MERRY CHRISTMAS

John and I send you our warmest wishes for a wonderful Christmas. May your hearts be filled with love and joy at the wonderment of this special day.

Rainy day

Just as the weather people projected, we woke up to rain today. As we had invited Melissa over for dinner, after breakfast, I got to making one of her favorite meals -red chili. This dish is served much like a tostada except on a warm tortilla. I also made an apple tart for dessert. Dinner was enjoyed by all. Melissa took home the leftovers--she was much appreciative.

Melissa reminded us that today is the longest day of the year. Yahoo! That means, days will only start to get longer . . . bring it on!

New bicycle

This morning, we went over to Patriot Bicycle to buy the hybrid bike we looked at when we took John's bike in for service. We had fenders, a bottle cage, and a computer added so we had to go back a few hours later to pick it up. Hopefully, I will be able to get some good exercise without aggravating my sacroiliac by being more upright. Bonnie and Butch have agreed to store my road bike for us --- I'm not ready to let it go. The new bike isn't as sporty looking but John likes the black fenders and says it looks like a cruiser bike. Once we got home, around 4 p.m., we went out for a quick spin. Boy, was it chilly...I need to find my full finger gloves. John just advised me it is a SUB - Sport Utility Bicycle. Isn't he funny!!!

Visiting DMV and old technology

Melissa had to make a trip to the DMV to get her new tags for her car so I went along to turn in our old plates for the truck and trailer. I found out that we had to "cancel" our registrations or the State of California would keep billing us registration fees until which time they would turn the account over to collection. Really? I was told that South Dakota would notify California that our vehicles had been registered there. The lady at the DMV laughed and said that it takes months and that wouldn't stop the billings. All in all it was rather painless and took only about 40 minutes to complete with no appointment.

While we were gone, John replaced the water filter cartridge and tried the water pump again. Nope, the darn thing was just not going to work. John called ShurFlo but the only way we can get it replaced under warranty is to go through the dealer. Luckily, we are in the right place to do so. John called RV Brokers and discussed the problem with the Service Manager who will contact Petersen to get a water pump coming or approval to buy one local. Hopefully, this can all be resolved on the 31st. If not, we'll be staying here a bit longer. We hope to hear back from the Service Manager by the end of the day but most likely not if past experience is any example.

John and I took Melissa to lunch at La Placita Dos for lunch. She had to take a work related phone call. It was rather interesting seeing our daughter being so professional. Melissa dropped us off at home and went about her errands for the day.

John went for a bike ride while I rearranged some of our kitchen cabinets. Not sure if I'm going to be happy with the new arrangement but it did get me to throw out some items that needed to be tossed.

After dinner, we just settled in for an evening of TV and Game Boy. John discovered Melissa's old Game Boy in the entertainment center a week ago and has been entertaining himself ever since. Melissa laughs at him because the Game Boy is so "old" technology. She was amazed that the Game Boy still worked after all these years. Tetris is still addicting even after all these years.

Small challenges

It has been a quiet but busy week so far here in Sacramento.

Happy Birthday Bonnie! John gave Bonnie a call this morning to wish her a Happy Birthday. She should also receive a card in today's mail.

With freezing temperatures, John filled up our water tank so we could disconnect the hose from the rig. We then discovered that our water pump was not working correctly. If we turned the pump switch off and then on again, we could get the water to flow but would soon stop and we'd have to repeat turning the switch off and one. We also tried the outside pump switch with the same results. We were definitely scratching our heads. John then checked the wiring connections on the pump but everything appeared fine. I went online to check the Excel Forum to see if this problem had been experienced by others and how it was corrected. What I found was a similar problem but their water pump was surging and ours is not. However, we did end up having nice private message conversations with another Excel owner. I also emailed Petersen's Service Center and was told that if it wasn't in the wiring, then it had to be a bad pump and what we should do to get a replacement. Before we pursued getting another water pump, John went out again to disconnect the wires and reconnect them. After that was done, he came in and turned on the faucet and the water pump started working correctly. We are now four hours later and the water pump is still working!

