Category Archives: Maintenance and Repair

Getting Healthcare While We’re Covered

With the year rapidly coming to a close, Donna and I needed to finish up on routine health care while we still have coverage. After January 1st, we’ll join the ranks in ACA healthcare market place. For us, it basically means we’re self-insured for all but the most catastrophic events. I already posted my rant about the un-affordable debacle that Obamacare created.

On Monday, we both had appointments with Dr. Tim Van Kirk at Eye-Tech for eye exams. Donna’s prescription hadn’t changed, I had a slight change for reading. This exam included a baseline retinal photo showing the current state of the health of our eyes. My left eye is completely healthy with good color in the macular area, nice blood flow and no sign of leakage or diabetes.

Retinal photo of my left eye

My right eye is a different story. I’ve been blind in my right eye since I had a motorcycle racing accident at Spokane Raceway Park 14 years ago. The accident was pretty serious and I sustained a number of injuries including Terson’s Syndrome from head trauma that affected my right optic nerve. The retinal photo looks healthy for the most part – it’s not quite centered correctly because I couldn’t see the target for the photo. The area around the optic nerve – the circular light spot in the photo – shows the damage.

Right optic nerve damage

These photos will be useful in the future as they establish a baseline and can be used for comparison if anything changes. The eye exam was very comprehensive and took over an hour for each of us.

I made the usual Monday happy hour stop at Dan Diego’s and found another Belgian ale on sale for three dollars. This one is distributed by a French Abbey, but it’s brewed at a monastery in Chimay, Belgium. It’s an amber ale, 6% ABV and very tasty.

Mont Des Cats amber ale

I liked the Maredsous I had last week better, but it sold out.

For dinner, Donna made turmeric chicken and served it with Israeli couscous and steamed broccoli. This has become a favorite dish.

Turmeric chicken, Israeli couscous and broccoli

On Tuesday morning, I had another healthcare appointment. It was time for my annual check-up with Dr. Ryan in Point Loma. Everything went well – I just have to wait for the results of blood work – but I feel good.

Tuesday turned out to be a gorgeous day. We had blue skies and the high temperature reached 77 degrees! The wind was light and variable. It doesn’t get much better. I noticed the sail boat which is usually moored in De Anza Cove was gone. The guy that owns it takes it out every few weeks and spends a day cleaning it once a month.

We have three Alpine Coaches clustered together here at Mission Bay RV Resort. One is in the site next to us and one is across the street. They’re both front-door double-slide models while ours is a mid-door triple-slide.

Alpine Coach neighbor – we’re on the left.

In the afternoon I climbed up on the roof of Sini’s coach and took the air conditioner shrouds off again. Some water leaked through the A/C intake grills on the ceiling of her coach. These grills are directly below the A/C evaporator housings. I looked around and didn’t see anything obvious. We sealed a seam on the evaporator housing with silicone, but I’m wondering if there’s a problem with the seal below the unit where it sits on the roof.

On Tuesday night, Donna made mini meatloaves in muffin tins. They were good – she served it with blue cheese smashed red potatoes and sauteed zucchini, peppers and onions.

Mini-meatloaf plate

At sunset, clouds moved in. I wasn’t expecting this. Rain started falling around 9:30pm. It rained off and on overnight and it’s overcast this morning. This wasn’t in yesterday’s forecast. Now the weather guessers are calling for a 40% chance of rain by evening – this will put a damper on the happy hour gathering we were invited to with friends here in the RV park.

Today is the winter solstice – meaning that the sun is at its southernmost point in the sky. It’s the shortest day of sunlight in the northern hemisphere. The actual solstice occurred at 2:44am local time when the north pole was tilted at its farthest point from the sun. Days will start to get longer beginning tomorrow. It’ll be a few months before the longer periods of sunlight bring warmer weather though.

Donna Discovers a Theft

I spent a couple of hours on the pickleball courts Thursday morning at the Pacific Beach Recreation Center. My real task for the day was changing the oil and filters on our Can-Am Spyder. Here at Mission Bay RV Resort, working on vehicles is prohibited. So, I parked the Spyder in the overflow lot next to our trailer and went to work. I was arguably still on the property, but I thought I could get it done without raising an issue. Doing the work in our site would have been a problem for sure.

Oil changes on the Spyder take a lot of time. To access the crankcase drain plug and oil filter housings, you have to remove the plastic body work from the left side and also the tray under the engine. There are two drain plugs – one for the crankcase and one for the oil reservoir. There are also two oil filters on our model – one for the engine and another for the hydraulically operated shift mechanism that utilizes engine oil.

The job took me about an hour and half. While I was working on the Spyder, maintenance personnel from the park cruised by on golf carts several times. Most didn’t take any notice of me, but a couple of them just waved at me as they passed by. I was careful not to spill any oil or leave a mess.

Thursday night Donna came home from her trip to Atlanta around 7pm. Her TV appearance went well, but the trip overall was a disaster. When she entered the security check at the Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, she opened her carry-on bag to remove her laptop computer. The laptop case and computer weren’t in her bag! She remembered putting it under her sweater in the bag. However, her bag wasn’t in sight or under her control at all times that morning and it’s a mystery when and where the laptop went missing.

