The Deluge.....

Heavy rain is back. It's been raining hard all day and no sign of letting up. The local news had stories of flooding in the whole New England area...cars underwater where they went out around barricades and got in too deep....city streets looking like raging rivers. It's nasty out there.Thank goodness the wind isn't blowing like it did with the other storm we had a couple of weeks ago. By tomorrow it is supposed to clear up and the temps will warm up. By this weekend in should be in the 70's. Yeehaa !!

We heard back from Goodyear today about the tire, from our rig. If you recall, we were driving north from Florida and around the Virginia border we pulled over at a Welcome Center. When we got out to check the rig we discovered that all the tread had come off of one of our tires. Five days ago the tire was picked up by Goodyear and taken back to their Akron, Ohio plant. Today the e-mail said that they will reimburse the full cost of the tire AND the cost to replace the fender (it got chewed up when the tire fell apart while driving). We are really happy that they are willing to stand behind their products like that ! For us RV'ers, we put alot of trust in our tires to get us to our next destination safely and without incident.

Excited for this weekend to get here. My daughter is coming to visit. It's been a while since I've seen her so it will be great to hang out with her and catch up on what she's been up to. Who knows what mischief we'll get into....

Little Culprit....

This little devil is the reason that my driver side rear tire, in the Xterra, has been losing air for a little while. I've been constantly watching it and adding air but couldn't find the leak. Took some soapy water today and had Linda back the car up slowly until "shazaam"......bubbles.....and there was the head of the screw peeking out from between the tread on the inner side of the tire. Grabbed the plug kit and pliers but the little bugger would only come out if I took a Philips head screwdriver and backed it out. Got the plug in and all seems Ok.... We're constantly finding nails and screws on the ground here in the facility. They must jiggle out of boxes and such when people are moving. It's like a mine field around here some days....constantly picking them up.

Really quiet around work this week. End of month is coming up so should pick up. Weather is a little freaky. Calling for rain overnight turning into snow showers with cold temps (in the 40's)for tomorrow. Chilly for a few days but then warming up again. Waiting for a stretch of really warm days so I can tackle a project here of filling the cracks in the asphalt around the property. When the President of the company was here he said he wanted it done. There are a gazillion cracks....big and little to be done. Need at least 65 degree days to apply the filler. We bought (4)- 5 gallon buckets of filler/sealer and some open topped watering jugs that should work perfectly to run over the cracks with the "goo" to get the job done. We'll see how that goes.....

Back To Work Tomorrow...

History was made today when President Obama signed the new health care bill. It was sad to see all the out of control emotions that erupted by the public and politicians. To think that we actually consider ourselves a civilized nation is sometimes a stretch. In usual fashion the Republican party solidified themselves as the "Party of No" as every single one of them voted against the bill. It's really too bad that none of them have a mind of their own to think about what is best for our nation and not be posturing for their re-election bid. One website I was reading was taking feedback from readers and one guy said, "I don't understand why we needed to have this. I served in the service and I go to the VA whenever I need health care." Well...Duh ! There are 31 million that don't have that luxury and up until a few months ago Linda and I didn't have it and even now that we do have it, the insurance company won't cover Linda for certain medications or services because it's a "pre-existing condition". These are the types of things that this bill will help to correct. Doctors won't be reimbursed for how many surgeries they can crank out but they will be paid based on "outcomes". A successful outcome for the patient is the key thing. A system that has already proven great success in hospital's where it is being done....lowers overall cost of service and a better experience and recovery for the patients.  There is still opposition to the bill and talk of an appeal or to try and overturn it due to it being unconstitutional. We'll have to stay tuned to see where it all leads.

Today we took our GMC 5500 (Bertha) out to get her oil changed. Found a Jiffy Lube down around the corner from us so took it there and got it done. They weren't able to do the fuel filter though due to a local ordinance of the gas fumes posing a fire hazard to the building. Odd...ya never know what you'll find from one location to another. Last time we had Bertha's oil changed, we went to a Jiffy Lube but they were able to change the fuel filter. Was good to get it done...we'll be good for another 12,000 miles.

