Posts
Aside from all the pests down here, I'm actually starting to like Florida. I now see why all the snowbirds come down here as the days are sunny and warm and the humidity is way down so that you actually enjoy being outside. It gets pretty cool at night but that only makes for good sleeping weather. In the morning, I wear my fleece when the temp is in the 50's. Then by 10 or so, it's warmed up where the fleece can come off and a T-shirt is comfortable till the afternoon. By then, it's getting pretty warm so off comes the T-shirt and on goes the sleeveless shirt. Then by dusk, it's time to dress warm again. So you have this constant adjusting of clothes as the temps range from a cool 40's and 50's at night to a warm 70's and 80's during the day.
It's nice not having to run the air conditioner constantly. I haven't had it on since I came back from Mississippi. At this particular site, I have the generator dedicated to my house as the tent is running off a power pole. I only use the generator from about 5:30 in the evening till 11 or so (long enough to charge up my house batteries) and then I turn it off. Less racket.
Happy Birthday Tammie! She turned 45 the 19th. Also, my grandson had his first birthday on the 10th. Happy Birthday Lucas!
Tuesday, November 20, 2007
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Oh my aching knees!
Well, I am officially old. Last week I went to the doc and after waiting for four hours for about 10 minutes of doctor time, I found out that I have arthritis in my knees. I figured as much the way they ache.
This week I am back in Williston. My knees were feeling pretty good by the time Sunday rolled around and I tore down the site without too much trouble. Got done around 11 and by the time I got my house ready to go and the truck hooked up, I made it into Williston around 2 in the morning. So I got some sleep and got my house set up Monday morning. That is always a chore at this site because the entire lot is on a slope. My house still isn't entirely level but it's close enough that I can deal with it for a week.
This has not been a good day for me. After Sunday's work, I worked all day Monday doing a whole lot of nothing because the tent didn't get set until 7 at night. By then I was beat what with dealing with the fence and setting light towers. So I worked until 10 and finished up the next day. I didn't get done Tuesday until around 3 in the afternoon and by then my knees were screaming. So today I was looking forward to taking a rest and getting my clothes washed. The boys also desperately need baths as they are just gray from the parking lot in Gainesville. But Doug came rolling in around 10 with his pressure washer. He sat down to talk to me for a bit and thats when he told me there would be no event next week. So that means that I'm going to be out of work for the next five weeks. I told him, that's it, that I need to find another job. He understands. He offered me $10 an hour to wash the cars for a little extra loot but after three hours I'd had enough.
When your body is in pain, you can stand it better if you have a positive mental outlook. But I had taken a pretty bad shot with the bad news about work and it made the pain in my legs unbearable. So I told him I couldn't do it anymore and he took over. But after a while even he was tired and he's going to hire a couple people from LaborReady to finish the job tomorrow.
I retired to my house and broke down. After a while, I can only take so much bad news. I missed the hearing for my appeal to the unemployment office for my denial of benefits when I was out of work for those six weeks in September because I didn't get my mail in time. So the case was dismissed. I'm almost certain they're going to want some money back. And now I'm not going to be working for over a month and it was too much worry.
But after a while, I pulled myself together and went online to look for work. And I think I've found something with Air Photo. This outfit takes aerial photos of people houses and farms and then sells them the pictures. The send me 100 pictures of different houses and I go to the owners to see if I can sell them the photo. They cost $169 for an 11x14 matted and framed picture. I get to keep 30% which comes to a little over $50. If I can sell two pictures a day or 14 a week, I'll be making the same amount of money as I do working for D2W. The man I talked to says the average is about a third out of the hundred will sell so that's decent money. I can do this work during my down time from D2W and still stay with them for my benefits.
Things may work out after all.
This week I am back in Williston. My knees were feeling pretty good by the time Sunday rolled around and I tore down the site without too much trouble. Got done around 11 and by the time I got my house ready to go and the truck hooked up, I made it into Williston around 2 in the morning. So I got some sleep and got my house set up Monday morning. That is always a chore at this site because the entire lot is on a slope. My house still isn't entirely level but it's close enough that I can deal with it for a week.
This has not been a good day for me. After Sunday's work, I worked all day Monday doing a whole lot of nothing because the tent didn't get set until 7 at night. By then I was beat what with dealing with the fence and setting light towers. So I worked until 10 and finished up the next day. I didn't get done Tuesday until around 3 in the afternoon and by then my knees were screaming. So today I was looking forward to taking a rest and getting my clothes washed. The boys also desperately need baths as they are just gray from the parking lot in Gainesville. But Doug came rolling in around 10 with his pressure washer. He sat down to talk to me for a bit and thats when he told me there would be no event next week. So that means that I'm going to be out of work for the next five weeks. I told him, that's it, that I need to find another job. He understands. He offered me $10 an hour to wash the cars for a little extra loot but after three hours I'd had enough.
When your body is in pain, you can stand it better if you have a positive mental outlook. But I had taken a pretty bad shot with the bad news about work and it made the pain in my legs unbearable. So I told him I couldn't do it anymore and he took over. But after a while even he was tired and he's going to hire a couple people from LaborReady to finish the job tomorrow.
