Happy Veterans Day!

To all those who served and are serving now, our heart felt thanks for keeping us safe.

 

Happy 236th Birthday Marine Corps!

I forgot to post this earlier today! Happy 236th birthday the the Devil Dogs!
"Panic sweeps my men when they are facing the American Marines." Source -
A captured North Korean Major...

 

Picture Of The Day

When I got out of my car this morning I shot this quick photo of the sunrise. I love sunrise and sunset, you get such beautiful pictures.

Hitch Itch! I Know, You’re Kidding Right?

Not really hitch itch…yet, but maybe it was a mistake to put the count down meter on the page. Five months until our next trip?!?! I spoke to she who is mostly sane about such things (KAN-DO Kathy’ism!) saying maybe we should go during the winter! Yeah we could do it! Ok, so the rig is winterized, we could use everything except the toilet, shower, bathroom and kitchen sinks, so? Basically her response was…

She who laughs at my childish ways doesn’t see how this could be fun! We didn’t get a chance to go as often as we/I wanted this year. I have found a few campgrounds that have their shower and bathroom facilities open year round within 120 miles of our home. I may look into this further, what better way to make sure the systems get their exercise this winter? She who is the wife is going to laugh when she reads this!

Response To Anonymous & His OWS Friends

Anonymous (you know who you are), at first I thought you were just some kid having fun with a blog you found. Now, I believe you are one of the OWS protesters which is fine, the American system at work and you should participate, gotta love freedom! Here is where we part ways.

I believe in this system, the United States isn’t perfect, as long as we have imperfect people it never will be. However it is the best country on this planet bar none.

The key public difference between the Tea Party and OWS is the Tea Party had zero instance of violence, contrary to what Nancy Pelosi said as she was crying about how violent she was afraid the Tea Party rallies would become which never happened much to her apparent dismay. The differences philosophically are too great to get into, so I won’t, besides, you clearly wouldn’t understand.

OWS protests have violence, rape and other crime and where is Nancy’s tears? She loudly proclaims her support for the protests though which makes perfect sense. The hypocrisy is apparent to everybody but the media apparently as they refuse to call her out on it. The crimes in OWS camps detract from any valid message any of the OWS sites may claim to have.

I am an immigrant, did I come from a hostile country? No, Norway is considered one of the best places on Earth to live today but I came here in the 60’s when the economy there wasn't so healthy. Norway was dealing with the residual affects of a hostile take over from the Nazis in WWII when we came here. Do you know any history? Do you know why the Nazis took over? Rhetorical question, I know you don't know but then I doubt many people do, history isn’t that important in schools anymore.

My father could hardly speak English when he came here but he worked his ass off to learn and did not want special treatment for his lack of English comprehension. He expected his kids to work their butts off and not expect anything from anybody that they didn’t earn. I didn't get an allowance, my chores were what he expected be done, no questions asked.

I believe in immigration, it’s what made this country great! Yet, I have been called an “anti-immigrant” by people (some of whom are friends) who say anybody who crosses US borders are immigrant’s, this is incorrect. Those of us who came here legally know exactly what it takes and how hard it is to go through the process. What I am is anti “ILLEGAL” immigration and the sheer amount of illegals from many countries not just Mexico flooding into this country is a concern for all, including you if you understood the law. I don’t know why we have immigration laws if our own Government, local and Federal refuses to enforce the law, it confounds me how the law is openly defied.

The OWS protesters have the right to protest but they/you seem to lack the understanding that the form of Government they are wishing for is exactly the opposite of forced fairness. Russia was not into everybody gets a trophy, everybody gets  a diploma, everybody gets a job, no scoring in a soccer match, if you didn’t do as you were told you had a wonderful Gulag to look forward to. Imagine the Russian Olympic teams arrival by the Politburo when they returned after their loss to the US, do you think they got trophies or a pat on the back?

