Sunday, September 28, 2014

The Tale Of The Mysterious Mice


Lola and Ozzie are getting revved up to go for a walk.  I'm still having my morning coffee. sigh.  We walked around the area of 5th wheels where people were packing up to go home. Not sure if they are owned or rented since we see trucks hauling them in or out. A nice vacation for them.

This morning I wore my treat bag and when Sam and Lola walked nicely they were rewarded. I WILL get them to go slow.  We actually had a nice walk around. Later today, when the tide goes out and people go home, lol, we will take another long walk on the beach.

Ok, the tale of the mysterious mice. Two days ago I saw "mouse droppings" . We had them at the studio I was in so for sure, these were little presents from an unwanted guest in CiCi Blue. I found them everywhere yesterday and went in to a mild panic. There I was envisioning them below or behind chewing on a wire or two. I swept them up and threw them away.

We recently had our mail delivered here and one of the magazines, Escapee's, had an issue about mice and if you put down dryer sheets they will, 1st, not enter, 2nd, go away.  Looking down, I found more droppings. They did look like seeds but also pointed and the same size as little mice poopies.  I jumped on my bike and round down to the general store at the campground and bought 4 packages of dryer sheets. Left one there for someone else.  Came home and even more little droppings. OMG, they were running amok in the coach.


 I placed dryer sheets everywhere. I was going to get them!! Then I bent over to pick one more up and it was stuck in a glob of Lola's fur.

Ok, it was then I realized that Lola had tiny seeds attached to her fur from our walks last week in the woods.  Thought we got all the nasties out of her fur but I guess these tiny seeds, a.k.a. Mice Droppings, attached underneath. DUH!

Today we start our stowing after Roger's Sub reunion and our week here at Myrtle beach.  I'm working on getting a bedroom carpet dry after I brought the bedroom slide in too quickly last week as it was pouring out. Then rain all week and the dampness has kept it a little damp.  We leave at 7 A.M. in the morning to head to Loris, S.C. to the Cummins Repair shop. I have been having issues with my car so who knows after that.

One more cup of coffee...watch some football and enjoy our day. I have to say, even with the small issues that seemed huge at the time, I am truly loving this life. I keep thinking we are going "home" to Florida but we are home!! We can roam anywhere we choose. Woohoo, that's exciting!!!

Have a great day..

Warmly,
Sheila

Thursday, September 25, 2014

Who Knew Lola Could Be A Balloon!


This is Lola. Yes, the furry brown and white girl you see here. Today, after days of rain I thought I'd write a light and airy blog.



As you see she's a rather "large" girl but thinks she's tiny and weighs, (sorry Lola) between 95 and 100 lbs.  While we have been here at Myrtle Beach we have taken long walks on the beach in driving rain nightly.  Lola is thrilled.

Along the way she will speak to lawn chairs that were left and fishermen along the shore.  If we happen to see another dog traveling about she will almost walk backwards to keep track of him. Such a girl.


With the chill in the air, and the first time we have seen her in cold weather, she is excited.  We were walking along when suddenly Lola burst into the air, full body. She was able to turn her head and front paws, mid air, and come 360 around and land. She pulled my arm straight up with her then after landing did it again in the opposite direction each time flying higher like a balloon. And again but this time landing a 180 right in front of Sammy. (I know I have to work on my arm rotations but yikes,,,,.)


Always present, always loving and always making us laugh. We return to Florida on the 1st of October and I have already contacted my massage therapist! She will be thrilled to see how I can rotate that stiff right arm now. Thank you Lola...(I think)

 Have a great day today...Maybe I'll be back later if anything fun happens. I know we will be doing another long walk on the beach. 

Warmly,
Sheila

Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Repairs And A Spot Of Sun


Well yesterday the repair man came for the leak in our coolant pump. He called and got it delivered so early Monday morning, before we head out to the next stop, we will stop by the Cummins Repair shop and have them replace it. I think Roger said it would be about $1700.00 and not covered by insurance.  Thankfully, I have two good commissions to do which just came in and will help a lot.  The Universe does give you what you need.