I retired to my house and broke down. After a while, I can only take so much bad news. I missed the hearing for my appeal to the unemployment office for my denial of benefits when I was out of work for those six weeks in September because I didn't get my mail in time. So the case was dismissed. I'm almost certain they're going to want some money back. And now I'm not going to be working for over a month and it was too much worry.
But after a while, I pulled myself together and went online to look for work. And I think I've found something with Air Photo. This outfit takes aerial photos of people houses and farms and then sells them the pictures. The send me 100 pictures of different houses and I go to the owners to see if I can sell them the photo. They cost $169 for an 11x14 matted and framed picture. I get to keep 30% which comes to a little over $50. If I can sell two pictures a day or 14 a week, I'll be making the same amount of money as I do working for D2W. The man I talked to says the average is about a third out of the hundred will sell so that's decent money. I can do this work during my down time from D2W and still stay with them for my benefits.
Things may work out after all.
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Gainesville
Wow. I can't believe it's been a month since my last post. Probably because my life has become pretty routine so nothing very exciting has been going on worth writing about.
After Cocoa, I went to Kissimmee. It looked like it was going to be a great set up until the property manager came by and wanted to know what was going on. (!) So I told him and he told the owner who had no idea and from there it was a big circle jerk. Basically what happened was Albertson's grocery store rented the front part of their parking lot to D2W for an event but somehow there was a disconnect when it came to the site plan. AFTER the fence was put up, the manager came out and I showed him the site plan. He said the fence had to be moved because half of it was in front of some other stores in the shopping center which was a no-no. The modification reduced our sale area to about half the original size. We had to move my house and the port-a-potties AND most of the fence. What a job that was. At least it was on pavement so it slid fairly easily but it still took 5 of us to get it done. AND THEN the next day the city code inspector came out and ripped us for not putting things according to the site plan. (DOH!) But he passed us anyway after making us move our truck behind the center (because it was a giant sign) and we also had to take the banners off the fence. Come to find out, Albertson's violated their lease by renting the space to us and the owner faxed a copy with the offense highlighted to all the shopping center tenants telling them to never do it again.
So that was Kissimmee.
Next I went to St. Augustine for an RVW rally. We dressed up our pets for a Halloween pet parade and had a bunch of fun with that. I spent a nice evening with Lynnette where we went downtown to old St. Augustine and had a few beers and checked out all the shops.
THEN, since I still had two more weeks off, I went ahead and made the trip up to Mississippi to see my folks. I really couldn't afford it but it was worth it anyway. My mom got three good results from her doctors and so that was great news. I also got some good news in the form of a job offer from Omarr. It may or may not pan out but if it does, my life will be much easier. Hopefully he'll know for sure by the end of the year.
Mom, Elsie and I made the trip up to Millington to see Eric's memorial. I thought after all these years I'd be able to handle it but I still get emotional when I think of what happened to him and all his friends. Seeing his sister's graduation tassel hanging in his baseball mitt made me lose it. But we had a nice lunch and it was a good trip.
I finally got the nerve to change the oil in my generator. I'd been putting it off mostly because it's very painful for me to get down on my knees to do the work. But I had my house up on pavers at my folks' house so I had more room to work on the generator side and it wasn't too bad. I got the job done and everything seemed to work fine.
However....
When I got to the site here at Gainesville, I arrived a few days early so I had to use my generator for power to cook. I started it up to do some work online and after a few minutes I kept hearing a popping noise. At first I thought it was a motorcycle at the bank next door but it finally hit me the noise was coming from my generator. Eeek! Did I lose the oil? I went out and took off the cover just in time to watch it shut down. Now what. Think....think....think.... I checked the oil and it was fine. The thing is new so it has to be something simple. Then it hit me. I went back into the house and checked the fuel gage. It was about a 16th below a quarter tank. So that was it. I remembered the generator automatically shuts down when the coach fuel tank gets to a quarter full. I'd just spent a half hour in the truck scouting the area out looking for a good way to get to the Shell station a block away. With all the shopping center parking lots at this location, maneuvering a 30-foot RV can get tricky. This event is located in front of a Wal-Mart in a TGI Friday's parking lot. I'd planned on getting fuel when I left Gainesville on the way to Williston but I GUESS I'm going to get fuel now if I want to have any electric to cook and charge my laptop and phone.
After filling up my house, I tried the generator again. It still wouldn't start. NOW I'm getting worried because the trouble light was flashing 3 times indicating that it needed serviced. I went online and found a number for a mobile technician down in Ocala. The man's name is Ray and when he called me back, I told him what the deal was. I mentioned that I'd just changed the oil and just to make sure I didn't screw up I told him what weight I used since it was different from what the book said (I later found out). He told me to get it out, that I'd put in the wrong kind. It was too thick. Back to Wal-Mart I go for some more oil. At least I could walk this time instead of having to drive to a store. So I got down on my knees (ouch!) for another oil change. It didn't take as long this time since I have more confidence and I knew what to do. Ray also told me that I wasn't holding down the priming switch long enough and that's probably why it wouldn't start. I'd only held it down a few seconds. Ray said to hold it for at least half a minute that it wouldn't hurt it. So I did, and it started right up. No more popping noises and it runs fine.