You guys hold up signs saying Communism is the answer with no knowledge of what Communism has done to millions upon millions of people. None of it “fair”. I don’t know what history is taught in schools these days but judging by what I see spouted off by todays youth, nothing is likely the answer.

It’s real easy to demand a job or free higher education, free housing, free health care, free food, free clothing, free RV’s or what have you but what you don’t get is you work for it and it’s never FREE. Somebody is always paying the bill even if you didn’t have to. Do you think the stimulus bill was “Obama money” as people thought in New York as they stood in line for their “free Obama check” back in early 2009? Where do you think this money comes from? His checking account for Pete’s sakes? TAXPAYERS pay for everything in the Government, the Government doesn’t have any money, they have Tax Payer money, get that through your thick skull will you?

When the Government lowers a tax they always say “how are we going to pay for this tax?” The simple answer is they don’t! It wasn’t their money to begin with!! Lower spending you Government dufus’s!

I digress, as usual. The majority of rich folks got that way by working for it, some started at the bottom of a company in the mail room and worked their way up from there. Are there some rich folks who have more than their “fair share” as Obama put it? NO, their money is their money and that means all of it, who is it for you, me or Obama to say who has enough money? Yes there are rich folk who get away with not paying enough, guess what, there are middle class folk and every other type of folk out there who don’t pay their fair share either.

I can guarantee you this, Obama doesn’t feel he has too much money, I don’t hear him offering to reduce his pay. He feels the Government should make sure everything is fair but nowhere in the Constitution does it state everything will be fair, nor should it. The Declaration of Independence, another document you never read, states “Life, Liberty and the PERSUIT OF happiness” not the “RIGHT TO happiness”. You have no right to it, do you comprehend the difference? Do any of you OWS protesters? You have the right to pursue it, you aren’t owed it. This means you may actually have to do something that may seem a lot like work!

People like you, who can’t even write a sentence after going to school for over a decade, expect the same type of job, the same high level of pay that others have worked for and you expect others to foot the bill for how you get it. I see the crime(s) going on at the OWS locations and the video of them trying very hard to get law enforcement to do something violent so they can file law suits. I find it disgusting that the media refuses to report it yet they tried very hard to show the Tea Party rallies in the worst kind of light they could. I’m sick of agenda’s affecting the news reports we get today, left and right. It’s disgusting.

I’ll tell you what OWS Anonymous, I’m going to invoke the form of Government right here that you dream of. Your posts will be allowed for only the time it takes for me to delete them. Since Blogger emails me instantly when a new post comes in I can delete them pretty quickly.

This is all I have to say about the OWS protesters and you, you’ll get no more ink from me.

I have other people who post as Anonymous so I’m not turning that off. There is an option right above “Anonymous” called “Name/URL”. All you need to put is a name, no URL is needed, this way we know who you are.

Sorry about the long drawn out response to the Anonymous self proclaimed OWS protester, it will be my last one I promise.

RV Is Back And It’s A Happy Camper!

We picked up the RV yesterday from Scott’s RV & Truck Repair and everything looked to be completed. I started the engine, it sounded fine, oil looked fine, and when I went to start the generator something unexpected happened, it started the second I pushed “start” (after  normal 10 second priming). That has NEVER happened! All I had them do was change the genny oil, that was it but it’s as if they found something and adjusted it and didn’t charge me for it. The owner says they didn’t do anything else, either way, it seems happy.

Collier RV quoted me $175.00 to change the genny oil, Scott’s RV Repair charged me $33.00, Collier wanted $150.00 to change the engine oil, Scott’s RV charged me $85.00, both are expensive considering I could go to Ford and it would be $45.00 for the engine if I could get this beast into their driveway and service center (I tried, I can’t) so $85.00 is a bargain and I’m sure the higher cost is due to the extra cost in greasing the chassis points (it’s what I’m telling myself), I just spoke to the owner and he confirmed there are grease points. I remember in the ‘70’s and early ‘80’s when we used to grease the fittings in our cars you would feel an immediate difference in how the car felt on the road. This could have been in my head but it did feel like it rode better.

