Thirteenth Day – The Dish is Fixed!

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

It’s been a good day. We went shopping at a Walmart Super Store for some food to replace what seems to have gone missing over the past few days. Then we went back to Camper World to get a new Wally because I was convinced that the old one took a beating in all the heat it suffered.

Once home I carted all the new food inside and Diane, like a magician, found places for all of it to reside. A couple of the items she got was some dead chicken pieces and a bag of frozen stir-fry veggies. While she lounged around on the patio with Max, I cooked all that stuff for lunch, and it was OK because that’s my job. I’m the cook. She cleans. I love the tradeoff. So does she. Thankfully it was good. She said so.

After eating all that dead chicken Max thought, it would be nice if he got to go for a walk because he had to stay home and guard the RV from intruders. He’s good at that because he’s such a scary little guy. Having said that, I’d bet he didn’t bark even one time while we were gone because he was asleep. I’m going to install a camera and see if that’s true.

Once we returned from the walk Diane gave me permission to install the new Wally and see if our life without TV was going to change. Before calling the designated number to activate the new Wally, I hooked it all up, paired the new remote to Wally, and it started going through its paces without me having to do much of anything as it moved through the process. All I had to do as wait for the que to dial the number and finish it. The end result proved to be the solution to our on-going dilemma we’ve experienced on this trip. Everything worked perfectly. We’ll never have to leave the RV at all except to get food. Life is good.

As the sun started going down Diane pried herself out of her patio chair and did a few loads of laundry so now we have clean towels, and I have my underwear back. I was running low. Tomorrow it will be sheets and some other stuff that doesn’t concern me.

Just as we were fixing to sequester ourselves in the RV to watch TV, we saw some interesting boats in the middle of the bay moving slowly with blinking red and amber lights. Diane said she’d seen then earlier zooming to the south in a line, going like the wind. This time they were heading back to the north. As we watched them, we became aware of small green and red lights bobbing in the water, moving very slowly toward us.

In the bay next to the RV park is a large docking facility for some really fancy boats. It’s owned by the Navy Yacht Club San Diego that has use of buildings in the park. I know that’s true because I’ve seen the signs.

As the lights moved around the bay, steadily moving north, the smaller lights migrated into the space between the bay and the docked yachts and the RV park. It wasn’t long before everyone in the park was standing/sitting along the edge of the water watching what was going on. As the sun set, the lights were easier to see.

Considering where we are, in very close proximity to base and beach where advanced Navy Seal training is conducted, I presumed the small lights in the bay were tethered to swimmers making their way from the southern end of San Diego Bay (Imperial Beach) back to the base from which they embarked. My presumption was adopted as truth by all the people surrounding me, that we were watching future Navy Seals at work. It appeared their objective was to transit that small space between us and the moored yachts without lights, in the dark. I have to admit that it was only Diane and me standing behind our RV, but many others were drawn to the drama taking place in new technology. There were no bubbles that would indicate a swimmer so they must have been using either rebreathers or some sort of technology that allows the escort boats to wirelessly send them oxygen via the tethered lights. They came toward us then moved away but always moved north to circumnavigate the docked yachts. It seemed they were doing this for our benefit, but in truth, it was probably Special Forces testing fancy stuff. I think everyone agreed that this was far better than listening to them firing weapons all up and down the beach for hours before quiet time – 10 pm.

I’m convinced I’m right, as is Diane. It was a display of Seals at Work. Amazing.

In case you’re wondering, my arm still hurts, and I took the bandages off to relieve pain from the swelling. It’s not bad but removing the bandages helped my attitude. Diane read the paperwork sent home with me from the hospital and learned that I’ve been advised to see my primary care doctor in a week for follow-up. So, I guess we’ll either have to fly home next week, or head home now since it took us a week to get here. That decision will be made tomorrow.

Good night.

Max

Posted on April 23, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

Just got my hair done and need an opinion about the style. I think it’s a little too curly for my rugged nature.

Found a new series on Paramount + that you might like. I plan to binge watch it the next time I’m left alone for a while. Of course, one of my humans will have to dial it up before they leave because I have a real problem with remotes – there are three of them. Maybe if I hold a pencil in my teeth, I could push just one button at a time. Yeah! That might work!

I can do this all day. She’ll cave and put the plate on the floor eventually.

I got to meet some new humans the other day, Brian, Kelly, and Annie. I think they’re related to my primaries in some way. They just showed up in our driveway the other day. I don’t know why, and no one told me they were coming. I’m apparently out of the loop about this stuff.

This is Brian, Kelly, and Me.

And this is Annie, and Diane. You already know Diane. She’s the other primary human I live with.

