RVing- Macerators, Containers and Wardrobe

Okay, enough blogs about family, friends, grandbabies, holidays and such nonsense.... back to RVing!  
We are gearing up for vacation mode- about 7 weeks worth.


NOTE--- TO ANY ROBBERS READING THIS:  OUR NEIGHBOR ON ONE SIDE IS A COP, AND THE OTHER SIDE THEY ARE VERY NOSEY.   AND OUR DAUGHTER IS TAKING CARE OF OUR HOUSE.  WE ARE TAKING ALL OUR VALUABLES WITH US.  NOTHING WORTH ANYTHING LEFT IN HOUSE TO STEAL.  EVEN OUR TVS ARE 10-15 YEARS OLD CRT's .  LOL!



Okay.. back to the motorhome prep.  Steve has been in and out and in and out of the motorhome that is parked out in the driveway.  He is gearing up and prepping.  The oil is changed, everything is lubed, the hub oil is checked, the fluids are all checked. The fuel filters are changed.   I even helped him lift up the bed to do the hard to reach grease zerc on the fan shaft.  Being a king sized bed with a heavy household mattress, it takes two of us to lift it up and set the prop pole.  Some mechanics never bother to find that zerc, or don't even know it exists. Causes huge problems when the fan seizes up and overheats the engine.  I am soooo glad Steve does all of our own maintenance.


Silly guy, he even filled up a 5 gal can of diesel fuel last night at the station and put it in the trunk of the car.
WHY?   I asked.
He said that he will top off our tank of the motorhome with it to bring it right to the top.  
WHY?  again I asked.
He said since we used it last few times for exercise, he figures that we used some.
WHY?  again I asked.
So then, he surmised, that when we take off on vacation with a full tank, those extra five gallons will get us 40+ miles further down the road without having to stop as soon!  

hahahahahhahahaha

(I then reminded him we do have to stop every 200 miles or so to start the Tracker towed behind, 

and run it through it's gears to slosh around the tranny fluid at the proper intervals) 

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Next on the list is a macerator.  For those non-RVers reading this, it's a machine similar to a garbage disposal in a house.   But in RV use, it is attached outside on the drain pipe and it grinds up the poop from the black tank so its able to run through a 1 inch hose and pump uphill or into an otherwise unreachable septic or drain location.  Makes dumping the tanks a much easier endeavor.

We have wanted one for a while and read about them.  Seems many of the RV types are made with plastic blades or less horsepower compared to the Marine grade for boats.  Sooooo  on the advice of our good RV friend Airplane Roger, we shopped for a marine grade one.  Steve bought a Jabsco marine macerator and it should be here in a few days.  He is putting together a series of 1 inch hoses now to have a variety along in a tote for any length needed.

He is a Happy Poop Disposal Man.

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Now for *my thing* ... we were shopping last night at the Clearance Sales in the local Shopko store.  They had these neato containers that are rectangular in shape instead of circular.  Think... on a shelf... flat sides of containers stack next to each other better than cylindrical. So we get more storage and less wasted space.    I bought a set of 8 of these great containers from Gourmet Living.

They have vacuum seal lids by flipping down the little ring type levers on the lids, which create a suction.  We will use the larger ones for flour, sugar, brown & powdered sugar etc.  The smaller ones for coffee, rice, pancake mix etc.  Less cardboard boxes and bags in the cabinets is good to avoid bugs in the south when we go next month.  

These are normally $15-20 a container ---

WHEW!  

But they had an 8 pc set of the sizes I wanted for the mere price of $79.99  

... so that is down to $10 a container.... 

still a WHEW! ---

You know me, a cheapie shopper.  

Well, the set was on sale for only $29.99.  

That comes out to less than $4 a container.  

More in my budget range, teeeheeee

So this afternoon I will go out and play in the motorhome and try out putting these into place.  We can't put in anything that will freeze or attract mice, until the night before we are ready to leave for vacation.  But for now, I can play, can't I ?

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At Shopko, there were such great clearance sales on the men's clothes too.   Steveio has been severely lacking some new clothes.. ya know.. ones without the stains on the front from eating in his chair?  

He didn't get any clothes for Christmas, instead he got an electric chain saw for the motorhome (better than hauling along a gas can, oil and stinky gas chain saw in our clean carpeted storage bins)    He also got a special vice and bracket that slides into the hitch receiver.  Why?  So if he wants to fix something that needs a vice to hold it or bend it or whatever, he won't have a vice on a tool bench like in his garage.  So while in a campground, he can use a vice this way.  Don't ask me, it's what HE put on his list for Santa if he was a Good Boy.   Guess he was, huh?

When we saw the sale signs at 70% off on a lot of clothing, I started pawing through the men's things and found some nice stuff for Steveio.  He was being obstinate about some 100% cotton Tshirts about how the size L fit fine.  But what about after they shrink, I ask?  He would not understand that they would be M once they were washed.  So I swapped them all out to XL when he wasn't looking.  We found him some nice long sleeved solid colored cotton button down shirts too, as he is trying to get away from plaids and stripes now.  We filled the cart.  So he was happy.

Fellow RV blogger Al at The Bayfield Bunch  was just lamenting about how he got hauled into a J.C. Penny by Kelly and before he knew it, he was totally outfitted in new duds too.   So perhaps if we get to meet up with them somewhere out west, he and Steveio can compare wardrobes????