The problem was made worse when she figured out that her back-up to an external hard drive wasn’t properly completed. The eight chapters of the book she’s been writing for the last two months didn’t back up and are gone with her laptop. It’s an unbelievable situation. There’s no way she can meet the December 20 deadline now.

Depite feeling really low on Friday, Donna soldiered on and put up Christmas decorations inside and out. She put up lights on the coach and our little tree in our site.

Christmas decorations

I don’t have any exciting events or pictures to add at this time – things have been fairly routine here. As this is our fourth winter here at Mission Bay RV Resort, it’s easy for us to fall into a routine.

One thing that seems different this year is the weather. It’s colder than usual and we’ve had more cloudy days than I remember in the past. Usually the rainy season comes around Christmas time and runs through February. But rainy and cold in San Diego are relative terms – February is the wettest month with about two inches of rain for the month. The average temperature reaches a high in the mid – 60s from December through February.

Friday was cool with a high in the upper 60s. Clouds moved in overnight and this morning we have a low marine layer and I wonder if it will burn off today. There’s a chance of showers tonight – the area could use some rain and I don’t mind when it happens overnight.

Ground Fault Circuit Interrupter

I mentioned in my last post an electrical issue Sini was having with her coach. On Sunday morning before we left for the Chargers game, she told me most of her outlets weren’t working. I took a quick look and checked for tripped circuit breakers on the 120-volt panel, but didn’t find any. I checked the breaker at the pedestal and it was fine. Then I noticed her microwave/convection oven had power. She told me at least one outlet had power as well. This led me to suspect the ground fault circuit interrupter, but I didn’t have time to deal with it.

Ground fault circuit interrupters (GFCI) are required anytime a 120-volt electrical outlet is placed near a water source such as a wall in the bathroom or kitchen near a faucet and sink. The GFCI senses the amount of current running through the two legs of the outlet. Modern outlets have two different size openings that match the blades of the plug on the end of a power cord. One blade is larger – that’s the neutral side. The other is the hot side. There’s a third opening that’s round and it’s the ground lug.

The alternating current running through the neutral and hot leads should match. If there’s a discrepancy in the amount of current between the two sides, it means current is finding another path to ground. This could be a very dangerous situation. If you are using an electrical appliance and it gets wet, it’s possible for the water to conduct electricity from an un-insulated connection to your body and then ground through your feet. This could electrocute you and result in death. The GFCI senses the discrepancy in current and acts as a breaker to shut off the power supply.

Many GFCI’s are wired to receive the incoming power and pass it along down the circuit to other outlets and appliances. Since all of the power running through that circuit runs through the GFCI first, it provides protection for all of the outlets and appliances connected downstream of it.

When your RV has 120-volt power to some outlets or appliances but not others, the GFCI is suspect. I tried to reset Sini’s GFCI with the reset button on the face of the outlet. It wouldn’t reset. This could mean there’s a short to ground somewhere along the line or it could be a bad GCFI. A new GCFI costs under $20, so I made a run to Ace Hardware in Pacific Beach and picked up a new one.

I shut off the power supply at the pedestal and removed the old GFCI – it only takes four screws to remove the cover plate and GFCI. Then I loosened the wire receptacle screws on the sides of the GFCI and pulled the wires out. The wires are very stiff solid copper. Sini’s GFCI provides power to the bathroom outlet and two additional circuits. So, it had three neutral wires with white insulation and three hot wires with black insulation. Additionally there was a bare copper ground wire screwed to a lug on the bottom of the GFCI.

I wired up the new GFCI and closed the breaker at the pedestal to restore power. It didn’t work. This had me scratching my head. I spent the better part of an hour trying to trace the circuit – without a schematic – to find the problem. Nothing made sense to me. It should’ve worked.

Finally, I decided to start over. I shut off the power again and removed the new GFCI. I carefully separated the wires and had Sini restore the power. With my Fluke multimeter, I measured voltage on the neutral and hot wires. Then I realized what the problem was. Sini shut off the power again. When I removed the original GFCI, the wires were very stiff and I thought they remained in the same position. I wired them to the new GFCI and didn’t give it much thought. But here’s the thing. The GFCI has two silver screws with stab-in receptacles on one side for the neutral wires and two brass screws with stab-in receptacles on the other side for the hot wires. One set of neutral and hot receptacles is marked “Line” the other set is marked “Load.” One neutral wire and one hot wire has the incoming 120-volts from the power pedestal. These wires must be connected to the line receptacles. The other two neutral and hot wires going to the rest of the circuit must be connected to the load receptacles.

I must have inadvertently switched the line and load neutral wires when I wired the GFCI. This won’t work. The strange thing is the new GFCI has an indicator lamp. When it’s green, it means there’s voltage available and all is good. If it’s mis-wired, it should show up red. I had a green light all the time. Anyway, I rewired the GFCI and turned on the power at the pedestal.

GFCI wiring

GFCI wiring

I hit the reset button on the GFCI and it clicked like it should and we had power down the circuit to all receptacles. Yay! It should have been a 15-20 minute job, but I spent over an hour because of a careless wiring mistake.