They also replaced the water pump (for the water system, not the engine) at their cost and winterized the water system. I found all of the drains in the sewer compartment open again like they were last year, I just spoke to the owner, his preference is to leave them open. I closed them, that’s my preference, I don’t want bugs to climb up into the water system, I know it’s going to be winter but I get images in my head of something crawling into the system from these openings.

I pretty much have a standing appointment with the body shop to repaint the door handle (been repainted 3 times since we bought it) since each shop it goes to ends up scratching the door handle pretty bad. I don’t know if it’s wedding rings or they just mash the keys against it, I dunno but once again I’ll have to get the handle repainted because of scratches. We manage to use the rig the whole season without scratching it, one trip in the shop, scratched. I like the handle to look good, what can I say? (no scratch in this pic)

To be frank, I can be frank right?   As long as the repairs are done properly, the $35.00 to repaint the door handle is worth it. The generator runs better than ever and our water system is now 100% functional so it’s a good day me thinks.

Scott liked the fact that I exercise the systems 1 to 2 times per month in the winter time. It uses up gas but long term the RV should have less mechanical issues. My brother did nothing last year and even though we had to manually get the genny running, recharge his batteries and do a lot of other work, everything worked so he believes he can just leave it and it will be fine. We’ll see this Spring won’t we!

That’s all for now! Have a great week!

Repair Center Update

I got a call from the repair center owner this morning to give me an update and to find out if there was anything else I wanted done. I got a quote for changing the genny & engine oil and okayed getting that done and they also have to repair the house battery tray since some how it rusted into a locked position over the summer.

So the items being worked on are the following, top off batteries since I couldn’t get to them. Change engine and genny oil, check power steering and brake fluids to see if they need to be changed, top off if needed. Replace water pump and winterize water system and inspect all tires. I got a quote for new tires since I found out the dealer we bought from left the original inside rear tires installed and they are in horrible shape, the outside rear tires are checking and need replacing as well.

Cost for the 4 rear tires installed and balanced = $1,400.00 on top of the work I’m getting done so that will have to wait until Spring time. I know it needs new shocks as well as possibly the leaf springs checked out but those will have to wait for funds to become available. It doesn’t ride like it needs new shocks or leaf springs, but I know they can only help since I know the previous owner didn’t do squat so the originals are still there.

I’ll update again when I get the rig back this weekend.

RV Dropped Off At Repair Center

It was almost exactly a year ago that I dropped the rig off for winterizing and got it back with no antifreeze in the pipes and a burnt out water pump for my trouble. I called them when I discovered the pump and again in the Spring when a pipe burst from water being in it and they told me that they would take care of it. I repaired the burst line and blogged about it back in March of this year.

Now they have a chance to make it right, I dropped it off and explained it to a repair guy who responded “that’s very strange, we don’t make mistakes like that”. I explained to him the owner has already approved the repair and I agree, it’s not only strange but frustrating that every place I have work on my rig screws something up. So I explained what I wanted done and handed him the keys and I watched him take it to the gated lot which was nice, no worries about security there. I’ve never seen the RV driven before so it was cool to see it going down the road.

I called them this morning to double check the work being done to the rig, the lady responded with they are replacing the water pump and it was winterized by me…   I stopped her and explained I couldn’t winterize it with a bad water pump. I drained all the lines as best I could, I did not drain the water heater but I did put it in bypass so some of the work has been done by me to insure it was done but they are to winterize it, PROPERLY this time and to please remember to turn off the pump. I also asked that all fluids be checked and the battery tray lock is rusted and to please repair it and fill the batteries. I then explained what I meant by all fluids.

I said this in a very friendly tone and she was also very friendly so I think they know what they need to do and I’m just hoping and praying everything gets done properly so I can write a glowing post about it. We’ll see what happens in a few days.

Stay tuned!