A shocking quote!

Location, At Home

I did finally got a quote for the trailer repair and the total came as quite a shock. One of the parts has to be made and there is a 21 day lead time for that. I passed the quote on to the insurance company and haven’t heard a word since.

I have been spending way too much time on my family history but it has been eye opening and a lot of fun. In general, the one side of my family who we had no contact with was my Grandfathers sister who came from Bohemia with him. I had a few names passed down from my mother but not much else. Using that as a start and with a 14 day free trial offer from Ancestry.com I managed to find a lot of her family. My goal now is to find someone who is still alive in that family and make contact with them.

I had been looking for a photo of my old grade school and my sister told me there was one in a 100 year anniversary book published in the 1970s. I have a copy of the book and sure enough, there was one. It was taken in 1914 but the building still looked the same when I attended it from 1945-1953. The only thing added was a tall flag pole in front of the school. It had two rooms with a front hall for coats, and later a lunch room in the basement.

 Liberty School site 2001. Only the foundation and wood shed remain.

I also spent time putting together something I had done in our last drought in the 1970’s and that two barrels tied together into which the wash machine water is pumped and then drained out through a hose to water the lawn. The whole setup is done and now we need to start using soap with no phosphates in it and we are good to go.

I have been unloading the RV in preparation for leaving it at the repair facility after our next campout a week from tomorrow. I am taking anything out that I don’t want to disappear while it is in the shop.

Our new passports arrived this week just in time for our cruise in October. It is the third passport we have had since the late 1970’s. It only took about 5 weeks to get the renewals. They are not much different than previous passports but the front page is thicker to contain the new chip technology and they ask you not to bend or fold that page. Makes sense.

Some things change slowly.

Location, At Home

Some things never change.

I am still waiting on the repair quote for the trailer. I do have a date however to take it in for the repairs. At least that is something. I am giving them at least a month to do the repairs.

The insurance adjuster called and within a half hour was at my door. A short time later he printed out a check for the full amount of my repairs minus my deductible. How cool is that!

As to the new Dell computer, well, I am slowly working with it but I must admit it is a struggle. I have 90 days to like it or return it. We’ll see.

In the meantime, I was contacted by someone from my home town who is working on genealogy for that area. So I have been spending way too much time looking up data, updating files and my Family Tree Maker program with new information, and writing articles with the data I have learned. It is time consuming but oh so rewarding. At times I had 3 computers running and two printers going as well as my scanner to gather and process all the data.

It is amazing how much information is available on the internet. Of course, much of it is locked up by Ancestry.com and requires a fee to gain access. When I first started looking for my family tree years ago, much of that information was free.

Today I finished a project which has been sitting around for several years. I was given a partially completed basket which I fully intended to complete. Today I finished that basket.

A 12 inch round basket.

The waiting game.

Location, At Home

I am still waiting for a quote on the trailer repairs. They were supposed to call me today but again, nothing happened.

I am also waiting on a call from the insurance adjuster who was supposed to call within 4 hours. That was 3 days ago.

I have been unloading stuff from the trailer, mainly things I don’t want in there while it is in the repair shop. Things like my generators, extra books, spare tire, etc.

Meanwhile I have been having problems with my ACER netbook which is now 5 years old. I use this when we travel as it is small and light weight. The screen sometimes comes up red and a few of the symbols have a red tinge around them. If I move the screen the red goes away. Neighbor Paul had similar problems with his Netbook so he took it apart today, reassembled it and now no problems. I guess I may need to do that also.

 The other problem with the Netbook is that it runs Windows XP which is no longer supported by Microsoft and every so often I get a message to that effect.

So, yesterday I bit the bullet and bought a new Dell Inspiron 11 2 in 1 notebook which can also be used as a tablet. It runs Windows 8.1 which I am struggling to learn. I did manage to get my email installed along with a few other programs.

The one hit against this notebook is that it is too heavy to hold in one hand like other light weight tablets. I don’t see this as a problem for me as I rarely hold it that way. It weighs about 3 lbs.

I need to get rid of some old computers as I still have my original Dell laptop which weighs as much as a boat anchor but it still works. For now it is hooked to a large flatbed scanner to copy slides.

Back to Windows 8.1

Update on trailer and weekend.

Location, At Home, CA

An update with some photos from the recent trailer problems.

The trailer now has all new suspension system and springs, new backing plates and brakes, new wheel bearings, and new rims and tires. Surprisingly, this was not as expensive as one would think and I now have peace of mind knowing that all the running gear is new.

Truck load of tires to be disposed of with the bad tire on the left rear.

I spent the weekend at the Atascadero Elks Club RV Park. While there I did laundry and bought groceries to use while we were camped at San Simeon State Park for 4 days. We camped in the Washburn campground which is on the hill away from the beach. We were joined by Jim and Michelle, George and Marcy, and Ron and Becky. We all had sites next to or near each other which worked out nicely.

We had a very nice week with a few ladder golf games, and games of Sequence by the ladies. The weather was very nice for the first 2 days then the overcast came in during the night. The sun was too warm to sit in while the shade was too cool so that meant a lot of chair moving to find the right temperature. It was still pleasant however. We had a fire each night which is what camping is all about.

Some of the group had tickets for a Hearst Castle tour on Thursday while the remainder of us drove up the coast to Plaskett Creek Campground. We camped here several times when we only had a pickup with a slide in camper. The campground has been improved and lots of folks were camping but the sites still are small and recommended for smaller campers and tents. I had forgotten how twisty-windy the road is for the last 20 miles. Definitely not for big rigs.

On Friday 3 of us moved to the Lompoc Elks Club where we spent the weekend visiting friends who live in Lompoc. Friday night we had a prime rib dinner at the Elks and breakfast on Sunday before we left for home.

While at the Elks Club I was told that an RV sales lot next to the Elks also did major repairs so on Saturday a mechanic came by and took photos so they can work up an estimate for costs and time to do the repairs.

Today I took all the rims and tires to a local tire shop and had the tires removed from the rims. I brought the rims home and will clean them up and put them on Craig’s List. Maybe I can recoup some of my costs.

Trailer is good to go!

Location, Atascadero, CA

                               

Trailer is good to go.

I drove to Fresno yesterday (Friday) and cooled my heels for a few hours while the tires and rims were completed. The tires were sent to a tire shop which mounted them on rims which look like brushed aluminum but actually are steel.

I had been afraid that the refer might have quit while all this work was being done and with the heat I would really have had a stinky mess to take care of. Not the case however as everything was fine.

After mounting the tires on the trailer, adjusting the brakes, and finishing the paperwork, we took the rig for a test drive to check the brake settings. All seems ok so I headed for Atascadero about 5:30 PM.

It took me about 2 and one half hours to make the trip.

Today I am cleaning the rig, throwing old food out of the refer, and putting things back in order. I need to do laundry and buy groceries before Monday when I will move the rig to San Simeon State Park for several days.

Temperature in Kettleman City when I passed through about 6:30 PM yesterday was 108.