - Cleaning Scampy's floor
Now that things have settled down with Scampy, we have time to do ordinary stuff. Like cleaning Scampy's linoleum floor.

The floor is sooooo small. A dust pan and whisk brush are used for sweeping. And a dish brush and a bowl of soapy water for mopping.

After mopping, paper towels are used to take up the mop water.


1pm - Mission Beach Day Camp
From where we shopped at Target, to Mission Beach is only a 10-minute drive. So, that's where we are Day Camped!

Day Camp Location Link

Elevation: 25.5 feet

3:30pm - Tiny rain storm
I was online at RV.NET publishing a New Topic. Just as I was finishing that story, the weather turned dark. A drizzle began. Boid and I moved into Little Honda and drove off for the fresh water station at South Shores Park.

When MsTioga and I made camps around here, the dump stations all had fresh water for filling up RV tanks. Somehow, the dump stations remain. But the fresh water went bye-bye.

It's like that around California. As the years went by [2003 to 2010], communities were disturbed by RVs camping on the street. Signs began to appear warning:

No Parking 10pm to 4am

Self Realization Fellowship Camping
During 2003, my first year as an RVer, Reader and now close friend Pete Olson turned me on to the Self Realization Fellowship in the City of Encinitas. MsTioga and I went to visit this gorgeous place.

We were able to Nite Camp on the street right next to SRF. The same during our 2004 trip. We made a Nite Camp in the same place for both of these years. Right next to SRF.

Then in 2005, signs went up:

No Parking 10pm to 4am. 

Why did those signs go up? The street had few houses. There was no parking problem in the entire City of Encinitas. Yet, there those signs were.

Note: I shall refrain from giving a reason for those signs. You may be able to figure that out for yourself.


6pm - Clairemont Mesa Nite Camp

Nite Camp Location Link

Elevation: 335 feet

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Golf

Golfing Again

7:30am - Last June, it became clear to me that my golfing days were over. I had difficulty controlling my right hand and arm. I had little stamina. Hard for me to complete an 18 hole round.

However, those days are behind me. At 9am this morning, John and I will join two others to play the course at Sycuan.

I'm a new me!


8am - Strange things
Yesterday, Scampy and The Team made a Nite Camp at John and Mimi's home. We are using our Wave3 Catalytic Heater to keep warm in Scampy.

At about 2am, Wave3 went cold! Looking at the propane gage, it read empty! That propane tank was filled just yesterday. What's going on?

Examining the fitting to the tank found that the connector had somehow loosened enough for propane to stop flowing. That fitting was tight last nite! How could it loosen?

After tightening that connector again, Wave3 lit up. That was when it was noticed that the tank gage read "half full"??

Figuring out what happened

• Propane stopped flowing: During the nite, it got cold in the shower room where the propane tank is located. The resulting temperature reduction caused the brass fittings to become slightly smaller. Allowing the weight of the hose to rotate the fitting enough to stop the propane flow to Wave3.
• 1/2 filled tank: Yesterday when the tank was filled, the guy doing the filling announced, "I saw propane spit out of the valve. The tank is full now." And he turned off the propane pump. But I did not see propane spit out. So, the tank was NOT filled.

2pm - My golf report
This is the first time that I ever kept my score in a round of golf !

Three of us played the Pine Glen Course at Sycuan Resort. John, Jere and myself. 54 is par on Pine Glen. My score is 88 over par. 142 for the round. This is a terribly high score! But it’s my score.

3pm - Scampy’s new battery
Do you recall that we figured out the reason for the fault being registered by our new inverter? It’s insufficient electric power coming from Scampy’s deep cycle battery.

We checked the specific gravity [SG] of the cells with a hydrometer. The result is a 1175 to 1200 SG reading. After charging for several hours, a good battery should read 1275 to 1300. This battery is a bad one!

We replaced the battery. The new one is:

Interstate Group 27, 12 volt, Deep Cycle Battery

MacBook Computer is charging as I type. So far, NO inverter faults!

4pm - Our Nite Camp
We have made our Nite Camp on a Dead End road very close to the Guava Gardens Apartments where I used to live.

This is a quiet street. Not much traffic. Next to a vacant lot. Below is a link showing our camp location:

Nite Camp Location Link

Elevation: 528 feet

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Fulltiming

Fulltiming Is Wonderful!

7:30am - Baby Boid and George and Little Honda and everybody agree about Fulltiming. It is wonderful!!

