Dec 16 - Dec 22, 2019 Christmas is coming??

Dec16 - The wind has been crazy the last few days. Gusts have been up to 60 km/h or 40 mph and it just never stops. The trailer rocks you to sleep just a little so that's nice but it's also hot outside and opening the window is super noisy. We're running a small fan all night to stay cool. Not the worst problem, I know.
Leslie was all smiles when she saw Facebook today. Ryan & Ashtyn had been to a Christmas party on the weekend and shared a picture. Looking great you two!

Look at these two beauties!

Leslie is going to pickleball and I took the truck over to Arroyo Park for a run but I waited too late and it's smokin' hot out. It's muggy too so I kept it pretty short for today. 
After we showered and cleaned up we got in the truck and headed over to Bert Ogden Chrysler (Bert owns most of the dealerships here) for an oil change on the truck. They took it right in but the service guy said it would be about 45 minutes as his tech was at lunch. I asked about a close restaurant and they offered us a ride to a place that was close. Perfect! We pulled into a small shopping plaza and Leslie noticed a sign that said wings, burgers and beer! Three of our favourite food items. Let's stop here. The place is called Wing Barn and it turned out to be really good. They have a large menu and only bottle beer but it's clean and smells good. We ordered our choices and sat down with our drinks and then they bring your food. I had a burger and wing combo while Leslie did wings and a salad. Not fancy but a great lunch.

It was as good as it looks. The burger was really good!

Leslie's lunch. She would have preferred regular wings instead of breaded boneless.

I checked how far it was to get back and it was just over a mile so we decided to walk. Shake down that yummy lunch a little on the way back. The dealership called while we were walking back that the truck was ready. That worked out perfectly. We had a quick stop at Walmart on the way home for some groceries and then back to Tropic Winds.
We got message from Graham that he had the new picture of the kids with Santa. Yeah buddy! Send them to us and let's see them two cuties with Santa this year. Rylan didn't used to like Santa and I have a pic from years ago where he is crying and just wants away from him. Katelyn never did get scared I don't think. They both look way happier now.

Fantastic pic! Miss these little munchkins.

So cute.

There is a regular potluck dinner here at the park and we are meeting up with the crew from the northeast for dinner. There weren't too many people there tonight so supper was a lighter meal. That's okay after our heavy lunch. Leslie and I brought a batch of brussel sprouts fried with bacon and onions to the meal. One fella came up to me at the table and said he had spent many evenings as a kid at the table because he wouldn't eat those things but he really enjoyed them with all the bacon in there lol. Another lady had made a pumpkin cake for dessert. Yeah, I had a few pieces of that bad boy. Even Leslie had some. It was so moist and delicious. After dinner we took our stuff home and picked up Margaret. Greg and Julie are having a "fire" beside their rig. They have a small firetable that they bring with them so we'll pour a drink and head over for a bit. It turned out to be just us at the fire so the four of us had a nice chat and got to know each other better.
Dec 17 - Leslie has line dancing this morning and I'm working on the blog and doing a few easy chores at home. It's fairly cool and windy today so a good day for some chores. When Les got back she took the truck down to the laundry and I worked on more exterior caulking. It seems the more I do the more I find that needs doing. The trailer is just five years old but the caulking is cracking and separating all over the place. On the positive side; I am getting way better at replacing it and the new flat razor scraper I bought is great for cutting out the old stuff.
We both took a little break after laundry and read a book lying down. We're retired...that's how this works now lol. When we got back up I took Margaret for a long walk around the park and Leslie cleaned the interior windows. See, that little recharge is the key. It's too windy for the barbecue and we have a steak out for supper tonight. We decided to try our convection oven. In all the years we have owned this rig I think we have used convection maybe three times. Well we lowered the time setting from the book by a minute to try for medium rare and we are happy to say it worked really good! The steak turned out nice and brown on the outside and tender and juicy inside at just a touch past medium rare. Great dinner!
( A thing we learned on the news tonight: "breezy" in Harlingen is less than 30 mph/ 50 kmh while windy is 30+. Really?? So the past few days with gusts over 40 mph is windy)

We messaged our buddy at High Chaparral, Randy, to wish him a happy birthday! I don't want to say his age today but let's just say the ol' grey stud ain't what he used to be haha. Happy birthday buddy! Cheers.
Dec 18 - We woke up in the dark this morning to Margaret whining to get outside. We know to move quickly when she is shaking and whining like that on the bed at 6 am. I took her out in just enough time to avoid a problem. Leslie had a rough night too it seems with some sort of stomach bug. Both her and Margaret getting up more than once this morning. What the heck? I gladly felt fine.
It's a really nice sunny morning so I headed out for a run at McKelvey Park after breakfast and making sure my girls were alright for a bit. Leslie is skipping pickleball and just hanging out at home this morning with the dog. The temperature is about 15C/59F and it's less "breezy" than the past few days so I managed a decent distance at McKelvey Park. It's a really nice cement path that winds along beside the channel and connects to some other parks and playgrounds. There were several other people enjoying the walking path and 2 other runners.

