June 29th - Still HOT!!!

Yesterday we went to town for a few supplies but I didn't do much beyond that. The news last night reported that yesterday was the hotted June day ever recorded in the area. Temps were reported as being between 106-108 depending on to whom you were listening.

This morning we got up early and did more tree/bush trimming. It was around 10 when I unloaded the truck. The temperature was 90. It is currently 100 and still on its way up.

By the time I unloaded the truck and did a few small odd jobs I was done for the day. I took a shower to cool down and rested until lunch.

After lunch we headed for Kelsey and Andy's. Kathy is helping Kelsey fix food things for the get together after Lydia's dedication on Sunday.

In case you have picked up on it from previous posts, the weather in Missouri SUCKS!!! It has now been over 100 degrees for at least 3 days in a row and the high are forecast to be over 100 degrees on Saturday and Sunday. For Saturday through Thursday there are two days when the high is forecast to only be in the 98 & 99. Every other day is forecast to be over 100. No rain in the forecast.

I am thankful for air conditioning. Without it I would have been headed north and not stopped until I approached the Canadian border.

Hope all who read this are also in an air conditioned space if you are in this heat wave. May God bless you and yours.

June 27th - 103 Degrees!!!!

It was hot today but praise God the humidity was low. It did get down into the 60's last night. No more 60's in the forecast. Highs are forecast to be above 100 degrees for the next two days.

We worked outside this morning. Kathy used the chainsaw to cut down more of the bamboo while I did more weed eating. She didn't cut down as much as she did yesterday but we still had a decent truck load to haul back to the brush pile. I went through another tank of gas in the weed eater.

Kathy went to town to get prescriptions refilled, etc. I mowed the lawn. Boy do I miss my John Deere! The 54" deck would be way to big for here but it was 10 times as good a mower as this Craftsman. We don't actually have that much lawn to mow. My guess is that we will spend twice as much time "weed eating" as we will mowing.

The grounds around the house are starting to look decent. Once we get some type of small trailer we can start picking up all the trash wood that has been thrown on piles here and there. Another couple of mornings, after we get the small trailer, and the area around the house would be done. The area outside, and behind, the circle drive is another story. A couple of weeks and we might get it in shape. The same with the area around the "barn". And then there is the area around the pond, and the area around the lagoon and.....

The next two photos are the "front" yard. I took them while standing on the front porch. There is a circle drive around this section of lawn. April did some watering to keep this grass relatively green.

Left side.

Right side.

The following two photos were taken from the back deck. The first one is of the "upper" back yard. In the distance is the driveway that goes out to the highway, going to the right to get to the highway. The dry weather has taken its toll on this grass.

 Below is a photo of the pond plus part of the "lower" back yard. We know there are still fish in the pond because we occasionally see them "rolling."

Time for supper.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 24th - More Trimming

We got up early, at least early for us, and did more yard work. The "back yard" has lots of bamboo like plants. Kathy wanted to cut them back drastically so she worked on them with our electric chainsaw. They were to big to cut down with the weed eater but almost to small for the chainsaw.
This is a "before" photo of the bamboo patch outside the door out of the downstairs kitchen/dining area.

 This is the after photo of the area. While she was running the chainsaw I ran 2 tanks of gas through the weed eater. I didn't even get completely finished on the lower lawn.

 We then loaded the bamboo in the truck, hauled it back to the brush pile and unloaded it.

After we got the truck unloaded we took showers and Kelsey and Lydia came over at 11:00 to take us to Columbia, it is about 45 miles to Columbia. Kelsey drove so that I didn't have to take the tool box out of my truck. Also, her truck is the MegaCab while mine is only the smaller 4 door cab.

We had a good lunch at Fuddruckers in Columbia. Then we bought an air compressor and a couple of rakes at Lowes before going to Sam's. At Sam's we bought a bed frame and an inexpensive mattress and box spring.

Having Kelsey drive us around is quite nice. It gives Kathy a break <grin>. My nap on the way home from Columbia was refreshing. Lydia napped the entire trip.

Once we arrived home Kelsey helped us unload. I set up the air compressor and got it running. I added air to the mower tires so we think we are now ready to mow. Still LOTS of weed eating to do.

