What you think you're gonna do...

 

It's a good thing we're retired - 'cause you never know what's going to come up.  I once heard that boat cruising is: fixing your boat in new and exotic locations.  You always have something to do when you own a boat.  Pretty much applies to RVs, too.

No, we're not broke down.  We haven't moved in over a month, unless you consider pulling the slides in and out due to nasty weather as "moving."  Last night, the bedroom TV decided it wasn't going to turn on anymore.  No, I don't know why.  Yes, we tried pushing the button and using the remote.  Nuthin'.

This morning, we removed that TV from the mount to see what it will take to replace it.  It's a 12-volt TV, so it can be used when you aren't plugged in.  Of course, that same model of Jensen is no longer being made.  So, it isn't just a matter of replacing the TV, you also have to consider how it will be mounted on the existing mounting fixture... because it is an RV, and there is additional structure where it is mounted... so you don't really want to have to change the mount (like you would at home).  Finding an appropriate RV TV isn't as easy as running down to Walmart and putting one in your shopping cart.  Research took another hour, with both of us looking.  I narrowed it down to a slightly larger model from Jensen, figuring it would have the same mounting set-up.  Joan found one she liked better from a different manufacturer (we have that model as our outside TV).  So, we compromised and got the one Joan wants.  It will be up to me to fashion some kind of mount that works with what we have on the wall.  The TV will be here on Saturday.

"The water heater is leaking."  Fun.  One of the pleasures of being in the desert where the temperature changes a bunch from day to night - the plug to drain the water heater is plastic; it goes into metal threads.  Thermodynamics tells us that plastic and metal absorb and release heat at different rates.  So, at some point, the plastic is going to "shrink" more than the metal, and you will get a drip from the water heater.  Not "a leak," a drip.  The cure: tighten the plug... if it drips more, loosen it.  This morning, it needed to be loosened a bit.  Tomorrow, it will probably have to be tightened a bit. 

I had hoped to get some of those video clips downloaded to my MacBook Pro... but, the camera needs to be "talking to" the iPad to get that done.  Of course, it wouldn't.  Yes, I know the solution: go do it somewhere else.  A nuisance.  I guess I should be happy that our regular internet (using our phones as hotspots) works.

Don't count on "free time" on any particular day.  "But, you're retired - don't you have free time all the time?"  Thanks for asking, you little ray of sunshine.  The answer to that is: no.  What you think you're going to do and what you actually do depends on what comes up.  Just like in real life.

I did get some routine things done today: making breakfast for us out on the griddle and taking Rufus for a walk.  He looked around for his tortoise friend... it was in its "hutch"... or whatever you call a tortoise "house"

And the beat goes on.

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I have mentioned the 5th wheel that pulled in next to us at the 1st of the month...

You can see it behind our rig.  The antenna I'm talking about is mounted just above the ladder towards the back of their 5th wheel.  Of course, the interference could be coming from this...

There is a lot going on in that image, and it is the view right out the front door of our coach.  Look to the right and below that big thing - that is a wifi antenna for the park's wifi.  We rarely use public wifi, preferring to stay on our own hotspots.  Even with that big stuff, we didn't have any connection issues until the 5th wheel moved in next to us.  The people that were there before (with Morgan the screaming and stomping child) didn't have any kind of external antenna.

To be fair, I didn't use my 360 cameras until this week.  But, this afternoon, I went to the activity room by the office here in the park and had no issue connecting the camera, the iPad and my laptop.  It took a while to go through all those files again, but the new iPad with an M1 chip is much faster than my previous iPad Pro.  I have all the files downloaded and have started putting together the video.  There is more to shoot with Mark and me, but it was fun showing the old guys in their "garage band."  ;-)