This morning we had the slide guy come to see if he could find out why our slide doesn't want to work. It seems no one can figure this out. Well, Don did!!! The only person who could get to us before Saturday was Coast RV here in Myrtle Beach. He told us that it was a simple system of a volt going in, one going out. Sounds simple.  He also searched for the illusive "control" box but it wasn't found. Then he tested the switch that controls the slide and started getting intermittent readings. He turned and said.."Found it". It's the switch. The "simple" switch from Country Coach, that they probably don't make any more. Oh-oh. Don is going to try and find us one, hopefully before we leave.  This visit was only 175.00. Much better.  I'm hopeful that this will be it for awhile and we can start driving about without an issue, well, at least for awhile that is.


We had family come visit us today. I vacuumed and polished a bit and made Ci Ci Blue look good. We use Old English on the wood and it just soaks it in happily. I was also thrilled after the first hello's that Sammy curled up and slept as well as Lola and Ozzie. They even resisted the crackers and cheese. (I'll take their temps later..lol

During our visit I saw it! One small speck of sun. I did, honest. Now it's raining again.  Oh well, the slide is out and our family brought our dinner!! What more could we ask for.


This was at Big Hart Campground. Near the end of the second week I did some laundry. Roger got me a small rectangular covered box at the store and I filled it with water, added clothes and detergent, then you shake it up and down. I called it my laundry aerobics! One thought was to hold it over my head and get the backs of my arms but water did spill out as you do this.  Thankfully, or not so depending, today I am using our washer/dryer in the coach. It does take forever but it's ok.  Clean sheets for the bed tonight.!!

The temp at night is about high 50's. We could hear the wind whipping outside as we had the window open a bit for the fresh air.  I still have my "Florida" blood so to me it's pretty chilly so I slept in my hoodie with it covering my head. I will say I slept the best I have in a long time.  Looking forward to it again tonight!

So, have a great night yourselves and see you tomorrow! 

Warmly,
Sheila



Tuesday, September 23, 2014

I'm Back...

Wow, what a time. Big Hart Campground is gorgeous!! While we were there I did write a few posts which I will post. It was interesting having no internet or phone service while we were there but I finally let down and found a hill near the entrance of the Campground and found I could get email and call family to let them know we were still alive.

I did sketch but chose to read while we were there. Still shell shocked at actually moving and starting our adventure it was a really nice break!

Here is the first blog post I did in Georgia.

The Sea Trials Begin

Here we are in Georgia. Deep down in a valley, I think, at Big Hart Campground in Thomson,Ga.  No internet signal, no 4G. Note to self, find out how to get it while on the road and out of the way.

The slide came in!!! We were ready and excited to go. Our first stop I posted from my phone was in Brunswick. We will go back there for two days on our way back from South Carolina. We found quickly, and read on other’s blogs that heading out after a travel day is exhausting.  

It took about 4 hours of driving to arrive here from Brunswick as I traveled in the car behind the rig with Sammy and Lola who slept until the last 45 minutes of the trip.  Huge learning event at one red light was make sure I can see the signal. Roger turned on a red arrow and I was following close but never saw the signal go just green and almost went head first into on coming traffic.  Hellooooooo!!!!  From there on seemed like eternity to get to the parl but finally we arrived. Beautiful wooded area with the road winding down, down, down til we got to the gate.  

Big Hart Campground is a CEO Campground. The Corp Of Army Engineers. It is located on the J. Strom Thurmond Lake, 50 amp sites with water and beautifully views right on the lake.


The first night our slide did not open.  Sitting at the dinning table you could see we were not level so the next morning Roger backed up a bit then with me badly directing, (so need to work on those hand signals) pulled back down and forward. We have a level and put that on the dash and we found the perfect spot. The SLIDE OPENED!!!! With the kids we really need that extra room and we now have it!!!