Things I learned:
1. Never use more than 30 weight oil.
2. The genset will make a popping noise when it's running out of gas.
3. I now know at what point on the fuel gage the genset will quit.
4. It takes at least half a minute to prime it after you run it out of gas.
5. Crawling around on the ground is agony.
Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a doctor in sports medicine at UF to have a look at my knees to see what is going on. Hopefully, whatever it is will be fixable.
And that's about all my news.
After Cocoa, I went to Kissimmee. It looked like it was going to be a great set up until the property manager came by and wanted to know what was going on. (!) So I told him and he told the owner who had no idea and from there it was a big circle jerk. Basically what happened was Albertson's grocery store rented the front part of their parking lot to D2W for an event but somehow there was a disconnect when it came to the site plan. AFTER the fence was put up, the manager came out and I showed him the site plan. He said the fence had to be moved because half of it was in front of some other stores in the shopping center which was a no-no. The modification reduced our sale area to about half the original size. We had to move my house and the port-a-potties AND most of the fence. What a job that was. At least it was on pavement so it slid fairly easily but it still took 5 of us to get it done. AND THEN the next day the city code inspector came out and ripped us for not putting things according to the site plan. (DOH!) But he passed us anyway after making us move our truck behind the center (because it was a giant sign) and we also had to take the banners off the fence. Come to find out, Albertson's violated their lease by renting the space to us and the owner faxed a copy with the offense highlighted to all the shopping center tenants telling them to never do it again.
So that was Kissimmee.
Next I went to St. Augustine for an RVW rally. We dressed up our pets for a Halloween pet parade and had a bunch of fun with that. I spent a nice evening with Lynnette where we went downtown to old St. Augustine and had a few beers and checked out all the shops.
THEN, since I still had two more weeks off, I went ahead and made the trip up to Mississippi to see my folks. I really couldn't afford it but it was worth it anyway. My mom got three good results from her doctors and so that was great news. I also got some good news in the form of a job offer from Omarr. It may or may not pan out but if it does, my life will be much easier. Hopefully he'll know for sure by the end of the year.
Mom, Elsie and I made the trip up to Millington to see Eric's memorial. I thought after all these years I'd be able to handle it but I still get emotional when I think of what happened to him and all his friends. Seeing his sister's graduation tassel hanging in his baseball mitt made me lose it. But we had a nice lunch and it was a good trip.
I finally got the nerve to change the oil in my generator. I'd been putting it off mostly because it's very painful for me to get down on my knees to do the work. But I had my house up on pavers at my folks' house so I had more room to work on the generator side and it wasn't too bad. I got the job done and everything seemed to work fine.
However....
When I got to the site here at Gainesville, I arrived a few days early so I had to use my generator for power to cook. I started it up to do some work online and after a few minutes I kept hearing a popping noise. At first I thought it was a motorcycle at the bank next door but it finally hit me the noise was coming from my generator. Eeek! Did I lose the oil? I went out and took off the cover just in time to watch it shut down. Now what. Think....think....think.... I checked the oil and it was fine. The thing is new so it has to be something simple. Then it hit me. I went back into the house and checked the fuel gage. It was about a 16th below a quarter tank. So that was it. I remembered the generator automatically shuts down when the coach fuel tank gets to a quarter full. I'd just spent a half hour in the truck scouting the area out looking for a good way to get to the Shell station a block away. With all the shopping center parking lots at this location, maneuvering a 30-foot RV can get tricky. This event is located in front of a Wal-Mart in a TGI Friday's parking lot. I'd planned on getting fuel when I left Gainesville on the way to Williston but I GUESS I'm going to get fuel now if I want to have any electric to cook and charge my laptop and phone.
After filling up my house, I tried the generator again. It still wouldn't start. NOW I'm getting worried because the trouble light was flashing 3 times indicating that it needed serviced. I went online and found a number for a mobile technician down in Ocala. The man's name is Ray and when he called me back, I told him what the deal was. I mentioned that I'd just changed the oil and just to make sure I didn't screw up I told him what weight I used since it was different from what the book said (I later found out). He told me to get it out, that I'd put in the wrong kind. It was too thick. Back to Wal-Mart I go for some more oil. At least I could walk this time instead of having to drive to a store. So I got down on my knees (ouch!) for another oil change. It didn't take as long this time since I have more confidence and I knew what to do. Ray also told me that I wasn't holding down the priming switch long enough and that's probably why it wouldn't start. I'd only held it down a few seconds. Ray said to hold it for at least half a minute that it wouldn't hurt it. So I did, and it started right up. No more popping noises and it runs fine.
Things I learned:
1. Never use more than 30 weight oil.
2. The genset will make a popping noise when it's running out of gas.
3. I now know at what point on the fuel gage the genset will quit.
4. It takes at least half a minute to prime it after you run it out of gas.
5. Crawling around on the ground is agony.
Today is Tuesday. Tomorrow I have an appointment with a doctor in sports medicine at UF to have a look at my knees to see what is going on. Hopefully, whatever it is will be fixable.
And that's about all my news.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