Our Nite Camp went sooooo well. Everything worked. Nothing was missing. Our many Scampy Shake-Down Camps in order to find out what didn’t work or was missing did the trick!

The temperature really got cold at Nite Camp. We don’t know what that temp was because our internet connection thru iPhone’s Hot Spot was “No Service”. All nite long, “No Service!” 

We made this Blog post when we found a 2-star Cricket service location We are still on the mountain looking down on the City of San Bernardino.

George’s for breakfast

8am - We arrived in San Bernardino and filled Little Honda’s gas tank. We planned on going to Denny’s for breakfast. But, just across the street from the gas station we spotted “George’s Burgers [Breakfast Lunch Dinner]. So we went to George’s.

We brought Baby Boid to breakfast. The lady at the counter at George’s, told us that bringing Boid would be OK! 

Boid liked being at George’s Burgers. He tweeted a lot, and looked around at all the customers.

Baby Boid tweeting at George's Burgers

[San Bernardino]

9am - Thanksgiving Invitation

We are invited to share Thanksgiving this afternoon with friends, John and Mimi. We are heading there now.

However, before we leave San Bernardino, we will make a visit to the nearby original site of the: 

First McDonald's Hamburger Restaurant!

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4pm - Thanksgiving Celebration
Delicious turkey, stuffing, string beans, sweet potato! And dressing!

I've celebrated Thanksgiving with John and Mimi almost every year since I began fulltiming in 2003. I feel very fortunate to be here with them celebrating Thanksgiving this year.

Note: I had planned to take pics of us at the table. But I forgot to take pics! Darn!


7pm - Why sometimes things go wrong
Have you noticed, at times I rant about stuff being missing? And I blame missing stuff on playful ghosts or bad angels? I even sometimes blame God?

I am seriously doubting the validity of this blaming. Now I've come to believe that it is actually Me Myself who is responsible.

The reason for things going missing is I’m not paying attention.

“Paying Attention” does not accurately describe what goes on. Maybe, it’s part of the aging process? As I’ve aged, I believe that I'v became mentally sloppy. Not paying enough attention to recall what I am doing. To recall what I’ve done.

Example:
I have something in my hand. I put it down without concentrating enough. And that something is gone! Not actually gone. But I have no idea where it is. Because where it is not in my memory.

What I have to do
I believe that I can stop this mental sloppiness, and become mentally disciplined again. As I was when I was younger. This likely will not be an easy thing for me to do. But if I have the right attitude, I believe that I am able to do it!

The reward will be a lot of frustration removed from my life.

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Copper tubing

A Copper Tubing Challenge 

8am - In yesterday's Blog, I described the challenge that was encountered because of a copper tubing specification difference between copper tubing sold at Home Depot and copper tubing used in my Scamp Trailer.

I phoned plumbing supply companies all over the United States asking for info. Nobody knows anything about this spec difference!

So, I phoned Scamp Trailers asking for help. A 3/8 brass compression fitting is being sent out to me. If I am lucky, the receipt of this fitting should resolve the issue.

But, if the fitting from Scamp does not do the job, I'll have to figure out some other way to do this.

8:30am - Passport photo

I'm in the process of renewing my passport. A photo has to be submitted. I went to Walgreen's where they sell passport photos with the correct dimensions.

Below is what I have come to look like. I don't even recognize this face! Who is this old guy? Me?

This is Tioga George?

4:30pm - BIG NEWS!

Tioga George and Baby Boid left Lone Wolf RV Park with Scampy in tow behind Little Honda. We headed into the mountains. Our destination, somewhere near Crestline, CA. And……we are there NOW!

4:45pm - Church parking lot Nite Camp

While we were heading toward a lake near here to make our Nite Camp, Cricket Cell Service became NO SERVICE! We had no directions. We came upon a church with an empty parking lot. Went to the church door where phone numbers were posted.

We asked permission to stay the nite, and the answer was, “YES!”

First thing after setting up Nite Camp, we cranked up our Wave3 Catalytic Heater. The heater is set at low.  And it’s comfortable inside Scampy.

About Passenger Baby Boid

Baby Boid is a real fun guy to drive with. He loves to drive, and is interested in EVERYTHING! Every second, Boid’s eyes are looking here and there, and all over. 

Much of the time, Boid perches himself very close to me. Maybe Boid feels secure when he is close to me? 


