Our Long Summer at Home

Following is a not-so-brief update on our Spring and early Summer activities.  As it turns out, this is the longest period we have been home for as long as I can recall.

We left our Florida home at The Great Outdoors (TGO) on April 15. That's a little earlier than we usually leave, but the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour. was having a viewing at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts in Savannah. Dorcas' friends Dianne and Mark live in Pooler GA, just off a Savannah I-95 exit and invited us to spend the night in their cul-de-sac. They have a new 45' Entregra motor home and have 50 amp service at their home. SWEET! We invited them to the film festival and we all went to town and ate at the The Olde Pink House before the show.  Great southern food and a bonus, the house is haunted!  We spent a 2^nd night on the cul-de-sac, and the next day we did a trolley tour of Savannah. Among other things, we saw Forrest Gump's bench. Savannah is about half way between home and TGO. Mark and Dianne have said we could spend the night there any time. So, it looks like we have a new traditional stop-over when going to and from Florida.

Our Florida Home at TGO

An added benefit of getting home a little early from Florida is that we could enjoy our azaleas first hand. In most previous years friends and neighbors have sent us photos saying “Your azaleas sure are pretty. You should be here!”

Azaleas in bloom at the Whitley abode

Sidney and Matilda lounging with the azaleas

Dorcas and I travelled to Alaska in 2011, and we had a great time. For the last year or so we have been planning to return in 2016, 5 years after our first trip. But our schedule would be tight. We arrived home from Florida on April 17. If we were going to Alaska we wanted to leave the first week in May. That just didn't leave a lot of time to get ready, plus we had a number of conflicting events upcoming. We both had jury summons for the time we would be gone, and I had a must-do appointment with my ophthalmologist, which would likely require some follow-up visits. Resurfacing our 33 year-old deck was at the top of the list, and we were not going to Alaska before it was done. At some point, probably while re-surfacing the deck, we decided that Alaska was a non-starter this year. After we made that decision it was like a weight had been lifted. We made alternate plans for a trip departing later in the summer, that should be a really good trip. More on that later.

The Deck Project

Over 10 years ago so-called friends had been commenting on the terrible shape our deck was in, and that we should do something. The deck was built in 1983, the year our house was built, and there were plenty of rotting deck planks and nails that wouldn't stay put. Thankfully the joists and the railings were in pretty good shape; just fairly weathered, It was time to do something. I had bought the lumber back in October last year, but we weren't able to get to it before leaving for Florida. In Florida, my friend Hank, suggested I would be happier using an impact driver, rather than a drill. So before leaving Florida I went to my go-to on-line hardware store (eBay) and bought a cordless Hitachi impact driver, which uses the same li-ion batteries as my other cordless Hitachi tools.

So, starting the 3^rd week in April we tore into it, literally. The first task was to move my radial arm saw from the basement to the deck, no small chore. I had 2 options: 1) take it apart and take it through the house or 2) haul it up from the lower drive way and over the deck rail. I chose option 1, which in hindsight was probably the wrong choice. It took most of a day to move the saw.

Next we started pulling up boards. Our plan was to start at the edge next to the house and remove 2-3 rows, than put down a new row. The rows next to the house were in pretty good shape, and the nails were tight in the joists. That end of the deck is better sheltered from sun and rain. Pulling up the old boards and hammering out the nails was probably the hardest part of the job. Cutting and screwing down the new boards was relatively easy. All told it took us about a week, including long and frequent breaks to escape the heat and to attend to a few other crucial errands during that time (Pickleball). It looks great, I think. Dorcas was a HUGE help. I had big fun hauling the debris to the landfill. I kept some of the best scrap and made some outside work tables for behind the house.

The beginning of the project

What a mess!

See that rotted wood?  UGH!

Almost done

Finished!!!

