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Friday, June 1, 2012

Exhausting day!

Some days are longer than others!  Today was one of the more exhausting days that we've had for some time.


We started out early by driving the Accent and my van over to the RV repair place and picking up the Alfa.  We left the van there and drove the Alfa and the Accent across town to the hitch place and had them finish the Blue Ox installation.  They hooked up the Accent and we headed back to the RV repair place to drop it off again so they could install the Air Force One.  Craig says he could have installed both, but he wanted to have authorized installers so that we could feel good about the result.


On the way we stopped at a large parking lot and did a series of practice turns around some large plastic water bottles (our version of traffic cones).  We both drove and we each took a turn outside watching to see how the toad tracked behind the Alfa. It was fun. 


We then dropped the Alfa and Accent off and returned home in my van. We will be able to get the car back in a few days, but they are still waiting for our new back decal for the Alfa.  Might as well leave her there.


We have also asked them to do an air pressure test to see if they can find and fix two "whistle" noises in the front windshield.  They are quite annoying.


It was just past noon when we got back home, but neither of us felt like doing any work.  Craig has finally agreed to buying some safety equipment for the window painting project.  I don't know if it is because he is tired of me nagging, or because he has had a number of people tell him he should, as comments or in person, or if he has just gotten a bit scared when he was out on the ledge.  I don't care why.


We spent some time this afternoon looking at safety harnesses online, and then decided we should go and talk to someone at REI that might give us some advice about such things.


At the same time, Craig was reading the morning paper and mentioned he would like to see "Snow White and the Huntsman."  We don't go to movies very often, but since the movie theatre and REI are in the same shopping center, we decided to do both this afternoon.  


The movie was OK.  Not great, but OK.  We did get some information from REI, but they were unable to give us any advice as to what to do.  (Liability reasons.)  We will probably be ordering some rope and a harness over the weekend.


Exhausting! But it felt like progress.

11 comments:

  1. Wow...wish I could get Eldy to go see Snow White...hope you get things worked out so Craig can safely work.

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  2. Towing a car is far easier than towning a 5th wheel or travel traler. Easier to hook & unhook too. The car tracks within the turning radius of the Motorhome so your not as likely to knock poles over on tight city turns. I can easily have our Jeep unhooked in less than a minute. And no herky jerkin like a trailer. If it wasn't for our rear view camera we would never know we were towing anything.......I kinda lost interest in those Monster movies years ago.

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  3. Sounds like a very productive day.

    Glad to hear you got the toad almost ready to go.

    A good tip is for someone to stand outside the toad while the other person drives the motor home a short distance..just to make sure it's tracking properly. Once, we forgot to point the toad wheels in the right direction and ended up dragging the toad. Fortunately it was loose dirt so no damage. If I hadn't been watching it, we would have had a problem.

    I am so glad to hear Craig has finally listened to reason...and before he broke his neck too!

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  4. It took courage for Craig to admit he needed safety equipment. My hat is off to him!

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  5. Does this mean no stroll down the beam for his PJ fashion show?? :)

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  6. So glad to hear that you're adding some kind of harness for Craig. I still shudder when I see that picture of him out on that ledge. We had our Blue Ox installed and I felt it was well worth the money to know it was done correctly.

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  7. My father had me helping him repair the roof on our home by the age of six. Never had a problem until I was teaching my future son-in-law how to fix his roof. He slipped I saved him only to go off the roof myself. Nothing was broken only bruised especially my pride but every winter I'm reminded of that fall.

    I only fell 12 feet. The next day I purchased a harness that was better than the ones I used at work where I was often a few hundred feet off the ground.

    I'd hate to think of the end results of falling from the heigths shown in your pictures. Be safe use a harness and learn the proper way to use it.

    It's about time.

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  8. The harness is a great idea. Always used them in my former life when needed.
    You seem to be doing your part to stimulate the economy with all the vehicle goings on. Good on ya.

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  9. Check with a HVAC company and see what kind of equipment they use on the outside jobs. Or a painting company - they would also use harnesses. I'm glad he agreed to get the safety equipment. We'll all rest easy. :)

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  10. What is an "Air Force One"?

    Here's a site that sells fall protection equipment. I wear a harness everyday in my line of work whenever I operate the power equipment to get stuff down from high shelves...

    http://www.fallprotectionpros.com/

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  11. Al@bayfield: the young lady who plays Snow White is not a monster. Nor is Charlize Theron who plays the evil queen. But you're right that there is one monster in the movie, a troll who guards his (traditional) bridge. But even he is a fairly good monster in that he is so taken with Snow White's beauty in that he decides not to eat her nor the Huntsman.

    Joko: an Air Force One is a braking device for a towed vehicle, as is required by law in California. For more see http://smibrake.com/air-force-one.html

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