Worship, a hockey game, shopping, steak and a full day's chores

Detroit Red Wings hockey

Sunday  started with church and ended with a steak dinner, so that’s pretty good book ends on any day.

And in the middle we got to watch the nationally televised game between the Detroit Red Wings and the Chicago Blackhawks, which was a pretty good game despite the stinking Blackhawks pulling out a win in an overtime shoot out.

After the end of the hockey game we went shopping and I spent part of my afternoon putting together our new, small gas powered outdoor grill. In case you’ve forgotten, I tried my best to fix our electric grill, which kept popping the ground fault indicator in the trailer. That was not successful.

Joan enjoying a Sunday afternoon

Putting the grill together outside was a good idea because with the neighbors ever present I was able to manufacture some patience even though the instructions (four separate instruction manuals – English, Spanish, French and German) were not very clear. Doesn’t look good to yell when the neighbors are watching.

At one point I dropped some very small screws on my gravel driveway, so I had to spend a few minutes hunting through the gravel for some very important parts.

Monday, March 04, 2013

I spent the night tossing and turning so I didn’t get a good night’s sleep. The trailer was warm for a change (although they are signaling a bad weekend here for rain and cold and then things turn around next week) and I was preoccupied with some major chores I needed to do today.

"As I walked out on the roof of Laredo"

With the poor night’s sleep I still got up and did my morning workout in the fitness center and then headed to Erv’s Equipment Rental to pick up a large ladder so I could get on top of the trailer today as part of the annual maintenance required for the roof.

Joan also went to her Aquacise class and seemed to enjoy it. For a time, because of the location of my ladder she was trapped in the trailer because I had to fold the steps up.

In addition to washing and scrubbing the roof (which includes scrubbing each seal around the stuff sticking through the top of the trailer with mineral spirits) it was also time to wash and wax the entire trailer.

I’m sure many of you would consider washing and waxing a 33-foot, 11-foot high trailer a wonderful thing to do, but it can be very daunting.  It’s like washing and waxing a fleet of cars in one day. Because I’m cheap I wanted to return the 12-foot ladder I rented the same day to save about $12.



Me washing windows on Erv's ladder

So I postponed lunch and worked straight through until I finished the job, which took about five hours.

Up on the roof of the trailer I had to scrub the seals, scrub the entire surface of the roof and then clean the eaves troughs of the gunk and leaves that got wedged in them over the past 9 months. The maintenance on the roof is supposed to be done every six months, but with the weather we’ve had it wasn’t until today I felt I had the perfect day to do it.

That said, I nearly talked myself out of doing it this morning because of the poor night’s sleep, but decided if I didn’t get it done today it might be another week before I had a chance. For one reason I am going on a major hike tomorrow to the Cochise Hang Out in some nearby mountains.

My spanking clean roof

Once the roof was done, I used the ladder to wash and wax the trailer and then again to go around and wash all the windows (yes, I do windows) which had become pretty smudged from the road travel and of course the junky water I poured over the roof in the morning.

Most parks have strict rules against washing, mostly because it costs them money when you use that much water, but the Voyager Park has its own well so they encourage you to use the water as it doesn’t cost them much.

About 3 p.m. I loaded the heavy aluminum ladder back into the Tahoe and drove it back to ol’ Erv who helped me to get it out of the Tahoe. It was a bear getting it in, but much easier getting it out with the help of the worker at the rental place.



Tools of the trade

One thing I noticed today from my high perch on top of the trailer was that three C-130s were circling overhead much of the morning. Eventually there were only two 130’s and then one and then by early afternoon none.

When I went to take the ladder back I saw three new C-130s parked at the boneyard. You can tell they are new because they have not yet been covered to prevent dirt from blowing into the windows and openings. Most of the aircraft at the boneyard are covered with a white plastic material in places where there are openings, but these three 130s were being attended to by ground crews.

From what it looked like they were being retired or permanently stored and it could be the three I saw circling this morning were the same that I saw parked later in the afternoon.

Another view of me on the roof

In my writer’s imagination I wondered if the pilots were just enjoying a little last flight time in a favorite aircraft, but probably more likely they were bleeding off some fuel before the planes were parked for the final time, at least for a while.

It’s kind of sad to see those aircraft just sitting there in the desert. I just wish they could talk and tell me all the places they have been.

Back home after the ladder return, I went to the shower to clean up and then spent an hour on the patio reading my book.

Joan fixed a nice dinner of leftovers and I spent the rest of the night groaning about my aches and pains from my day on the ladder. If I were to do today over I probably would have skipped the morning workout before spending all day on a ladder cleaning the trailer.