This morning we woke up to see a beautiful sunrise, too bad the city is in the way. Decided to take a couple of shots because in a blink the colors were gone.
We can’t wait to be somewhere to see the sunrises unobstructed by city. Soon…
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, florida, full time rv, sunrise | | No Comments»
This morning we woke up to see a beautiful sunrise, too bad the city is in the way. Decided to take a couple of shots because in a blink the colors were gone.
We can’t wait to be somewhere to see the sunrises unobstructed by city. Soon…
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Florida | Tagged With: christmas, christmas lights, decorations, florida, lights, st pete, st petersburg | | No Comments»
Wow…St. Pete has a house that could outshine the Griswalds. Our friend Pug Baker told Robert about the house, so we decided to visit it last night. The homeowners started a modest light display in 1977 and boy has it grown! Three electric meters are needed to handle the power of over 500,000 lights.
When you get to the street, you are greeted by some nice people directing traffic. They give you a little card talking about the display and direct you to where you can park. They encourage you to park and walk through the display to see all the details, as it’s not only lights, but numerous displays and scenes set up by the homeowners.
We walked through their 1/2 acre property and saw numerous inflatables, a stuffed animal zoo, a singing snowman, a fiber-optic forest, and model train cities…just to name a few. They seem to get a lot of visitors each night and their display runs to January 3rd. If you are in the area, it’s worth a look. At least visit their website http://www.christmasdisplay.org/.
Hope you enjoy as much as we did. Merry Christmas!!
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Florida | Tagged With: boat, boat parade, christmas, christmas lights, decorations, florida, indian rocks beach, parade | | No Comments»
Rob Havey's photo of Dave & Helen's boat
Even though it’s warm down here in Florida, the holiday spirit is in the air. Our good friends Hippie and Blondy (aka Dave & Helen) invited us on their boat as they participated in the Indian Rocks Beach Boat Parade Saturday night. Ann, Scott and Andy joined us on this three hour tour…yes at least a three hour tour.
It was a beautiful night for a lighted boat ride. We went in every little finger around Indian Rocks beach where everyone in the town could view the parade from their back yards. We took several pictures and many of them weren’t too bad considering the low light conditions and we were on a moving boat. The only picture we didn’t capture was Hippie and Blondy’s boat. Thank goodness for others on shore that took some great shots and posted on Facebook.
We blasted Brian Setzer’s Christmas album. We kept repeating it over and over as that was the peppiest album we had on hand. The song of the night seemed to be Jingle Bells…”He’s Dashing!!!” We all had a great time. Even though Andy doesn’t want to admit it, we know he had fun too.
Congrats to Hippie and Blondy as they won 2nd place for their boat. Also thanks to them for including us as they get us out and about to experience new and exciting things!!
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing, Tips | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, insulation, rv living, winterizing | | 1 Comment»
We picked up some self-sealing pipe foam insulation and foil back pipe wrap insulation to go around as many water lines as we can get to. The exposed lines are under our slide out in the storage bay. First, we cut the self-sealing pipe foam insulation to fit around the exposed water lines. Then we cut strips of the foil back pipe wrap insulation for a second layer. We wrapped it in such a way to have about ¼ inch overlap. We secured it with foil tape. Last, we secured the insulated lines with zip ties.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Florida, Full-timing | Tagged With: bikes, christmas, florida, indian rocks beach, parade | | 1 Comment»
Today was Indian Rocks Beach’s Parade. We don’t even live in Indian Rocks Beach, but we participated and had a wonderful time. Our close friends Dave, Helen, and Nikki live in IRB and asked us to join them in the parade as the homeowner’s association participated with a posse of decorated bikes.
We took time earlier in the week and decked out our bikes. We were the talk of the RV park. Anyone that walked by would ask us what we were up to. We also got several comments when we would ride around the park decorated all in tinsel. It was fun.
This morning we loaded up our bikes and made our way to IRB. We watched Helen and Nikki decorate their bikes, then we all met up with the rest of the IRB Homeowners Association gang. What a time we had. The parade route went through all the little side streets of town. It was the first parade we’ve ever participated in where not only candy was thrown out, but dog biskets. There were more dogs with thier owners along the route than kids with their parents.
The ride in all was a little over 12 miles and by the end we were famished. We peddled our way to the Red Lion for drinks and dinner. After stuffing ourselves, sunset was calling us, so we walked across the street to relax on the beach. The day was hot and sunny, and beach was relaxing and peaceful, as the sun fell slowly from the sky. A perfect ending to a fun day with the wonderful people of IRB.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, rv living, splendide washer dryer | | No Comments»
It didn’t take long for our $52 part to come. I happened to be out running errands for work when the delivery arrived. Robert was so anxious to get in installed, it was done before I came home. What a wonderful surprise, but I was hoping that he would have taken pictures of the repair to post. Oh well, it is amazing to have our washer working again.
It’s amazing how much easier the installation is with instructions. I’m glad that we pretty much were able to open and remove the door without damaging anything before the instructions arrived. The main thing that we should have done that we didn’t was UNPLUG the power cord from the outlet. Probably good advice for anyone, and we just happened to not be thinking at the time.
