The Heat Made Me Do It

Our youngest son called this morning to let us know that his apartment air conditioning went out today. To add insult to injury, it will be Monday before anyone can get there to fix the unit for him. So, rather than hang around his apartment all day in the heat, he called us to see what we were going to be doing and could he hang out with us.

This is not unusual for Eric, as he likes to go places with his Mom and Dad. In fact, if it weren’t for us, he wouldn’t get to go to Colorado as much as he would like to do. Anyway, we told him to come on over, and we would find something to do.

As it is, I did need to do a couple of things, one of which is entirely because of the heat. To help “ventilate” the back of the Mobile Suite’s refrigerator, we decided to follow the lead of someone on SOITC’s forums who added a 10” fan to the top to help exhaust out the hot air. The units only have two small fans that are pushing the air up to the top exhaust to let it just “ooze” out the grate. With the additional 10” fan put in, that one will actually blow the hot air out instead.

We first went to Penney’s so Jo could look at some 100% cotton blanket with a tight weave to the fabric. We have had one of the thermal blankets on our bed and on occasion, the dogs get their toe-nails hung up in the weave. When we got to Penney’s, we found them on sale, so Jo decided to go ahead and get two different colors.

After that we went to lunch before going on to do some of our other looking and shopping. Since we got rid of our desktop computer, I’ve been doing everything on a laptop, and I’m not at all in love with those silly little touch pads for a mouse on the laptop. I have to disable the darn thing every time I sit down to do any writing on blogs, forums, or other things because my hand or something is always hitting something and causing problems. Sometimes, it makes me lose about half of what I’ve written.

So, we looked at wireless keyboards and mice at two or three different stores. While we were out on the west side of Oklahoma City, we stopped in at Camping World. There will be an SOITC mini-rally (regional get-together) at Grove, Oklahoma in mid-October. When it was announced last year, the couple who are organizing it informed us that they would like us to help them as they and Jo and I are about the only ones active in the association here in Oklahoma.

So, we stopped in at Camping World to see if any of their distributers would be willing to donate RV items for door prizes at the rally. That is the one thing that the other Oklahoma couple asked us to help find. So, I’ve been looking for crafts and other things to use for gifts. Jo is donating several of her blown-glass hummingbirds that she has gotten over the years from family and friends. (Knic-knaks just don’t cut in when full-timing.)

Anyway, Camping World wants me to send them some basic information about the rally and they will pass that on to their distributers. Then, they may or may not do anything to help out. Lewis RV, the dealer where we bought our Mobile Suites from, has already given us one gift and the Parts Department manager is contacting their distributers without me having to jump through hoops. From what he told me, I think he will be able to get at least two more items for us. Then, if I could find some nice craft items from someone (for a cheap price), we can have a bunch of small gifts as well.

Once that was done, we went by Lowes for the fan I was going to need. But, I was also going to need a ladder. I had seen a 17’ Multi-ladder on Lowe’s website for $140, but when we got to the store, they were $170. So we left Lowes without buying anything and went back to the coach. We looked on-line again, and sure enough, $140 was the price. But, Lowes would let us buy on-line and then pick up at the store. So, we got a good deal and drove back to Lowes within 30 minutes and we had our ladder and fan.

The funny part is that in all the years that Jo and I have rented or owned houses (as opposed to apartment living), the only extension ladder that we ever had was a cheap, hand-me-down ladder that I had to wire together when I had it extended to keep it from trying to come loose and slide back down.

Now, with no home other than a fifth wheel, I needed a ladder, so we finally broke down and bought a new ladder. I mean, after all, we’ve ONLY been married for 42 ½ years. We’ve had 6’ stepladders, but never a good extension ladder. However, this Werner 17’ Multi-ladder is really nice. I should have had one years ago. I just needed to get rid of all the houses.

But, then I have to remember that I’m not really crazy about climbing up the ladder at the back of the coach.  While it is rated for a 300 lb. man (and I’m not that heavy), I just don’t trust those small ladders.  Plus, when you get to the top of that ladder, you’ve not got much to hold onto while stepping onto the roof.  A 17’ ladder ought to give me about 4 feet above the roof line.

With ladder and fan in hand, we went back to the coach and I got to work. Since there were some changes in models since that one gentleman had bought his coach, the fan wouldn’t fit into our coach the same way. So, I had to “redneck engineer” the fan into place until I can get the right materials to better secure the fan.

After doing that hap-hazard job, I did a quick mowing job on the grass in front of the coach. Tomorrow, I’ll need to run the trimmer so that I can later spread out some more insecticide with our small hand spreader. While we haven’t seen as many ticks as we saw when we first moved in, there are still some here, plus some other little monsters that want to attack my ankles.

So, I’m plotting murder, and I won’t have to dispose of the bodies. Followed by worship services tomorrow and I found out this evening that I get to lead the morning congregational prayer. Goodie……murder plans and prayers.

Yep…I think it is the heat.