The 2nd Day after Snow

Hello Family and Friends,
After the last post on the "FURNACE", here's some amazing "mountain snow" pics.  On Friday we had intermittent precipitation of rain, slushy snow, and fluffy snow.  We had about 1/2" on the ground, etc. early Friday and then, just the muck!

But Saturday dawned with snow and WOW, the mountains were beautiful.  So here's what some to share:

Beautiful blue skies and clouds over the mountain tops

From the RV steps

From our RV steps

Darrel took this one from behind the truck (you can see Bo's cab, barely)

The lines are Hwy 89 that heads into Yarnell and Prescott

This is a mountain near Aguila which is about 40 miles away to the west.

We spent Saturday, taking out the mattress into the sunshine and getting the HyperVent fitted to the bed platform.  We put it all back together and will check to see if we have fixed the moisture problem under the mattress.

Rolling out the HyperVent material

Darrel measuring and cutting to fit

Measure twice, cut once 😀

So that about catches you up with the Pendergast's adventures... our weather temps are heading for the low 70's and the nights creeping up to mid 40's.  So who needs a furnace, right?? Oh, yes, moving on!

Until the next post, or adventure dictates journaling for sanity's sake,

Sending love and blessings to all,
Susan & Darrel
 

Furnace Funny....or NOT!

Hello Family & Friends,
If you read the previous bpost you will remember that our furnace quit working on Tuesday, Feb. 19, 2019 (yes, I remember some dates of items that quit working .... like the microwave/convection oven on July 4, and the boost on Aug. 2, etc.) by I digress,,,

We called the RV repair shop in Friday afternoon since we hadn't heard anything from them about the furnace and thought, oh oh, bad news.  Well, the tech I talked to said we cannot get it to fail.  I am like, what?!?!?!?!?!?! and he said, nope it works each time we start it.  So we picked it up today (Monday 2/25) and when Darrel talked to the tech, he said it had failed the 1st time they started it but he couldn't see the blinking indicator light to see what was the failure.... and it never did it again for his during the 3 days they had it.

He thought it was probably a circuit board and would possibly fail again in the future???? date to be determined, and he couldn't fix it under warranty since he couldn't get it to fail again.  So we packed it up and brought it back to the RV, Darrel put it back in and it worked! So now we are on the unexpected failure date plan so until that day, I am moving on.

Today was beautiful and so putting it in was at least not freezing or raining or snowing and with a little teamwork between Darrel and me, we got it in without any damage to either of us.

This post has no pictures but if you continue to the next one, I have added some updated snow on the mountains pictures that we took on Saturday when the sun finally shone and we could get some good light on the mountains.

The Handy RV Fix-it Team,
Susan and Darrel

PS  Many thanks to Sharon, my sister-in-law, who called and gave us accolades for finding the humor and survival instincts in the snowy, cold temps.  It is truly an RVing adventure!

PPS Many thanks to Bob (again) for loaning us an additional space heater for the RV.

Let it SNOW, Let it SNOW...

Hello Family & Friends,
Ok, furnace free and snow on the mountains, we are having so much fun!! But we are so much luckier than Flagstaff, Kingman, Payson and even Prescott (which as I mentioned earlier, is only 50 miles away).

Here's a few pics I snapped of the snow on the mountains -- and we might see more thru tomorrow morning!

This is the mountain we go up to get to Yarnell

The entire range we can see has snow, and not just snowcaps, they are covered!

The clouds began rolling in!

You can barely see the palm tree to the left, I think it must be slightly frozen

It really is beautiful, just unexpected in AZ

OK, I finally caught the palm trees with the snow covered mountains in the background

The sun peaked out (for just a nanosecond) to brighten the picture, you can see the desert in front and the contrast of the mountain covered in snow.

As we left early this morning for a trip to Surprise to have taxes done and a haircut for Susan, we missed seeing this snow event but it was a beautiful sight to see as we returned home.

Although we don't have the snow amount all the Midwest folks are experiencing, we have had our share and are really ready for SPRING!!!

Love to all, safe travels if you are out and about,

Susan & Darrel

Guess what Quit Working?

Hello Family & Friends,
If you have followed this blog, and or talked with either me or Darrel, you know about the trials and tribulations of our Full time RVing experience in our 5th wheel.

To date we have either fixed or replaced:

1. Refrigerator propane value
2. Awning arms
3. weather stripping for the 3 season doors
4. Microwave/Convection oven
5. Bedroom TV
6. Antenna boost switch (3 times to get the correct switch and one that works)
7. Check valve in the electric water pump
8. Water shutoffs in the garage for washer hookups
9. One way valve on the back flush system (waiting for this part)

And now the Furnace....which if you read the previous post, the night temps are below freezing and the day time temps are just touching 50's for the past 2 weeks.  The Big Storm is coming on Thursday, 2/21 with up to 3 feet of snow at the Grand Canyon, Flagstaff around 18-24 inches and Prescott (which is 50 miles away) predicted to have 12-18 inches of snow -- Congress is listed at up to a couple of inches and we have no furnace.