Robert did figure out how to open the door by wedging a flat head screwdriver into the gap between the broken handle and the door hook. He was able to push on the screwdriver to loosen the door while I held the door and pulled it open. Then he removed the door by removing the screws in the hinge. We did this all the night of my unfortunate accident.
When the new door handle came in, all he had to do was remove the door pin out of the handle by rocking needle nose pliers back and forth. Then he assembled the new handle by placing the latch in the handle and rest the spring on the latch. Then he lowered the door ring onto the new handle. He aligned the ring, the spring, and the latch, then drove the pin through the latch. He then used a small screwdriver to align the latch, spring and ring on the other side and drove the pin the rest of the way through. He then reattached the door ring to the rest of the door assembly and reattached the door to the machine.
We’d have to say, we had a good experience with the Splendide company and are very pleased that we could do the repair ourselves. I’d be curious to know about any of your experiences with do-it-yourself repair on your washer. Did you have good luck with the company? How was their customer service?
Now every time I use the washer, Robert reminds me about the sticker he put on the washer (came with the repair kit) that reads: “IMPORTANT This door locks DURING ALL CYCLES and STAYS LOCKED up to 2 minutes after the cycle ends. DO NOT attempt to open this door until the Status/Door Lock lamp blinks SLOWLY.”
I think I’ve learned my lesson, but I guess I still have several weeks of teasing from Robert left.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing, Wiener Tales | Tagged With: dachshund, full time rv, rv living, traveling with dogs, wiener, wiener dog | | No Comments»
The last few days, the poor wiener dogs have been couped up. Robert and I were out for several hours both last Friday and Saturday night. Then Sunday through Tuesday, we haven’t had much of a chance to get the dogs out but just walks around the RV park.
When we lived in a house, the dogs had it made, all we had to do was open the door and they had their run of the fenced in backyard. They would spend hours in the yard, chasing each other, or just soaking up the sun.
I feel bad for them that they always have to be on a leash and they don’t have the freedom they used to. Since we’ve moved into our RV at the first of October, Robert and I try to get them out of the house several times a day. I think we walk those dogs more than anyone else walks their dogs in the neighborhood. It’s not only good for them to get out and walk, but it is also good for us.
Today the weather finally turned cooler and Robert and I knew the dogs needed a nice long walk. At about 6 p.m., we loaded the three dogs into the Jeep and was off. We ended up on the outer road of the Courtney Campbell Causeway. The dogs and I were off for our walk. Those guys were so excited and just kept pulling me along. I let them so that they could get worn out. Robert took a few pictures then he drove the Jeep to meet up with us. I let him pull out in front of us and the dogs kept pulling harder, so I started jogging. Oh my, I am not a runner. Those dogs probably could have ran a mile or more at full speed, which is saying a lot for their little legs. Me, on the other hand, no way.
They were so cute, their tails up and noses going. Now, back at home, they are nice and tired. Robert and I enjoy these outings so much better when the heat and humidity isn’t so oppressive. No matter what though, it is important to plan many more outings that include the dogs when you live in such a small space.
Sunset walk on Courtney Campbell Causeway
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, full time rv, rv living, splendide washer dryer | | 1 Comment»
The other night, Robert went off to work and I planned to do some office work and hang out with the dogs. I decided to do a load of laundry while I worked. All was fine and dandy, the washer was doing it’s thing. I had set it not to dry as I was going to take the load to the RV Park’s laundry to dry faster. The Splendide washer/dryer combo units are wonderful to have in the RV, but the cycles seem to take forever, especially drying heavier fabrics like jeans. The wash cycle was done and that was when things went sour.
I was sure the cycle was done, but apparently not…as I tried to open the door, the lock was still engaged and off came the handle! I was just standing there staring at the washer with the broken handle in my hand. How on earth was I going to get the laundry out? Oh, no…how on earth was I going to tell Robert? After all, we haven’t even lived in the RV full-time a month yet and I’ve already broken something.
I just felt sick. My stomach was in knots. I was angry with myself more than anything. I went ahead and set the dryer setting so that the wet clothes could have a chance to dry. I hated to have wet clothes just sit in there just in case it would be a few days before we could get them out. I did my office work and tried not to beat myself up over it.
Robert finally came home at about midnight after a good gig at Indian Shores. After he had a chance to relax a bit, I broke the news to him. He didn’t get angry at all; he simply looked at the situation and was puzzled at how to get the clothes out. After assessing the situation a bit, with a screwdriver in hand and some elbow grease, success…the door was opened. The door face was held together with just a few screws, so he went ahead and removed them so that we wouldn’t have to worry about the door locking again. He had to remove the glass window in the process, but the door back is still on the hinges.
Ring on door removed showing broken door handle.
Door face and glass have been removed.
He got online and found everything he needed to know about the machine on Splendide.com. He figured out the part number and the following day we called the service center. Fifty-two dollars later, we have a new little plastic handle on its way. When we get it I’ll post how we install it.
By Gayla & Robert
Filed Under Around Home, Full-timing | Tagged With: alfa, alfa seeya, camping, full time rv, rv living | | No Comments»
Our little friend hung out with us while Robert cooked on the grill.