We planned on going out Christmas shopping today early this morning but when we went out to the truck, our Pressure Pro (tire monitoring system) alarm was going off. It was saying that our tire pressure on our front tires were low. As we had the truck in the shop yesterday for a recall item as well as service, we wondered what the dealership might have done to the tires. John tried to pump up the tires with air but had a problem with the valve stems. I went on the computer to locate the nearest Les Schwab location. Luckily, I found one less than four miles from us. John took the truck to them and it was determined that the valve stem extensions failed. It seemed strange that two of them would fail at once but maybe the freezing temperatures played a part. Guess their failure and the visit to the Ford dealer was coincidental. Les Schwab took care of John in no time at all and wouldn't even charge him. Imagine that. Delayed a bit but we were soon off to finish up our Christmas shopping. John went one way and I another. We are happy to report we are done.

When we got home, John finished wiping away the black streaks from the roof before the rain started. I did some gift wrapping. The remainder of the evening will be spent chilling.

Special request

When we got to town, Melissa asked if I could make up some of my spaghetti sauce so that she could put some in her freezer. Nothing like a special request to get a mom's kitchen cooking. We went to the grocery store this morning and I got with making my meat sauce. Melissa is coming for dinner and there should be plenty for her to take home.

While I was it, I baked some Lemon Squares for dessert from a recipe that my dear friends, the Kwong's, shared with me. I do like this recipe - Yum.

We all enjoyed our dinner of spaghetti with meat sauce, salad, garlic bread and Lemon Squares ... all to rave reviews. Melissa was especially happy to be taking home spaghetti sauce to be used at a later date. She also made off with the new Ziploc containers I just purchased; at least I don't have to store them now!

We actually had rain today. As the evening progressed, the rain got harder and the wind was gusting. The local news says that the week will be a wet one. The area very much needs the rain and snow in the mountains so you can't really complain.

Birding Store

I received a gift card to a birding store from the gift exchange at PFG's Christmas Party. Boy, oh, boy did I find many goodies that I would have liked to have taken home. We bought a couple of suction hooks to hang bird feeders from our windows as many times you don't have trees nearby or you can't stick a stand/hook in to the ground. We also picked up another feeder and some bird seed. We already have a couple of hummingbird feeders and bird feeder as well as a bird bath. Funny, John and I never would have believed that we get interested in birding but this lifestyle opens ones eyes to the wonderful nature that surrounds us and makes you appreciate the spectacular nature of it all.

PFG Christmas Party

John and I attended my former employer's (Pennington Financial Group) Christmas Party. Another chance to get caught up with all my old work friends and their spouses. These people are like family to me as I worked with the majority of them for many, many years. It was very nice to see their faces and feel their hugs. Lots of conversation as everyone wanted to know where we've been, our favorite places, and are we happy living this vagabond lifestyle . . . the answer to which is YES! We have almost completed our first year of full time RVing and we wonder were the time has gone.

We miss seeing our daughter on a regular basis and the friends that we hold dear but the thrill of seeing what life holds as we head in to our next adventure is exhilarating. There is so much of this wonderful country to see and experience that awaits us. This lifestyle isn't for all but for those who are willing to live outside the box, it is very rewarding in so many ways.

Seeing old friends

John's former coworker, Brian and his wife Christine, hosted a get together of some of John's former co-workers. What a nice time we had catching up with everyone. Christine made a wonderful Mexican style pulled pork that was excellent, beans, rice, tortillas, and we brought a Mexican inspired salad with a Cilantro Dressing. There were a lot of laughs and stories to be shared. A good time was had by all.

Catching up

Life has been pretty busy the past few days so I have a fair amount of catching up to do.

