Thu – 5 Jan/17

Up at 7 a.m.

Today’s weather will be a repeat of yesterday – mid 70’s F; but with clearer skies, less humidity and very little wind.

I brought the Del Sol in to Wally’s Garage in Tavares, FL. It is about 10 minutes away from the park. Wally was kind enough to give me a ride back to OMS. I arrived back just before Charlotte left for crafts.

Before leaving Charlotte informed me that our Hamilton-Beach coffee maker had quit working. The unit was purchased in Canada. That was a “Good News/Bad News” kind of thing.  The “Bad News” meant a replacement had to be shipped to our home address in Canada. This meant we would be buying a coffee maker in the U.S. as I don’t think giving up coffee until we go home in April is an option. The “Good News” was the Canadian units had a 5 year replacement warranty compared to 1 year in the USA. It also meant we would be paying the fee to cover shipping ($10) in Canadian Funds.

 

As proof that the unit was no longer functional I had to cut the cord then send a picture of the unit w/cut cord to Hamilton-Beach. Upon confirmation a new unit will be shipped to our home.

The time required to look up the service phone number, make the call, wait on hold, provide the necessary information, cut the cord and take and send the confirmation photo by email meant it was now after 11 a.m. and I had done nothing else.

By the time I checked my email and did some on-line banking it was 11:15 and no RV chores had been completed. Boy, did I feel guilty!

To ease my conscience I went out to “Dump” the RV’s holding tanks. Each site has an underground sewer line that can be connected to the holding tanks. The toilet system in an RV empties to a holding tank which stores the waste until it is “Dumped”.  Very little water is used allowing for a fair amount of waste to be stored before the holding tank fills to capacity. Most RV’s have a “Black Water” tank that stores sewage and a smaller “Grey Water” tank that stores the effluent from the sinks and shower.

Starting Saturday a cold spell will be arriving along with a good chance of a steady rain. I would rather “dump” today before the tank is full and the weather is nice than to have to go out (possibly at night) when the weather is miserable.

That being done, I had enough time to warm up the remainder of the Spanish Rice for lunch. It was just as good the second time around.

We are doing our best to relax. We channel surfed TV after lunch. TMZ, Harry (Connnick Jr.) and Dr. Phil were among the shows we watched. I also “Surfed the (Inter)Net” looking for a replacement coffee maker.  We decided on checking out the unit we saw at Costco a few days ago. We didn’t need one at the time; however it caught our attention when we “Cruised” the store.  With space limited on the RV counter we want to check it out for size. We also decided to go early on another day to avoid the “afternoon rush”.

Quitting “Cold Turkey” is hard. Late afternoon I did a few more “compartment” arranging tasks.

Now I don’t feel so “guilty”.  

We then waited for a call from “Wally’s Garage”. The call came just before 5 p.m. I asked Wally to check everything. A brake inspection revealed the front set were fine; however Wally will be replacing the rear brakes tomorrow morning.  We will get the car back before the noon hour.

A few years ago I was fortunate to “find” Wally. At that time, when I stopped at a “chain auto repair store” when the A/C quit working, I was presented with a $1500.00 estimate to replace the compressor. A similar estimate was received at another chain service shop.

I sought another opinion and was referred to Wally’s Garage. Wally cleaned a leaky valve and refilled the refrigerant and all worked again. A “Word to the Wise”: Many “Chain” shops don’t pay mechanics a good salary. The mechanics; however can earn a big commission from sales they recommend. These businesses may trust their workers recommendations; but I don’t!

Similarly, often inferior parts (not OEM quality) may be used by these shops to increase profit. Wally’s business was built on top notch work using top quality parts. Good maintenance, parts and service are the reason our 22 year old Honda Del Sol Si runs and looks like new, even after over 500,000 KM.

Thursday is not a great TV evening. After supper it will be Jeopardy, Family Feud and channel surfing while we play Scrabble.

That’s about it for today!

N.B. Friday’s blog may not be published until Saturday. I am thinking of doing the blog on the following days. In this way I will be able to use the park Wi-Fi in the clubhouse allowing me to include pictures; whereas I don’t have the data/bandwidth when I use my phone as a hotspot. The clubhouse/lodge/multi-purpose rooms close in the early evening before we return from some outings so the blog will be regular; but most often, a day late.