The Shed

I have been wanting a storage shed for some time. My biggest hesitation regarded where I would put it. Our lot is fairly steep in the back, there are some trees, and I figured setting up a shed would be difficult. One day in late June I was on Peters Creek Parkway and pulled into the Leonard USA lot to do some window shopping for sheds. I liked what I saw there; the prices seemed reasonable and the price included delivery and set up. They said the 4-foot rise on the back end would not be a problem. A few days later Dorcas and I went back and placed an order. We ordered a 10' x 16' metal building with a few options: a 7' roll-up door and metal studs on 16” center (as opposed to 32” on center.) The shed was a custom job and delivery would be in about 2 weeks ( i.e. forever!)

The good news: I finally got the call that my shed could be delivered today. The bad news: on that day we were camping at Stone Mountain State Park. I asked when they could deliver again, if I didn't take it today: answer about a week (another forever!) Dorcas was out hiking and unreachable by phone. So I made a command decision and rushed off the mountain in the Element towards home.

The shed arrived about an hour after I got home. The guy had a pretty slick trailer with a movable bed and an articulated tongue. He was able to back down the drive and put the shed within inches of my stakes. There was only one mishap. Before the building was completely off the trailer, they jacked up the rear end and placed the rear on some blocks, so it would be somewhat level before moving out the trailer. When pulling the trailer out, the shed fell off the blocks and the blocks punched a hole through the floor. Crap! They were able to get it level and set up in about an hour and a half. I then got in the car and drove back to Stone Mountain.

Pretty cool trailer

My back woods are pretty steep

Finally all leveled up

Improved ventilation

Over the next week or so I began modifying the building:

• Built a 3' work table along the back wall.
• Installed racks for hanging tools
• Installed and bolted metal shelving to the wall
• Installed steel cable tie-downs

A few days later a guy from Leonard USA came and replaced the broken floor panel. Unfortunately, he didn't bring paint. A few days after that another guy came by and re-painted the floor.

At some point the electrician arrived. They made a 24” trench from the house to the shed and bored under the driveway. They installed ump-teen outlets, inside and out, and installed an LED motion light over the door. I also found a few electrical projects for them in the house, since they were here.

The sure made a mess of my new lawn

A trencher is an amazing tool

Electricians at work

Fully outfitted

My remaining projects are to replace my temporary ramp with a permanent ramp and to add lattice to the underside of the building. Dorcas says I need air conditioning and DirecTV to be complete.

Motor Home Maintenance and Repairs

I do as much maintenance and repairs on the coach as I can. Obviously I like to save $$$, but just as important, I enjoy the satisfaction and confidence of knowing I can do it. I like to understand how things work. I have fixed a lot of things on the road that would have interrupted our trip if I had to call a repairman or get towed.

• Changed engine oil and filter. This would cost over $400 at a diesel repair shop, but the parts cost me a little less than $100.
• Changed the oil and fluid for Allison transmission. The fluid alone costs about $45 per gallon, and it takes about 4.25 gallons. Not a terribly difficult job, just messy.
• Replaced the switch that illuminates a dash panel warning light telling the driver that the outside step has not fully retracted. This red warning light has been irritating me for years. The hardest part of this task was finding the part.
• Installed a device on the refrigerator boiler that monitors the boiler temperature and shuts down the fridge when the boiler gets too hot. Gas absorption refrigerators used in RVs are very sensitive to unlevel operation. Operating while unlevel can quickly overheat the boiler resulting in permanent and fatal damage to the cooling unit. When the boiler cools, the device will restart the fridge.

With labor rates at $120/hr at RV shops and about $90/hr at diesel shops. I will do as many repairs as I can as long as I can.

OK, that brings us up to date with most of our major projects. Oh yeah, I spent some time making our bird feeders more squirrel resistant. Also, we both spent a lot of time in the basement (it sure is cool down there!) disposing of junk and organizing. It helped that I could now move all my gasoline power equipment out into the new shed. Dorcas says I can't buy any more industrial shelving.  We  took the motor home up to Stone Mountain State Park for 4 nights nights and paddled with the Lumber River Canoe Club for their annual picnic at Princess Anne.

On July 10 we left home for our big summer trip. We are currently in Shenandoah National Park, where internet service is practically nonexistent. In my next post I will share a new chapter in The Adventures of Dorcas and Myron.