Kathy took a short nap while I was doing that and then went into the house to work on it. She wanted to re-vacuum the bedroom before we put the bed together. I'm not sure what else she is doing.

Tomorrow the carpet cleaners are supposed to come. They are cleaning the downstairs carpet. The master bedroom carpet doesn't look like it needs cleaning and it is the only carpet in the upstairs.

It is a little after 6 right now and the temperature is 93. It is supposed to get down into the low 60's tonight, it better start dropping soon. Tomorrow's high is supposed to be 99. We better get up early if we are going to continue the year work.

Good  night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 25th - Tree Trimming

I did more tree trimming today. This pickup load came from the cedar tree in the foreground. Previous to today I already carted about half this much stuff to the burn pile, from this tree and the area around it. I think one more load from this tree, cutting off the branch/trunk on the right, and I will be done with it. I cut off the branch/trunk on the left with the 14" electric chain saw we bought recently. It worked fine.

I also worked with the house water softener today. There was no salt in the brine tank when we arrived at the house. I got a bag and put it in the brine tank, only put a single bag in because once I'm sure everything is working properly I want to take the brine tank outside and clean it. After about two hours of putzing around with it I finally got the valve out of the bypass position. I called the local Culligan man, it is a Culligan softener, to find out why the valve seemed frozen. He told me it was probably mineral deposits and that I should use the handle end of a hammer to knock it free. It worked.

This was the same guy who gave me a good deal on replacement resin for the softener we use for the RV. I made an appointment to have one of his technicians come out to check the reverse osmosis water filter, and replace filters as necessary. I want to watch someone do it the first time.

I tried compacting the dirt around the hydrant that was repaired yesterday. I succeded in getting it to leak again. Carl and his buddy came over this afternoon and working on it for another 1-2 hours. We left the hole open this time. I will check it tomorrow to see if it still appears to be leak free.

After putting gas in the lawn tractor it started. I had been unable to get the oil filler cap off to check the oil but managed to loosen it today. I was very pleasantly surprised to see that it was full of clean oil. Carl loosened up the brake linkage while he was here today and drove it a short distance. As soon as I get an air compressor, or air tank, to add air to the tires we should be ready to mow.

It only got to 93 today. Right now, 8:30 PM, it is clear down to 87. The highs the next four days are forecast to be 90, 99, 104 & 104. Still no rain in the extended forecast.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.



June 24th - HOT!!! - Plumbing Repairs

It made it to 100 degrees today, according to Weatherbug. At 8:45 it is still 96.

Yesterday when we got here I noticed that the frost proof hydrant by the barn was dripping. I played with it a little but couldn't get it to stop dripping. I noticed that it was loose in the ground and looked like it had been hit. It was only dripping so it wasn't high on my priority list.

This morning I got up early and when I stepped out of the RV I stepped in mud. The hydrant had leaked a lot during the night. I looked for a shut off valve but could not find one. I then looked in the electrical panel to find the breaker for the pump. None of the breakers are marked. Kathy had the idea of standing by with pressure tank while I turned breakers on and off to find the one that started the pump.

After shutting off the pump I dug up the hydrant and then turned the pump back on to see if what else I could find out. By the time I got back out by the barn the hole was full of water. We went to town and bought a new hydrant and pipe wrenches, mine are in Tennessee. After we returned home I enlarged the hole so that it was large enough to detach the existing hydrant. I got the old hydrant off and realized that the guy at the hardware store had given me a fitting that would not fit the new hydrant, so back to Jefferson City for more parts. I also picked up some bags of sand so that I could backfill the hole with sand, instead of the clay and rocks I had removed, in case I had to dig it up again.

I had let my tools lay in the sun and when I returned they were so hot I couldn't hold them. I finally got the new hydrant installed and had Kathy turn the pump back on. Water sprayed out of the fitting where the plastic pipe clamped over the ribbed fitting that screwed into the elbow that attaches to the hydrant. ( I had not taken this fitting apart.) By then I was getting pretty disgusted/discouraged.

