Our RV Adventures

We had our coffee and breakfast inside this morning, so we wouldn’t have to worry about being blown away. The wind picked up during night, prefacing the front coming through tomorrow, bringing 3 or 4 days of forecasted rain. But, as usual, we’ll see.

I spent the morning working on some internet stuff before heading outside to look for my slobber tube. But first I crawled back under the passenger side of the engine again to check for any more leakage around the oil pan drain plug.

I had wiped it off the other day to see if it was leaking around the plug, but found no new wetness. So I was out and back under on the other side to check out there. And after a quick look, it was obvious where it was.

Based on what I’d heard about the location I was expecting to find it hanging down a little further, but it’s actually above the oil pan gasket area.

And it was obvious from the surrounding wetness that it had been leaking.

So now, again based on what I’ve read about it, my next step is to come up with a way to hang a bottle or can under the slobber tube to catch the outflow. One, to contain the oil so it doesn’t end up on the toad, and two, to check that that is actually where the oil is coming from.

So hopefully, I’ll be able to come up with something before we leave here next Sunday.

While I was under there, I also noticed another oil leak, coming from the hydraulic line that feeds the engine cooling fan. So I’ll  keep an eye on that too.

And also I was able to see the oil filter that had been changed out last February by RV Mobile Lube.

it’s nice to see that they sign and date them to keep track of them.

Finishing up, and coming back in to find Jan napping on the sofa, I decide that was a good idea too, so I headed back to the bedroom for my share of nap time.

When I got up I got back on my pantry organization project  using Alexa on the Amazon Echo  to record and print out the list as I sorted through the items and consolidated them on the various shelves.

By the time I got finished later tonight, it looked like this.

And here’s what my list ended up looking like.

sixth shelf     left side     splenda raw sugar
sixth shelf     right side     medicine and cough drops
sixth shelf     right side     calcium chews

fifth shelf     left side     hazelnut coffee
fifth shelf     left side     jim & nicks cheese biscuit mix
fifth shelf     left side     mini moo half and half creamers
fifth shelf     right side     captain’s wafers
fifth shelf     right side     drinking straws
fifth shelf     right side     hot tea packets

fourth shelf     left side     bacon horseradish dip mix
fourth shelf     left side     corn starch
fourth shelf     left side     onion soup dip mix
fourth shelf     left side     splenda brown sugar
fourth shelf     left side     stevia sweetener
fourth shelf     right side     campbell’s slow kettle tomato & sweet basil bisque
fourth shelf     right side     cheesy bacon potato soup mix
fourth shelf     right side     chicken enchilada soup mix
fourth shelf     right side     creamy broccoli soup mix
fourth shelf     right side     jif peanut butter
fourth shelf     right side     mango habanero sauce
fourth shelf     right side     minestrone soup mix
fourth shelf     right side     pam olive oil cooking spray
fourth shelf     right side     pasta fagioli soup mix
fourth shelf     right side     penne pasta
fourth shelf     right side     pure vanilla extract
fourth shelf     right side     roasted raspberry chipotle sauce
fourth shelf     right side     spicy brown mustard
fourth shelf     right side     starkist chunk light tuna 5 packets
fourth shelf     right side     strozzapreti pasta
fourth shelf     right side     tortilla soup mix
third shelf     left side     chicken rice a roni
third shelf     left side     lemon bar mix
third shelf     left side     slow cooker seasoning hearty beef
third shelf     left side     slow cooker seasoning homestyle chicken herb
third shelf     left side     spanish rice a roni
third shelf     left side     uncle ben’s brown wild rice medley
third shelf     right side     fideo noodles
third shelf     right side     large elbow macaroni
third shelf     right side     multi color twirl pasta
third shelf     right side     spaghetti
third shelf     right side     whole wheat elbow macaroni

second shelf     left side     baking soda
second shelf     left side     bisquick buttermilk biscuit mix 2 packages
second shelf     left side     bisquick cheese garlic biscuit mix 1 pkg
second shelf     left side     carnation dry milk powder
second shelf     left side     jiffy blueberry muffin mix 2 boxes
second shelf     left side     jiffy corn muffin mix
second shelf     left side     lemon poppyseed scone mix
second shelf     left side     martha white blueberry muffin mix
second shelf     left side     sweet potato biscuit mix
second shelf     left side     sweet potato muffin mix
second shelf     left side     table salt
second shelf     right side     bacardi rum
second shelf     right side     balsamic vinegar
second shelf     right side     bisquick mix
second shelf     right side     confederate marmalade
second shelf     right side     extra virgin olive oil
second shelf     right side     huckleberry jam
second shelf     right side     jalapeno orange jelly
second shelf     right side     marion blackberry preserves
second shelf     right side     new orleans scorpion hot sauce
second shelf     right side     nutcracker spaghetti sauce
second shelf     right side     prego italian meat sauce
second shelf     right side     protein bars 5 each
second shelf     right side     rachel ray extra virgin olive oil
second shelf     right side     soy sauce
second shelf     right side     tabasco sauce
second shelf     right side     wild maine blueberry syrup
second shelf     right side     worcestershire sauce

