Roger: the new Mike Rowe!

It has been a pretty mundane week.  We've been taking long walks, shopping, wrapping, shipping, and doing laundry.  That is until today when Roger did his Mike Rowe impersonation.  It was a dirty job and he volunteered to do it.

As you know RVs have a waste water tank called the black tank. For the two of us it needs to be dumped once a week.  When we were in El Centro Roger dumped it for the first time on this trip but the flush mechanism didn't work.  It sprays water into the tank to wash down the sides and help clean out the waste. We thought it was because the water pressure was so low there that there wasn't enough oomph to get the little sprayer spinning. Well, we got here and it still didn't work despite decent water pressure.  Rog has been fretting about it for a couple of weeks now trying to figure out the problem.  He first tested the check valve which sends the water from outside to the spinner mechanism.  It was working but no water was getting into the tank.  After another few days of ruminating on the issue, he decided to tackle it today.  It took him several hours to dismantle the underside of the RV, trace the water line to the black tank and hope it had a screw on connector.  It did.  He put water in the line and it flowed out.  Hmmm.  Where is the blockage?  Problem is now IN the black tank.  Does he call a repair guy at $100/hr or try to tackle  this gross project himself? Well, he went for it, albeit with trepidation. It turns out that there was "stuff" plugging up the mechanism openings and with some effort, and an old toothbrush, he was able to clean it off enough that water would flow and rinse off the rest.  It was an ugly, dirty job, but he did it! Then he had to reassemble everything, put the undercarriage insulation back on and fasten it back to the frame. It probably saved us several hundred dollars by not calling in a mobile RV repair person.  It's not something Rog wants to tackle ever again and has been reading RV articles this evening on how to prevent the problem from recurring.  His motto is he will try to fix things if he can before calling a repair guy as a last resort.  Mr. Fix-it saved the day again!  Unfortunately, he wouldn't let me take pictures to share with you.  

I took the last of the Christmas packages to the post office this afternoon. There were two lines.  One about 30 people long for the clerks at the counter, and one about 3 people long at the kiosk.  I always use the kiosk if it is working, so getting in that line was a no brainer.  An "older" woman standing in the long line asked if she could mail her stuff at the kiosk.  She had two large envelopes.  I told her that she could but got  "I don't know how to use it" response.  I offered to show her. Immediately three other people of an age that is generally indicated by gray hair, jumped out of the long line into the kiosk line and watched intently as I processed my package.  I then stayed and helped the lady behind me with everyone looking on. When I left I got a hug and a "you're an angel," and "the post office should pay you for helping us."  I am sometimes amazed at how frightened older folk are of trying technological conveniences. Anyway, today's good deed done!  Good karma passed on!

We will be sticking around the 'ole homestead this weekend.  We don't want to be anywhere near the highways or the stores. I'm guessing it's going to be a madhouse. It is supposed to be warm  (low 70s) and sunny (with some Santa Ana winds tomorrow) for the weekend so should get some nice walks with Maggie and some sitting outside time.