Day 38 - Front Porch Projects - Brake Caliper

We are at day 38 now.  Steve is feeling better so we decided we wanted to work on a couple projects.

As I mentioned in my previous blog, I've been thinking about a swing for the front porch. We were debating about building one, and then purchasing the assorted chains, lag bolts, and eyelet rings to mount it to the porch ceiling.

That would have to be done online or with curbside pickup at a big-box store. Steve was thinking about a few alternatives.

Steve was perusing the Facebook Marketplace, and he managed to locate a very interesting porch swing. Most of them are only 48 inches wide but this one was 60" wide!

It looked really interesting because it was made of cypress wood and seemed to have a nice higher back to it. But it had an added feature that I think is really neat. There is a flip-down center section that can be used as a cup holder and a little tray area to set a cell phone or my MP3 player and speakers.

We contacted the sellers and it turns out they have four of them to sell.  It was part of a six-sided swing set deal built around a fire pit in their yard. They had 5 swings and the 6th section was a bar. It was already there when they bought the house, and they really didn't care for it. The swings were located too far back from the fire pit to get any warmth. They decided to disassemble it and sell off the swings one at a time. They are already sold one by the time we got there.

We had hooked up the little trailer on the back of the Tracker and asked ahead of time for social distancing. When we got there they stood well far away from us and we all had on our masks. We had our choice of the four swings still hanging. They were all identical and in beautiful condition. After we took down the one swing we chose, we transferred the cash in a plastic Ziploc set down at a distance for them to retrieve and count out the money. They were asking $200 but we settled on $175.  This included all of the chains, the eyelet lag screws, and the spring suspension devices, all heavy duty.

Their silly little dog JinJin 

decided she wanted to stay on the swing 

and go with us!! Lol

Since we already had the trailer hooked on the back of the Tracker, there was something else I wanted from the Home Depot in Green Bay. It's not often we have the trailer down in the Green Bay area. I had called ahead for a curbside pickup to get a wooden screen door.

I had an idea of buying one to dress up the front screen/storm door combination on our house. We already had one on the the she shed leading out to the doggy potty yard. I ordered from Ebay online these decorative scroll pieces to dress up both doors. They will arrive tomorrow.

We were able to pull up to a designated curbside pickup spot, well marked, at Home Depot. You call inside and there is a gal who takes your order number from online and within one minute flat she had our order on her cart. She wheeled it out to our vehicle. We showed her our ID through the window and told her to leave the cart right where it is. Once she was gone, we were able to get out and load our screen door and strap it down ourselves. Steve also bought a couple extra rolls of screening material to redo the screens on our basement windows.

We headed on home and I got Steve to help me put the porch swing onto the sawhorses in the garage. We removed all of the chains and I got out my handy-dandy little paint roller and a can of exterior primer and semi gloss paint.   See the little flip down section for the cupholders?  What a neato idea. 

Steve removed the screen material from the wooden door frame. That got two good coats of primer and paint as well.  Once the little scrollwork brackets get here, I will paint those up and Steve can drill them into place. It will really dress up the frame I think and make it look adorable.

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I really enjoy these type of projects, and Steve hates painting. So while I was doing my thing, he started his own project in the yard:

Our neighbor pointed out to him that there was a little drain hole that leads out to our curb from some kind of drainage pipe that is buried underground in our yard. The hole is plugged up and nothing has been coming out. He said every time he looks at that hole, it bugs him! Lol... I know his wife reads this blog, so she can tell him I am posting about him. No names attached.

So he came over with a long pole and crammed it in that little drainage outlet and determined that it's all plugged up with mud.

Next, Steveio got his handy dandy shovel and started digging in the yard all along our fence line looking for the other end of that pipe.  Gosh I love that man!

Making various holes as he went along, each time still finding the big PVC drainage pipe, but not the end. He kept going at various intervals, it was easy digging because the ground is so soft.

After digging all the way back to a hundred feet he found the end of the drainage pipe! Yay!

There he found a recessed open chamber buried under the ground that he could put a sump pump into! Wonder of wonders, the previous sellers had left this old sump pump in our garage along with some other pieces of drainage hose. I bet he would sink that pump down in that chamber, and run that extra hose from the big excess water ponds backed up in our yard from spring runoff and heavy rains. Then it gets pumped out to the curb to drain north down our road into the swamp.

(Not into any storm sewer, 

we don't have any of that 

in our section of this road)

Now that Steve is on a mission, he is going to try and force the rest of the mud out of that drain pipe. First he will try our pressure washer. If that doesn't do it then maybe he will try a plumbing snake or a Roto-Rooter device. If that doesn't do it maybe he will have to blast it out with a rented pressurized water jet system??? Who knows. Now he is on a mission to open that pipe up.  LOL

It kind of reminds me of a little boy trying to channel a stream, or build a little sluice or waterway. You know, playing in the mud puddle in a yard, or along the curb. He is determined now to get it figured out, and he is out there right now as I type this.

