Remembering The Sky Is Blue

Sky Blue, my oldest cat, can be seen at the right of this dark photo looking out of the rear window of the RV for me one late summer evening from his favored vantage on the counter behind the sink. This sweet and dear old cat has departed this earth today after being a treasured friend for the last four months of his life. Sky Blue was most likely almost 20 years old when I adopted him this summer. The pound said he was found abandoned in a field. He was emaciated, matted and dirty. He was slated for euthanasia at the pound. Nobody wanted a sick old cat. Happiness at his good fortune of being adopted and loved revived Sky Blue. He gained weight and hardly ever stopped purring, even today when he became so ill. I will always remember his adoring blue gaze, and his affectionate head butts. Our time together was short but love is not measured by time only by how true. He bore his Makers' mark. God is love. Sky Blue has returned to his Maker for safekeeping until I arrive to claim him back. To those who think even the lowliest of animals aren't important think again. The original Greek of Matthew 10:29 makes it clear that God Himself attends their funerals, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing? and one of them shall not fall on the ground without your Father. "

Goodbye only for awhile little love.

Hi Wave!

Yummy homemade tomale supper.
Since our plumbing was frozen I filled one of my nifty collapsible 5 gallon jugs for water. We fulltime RVers have to be resourceful don't you know?

Tish is checking out our new Wave 8 Catalytic Safety Heater that Mike at Jolly Rogers RV, Cheyenne, Wyoming, installed today! Yippee! Yesterday he finished installing the Go Power solar monitor/control panels. See below. We are really able to boondock with this wonderful equipment to keep us comfortable and powered up. The Catalytic Wave heater is a radiant heater that takes no electricity and runs off of propane, see the hose plugs into the valve Mike put in beneath the pantry. You can situate the heater wherever needed in the RV. Roseanne of Jolly Rogers RV said this Wave 8 Catalytic Heater will easily heat my 29 foot trailer. It does use oxygen so a vent or window must be cracked when it is in use. We fired it up this afternoon and it has a lovely ember glow to it. Mike said his kids like to use his Wave Heater rather than the RV furnace because of the beauty of the ember effect.

Last night the temperatures here in Cheyenne dipped to -2 with 20 below wind chill. This morning about 4:30 I discovered the temperature in the RV was 60 degrees and the plumbing was frozen! That has happened before on cold days when I wasn't running the furnace enough but last night the furnace ran non stop and the plumbing still froze. Since the 5th wheel was to be pulled into the shop today I knew the plumbing would thaw. But tonight the kind people at Jolly Rogers RV told me they were leaving my 5th wheel in the cozy warmth of their shop and we can stay in it! What kind people to trust me, a stranger, in their shop. It is a toasty 74 degrees in the trailer tonight while it is 6 degrees at 5:00 pm. Predicted to go to -1 but since it's already down to 6. I'll bet the temps go even lower than last night's minus 2.

Today after Mike finished the Wave 8 installation he completed repairs on my fresh water tank that he discovered earlier this week was ready to drop out of the RV. Eventually it would have fallen out on the highway somewhere had this not been discovered by Mike. He showed me the steel beams were broken and bent right in the middle where the tank sagged down. He suspected the steel used for these beams holding the fresh water tank were way too light for the load they have to carry (60 gallons of fresh water). So he welded on brand new heavy steel beams then placed heavy plywood on top of them for a platform which was missing before, one of my new electric heat blankets and then the tank on the top of all that. That will keep this tank from freezing when the blanket is plugged in. This fresh water tank has always had problems with freezing up in cold weather because it is in the coldest most vulnerable place and basically not heated very well. Whether this will solve the frozen plumbing problems I don't know but it will prevent expensive damage to this important tank. My 3 other electric heat blankets will be placed over my two grey tanks and my black tank.

Then to top it all off Mike gave me two of the dozen homemade tamales his friend gave him today. So now I will have a wonderful supper. What kind people they are at Jolly Rogers RV.

Up With Solar!

In Cheyenne, Wyoming at Jolly Rogers RV, Pete is handing up Mike one of my Go Power Solar panels. Which means ...