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I read other RVing blogs from folks down in Florida in shorts and Tshirts, I see photos of desert terrain on other blogs about Arizona and on more blogs about the sunny skies in Texas.  Then I look out of my windows at the gloomy grey woods and snow and ice.  

Yes, we need a vacation.  

VACATION – Sunshiny Saturday

Brrrr woke up to 41 degrees outside (that is in F – not C - for our Cannucki friends)   but we were cozy warm in the motorhome with the heater going.  Sunshine streaming in the windows ------  looks like it’s gonna be beeeuuuuutttifffuuulll day!

 

Steveio cooked some of his wonderful thin sliced american fried potatoes and some slices of turkey ham for breakfast, what a treat!  He also fried up some of his leftover red potatoes too.  We ate it so fast, I didn’t have time to take a photo of it!

 


We took a nice walk around the park, to see all the new rigs and tents that came in last night… every site in the park is taken, all 70 of them.   It’s very quiet and peaceful this morning.  Got the coffee perked and the steaming mug here as I write this.   There are also five little cabins that can be rented too… so we snapped a pic of one.  How cute is that?

 

I noticed the wild ferns here are different from those in our part of Wisconsin.

Sam and Donna asked if we brought the dogs, of course!   Here is Duke, enjoying his walk.

Here is Steveio checking out the fish cleaning shack… he doesn’t have a Minnesota license, so he passed on the fishing.  But watching the other guys clean fish was OK too.



After our walk, we decided to just sit around and not do much of nuttin! …. he put out the chairs and we sat in the sunshine and talked about our trip and even dozed off a bit. 

That is how quiet it has been in our campground.   Our solar panels were charging up at full blast, because it was pure sunshine and no clouds for the morning, and in no time we were topped off at 100%.  And here is Duchess (Dumb Ducky)  taking in the rays.



We were talking with a fellow camper, who said there is no dump station in this park, but if you want to dump, you have to drive over to Father Hennipin State Park on the SE corner of the big lake. We decided to check it out to see if we should drive that way when we leave on Monday afternoon (that road was ruff coming here) or go another way.

So we hopped in the Tracker after lunch and drove on over.  WHEW!!!  Talk about packed in like sardines… it was tents and campers and screen houses and kids and toys all over.  In some areas you could not tell where one campsite ended and another started!  The turn into the dump station area was tight, as we were warned.  It had been developed for short travel trailers, not 40 foot long motorhomes towing a car behind!  We decided to forgo this idea and dump somewhere else.  Our tanks are doing fine and we can manage for now. 

On the way back to our quiet, well-spaced. and well thought-out campground, we decided to stop at a small convenience store to pick up three things:

1. a dozen eggs because I wanted to bake some brownies and we don’t buy eggs often due to Steve’s watching his cholesterol
2. french vanilla coffee creamer because I was getting low
3. a half gallon of vanilla ice cream to go with our raspberries from yesterday’s fruit stand.

You might wonder why I am spelling out my shopping list.  Well, being there are no big grocery stores for about 30 miles, we had no choice but to stop at these small touristy expensive ones.  There are NO prices on the shelves.  If you want it, you gotta pay it, I guess.   Sooooo those three things, without knowing how much they cost, were rung up for me.  TWELVE DOLLARS!!!!   That averages out to $4 per item?  WHEW!   Ouch.  And the creamer was only a very small bottle of the *other kind* … I like COFFEEMATE French Vanilla!

On the way back to our campground, we drove past a few interesting things… This is a “resort” with park model mobile homes, and each has a it’s own dock and a place to park the pontoon boats.  There were many of these type *resorts* along this end of the big Mille Lacs Lake.   Evidently the developers of these place dig big channels around in loops and make a farm field into a “resort”— and make 100’s of lots.  Charging those vacation folks from Minneapolis and St. Paul some big bucks to set up a mobile home getaway!  More sardines.

The other thing I found that was hilarious is that they call ice shacks “wheelhouses”   and store them in big fields along the lakeshore.  Being in Minney-soh-tah means ice fishing in the winter, of course, as that state winter pastime.  And having your shack--- er wheelhouse--  located close by the lake is a plus.  So you rent a space in someone’s field for it to sit all summer instead of wheeling it all of the way home?  Either that, or it’s someone’s Cheap Resort?   LOL

We got back to the campgrounds and Steveio lit a fire to cook supper… we had cheeseburgers on the fire, a pan of spicey/cheezy rice and some wonderful wine we had bought when camping with Sharon and Fred up in Lakewood area.

It was called Northern Ice, from Woodland Trails windey in Lakewood, WI

(Kinda looks like a magazine ad, huh?)

After supper we just HAD to have those fresh raspberries!  Over that expensive ice cream--



I have run outta dishcloths for washing dishes, so I am quick knitting up another one.  It’s either that, or stop somewhere to do laundry.  I got halfway done by dinnertime, and kept knitting long after and it might be done for breakfast dishes on Sunday?



Once, I taught my sister to knit these dishcloths.  But she was getting confused as it was getting dark and she also imbibed on a few beers… her dish cloth came out with five sides!   It has finally bitten the dust after all these years, so she needed a new one in time for her vacation that starts next week.  I whipped her one up this past week and put it in the mail to her.  Yes, you guessed it, it also has FIVE SIDES so she can feel at peace with it, being similar to hers.  LOL

We were sitting out around the fire till dark, it got quite cold, and temps were going to dip into the low 40’s here, perhaps even into the 30’s. 

Autumn IS on it’s way… I can smell it in the air!

VACATION - didn't get too far!