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Comparing RVs

MsTioga, Twayler & Scampy

8:30am - Decisions, decisions....decisions!
Back in September of this year, we made our decision to be an RVer again. Then we came up to the decision:

What kind of RV should we buy?

• With a MsTioga type RV, everywhere you go, a comfortable bed and a nice bathroom go with you. But, MsTioga got 7.5 miles per gallon. At today's gas price, that means $0.40 cents for each mile traveled! Go 100 miles and gone is $40 bucks for gasoline alone!


• Twayler is a very nice RV also. More comfortable than MsTioga. Camping with Twayler would mean buying a tow vehicle. Probably a truck. Twayler with a 28 foot length and a Ford F-150 @ 20 feet long would mean a combined length of 48 feet. Wow!? We would likely never drive on a dirt forest road with this rig combo!


• How about Scampy? We could tow Scampy with Honda FIT. Scampy @ 13.5 feet long and Honda FIT also at a 13.5 foot length = total driving length of 27 feet. Honda gets 21mpg when towing Scampy. Driving 100 miles costs only about $14 bucks. Scampy has a nice bathroom with a shower! Driving on a dirt forest road would be easy. Have to be careful about loose gravel/sand. Don't want to get stuck!

So, we chose Twayler as our Home Base and Scampy as our Camping RV! Whatta you think about that?

Scampy and Honda camped near Palm Springs

2pm - Propane job going bad

Did you ever try to do something, and find that stuff just went wrong? It's weird in my case. Because my experiences are ones of extremes:

• EITHER, things go so well, that I am blown away!
• OR, things all go bad. First one thing bad. Then another. I keep trying. Find a way to do something that would not work. Then run into another obstacle.

This afternoon, I was positive that there was sooooo little to do, that I had to finish in about an hour. No! I was wrong.

All that needed to be done was to put a 3/8 compression union onto each end of the the copper tubing bought from Home Depot. Then, attach both of these compression fittings to Scampy's existing copper tubing.

The compression fitting attached easily to the Home Depot 3/8 copper tubing. But would NOT attach to Scampy's 3/8 copper tubing! Scampy's tubing appeared

to have a slightly larger outside diameter!!!

It seems that there might be West Coast copper tubing AND another slightly larger OD copper tubing elsewhere in the country. WoW! Are you kidding me?!

PS: Tomorrow I'll phone some big plumbing supply houses and get the low down on copper tubing.

5pm - Another story!
When I attempted to Blog to you about the compression story above, I was NOT able to use iPhone's personal hotspot. The USB cable that attaches the Mac Air to the iPhone, magically transformed into a USB cable that is not made for Apple products.

I had purchased [4] of each kind of USB cable. [8] cables in all. Somehow, all of these cables are now NOT for Apple products.

Another one of those crazy things that happen to me. Who knows how? Who knows why?

Anyway, I went to Best Buy in Apple Valley and bought [2] Apple USB cables. Cost $36 bucks. But now I am again able to use iPhone's hot spot to Blog!



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Figured It Out

Doing The Plumbing

5am - When I woke up this morning and thought about Scampy's propane plumbing, how to do it just popped into my head!

• Buy copper tubing 5 feet long
• In the middle of this tubing, install the brass tee
• Using a tube cutter, make a clean cut on the existing tubing at a convenient place to the right and left of where the brass tee will be installed 
• Plumb the ends of the tube with the new tee into the existing propane line

That's it! 

7pm - Bought everything!

Everything needed was bought at Home Depot. Didn't need too much:

• [1] roll 3/8" copper tube
• [2] 3/8  x 3/8 compression unions

That's it! All that is necessary now is to install this stuff. Was doing some errands this afternoon or I would finished the job today.

No rush. Tomorrow is a good "project finishing day!"


11pm - Tripping with Baby Boid
Scampy and I are getting sooooo close to being ready for our BIG trip! Excitement is mounting! 😛

We were thinking about not taking Baby Boid on the camping trip to
San Diego. But Baby Boid gets such a kick out of tripping in Little Honda's passenger seat, that we just could NOT say, "No" to him.

We are going to set-up Boid's cage so that he can be high up. Boid loves it when the view is really good!

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Field testing

Checking Systems in the Field

8am - We have spent the nite in a Dry Camp for Scampy in the Town of Apple Valley. The purpose of this camp is to check Scampy's systems out in the field. It is not fruitful to simply go on a trip and THEN, find out what does not work.

