Sunday, September 27, 2009

 

Tempus Fugit, My Friends

Boy, has it been six months already? Where does the time go? It seems like only yesterday that we were sitting here catching up on old times and now it I guess it's time to do it again.

In some ways, a lot has happened this summer and in others, not so much. We left Texas in May, made our way northeast to visit LeAnna's family, and then onward to Ohio to spend the summer with my parents. We were expecting to hear good things from Social Security this summer. Well, we were half right. I did get a favorable decision, and I started getting monthly checks, but for some reason it seems there were was some kind of blockade stopping my getting the back pay.

We had a myriad of projects to keep ourselves occupied with during the summer. We made two new couches, with accompanying throw pillows, of course. I made a new dog bed, I sewed tablecloths for my dad's booth at the flea market, in fact, I think I did more sewing this summer than I have my entire life. I sewed so much. I actually wore a sewing machine out. Okay well...It was a used sewing machine when I got it, but still...

Since my machine was broke down, I put the rest of the sewing jobs on the back burner and attended to some other items on the list. I made valances for all the windows, remade a cabinet interior to better suit our needs, and made a small enclosed shelf for our DVR. One day, as I was changing oil or something, my dad comes out to tell me there was a sale on sewing machines at one of the local shops. Since he appreciated all the work I'd been doing for him, he said that we would go down and look at the machines and if we found one at a reasonable price, he'd buy it for me. In the back of my mind I was wondering if there was something not quite right about a 50-year-old heterosexual man being excited at the thought of getting a new sewing machine.

Sew So, off to the store we went. I won't bore you with the details of looking at the various machines, just suffice it to say that I walked out the proud owner of a new Bernina model 56. NO, not a Beretta...a Bernina.

The new machine runs like a champ and I actually think I sew faster, better and can actually jump higher. Well, not as high as she's going to jump, but you get the picture. So, filled with the fervency of my foray into fabulous fabrication, I once again began to sew.

LeAnna has been harping mentioning that she would like to have cloth grocery bags...for quite some time now. I did already have the plans for them, so we went in search of discount material. I thought we'd never be able to make them cheaper than the quality craftsmen that Wal-Mart uses. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we actually could make them for about $1 each. And the plus side is we can make them in a variety of colors and patterns!

I decided that while we had slack time in "drydock" I would do a couple of projects I've been dreading putting off for a long while. One of our exhaust manifolds has been leaking for a while now, in need of a new gasket. It was coming to the top of the list now, and I could no longer put it off.

After several attempts, I finally got the part I needed. You'd think having a part number would make things easier. Apparently the only thing it does is makes the counter person work harder to come up with a reason why your part number is no good.

I got the thing fixed, though. Since we were still awaiting word on the back pay, I filled my days with routine maintenance on our rig and my nights with drinking other mindless activities.

After what seemed like a thousand trips to the local Social Seurity office, coaxing, pleading and basically having to do their work for them, I was finally successful in prying the check from their cold, cold hands.

So at long last we have an end to this five year travisty. I said "travesty", not missi...well I guess it was kind of a mission at that. Anyway, after the check cleared we immediately headed to the local toy store where we bought this, this, and two of these. Yes, in red. Red ATV and both scooters...red. I did go for the understated "pewter" for the trailer, however. Why be a complete show off? Besides, it goes better with our coach.

As I write, we are awaiting the delivery of the second scooter. After which, we have just 2 weeks to paint the inside of the trailer, build shelving and load all our crap up so we can hit the road. Oh, yeah...we also have to make an overnight trip to Camping World in Indy to have an overdrive unit put on our rig. That'll play a pivotal role in our ability to get that huge (20') toy box moving smoothly down the pike.

We're heading out of here on the 16th of October for Benson, AZ. We finally got the job we've been interested in for the past couple of years. It's Butterfield RV Resort. LeAnna will be playing the part of entertainment director while yours truly will be volunteering to help out in the observatory with the resident astronomer! They have a pretty large scope there and I will be in charge of it four nights a week! That's right "Large and in charge".

We're going to be making a couple of detours to see friends and family on the way down. We expect to be there on the 26th, so it should be a fairly easy trip (he says with fingers crossed).

Until me meet again....

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