It’s been a while

Well, I guess it’s been a while since I last updated our site. We have been busy. We took our grandson to Knott’s Berry Farm the other day and he wore me out.

At 8 years old, that guy is not afraid of anything. He went on all the roller coasters except the ones that were down for maintenance. There were some that I only went on because of him (didn’t want to look like a chicken in front of the Grandson).

This is a photo of a few coasters entwined with each other.

He got burned out by the end of the day even though he didn’t want to admit it. We just got out of the parking lot when he was out for the night. What a great day.

Well after tearing into the old computer again, I decided it’s time.

So the hunt was on. For what I do I don’t need a super computer so I scouted out a couple of good $300 computers. I ended up with a Toshiba. It’s pretty nice computer although I am having a hard time getting used to the mouse, there is always something. The real pain it the ass is the operating system. Windows Vista is a real piece of crap. I keep loosing icons on my desktop, the scroll feature in iexplore just keeps scrolling and can’t be stopped until it reaches the end of the page, and half the folders are gone or renamed. I haven’t even tried to load my software yet. I am sure I will run into compatibility issues and am not about to buy all new software. If I could I would format the hard drive and put XP on it but I know that will surely give me fits. I let my Grandson loose on the new computer for testing.

I figured if there was a problem he would surely find it. He did find some comparability issues where iexploer had to shut down.

Well I will let you know how it goes.

Back in Vista, CA

It was just too hot and humid. Yes humid. This is monsoon season in Havasu and the afternoon thunderstorms were rolling through. 122° and 35% humidity is not good. Landen was missing his mom and dad so it was time to bring him back. We will hang out here until he goes back to school then…Well, I don’t know.

I am having major computer problems. As you probably know I have pulled apart my computer several times to repair the power connector. Well now sometimes it won’t boot. It’s time for a new one. I am going out tomorrow to start looking. In the mean time, I am backing up immediately after doing anything important.

Trust

I always hate it when I need to trust someone else with my vehicles. That is why I try to do everything I can myself. If I don’t do it right, at least I know what to do to correct it since I have been in there. Tomorrow we take the motorhome in for some brake work. The shop is an authorized Workhorse shop and has good reviews. I check these things out, but there is still that doubt. We are having the work done tomorrow and the next day we will be heading for the coast of California. I would sure hate for them to miss something and have it show up on the road. I am sure they will do a great job.

Dodged another

Not only are we experiencing 100++ temperatures here in Havasu, but there has been thunderstorms all around us. None had hit us yet but we get the humidity and winds from them and an occasional sprinkle. The other day I got all the awnings in and things secured just before the 35+ mph winds hit. I watched as some poor sole was trying to land his small plane at the nearby airport. He made about 7 or 8 passes before getting up the nerve to put it down. It was strange watching a plane fly over sideways as the wind blew him across the sky. Today we dodged another one.

You can see the rain falling out from the bottom of this cloud. We have been wanting to head on over to Las Vegas but that’s where all the storms are.

The air conditioners have run so much that they are getting pretty dusty inside. I need to shut them down and cleaned them so they will not have to work so hard and probably cool better. I am a little reluctant to shut down the front one since it has been running for over a month straight now. I’m kind of afraid it might not want to come back on and we really need it right now.

It’s done and I’m back

Our computer got struck with a virus. Not only that but the power connector broke again on the computer too. That meant that I first had to disassemble the computer and re-solder the power connector again. After that I spent a lot of time trying to get rid of the virus. All I did was get deeper and deeper into trouble. Finally after I got rid off the virus, the damage was done. I ended up reformatting the hard drive and reinstalling everything back on the computer. Now I got a clean, lean machine. Hopefully it will hold up for a while now.

It sure has been hot around here. Yesterday it was 102° at 8:00am and again at 9:30pm, and even hotter in between. It’s running about 117° outside right now. It does drop to around 88° at night though. We are managing to keep it reasonable inside the motorhome. Boy are our air conditioners getting a workout. We haven’t turned one of them off in…well I don’t know how long. The other we are able to turn off at night. We are heading for Las Vegas in a couple of days. Yes it will be hot there too but at least we will have things to do that can be done inside where it’s cool.