The map of the path. Joins 3 parks together.

Beauty path to run with a mix of asphalt and cement.

 I stopped on the way home to check how my bike is doing at bicycle world and it should be ready today. They said they will call but I doubt it. They have said that a couple times before and never did call so I called them.
Not much else for today. I did a little more caulking but gave up after a bit. I'm just not into it today. Leslie is up and moving around but just doesn't feel very good and Margaret is better now. We put together a bunch of leftovers for supper and watched the Survivor Finale.
Dec 19 - Leslie feels way better today so she is off to pickleball with the girls. I am going up on the roof to do more caulking. That's another spot I found while I was doing the sides of the rig. I have a partial tube of Dicor left from earlier this year so I'll get up there and get that sealed before the rain hits tomorrow and Saturday. Luckily it's just small cracks in the sealant so I'm not seeing a bunch of damage. Dicor is self levelling so it's actually easier to do in my opinion. Still takes time to properly clean the old stuff before adding the new. I'm happy the tube still works after being resealed. The product doesn't seem as fluid as when it was new but it's working alright.
When the roof was done I kept the ball rolling and got right at the kitchen slide joints. Slow but sure I'm getting this all done.
Leslie took the truck out for some Christmas shopping after she got back. We're buying something small for each other for Christmas day. It's really busy in all the stores and she was glad to be home afterwards. That was about it for the day really. Had a couple drinks before supper and then just a quiet night at home.

Quick game of chase the lazer with Margaret. Behind you !!

Look at the tail blur lol.

Don't touch that remote, I'm watching Animal channel

Dec 20 - Leslie has line dancing today so she is off and running. I am staying inside because the previously mentioned rain is here. It's a constant mist so not too bad. I took Margaret for walk/run around the park. When we got back I noticed the propane truck doing his rounds. This is another nice service in Tropic Winds. The truck is here 3-4 times per week filling tanks at your site. We need one of our tanks filled finally. It's been along time since we needed any because we haven't needed heat for a while. I met the truck outside and for $22.50 he filled our 30 pounder. 
We decided to go out for lunch when Leslie got back so took the long way around to Applebee's. Haven't been to an Applebee's since last year with Barry & Ailsa and it was good then.

Haven't been here for a while.

Didn't turn out as good this time unfortunately. Leslie's chicken & shrimp with a salad was okay but my club sandwich wasn't very good. It was just packaged ham and a thin overcooked piece of chicken on fried white bread. It was edible but not great (the fries were good though). The server was okay but with four other tables on the go he was seeming overwhelmed. Oh well, they can't all be winners.
When we got back I was showing Leslie the work I had done on the kitchen slide and noticed that the caulking was pushing out in one spot. WTH? I pushed on the bulging sealant and a few drops of water came out.  Great... I missed something and water is getting in behind the bead. Of course because it was raining I had put everything back in the storage compartment so now I get to pull it all out again. At least it stopped raining for a little bit.
It turned out to be a bad seal right above where I had caulked where the roof membrane is tucked into the flange piece on the edge of the slide. The rain got in behind the flange and ran down until it had to force it's way out. With more rain coming I have no choice but using the universal fix it tool.... Gorilla tape. I can dry it off and tape it until Sunday when it is supposed to be nice again. I am more than a little ticked that I didn't see this before but what can I do right? There is about a foot of sealant that I am taking out on the kitchen slide that will need to be done again after I get the top fixed up. I'll double check the same spots on all the slides but I think this is the only bad one.

This is where the rain was getting in the top.

Had to replace this much of the caulking.

Here comes the rain so it's time to go inside. We enjoyed a nice lie down and a quiet afternoon inside listening to the rain until supper. Leslie made us a fantastic supper and then we sat in front of the TV to watch a 20/20 show about Jim & Tammy Fae Bakker. Unreal how much they had and subsequently lost. Like watching a bad car wreck. You just had to look.
Dec 21- The weather forecast was accurate; it's pouring rain this morning and has been most of the night. It's not getting cold though just super damp. I worked on the blog at the table and Leslie just stayed in bed with her phone checking social media and playing games. No hurry today for sure. I actually managed to catch a good picture of the jack rabbits that live here. There's two of them that run by everyday and they are pretty big. 

The elusive rabbits.