The two 110 Watt panels are now installed on the roof of the rv! Wow! That is a dream come true. Mike wired the solar panels into the transfer switch and controller today. Tomorrow he will install the control panel and monitor panel inside the RV. He said with the four 6 volt golf cart batteries I can run everything in the RV except the AC for two days before recharging would be necessary. He said most days those two big solar panels will recharge the batteries so there should be little need to ever run Mr. Watts, our little 1000 watt generator, to recharge. I have to check my batteries for water every month. How hard can that be? Only fair to give them some water once in awhile in exchange for the wonderful electrical power they will supply us with. How does Mike know these things? He has been wiring RV's in everything electric for 22 years here at Jolly Rogers RV in Cheyenne, WY. Before that he wired houses and buildings. Roger, Roseanne, Jose, Linda, Pete and Mike here at Jolly Rogers RV could not have been kinder or more helpful with informed advice and getting the job done as quickly as possible (would have been done a lot sooner except I hemmed and hawed as to whether to buy the Big Foot Levelers so as a result they were shipped last week which held up the whole shebang).

The weather here has been cold, cloudy and blustery here today but the sun did shine long enough for Mike to get the solar panels onto the roof. Thank the Lord for small mercies.
However, Pete told me to pull my slides in if it starts to snow as we are predicted to get 3-4 inches tonight and very cold weather tomorrow. I tried not to whine about it. Am such a spoiled baby when it comes to inconvenience. However, so far I can say my worst day RVing is better than a good day at work. But they have to pull Whimsy into their shop tomorrow to begin work on the levelers and she has to have her slides in so she can fit through the big truck bay door. If there is snow piled up on the tops of the slideouts they can't be slid in. They are going to leave us indoors tomorrow because of the cold! So far no snow yet but I will pull in the slides tonight before bedtime just in case. That will make for some very cozy sleeping for me and the kids as our house shrinks to maybe less than half our regular volume. Well there's a first time for everything. Guess if we are going to be fulltimers we better be able to sleep with our slides in should the need arise again. This will be good practice.

Inverter and Batteries Today

Mike of Jolly Rogers RV in Cheyenne, Wyoming, installed two of the new golf cart batteries in the side battery compartment first.

Pete pulled Whimsy around to the front driveway of Jolly Rogers RV with their pickup this morning where I will be staying in Whimsy for the next few days as they install my solar panels, catalytic heater, BigFoot Levelers, fix the water heater, etc. Mike here is wiring in my new 2000 Watt inverter which will magically transform my battery power into usable house current to run everything in Whimsy.
Without the inverter the only things that get juice in the 5th wheel are a few paltry fluorescent lights and the slideouts and landing jacks. With the inverter I can run all of my appliances and all the outlets and lights will work. The four deep cycle golf cart batteries are necessary to store enough power from the solar panels, generator, alternator, and or shore power to run all of Whimsy's electrical systems without being plugged into shore power making her an ultimate boondocking rig.

Lucky is my co-pilot. On the advice of Linda York, President of Pet Pals, Inc. pet rescue, my large dogs are all seat belted in now and the little dogs ride in their crates when we are underway. What a pleasant difference that makes! The dogs are secure and much quieter. Lucky never was a problem but since he loves to ride in the co-pilot seat he sure could have gone through the windshield. Now he has his own seat belt harness, as do Sadie and Jake on opposite ends of the backseat with the other three crated in the middle and on the floor.

Another gorgeous Wyoming day here in Cheyenne. Perfect for wiring in four new house batteries and an inverter. Temperatures were in the 50's and no wind.

Pete plugged in Whimsy out front of Jolly Rogers RV so that the animals and I could stay in the RV while they begin working on Whimsy's new inverter and batteries. They had to drop the bottom off of Whimsy's backside to get to the wiring and electrical panel. As Mike was working on it he noticed that Whimsy's fresh water tank is dropping out! Good thing he spotted that. What a mess that would have been.

It is such a beautiful evening out. It is a totally different atmosphere living in front of Jolly Rogers RV just off East Hwy 30 in Cheyenne. The dogs love watching the cars speeding by and their favorite vehicles to bark at are UPS trucks. Amazing!

One might think being in the parking lot of an RV service place would not be very pleasant. On the contrary it is just different and actually quite pleasant. Lots of hustle and bustle during the daytime, but the city lights sparkle like jewels tonight and there are many Christmas lights visible from this vantage.

Two of Whimsy's new house batteries are in the front compartment with the new inverter. The other two batteries are in the side battery compartment, see the picture at the very top for those.