2 in one night

Seems every time we come here we pick up a mouse. This time was no different. You would think I would learn by now and set traps as soon as we arrive. But Noooo. The other night we were awaken to munching in the walls. I got up and thumped on the walls but he just went to another location and started munching again. I got up again and thumped some more and finally he left for the night. But not before snacking on our bread. So I set some traps in hopes to get the little bugger the next night. We didn’t hear any munching last night so I figured I must have got him in the trap at where I thought he was getting in. This morning I checked the trap where the bread was and there he was. Huh, I thought. Somehow he got past the entrance trap. Just for the heck of it I checked the trap I placed in route from the entrance to the bread. Wow, another one! Then I went outside to check the entrance trap expecting to see another explaining why

these 2 guys didn’t get stopped at the entrance point. Trap still set and baited. They must have come in another way. Anyway I re-baited the traps and we will see if we got all the intruders for now.
Also the rabbits have found our Hibiscus plants. At first I couldn’t figure out what was going on.

I though maybe they had some kind of disease since I would find leaves and pieces of the branches lying on the ground each morning. Otherwise the plant seemed to be healthy. They would sprout new leaves with no problem but soon they were lying on the ground again. Then one morning the manager said while she was doing her walk in the early morning she spotted a rabbit sitting in one of the pots munching on my plant.
I guess these critters were here before us. At least I haven’t found any scorpions or rattle snakes, Yet.

Dry heat?

I thought the desert was supposed to be a dry heat. The humidity was around 55% this morning. With 100+° That can get a bit uncomfortable. Good thing Landen has discovered the computer in the clubhouse because that gives us an excuse to escape from the heat for a while. He spends about an hour on the computer while I grab a book out of the library in the clubhouse. Shortly after lunch the humidity dropped to about 10% and the temp climbed to around 110°. But it’s a dry heat. An oven at 110° is a dry heat too but it’s still HOT. It’s amazing though how much more tolerable 10% humidity is over 55%, no matter what the temperature is. If I can sit outside without dripping and with a nice breeze I can handle 110°. Our weather radio has been going crazy today with

Sever Thunderstorm warnings and Flash Flood warnings. I even had to get up sometime in the middle of the night to shut the radio off after I was awakened to a warning. Fortunately it has been all around us and we got nothing today other than the humidity. For some reason everything seems to go around Lake Havasu City instead of through it. Fine with me. You sure can smell the ozone in the air around here though. That’s not too good for my new tires. Both air conditioners are getting quite a workout. One runs 24 hours and the other about 10-14 hours a day. They do a pretty good job keeping it comfortable inside the motorhome.

Another boat ride

We got invited to go on another boat ride yesterday. We found a spot along the shore of the lake to setup for the day, grill a few hamburgers, and play.

In spite of the stinky dead fish, we all had a lot of fun and got real burned out. I gave Susan the night off and we headed for the Red Robin Restaurant for dinner. If it weren’t for the thunderstorm that came through this morning we would have slept in. The good thing is it came thought about the same time I get up every morning anyway.

Concentration

pays off.

Taking time out to catch up on a few computer games in the clubhouse.

One Hundred +

We are back into the 100+ temperatures here in Arizona. Looks like the sub 100s are gone for the summer. I get out and do a few things on the motorhome in the morning hours then call it quits until evening. After lunch Landen and I head on over to the pool for an hour or so. It starts to cool down around 6:00p so I can do a few more things before the sun goes down. Good thing is it doesn’t get to dark until around 8:00p so with the time I have in the morning and evening I have plenty of time to get thing done.

I have been wanting to take Landen down to the lake to play but there is a problem with KHV, Koi Herpes Virus. I know it sounds bad but actually it’s harmless to Humans. The problem is it is killing off hundreds of Carp in the lake and they are washing up to shore, hundreds of them, so you can imagine what it smells like. They are doing their best to keep the shores cleaned up but with thousands of Carp in lake it is a monumental task. The good news is they are finding less and less washing up to shore every day. They are hoping to get things pretty much cleaned up for the up coming 4th of July holiday.