Friday - John flipped on the furnace around 7 a.m. and all of sudden it starting making very loud noises. John was up quickly to turn it off and to check it out. He thought the motor might have thrown a bearing. A call was placed to RV Brokers and an appointment was made for Tuesday morning. Melissa and I spent the day doing some retail therapy while John went out for a bike ride. It was nice hanging out with Melissa; something I have missed. Later in the evening, John and I went out and bought another electric heater to give us some additional heat. Problem! We are at a site with only 30 amps and we can't run them both without tripping the breaker.

Saturday - Boy oh boy, was it cold and being able to only use one heater only marginally works. John went out on a bike ride with Clyde and a friend of Clyde's. While John was gone, I decided to get with copying all of my CD's to the computer to be able to get them out of the basement. My goodness, two file boxes worth . . . this may take a while. When John got back and showered, we got a call from Bonnie saying that our mail shipment had arrived. It was decided that we would go over to pick up our stuff and go out to dinner. Ah a warm house. We had a nice visit and a great dinner at Sharizad's with Bonnie and Butch.

Sunday - John came up with the smart idea to run a heavy duty extension cord through a slide window and plug it in to the 20 amp circuit. This way, we could run both electric heaters at the same time. Doing so made a big difference. No more cold feet. I pretty much spent all day copying CDs to my computer. It takes about four minutes a piece to copy one CD. Will I ever finish?

Monday - We stopped at Camping World and picked up a few items. We then took John's bike in for a tune-up to Patriot Bicycles, Inc. Scott and company do a good job. Whenever John's bike goes in for it's annual check-up, I say that we take his mistress to the spa. While there, we checked out a new bike for me. With my sacroliac issues, my road bike just is not comfortable for me to ride. We then stopped at an alterations store so I could get a pair of pants hemmed and the sleeves on a jacket shortened.

Melissa gave us a call to say that she was sick with a bad ear ache in both ears and a cold. She called again after seeing the doctor who said she had a bad sinus infection on top of a cold and put her on meds. Later in the day, she called to request that we stop at Panera Bread to pick up some chicken soup and deliver it to her later in the evening as she was leaving work to get some sleep. Of course, we said we would do it. As requested, we delivered the soup to her just a little before 7 p.m. Let's hear a big Aww . . . . On another note, I finally finished copying all of my CD's at 6 p.m. John weighed the two boxes and our rig will be 40 pounds lighter. I wish I could lose weight that easily!!!! I was also doing major multitasking in the afternoon. While copying CD's, I rearranged some kitchen cabinets. A project that I have wanted to do for some time now.

Tuesday - We were up at 6:30 a.m. as we had an 8:30 a.m. appointment to have our furnace looked at. Boy howdy, was it foggy and cold. RV Brokers were very prompt at checking our problem out. Apparently, a screw came loose from the squirrel cage which was making all the noise. It took them about an hour to get the problem corrected. Yippee! We have heat again. We got back to Cal Expo a little past 10 a.m. and went into a different site. The bonus was that our new site has 50 amp service instead of 30 amp service. While John was working outside and I went to set up the MotoSat. We have no obstructions other than power lines that run across the park. After a half hour, the satellite would not lock on. John checked all connections and everything looked good. So what now? John said he thought maybe we needed to pull forward a couple of feet. What a pain. So I started to bring the slides in when I noticed that we had all five lights lit up on the controller which means that we have a connection. John had already started to undo some of the set up items in preparation of moving. I let him know that we had a connection so we didn't have to move. We were both very relieved. I still don't understand what the hangup was as the equipment has never acted this way before.

Checked on Melissa who was back at work. She said her ear aches were gone but now it was just the cold that she was suffering. I sure hope that she didn't share the cold with either John or me . . . I guess time will tell.

The rest of the evening will be spent just chilling.

Christmas decorations

After cleaning, it was time to bring out the Christmas decorations that we have had stored in the basement and hauled all over the US. Actually, it was a nice moment bringing out the special items we kept.