Movie Time

Tonight thanks to more wonders of modern conveniences like the Verizon air card, and Netflix streaming movies, and of course my Dell Vostro computer, I can watch any movie I want from the Netflix collection of 17,000 movies that stream instantly on line. Of course most of my kids don't watch the movies with me but sleep like Morris and Casey are doing above, but Sadie does watch movies with me especially if there are animals in them.

Tonight I have decided to watch Moonstruck on my laptop. Since I purchased my nifty Phillips speakers yesterday at Walmart we are able to kick back in our reclincer at the opposite end of the living room and still hear the dialog.
Last night we watched An American in Paris. Hope you are having a wonderful Thanksgiving. We have so many blessings to be thanking God for today. Among them are life and liberty, but above all is His free gift of salvation made possible by Jesus' suffering the punishment in Hell for eternity for each and every person who will ever live.
Have you accepted His free gift yet?

Happy Thanksgiving!

What is more luxurious than a nap after a big meal? Why, the meal of course! On the menu today was homemade pumpkin pie, Baked turkey breast, mashed potatoes and gravy, stuffing and cranberries. Start it all off with a festive rumnog and you've got it made. All of this plenty was prepared by me in my wonderfully fun to work in little RV galley. I used to have a huge kitchen with tons of cupboards, drawers and counterspace but I have more fun working in my little RV galley than I ever did in that huge kitchen. Perhaps the small galley forces me to be a more organized cook?

This detail is of the icy pond in one of my paintings.
However, the weather here in Cheyenne, Wyoming, today was lovely and sunshiney, up in the 60's. Perfect for the walkies I like to take with my six wonderful dogs each day. How is it possible to walk six dogs? Take two walks with three dogs! Oh, and be absolutely sure to use "Gentle Leader" head collars if you don't want your dogs pulling and being unpleasant. Thank you a million my friend, Linda York, for introducing me to these wonderful head collars that transformed my dedicated pullers to well mannered dogs that are a pleasure instead of nightmares to walk. Even my two pugs have "Gentle Leaders" now.
What a fun walk we had today. My dear friend, Sandy, called me while I was walking. She was walking, too. We chatted and walked the whole time together almost like old times except she was walking north of Torrington, WY and I was walking east of Cheyenne, Wyoming about 90 miles apart but we were looking at the same moon and sun setting and describing what we were seeing. As I write this at 8:43 pm the temperature is 47 and it is clear as a bell. Gorgeous.

Monday we are to have our solar panels installed, along with a catalytic heater and Big Foot levelers from Quadra Manufacturing!

Fun With Solar Panels at Jolly Rogers

Sorry for not posting sooner but have been parked at Jolly Rogers RV park in Cheyenne WY. Roseanne at Jolly Rogers is helping me order my solar panels and other goodies that I want to have installed on Whimsy to transform her into a wonderful boondocking RV. Also trying to decide between a Flame or Cat Heater. Asked Roseanne if they ever installed levelers on RV's. In particular Big Foot levelers. She said they don't install them often just because people don't have them installed much on 5th wheels. However, she said they did install a Big Foot leveler on a 5th wheel and they were impressed with the design and quality above others they installed. The reason was that each leveler is a complete unit and there are no long hydraulic lines running underneath the floor to leak out. That makes two good recommendations I've had for the Big Foot levelers. So, Big Foot levelers it will be. Have always wanted levelers and now will splurge on them. As Tioga George was informed parking out of level can cause the fridge to fail in RV's. So in the long run it may pay off by saving the fridge. Who knows if I am ever really level? However George has always had levelers on Miss Tioga so that wasn't his problem, a bad weld he suspects. He said he has had 7 Dometic Fridges since 2003. Mine is a Norcold. Hope that makes a difference.

Also need a few maintenance repairs done on the RV. The Suburban water heater will not flame. The electric element heats the water just fine but that won't work for boondocking. Gotta have the flame. Also there is a leak from the china commode! Like it's not seated properly. Just a slow leak but aggravating. Hope it's not cracked or something.

Guess I will be here awhile longer so will have mail forwarded to Cheyenne. This will be the first time I've ever picked up mail General Delivery. Seems kind of strange no longer really having a permanent address other than my mailing service address. Am sure I will eventually get used to it and it will become a routine like checking air pressure in the tires.

There were lots of big snow drifts between Hawk Springs, WY and Cheyenne even though the temperatures have been in the 50's and 60s. Was really lovely today in the 50's and no wind. Great for walkies.