Later, when I turned on the Monday Night Football game Sini brought over a six-pack of brew from Mother Earth Brewing called Cali Creamin’ ale. It tastes like cream soda. I sipped one at the start of the game, but I’m not a big soda drinker and I think one is my limit for this style of ale.

Cali Creamin' Ale

Cali Creamin’ Ale

We had cool weather yesterday with the temperature in the low 60s. There was a chance of rain, but it never appeared here at Mission Bay. Today the forecast calls for more of the same before it warms up again. I plan to play pickleball this morning and do some Spyder maintenance in the afternoon.

Donna has a busy day working and preparing for a trip to Atlanta tomorrow. She’ll be up early tomorrow for her flight and she’ll return Thursday night.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Epic Fail in the Closet

I decided it was time to get busy on Wednesday. We’ve been here at Mission Bay RV Resort for about six weeks and I had a number of projects on my list that I hadn’t tackled yet.

First up was a repair to the closet hanger rod. The hanger rod is a 1-1/4 inch wooden dowel six and half feet long. It has a support in the center made from wood that the rod passes through. The support is suspended from the ceiling where it’s attached with wood screws.

The weight of the clothing on hangers puts a heavy load on the rod. When we’re driving down the road, bumps can put a lot of strain on it. The hanger support broke once before and I repaired it. It broke again, but this time the hanger rod support pulled free of the ceiling. The wood screws securing it had stripped from the wood.

Hangar rod support pulled from ceiling

Hangar rod support pulled from ceiling

I thought I could use inserts in the ceiling and re-attach the support with screws. I envisioned a plastic insert with large, coarse threads that would bite into the wood in the ceiling and provide a sturdy material for the screws to attach to.

I went to the Ace Hardware store in Pacific Beach where the friendly hardware man helped me out. When I told him what I had in mind, he said he didn’t think the type of insert I was talking about would work. He said they’re designed for drywall and he didn’t think they were strong enough to thread into wood. He suggested a steel insert and machine screws to make the repair.

Threaded steel insert and machine screws - original wood screw on bottom

Threaded steel insert and machine screws – original wood screw on bottom

I removed the support and installed the inserts. This took longer than I thought it would – getting the inserts to thread into the wood was a real pain. I could see that the drywall type wouldn’t have worked. When I screwed the support back in place with the machine screws I gave it a tug. The inserts pulled out of the wood. Failure!

By then it was 2:30pm and I had to get cracking on the Traeger. The night before I had purchased babyback ribs from Siesel’s Market and prepped them. We planned on having company for dinner and I needed to cook the ribs on the Traeger wood pellet fired smoker/grill. We invited Sini and her son Beau, John and Sharon Hinton (On the Road of Retirement) and their daughter, Katie, who is visiting.

I had the ribs ready a little after 5pm – I’m fine tuning my rib preparation and think they’re coming out pretty darn good. Donna made cornbread and Asian coleslaw, Sini brought a tossed salad and John and Sharon brought green beans with sesame seeds. Sini’s son Beau had to take a rain check due to a meeting that came up.

It gets dark early so we had electric candles and a lantern on the table. We enjoyed the food and conversation – and beer. Not only does it get dark early, it really cools off after the sun sets. It was probably about 60 degrees, but it felt cooler. Around 7:30pm everyone was ready to move inside and retreated to their respective coaches. I neglected to take any photos.

On Thursday, I came up with plan “B” for the closet. I made a drawing and a list of goods. I rode the Spyder to Home Depot where I found lengths of 3/4″ x 1-1/2″ oak boards. I had them cut to the lengths I needed. I also bought some 2″ #6 wood screws.

Instead of suspending the center support for the hanger rod from the ceiling, I was building a post that would support it from the closet floor like a crutch. I drilled pilot holes where needed in the wood, then fastened it together with the wood screws. I like to scrape the screw threads across a bar of soap before I screw them into the pilot holes. This provides dry lubrication and makes the screw thread into the wood easier.

The crutch type support was made with two 47″ lengths of oak board attached together with six-inch lengths of oak board. The original support is 3/4″ wide, so putting the six-inch pieces of 3/4″ oak between the two 47″-long boards spaced them apart perfectly to fit the support. It’s not the most elegant solution, but it’s sturdy as a rock now.

Not the most elegant

Not the most elegant

Rock steady

Rock steady

12_1clst5

With that job done, I showered and headed over to Dan Diego’s for a cold one with the guys. Dan Diego’s features local brews on tap but they also have a large selection of imported bottled beer. They have a lot of Belgian beer made in monasteries – these beers tend to be strong, flavorful and expensive. Some of them run $10 for an 11.2 ounce bottle. They aren’t big sellers for them – probably due to the price. The management decided it was time to move some of the inventory, so they put together special pricing on about a dozen bottled beers.

One of the specials was Duvel Tripel Hop. This is a tasty, strong ale and they had it priced at $3/bottle. I couldn’t pass it up.

Duvel tripel hop

Duvel tripel hop

After a couple of cold ones, I came home to watch Dallas versus Minnesota on Thursday Night Football. After the game Donna relaxed with a couple of mindless TV programs. She’s been pushing hard to meet her book deadline and had a few other assignments as well. She laid back and Ozark the cat joined her.