The rain slacked off before noon and it's supposed to break today to just a few clouds. We can get back to work. Leslie wants to get some groceries so she got cleaned up and took off with the truck and the dog. Margaret is bored and jumped at the chance to go for a ride. While she was gone I decided to give myself a haircut with the clippers and then vacuum the house. Leslie can finish the haircut when she gets home but I can handle the first part. When Leslie got back we put away all the groceries and she finished what I had started. We had decided earlier that we will have the Costco turkey breast for supper tonight. We've been doing so good with the convection oven that we want to put the turkey in there too. It turned out really good but just a little dry on the edges.  All good, we have gravy! It was a fantastic dinner on a rainy day.

Another awesome Costco purchase.

Of course Leslie had more gravy and no potatoes.

Really good supper.

Dec 22 - We're making a big breakfast today and then I want to try a 10k run at McKelvey Park. The weather today is perfect with almost no wind and about 16C. Want to prove to myself I can make the distance before the race on January 19. Leslie is coming to the park with Margaret for a nice walk while I run. We headed down there around 11:00 and got at it. I like the path at this park as it follows the channel and there are a couple bridges and other things to look at while you're running. Leslie didn't get the cardio workout because with Margaret you have to stop so often for her to sniff and mark the spot. They still managed 2.5k out and back though. To make 10k I had to go out and back and then get Leslie to meet me at the other end by the Ford dealer which she did. I was happy to see her and yeah it was 10.29k when I finished. I know I can do it so now just work on the pace and a faster finish time. Leslie drove us back to the rig for a shower and a sandwich; turkey, of course. They are the best.

Leslie has been chatting with Sam this morning and Graham sent her some pictures of the kids out playing in the snow from yesterday. Leslie misses her kids and the grand kids at this time of year so she is a little misty looking at pics. They're playing in snow and we're wearing shorts and tee shirts, we win.

Christmas at Bob's in Edmonton.

Jessica, Lorin, Ashtyn, Ryan, Richard & Sam in a blanket??

Rosy cheeks and a big smile, nice!

Okay yeah it looks like fun. She looks pretty happy.

Brrr! I have to go outside where it's warm. I want to fix up the caulking that failed the other day and we have noticed that the fan on the fridge hasn't been running lately even when it's really warm. I googled that and it is possibly a failed temperature sensor so I will check that out too. I pulled the tape off the missing caulking and cleaned that up so I can put on a new bead. While on the ladder I removed the upper vent cover for the fridge to locate the sensor. Of corse it is behind a board and hard to reach, they don't make things easy to reach on these rigs.

Imaging both my big hands trying to reach behind there to get to a small switch...not fun.

I built a wire jumper to test the bad temp sensor and sure enough the fans started right up! Okay cool.  I'll just leave the jumper on and remove the sensor so I can find a new one tomorrow. I can unplug the jumper tonight when the sun goes down and we'll be okay overnight. In the small space where I am working with a screwdriver I pushed the jumper wire up against the cooling fin body and a little spark shot out and then silence! No fan, no nothing. Oh man this can't be good. Leslie shouted from inside that the fridge has no power, it's black. Oh no did I just smoke the mother board for the fridge! More mild panic googling on how to reset a fridge board. They want me to use another jumper. Yikes this is not good. I have to take the cover off the board to get a look in there anyway so let's go see. I had Leslie look for a mobile repair guy while I started on the cover. We just bought $120 worth of groceries. It's hot out... at 4:30 pm... on a Sunday...and we have no power to the fridge.

Nothing is easy to reach on this fridge.

With the cover off and Leslie reading from my phone about a reset we started the procedure. I was not comfortable with the wire jumper thing and was about to give up when I noticed a 5 amp fuse in the board. Do you suppose it blew the fuse? We put a light through the fuse and it does kind of look blown? It's hard to see through brown plastic.

Failed sensor on the left, 5 amp fuse right. You can't see through that??

Of course I have 10, 20 & 30 amp fuses, no 5's. I'll try a 10 just to see. As soon as I plugged in the fuse we heard clicking and the fridge lit on propane! Yayyy! We have power again. I will leave the 10 amp overnight and get a new one tomorrow. I can't tell you how relieved we both are. We put everything back together and went inside. Boy that was close. We both had a drink and then supper. Could you imagine trying to find a mobile tech at 5:15 (the time we finished up) on a Sunday and then he replaces a fuse! The RV gods smiled on me this time.

We just watched a little TV and called it an early night. That was a stressful little episode that could have turned out so much worse than it did. RV parts stores are open tomorrow so I'll get a new sensor and some 5 amp fuses for my parts kit. 

After the couple rainy days the forecast looks amazing through Christmas! Daytime hime highs in the mid 20'sC/ high 70's F. Not hard to take. Well that's another week here in Harlingen. Getting lots done and learning new things about our fridge, sweet!

Cheers everybody.