The dogs love it!! Sammy, the anxious boy, is totally happy.   I use the Dazer II as a correction for pulling, as it’s worked for his barking already.  I have Lola and Sam on lead walking and since we have a 15 degree hill to walk up I’m grateful that they are pulling to start.  Flat Florida! I’m sore but getting stronger. :-)

I have found one push of the Dazer II and an “easy Sammy” correction works. He turns and comes back then walks with a loose lead. He hates the sound and seems to think it comes from space rather than me. I’m thrilled to finally have a boy to walk with!! He has also been good with seeing people. Lola still needs to “Talk” with them. She is so afraid of things. She barked furiously at a branch coming out of the lake til I pushed it with my foot. Her first people tied her up all day and kept her away from the other dog in the house. Or she was in a kennel or in a crate. Now she’s with the boys going on long walks and coming back home exhausted. (Another note to self is buy a good walking stick)

I’ll stop for now..more later…

Warmly,
Sheila


Then one more for today...

Holy Moly A Storm

Yesterday, Saturday, we had our first storm here at the Campground. We could hear the thunder way off but suddenly the shore power went off.  (We heard today the storm was really bad in town and stuck a telephone pole which fell on a truck causing the electric in the area to go off til….2 am.)

Roger and I looked at each other and realized it was yet, a new learning experience. We also realized at our walk through we never really learned what to do. I guess everyone is already a experienced RV er.  We turned on the generator which gets the inverter up and going. Now we had to watch our amps. Roger was in the middle of making tomato soup with real tomato's when the generator tripped.  The lights were already turned off and we had our LED lights on.  He went out to find generator box switch and couldn’t find it. Out came the “Bible” . It told us to check the manual that comes with the coach.  Ah….what manual.?  He finally found it and it came back on only to go back off.  Was it our induction cook top? No tomato soup? After a few minutes of checking guages we discovered that our generator was recharging our batteries first. Whew. It’s all a learning curve and I did have tomato soup.

The storm came to us finally. Wow, I had forgetten how thunder sounds echoing off the hills. I caught the flash out the side of my eye as the lightning hit in the woods next to us. Holy Moly!!!! Lola went and hid in the bedroom and Ozzie hides under the over hang of the couch. Sammy slept. Roger and I played scrabble.  Another storm is do in this evening. The park host told us to run the generator all night if the electric goes out. Not a problem. We shut ours off at 10 P.M. last night according to the noise regulations here.  It wasn’t too bad with the windows open but at 2 A.M. when the electric came back on we did the sleepy happy dance!!

Tomorrow I am getting to work!!! Getting out of the “vacation” mode and starting the “this is our life” mode and I’m loving it!!!

Warmly,
Sheila  


We are now in Myrtle Beach with a Cummins (engine) repair guy under Ci Ci Blue. We have a leak in our coolant tank and he's taking it off to order a new one. On our way home we will go to the shop and they will installl it there. Poor guy is out there under the rig in the rain but at 110.00 an hour I guess that's what you do.

Yes I will be painting this week for sure. LOL...

Warmly,
Sheila

Thursday, September 11, 2014

A Word from Sheila

Hi Folks..... This is Lou... Sheila's Friend...

Sheila asked me to post for her just to let you know that she, Roger and the pups made it to the RV park in Georgia just fine. 

They love the little piece of heaven where they are parked, but it doesn't have Internet service. So, she'll be off-line for a while and will post when she can.

Have a great weekend.

Lou

Tuesday, September 9, 2014

Made It To Georgia..We Left The Nest

This will be a quickly since I can't the internet to work on my computer. I'm on my phone . Lol

Well we made it to Brunswick , Ga. with no incident. Thank goodness!  The RV park, "Resort" is new and very clean. Each has a single cement pad with hedges separating the pull thru's. I feel like I'm in a little "town".  Waiting for the Stepford wives to walk by.  No, it's really very nice and even has a fenced in dog area.  ( someone forgot their babies doo doo) oh oh.

