2013 'Marches' on

Larry finally put his 'Man Cave' sign over the door of the trailer, something I bought him two months ago.
Larry under his new sign.

This has been a tough month. We discovered our AquaHot coolant was dangerously low with only four gallons remaining out of 16. That caused the electric element to blow out
Burned out electric element

The radiator cap was toast and allowed the coolant to evaporate but PTL Larry changed the wrong fuel filter in the beginning which forced us to continue looking for the cause of our problem. That's when we found the coolant so low. After replacing the cap and new coolant (and draining it all out to replace the electric element), Larry realized he had changed the generator fuel filter, not the AquaHot fuel filter so when he replaced the AquaHot filter, all the problems we were experiencing went away. Had he replaced the AquaHot filter first, we would have stopped looking for the problem and would have burned the AquaHot up and would have had to replace it to the tune of $9000! God is so good! HE is always looking out for us.
How we put the new antifreeze into the AquaHot without using a pump
Hose going into the radiator of the AquaHot. As you can see there is not much room to work.



Then our toilet wasn't holding water so we ordered a new one since it was cheaper than buying separate parts but when we received it, it was the wrong one! Larry decided he could cannibalize it and use the parts since we really didn't need the complete toilet. He went to do the job and only then did we discover the manufacturer had labeled the seal kit wrong and we didn't have the proper seal. He looked all over the north side of Phoenix and found one seal kit but it was labeled wrong too! Since the manufacturer is back east and we are three hours behind them, by the time we discovered we had a problem, they were closed. The next morning I called and did locate the correct seal and had it sent priority mail which still meant we were without a toilet for three days. Fortunately the clubhouse isn't very far away for daytime use and a urinal and a can served for night time use. I kept having to remind myself that our grandparents didn't have indoor plumbing so surely we could last three days! One doesn't appreciate things until they are gone. We are back in business again and we even have a spare seal “just in case”.

In the midst of all that, we had friends from Oregon visit us. We had a good visit (they have family in the area so we weren't the only reason they were in AZ ) and it was good to see them again since we last saw them in Grants Pass, OR in 2009.

Larry's Mom left her phone off the hook two different times this month, the first time being when we were having all our “issues” so we couldn't leave and the police went out to check on her. She was fine. The second time we had already planned to visit her so it was no big deal. She had even figured out the phone was off the hook before we arrived. Larry ended up completely rebuilding her toilet which he found was rusted loose from the floor.

We celebrated grandson Colby's birthday by going to Red Lobster and then Dawn, Vince, and Bethany joined us for the Passover Seder.
Dawn and Colby at Red Lobster

Ellen, Larry and Vince at Red Lobster for Colby's birthday

Dawn, colby and Bethany at Colby's birthday party at Red Lobster

Our son, Todd stopped by when he was feeling a little better as he was on 'our' side of town. It was great seeing him but he didn't stay very long as he started hurting again. He has been experiencing incredible pain for two years now and doctors cannot seem to figure out what is causing such excruciating pain.

Larry has been doing maintenance on the MH by greasing the wheel bearings, changing the fuel filters, and greasing the U joints, front end and chassis. He said he is getting too old to continue doing all that in the future as he really 'feels it' for several days afterward. But since we have more time than money I'm grateful for all he does do.

We were able to sell our old cooktop on Craig's List as well as our small Vitamix container. Every little bit helps!

Larry had a follow-up appointment at his primary care doctor at the VA. Everything checked out OK. The weather was so nice we rode the bike. We also took a night ride recently which took me back many years when we used to ride nightly in Tucson when our house was being built and Larry worked the swing shift. We would ride out to see what was done that day.