I be bloggin', they workin'.

Thanks again for Phil's birthday wishes. He enjoyed them, and so did we. I think he enjoyed them with more alcohol than we did; just a guess.

For your pleasure:

It's a duck on a fence

I laughed myself incontinent over this.  I mean, when do you see a duck on a fence?  Plus, it was just after dawn, so quack-a-doodle-doo!

No one noticed the incontinence because of the lake.  Water, water everywhere.

We've been talking about our sitting situation for a long time.

No need to be so dramatic.  Get up, let's talk about it again.

I sat so long one day I crippled myself.  This couch is fourteen years old (108 in our years), and you don't get comfortable sitting on Great-Great-Great-Aunt Esther.  

Slow-forward a few days.  The couch is gone and we're sitting on camp chairs.  Better!  We need a semi-permanent solution, and we're willing to think outside the Broyhill.  Give us ideas, please.

We've considered:

• a reclining loveseat - we have one in mind
• comfy office chairs with storage footrests (first used in the Footrest Empire) - we have one in mind
• lawn chaises - we have one in mind
• YOUR IDEA HERE - you have one in mind

Annie is already dressed and ready to do Stuff.  I have more sitting to do.

Driving Miss Lazy: learn to drive a big RV

Annie mentioned that it might be appropriate for an RV-centered blog to go ahead and talk about RV-related things.  I don't wanna go to school! The dog ate my homework!  I don't feel well!  I have a fever! I threw up all night!  I missed the bus.


Fine.  Here's some stuff:

We both attended the Driver Confidence Course held at Lazy Days in Seffner, FL.  It's near Tampa.  I've never driven the Duck [looks abashed], although we agreed I should know how.  Annie admits to being a control-freak, and I admit to being lazy;  we're a match made in Dysfunction Junction.

Barney was an excellent teacher.  He was comfortable with the subject, experienced behind the wheel and behind the lectern.  We were in the classroom about 75 minutes, but it seemed much less, and we met back in the afternoon for some white-knuckle road training.  Each student got about 10 minutes behind the Big Wheel, a 39' Fleetwood diesel pusher.  We ran through an ever-changing obstacle course (people kept moving vehicles, appearing on bicycles, parking cars, throwing themselves in front of us.  The runaway baby carriage was overkill, if you ask me).

There was good advice about

• how to back up with and without a partner
• how to mark your mirrors so they always provide the best information
• how to navigate a turn
• how to know where your corners and turning bits are
• why you should never back up if you can't see your wife

Social commentary:  Watching these RVing couples reminded me of an important thing.  It's better to be married to a woman.  Women, sorry about that.  Men, high-five!  

Yes, I see the smudge.

Here are the videos. If you can't get to a class, these videos will be very useful. Go ahead and watch them. You should watch them. WATCH THEM.

Places everywhere, but novertigo.

Annie's game today was called on accounta vertigo inside her head.

 

She uses mescaline for it.  Hold on ... what, hon?

She uses meclizine for it.  

In case you ever need to know, Dramamine is meclizine. Also, most vertigo resolves itself without treatment, but it's unpleasant while you're spinning. 

We're getting serious about leaving Lake City.  Annie's on board now, so things will begin to happen just as soon as she can stand up.

 

I turned on the Duck this afternoon.  Then I started the generator.  The generator is my turf because it makes Annie mad after the first false start.  I understand the generator, and the generator understands me.  We are one, the generator and I.  I practice Meditative Onanism.  Hold on ... what, hon?

Catching up on what really matters.

It has been a few days since we posted, and you're emailing me about current events and how I see them.  Here's one:

Roxanne, what's your take on faster-than-light neutrinos?  Could it be true?

I don't like to discount anything before I have a body of facts to draw from, but this is one I don't mind weighing in on prematurely.  Neutrinos can be fast - no doubt about it.  But, faster than light?  C'mon.  You could try to chase the sun through the sky, but I don't care if you're Usain Bolt, the sun will get to the other side of the earth before you're in the next county.  Still, we are talking about neutrinos.  They're more aerodynamic than peaches - not fuzzy - but they remain a heavy, delicious, mostly-earthbound fruit.   You pitch one of those suckers and you'll get 50, maybe 55 mph on a good day.  So, no.  Neutrinos are not faster than light.

Roxanne, most people wouldn't suspect that you own a lot of [moderately-priced, un-larceny-worthy] jewelry.  How do you keep it organized in a motorhome?

I've been intending to show you how, so it's convenient that you asked.  In the sticks-and-bricks I had a really nifty jewelry armoire, but it wouldn't work in the Duck.  This was Annie's idea:

These are thread spool holders, found at JoAnn Fabrics.

The system works, even bouncing around and jerking the closet doors open.  Studs and other things that won't hang have to live in a box.

I worry about you two.  Being unemployed and in Florida weather must discourage you more than you admit, right?

Annie felt she could better field this question:

Things are heating up.

We hear it may get cold this winter, and that the natives like to "prepare."   The project was our water supply.   Annie, the Preparation Specialist, gathered information and formulated a plan.

• heat tape (60 feet)
• a water hose (50 feet)
• foam pipe insulation noodles (several)
• foam insulation tape (one roll)
• duct tape (nine miles)
• Preparation Specialist (one)

Our Secret Weapon

We started at the supply end.  The Duck is prone to power outages when the inverter flips its breaker, so we want the powered end to be at the house, not the Duck.  We also want the thermostat to be outside rather than inside a semi-heated basement bay.

Annie fed the tape along the bottom of the foam, and I followed closely behind feeding in the water hose and closing up the foam around it all.

And I helped!

Sensibly sealing sticky stuff surrounding seams

Blunt ends of foam noodles got some foam insulating tape

with an extra duct tape wrap.

A loop around the water inlet inside the Duck basement,

and the rest around the graywater valve, for good measure.

Finishing touches on the supply side

finished off with some duct tape for aesthetic purposes. 

It works!

A little dielectric grease for the new outdoor electrical connection and we're good to go.

Here's something Annie doesn't enjoy:  me narrating the status of the heat tape.  On ... off ... off ... off ... on ... off ...  I thought she'd appreciate the reassurance.