Pictures hopefully tomorrow.  We leave in the morning and head north west to Big Hart Campground where we will once more try and figure out what's wrong with our slide!! Oh yes. Now it won't go out!!  Life is a little close but it is even when all the slides are out . The dogs love being on top of us!

Anyway, we are safe and sound. We were about to have cheese and crackers but the crackers are in the pantry blocked by the slide. So we decided , very excitedly, to call for a pizza and have them deliver. I called and called then looked on their Facebook page to find out they went out of business! Lol lol Life on the road.  The sky tonight however is magnificent!!!! Red sky!!!  That's what makes it all worth it!!!!

Warmly,
Sheila

Monday, September 8, 2014

The Slide Has Been Repaired Or Decided To Work



Roger and the GUYS!!  They arrived from Cocoa about 1 P.M. just as it started raining. I took the kids to the park and they started to look to see what was wrong with our slide.


Thankfully the rain stopped and the kids liked the guys so there was no issues there. I was impressed that one of the workers could actually rearrange himself to fit into our basement space. Ah youth!! Anyway, they tested every wire and the motor for the slide and didn't find anything wrong.  You are looking at our bedroom slide in this picture since the kids and I went inside. Then I saw the Living room slide move back. My fear is that the dogs get their paws caught so training came right away. Sammy...couch and down. Ozzie, kitchen, sit. Lola...bedroom..bed, stay.  They did fantastic. Maybe the sound of my voice helped.

Then the slide moved a bit and then started to come in. Lord the rug is disgusting. (Saving for new flooring as we speak). It came all the way in then stayed. Now what? The men all gathered and I swept and picked up dog hair. The repair man came back in and hit the button and..voila'...out went the slide.

They have no clue what is wrong and thought maybe it was the "controller" but they have no clue where that is located. I got out the CC Bible and there was nothing in it about that. Hmm.  I have my email friend who has a 2004 Country Coach and he suggested that we call a man named Kevin who had worked for Country Coach for years and now works on his own.  Maybe he will tell us where the illusive "Controller" may be hidden.

So, tomorrow morning we will again stow and hopefully GO! We cancelled our reservations for the first RV Park but think we will call and stay for one night then drive to Big Hart Campground for our two week stay before going to Myrtle Beach for a week.  Getting through our first "break down" has given us new purpose.

It will be good to get going...Roger is finding himself a little down since his retirement. After working for a lifetime, getting up and going everyday, it's a little tough to regroup. Actually, we have been busier in the RV then we ever were in the house.

So, until tomorrow evening , hopefully in Georgia....Have a great night.

Warmly,
Sheila

Saturday, September 6, 2014

Fergus Playing A Trick, Murphy's Law Or Divine Intervention?


Packed up, everything stowed and we just needed to bring the slides in. Maybe if I had prepared like Ray's Bubba from Utah who posted on the blog the other day suggested we would have known.  Bedroom slide...In. Hydraulic passenger slide..IN. The slide behind the driver...two inches and stopped. Now it wouldn't go in or out. Roger checked all the fuses then I rechecked all the fuses. Not a thing out.  Now Roger tried bringing it in by hand. There is a "crank" area down in the bowels of this boat and he crouched right in. It went another 2 inches and stuck.  I got out on a ladder and wiped the gaskets with baby powder. I have read it keeps the rubber supple. So the gaskets smell nice but alas, that didn't help either.

Our RV guy is on vacation. I called two others. One is on the road from Arizona and the other charges 280.00 just to get here.  I'm waiting on one more guy from Cocoa to call back.  Roger just thought after our downpoour finishes here he's going to start the coach to see if it may work then.  Anything at this point.  If all else fails we will wait for the RV guy to get back from Arizona on Tuesday and have him come.  We will cancel our first 2 days in Georgia and then probably drive straight to the Lake in Thomson, Ga. on Wednesday.

It had an issue at Lazy Days when we first went to get it and they replaced the fuse. Hmm, should have had it looked at then. Oh well.


