Dry, Frozen Wasteland

Pretty, no?

Here we are at Monday again. The pond at the park is frozen over. The ducks have moved elsewhere. The squirrels are capering about like maniacs, making any walking with Sabu a tug-of-war adventure. All doors but the front passenger door on my car are frozen shut.

Friday I did not leave the water dripping when I went to work. I would only be gone 5 hours or so and I was worried that the drain would freeze and I’d come home to water all over the floor. Big mistake. The water line to the kitchen froze, but it was fine as there was still water to the bath sink and toilet. Not HOT water because the hot water tank is up by the kitchen sink, but it was water.

I awoke Saturday morning because I was cold. Had Mr. Right Toasty deserted me? Were we to have only three nights of blissful slumber before he failed? Do I still have the receipt to return him to the store? I was sorely disappointed because I thought it was True Love between us – he would get plugged in at bedtime and keep me warm and happy all night long and in return I would care for him, carefully folding him and storing his cord in a safe place until it was time for him to do his job again.

Before I started to cry at the injustice of it all, I realized my nose was cold. Ears, too. Mr. Right Toasty doesn’t warm those parts, and now that I thought about it, the furnace wasn’t coming on. Shit! Ran out of propane. Sigh.

No worries – the nearest place to purchase propane is less than half a mile away and even if my car wouldn’t start, I could load a tank onto my hand truck and walk that far. It wouldn’t be fun, but it could be done. Checked the outside temp. 17* F. Inside temp? 42* F. Not good. I’m really, really, OVER Winter already!

There was some drama after filling the propane tanks, but it all turned out well in the end.

The water situation, however, remains dire. It’s a long story that I posted over on Travels with Towanda.

The Crazy Knitting Project continues, although the going is slower than I had hoped. I don’t think I’ll make the deadline. All this Winter Crap is just exhausting.

Work is slow today, for which I am thankful as I spent the night only half sleeping, listening to the furnace cycle on and off and the various creaks and moans of the trailer as it slowly turns into a block of ice. If everything thaws without incident it will be a miracle. As it is, there are some areas that will have to be attended to ASAP because I think I have a couple of leaks. Sigh. I wanted adventure, right? I tell ya, I did not plan on freezing my ass off this Winter, wondering when the floor was finally going to fall through the forward slide.

Fun times!

 

Repairs and Reorganization

The furnace in my TT is located  underneath the refrigerator. The fridge has a hatch on the outside of the unit, but the furnace must be accessed from inside through a faux-wood grille – Naturally, all of the stuff that needs to be worked on is located at the back so the furnace and its housing must first be squeezed out of the hole and onto the floor.

This is Lance, the (only) local RV repair guy. His job is a combination of controlled weight lifting and yoga. He levered the furnace and housing out without so much as scratching the faux-wood surround. There were a lot of dust bunnies back there and the new micro shop vac performed admirably.

After Lance and the cable guys left I tackled the back room. It was a mess! I just tossed things in as they arrived on Sunday to make room to fold out the couch. I did clear a path before the cable guys got here, but this is what it looked like early yesterday –

I make no apologies 🙂 Every time I move house at least one room ends up looking like this for awhile.

At this point, all of the built in storage was empty and I hadn’t given much thought to where things will eventually live. A couple of hours later it looked like this –

Dirty laundry in the basket. The bags to the left will go back into the dresser when I get it here.

The dog likes to get into the pictures 🙂

The bed “headboard” was removed from the wall and placed over the outside access door. I kinda like it there. It does a good job of blocking the wind without adding a lot of bulk and will end up behind the dresser, so maybe it can stay. The clothes pile is stuff to try on and consign if it doesn’t fit. The three paper sacks at lower right will be donated.

Awana came over and was asking how all the furniture will fit. I need to draw up a floor plan to verify, but it looks good! My Granny’s old table will sit in the middle of the room and serve as a cutting table. I will at last have the luxury of being able to walk all the way around my cutting table! That has never been possible and I am thrilled. Thrilled, I tell ya!

Now it’s time to tackle that pesky toilet.

UPDATE: the local RV repair place does not stock the parts I need. They were kind enough to order them for me, so Sunday will be Repair the Toilet Day.