So today, we took it out and in to Wickenburg to a RV repair shop -- hopefully they can run diagnostics on it and maybe have the part to fix it.  Of course, it is under warranty, which means it can take longer to get replacement parts.  And the really fun part is that you have to get to the furnace through the front bay compartment (which means unloading it for access).  Some great design that there is no access from the outside????!!!!!

So here's the furnace from the cubby hole under the sink counter -- Darrel had to cut the wires, label and keep straight for reconnection.

Darrel in the front bay compartment getting the furnace out.

Trying to keep all the wires and components marked and labeled for putting it back in.

Bucket of parts to make sure we have everything to take to the repair shop.

So we are using portable electric heaters, borrowing one from the neighbor to help keep all areas of the RV warm enough to manage in the colder temps.

Next problem to overcome, is where to plug all these "amp" pulling suckers into the RV and not pop the breakers????

So the microwave/convention open is unplugged and we are using that dedicated circuit for 1 heater.

We are using the dedicated washer hookup circuit for the garage heater, and the GFI circuit for the bathroom/bedroom heater.  Cords are plugged in everywhere and we have to pay attention to where we drag our feet.

Oh well, I just look upon it as the adventure.... and when you talk to others, most have had similar situations but I still think we outshine in the replacement department : )  When you make it through the initial irritation, you just figure it out, problem solve and be very thankful that Darrel is a handy man (only without tools to fix anything).

Oh, and since you are reading, we have a moisture problem with our mattress -- I guess this can be quite common -- not really sure but the platform pulls moisture and the "foam and components" of the mattress draws moisture from our body heat creating the condensation factor.

We have ordered a product called HyperVent that goes under the mattress and raises it off the platform.  Until it arrives, this is what we do each morning to combat the moisture ---

We lift the sheets and bedding (the blue heating pad is for Darrel's feet)

We prop up the mattress with boxes and place a fan on the plywood to circulate air

You can see the small fan and cord, which we let run most of the day to dry out any moisture.

The little things we are learning or actually the big things were are learning.  Thank goodness for the Internet as Darrel finds the answer to most of our problems in the RV forums and YouTube.  And bless our dealer's kindness in taking our calls and sending our parts!

So onto the closing of this post --- and this is a follow up to a post in July when the motorcycle ramp board flew into my foot (only wearing tennis shoes), causing me to limp for a few days -- well, I didn't lose the toenail but I wanted to show you the "white ridge" that has finally grown almost to the tip.... Maybe in another couple of months it will finally be grown out completely.  It is still a little sensitive if my sock rubs just right, but nothing compared to the limping pain when it happened!

Thanks for reading as this has been a lengthy post but needed to catch you up with the latest in the Pendergast saga on the road!

Take care, stay warm and please, send some spring!!!

Love,

Susan & Darrel

February Weather strikes Again!

Hello Family & Friends,
I guess next year we will have to winter in Mexico (probably not!!!) - the bizarre weather pattern strikes again and we had snow early this morning (President's Day) -- maybe it has something to do with holidays?

Anyway, here's the photos I snapped (with Darrel yelling at me, close the door, Ansel Adams) haha he thinks he is so funny!

Snow on the back of the truck -- it had melted some with I stuck my head out!

On the shed roof -- you can see the clouds in the background

Barely coating the gazebo cover, so we didn't get much as you can see.

Here's the projected temperatures (highs and lows, along with more moisture on Thursday/Friday -- looking like snow again) ---

I have Ladies Pistol class on Tuesday, with a high of 45 degrees predicted, so I bundle up as we don't cancel for anything but impassable road (since it crosses a wash, means running water over the road).

I know we are doing better than some parts of the nation, but really, did I need to experience this winter weather on my first year of RVing???

We hope to hit the desert soon, but not sure maybe the weekend??

Love to all, 

Susan & Darrel

bad mojo weather gypsies....

Rock Finds and AZ downpours

Hello Family & Friends,
My sister Carol gives me lots of feedback on my blog (which I appreciate and take to heart) -- she mentioned in an email to me that I might post some pics of the rocks we have found.  It was so funny because I had just taken pictures the last day we had sun (on Tuesday) so it gave me quite the chuckle that we were on the same wave length.

The pictures are not very artfully displayed since our lot has so many rocks from the owners.  What we find and keep, we put on this table by the gazebo and I have to admit it is getting rock laden.  We will have to really choose the best of the best!