We're counting on spring being here to stay. In about another week, we're going to move our rig down around the corner to the spot where we should be parked so we can get our other slide out and have a little more breathing room. If we back all the way back to the curb, we should have a nice view of the pond out back from our rear windows. We'll also be able to hook directly to the water spigot instead of working off of our fresh water tank and we'll be able to use just one length of electrical cord to reach the plug instead of the three we are using now. It will also be a straight shot to the receptacle instead of up and over a doorway. That's a first for parking on-site. Have a little "London Bridges" thang going on with our power cord. In the new spot, the cord will go straight to the receptacle under the back of our rig. Wow, we'll really be living then !! It's the little things in life that have to make us happy, ya know.

Monday we went to our dentist appointment. He was a "do it all" kind of dentist...he took the x-rays, did the teeth scraping and cleaning part too. An old fashioned kind of guy although Linda nicknamed him "The Claw". I didn't think he was too bad....he was a little rough but pleasant enough and neither my gums or teeth hurt when I came out of there. That's a sign of success to me ! Ha...Linda wasn't nearly as convinced...In fact, she was waiting in the car for me when I came out from getting my work done. For the $75 deal that we got, he didn't skimp on anything either...he took a full set of x-rays all the way around and both of us got a thumbs up..no cavities ! We are good to go !!

Tomorrow it's back to work for us...temps are falling back into the normal range. The rain we've been having the last couple of days will clear out tomorrow (of course, it's time for us to go back to work) but the temps will only be in the 50's...maybe 60 on Thursday. It's headed in the right direction. Trees are budding out and the spring flowers are starting to bloom...I love spring !!

Our New Favorite Restaurant....

Tonight after work we wanted to go to a restaurant near us that is always packed with cars to check it out. It's called..Omega Diner and is about 2 miles from us. We didn't have the camera with us so sorry...no pics this trip. Linda and I each had deluxe veggie burgers that came with cole slaw and fries but we substituted sweet potato fries. There were two thick slices of tomato and some leaf lettuce to top off the burger. Everything was great. We were really stuffed so eating dessert, right then and there, was out of the question. We got a tiramisu to go : ) They have an extensive menu, a great bakery case filled with delectable choices and they serve breakfast ALL day. All of the meals come with soup, salad, vegetable, potato and jello, rice pudding or ice cream for dessert. Wow, this will be a fun place to go when we're hungry.

One more day to go before our days off. Today was sporadic with customers. Weather was awesome....in the mid 70's. Today it's been three weeks since we started working at this location. Today, mid 70's and gorgeous. Last Saturday, hurricane force winds and torrential rains. Our first Saturday, blizzard conditions with over 20" of snow. What is it with this NJ weather ? Talk about running the gamut.....can't get much different than that in the span of a couple weeks....Holy cow ! We will definitely take more of today's weather....the types from the previous weeks can just hit the road and never come back !

Remember the pond out back that was brimming full during the storm last weekend. Here's what it usually looks like....the sun was pretty as it started to set behind the pond so I snapped this picture.

Bubba Gone Awry....

The other day,  when we were out doing errands, we went into Target to look for a couple of items. Linda and I are big iced tea drinkers and we take a large cup of it with us wherever we go. Our large travel mug broke recently so we've been looking for a replacement....one that will fit in the car cupholder but that also holds a lot of tea. Found these Bubba Kegs while at Target. I am not a "pink" person....Linda B is. Wouldn't you know that only the pink ones were on sale...Yep, the utilitarian, versatile...goes with anything black ones were 10 bucks while the foo foo pink ones were half that. You can see what color won out. Somehow I don't think that Bubba had pink in his palette of colors when he came up with this line of cups, kegs, jugs, etc. It actually seems like an oxymoron to have "pink" and "Bubba" in the same sentence. There are about 12 different sizes of these bad boys. Cold drinks are supposed to stay cold for 12 hours and hot beverages are supposed to stay hot for 3 hours. I think this was the cruel work of some marketing woman trying to temper the image of a "mob reject" - Bubba to make him a kinder, gentler - in touch with his feminine side...guy. Hmmm....wonder if spray paint will stick to it ?