Donna and Ozark kicking back

Donna and Ozark kicking back

Ozark gets closer

Ozark gets closer

Today we have sunny, blue skies and the temperature should reach the low 70s. I have a couple of chores to attend to, but nothing too heavy. Life is good.

The Green Flash

Mission Bay RV Resort fills up every year for the Thanksgiving weekend. The park had been fairly quiet since Halloween but it was full on Thanksgiving. Security Supervisor Thomas told me that 70 rigs checked in on the day before Thanksgiving. That’s more than a quarter of the park’s capacity. Kids had the week off from school and many parents had a four-day weekend.

On Sunday, there was a mass exodus as many of the rigs packed up and left. Looking around, I would guess more than a third of the sites are empty now. There aren’t many kids here as they’re back in school and parents are back to work.

Lots of empty sites

Lots of empty sites

Another change occurred after the wet weekend. The strips at the back of the sites are usually grassy. This year most of the grass is gone and it’s just dirt. They must have seeded it at some point. After the rain over the weekend grass is sprouting now.

New grass sprouting behind our site

New grass sprouting behind our site

With the RV park quiet and not much foot traffic, it seems like the grass will have a good chance to grow.

We had periods of rain Monday afternoon. Sini gave me a couple of bottles of beer. I enjoyed an IPA from Green Flash Brewing called Soul Style. They bill it as a tropical flavor. However, it doesn’t contain any fruit or fruit juice – the flavor is strictly from the hops used in the brewing process. It was a good beer and I drank it while watching Monday Night Football.

By the way, the name Green Flash refers to a seldom seen phenomenon as the sun sets. Under the right conditions just as the sun drops below the horizon, the red or orange sun rays appear green for about a second. That’s the green flash – it’s most likely to be seen when the sun drops below the horizon in the ocean.

Donna made a chicken enchilada soup Monday. She had it  in the slow cooker all afternoon. It was delicious and just right on a rainy evening.

Chicken tortilla soup

Chicken enchilada soup

We awoke to a cloudless blue sky on Tuesday. The wind which had been blowing for three days had dissipated. Beautiful weather ahead! I rode the Spyder to the Pacific Beach Recreation Center and played pickleball for two hours. It was nice to be out and about and get some exercise.

The only chore I accomplished was dumping and flushing our holding tanks. Before I dumped, I had to make a repair to our Camco Rhinoflex sewer hose. Last time I dumped the tank, I saw a couple of drops of liquid come from the hose fitting. I unscrewed the fitting from the end of the hose and applied plumber’s grease – a clear silicone grease sometimes called faucet grease – to the fitting and screwed it back together. Problem solved. No one wants a leaky sewer hose!

Last night Donna made a new recipe – crispy dijon tilapia. It was good, but Donna wants to make it with a flakier fish filet next time, maybe rock fish.

Dijon crusted tilapia with asparagus and potatoes

Dijon crusted tilapia with asparagus and potatoes

Today we should see a high temperature of 70 degrees. The weather forecast for the coming week looks great. I have a list of projects piling up. Today I’ll have to get busy and start tackling a few things I’ve been putting off. After all, I’m not on vacation, right? It’s a lifestyle.

 

*Just so you know, if you follow one of my links to Amazon and decide to make a purchase, you pay the same price as usual and  I’ll earn a few pennies for the referral. It’ll go into the beer fund. Thanks!

Preparing for Thanksgiving

Monday was a cool, cloudy day. Showers passed through off and on until well after noon. Donna had an annual check-up appointment in Hillcrest so she decided to take an Uber ride rather than ride the Spyder. I took advantage of the wet weather and rinsed the dirt that had accumulated on our batteries. Washing isn’t allowed here, but with everything wet I figured I could away with a quick rinse job.

I spent most of the day reading. When we had a break in the weather around 2pm, I rode the Spyder to Sprouts Market and bought an 11.5 lb turkey. Our plan is to go to Menifee and have Thanksgiving dinner with my step-dad Ken and his neighbors Helen and Ray.

I’ll spatchcock the turkey and cook it on the Traeger Thursday morning. I think it’ll fit on the grill once I flatten it. Then I’ll wrap it and we’ll make the drive up there. Ken is getting the side dishes.

Donna made a new dinner recipe Monday. She had a pork tenderloin cooking in the slow cooker all afternoon in adobo sauce with chipotle peppers and onion. The result was New Mexico style pulled-pork adobada. She served it over a fried tortilla with a fried egg on top.

Adobada with fried egg

Adobada with fried egg

I enjoyed a Blood Red Orange IPA from Latitude 33 Brewing with it.

Blood Red Orange IPA

Blood Red Orange IPA

Later, during the Monday Night Football game, we snacked on the salami and cheese I bought at the farmers’ market.

Meatmen Flagrant Seed and Ooh Mama spicy salami

Meatmen Flagrant Seed and Ooh Mama spicy salami

Great with pricey French hard cheese

Great with pricey French hard cheese

On Tuesday, the clouds and rain were just a memory as we had clear blue skies and the temperature reached 70 degrees.

