29 May 2009

Returned to Virginia. Was making good time until I got to the toll plaza in Baltimore. From there to Springfield is normally a one hour drive. Took 2 ½ due to accidents and heavy rain. NOT FUN!!!! This is why I want to move to Vermont!!!!

28 May 2009

Hard rain off and on all night and most of the morning. Soothing is not the term I would use to describe the cascading drops hitting the roof of the RV. Drove The Beast up to Kampersville to dump tanks and rewater. Took lunch (lasagna and strawberry shortcake) over to Lynne at her office in thanks for doing all of my laundry earlier this week. Fixed the cracked plastic shower curtain track (again) and it promptly broke, again. Hmm… Main entry door handle loosened up so the door wouldn’t open from the inside. Fixed. Promptly loosed up again. Put the handle in the van to be dealt with in Virginia. Using a screwdriver to operate the door in the meantime. Shampooed all of the RV’s carpets once again and this time they actually look pretty decent. Spent several hours clearing trees from the spur driveway that now runs from where the RV is parked down to the lower (north) end of where the shed will be. This spur driveway will provide access to the underground garage and equipment storage area. That spur also will give us a nice shortcut to the Lapidus’ house. Chainsaw ran okay, but that puppy still ain’t right! An incredibly delicious grilled vegetables dinner at Lynne & Perry’s to cap off a fairly productive two weeks.

27 May 2009

Third time's a charm ‘cause the camera platform is up!!!! Rained off and on all day, sometimes pretty hard. No leaks (!!!!) from either the skylight over the shower or any of the other roof openings, at least once I closed the bathroom and living/dining room roof vents that got left open all night. No wonder the furnace was running so much… Perry came by and trouble-shot / repaired the dining/living room light that suddenly went on the fritz the other day, then caused a fuse to blow. Used the RV microwave oven for the first time to cook dinner. Worked fine. Nobody yet has been able to figure out how to set the microwave clock. One of these days I suppose we should look in the instruction manual… Nah, why spoil the fun!?!?

26 May 2009

Spent most of the day cooking… preparing for Marty and Merry Lapidus coming to dinner. Good company and a fabulous repast (if I do say so myself) with Cabot extra sharp cheddar cheese on Ritz crackers (paired with a 2008 Chrysalis Sarah’s Patio White) for an appetizer, followed by lasagna, garden salad, and garlic Italian bread (paired with a 2006 Bayo Oscuro Syrah – provided by the Lapiduses, who know the Chilean vineyard owners), and finished with strawberry shortcake (paired with a 2005 Bonny Doon Muscat Vin de Glacière). As mentioned earlier, this ain’t no pop-up camper. First time I’ve used the RV oven… which, judging by cooking times, seemed to produce the temperatures advertised on the dial. Spent an hour scrubbing the stove top to within an inch of its life. Tom Whittaker stopped by early afternoon for a tour of property developments and news of local real estate activity. Had a spare hour between cooking after Tom left so reinstalled the bathroom vent cover (using stainless steel nuts and bolts), then raised the ladder for the camera platform. Kristen’s grandfather’s block and tackle once again made hoisting the ladder an easy one-minute task. The only hard part was getting the tackle hooked to the fixed block I had left high in the tree. I thought the ladder on a ladder on a ladder rig was pretty clever. It did the job and wasn’t nearly as dangerous as it looks. (Sure, Wilbur! Got any waterfront property in Florida you want to sell?)

