New items should work

What happened to Quality Control? Our “New” water heater was defective right out of the box. I got a 30 gallon water heater for our casita because of the bathtub. When filling the tub for the first time the water went cold after about a couple of gallons. Not even enough for a good bath. This is why I bought a 30 gallon. After a bit of troubleshooting I found the lower thermostat to be defective. Rather than returning the water heater I called the service number on the side of the unit. Sure enough I called India. The guy called himself Rocky although he sounded more like Rogish. Anyway I told him I believed the lower thermostat was defective. After a few questions he told me to head over to Lowes and pick up a new thermostat and Whirlpool will reimburse me. Huh…I have to fix it myself? Rocky said it’s either that or he will send me the part and I can call someone to install it. Let’s see…Wait weeks for the part and hope he sends the right one or head for Lowes and get the right part and have it up and running in less than an hour. No brainer, off to lowes. Water heater fixed.

This morning I called the body shop to let them know they installed a defective windshield. They were very nice about it and referred me to the glass shop that did the work. The glass shop sent a guy out and confirmed the defect and said he will order a new windshield and should be able to install it Thursday. He also said he is going to order it from a different company. Good enough for me.

After cleaning up the car a bit today I noticed what I thought was dirt but turned out to be paint over spray. What used to be a smooth surface is now more like fine sandpaper. I tried waxing it out and also tried using a cleaner/wax. The over spray didn’t budge. Looks like I will be giving the body shop another visit.

The wind came up again last night and has not stopped. It was a little after 10:00p when suddenly it went from a gentle breeze to a full on blast. I jumped up and started rolling in awnings and securing everything. Hopefully it will mellow out a bit but is supposed to blow all week.

Car’s back

We finally got the car back today. I got to admit it looks pretty good. In fact it looks better than good since the old hood and fender had a few rock dings. Now they are brand new.

Wish I could say the same for the aftermarket windshield they put in. The whole lower portion of the windshield (about 6 inches) has a bad distortion. Looks like we will have to give it up for another day so they can put another windshield in. Also the windshield washers don’t work. I think that is probably a minor thing and I will most likely fix that myself. I don’t know how they did it but the cowling looks really good. At least the part I can see. The part under the plastic grill is probably ugly. They failed to replace the antenna that was sheered off but I think I can replace that myself. I am hoping it’s just a matter of unscrewing the stub and screwing in a new antenna shaft. I will be making a visit to the auto salvage yard when we get back to California because the dash top has quite a few scratches from the windshield being shoved across it in the crash. I will also pick up the antenna shaft while there. In the mean time I will just listen to CDs.

Today was another one of those famous Lake Havasu windy days. The wind has been plowing about 20 mph with 40 to 50 mph gusts. It didn’t come up until about 1:00p so we at least got half a day of really nice weather. It is supposed to drop a bit tomorrow and be back to nice by Saturday.

Down to the final touches

We are getting down to the final touches on our Casita. I got all the cabinets in and just installed and calked the countertop this afternoon.

I am pretty anal when it comes to these things. It takes me forever since I have to stop and analyze it and decide the better way and the future impact if I need to get to something or change something in the future. What the heck, it’s not like I need to be in any hurry.

We even found time to squeeze in a St. Patties day party here at the resort.

Susan has already made use of her washer and dryer and saved us a lot of money not having to feed the machines in the laundry here at the resort. I figured with the money she is saving we will have the casita paid for in about 13 years.

We are still without transportation. Last I heard they were still waiting on a part for our car. This has put a bit of a hurt on getting supplies for the Casita. Good thing Lowe’s is within walking distance for the little things. We have great neighbors all around us here that have offered their cars and trucks to help us out. I made use of a neighbor’s truck to get the cabinets and countertop. I will be giving the shop a call Monday morning to get another status report on the car and remind them we are without transportation and see if the repairs can be expedited at all.

Another project done

Friday the patio tile was laid and yesterday it was grouted.

