12-19-08 Friday (The $5 Awning)

Wow, it seems like just last week it was Friday. How does that happen?

OK, so goofiness aside, last night the snow (which is everywhere) began to harden. I think it all means another day in the RV.

Last night, after I had posted the blog, we decided to go to Target. My laptop overheats and shuts down way too often, so I bought one of those fans for the laptop to sit on. We'll see what happens. The Target was 2 floors. They had a special escalator for shopping carts that sat along side the regular one. Of course, having my trusty camera, I took photos and filmed it. Fun stuff, fun stuff. We only managed to get 1 thing of our 3 thing list and walked out with several things that weren't on the list, some of which we consumed while in the store. Target Monster Cookies, Strawberry Milk for Jim and Chocolate Milk for me. Clearanced boxes of Stovetop Stuffing at .84 a box. We had to pickup some of those too. You know, important stuff.

We saw some clearanced heated throws but we don't need them. Years ago, I had invented heated throws; they were candle-powered. I couldn't pass safety inspections. Dumbasses, I'm sure they were OK. I say the fire at the retirement home was from someone using candles for light. Who would have thought oxygen tanks could fly like that? Mothballs and BenGay are terribly flammable. A shame really. Hey, on the bright side, they managed to get a new building out of the deal!

The ice was all over the roads last night. I think the mall parking lot (where Target was located) was worse than the streets. Both Jim and I, took turns almost falling on the way from the Jeep to the store.

Oh, and just so you know, we're not in Vegas. The snow there is NOT our fault! Thank you.

We woke up this morning to a little more snow and some freezing temps. I'm grateful for this temperature. After 19 degrees, this seems warm! Jim and I have just been surfing the net. I've been reading blogs I follow and playing around on Facebook. Carl Hughes called me. I think he was just gloating about his warm and sunny weather in Florida, but nonetheless it was good to hear from him. Remember Carl, we can come to Florida and ruin your damn weather. How's a hurricane sound?

I just looked out the window and it's snowing AGAIN. I suggested to Jim that we just skip Oakland, OR and high tail it to California. Jim has to research but says it appears we can't get there without going over some mountains which will undoubtedly be worse for ice/snow. We'll see.

I made pancakes this morning for breakfast. Yummy. Topped with some peanut butter and warm syrup, did I mention yummy? If I didn't, it was yummy.

Jim crawled under the RV to see how the spring is attached. It's going to be something he can't do because of where the spring sits. I wasn't surprised. I would have been surprised if it would work out for us. In the meantime, we're still awaiting a call from Bountiful.

On a side note to Ozzie & Mike, email me. You commented on the blog but I can't email you (none is listed).

Back to our regularly long, and bitchy blog....

The day hasn't went at all as planned. Not that it's a bad thing. We decided to skip a scenic tour we had planned so that Jim could work on getting the jack parts we need. Darren at Bountiful RV had found our old jack, but there was no spring. He said the one we replaced had the spring moved to the new one. No luck there. Jim ordered it online from the same place as the previous one, but it was more money (total $250) because it comes with the spring we need. A spring on it's own is over a $100 so we might as well replace the entire jack. We getting it Tuesday, but Christmas is Thursday so the next step is getting it replaced after it arrives. We might be here for Christmas rather than in Oakland. Oye vey!

We took the aluminum from the broken awning to the recycling center. It wasn't worth the trip for $5 we got. After our big $5, we stopped for fuel. Apparently Oregon has a law that they must pump the fuel for you. Interesting. No self-service I guess.

So, there I am, chatting with my mom on the phone. As I typically do, I pace around talking, and notice steam from outside the RV. The water heater was pouring some water out. A warning label says to consult the owner's manual if it weeps. I don't care how sad it is, weeping sucks. Jim is consulting the magical owner's manual of non useful information as I type. We're falling apart! Perhaps a trip to the Target escalator would cheer me up?

The mystical book is missing. Google to the rescue. Jim found an article about relieving the water heater's pressure. We did that, and we'll just have to wait and see. For now, it seems it did the trick.

Dinner is in the oven and I'm starving. I'm making a pork roast. Hopefully it's as good as it sounds. After dinner we're going to go to one of those Redbox movie rental kiosks we've seen all over the place. $1.00 a night rental ain't too shabby. You can also reserve the movie online and then pick it up. The kiosks seem to be popular within McDonalds but we've seen them at supermarkets and other places as well. AND you can return it to any Redbox which might be handy for us on the road traveling type gypsy-like RVing jobless roving the US type guys.

The historic St. John's Bridge (that's what the sign said)