25 May 2009

Returned to Fern Lake about noon and resumed cleaning efforts. Consumed half a bottle of Windex and several hours washing all windows inside and out… The Beast has a lot of windows that were very dirty! Discovered that the passenger side windshield wiper blade is falling apart. How did this vehicle just pass inspection???? Put another bead of sealant around the kitchen sink. Went up on the roof to clean the exterior housings for the two exhaust vent fans. Three of the four nuts holding the bathroom vent cover in place were rusted into immobility. Pried off the cover and eventually freed up the nuts. Discovered and sealed, not two, but four, cracks in the bathroom skylight exterior cover. Tried to tighten the one leaking water compartment fitting that I can reach. No joy!!!! Bob LaPorte stopped by to give me his bill for putting in the rough driveway, digging the utility trench, and excavating the “cellar” for the storage building. Only a touch over $2K, about 50% less than I was expecting… and he did about 50% more work than I was expecting, as well. He’s a keepa!!!! Tired of cleaning after Bob left, so built a quick and dirty rock stairway so we can more easily access the house site from where the RV is parked. Also hauled the major pieces for the camera platform down to the hemlock where they will be installed. Used my new hand truck to move the 110 pound ladder, which worked really slick! Bob says we’re supposed to have a frost tonight, so guess the RV heater is going to get some use. Outside the master bedroom there is a black cherry growing around a dead pine. When the wind blows (like tonight) there is a constant creak, creak, creak as the cherry rubs against one of the pine’s branches. Fetched chainsaw, solved problem! Reached into the cupboard under the sink after dinner and found water in my 9 x 13 baking pan. I HATE water leaks!!!!

24 May 2009

Used Sid’s wheelbarrow to haul some excess bank run gravel from our driveway over to where the utility trench has settled some more across the Glassner’s driveway. As soon as I started, so did the rain. In spite of getting somewhat damp, got the Glassner’s driveway smoothed out pretty good. Managed to blow a fuse in trying to figure out why a lamp in the living area all of a sudden wasn’t working, with both bulbs kaput. Hmmm…. Then tackled cleaning the RV’s shower compartment. The Beast has a skylight over the shower, which is a very nice feature. Found two cracks in the outer cover when I took down the inner cover to clean between the two. Stains on the bathroom ceiling now explained, as rain water was coming through one crack at a fairly good rate. Shampooed the master bedroom and hallway carpets. Shampooed the dining / living area carpet again. The RV carpet is now at a cleanliness point where, if this were my house, I’d be thinking that sometime fairly soon they really should be cleaned, i.e., just barely acceptable and by no means “clean”. Went up to Calais and spent the night there with Steve (brother) and Mary (his girlfriend) to attend to the property I own there. The mosquitoes and black flies in Calais were fierce!!!!

23 May 2009

Repaired the main entry door that the previous owner had “fixed” the day I bought The Beast. His “repair” kept the travel safety latch on the door from engaging… something that definitely should be working properly if anyone is ever in the coach cabin while the RV is moving down the road. Cleaned the storage compartments under the RV. After yesterday I thought the interior of the coach was dirty. That was nothing compared to what I tackled today. Discovered two unpleasant surprises: not one, but three, leaks from the piping in the water tank compartment, only one of which I can reach… to get at the other two leaks looks like will require removing one of the two water tanks and a petite contortionist, and rusted out sheet metal in one compartment that was (note the past tense) part of the support for the generator exhaust pipes. Yet another repair job for Junction Auto… Caveat that emptor!!!! Also discovered Exhibit B in the sewage hose storage compartment. Again, a free night’s stay at Triangle Square Circle to the first contestant who can correctly identify what this is. A bottle of wine thrown in if you can tell me why this was in with the sewage hoses. Lynne brought Hopea Kanootti over this afternoon for its maiden voyage on Fern Lake. (Yes, that decrepit guy in the canoe is who you think it is.) We also found a gorgeous (and reportedly very rare hereabouts) Lady Slipper just downhill from where the patio will be. Then Perry joined us for a delightful spaghetti dinner featuring Bove’s roasted garlic sauce and lively conversation about small town development approval process issues with which Perry is currently contending. As you can see, we’re really roughing it here in the RV. When I think back to how my father lived for years in a tent and a pop-up camper trailer while building his cabin in Calais, I realize I’m not nearly as tough as I’d like to think I am.