Retired

I retired the motorhome yesterday. No, it’s not what you think. I got 6 new tires on the motorhome.

They came right out to the resort and in less than 2 hours the job was done. Mounted and balanced. Even with a $25 service call (that’s right only $25) the price was about the same as if I had taken it somewhere to have the job done. Not a bad deal. I ordered them on Monday and after the tire guy called in the order he said they would be in next week. I was surprised when he called and wanted come by to install them yesterday.

We took off yesterday morning with the grandson to Oatman. Oatman is a small town on Route 66 in Arizona that was at one time a copper mining town and now is basically a tourist attraction.

Probably the biggest attraction of the town is the ancestors of the original minors burrows. They now come into town everyday to get handouts from the tourists.

They have even been knows to walk right into the shops at times.

Landen got a kick out of the gunfight at high noon. He got be a part by helping to block the road for the show. He had a really great time.

Plenty going on

We sure have been busy here in Havasu since we got back.

Landen insists on going in the pool everyday and I can’t blame him. The weather hasn’t been bad at all. It has been in the low 90s and little wind. Today though we skipped the pool because our friends took us out for a boat ride.

We went up river all the way across I-40 and had lunch then headed back down. We stopped once on the way up to play along the shore and once on the way back. What a nice ride.

The other day we headed down to the London bridge to show Landen. Turns out they are filming a movie called Piranha 3D in the channel.

We headed over to check out some of the action and walked right into the scene. One of the workers said we are welcome to stay as long as we react to the action. So it looks like we may be in the movie, if they don’t cut the scene.

I have been trying for the last couple of weeks to get new tires for the motorhome. Seems like Michelin has dropped the ball and their tires that fits the motorhome are on back order for 6 to 8 months. How can a company let one of their most popular RV tires get that far behind? I am sure I am not the only one that needs tires in the next 6 to 8 months and will have to go with a competitor. That’s a lot of lost business.

Well we got friend coming to town tomorrow so we have plenty to do while we are here.

Made it back to Havasu

We traveled 6 hours to Havasu today. It was quite a trip for our Grandson. He is going to spend the summer with us and hopefully we can do some traveling. The weather here in Havasu is a lot better than where we were in California. We left overcast and drizzle in California and are now in sunny 89 to 90s here in Havasu. Landen has already spent some time in the pool

and played some golf this afternoon. It’s nice to be back in Havasu.

Hopefully while here I can finally retire the tires on the motorhome. Or Re-Tire the motorhome, pun intended. No one could come up with the tires I want while we were in California so I got one more trip out of the old ones. They are common Michelins but I guess they laid off to many people and can’t keep up with the demand.

Sunshine

Today there actually was sun. The sun came out in the late morning and stayed out all day. I took the opportunity to suck up a little vitamin D.
We found out we got some bum scoop. Our Grandson doesn’t get out of school until Friday the 12th. We are all set to pull out of here this Sunday the 7th. We will be pulling him out of school a week early and stick to our plan. He is a good student and there is probably not much school work during the last week.

Can’t move on

One good thing about being a Fulltimer is if we don’t like where we are we can move on. The weather has been crappy here on the coast of California. We have woken up to drizzle for the last 2 mornings and everything is a muddy mess. It should get better as far as the drizzle but the weather is still supposed to be overcast, damp and cold. Also other than family we have no reason or desire to visit southern California. It is too crowded with obnoxious people, too expensive, and I have probably mentioned the Hispanic population before. The problem is we can’t move right now. We have to fulfill our commitment to dog sit our daughter’s dog.

This is not something that is difficult since she is a really cool dog and she is happy to be with us.

Man am I sore

While here near the coast in California I have been shining up the motorhome. It is too hot and dry in Havasu right now to do it so I waited until we got here where it is cooler. So far I have spent 4 days and still am not done. I probably got another 4 days to go. Of course I am only spending a couple of hours a day on it. If I had all the fancy power equipment the professionals do I would probably be done by now but I’m doing it all by hand. It’s pretty hard work by hand.

