Tuesday, June 25, 2019

So today like any project day in Yuma AZ during the summer, the day starts a little early. Mine started at 4 am by finishing my research looking up spec’s on window ac units sold locally.

As our home was purchased from a couple that never spent the summers here in the park, they had never installed climate controlling fixtures in the Arizona Room (AR). I had a vent installed attached to the bedroom leg of the heat pump ducting. But this was not providing the airflow needed to keep the room as cool as we would like.

A quick little course on Arizona Room structure and the work around they can provide. Here in Yuma as well I am sure to some degree in other counties/cities a room addition requires permits. But reading the fine print there are quite a few requirements needed to be met for an addition to be installed.

The largest of which is the space requirement of the lot size that can be developed. As all Resorts we have looked at have roughly the same size lots, one would never be able to meet the lot size requirements to add the Arizona Room onto an existing Park Model. So now that you understand that catch 22, I will go on to explain the work around.

What you can do to add an Arizona Room without breaking the law is to build it to room addition spec’s but the outside wall structure must be built with a heavily calculated ratio of window to wall as well as an outside exit door. So basically you are building a inclosed heavy duty pouch with the window and door requirements meeting the required addition specifications.

Now the practicality, all works well as we use our AZ Room as our dining room, storage, computer areas and a 1/2 bath. But as you may have guessed the windows create a bit of a heat buildup issue. Even with their being double pain when the temps get into the 100+ degs you need adequate relief. Of course you put reflective insulation on them over the summer months something like one does in Mn with plastic on the windows in the winter.

But this room/rooms is a 10’x18’ area with one divider wall so keeping the air both cool and evenly distributed has proven to be a bit of a task. So today I with box cutter in hand to remove the silicone seal that had been put around the outside, on one of the windows, and with pry bar at the ready, along with a few choice words while working very slowly I freed and removed the bottom section of one of the 48” windows without breaking anything. Big Win!

Now as mentioned I have researched for many hours and planed what I needed and which window ac unit I was going to buy. So much so that Cindy and I even spent part of the day yesterday looking at ac units. Well with the window now functioning normally I closed it again and was off to purchase the ac unit of choice. One that met the BTU requirement for the room and that could be modified to fit my install requirements. A special note here is in order. They do not make window ac units that fit nicely in 48” wide windows, and as you would not in this environment expect the side aprons to be uninsulated I planed to make the install and build the insulated side panels myself.

Ok so off to the store to pick up my chosen ac unit. Wait, store one was out of the unit I had looked at just yesterday, as well as store two…….. This was not looking good being the center of my efforts. Ok now that price was not as much of an issue as it once had been, a compromise was made and I left store two with a more expensive unit, same BTU output, higher energy rating and a few more options. So now once installed my ac to be controlled by my Google Smart Home Appliance. And it actually only cost $40 more after discounts.

All said the install went better than I had imagined it would. Although it got warm there was a nice breeze that kept things bearable both inside and outside the home while working and by 12:30 all was in, secured and running. As the new ac unit has an auto function after running the unit on high like the manual said to bring the room to the desired temperature it was switched over to auto and then slowly fine tuned to meet our requirements.

I am happy to report this project went well and actually, as I had the insulation and building materials needed for this project left over from another, it even came in under budget! Another Win!

Beautiful day

Good morning

It's a beautiful 72º so all the doors and windows are open. Oh, it feels so good, it feels like Yuma in the winter. Mark opened the back door and turned the fan on high and it woke me up. Oh well church this morning so now I won't have to hurry. 

After church and lunch I hope we can stop at the big Walmart and get the things on my list. Then I will have that off my to do list for today. This afternoon I'm meeting a lady that wants to buy my embroidery machine. I got it working but I really don't have any place to put it besides the cabinet on the porch. And they both are full and that is not a good place to keep machinery. It's not worth keeping just to use it once or twice every three years or so. It was different when I could have it set out all the time. Kind of like my sewing machine. It's a pain to drag it out all the time so it rarely gets used. And the same goes for my card making stuff. I'm thinking of selling most of that stuff too. I have a dresser full of craft stuff that just sits there only to be used about once a year. When there was a dedicated craft room I was in there all the time making something. We thought the family/AZ room would be the craft area, but it isn't working that way. It's our dining room, office and has two dressers and a freezer in it so it's full. Oh well, I'll find something else that doesn't take up so much room. 