Today I cleaned everything up and moved the furniture back in place. It sure looks nice. That is another project done. I still have more projects so we aren’t done yet. Since we still don’t have a car some of the projects will have to wait until I can pick up some supplies. Hopefully the car will be done this week. I am not expecting it until toward the end of the week though.

Last night our neighbor had a Milk Can dinner. This is where you take a Milk Can, the type you find on the farm, and layer it with potatoes, carrots, onions, cabbage, corn on the cob, and sausage. Then you boil it for about an hour and dump it out on the table. There were about 20 of us and everyone enjoyed.

The market was good to us last week. It would be nice if it continues this upward trend but I know better. If I could just get back the money I lost, I would be a happy camper.

Passed

We passed final inspection today on our Casita. We were kind of sweating a few things but the inspector spent a total of probably 5 minutes and over looked most things. Heck, the only thing he did was check the outlets and took a quick look at the water heater. Anyway, it’s done and we are clear to finish it up. Tomorrow the washer and dryer gets delivered and the tile guy is coming by to see what is needed to tile the patio. He plans to get started on that Friday. This place is looking good.

Good day

Today was a good day. We had a bit of a problem with the Casita. Turns out the plumber didn’t provide plumbing for the T&P valve from the water heater. Also the water heater needed a drip pan under it. This held up the final inspection. Today the plumber showed up and took care of it all. Next, our neighbor came down and asked if I needed any brown landscaping rock. Seems he ordered 3 ton and they delivered 5 ton. Just so happens I was going to buy some but since I have an unexpected expense (the car repair) I decided to hold off on that purchase. So when my neighbor offered the rock for free I jumped on it. I even got his landscaper to bring it down to my lot with his Bobcat for a 12 pack of beer. Since I haven’t heard from the body shop that I delivered our car to Monday I decided to give them a call. They weren’t sure if they wanted to fix the car because of the damage to the cowling. He informed me today that they not only will fix it but are just about done fixing the cowling. The other parts are on order and the car should be done next week. Oh yeah, I almost forgot, our stocks took a big jump in the right direction today. So other than sore muscles from shoveling and spreading landscaping rock most of the day, it was a Good Day. Tomorrow is final inspection on the casita and if it passes I will take a walk (no car remember) over to Lowes and buy Susan’s Washer/Dryer and get it delivered. That will make her real happy.

Over an hour to hang a toilet paper holder

I have been busy doing all the little things on our Casita since most of the major stuff is done. We are about ready to call for final inspection except the plumber messed up and forgot to plumb the water heater pressure relief valve to the outside. Also it needs a pan under the water heater. The electrical got done yesterday and it all works well.




I spent over an hour today just to hang a toilet paper holder. The reason why is because I kept getting interrupted by friends coming by. Not really a problem though.

Before we returned from Las Vegas, I ran the car in to the Saturn dealer to get an estimate on the bodywork. It came to around $3500. When we got back to Havasu I got a local estimate. That one comes to $2900. I gave then the go ahead and they will be picking up the car on Monday. Hopefully it won’t take long since that is our only car.

I posted our photos from the last 2 NASCAR races. Check down the left column and click on the thumbnail titled 2009 NASCAR.

Back in Havasu

We have arrived back in Lake Havasu this afternoon. NASCAR was great. We really had a good time in Las Vegas at the track. Susan was unhappy that Jimmie Johnson crashed late in the race but it is still early in the season and I am sure he will do well. I will be posting pictures soon.

On the way back I stopped by the Saturn dealer in Henderson Nevada to get an estimate on repairing the car. They don’t do body work and called in an appraiser from the local body shop. He said he would get back to me this afternoon with the estimate. That didn’t happen. I will be giving him a call tomorrow. I would like to see what price he gives me before I take it to a body shop here in Havasu. The good news is it can be fixed. The bad news is it could get expensive depending on the part for the cowling.
I have had at least 3 people so far that have offered their car for our use here at the resort, another reason why I love this lifestyle. I may take them up on it since I need to pick up more stuff to get this Casita completed.

I sure was nice to be able to pull onto our own lot this time. The motorhome fits well with the Casita on the lot.