Earlier Kathy had called Carl, and left a message, asking if there was a shut off for the outside hydrants that are around the property. Shortly after finding the leaking clamped fitting he called back to and told us that there is no shut off. He also told us that they guy he loaned the skid steer to had backed into the hydrant and damaged it. They thought they had it fixed. He said he would call the guy and have him come fix it. Less than a half hour later the guy and a buddy of his showed up. They took the leaking fitting apart, cut off a few inches of the plastic line and reconnected it. No leaks. The guy was very apologetic about not getting it fixed right after he had hit it. Carl was supposed to tell me that it had been hit and give me this guys phone number so that I could call him if it still leaked, but he forgot.

It was around 3 PM, and hotter than heck, by the time we finished partially refilling the hole. We only filled it part way so that I could pack it more tomorrow before finishing filling it.

Kelsey, Andy and Lydia came for supper. We enjoyed their company for the couple of hours that they were here.

Tomorrows high is only supposed to be 92, 8 degrees cooler than today. On Tuesday the high is supposed to be clear down to 87. After that the highs for the rest of the week are 98, 101, and then 100 on Friday. No rain in sight.

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 23rd - Parked at Home

We were parked in the driveway of our new home by 9:30 this morning.

We are connected to 50 amp electrical service. We have a water hydrant is within 15' of our water connection. Dumping the waste tanks, probably won't happen but once, will be a little of a challenge but I think we can back down in front of the house and dump into the lagoon. One of the better wastewater systems in Missouri is a lagoon, so we have been told. They look like a nasty pond. All the wastewater from your house goes directly into the lagoon. They are not supposed to smell, most of the time, and are supposed to be better than septic tank and drain field systems.

We will live in the RV, but shower in the house until we get back from TN with stuff. We also need to get a stove and refrigerator. We will probably order them online since they are so much cheaper. Kathy has been shopping for bedroom furniture but hasn't found anything she likes yet.

She helped me a outside for awhile this morning and then continued house cleaning. I spent about 3 hours cutting weeds, and dragging the weeds and brush that we had previously cut, back to the the burn pile. We have stopped burning because it is so dry.

Kathy took a "dip" in the hot tub this afternoon. She has the temperature turned down so she said if felt more like being in a jetted pool.

It was hot and humid today and tomrrow it is going to be HOT. Today it only got to 91. The high is forecast to be 98 tomorrow. Next Thursday it is supposed to be 100 degrees, however next Tuesday the high is only supposed to be 86. I never thought I would look forward to a day with a high of 86 <grin>. It is now after 7 PM and the temp is still 90. PRAISE GOD FOR AIR CONDITIONING!

Good night to all and may God bless you and yours.

June 22nd - WORK Day

We worked at the house today. Kathy cleaned and I cut more brush. I burned what I cut today as well as some of the stuff we cut clearing the driveway. I also got the outlet hooked up so that we have full electric when we take the motor home there tomorrow. That doesn't seem like much when I write it, but it was enough to make be dead tired.

We won't have a level place to park the motor home, there aren't any level places on the 5 acres, except those that have been regraded. I had hoped to move a portion of a loose stone retaining wall today, so that I could ask Carl to use his skid steer to level an area large enough for the motor home. I just flat ran out of energy.

Anthony, Doug, Kelsey & Lydia went to the Amish grocery store in the morning. It is about 10 miles from Kelsey's.  The brought us peaches, tomatoes and smoked cheese.

We met them at Moose Brothers, in Russellville for lunch. We totally pigged out! I had a breaded tenderloin and Kathy had the hamburger special. Both came with onion rings but we ended up ordering two baskets of mushrooms for "appetizers." The baskets area huge. Kelsey ordered some type of "wrap". I think she was the only one who ate all of hers. Kathy and I had at least a quarter of our sandwiches left, plus some of the onion rings. We brought our left overs home but we were to tired to eat them when we got here. I ended up eating an orange, part of a peach and a chunk of cheese for supper. I think Kathy ate a peach and some cheese.

I haven't tried the tomatoes but the peaches and cheese are really good. Thanks you guys!

Doug and Anthony are on there way back to Indianapolis. By now they are probably already in Indiana.

Tomorrow we move the motor home to the house.

Good night to all. May God bless you and yours.