Friday Mark took the tire for my bike back to the shop. They ordered the wrong tire for my Helix. The tire the guy ordered is for a small scooter. A Helix is much heavier so the tire the guy ordered for us is not safe. Now it has to go back and reordered. Mark’s not real happy, especially since I am the one that dug and found that the tire was wrong. He was going to let it go until I found that it’s not safe. He just took it for granted that it was the right tire. I doubt almost everyone and I just had a bad feeling about the tire so I asked some other Helix owners in a group I belong to and they all said it was unsafe. I even found the specs for the Helix. The shop owner was real nice about taking the tire back and has reordered one that is for the Helix. Now to wait some more. But better to be safe than sorry.

June 20, 2019

Yesterday I got all the wash done and cleaned the family room in the afternoon. Now everything is clean and scrubbed. I tried to reorganize the kitchen counters to see if I couldn’t make it at least seem like there is room to cook. But it only looks like there is ample room. It’s very difficult to make anything. What I need to do is figure out a rhythm  so the lack of room won’t be such an issue. I don’t cook or bake like I used to so I don’t need as much room anymore, but this kitchen has terrible flow. But I’ll keep working on it until I get it to work for me.   The other night I watched the movie  “Julie and Julia”. I just love that movie. I figure if Julie in the movie can work in her teeny tiny kitchen that has less room than I do, I can figure out a way too. In the summer we eat out a lot more because it’s too hot to cook and Mark is never that hungry in the summer. So I haven’t really gotten a cooking routine down pat yet. I hope I get it figured out in time to make Christmas cookies. Although that isn't as grand as it used to be either.

 Tuesday the guy came to pick up Marks bike in the morning to fix the carburetor. He said the tire for my bike should be here sometime today and that he would call. Not sure how long it will take to fix Marks bike but once mine is done, we can plate it, get insurance and he can ride that one until his is done. I’m in no hurry, it’s too hot to ride. I won’t ride unless I am in full dress and it’s too hot for that right now. I'm not sure I even want to keep the bike anymore. Too hot to ride in the summer and in the winter there are too many snowbirds to make riding the bike any fun or safe. I don't even like to drive the car then.

Today Mark has off and I have a couple things for him on his to do list. Not sure when he will get at it but he need to at least get the water softened. The water here is so terribly hard. Our little RV softener is still doing a good job for us. PTL

Some days Mark starts out early.

As you know Cindy, Lola (our pup) and I got a new place this spring and have been spending most of our free time moving from out house down the road to the new to us one. Then we moved all our stuff down from MN to Yuma so I really didn't get a chance to do all the spring home readiness work done before spring ran into summer.

So it was a busy 5 am morning today. Got up, outside and started tearing down our heat pump, much like a central ac unit only bigger, for it's summercleaning, and was glad I did. It didn't have the leaves and dead grass they do in MN but it had a lot of dust and dirt packed into the fins of the condenser. And as I had to open the evaporator cover I carefully cleaned it and the drain tube to.

After that I washed my truck. Well I sort of cheated, I hand washed and rinsed it but I took it for a run down the I8 freeway to air dry it..... LOL Then came back washed the windows, cleaned up the dash and vacuumed it all out. That desert sand gets into everything. Good thing the interior is a light tan it hides the dust between cleanings.

All done by 8:00 am. Good thing I was as by 9 it was over 90 deg. already. And it got to 117 on our porch for the high today. So here if you have something "outside" that needs doing. You start Early.......... Or you don't start at all.

I think that is where the saying comes from. Today, Tomorrow or Never........!

It's Always an Adventure!

Still hot

Yesterday was hot but not as bad as the day before and today is cooler still. It's too warm this morning yet, to open up for some fresh morning air. But tomorrow is looking promising for opening up.

Up early to get the laundry done before the high heat of the day rolled in. I was done with it all, including the ironing by 10:30. The rest of the day I just lazed until we ran to WM.

On our way to do a little shopping Mark got called into work. So our shopping was done quickly. All the cutting of help and hours is biting WM in the butt. Even without Mark being scheduled to work he is putting in hours just by being called in to work. Yesterday the assistant manager and store manager were called to help in produce. They were happy to see Mark come in to work.

After setting up all my embroidery paraphernalia I set out to decorate some of my flour sack dish towels. Boy did I forget a lot. So I had to actually go back to reading the directions. Something that I don't usually have to do. I can usually figure it out on my own.  The towel turned out nice but took way longer than I had planned.  By that time Miss Lola needed to get her walk done.

Lola loves to get petted from the neighbors. Some were either sitting outside or in the golf cart. She made it her goal to stop by or stop them to say hi. She even wanted to visit the couple across the street who aren't even home right now. They give her treats so I guess she was looking for that. hehehe They all know her by name and don't hesitate to give her some attention.

Hot

You know you are in Yuma when the morning low is in the low 80's. When I took Lola out for her morning jaunt I broke a good sweat. I hate to sweat. But at least with no humidity one can  breathe. By afternoon, whether you can breathe or not, you will be staying indoors.