Here is what was found so far:

• New inverter's electricity outlets are not accessible when Scampy's bed is setup.
• After switching from AT&T to Cricket and buying a Mobile Hotspot, the hotspot does not work.
• USB cable for charging portable batteries and the Coleman lantern, not onboard Scampy.
• Cricket data usage not available by phoning 611 as it was when we had AT&T service.

2pm - Calling a plumber!
Tomorrow, I'm going to find a plumber to do this propane line job.

What stopped me, was the existing brass/copper propane lines. In order to install a Tee into that line, more access to the line is necessary. That would require removing a compression fitting on an existing Tee.

When I attempted to remove that compression fitting, it seemed to me that the fitting was secured with loctite or some other thread locker. I didn't know how to proceed after that.

That's the reason for me seeking a plumber to finish the job.


5pm - Baby Boid is a bright boid
He is also a very independent boid. I know these things are true about him, because I've had the pleasure of sharing my home with many budgies since I had 13 years.

Today I started using food as an incentive for him to become "hand trained." I am NOT withholding Boid's food. Just encouraging him to transition to the next stage in his relationship with me.

In the pic below, is Boid resisting coming to me for seeds. Instead of eating seeds from my hand, he searches for seeds on the floor.

Boid looking on the floor for seeds

6pm - Boid eating from me
It took only about one for Boid to figure out that it was a good idea for him to eat his seeds while being close to me.

Baby Boid is a smart boid!

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Propane project

Propane Project Finished Today?

9am - I believe the answer to this question is, "Yes!"

I certainly have enough experience from all the many errors I've made buying the wrong brass fittings!

This propane line project, if I knew how to do it from the start, should have cost less than $30 bucks. I'm guessing that I've spent well over $100 bucks!! Whatta mess!


11am - Right hand and foot twitch
Do you remember me Blogging about my right hand and foot beginning to twitch? That happened during my trip to Guatemala around February of this year.

When I returned to home, and reported about this twitching to my Kaiser Primary Care Doctor, I was sent for a CAT scan. Nothing showed up. But the twitching continued.

Here's the thing about medical care. In my opinion, what happens to a patient and medical care is many times, a crap shoot [toss the dice to see what to do!]

In my case, I had three different doctors on my twitch case. Nothing came from these three Docs. And it was the crap shoot of a colonoscopy procedure that high lighted to me, what was going on. This procedure requires that a patient go off all meds 5-days prior. And I went off meds on a Friday.

On Wednesday morning, the day of the procedure, I woke up and found that my twitching had stopped!! Also, I felt extraordinarily good. At that time, I did not attribute these changes to anything. Possibly to good fortune?

The next day, Thursday, I was instructed to double up on one of my meds, in order to get back to the correct level. That med is Warfarin. A med that thins blood. By the afternoon of Thursday, my twitching returned. And I felt not too good.

I immediately took myself off of ALL my meds! And informed my doctors of my decision. In my messages to my doctors, I called Warfarin as the responsible med for my twitching. But I was highly suspicious of my doctor's decisions for prescribing ALL of my meds.

My cardiologist, who is Head of the Department of Cardiology at Kaiser, San Diego, is a cracker-jack doctor. A terrific resume! This doctor messaged me back with a 1-sentence terse comment:

"Warfarin does not cause hands to twitch."

Researching with Google
After researching on Google about what could be going on with the Warfarin and my twitching, I came across info about patients on Warfarin being subject to a Subdural Hematoma. You may read about that [here].

Conclusion: Warfarin does not cause my twitching. But Warfarin may cause a Subdural Hematoma which cause seizures, which in their mild form, may be a twitch!

Why Blog the above story now?
I would not be here in Apple Valley having the time of my life if what I described in this story had NOT occurred. 

There would be NO Miss Twayler, No Scampy. I would still be living in La Mesa at Guava Gardens Apartments. My hand and foot on my right side very likely, would still be twitching and I would be feeling lousy!

One other thing. Recently I put myself on (1) 325mg Aspirin daily as a med to reduce heart related illness. I learned this morning that Aspirin causes blood thinning, same as Warfarin. I am changing 325mg Aspirin to 81mg, immediately.

I wanted you to know about all of this stuff. 😎


2:30pm - Nope!
Did the propane project get finished as predicted? Nope!

