Tire Minder TPMS - Early Birthday Present For Me

We got a few things in the mail on Saturday. 

A special package came early in the mail for my birthday! Steve and I have decided to start buying our presents for our special holidays to gear them along the line of things we really NEED rather than trying to surprise each other. 

For years, we had a really nice Hopkins brand from N-vision tire pressure monitoring system, known as TPMS for our motorhome and toad. Although it worked really well, the sensors only had built-in batteries that could not be changed. Every year or so we were buying a few new sensors at about $50 a piece! They would only last 2 or 3 years. It was getting kind of crazy. 

We did some research on the brands of monitoring systems that had replaceable batteries.  We decided on the Tire Minder system which had good reviews and priced in a range we were willing to pay. So we got rid of that old Hopkins system this spring and kept our eye out for the Tire Minder to go on sale. 

We mostly liked the idea of replaceable batteries. Just the easy cheap lithium 1632 disc batteries is all that is needed to put in the sensors. We had kept an eye on one model for a while, waiting for it to go on sale. Finally it went to just about 20% off on Amazon. So we got a complete setup for 10 Tires for only $379.00. Normally it is $469.00 for this model.

Amazon link:

TireMinder Smart TPMS with 10 Transmitters

Everything included in the kit including a signal booster to wire in near the rear of the motorhome to help amplify the signal from the rear tires as well as from the tires on the Saturn being towed behind. It includes a charger cord, an extra set of batteries, extra set of o-rings, and of course the main bluetooth unit itself and 10 sensors and even a handy dandy carrying case. Oooh and a Tire Minder Sticker!  wheeeee

Here are one of the sensors in my hand. They have the replaceable 1632 batteries inside and they can be locked onto your valve stems so nobody can come by and take them off again.

The programming is really easy with the app loaded onto our phones. The system is a lot handier to use than our old system. Plus you can disconnect either the motorhome or the Saturn from the screen if you are using only one vehicle or the other and not both together. 

Steve and I set it up yesterday in just a few minutes. Either or both of our phones will be able to monitor the tires as we drive, as well as putting the app on a tablet if we want it stand alone on the dash. So there are a lot of options to the system and we are quite relieved that we finally have a tire pressure monitoring system back on the rig. We just put brand new tires this spring, we have been running most of the summer without a tire pressure monitoring system and it has made me very nervous. 

A tire pressure monitoring system is very important especially when towing a vehicle behind, the driver cannot feel or see if suddenly having a tire problem. Our old tire pressure monitoring system has saved our butt TWICE. One time we had a tire low on the Tracker towing it behind and it gave us the warning before it totally lost all of the air, due to a puncture. Another time, the tire pressure monitoring system gave us a warning on an inner dually wheel on the motorhome that we would have never known was low, due to a bad leaking valve core in the stem. 

If you've ever been through a horrible blowout on a motorhome driving 60 miles an hour on an interstate (like we were in our old Coachman), we realize that we really do need a tire pressure monitoring system to be safe!

So when we were debating about what we should get for my birthday, the first thought in my head was to get the Tire Minder!  Happy Birthday To Me!  (not till the end of the month) 

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Yesterday, I was walking past the flowerbed between the She Shed and the garage. I happened to notice this crazy clematis plant is now blooming! This is after two heavy frosts in the middle of October, believe it or not. I planted this tiny clematis wayyyy back in the spring and it never grew much more than about 12 inches out of the ground. I wound the tendrils up this lattice and they just never went anywhere. I kind of forgot it even existed because I stopped watering all of my plants as of mid September. There was no need to water things that were going to be dying off anyhow as soon as we had frost. So I kind of ignored it. Suddenly I looked at it, and it has grown way up over 5 ft tall and I have all these beautiful purple blossoms!!!  I hope it comes back and does even better next year. 

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This morning was kind of icky damp and rainy, but not quite snowing. The temperatures are in the mid-30s and it's quite cold. I decided to work a little bit more on my quilt and do a couple more swaths back and forth.

I just love the way it's turning out and these

 Hooks and Swirls

 really dress it up.

The machine is running smoothly and everything is going along just fine (knock on wood). I don't want to tempt fate by saying that. But I do see that I'm getting rather low on the variegated thread. I probably have enough on here to do a couple more swaths back and forth ---  each swath across is about 7 to 8 inches deep by the full width of the quilt.

ACK!!!!   HALT to my quilting! 

Got to go get more of this particular variegated thread

after the Packer Game today. 

Luckily I saved the label

 so I can get the exact same color

 when I go back to the fabric store.

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While I was working on the quilting today, Steveio went back out into the garage to work on his "A-Door-ble" door. He has one side in pretty good shape already. The heat gun is working well to remove the old layers of paint and varnish. 

And now he started the other side.

 Keeps him busy and out of trouble.

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Got something else in the mail that was kind of funny. I got my acceptance of Social Security and on the exact same day I also got an application to join AARP! Boy oh boy do they ever have that planned?

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And the last special thing we got in the mail were our new eyeglasses. Yep, we're getting old and our eyes seem to change more often. Just about every year now we go back and get our eyes tested locally. They don't change much, just a little bit. We get our prescription and pupil distance measurements and then head over to the internet. 

We go through Zenni Optical online and upload our prescriptions. We have both been wearing the same exact pair of glasses frames every year for the past 4 or 5 years. The frames are $6.95 and the no line bifocal progressive lenses are $27.95.  At only $34.95 a pair complete, it's a good deal. Plus this time we opted to order prescription sunglasses at the same price, instead of using the clip on sunglasses. 

They came in the mail and they fit perfectly and they are exactly what we needed. Mine didn't change much but things are just a little crisper and clearer on the bifocals than they were before. Steve's are a huge difference because his old glasses get pretty pitted up and marked up with the things he does. But for only $35 a pair, it's not too bad to replace them every year for a fresh pair.

Link to Zenni Optical

https://www.zennioptical.com/

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Saturday just kept getting better and better!!! My older brother was on his way back from all of his medical tests in Green Bay... he is cancer free again!!!! Only one more year of tests and he should be considered completely in the clear from prostate and bladder cancer.  Whew!!! He stopped by just in time for dinner.  We had such a nice visit.  

Time to get this checked over for errors and then post it. The Packer Game will be on in 15 minutes. Let's hope they do better than last week!!!