Days Off...

This area of NJ is still recuperating from the big storm over the weekend. According to the local news, many people are still without power and from our travels in this area, many trees came down. We took Boomer back to the dog park today and we were astounded by the number of trees that were toppled in the wind. There were a lot of lucky people too as most of the trees we saw fell away from their houses. A tenant, that stopped in Sunday to move out of her unit, said that travel was horrible....so many detours due to power lines and trees down. We can believe it after seeing the aftermath today.

Today we went to get our RV tire replaced...the one where all the tread came off. We were nearing the one month anniversary of when it happened and I had to get the road hazard claim turned in within 30 days for it to be valid. We didn't have to wait very long at all for them to put it on the rim. We will go back and get the other three on the rig replaced once it is time for us to leave here. It was too tough getting our rig in here that we won't take it out of here until we have to. The Goodyear shop will hold the tires for us (once they get them in) until we're ready for them. I got all the paperwork sent off to the extended warranty folks and Goodyear....The road hazard folks have approved us for a reimbursement of $346...not quite the full amount that we had to pay but it sure helps. I was sure to check the production date on the tire....4409. For those of you not familiar with RV'ing, it is really crucial that the tires you buy for your rig are "fresh". All tires are stamped with a DOT code. In the instance of ours...4409 means that they were made in the 44th week of 2009 so this tire is 5 months old. That is good....I had told him that I didn't want one older than 6 months old. If it had come in older than that, he would have sent it back and requested another one. Our current tires are the original ones, that came on the rig, so they are around 4 years old. RV tires are different from car tires in that they need to be replaced when they get to a certain age, regardless of the amount of wear on the tire. What age that is, is a source of much discussion on the forums....it can be anywhere from 4 years - 6 years. It's all in your perspective I guess or as Dirty Harry says, "Do ya feel lucky ?" When a tire blows it can do thousands of dollars in damage. We were lucky with our tire.....since we had to replace that one, we'll get them all replaced to keep the tread wear even on all of them.

Over the weekend, one of those shopper magazines was delivered here at work and Linda found a nice coupon in there for a local dentist that we went today and checked out. The deal is you get x-rays, a cleaning and an exam for $75. Says that bill of goods usually runs $200+ and since it's been a couple of years since either of us have been to the dentist, we thought it a good deal. (Not as good as our friends experience when they go to Mexico for dental work but good by U.S. standards.) I must say that the lack of dental coverage is one of the things I wish we had at this job (or any job for that matter). I had it when I worked at the college and I think it's one of those things you take for granted until you don't have it and have to pay the whole shot yourself. Nothing that you get done at the dentist is cheap ! Well, we have appointments for next Monday and since Linda is the wienie when it comes to "going to the dentist", we've already decided that she'll go first. I might have to bribe her with some Chunky Monkey ice cream to be a good girl and not fuss or squirm for the doc. LOL

The Rain Stopped (Sort of)...

It stops and then it starts again....that's been the scenario all day. First thing this morning Linda and I went out and cleaned up the downed tree. The base of the tree was too heavy to carry too far so we lifted it out of the road and left it till I can get my chainsaw out and cut it up. (I knew that chainsaw would come in handy on the road...LOL) With that done, we then moved on to the task of figuring out if we could fix the entrance gate. It's amazing how much you can get done when you're not being whipped by torrential winds and pelted by heavy rain. I figured out that the set screw in the shaft had made the moving arm slip and that is why the gate would not operate correctly. With tools in hand and Linda to help me, we got the arm realigned and I tightened the screw...Voila'...it worked !! 