When I was up on Sini’s roof to seal the vent pipe last week, I noticed the shrouds that cover her Dometic DuoTherm air conditioners were cracked. This is fairly common. The plastic shrouds become brittle over time from exposure to the sun and the way they’re mounted places undue stress on the mounting points. When you’re driving down the road and hit bumps, the shrouds can flex. I wrote about the poor mounting of the shrouds when I replaced ours in the summer of 2015 in this post.

Sini ordered replacements from Amazon and had a quick delivery. I think she ordered them Friday night and they were delivered on Monday. After pickleball Tuesday morning, I went over to Sini’s rig to replace the A/C shrouds.

Shroud cracked around the mounting point

Shroud cracked around the mounting point

I put the tools I would need and a bottle of rubbing alcohol in a backpack and we climbed up the ladder. Halfway up the ladder, Sini handed me the big boxes containing the new covers and foam seals and I placed them on the roof.

Foam seals are used to block airflow from coming through the space between the shroud and the condenser. You want all of the airflow drawn by the electric fan to go through the condenser coil, not around it.

Old foam seal

Old foam seal

The foam seals deteriorate over time and should be replaced when you install new shrouds. I peeled the old seals off and cleaned the surfaces with rubbing alcohol before installing the new self-adhesive foam seals.

Old seals removed

Old seals removed

Then it was just a matter of mounting the new shrouds. I used the double fender washer method I came up with on our A/Cs. I put one 1″ fender washer with a 1/4″ opening on the mounting screw. I put a second matching fender washer between the shroud and the mounting point on the A/C chassis. This created a clamping surface the distributes the stress of the mounting point over a much larger area. I think this will help to prevent the cracks.

New covers installed.

New covers installed.

That’s all there was to it – job done. Sini stayed up on the roof while I installed the new covers. She wants to see how things work and learn what I do to make repairs so she knows what to look for in the future.

Today I’ll go to Enterprise and pick up a rental car for our trip to Menifee. Enterprise closes at noon today. They called me last evening and advised me to come early as they expect to be very busy today.

Today’s weather should be much like yesterday. I’m expecting sunny skies and warmer weather for Thanksgiving. I hope wherever you are, you’ll enjoy a great Thanksgiving with family and friends, regardless of the temperature.

A Well Fed Weekend

I can’t complain about wintering in San Diego. However, we had a little bit of everything over the weekend. Friday was a gorgeous day – fair, sunny skies and a high temperature of 76 degrees.

Sini found signs of water seeping through the roof of her rig and took a look up on the roof. She asked me if I would look at it too and give my opinion. I found two areas of concern – the caulking around a vent pipe deteriorated and had cracks in it and it also had shrunk away from the pipe. Also, her air conditioner shrouds were cracked. I replaced our shrouds about a year and a half ago and posted about it here. The plastic shrouds get brittle from constant exposure to sunlight.

I told Sini she should get some Dicor self-leveling lap sealant to re-caulk the vent pipe. She picked up a couple of tubes at the RV Solutions store in Kearny Mesa. We climbed up on the roof and I showed her how to apply it. The first step is to remove the old caulk. I like to use plastic or nylon instruments for this – a metal putty knife may damage a fiberglass or rubber roof.

These are the tools I used to scrape the old caulk out

These are the tools I used to scrape the old caulk out

Removing the old caulk is the most time consuming part of the job. Then I cleaned the area with rubbing alcohol before putting down a new layer of caulk. The dicor sealant is thick and hard to apply. It takes a lot of hand strength to squeeze it out of the tube with a caulk gun. On a horizontal surface the sealant will spread and flatten out. It makes a good water barrier.

Donna spiced boneless chicken breasts with jerk marinade and I grilled kabobs for dinner Friday night. Another simple, delicious meal.

Grilled chicken kabobs

Grilled chicken kabobs with mashed sweet potato

Donna and Sini planned to go to the farmers’ market in the Little Italy district downtown on Saturday morning. Donna had to back out as she had fallen behind a bit on her book deadline and had too many things on her plate for Saturday. I accompanied Sini instead.

We left early and dropped off Ziggy, her golden-doodle dog, at Petsmart for a bath and grooming on the way at 8am. At the market, we found a vendor selling breakfast crepes. The girl making the crepes had two round hot plates. She would put a scoop of crepe batter – basically eggs, milk and flour – on one hot plate. She used a flat wooden stick half the diameter of the hot plate to spread the batter. She held one end of the stick in the center of the hot plate and swept the other end of the stick in a circular motion around the outer circumference of the hot plate. This perfectly spread the batter in a thin layer over the entire hot plate.

Making breakfast crepes

Making breakfast crepes

After a couple of minutes, she flipped the crepe. Then she folded the crepe in half and transferred it to the second hot plate where she had the filling cooking. I had ham, mushrooms and cheese in my crepe. Sini went for a veggie filling. After adding the filling, she folded the crepes into a triangle shape and put them in tapered cup like the ones used for snow-cones. They were absolutely delicious and very filling. Well worth the eight bucks!

I ended buying some hard salami locally made along with sweet Italian sausage. I also bought some pricey cheese – an herbed brie and a hard French cheese.