You can see the dining room chair akimbo over there. The room is out on a slant. 


Pouring rain outside so the kids are snugged up next to me. 

Fergus playing a trick? Fergus was our chocolate Lab. Roger's boy.  Smart and oh so silly. An amazing agility dog, sensitive and knew before we did that Roger had heart issues.  Fergus had a brain tumor and the day he went to the Bridge, Roger and I went to the beach and just sat. All of a sudden a huge gust of wind came, picked up the umbrella and blew it down the beach with me running like a goof after it laughing and crying. It had to be our boy.  On the day my beloved Sophie, my black Lab Muse left, Ozzie and Sammy escaped out of the yard and again in my heartbreak I was running after them laughing.  Seeing today is the anniversary of Fergus trip to the Bridge I just figured he wanted us to stay put for today.  We actually did laugh!! And, Roger told me he was almost relieved about not driving today. 

So, Murphy's Law? Divine Intervention? Fergus? Maybe all of the above. We're all together and snug as bugs in rugs here at the RV Park.  The storm is crazy out there. We will get there when we get there. 


Have a great day.

Warmly,
Sheila

(who forgot to add this the other day..duh!)

Thursday, September 4, 2014

Count Down To Our Sea Trials

Roger is an ex submariner so our first trip out will be our sea trials! It's planning on raining non stop all day tomorrow and since we are leaving Saturday morning, today is a day of stowing and preparation.

First thing in order is I checked our fluids. Oil in the generator and then in our Cummins Desiel. I always check in the Jeep but found the dip stick in CiCi Blue to be extra long. Haha. Fluids, perfect! Then I removed, brushed,folded and put away our wheel covers.  Roger is installing our bike rack on the back of the rig which has been a challenge since he has sore shoulders.  Let's see, oiled the chains on our bikes so they are all ready to travel.

Finding places in the basement and rearranging and pitching. Ha, we haven't even left yet.


This is where we will hang the bikes. 


Where, oh where..... Actually once we get the screen out,(White panel laying in back) we will have lots of room. Hopefully, we can get it rolled back up and stored. 

Storing things inside and tucking them away for travel will be for tomorrow! Let's hear it for heavy duty velcro!! 


The kids know something is brewing and are supervising from the windows. 

Ok, coffee then back out to help or hinder. ;-) 

Have a great day..

Warmly,
Sheila

Wednesday, September 3, 2014

The Work Station Is In


The work station is in! Roger did a great job fitting it in the space and securing it.  The rest of the rig is a mess. lol Tomorrow we will both be at home so we can get rid of stuff that's cluttering then I'll give you a full pic. And let's here it for heavy duty velcro!!!  I am pleased  that he got it in so he can do his work as we go. I am also pleased my two large windows weren't covered.  I so love looking out and the light that comes in is beautiful.

A short blog today. I went to my eye guy and the infection cleared but it is a secondary Glaucoma making the pressure raise. Tonight from all the meds I'm putting in my eye it hurts. (I'm hoping it's all the meds...)
Tomorrow morning if it still feels this way it's back to the eye guy. sigh. Since we will be on the road for a month I'm on pressure lowering meds along with infection stopping meds! Anyway, I won't own this so it's on to bigger and better things after a good nights snooze.

Have a great night!!!

Warmly, 
Sheila

Monday, September 1, 2014

Labor Day

Days blur now and today is Labor Day. I am so hoping I wake up tomorrow and it's chilly. :-) The heat is just getting too much.

So, my Iritis , the inflammation in my iris, is trying to return. Of course it's a long weekend but I just started taking the prednisone drops every two hours and I think I have it under control. On 4 drops today and tomorrow will call my eye guy. This could be an ongoing event. ugh.

Today Roger went over to Orlando and bought a desk.


Oh ya, a mess. Sammy is in front staying out of trouble. 

Tomorrow I have a bunch of things to do away from CiCi Blue so Roger said he'd get it all straightened while I'm away. Pics tomorrow night!!

Warmly, Sheila