Was feeling pretty good that we had accomplished several things and then the exit gate decided to act up. A guy typed in his code to exit...the gate opened and then it wouldn't close. I studied it all day and can't figure out what is wrong with it. There are several different gate systems that our company uses and this is one we've never worked with before (Falcon). I don't know any of the tips or tricks with this system to get it to work. Maybe the assistant managers will know something about it when they come in to work in the morning.

As soon as we got our outdoor tasks done, then the rain started again. Actually a thunderstorm ! Boomer was in the rig and ya know his fondness for thunderstorms. Well, I turned on the TV (to try and drown out the clap of thunder)...let him listen to Wayne Newton's life story, gave him a treat and left hoping he wouldn't wig out.

You can see that the water level is receding.....the ducks are losing their gathering place.

One of the ways that we advertise our move-in specials is to use an A-frame sign that holds a 2' x 3' sign on each side of it. This A-frame sign is normally located out front, by the road, but Linda had to bring it in yesterday when the wind played havoc with it and we had lost the sign from the one side. I went out to the pond to clear the spillway of leaves and such and guess what I found.

The wind had picked the sign up, wayyyyy up...over the office and fence and apparently it landed in the pond out back.....then it flowed to the spillway and got caught there...Too funny !! It was intact too...I thought when I pulled it out of there that it would have been broken up but it wasn't. I couldn't believe it !

The day went quickly..our short day. We closed at 3 and now have the next two days off. Whew ! The rain is scheduled to quit just in time for our return to work on Wednesday. Yep...figures.

Batten Down the Hatches.....

Wow, it has been a stormy day here at work. The wind and rain is horrendous. About 4 p.m. Linda and I got in the car to drive around the property to check on the buildings and property and discovered our flag pole out front had come down. As we came down the side of one of our buildings, this tree toppled over right in front of our car. It was so surreal.....like in slow motion. Saw it snap off and then topple over in front of us. It was like watching a movie....didn't really seem like it was happening to us. Little scary too.....if we had been a few seconds quicker coming down that row, it would have come over right on our car. Yikes !!!

This is a retention pond that funnels two culverts of water out through a spillway that is in that right rear corner. This morning it was pretty much dry. I had gone over to the spillway late yesterday and checked to make sure it wasn't clogged up with leaves and twigs. This picture is from around 4 p.m.....two ducks have found their "happy place" and the water is almost over the whole spillway. It just can't take the water out quick enough.

The wind is just howling....sustained winds are 25-35 m.p.h. and the gusts are 65 m.p.h. When you look at the surface of the pond, it looks like one of those time lapse cameras with the wind pushing the rain across the water's surface. Really weird....The doors on the ends of the two buildings, with inside units, keep blowing open. We heard a loud bang and when I looked out, from the office, I saw that the concrete stepping stone I had placed in front of one of these doors had been thrown about 6 feet away.....flung when the door came flying open. I grabbed another patio stone and hopefully two stones will keep the door shut. We had to keep the front door locked today and only unlock it as a customer got to the door due to the wind. As soon as the front door would open, the wind would open the back door and blow everything off the counter (and pictures off the wall). A lady came in to pay her bill and before I could get her in the front door and it locked behind her it had snatched her umbrella out of her hand and blew it out the back door. I found it in the back yard....one spine busted. Another time when two people came in to purchase boxes, when the door opened, the wind must have went above the ceiling cause two of the covers on the ceiling fluorescent light fixtures came open. One crashed on the floor and the other was swinging from the ceiling. Whew !! Wild, wild, wet day........I was soaked to the skin most of the day ! More rain tomorrow...hopefully the winds will die down.

Thursday...

At this location we have Mondays and Tuesdays off so our work week is just getting underway. On Monday we went out to do some errands...got our propane tank filled up (is $30 here) and went to Sam's Club to get some office supplies. Seems we've been lucky that there's been a Sam's Club close to all the locations we've worked at as their office supplies are much cheaper than a Staples or Office Depot.

