Clean it up...

 

My language?  I'm working on it, but it's damn difficult.  That's a joke... no shit.

We have two different garbage trucks that pick up here: one for the regular ol' garbage and one for recycle.  "What does that have to do with cleaning something up?" you ask.  I'm getting there - cool your ******* jets.

My goal for the day was to get the fresh water tank on the Roadtrek emptied; we'll be putting it in our new, closer, covered storage space, soon.  To fully empty the tank, the van needs to be reasonably level.  Our driveway is inclined.  I wanted to put the van out on the street to empty the tank, but the garbage cans are out there.  "Ohhhh, now I get it."  I knew you would.

Both garbage trucks normally come early.  Not today - the regular garbage was later than usual.  So, while I was just waiting, I decided to wash the van.  In the driveway.  Joan recently got me a rechargeable foamer... before you ask, "What's a foamer?" - it is like a sprayer.  You put some car wash and water into the tank, press the button twice, and you have a nice soapy foam on your vehicle...

How is it I never knew about this before?  This thing is great: wet down the vehicle, spray the foam on, push it around with a long-handled, soft-bristle brush, then rinse it off.  It eliminates some of the work and all of the dragging a bucket full of water around.  The only downside to this plan was the timing: I should have started sooner... before the heat of the day kicked in (it was in the 70s when I first got up and took Murphy out in the courtyard.

On the bright side: the Roadtrek is less acreage than the Aspect, mostly straight sides, and not as tall.  The cleaning went relatively expeditiously; the drying/wiping took a bit longer.  But, it looks great...

Somewhere in our trip to the Grand Canyon, we drove through something "greasy" - that all came off with light scrubbing.  I can reach all the way to the top with a long-handle brush.  Just as I was finishing the van, the garbage truck came and emptied our second can.  I rolled the can up to our gate and moved the van into the reasonably level street.

Joan had a great suggestion: use the outdoor shower to empty out the freshwater tank (instead of running into the gray tank and then needing to dump that tank).  She isn't just a pretty face.  She has nice legs, too... um, I meant: she is smart, too.  She tells me that, as well... no, not the legs thing, the smart thing.  Well, smart-ass.  So, pretty much the same, but I digress, again.

Now the really cool part: I can run all the Firefly stuff in the van from an app on my phone.  So, I could turn on the water pump and monitor the fresh water tank level while I was outside... using that perfectly good fresh water to quench the thirst of a tree in our front yard.  Win-Win!

Not a win: Joan asked, "Since you have your cleaning stuff out, do you want to wash the Equinox, too?"

"Yes, I do."  She was about to head out to the grocery store, so I got right on the Equinox - a pretty quick job compared to the Roadtrek.

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Late this afternoon, a delivery arrived...

Joan found another pop-up kiosk on Vine.  We have a bigger one, but it is more than what's needed to shade the hot tub during these record-breaking high temps.  This, as you can see in the photo above, is just the right size.

When we got back from our summer trip, the hot tub was hotter than what you'd want, even though the temperature on it was set to 80º.  Seems the cover and insulation on the tub does a good job at keeping it warm, even when the outside temperatures cool off at night.  Yeah, I remember cooling off... I think it was in February... but I digress once again.  Putting one of these kiosks over the hot tub makes a real difference in keeping the temperature of the water at a "good to soak in" temp when the sun is blazing and the outside temps are 110º or higher.  I normally use the tub at 102º; maybe turn it up to 103º if it is cool out.  When it is hot out, I aim for around 99 to 101º; yes, a degree or two makes a noticeable difference in comfort.