But other stuff got done:

• Scampy got tidied up from the work done inside. Work produces a mess. Isn't that always the case?
• Our new Anderson Camper Leveler was received and looks like it will do a good job. [link]
• Our Camco blocks arrived. They will be used under Scampy's tongue jack. (10) of them. [link]

Scampy has enough storage for all this stuff. Amazing!

3pm - Lone Wolf Thanksgiving Party!

Lone Wolf RV Park is hosting a Thanksgiving Party for all the tenants! I love that!

The food part of the party will be held in the large hall near my site. Afterwards. we will build a big bonfire in the yard behind the office. There is a big pit for fire there.

I am all excited about today! 😎

I just loved the stuffing!

PS: At the bonfire, iPhone provided music entertainment playing Johnny Cash, Hank Williams Sr, songs from Crazy Heart. Big fire kept us warm when the temp dropped!



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Screen Room

Baby Boid's Screen Room

1am - We just installed the Screen Room that we Blogged to you about a couple of days ago! This Screen Room, is actually a very small room just inside Twayler's front door. It is constructed [or fabricated] from a mesh screen door that was bought from Amazon.

It was sooooo easy to install. I am amazed at how well it turned out! 😎

Boid's Screen Room video

7am - Nutrition & Exercise
These two things need attention. After I began eating less food, it appears that my nutrition was not attended to. And after moving to Apple Valley and joining 24 Hour Fitness, I never resumed my 3-exercise per week routine that I had when living in La Mesa.

However, both nutrition and exercise will receive the attention that they deserve beginning now!

BTW, it was not some kind of diet that got me eating less. It was paying attention to only eating when I was hungry instead of eating when some food caught my eye. Or because it was breakfast, lunch or supper time


3pm - Home Depot advice
The remaining plumbing supplies needed for creating the interior propane supply for Scampy, I hoped to buy from Home Depot. I'd already bought stuff from Orchard Supply Hardware and an online plumbing company.

You may think that after doing all this prior plumbing supplies buying, that I would have everything that I need. Unfortunately, I still do not have what I need!! And, this is a very tiny plumbing job. Why am I having so much trouble with this tiny job?

Well, the trouble comes from advice that I received about my plumbing job. Today, for example, the guy at Home Depot informed that copper pipe is only used for water. Wow! When I heard that, I was blown away!

5pm - Google about propane plumbing
As soon as I went online, it was clear that what the guy at Home Depot told me about copper plumbing, was wrong. It is definitely OK to use copper plumbing for propane.

I am very close to completing this propane plumbing job. It should not have taken me so long to complete it. But, things happen!

6pm - Scampy has inverter installed!
This afternoon, the job of installing the inverter into Scampy was completed. It turned out well.

All the electrical connections are nicely soldered. And those connections are protected with heat-shrink tubing.





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Moving on

TiogaRV Team Moving Thoughts

9am - The Team is very comfortable staying at Lone Wolf RV Park in Apple Valley. However, last nite's 36℉ cold snap sorta shook us up out of that State of Comfort! And now we are thinking about possibly moving closer to Jojoba Hills RV Park.

This morning we began doing Google Map searches of RV Parks near the City of Temecula, California. Temecula is about a 1/2 hour drive to Jojoba.

BTW, we phoned Jojoba Hills this morning to learn where we are now on the waiting list. We are #24. Down from #34 when we first got on the list on September 14th.




1pm - Kaiser for appointment
I have a new primary care doctor: Maged Abdelmassieh Toma, MD. Wow! What a handle! Dr. Toma has an excellent medical resume. I was kinda lucky to get him.

When I have an appointment like this, I plan to arrive about 1/2 hour early. That's so that I never have to rush if something slows me up during the trip. Also, and more importantly, because it's much more relaxing to be 1/2 hour early, compared to 1-minute late!

Before appointments, the doctor's nurse always takes my vitals. Weight, height, blood pressure. Asks about my medication. I am anxious to find out my vitals today!!

You may recall, that I halted all my prescriptions after the disaster of the side-effects which I learned about only a couple of months ago. I feel sooooo much better now that I am off-meds!

I wonder if doctors weigh the potential harm from NOT taking meds compared to the potential harm from taking the meds? [Side effects].

VITALS:
My Weight: 158 lbs- I have not weighed 158 since I was in basic training at Fort Ord when I had 22 years!

Blood pressure: 113/58 and I am no longer taking meds for blood pressure, cholesterol and other heart related stuff.

Pretty neat, huh?


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The Heavens

Blaming The Heavens!

