Monday, April 18, 2016

Repairs and Exploration

Michael designated today to be a day to work on repairs. Nothing big - little things rattle loose or need tending to. The top  of our board shows repairs and fixes in the works and the bottom half show things we'd like to do before we leave this area in 2 weeks and 2 days. 


Last week he repaired the toilet seal - today he found the silicon grease to lubricate the new seal. I suspect I need to find a bleach free toilet cleaner as the seal is plastic and that may be why it gave out.

One night I flipped on the bathroom fan and heard a LOUD, CRACKING sound....every plastic blade on the overhead fan had shattered. The new fan is now installed and working well.

We twisted the awning's arm our first trip out - in 2007. Michael took it apart today to see if it could be welded or if he should buy a new arm. Then he put it back together until the new arm arrives. It will be fantastic to have an awning....if we aren't near wind, rain and tornadoes.

We have some special stabilizers Michael installed....and they worked well. However, 7 1/2 months of full-timing and we're noticing a lot of movement....it feels a  like 5.4 quake when Nolan rolls over at night. ::snort:: Michael has been considering the next step. We really don't want to  put a lot of money into this trailer as we save for a new rig. Michael borrowed some jack stands from Dad and put them under the frame by the wheels. It helps - a lot. So we'll be buying some jack stands this week.

7 1/2 months and the command hooks over the stove are falling off the wall. Michael checked to see what sort of clearance there is between the side of the wall by the stove and the fridge. Enough that he's comfortable putting screws in for a more permanent fix.  I hang utensils and hot pads etc from the hooks.

While he visited RV supply stores and did repairs, the kids did table school (year round duty), Nolan had Japanese Lessons, we finished up Joni  and I baked bread. I decided we'd be home long enough for me to try to do 6 loaves - 3x the normal baking day in the Caboose.

Fake out bread ::wink::
It takes a lot of time to grind wheat  for a triple load of baking with the vitamix....but I was juggling all well. I had two loaves in the oven....and the second bath of dough was ready to be shaped when I realized my error. I only have TWO bread pans in the caboose (and no cookie sheets)....because that's all that will fit in the oven.  Thanks for the suggestions on the Facebook page. I ended up making three free form fake out loaves. Michael was excited to see sourdough bread - but it's not. ::snort::

The Caboose was like a giant oven after having the oven at 375 for hours of baking.....after dinner we headed out to explore the area. We took a new road and found ourselves at Mill Creek Park.....


Bird watching and um...people watching too


We headed over to Island Park - we'll have to do this in an afternoon. It's a very relaxing spot. 




It's been a great day. We're ending the night with a game or two of Flashpoint.