We stop at the grocery store and ran into a former neighbor and parent of one of Melissa's childhood friends. We had a nice chat and got caught up with what everyone was doing. What was funny was than John had earlier thought he had seen Carol in the market but it wasn't her. Then as we were walking out of the store, who calls out "John and Terri Prather" but Carol. Kind of an odd coincidence don't you think?

Once we got home, we took another walk out on the levee. It was nice to have a bit of sunshine to accompany us. We then settled in for a quiet evening at home.

Lost package

After a nice long walk on the levee, we stopped at the office to advise them that we had a new DirecTv receiver to be delivered by FedEx. When we got back to the trailer, I checked on the delivery status and saw that it was delivered and signed for at 9:53 a.m. this morning. What? Where? To make a long story short, we don't know where FedEx delivered the receiver. We just know we don't have it.

I contacted FedEx to have them place a trace on the delivery I then called DirecTv to advise them that we did not receive the receiver and that we wanted it noted on our account and that we didn't want us to be charged for it. After looking at FedEx's delivery notation, the customer service rep said that we weren't on the hook because it is noted that it was delivered to address other than recipient. Will also noted the case number I was given by FedEx. Will also said that they would send another receiver out to us. This time, we are having them deliver it to Bonnie and Butch's. Who knows if or when the misdelivered package will show up. FedEx was suppose to call us back today after talking to the driver but we still haven't heard from them. Now there is a surprise. All of this was a very frustrating way to spend a couple of hours.

After an evening walk around the RV parking lot, we settled in for an evening of TV.

Settling in

We started out early as I had a 9 a.m. doctor's appointment. Once done, we made a quick stop at Target. As we had 1 p.m. dental appointments out on Sunrise, we decided to stop and have some of our favorite chile verde at Dos Placidos in Citrus Heights. So very good. I had a cavity filled and John had prepping for a crown from which we both had numb mouths. We then stopped to fill up the truck and paid $2.36 a gallon for diesel. We are always shocked at the price but are appreciative that something is going easy on the budget.

Sacramento here we come!

We heard on the news that it was foggy in the Sacramento area so we decided to take our time leaving this morning. John took our flat tire up to Les Schwab and got the valve stem replaced. While he was gone, I baked some cookies to take up to the office as our way of saying thank you and goodbye. After John returned, we took our cookies up to the office to say goodbye. Bill once again said he'd put us to work if we'd stick around. We were told to keep them in mind and to stop by again soon. They are a great group of people with a wonderful RV park.

We got on the road around 10:30 a.m. and the fog didn't thicken up until we got to the causeway. We got to Cal Expo around 1 p.m. and started setting up. We had a devil of a time getting our MotoSat to lock on to the satellite. Actually, we had tree trouble. We had to re-hookup and pull forward to try to shoot past the tree. While hooked up to the truck, I got locked on to the satellite. Yea! So we unhooked and started the set-up procedure again. It took the satellite forever to connect. I thought we would have to go into the office to see if we could get another site but finally, we connected. It was now 3:30 p.m. and we were starving as we had breakfast at 7 a.m. and no lunch. John said "let's go to The Kabob House". As always, the hummus and marinated chicken was wonderful. We had a nice visit with the owner, Eli, and got caught up with our respective lives. Eli said that business was pretty slow and that he was working way too many hours. He has a great place and I hope he can weather this recession.

When we got home, I turned on the TV to find that our DirecTv receiver would not turn on. I unplugged the receiver, waited five minutes, and plugged it back in. Still it would not turn on. I fussed with it a little bit more and then called DirecTv for assistance. After a few attempts, it was decided that a new receiver would be sent so we could swap them out. This will be the second receiver we've replaced since October. You can say we aren't a happy DirecTv customer right now. The shame is that we've heard that Dish Tv is just as bad. After dinking with the reset button again, the receiver finally came on and off a couple of times to ultimately die giving us the dreaded 774 message that means its hard drive died. What is it with the electronics today???? Could it be the valley fog???? Thank goodness our TV antennae works so we have TV to watch.