10:30am - This morning at breakfast, I was watching "Fiddler On The Roof", the stage play turned movie. "Tevye" the milkman had his milk cart horse go lame just before the Sabbath and was blaming God for the deed.

You know something? I do the same thing! I'm not sure that its God that I'm blaming? But, in my mind, whatever it is, controls me and my destiny.

Maybe I'm not so crazy after all? Or, better said, "Maybe I'm not the only one who is so nutty to believe in such things?" Tevye believes!

When I stub my toe, I blame! If I lose my balance, I blame. In fact, if things don't go perfectly right for me, I blame. Apparently, in my mind, the natural state of things in my life is to go exactly the way that is best for me.

Yes! That's what I truly believe!


11am - Inverter installation
Last nite, when I went to bed, how the inverter wiring should go was buzzing in my brain.

Here's the plan. Tap into the wire run that goes from Scampy's deep cycle battery, to the converter. I will cut each of the two wires and connect a wire that will go to the inverter. Then reconnect the severed converter wire. Likely, each connection will be soldered and protected with a heat shrink sleeve.

These wires are located in the storage beneath one of Scampy's bench seats. Access to the wiring is a little tight. But doable.

I have not figured out the best place to mount the inverter yet. Working on that!


11:30am - Forearm skin protection
Just a few moments ago, I ordered a pair of guards for my forearm skin.
Here is a [link] to the guards that I've ordered.


5pm - Back from Scampy
Most days, there really is not much time for me and Scampy together. In the morning, there is:

• Breakfast
• Doing dishes
• Email
• Blogging
• Messing with Boid
• Sweeping and mopping the floor
• Straightening up
• Making the bed
• Getting dressed and leaving

All this stuff should be done everyday for there to be order in my life. It's usually after 12 noon when I am finished with these things.

Before going to Scampy today, and doing the inverter install, it was Home Depot to buy material for that install. When I actually was looking at the inverter's installation area, I saw a much easier way to do the install than the way I planned.

The inverter will be mounted on the front of the bench seat [see pic]. The DC connection wires will run thru a hole drilled thru the bench wall. To use 120v AC, we'll just plug into the inverter's electric outlets.

Proposed Inverter Location

What does a Lone Wolf look like?

Something like this!

7pm - The new Mesh Screen Door
That screen door that I Blogged to about before, does NOT pass what I require for Boid's safety! For the present time, the mesh door may work to prevent Boid's escaping and flying away. That's because Boid is not sufficiently acclimated to life me. He is not yet comfortable to be extremely friendly with me. But that time is coming.

Then, Boid will become very playful with me. Want to fly on to me to mess around. To play with me. If that happens while I am going thru the mesh door, Boid could easily escape!

So, I am contemplating an engineering change for the mesh door installation. I've ordered a replacement mesh door. A different manufacturer. Much higher quality and much larger width.

The existing mesh door will be removed. The new mesh door will be mounted about 20" inside the trailer. This mounting will form a small room between Twayler's outside screen door and the new inside mesh door. With this small room in place, I will be able to enter and look around before opening the outside screen door to exit.

Entering will be safe for Boid as well. The small room will be visible to the outside, and I will be able to check if Boid has managed to enter that small room, before opening the outside screen door.

I have not yet adopted a plan for mounting the new mesh door. But I am very much looking forward to the challenge of this project!




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Skin

Skin of Arms Bruise and Cuts

1pm - The skin on the top of both my arms bruises and cuts easily. My opinion is that this is a permanent condition brought on by exposure to the Sun. Ads toute creams to alleviate or cure. I do not believe these ads are correct.

I've thought this skin challenge over, and have concluded that protection is the only possible method to reduce or eliminate bruising and cutting.

Long sleeve shirts are my answer. I'm going shopping this afternoon.

Long sleeve shirt for protection

3pm - Tweaking Scampy
While Scampy and I were camping yesterday at nearby Horsemen's Park, we had a chat about stuff that should be done before the upcoming trip to San Diego. [See Note]

• Complete the installation of our inverter inside Scampy in order to have 120v AC for charging electronic devices [ie; Mac Air computer]
• Complete the installation of Scampy's interior propane line with quick disconnect fitting.

Everything needed for the inverter installation we already have. We located the 12v DC wiring coming from Scampy's deep cycle battery. This wiring runs into the storage space under the dining table's bench seat. First thing to do is, double check the polarity [positive/negative] of the wiring. Then, mount the inverter and hook it up. That's it for the inverter installation.