Sadly, my other primary human, who takes all the photos, didn’t put a lot of thought into getting a photo of all three of them together. How dumb is that? I think he’s getting really old. I heard the other day that he’s like 560 years old in dog years.

Maybe he’ll remember next time.

RV Troubles & Other Stuff

Posted on January 8, 2024 by Jerrie Cate

I just realized, like just now, really, that I’m on the verge of failing my 2024 resolution already. And it’s only the 8th! I suspect that some of you might disagree with the “on the verge” claim and, instead, believe I’ve already exceeded the self-imposed timeframe for failure. For those of you on that side I submit that whatever rule I imposed is subjective meaning that I can change it any time I want. So, I’m still OK here.

It’s cold out there. Wet, too. Because of that double whammy it’s an adventure to take Max for a walk. My raincoat actually keeps me dry but Max’s raincoat is more like a sponge. I think it’s more of a coat to keep him warm instead of dry. But, that’s all he has. Considering the weather, I think Diane should do a little shopping and get something that’s a little more waterproof for the little guy. Don’t you? Maybe after she reads this, she’ll do it.

It might be a good idea to get him one that serves as a life jacket, too, because the creek out back is getting pretty high, almost to the point of overflowing into the yard. Keeping Max dry is our problem, not Max’s. He likes the water and doesn’t care how high it gets.

It’ll go back to normal eventually. Thankfully, he hasn’t fallen in while it’s running this high and fast. He’s not afraid of it but he respects the potential disastrous results should he venture in for a swim. I’ve had talks with him about that and I think he gets it. If he falls in my only recourse would be to make a beeline to the point where Milton Creek joins the Columbia River. That’s only a couple of miles away. If I miss him there then he’s getting a trip all the way to Astoria, another 60 miles. I’m pretty sure he doesn’t want to be dog-paddling that far. So, he keeps his distance.

We were going to make a trip to the coast later this week to watch the King Tides, and maybe see a couple of whales on their way south, but the rain, and the forecast for more rain isn’t encouraging. I know, we’re Oregonians and we love the rain. That’s true. But we don’t have to go out a play in it like we did when we were 7. Did I mention that it’s cold, too?

We’ve been dealing with RV woes for the past couple of months, trying to get new weather stripping around the slides and seal up a couple of leaky spots that annoy us. Nothing catastrophic, just annoying. I took the RV to a local dealer who recently moved to St. Helens from Gresham (I think) and explained what I was hoping to accomplish, and they gave me a quote for “about $700” which I thought wasn’t too bad. Labor’s the biggie at $159/hr. After they had it for about a week I was called and told the job is done and I could go get it.

I was happy to do that because there’s a huge mattress in the garage that needs to go back in it so we can park the truck inside. When I got there, I paid the bill, then I went to get in and take it home. First, however, I checked the items I had address to see how it was done and discovered that, gee, it wasn’t done. I know, should have checked first, right? True, but I’ve had other items fixed by them since they moved in and trusted them.

The Reader’s Digest version is that they addressed all the issues but didn’t finish any of them. The bill was over $900. I received assurance that all the discrepancies I pointed out while serving as their QC guy would be fixed at no additional cost to me.

Another week goes by and I get another call to come get the rig because the work was done. I paid them a visit and let them know I was going to check it out. The maintenance supervisor went with me. I checked all the items I’d previously address and found that it still hadn’t been addressed and the main leak in the driver’s area was worse than ever.

Another week trickles by and I get another call to come check it out and find that the leaks have stopped, the floor was dry, but the gasket around the main slide was still in the “partially fixed” stage. The same stage it was in the first time I was called to claim my finished rig. I personally pointed it out to them 3 times what I figured should be done and was obviously ignored. The lead tech acknowledged the failure on their part claiming that the guy he had working on it was focused on the leaks, not the gaskets. I believe he might finally understand that Jerrie isn’t pleased as he headed for the exit.

That’s where I left this mess last week sometime and I’m waiting for them to call me again to report completion. Diane told me to be stern and “don’t pay them another dime” or else she’ll go talk with them and it won’t be pretty. So, to keep from having to scrape up some bail money for her, I need to follow this to the end all by myself.

Looking forward to the next phone call reporting completion of this project.

This is the rig, you may recall, that we took on that Utah trip, pulling a big Silverado. It worked great but I decided during that trip that I’m getting too old to drive something this big.

So, not long after returning home we bought a replacement that we can tow behind the Silverado. Makes more sense, right?

Now, on another note, did you know that the front glass on an iMac is held in place by magnets and that the LCD screen is secured with only 8 teeny, tiny, little screws.