I think spring is in the air as there has been a lot of activity over the past week with move outs and move ins. Has kept us busy here plus there are two rental trucks at this location and it seems that both are going out every day, which is great. The extra truck that is here is one that Linda and I had gone out to pick up New Year's eve from one of the other sites. The managers, at this location, requested an extra truck and it's been a big help here. The second truck is a new one, as the previous one was demolished when someone tried to go through an overpass much too low for the truck. Yikes....word has it that it peeled the top off of it like a sardine can. This 15' box truck turned into a scrunched up piece of metal like a piece of aluminum foil. Today I spoke with the company that will have the graphics put on this truck. They can't apply them until the temperatures are consistently above 50 degrees or we risk the decals coming off. Since the 10 day forecast is calling for temps of 49 degrees or low 50's, it looks like it will be at least a couple of weeks until we get this truck covered with the Mini U decals.

We were told by the managers how much they enjoy shopping at the Stop and Shop grocery store, just a half a mile down the road. You can sign out a scanner so you can scan items as you put them in your cart ( you take bags with you and bag them as you go) and it will show you any discounted prices for the items you picked, give specials that only shoppers using scanners can take advantage of AND when you go to check out, your whole order is totaled and you're ready to go. Not only is this cool but the deli area has the most awesome Lobster Bisque. Oh my is this to die for ! The first ingredient is cream.....does that tell you how creamy and delicious it is ? I even discovered that they sell 24 oz tubs of it to take home. I had been buying it out of the soup crocks in take out soup containers. When I spoke to one of the deli ladies about the lobster bisque she said that is a huge hit and people come there everyday just for that. They have it most every day due to its popularity. Linda and I have to eat it in moderation though....a 12 oz bowl is around 550 calories.

We just learned tonight that there is a Chipotle Grill just a couple miles from here. We've never been to one of these but the founder was on Oprah tonight (probably an old show) and he spoke about his use of natural meats for his menu items. They buy meats that do not have antibiotics added and the animals were grown in a natural setting and not confined. This restaurant's feature on the show was part of her discussion about the movie, Food, Inc.
Here's an excerpt of what the movie is about: "In Food, Inc., filmmaker Robert Kenner lifts the veil on our nation's food industry, exposing the highly mechanized underbelly that has been hidden from the American consumer with the consent of our government's regulatory agencies, USDA and FDA. Our nation's food supply is now controlled by a handful of corporations that often put profit ahead of consumer health, the livelihood of the American farmer, the safety of workers and our own environment. We have bigger-breasted chickens, the perfect pork chop, herbicide-resistant soybean seeds, even tomatoes that won't go bad, but we also have new strains of E. coli—the harmful bacteria that causes illness for an estimated 73,000 Americans annually. We are riddled with widespread obesity, particularly among children, and an epidemic level of diabetes among adults."
I am aware of many of the atrocities that occur in the production of food but I was surprised at one thing I saw tonight. When chickens are given the antibiotics to make them grow fatter and faster, their skeletal structures can't grow fast enough to support them and they get so they can only walk a couple of steps and then they fall down. They are too big for their feet and legs to support them. It was really disgusting to see ! It's time for a food revolution in America !

Smart Stuff....

When we were in Virginia, I drove to the local Wally World and was wandering around one day as it was a huge new Wal-Mart and I was in the mood to meander through the aisles. I was pleasantly surprised to find items, in the garden shop, that are made from recycled items. Smart Stones are composite stepping stones that utilize roughly 80 plastic grocery bags per stone. They are lighter than concrete or stone stepping stones but extremely durable.  It was neat to see this item in the garden shop. An American made item too....They're made in Fayetteville, Arkansas.

Also saw the bags of rubber mulch that are made from recycled tires. The stuff I've seen in the stores this year is red in color but it is available in many colors. Although this item has been around for several years, the price is coming down making it more affordable and you're seeing it in more stores. Almost makes me want to do some landscaping.....