Huh, Good thing I checked

Today, since I am in town, I took a drive by to see my parent’s grave. While there I checked mine, since the last time I saw it they hadn’t placed the headstone yet. Yes Susan and I do have a gravesite. We took care of all our arrangements so our kids don’t have to worry about it during their grieving. It’s a good thing I checked…they got my birth date wrong.

It should read Feb 24, 1953. I went in to let them know they messed up and they pulled out my records. Turns out I signed off on that date so it looks like I will have to pay for the new one. The guy said he will see what he can do and if not free maybe we will split the cost. He also asked me if I wanted the wrong one or have them destroy it. I gave it some thought but couldn’t come up with a good use for the wrong one. Susan said since I am so good at fixing things that maybe I can fix it myself. I don’t think duct tape and felt pen will last very long though.

Also today I finally found the Virus on my computer. For quite some time now, when I opened Internet Explore, then closed it, it was still showed as running in my task manager. And if I opened it again, there were now 2 running in task manager. Sometimes my computer would not turn off because of the running process. I tried several virus scanners and registry cleaners with no change. I combed the Internet for others that had the same problem and a possible solution with no success. Finally I heard of “Windows Live OneCare” at http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm and gave it a run. It identified a Trojan virus and removed it. Problem solved! Although it didn’t seem to cause any problems other than the ones I mentioned, I am glad to be rid of it.

Huh… Recall

Got a “Pre” Recall Notice on the motorhome today. What is a “Pre” Recall Notice, you say? It is a notice that workhorse recognizes there is a problem and will issue a recall as soon as they figure out what to do about it. Seems a lot of people have been having problem with the brakes dragging. There have been enough complaints that Workhorse is issuing a recall. The causes of the brake failure are lack of use, driving in damp conditions, and riding the brakes going down hill. Since I do neither of these and have had absolutely no problems I guess I am ok until the recall is issued. I need to get tires first.

WHAT THE…

Well since Arnie decided to just about double the vehicle registration in California and I now own property, and have an address in Arizona I decided it’s time to register our vehicles in Arizona. Along with the registration I knew I would have to insure them in Arizona also. So I called the insurance company to see how much the insurance will be in Arizona. DOUBLE! WHAT THE… Yes it is double and it turns out the increase in insurance will cost me more than the increase in registration fees. Damn, I thought I was going to be able to rid myself of California but I guess not.

I set out today to line up some tires for the motorhome. The place I called a couple of weeks ago is gone, yes gone. I called the other day and the phone has been disconnected so today I did a drive by. It looks like an old abandoned warehouse. WHAT THE… No sign of there ever being a business there. Now this is no fly-by-night business. It is one of many and even Michelin recommended them as an authorized dealer. So I headed on down the road to the next authorized dealer. Well this place is still in business but none in stock. They called Michelin and none available there either. Seems they are building them as fast as they can, and are backordered by about 500, they are not taking any new orders. Before I left Havasu I talked to a place that said they could get me some so I will have to trust the old tires to get us back to Havasu and have the new ones installed there. This is more convenient anyway because they will come right out to the resort and install them.

Dog sitting

We left the party last Sunday and made our way down to Encinitas California. We are now setup in our daughters yard for the next 3 weeks. They are heading for Italy and we are going to dog sit their dog.

We did this last year around Christmas time also.

They are still in the process of rebuilding their house

so they are also living in their Motorhome at the house.

Wine and Balloon Festival

We just spent the weekend in Riverside at a friend’s house for their 3rd annual Wine and Balloon Festival. They call this the Home Wine and Balloon Festival because it is a private affair at their home. Each year they have hosted the party at a different house.

There were 10 motorhomes and trailers here this weekend. They managed to fit them all in on their property.

We each setup a booth with a theme and offered wine and appetizers to go along with the wine. We first did one round of white wine and later a round of red with a break in between.

Later in the evening we had a band to entertain us.

And a fine band it was. As usual we had a great time and look forward to next year. You can see more photos by clicking the thumbnail in the left hand column.