The last two items for the interior propane line, UPS is delivering tomorrow. These items are a brass Tee and a BBQ hose. One of Scampy's existing propane lines needs to be cut and the brass Tee installed in that line. Then, the BBQ hose will be connected to the brass Tee and that job will be complete!

Note about the trip to San Diego:
My eyeglasses have a defect in the hinge that connects the temples to the frame. Since I do not have backup glasses, I've got to go to my San Diego optometrist's office to pick up the new frame.

Both Scampy and I are very excited about this trip! We will be traveling about 150 miles, each way. The trip plan calls for a visit with our friends, John and Mimi who live in San Diego.



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Boid

Boid and George

5am - Boid and I are pals. At this point however, Boid is a very cautious pal. Because I've been with Budgies off and on since I had 13 years, I see in Boid's mannerisms, where he is on his path to becoming really close with me.

The clues are clear in where Boid flies when he is free outside his cage. If he lands close to me, that's a clue. If he makes certain sounds while looking at me, that's a clue.

Boid is a type of bird that is naturally very curious. And his kind craves relationships. When no other Budgie bird is around, he will crave a relationship with me and will be very curious about what I do. One day, when the time is right, Boid will land on me and explore.

After that day, Boid will know that he no longer has to be cautious with me. I have to be very patient with Boid until that day arrives.

Boid flirting around with George

7pm - Camped next to Horsemen’s Park
Scampy and George decided late this afternoon to return to the big vacant piece of land next to Horsemen’s Park for an overnite camp.

You may recall that the first time we tried to camp here went not so good. Because some essential stuff was not taken with us. Like, MacAir! Would you believe!?

Anyway, we are here. And we like how this camp feels. 

It is dark now. Baby Boid appears to be pretty sleepy. So we will put his cage cover on.

Boid likes to have his cover on when he goes to sleep. Boid's cage rests on the stove top. Boid like it there. Gives him a view of Scampy's interior. [As if anyplace inside Scampy would not be a good view of the interior!]

Honda and Scampy near Horsemen's Park

8pm - Perfect Scampy blanket

Do you recall our tent camping disaster near the mountain town of Wrightwood, California? One of the things bought for tent camping, was a 5℉ sleeping bag. Since there was NO tent camping in my future, I had nearly thrown away that bag.

I’m really happy that I kept that sleeping bag. Because it turned out to be perfect for sleeping inside Scampy.

8:30pm - Good time camping

This time, we have everything needed for a good over nite camping experience with Scampy. Several false starts. But this time we did it right!

We use our iPhone’s Personal Hot Spot from AT&T to upload this Blog post. But the text is prepared offline using Apple Notes. All that is necessary, is to copy/paste this text into Blogger, then format the text with the colors and text fonts that I like.

9pm - Changing from AT&T to Cricket

Just this afternoon, we hooked up with Cricket Wireless to do a change-over from AT&T. There is a substantial cost saving with this change-over. I’ll let you know about my savings when all this Cricket stuff goes down!

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Twayler

Twayler's Site Cleaned Up

9am - It was on September 24th, seven weeks ago, that The TiogaRV Team first arrived at the Lone Wolf RV Park. There were days during those seven weeks, when our life here was pure chaos! 

The work to get all the stuff we have stored properly in the right location, somedays was sooooo hard! There were times at the end of a day, when I just collapsed into the La-Z-Boy recliner. Worn out!

However, yesterday afternoon, all of that work and effort finally came together! And we are sooooo happy about that!

My "Order Value" declares [link]: 

• To have a place for everything
• To keep everything in its place

And now we are there! 😎



2:30pm - Reader writes and asks
Comment from Reader BAR who lives in Florida:

b -a- r11/13/16, 12:08 PM
"Hi George,
Love to read your blog. How about some pictures of your finished project?"

Weber BBQ Grill

Boid's Screen Door

Left Drawer

Right Drawer

Garden and Waterfall

Full extension drawer?
Would like to install a drawer with full extension slides in your RV? This is a great project to take on!

It's not a hard-to-do project. It's a box that is anchored to the floor of your RV, that moves along a pair of full extension slides.

My drawer slides are manufactured by Hettich America, in Buford, GA. Amazon sold me these Hettich slides. These are marvelous slides. Extra heavy duty. And they sell for about 1/2 of the Accuride slides.

