Friday, July 30, 2010

Still here, just busy.

Location, Home, CA

No, I haven’t disappeared from the face of the earth. I have been busy as chief cook and bottle washer, laundress, floor scrubber, etc. Clyda is still on crutches and non weight bearing on her foot. The stitches came out this week so that is progress. The doctor liked the x-ray taken last week so just continue as before.

I have been working on some rain gutters for the wood shed. These are custom made out of galvanized steel u-channel normally used in steel building construction.

I plan to use the roof of the shed to collect rain water and direct it into 2 plastic barrels. The rain gutters will direct the water to a collection basin where debris will collect and the first run off will bypass the collection barrels. I found ideas for all this on the internet of course. I will have photos when it is done.

Friday, July 23, 2010

BBQ photos.

Location, Home, CA

I need to complete some unfinished business from the last blog entry. I talked about the modifications I made to the BBQ table but didn’t include the photos. So here are the photos.

Table extension in the folded, closed, position.

Table extended for use.

After using it last night I can say that it is a big improvement over the old table extension which came out to the front and was always in the way. So much so, that I hardly used it at all. After I took these photos I figured out how to store the rod holding the table up in the extended position without removing it from the table. Neat!!!

Clyda is still making progress with her ankle recovery. Yesterday she had an x-ray taken which showed the one remaining screw. The complete interpretation will need to be done by the doctor at her visit next week.

Tuesday, July 20, 2010

Ankle progress.

Location, Home, CA

Clyda had a doctor’s appointment this morning. They removed the soft cast so we got a look at her stitches. She has quit a few on both sides of her ankle. She also has a few arthroscopic holes where the doctor checked her ankle. He said he removed all but one screw and actually grafted a piece of bone from her ankle to the bone which wasn’t healing right. His usual comment is “it looks good” and that’s what he said today.

She is to wear the “black boot” she had for the original surgery. Unfortunately we can not find the “boot” and assume we gave it to Goodwill. A friend of Clyda’s has one so all is not lost. A new boot cost $245 and the insurance won’t pay for it.

I have only been doing small things around the yard this past week. I modified the extension tray on my BBQ so that it makes a larger tray to the side of the BBQ. As it was originally intended, the tray came out to the front and was a pain to work around. Now I have more space to set things on while I BBQ.

Tomorrow I have several errands to run as well as a short grocery trip to do.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Clyda's surgery.

Location, Home, CA

Just a short post to say everything is ok. Clyda had her surgery on Monday and is doing very well. She has had much less pain than the last time. Other than removing all the hardware we won’t know exactly what was done until her appointment on Monday. She has an Ace bandage wrap with what we think is a plaster cast under it. I am sure that will come off Monday. We know the Dr made an incision on each side of her ankle so he could look at the bone which possibly wasn’t healing right. Other than that, we wait until the office visit.

So, I am the chief cook and bottle washer for now. Most of my time is spent making sure the phones are charged as she spends much of the day talking on them.

It has been rather warm here the past 3 days which has been nice. I do have more watering to do because of the heat but my squash should really grow.

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Shame on me!!

Location, Home, CA

I noticed that it has been almost a week since I last posted. Shame on me!!!

Although I must say that little has happened here this week. I am still working on some projects in the RV. I did manage to find a way to secure the TV within the cabinet for travel. Basically I used a nylon tie down strap with two tie down points and two pieces of dense packing foam where the TV was close to parts of the cabinet. When pulled tight the strap secures the TV against the bookshelf behind it. I want to add some leather pads where the strap goes around the top and bottom of the TV screen so the strap doesn’t rub.

I am also working on a bar to keep the books on the shelf during travel. I am trying to find a way to keep the books in place with some kind of a bookend that squeezes the books if the shelf is only partially full.