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We completed another big project the other day. Over the last few weeks Steve has been picking up various broken pieces of brick and broken block from in our woods. It's scattered all throughout the woods. At one time there had been a 30 by 12 building back there which we were told housed a large chicken coop. The cement slab is still there, which our kids used to park their motorhome home on over the winter. Steve figured it was best to haul out all of these bricks and blocks before all of the shrubbery started greening up and leafing out. He collected quite a pile and set them on the slab.

Now to access that part of the yard, our neighbors to the south of us have kindly allowed us to use their driveway to get back there. That way we don't damage a large portion of our own lawn driving around with our Tracker to get in that area.

While all of their vehicles were out of their driveway, one day, it gave us a clear shot to get these blocks and bricks loaded up onto the trailer and haul them to the municipal refuse lot.

Our city has a specific section to bring rubble, block and bricks with no charge. Steve and I loaded up two different loads on our trailer so we didn't overburden it with weight. Each time we pulled in at the city waste yard we unloaded them into the designated section. It sure felt good to get that job done!

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One more job Steve is working on, but waiting for it to warm up a little more, is replacing the one brake caliper on the driver's rear side of the motor home. We had already redone all the brake pads, it's just this one caliper that is hanging up. At the same time he is also going to replace one more brake line that we had an extra made up a while back while we were in New Mexico. He's been meaning to put on that brake line, so now is the perfect time.

He used a new tool to get off the nuts on our semi truck style dual rims. Here is the info from the blog post when he first bought the tool. This is the first time he's had to use it and he said it works really really neat:

I would never deny him the joy of getting more tools. For all of the great work he does on our motorhome and around the house, the more tools the better as far as I am concerned. Look at that happy man!

It's called a Torque Multiplier Tool.  This is used to remove really tight lug nuts that are difficult to remove by road-side efforts in an emergency. Fellow Safari owner Joe Burch suggested Steve get one to keep on board. He also suggested to get the one with an additional Budd Wheel known as a "nut buddy" for removing a specific square nut for dual wheels on our Magnum Chassis built by Safari. Your dual wheel configuration may be different.

Here are close up shots of the box

w/ free shipping from Stark Tools via Walmart online

Once he's all done with the caliper, he will torque the nuts back on as tight as his torque wrench can go. Then we will drive it over nearby one mile to the truck repair place, which happens to be the husband of the realtor who sold us this house.  Then he will get them torqued up properly before we go on the road with it.

Well, I better get outside now and see if he is still digging in the mud.  Maybe I can get him to help me hang the porch swing?  We have to find the proper position to screw in the big lag bolts to hold us up and make our front porch even prettier!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Cooking Stuff and Torque Multiplier Tool

I am going to start off the new year with posting some of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Camping Cooking Stuff:

Yesterday's blog post dealt with the big campfire or grill cooking stuff. Now here are some smaller utensils we found handy or fun. 

If you want more outdoorsy food, 

there is always ''over the fire'' Pudgy Pies! 

These are a camping "staple" food. 

Hint:  We buy only the Minnetonka Toaster cast iron ones (not the aluminum ones, those stick)  I pick them up whenever I see them at rummage sales or thrift shops.  We supply our kids (who all camp as well) and our friends with them as needed.  Once people try a Pudgy Pie, they want a toaster of their own.  Square or round, it's your choice.

 

We use non-stick cooking spray, and also butter the bread. We found if only using real butter, it burns. If you are a margarine person, then it's more oily and can get good results. Using cheap white bread gives the best results, it kinda squishes down and gives a crust-like texture. 

The Pudgy Pies are good for canned apple, blueberry or cherry pie filling, or a jar of pizza sauce with shredded mozzarella cheese and pepperoni, or a ham and cheese sandwich, etc. The sky's the limit! 

Doesn't this apple pie make your mouth water? 

Every camper of course needs some campfire roasting sticks. Great for hot dogs and yes, "Some Mores"! We buy the telescoping ones with wooden handles for the grandkids to use. But we make sure the tips of the metal cool off and nobody is allowed to eat it right off the metal roasting stick.

My sister and her husband bought this for us...  can you believe it? It is a waffle iron for over the campfire!! It works wonderfully, but be sure to spray with non-stick cooking spray between each batch.

Yes, we picked fresh wild Michigan Blueberries. 

What a treat!!!

This next one is a camp cooking item we tried 

and it does NOT work well. 

Do not get me wrong, I love Coleman products. But this one is a flop.  I bought it, and was excited to use it. This is a slow cooker that runs on propane. Touted to be great for picnics, camping or tailgating. Neato, eh?  Well, even on the lowest low, it is still bubbling and boiling too high.  It burns chili, it scalds soup, and it boils over anything else you put in it.