If you would like details or have questions, email me:
GERSHONBENDANIEL AT GMAIL.COM


10pm - Bad cookie recipe
A couple of weeks ago, I Blogged to you about buying a chocolate
lover's cook book. In that Blog post, I put up an image of a recipe for a
chocolate chip/oatmeal cookie.

This evening I followed that recipe. This a terrible recipe. The cookies are sort of on the hard side [I like them soft]. And don't taste wonderful, as I had hoped they would.

In my whole life, I have never dumped a batch of cookies. However, these cookies may not make the cut!

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Tough packaging

Very Tough Packaging

9am - Yesterday I bought at The Home Depot, a set of:

Husky Hex Ratchet Wrenches

When I arrived back home, I wanted to use those wrenches on the work that I was doing on the Extension Drawer Project. The wrench set was "encapsulated" in a plastic wrap. An extremely tough plastic was used.

First, I attempted to get to the wrenches with a screwdriver. Could not get thru this plastic with a screwdriver!

Going inside Twayler, I tried to open up this plastic with my sharpest kitchen knife. Nothing! I was unable to cut thru this plastic!! Finally, I went at this tough stuff with a metal cutting hacksaw. I was able to saw a small slot in the plastic about an inch long.

Then I tried to enlarge that slot with my kitchen quality scissors. I may have wrecked this expensive scissors if kept trying! So I stopped, and went back to using the hacksaw. I was able to saw thru the plastic wrap. But it took me perhaps 10-minutes!

In the process of opening the plastic, the 7/16" socket wrench must have fallen out. I cannot find it?!

Over the last year or so, I've experienced more and more tough wrapping used by different products. There must be a ton of crooks out there stealing things from stores. Otherwise, why would so much effort and money be spent on wrapping?

From now on, when I buy something that I suspect will be a real pain to open, I will ask for the package to be opened BEFORE I pay!


10:30 - Wrench, breakfast, day plan
Wrench: There is a Syngonium White Butterfly plant growing in a clay pot in Twayler's kitchen. The clay pot needed a clay dish to collect the water. So, I went outside to fetch it in. That's when I spotted the missing 7/16" socket wrench. Fell into one of the clay dishes while I was struggling with the tough plastic! 😎

Breakfast: I may have mentioned, that my favorite to prepare and eat, consists of slices of red or white potatoes, sliced zucchini squash and diced white onion. All sautéed and seasoned with garlic salt. Yummm!

Only thing is, that I hardly need any food compared to how much I used to eat. It's astounding to me?! When I eat more than I am hungry for, I feel not too good, So, I don't!

Day plan: I'm going to continue replacing sheet metal screws now securing the boxes for the extension drawer with 1/4" hex bolts. It was surprising for me to find, that installing 3"x 3" right angle braces fastened with 1/4" hex bolts made the drawers sooooo much stronger!

After the extension drawer project is complete, the plan is to move lightly used items that are now stored inside Twayler, outside to these extension drawers.



5pm - Steak on the BarBie!
Somehow, everything came together today. The long awaited completion of Twayler's [2] drawers with full extension slides happened this afternoon! Yay!!

Twayler's RV site #A53 never was spic and span until this afternoon. All the left over construction material [lumber, screws, electric cords, etc] from the drawer project was gathered up and placed in its proper place.

Then, we went grocery shopping. Some of the stuff on our list was for Scampy and his upcoming trips.

• Hairbrush
• Nail clipper
• Aspirin 325mg pills
• Allergy relief pills

One thing that we bought was NOT on the shopping list. That was an impulse item and a treat for George. A New York 'T' Bone Steak!

This will be the very first time that our Weber Grill will be used. What a neat grill this Weber is too! The Weber fires up easily. Here is how:

• Hook up the propane 
• Turn the heat knob to start 
• Push the red igniter button
• Up comes the flame 
• Wait for the temperature gage to reach at least 300℉

Note #1: Here is a [link] to the Weber Grilling Blog describing searing a steak.

Note #2: Movie recommended by George:

• Title: Sausage Party
• Comedy, animated movie
• R-rated [Language and sex]
• Released 2010
• Plot: One sausage leads a group of supermarket products on a quest to discover the truth about their existence and what really happens when they become chosen to leave the grocery store
• Vocal stars: Seth Rogen, Jonah Hill, James Franco, Kristen Wiig

Click [here] to view "Sausage Party" trailer!




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