bottom shelf     left side     cheese wiz
bottom shelf     left side     cream of mushroom soup
bottom shelf     left side     hunt’s tomato paste
bottom shelf     left side     ro-tel hot tomatoes
bottom shelf     left side     skyline chili 9 cans
bottom shelf     right side     black beans
bottom shelf     right side     bush’s country style baked beans
bottom shelf     right side     bush’s grilling beans bourbon & brown sugar 2 ea
bottom shelf     right side     canned beef cooked
bottom shelf     right side     cut green beans
bottom shelf     right side     extra hot alaskan umami sauce
bottom shelf     right side     ginger wasabi sauce
bottom shelf     right side     reeses magic shell chocolate peanut butter
bottom shelf     right side     sliced peaches
bottom shelf     right side     smuckers magic shell chocolate fudge
bottom shelf     right side     steel cut oatmeal

For dinner tonight we had the Chicken Tortilla Soup that I put together yesterday, and let simmer all day. Really good, if  I  do say so.

And Jan does too.

I’ve now done the magic six loads in my repaired washer, so hopefully, it’ll keep on working.

Thought for the Day:

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But A Lot Of Us Are.

We did walk this morning, a little over a mile, before having our coffee and breakfast outside. And while we were still outside, I bought Karma outside with us for awhile.

She was still kind of wild-eyed, but she didn’t keep trying to run under the rig like before. She did stay hunkered down a good bit, and would let me hold her for a while, but then she’d panic again and flip out. But it seems like she gets a little better every time.

I had planned to take a look at my rig oil leak problem, but as happens sometimes, I got detoured. And it all started with a batch of my Chicken Tortilla Soup.

The last time I made Chicken Tortilla Soup I had leftover broth that we froze, so I got that out and had it defrosting in the slow cooker, while I looked in the pantry for a can of black beans and a can of corn to go along with the rest of the chicken Jan fixed the other day.

But as I was digging back into the pantry, trying to get to get a handle on what we had, I came across a number of things that we’d both forgotten we had. And this led me down a subroutine to come up with a way to better itemize the stuff.

Jan keeps a list on the pantry door, but stuff gets moved, and stuff gets pushed to the back, so sometimes it’s a toss-up. So after I found the the beans and corn and got them in the pot, along with the chicken breasts, I thought a bit and decided this was a job for my Amazon Echo.

Although we mostly use Alexa (the name you use to access the Echo, like ‘OK Google”, or “Cortana”, or “Siri”) for music, iHeartRadio, and to answer questions, it does do more.

But as far as music, we have over 8,000 of our own songs uploaded into Amazon Music’s catalog, as well as access to over a million songs through Amazon;’s Prime Music.  And with iHeartRadio, we can easily listen to over 1500 radio stations around the country.

Yes, you can do this on other devices but not as easily. With Alexa it’s just “Alexa, play songs by Jimmy Buffet”, or “Alexa, play songs from my Oldies Playlist.” Or you can say, “Alexa, play KTRH Newsradio’, or Alexa, play Sunny 99.1”.

And as far as questions, “Alexa, what’s the weather in Houston, TX?” or “Alexa, how far is it from Houston, TX to New York City?” Or even Alexa, what 39 degrees Fahrenheit in Celsius?”, or Alexa, what is 4345 times 16?” (She says it’s 69,520)

In this case I wanted to use Alexa’s list functions, i.e. shopping lists and To-Do lists. All you have to do is tell Alexa to add something to her shopping list. You can then have her print it out, or even go shopping and see your shopping list in the Alexa app on your cellphone.

But here I wanted to use Alexa to itemize the items on each shelf as I called them out to her. Normally Alexa resides up front in the rig, sitting on top of our satellite DVR, and is very good about hearing what we tell her. But to make things easier I wanted to use my Amazon Echo Remote.

About the size of a stick of butter, but only about 1/3 as thick, it allows you to communicate with Alexa outside of voice range, or in a very noisy environment. So all I have to do is press the Mic button at the top and say, “Add bottom shelf left side skyline chili 9 cans.” (If you’re using the remote, you don’t have to say Alexa first.)

Then it was just a matter going through each shelf, telling Alexa as I went. And here’s what I got for the bottom shelf.

bottom shelf right side bush’s grilling beans bourbon & brown sugar 2 cans
bottom shelf right side bush’s country style baked beans
bottom shelf left side ro-tel hot tomatoes
bottom shelf right side canned beef cooked
bottom shelf right side sliced peaches
bottom shelf right side nut cracker spaghetti sauce
bottom shelf right side steel cut oatmeal
bottom shelf left side skyline chili 9 cans
bottom shelf left side cream of mushroom soup
bottom shelf left side hunt’s tomato paste
bottom shelf left side cheese wiz

I’ll have more on this tomorrow, but so far it’s working great, and I plan on using it to inventory other areas around the coach.

Finishing up, the washer is still working fine after four loads so far, but we’ll see if it lasts past the six it did before. I’m hoping.

Thought for the Day:

“Seeing ourselves as others see us would probably confirm our worst suspicions about them.” – Franklin P. Adams

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