Later, Donna made cream of celery soup. Instead of celery stalks, she used celeriac. Celeriac is a root crop that comes from a celery variant. She planned to take the soup to her sister’s house Saturday evening where we were invited for an early Thanksgiving dinner.

Cream of celery soup with a dollop of creme fraiche, chopped chives and pomegranate seeds

Cream of celery soup with a dollop of creme fraiche, chopped chives and pomegranate seeds

Donna’s sister, Sheila, made traditional Thanksgiving fixings including a large stuffed turkey.

Stuffed turkey

Stuffed turkey

Unfortunately most of the dinner conversation was focused on politics after the recent election. Since I’m on the opposite side of the aisle from most of the other guests, I found it uncomfortable. We took an Uber ride home at 9:30pm.

Sunday was a typical NFL football day for me with the exception of not watching the Chargers play – they had a bye this weekend. I enjoyed the Dallas versus Baltimore game and also the Seahawks win over Philadelphia.

Donna made fresh marinara and added the sweet Italian sausage from the farmers’ market to serve with porcini mushroom ravioli. I continue to eat well!

Porcini mushroom ravioli with sausage marinara

Porcini mushroom ravioli with sausage marinara

I started this post with a comment about the weekend weather. After a beautiful Friday, Saturday was another nice, sunny day with slightly cooler temperatures. Sunday was breezy and rain showers moved into the area in the afternoon. The high was only 67 degrees and by nightfall we had steady rain. The rain continued well into the night and this morning we have a few clouds lingering with a forecast high of only 65 degrees. Such is winter in San Diego – I shouldn’t complain.

Unaffordable Health Care

It’s going to be another beautiful day in San Diego. The skies are clear, the sun is shining and the expected high temperature is 75 degrees. But I’m sitting at my laptop not feeling so good. In fact, I’m mad as hell.

Yesterday, Donna and I had a conference call with a representative from Towers Watson – an insurance administrator that runs a brokerage called One Exchange. Up to this point, my former employer offered health care insurance as part of my pension plan. That ends on December 31st. I need to find health care insurance under the Affordable Care Act (ACA) also known as Obama Care.

I have to say, ACA is anything but affordable – it’s an Orwellian doublespeak term. Since the inception of Obama Care, my health care benefits have deteriorated. Three years ago I paid a monthly premium of about $300 for coverage for both of us. I had a deductible of $600 and had nationwide coverage. Two years ago the cost rose to about $400/month and the deductible went up to $1,000. Last year the cost rose again to $500/month and the deductible jumped to $2,600.

Now the costs have risen so much, my former employer no longer offers a health care plan. Instead, they offer a subsidy if you don’t qualify for government assistance. Apparently it’s more affordable for them to fund a health care spending account for retirees than to participate in group health care.

The subsidy they’re offering me amounts to about $1,041/month. Sounds pretty good, right? Add to that the $500/month I paid for health care last year and I should be able to budget a little over $1,500/month for my premium and out of pocket expenses. But here’s where it gets ugly.

The lowest premium I can find in our domicile state, South Dakota, is $1,399/month. That leaves me a little over $100/month for out of pocket expenses. But there’s a rub – it covers nothing until I meet the deductible of $13,100! Basically, I’m self-insured for the first $13,100 and I get to pay $1,399/month for this! If I want to have a plan that’s comparable to what I had before, it would cost $2,367/month but it doesn’t offer a nationwide network.

How is this affordable? I hope this ACA is replaced with something that’s more sensible soon. I’m thankful for my former employer funding a health care spending account for me, otherwise I would be spending nearly three times my current monthly premium for no coverage until I hit $13,100 in costs. We’re looking into private market plans now since we don’t qualify for federal subsidies. End of rant.

On a more positive note, I was able to get out and play pickleball on Wednesday. I had soreness in my foot afterward again, so I think it’s best if I lay off and rest my foot to allow it to heal.

A couple of months ago I replaced our toilet seat. I posted about the way it mounted to the toilet – it was supposed to be a quick release system for cleaning. Well, that may be good in theory but in practice the quick release would release every time you closed the lid. I got tired of the seat and lid flopping around, so I ordered a new seat and lid on Amazon.

The new one is made of bamboo and has brushed nickel hinges that mount with stainless steel screws. The quick release concept doesn’t work for me. I’m more than happy with the conventional and secure method of mounting the hinges.

New bamboo toilet seat and lid

New bamboo toilet seat and lid

The photo makes the seat look much lighter than the flooring – in reality the difference in color isn’t so noticeable. I think the flash on my camera may have affected the color tone.

Securely attached with brushed nickel hinges

Securely attached with brushed nickel hinges

I threw the quick release seat in the dumpster.

I also set up the decorative laser light that Sini gave us. I have it pointed at a tree in front of our site. The points of light look like a bunch of tiny Christmas lights in the tree.

Points of light from the laser on the tree

Points of light from the laser on the tree

It also splashes a few points of light on our coach.

Laser lighting up the front corner of the coach

Laser lighting up the front corner of the coach

Thanks Sini!

Donna made a spicy beef stir-fry for dinner. She cut flank steak across the grain and made it with shirataki noodles. This was a simple recipe but it was so good! I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Stir-fry with shirataki noodles

Stir-fry with shirataki noodles

I don’t have a plan for today. I think I’ll finish a book I’ve been reading and maybe go for a bike ride and enjoy the great weather after our dental appointments at 1pm.