However, my favorite so far is Jasper -- it comes in many shapes and sizes -- here's a couple pics of them displayed on the concrete patio.

You can see the variation in the left and right stones, truly amazing!

I have to tell you that it is RAINING again in Arizona -- and this has been a soaker!  I have a few pics I snapped when I stuck my head out the door (which resulted in me getting my head wet).

I tried to catch the raindrops but you can't really see them

Bo is out in the rain with drops beading up on the hood and running down the windows.

This is a pic of the window from inside the RV with the rain on the outside pane.

Ah ha, a puddle at last -- you can see it and the drops splattering

More rain puddling under the gazebo as it is now running where it wants to go -- not sure how much we have gotten so far?

Now for a cute picture of Darrel and Archie (Brad & Mickey's cat) -- Archie really likes Darrel and just tolerates Susan when she takes him outside for a walk.

So we are keeping our humor up as the rains continue until around 10:00pm tonight -- Flash flood watches and warnings in Yavapai county (which is us) -- and believe it or not, next week weather looks to be COLD (freezing temps at night again) along with more rain predicted.

From the Arizona Weather destroyer Gypsies,

Susan & Darrel

Please send us spring and some warmer temps to go with it!!!!

Exploring the Desert

Hello Family & Friends,
Not a lot happening last week (see trip to Wed. Mesa below).  Arizona has turned "chilly" again this week.  I guess I cannot say cold when I see the Midwest and East coast weather segments with all the snow and ice and cold and wind.  We have been windy and cool -- our highs hitting the upper 50's or low 60's but that is generally by 3:00pm.  We look to be cool the next week or so, so I am sucking it up, 😉

Ladies Pistol class on Tuesday was rainy, cool and windy.  We stayed under the range cover until the rain passed and had intermittent sunshine and temps in low 50's.  We shot steel targets which was new to me, pretty cool but seems like a much harder target to hit.

On Wednesday, we did take a trip to Mesa, AZ to see my mom who came out to visit our cousins that live there 6 months out of the year.  The RV park is Valle del Oro and a very nice resort park with lots of activities available.  Tony and Gail have a lovely home and we shared a delicious lunch of homemade vegetable/beef soup and strawberry and blueberry pies.  Congress is about 2.5 hours away (we made it down in 2 hrs) but the coming home was a different story -- the traffic was brutal (and we left at 2:50pm) and arrived home around 5:30pm.  I forgot to take my camera, too, so I don't have any pictures of my visit. 😞 -- but at least I didn't lose it!

On Friday, Bob invited us over for spaghetti and it was delicious.  We met a couple of guys that live on his street, Dave and Doug.  Of course, Ruger was there, too.

On Saturday, we braved the cool temps, wind and no sunshine to head for the desert.  We hoped the partly cloudy would burn off (didn't) and the wind would die down (didn't).  We headed to a deep wash/ravine to see what we might find.

We rock hunted along these deep ravines, probably 20 feet deep in places.

I cannot even imagine the water rushing through.

From the ravine edge, you can see round mountain in the background.  If you notice the "trail" to the right side of the pic, these are animal trails -- mostly the cattle that run the land, but other wild animals use them as well.

We headed back from our newly explored area with a few rocks -- the scenery still amazes me every time we go out on the desert.

Here's to more exploration and hopefully, warmer temps coming soon!

Blessings to all,

Susan & Darrel

AZ Weather & Versatile Cacti

Hello Family & Friends,
The weather has kept us RV bound -- so after our Friday desert day (see 5 Rocks post), the Arizona "winter" weather has returned with cool (I won't use cold since our days are above freezing : ), cloudy and rainy for the last couple of days. It is actually raining as I am writing this post.

The forecast thru the weekend --- we might just get a few more household chores completed that we have been neglecting.

PS  Humidity in AZ is usually in the teens or less -- so yippeee, we have moisture in the air!

Part II of this blog is about the versatile cacti (plural for cactus, if you didn't know) --- when the saguaro dies (can be several decades), the skeleton has amazing form.  I snapped a few pictures of the ones around the park.

Sometimes they are just landscaped in to the yards as a tall, naked tree -- their "ribs" are considered wood.  You can make walking sticks from the long ribs and they are very lightweight and sturdy.

Other uses include cutting the base off the cactus and then power washing off the dirt and decaying plant material.  Once this is done you can turn it into a planter stand or other pedestal display of items.

It is amazing how strong the skeleton is -- some yards wrapped them at Christmas time to display ornaments and lights.  Very unique and beautiful.

Oh, I am told that with all this rain, when spring arrives, the desert will be beautiful.  I am waiting to experience that as right now, it is amazing how much "green" is in the desert when we are out and about exploring.  Hope "springs" eternal!!!

Hope all is well -- sending happy blessings your way,

Susan & Darrel