There are so many items available now that are made from recycled materials....from reclaimed lumber to plastic bottles and shopping bags. I hope more and more of them make their way to places like Wal-Mart for high volume purchasing by the general public. I know you've read recycling stats before but here are 10 more compelling reasons to recycle:

1 - It takes 75,000 trees each week to produce the Sunday edition of the New York Times.
2 - If Americans recycled just one-tenth of their newspapers, we would save 25 million trees a year.
3 - Recycling and reusing the material in "tin" cans reduces energy use by 74%, air pollution by 85%, solid waste by 95%, and water pollution by 76%.
4 - It takes 95% less energy to make aluminum by recycling it than by producing it from its natural ore, bauxite. It costs less too.
5 - The average American uses 580 pounds of paper each year. As a nation we consume 850 million trees annually.
6 - In 1991, the Great Wall of China became the second largest man-made structure in the world. The largest was Fresh Kills Landfill, serving New York City. It is now the highest point on the east coast.
7 - Americans throw away 2.5 million plastic bottles every hour!
8 - FOR EVERY GLASS BOTTLE RECYCLED, WE SAVE ENOUGH ENERGY TO LIGHT A 100 WATT LIGHT BULB FOR 4 HOURS.
9 - Every year, Americans throw away enough office and writing paper to build a wall 12 feet high from New York to Los Angeles.
10 - In one year, American steel recycling saves enough energy to heat and light 18 million homes. One pound of steel saves enough energy to light a 60 watt bulb for 24 hours.

How Lucky Can We Get ?

Wow, we haven't even been here a week yet but already we've had a site visit from the company President and then today, we got a call that the next auction has been scheduled AND the paperwork had to be done either today or first thing tomorrow. This first part of getting an auction put together is the most crucial. One screw up and it can cause the whole auction to be canceled. The list of units in lien has to be printed out and then lien letters get printed and then copied in duplicate (after being stamped as "original"). Then stamped as "Copy", then folded and stuffed in envelopes...certified paperwork attached...yada yada...

Since we didn't get word till 2 this afternoon, there wasn't enough time to get everything together and get to the post office by 5. So tonight was longer getting out of work than normal....took us 1.5 hours to get 52 letters ready to go to the post office in the morning. 52 isn't too bad....some other units have well over a 100 to get ready and get in the mail before the post office closes tomorrow at 2....No slacking tomorrow for these poor souls....

Weather is slowly warming up....snow is steadily melting and temps by Sunday are supposed to hit 50 degrees. That will be really nice....I hate Saturdays at work....It's a really long day....open at 8 and close at 6. Yuck !!

Days Off...

We have Mondays and Tuesdays off at this location. Yesterday we went out and did some errands and grabbed dinner at TGIFriday's. It's been a really long time since we've been to a Friday's but we had seen the advertisement on TV for 3 courses for $12.99 and wanted to try it. As luck would have it there is a restaurant just a couple miles from us. Neat, huh ? So we went in expecting reduced portions, skimpy choices, etc. Not the case. You get an appetizer, an entree and a dessert. After the appetizer (Linda got Spinach Dip and I had the Classic Salad Wedge with crumbled bleu cheese, diced tomatoes and blue cheese dressing on a large wedge of iceberg lettuce. Very rich and filling ! I was almost done in after the appetizer...whew ! We only got a little bit of our entrees under our belt when we asked for takeout boxes. We sucked it up and split the brownie sundae with hot fudge and caramel sauce but boxed up the vanilla bean cheesecake for another time. Oh my....we walked out of their with lots of food but only paid $28 for it. They gave us an alternate receipt that showed that typically this same meal would have cost us $52....what a deal ! And we had leftovers for supper tonight and it was as delicious as it was last night.

Today the President of our company and his assistant came to the site for a visit. He stayed only a few minutes...apparently everything looked OK to them. We'll get a site letter within the next couple of days that will outline any concerns or positive observations. Even though we were off today, we got dressed in our uniform clothes and hung out till they arrived (around 2:15). There are certain reports and information that they need to look at when they come so it's best if the site managers are available to meet with them to answer any questions. It was a nice visit. Tomorrow we go back to work.