 

Turkey on the Traeger

I resumed pickleball on Monday at the Ocean Beach Recreation Center. In my fourth game, I suddenly experienced pain behind my middle toes on my right foot. I don’t know for sure what happened, but I’m guessing that I pushed off with my foot to get to the ball and somehow strained my foot. Donna wondered if it was a gout flare-up. I haven’t had any issues with gout for about four years – I take allopurinol and it’s been very effective.

Monday evening Sini told me the floor was wet again around her toilet. I had replaced the seal on the bottom of the bowl and thought I’d solved the problem. Tuesday morning I went over to check it out. I found the toilet was loose – I could rock it back and forth. Apparently the high density closed-cell foam seal had packed down after I mounted the toilet. I tightened the four nuts on the mounting studs and I think that will solve the issue. Note to self – after replacing a toilet seal, re-torque the mounting nuts after a day or so!

I took it easy for most of the day, resting my sore foot. Donna bought a turkey breast half at Sprouts Market and we wanted to roast it on the Traeger wood pellet-fired smoker grill for dinner. I decided to brine it. This was new to me, I haven’t brined meat before. I made a solution with a quarter cup of salt and two tablespoons of sugar in one quart of water. I put the turkey breast in a pot and added the brine, then put it in the refrigerator around noon.

I made a run to Trader Joe’s to replenish my scotch supply. Trader Joe’s has a house brand of Scotch whisky (there’s no ‘e’ in whisky when it’s Scotch). Their house brand is bottled by Alexander Murray and Company, a bottler in Scotland that buys whisky from various distillers and private labels it. In California, grocery stores can sell liquor. Trader Joe’s has a variety of scotch whisky under their own label – both single malt and blended.

I tend to prefer single malt Highland Scotch – preferably from the Speyside region – over the smoky Islay varieties. Trader Joe’s only had 16-year-old Speyside on hand and I thought it was too expensive. I ended up with a bottle of Glenfiddich 12-year-old scotch.

Back home, I put the turkey breast on the Traeger at 5pm. I figured it would take 75 to 90 minutes to cook. I was just guessing though as I couldn’t find a recipe for a half breast which was slightly less than three pounds. I started with the Traeger set at 325 degrees. After 40 minutes, I upped the temperature to 375 as the skin wasn’t browning. Fifteen minutes later, I raised the temperature to the highest setting, 450 degrees.

This is completely backwards from how I wanted to cook it. Next time I’ll start at a high temperature to crisp the skin, then reduce the heat and cook until an internal temperature at the thickest part of the breast reaches 165 degrees. In the final minutes of cooking, I basted the turkey breast with Fisher and Wieser pomegranate and mango chipotle sauce.

Although I was all over the board temperature-wise, the turkey breast came out good. It was moist and flavorful.

Traeger roasted turkey breast

Traeger roasted turkey breast

Donna served it with cumin roasted cauliflower dressed with sherry vinegar and baked acorn squash mashed with butter and orange marmalade. Delicious.

A meal fit for a king

A meal fit for a king

Sini joined us for dinner and we enjoyed the meal and company. I paired my dinner with a Blood Orange IPA from Latitude 33 brewery while the girls had red wine with theirs.

Blood orange IPA

Blood orange IPA

Sini brought us a gift. It’s a red and green laser light – it emits hundreds of tiny red and green spotlights over a large area – up to about 3,000 square feet. I set it up at the front of the coach and aimed it at the tree in front of our site. It makes the tree look like it’s filled with tiny Christmas lights. I’ll try to get a photo of it tonight.

My foot feels better today. I think I’ll head out for pickleball again. The weather was cooler yesterday with partly cloudy skies. We hit a high temperature in the mid 70s. Today is forecast to be cooler again with a high of about 70 with partly cloudy skies.

 

 

Toads and Toilets

My previous two posts were about my trip to Seattle to help Sini Schmitt drive her coach down to San Diego. There was a learning experience along the way that I should share.

Hitching a car with four wheels down via a tow bar was new to me. We pull a cargo trailer which is very straight forward – it connects via a 2 5/16″ ball on a conventional trailer hitch. Sini’s car was connected to the coach with a Roadmaster Falcon tow bar. The tow bar was pretty easy to understand.

Her tow vehicle (toad) is a Saturn SUV with a V6 engine and automatic transmission. When you tow this vehicle with the wheels down, rolling on road, it requires a certain procedure to ensure adequate lubrication of the transmission.

Sini had a page printed out that listed the procedure. First you set the parking brake, then with your foot on the brake pedal you start the engine. With the engine running, shift the transmission lever to reverse. After a few seconds – I waited 10 seconds – shift to neutral and wait. Continue shifting until it has run through all of the gears ending in low gear. Then shift back to drive, then neutral. Let the engine run for three minutes in neutral before turning off the engine. This will have circulated transmission fluid throughout the gears, clutch packs and bearings. Leave the key in the accessory position so the steering wheel doesn’t lock. Release the brakes. Then remove the 30 amp ignition fuse from the fuse panel in the engine compartment to prevent the battery from draining.