This morning I pulled out my little embroidery machine but the hoop part and the power cord are missing. Now where in the world did that go? AFter looking in the "garage" it still did not show up. If they are nowhere to be found I did see that Amazon carries the parts that I need. And it's cheaper than a new machine by far. 😀

 In the meantime I cut and remade a curtain panel in the bedroom. Back when we were still living at the house I bought a pair of lace balloon panels that I really liked. They matched our bedspread so nicely. Well I took them along to the apartment when we moved there. Still loving those curtains I kept them in storage hoping to use them in the Montana, but they didn't fit any of the windows. But  two of the three panels fit one of the bedroom windows here in the park model. The other two windows are very narrow and the one left over panel needed to be but in  half. In half meant that one window would be off by a pleat. So I had to make shift the "balloon" effect on the one window. What I did will work until it's time to wash them. But for now the window treatments in the bedroom are done and I like how it looks too. I'm so glad that I still had those lace panels. 😃

Thursday, June 6, 2019

For several weeks I've been out of sorts and the last week has been really not good.  Searching and studying has me thinking that I could possibly be lactose intolerant. It could have been a long running bug too, who knows. Anyway as of yesterday I stopped all dairy consumption. Milk is easy for me to give up but not the other good stuff. In three days I'll introduce dairy back into my diet. If all goes well  I will know I am not lactose intolerant and it could have just been something else. Time will tell.

The heat is really rolling in now so our outside time is very limited. And we try and do our running in the morning or evening when it's cooler. It's been predicted to be a cooler than normal summer, just like this winter was cooler than normal. Yes, Trump you moron, there is climate change all over the world. And has been for quite some time.

In spite of the heat on the outside and the a/c running, I hope to get some blueberry muffins made today. At least they don't require the oven running as long as a batch of cookies. Mark brought home some really good blueberries the other day so I will use some of them. They are so sweet and delicious too. Mark usually isn't a blueberry fan but he loves my blueberry muffins.

June 4, 2019

Monday started out ok, but ended poorly. Good grief I go from vertigo to running to the bathroom most of the day and all night yesterday. I hope today is a much better day.

Not much of anything got done yesterday, for obvious reasons, but I did manage to get some pictures hung. We don't have much for wall space so I had to be selective about what got hung and where. Some pictures went from frame to scrapbook. But at least now I have some family pictures around us.

Today Lola goes to the groomer and while there I'll stop at WM for a few things that I can out of yesterday. I prefer the WM further in Yuma than the one in the foothills because it's cheaper. Nope, not all WM's are priced the same. The manager can set the price as he thinks it should be. But what I need today is pretty much the same price in both stores. This morning I would like to take the leaf blower and blow the dirt off of the porch. A leaf blower works much better than trying to sweep a very full porch. And it's just plain quicker too. Why work so hard when I have a tool that can make work easier? 😀

Yesterday I had a very pleasant surprise. When I let Lola out the back door I noticed the hummingbird that keeps showing up by the porch. So I thought he was used to a feeder back there. Looking up along the awning I was trying to decide where to hang a feeder. When low and behold I saw a nest with mom sitting on it! I sure did get excited to see that. I quickly but carefully went back inside to get my phone to take a picture. She posed so nicely for me. We will be more careful going in and out that door from now on and use it less often too. What fun it will be to watch her feed the wee ones.

This is the first time I've ever seen a hummingbird nesting in the "wild". I've watched live camera feeds but this is way better. Now I can actually see just how tiny the nest is and wonder in awe at the tiny eggs and babies.

Sunday, June 2, 2019

Good thing we were home and done unloading, because Friday morning I woke up with a nasty case of Vertigo. I spent all day and Saturday night in bed. Poor Lola was totally neglected but she did not neglect me. She laid by the bed the whole time. I was only able to let her out to go potty once, hanging on to the door frame, and then back to bed for me. When Mark got home from work he took her out for he nightly.

Saturday morning I was feeling better. Not 100% but as the day went on I was back up to par by later afternoon. So my plans of cleaning on Saturday went down the tubes. Mark softened the water in the morning and went to work in the afternoon. I just sat in my recliner waiting to get my strength back. My back hurt so badly from just lying in bed all day yesterday, it felt better being in a bent sitting position. But it's hard for me to sit still when I have work to do. Long day for me.

This morning Mark let me sleep in so I missed church but he went alone. We love going to our new church and hate to miss. Mark said I needed the sleep so he let me sleep in this morning. Now I feel badly, but am thankful for the recuperative sleep. I feel much much better this morning.

Since I'm feeling better, it must be up to me to get Lola out for her morning duty run.