I wrote to the company with my complaint, and they thought perhaps it was defective. They sent me a new burner control knob.  Nope, same thing. They suggested peeling back the little sticker on the control knob and adjusting the built-in regulator set screw. Nope, same thing.  It just cooks too hot.  I gave up and returned it for a refund. 

I will stick with my old $8 Proctor Silex crock pot.  If we are not in an area with an electric hookups, I run the inverter on our solar and battery setup to use it on household 120vAC current.

I know I mentioned cast iron yesterday. I keep a small 6 inch skillet in my cabinets. I whip up a little blue box of Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix. This is used a baking pan in the oven, not on the stove top burner.  Follow package recipe and soon you will have mouthwatering golden Johnny Cake. The cast iron creates crispy edges and then top it with a dab of butter.

We recently updated our motorhome to include a propane oven, in addition to the original convection microwave.  Here are two links if you would like to read more about the big project: 
Propane RV Oven part one
Propane RV Oven part two

I LOVE LOVE LOVE having a propane oven and 4 burners now! 

I should mention Steve's favorite cooking utensil.  Bet you have seen these in the old days, eh? He loves his popcorn and makes it over the propane stove. The local Fleet Farm store still sells these.  He has worn a few out over the years. I think one of our kids gave him this current red one for his birthday. Good thinking.

My favorite utensil inside is my vintage Pyrex Flamethrower Coffee Pot! 

It brings back fond memories of my childhood. We always had this perking every morning when I was a kid. I fondly recall early mornings in the darkened kitchen when my mom would start this up. 

...The blue flames of the propane stove licking up around the edges of the glass pot

...The first few burps of water bubbles up the clear glass stem as it came to a boil

...The caramel colored swirls that come drifting down into the clear water underneath the basket.  ahhhhhhh!

We perk the coffee in the glass pot and then transfer it to an insulated carafe to bring coffee out under the awning and sip a morning cup outdoors. I can start up a second pot on the stove while still sharing this carafe with coffee-klatsching neighbors. I bring out a basket of fresh baked muffins. They all wander over to our campsite, noses sniffing the air, with an empty coffee cup in hand. LOL! 

I am also a pressure cooker using person.  We have a vintage metal stove top one we keep in the rig for making quick meals, tender ribs, or wonderful beef roasts.  It is a great way to cook on the stove top with propane. It sure is handy.

But in keeping up with modern times. we just recently started using an electric pressure cooker in the house. We liked it so much we bought a bigger electric one for the house, an 11 quart size, and we moved the 8 quart electric one to the motorhome.  We like this brand the best, because the inside cooking liner is stainless steel, not a teflon-like non-stick surface that can peel or chip.  We got it on Amazon and it's called Go-Wise USA.  You can get it in various sizes, but remember, electric pressure cookers should only be filled up about 1/2 to 2/3 full, not to the top or it can boil up and clog the relief valve or make a mess. So bigger is better. 

We use it when we are on electric hookups or if we are boodocking and running the generator for short periods of time. It does consume about 1000watts, so we don't run it off our solar. The meals are prepared quickly in the pressure cooker, so in 15 or 20 minutes the meal can be completely done. I won't post any recipes, because you can google for a zillion of them.  Here is a luscious pot roast that makes my mouth water. 

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This motorhome item is listed out of alphabetical order 

because it just happened.

Here is a NEW TOY Steve just got in the mail yesterday!!!

I would never deny him the joy of getting more tools. For all of the great work he does on our motorhome and around the house, the more tools the better as far as I am concerned. Look at that happy man!

It's called a Torque Multiplier Tool.  This is used to remove really tight lug nuts that are difficult to remove by road-side efforts in an emergency. Fellow Safari owner Joe Burch suggested Steve get one to keep on board. He also suggested to get the one with an additional Budd Wheel known as a "nut buddy" for removing a specific square nut for dual wheels on our Magnum Chassis built by Safari. Your dual wheel configuration may be different.

Here are close up shots of the box

Price was $97.99 on clearance for $49.98

w/ free shipping from Stark Tools via Walmart online

We are dark and gloomy here all morning, but then these soft light fluffy snowflakes started to fall!  It is so pretty!!!  Too bad we are going to only get less than an inch.  

We could use a fresh coat of snow to cover up the all the brown and grey winter dreariness!

I was upstairs sewing when suddenly Steveio came back home. I heard him unlock the door and come in as the dogs raced downstairs to attack the "intruder".  What great alarms, eh? It gives them some excitement for the day?

His unexpected return was because one of his transport patients cancelled their appointment today, (without calling the ARDC county office to let Steve know) so it was a waste of driving, gas and employee time to go to their nursing home. That really throws off the schedule.  But with Steve living close to the courthouse base station, he can just clock out and come back home until his next pickup time this afternoon.  Sure wish these nursing homes would call back if there is a cancellation, instead of wasting county resources and time.  ARGGHHHH

But the silver lining is that he cooked up a nice omelet brunch for us, and we enjoyed the rest of the morning together before he has to leave again.