I did replace the clearance lens covers on the RV as the original ones were almost white instead of orange as they should be. I found the lens covers in Quartzsite this year but the ones I bought didn’t fit my lights. So back to the shop where I did find complete light assemblies for $2.00 each. When I started to replace the fixtures the other day I for some reason decided to try the new lens on the old fixture. Well, guess what? The new lens fit my old lights. So, instead of several hours work it was a matter of minutes to replace all 6 lenses.

Here is what the before and after lens look like.
Saturday I spent part of the day following the son of a friend around the Golf course while he played in the SCGA amateur tournament nearby. It is a beautiful course but does have its hills. Today I again went back for the final day and walked the course. He was tied for 2nd place until the other fellow birdie number 18 to break the tie. Kevin placed third out of a hundred plus players. He has won this tournament several times in the past.

Tomorrow, Clyda has the hardware in her ankle removed. We don’t know what to expect for recover time but do know we need to be at the surgery center by 6:15 AM tomorrow. More on this later.

Monday, July 5, 2010

Replacing an old TV in the RV.

Location, Home, CA

We did celebrate the 4th yesterday by spending a few hours at the Elks Club. We had the traditional hot dog to celebrate. They had a really nice turn out. Very nice to see.

I mentioned in yesterdays post that I had been working on the replacement of our 27 inch RCA TV in the RV with a new flat screen TV. The new one is 26 inches wide which just fits the opening in the cabinet. However the height is larger than the new TV so something will need to be done with that extra opening.

I removed the old set and took it in for recycling. The cabinet while quite large is not a rectangle as the face of it is turned to the couch across the room.

I decided I needed to have a way to remove the new TV to get to the space behind it and also to tilt the TV forward for better viewing. That meant buying a bracket kit with a swing arm to mount the TV on. 
This arm needs to be attached to something sturdy which meant adding something to the cabinet as the walls and wood of the cabinet is not substantial.

So I came up with this. It is a 4x4 covered with wood grain shelf paper attached to cross pieces (also covered with shelf paper). The cross pieces are screwed at each corner to the existing cabinet and braced along the back wall to the opposite corner so nothing can move. It is quite sturdy.


Wood mount in place.
All wires are tied to the swing arm so they won’t interfere with movement.

To close off the opening above the TV, I decided to add a board painted black to match the TV. The board is attached with Euro cabinet hinges on the back side so it can swing upwards inside the cabinet. The hinges hold it up to allow access to the bookshelf and also to provide ventilation while the TV is on. I didn’t want to trap all the hot air behind the TV so this should work well.

Wood flap closed.
 Wood flap open.
I added a shelf for books at the rear of t he cabinet.
Flap closed and TV in place for viewing .

I do need to figure out a way of holding the TV in place while traveling and think a combination of a strap and foam blocks may do the trip. I don’t want the TV banging around while we are moving.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Happy Fourth of July!!!

Location, Home, CA

I have been remiss in posting to this blog lately. We are still here and doing things. Mostly, I have been working on my RV list of projects. I am well along on installing the flat screen TV in place of the old set. When I complete that little project I will post a detailed account of the progress and the problems involved with that.

I have managed to wash all the vehicles in the last week or so and wax all but the truck. I may tackle that tomorrow. It really needs it.

We did make a trip last Monday to Lompoc to visit Wal-Mart. Clyda needed to purchase some material for a new blanket she wants to start. She actually was very successful in finding what she wanted. I bought a few items but couldn’t find what I actually went for. I am looking for a 12 volt cigarette lighter type jack to install in the RV so I can plug in an inverter. I can find some that are made to be installed in thin wall metal but mine must go through about a half inch of wood. Therefore it must have a set of threads on the body with a nut to tighten it in the hole. I guess I will keep looking but I am running out of places to look locally. Maybe I’ll try the internet.

We finished off our trip with lunch at Sissy’s in downtown Lompoc. It is a small place but has really good fresh food. We both had club sandwiches which were excellent. We finished it off by sharing a piece of cherry cobbler.