When we hooked up the toad in Edmonds, we ran through this procedure. When I got in the coach to drive away, I released the parking brake on the coach and put it into drive. Normally the coach would roll forward as soon as I released the brake pedal. It didn’t move. Something wasn’t right. Then I realized, I didn’t release the parking brake in the toad. I put the coach back in neutral and set the parking brake. I went out to the toad and sure enough, the parking brake was still set. The procedure for preparing the toad transmission for towing was so simple, I didn’t follow the step-by-step checklist and made a mistake. This procedure needs to be followed before towing every day or every 7 hours of towing time.

Four days later, Sini did the pre-travel procedure on the toad and drove the coach as we pulled out of the Palmdale Elks Lodge. We were driving down the road when she suddenly said, ” I left the parking brake on.” I told her to pull over immediately. We stopped and I got out of the coach and could smell hot brakes. The parking brake on the toad was still set. Luckily it wasn’t powerful enough to lock the wheels, the rear brake drums rotated and the shoes and drums were hot from the friction, but no real harm was done.

The lesson is to actually go step-by-step down the instruction sheet and use it as a checklist.

Sini’s coach is in a site almost directly across from our coach in site 120. Our windshields are facing each other. On Friday while we were visiting, Sini said the floor was wet around her toilet. Water damage is always a concern in an RV. I checked it out and it seemed like the water may have been coming from the inlet valve. Water is plumbed to a valve that’s operated by a foot lever. When you step on the lever, it rotates a ball valve in the toilet, opening the toilet so it can drain into the black tank. Simultaneously, it opens the water inlet valve to flush the toilet and refill the bowl with fresh water.

I removed the trim around the bottom of the toilet bowl and the cover from the foot lever. I found a loose cap on the bottom of the valve and tightened it. I hoped that was the extent of the problem.

Water inlet valve

Water inlet valve

I left the trim off so the area could dry. Saturday morning Sini stopped by with her dog, Ziggy. Ziggy is a big dog, a golden doodle. After Ziggy and Ozark the cat checked each other out at the screen door, we let Ziggy enter our coach. The cat and dog got along fine. Ozark was curious at first, then she just hung out while Ziggy laid on the floor.

Ziggy and Ozark

Ziggy and Ozark

Sini told me the floor was still wet behind the toilet. I figured the seal between the bottom of the toilet and the drain pipe to the black tank was bad. Sini and her friend Linda were planning to take a drive through the wine country up by Temecula. On her way she could stop at the RV Solutions store in Kearny Mesa to see if they had a replacement seal. I told her the toilet was a SeaLand Traveler. Later, she phoned me and then put the guy at RV Solutions on the phone. He needed a model number for the toilet to find the proper seal. Luckily, Sini had a left a key to her coach so I could go in and check out the model number – it was 511. He had the replacement seal.

Once I knew Sini had the replacement part, I started working on the toilet. I shut off the incoming water to the coach and removed the water lines at the toilet. Then I removed the four nuts holding the toilet down on the studs with a 7/16″ wrench. I retrieved a small fan from the our trailer and set it up to dry the area.

Toilet mounts on four studs

Toilet mounts on four studs

Later, when Sini came home, all I needed to do was lift the toilet off of the mounting studs and set it aside. The old bottom seal was clearly in bad shape. It had crushed down and was paper thin. It also shrunk in diameter. The new seal was about half an inch thick and about an inch wide in cross section. I was so absorbed in the task at hand, I neglected to take photos.

I scraped the old seal out and reinstalled the toilet with the new seal. Sini turned on the water supply and I checked for leaks. I had a drip at the inlet connection. I had her shut the water off, I tightened the connection and she turned the water on again. Job done! I left the fan in the bathroom to continue drying the area. With that job done, it was time for happy hour. I opened a bottle of IPA from San Diego’s Saint Archer Brewing called Citra 7. Good stuff!

India Pale Ale

India Pale Ale

Sunday morning Sini confirmed all was good with the toilet. The four of us, along with Ziggy, climbed into Sini’s SUV and drove over to Leilani’s Hawaiian Cafe in north Pacific Beach near the corner of Cass Street and Tourmaline Street. It was loco moco time! Loco moco is a Hawaiian breakfast dish consisting of two scoops of rice topped with a hamburger patty, two eggs over medium and brown gravy. I’d be a real fat man if I had it every day, but it’s a treat to have every now and then.

Loco moco

Loco moco

After breakfast we drove up to the Veteran’s Memorial on top of Mount Soledad. I wrote about Mount Soledad in this post. I pointed out various land marks to Linda. It was her first time up Mount Soledad.

Linda, Sini and Donna on top of Mount Soledad

Linda, Sini and Donna on top of Mount Soledad

It turned out to be a very warm day – the temperature reached the 80s. I spent the rest of the day indoors with the air conditioners on and watched NFL football. After the Chargers game I opened an IPA from Mission Brewery. This is a more traditional IPA and very well-balanced.

Mission Brewing IPA

Mission Brewery IPA

Today’s forecast calls for more warm weather. I’ll head over to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center for pickleball as I get back into my normal routine.