The DisFort's Chit Chat Cafe

[garneska]

@team bradfield Gizmo looks so happy for that birthday cupcake and yay for cancer free!

i have a mom update but going to wait till after we see the urologist today.

 

[garneska]

I have had a few crazy busy weeks, work, appointments, Bert in training, travel for work for me, but today was the last appointment I had with mom for a few weeks.

Last week on Tuesday, the urologist did some tests and removed mom’s catheter. He said let’s see what happens. Wednesday we did not go back because she was peeing. She was sore from getting up often to pee. She had accidents, but today we had the follow up to make sure she was voiding. She is. Now we need to treat the UTI, but we have no catheter. Mom is doing well. Better than I expected.

I am so looking forward to my 3 day weekend.

 

[Teamubr]

That's great news, Kris!

j

 

[Teamubr]

Summer has arrived. I opened the pool last week and it took a couple of days to clear it up and then it started raining. First night in tonight.

The water is a lovely 82 degrees thanks to a little natural gas from Ameren Illinois.



I bought myself an early Father's Day gift and it works great. I have a lot of trees in the yard that blow a lot of stuff in the pool. I had to vacuum nearly everyday. I had bought an automatic vacuum that hooked to the the skimmer suction, but it never worked right, so it sat in the shed.

This little puppy is battery powered. Runs a couple of hours on its own and is amazing. I throw it in and forget it. Pull it out when the battery dies and the pool looks amazing.



j

 

[team bradfield]

Summer has arrived. I opened the pool last week and it took a couple of days to clear it up and then it started raining. First night in tonight.

The water is a lovely 82 degrees thanks to a little natural gas from Ameren Illinois.

View attachment 862469

I bought myself an early Father's Day gift and it works great. I have a lot of trees in the yard that blow a lot of stuff in the pool. I had to vacuum nearly everyday. I had bought an automatic vacuum that hooked to the the skimmer suction, but it never worked right, so it sat in the shed.

This little puppy is battery powered. Runs a couple of hours on its own and is amazing. I throw it in and forget it. Pull it out when the battery dies

We named ours MO from Wall-E, 10 years still going strong

 

[bama_ed]

@Teamubr,

The Tribe just a few seconds ago won its 9th in a row and swept its 3rd complete series (they faced the Twins, Mets, and Angels most recently).

My saying this means the @bama_ed jinx has been publicly put out there in full view. Just waiting now for the crash.



Bama Ed

 

[Teamubr]

Have faith, young man. While the Twins are the only team of the 3 above .500, Cleveland has been playing well as a team this season. We are still a ways off from the All Star break, but take it a game at a time. KC seems to be the biggest risk (and question mark) in your division.

The Cards have found some offense at the moment and our pitching is slightly better. We have crawled out of the basement finally, but are still a game below .500. Our biggest problem right now is finding a 5th starting pitcher. Injuries in our geriatric pitching staff have started to take a toll.

We are going to Cincy for 3, which may get us above .500. But then to Philly for 3. That will be the test.

j

 

[bama_ed]

For those of you who travel through Alabama north-south on Interstate 65, I wanted to let you know that Oak Mountain State Park, just south of the Interstate 459 intersection, has finished the modernization of its campground.

https://www.outdooralabama.com/articles/oak-mountain-state-park-reopens-renovated-campground

If you're headed to/from the northern Gulf Coast area or to/from WDW (via Montgomery then follow Highway 231 as I do), I can now recommend Oak Mtn as an overnight place to stop (sight unseen) because before the renovation, it was pretty awful.

I'll try to check on the campground when I'm up that way this summer but the state park is well loved in the area for its hiking and biking trails in the mountains in the park. I've walked ALL the trails there many times and really do enjoy it.

Be advised that the former tent sites were amongst a large area of shade trees but the former rv sites had little/no shade coverage. I'm sure they've planted a few with this new work but rv sites are probably still in the open for now but at least the facilities available there should be much better.

I'll check it out and report back. Would love to do some short fall mid-week camping trips at a place only an hour away from us.

Bama Ed

 

[jbrostek]

*GASP* Finally able to come up for air. It's been a heck of a week though at the end of it we have one child confirmed in the catholic church and one HS graduate. Since I last posted we had LOTS of party prep and great weather for the party. Saturday was a blast and so busy, so much so that we realized at the end of the night we didn't take a single picture. Sunday was a smaller brunch for youngest DD's confirmation and Monday Memorial Day was a recharge day.

Basically thanked my father in law for his service, and cooked us all some yummy food. Tuesday was a work day and the confirmation mass at 7pm. And then it was capped off with oldest DD's graduation yesterday. It was a great week but man I am looking forward to this weekend. Still no time to sit completely still, however, the plan is just some minor projects around the house and FINALLY get those soft starts installed. I seriously ran out of time before the RV had to host guests and had stormy weather Monday plus a lack of energy. I hope to report on them soon.

The exciting part is over the next 18 days I hope to solidify what everyone wants to do in CA so we can get it on the plan. Right now DL will be a 3 day park hopper and that should let us do enough to be satisfied for that part of the trip. More to come on that...

 

[Stratman50th]

@bama_ed
So I was going through the You Tubes like I do and saw this video I thought you might like. Now, I just enjoy watching this stuff regardless as to the type make and model.
I know you have the bigger Aliner but, this is still an Aliner, so hope you enjoy.
Don

 

[bama_ed]

@bama_ed
So I was going through the You Tubes like I do and saw this video I thought you might like. Now, I just enjoy watching this stuff regardless as to the type make and model.
I know you have the bigger Aliner but, this is still an Aliner, so hope you enjoy.
Don

I enjoyed watching this, Don. Everything he said about an Aliner is true.

A couple things, however, were left unsaid.

The Ranger/Scout Aliner models sleep 1-2 people. The popup (and I owned one before the Aliner) likely slept 4 at least (2 on each bunk side I'm guessing). The YT'er was a solo camper occasionally bringing along one more person (in the camper) so it was a bit of apples/oranges comparison.

The Aliners are somewhat on the more expensive side than popups (which hardly no one makes anymore because they cost as much to make as a small travel trailer). But simple popups (back in the day) were pretty cheap.

I do like the 4-season camping ability of the Aliner. We had the canvas pop-up but it required a lot of effort to make nights comfortable in Dec-Jan-Feb (which in the end weren't comfortable at all). It's a lot easier to do with an Aliner.

I have DW to camp with me and DD was with us for the first 8-10 years of the Aliner so there were often 3 people in the Aliner and we made do.

It is a great little camper but as the YT'er said, it has to fit your style of travel.

Thanks for sharing. ED

PS - just spent the past 4 days towing a UHaul 6x12 cargo trailer to southeast Louisiana and back to help my future son-in-law move to Alabama and the top of the cargo trailer was above the Yukon XL and it definitely hurt my gas mileage. In my YXL with no trailer of any kind, I can get 20-21 mpg at highway speeds. With my Aliner I can get 15 mpg. Going to Louisiana with the trailer empty (but riding high in the wind over the XL slightly) I got 14.5 mpg. Coming back pretty well loaded up I got 12.2 mpg. And my YXL is a standard 5.3L 1500 type GM product (2012 model year). All that to say, the Aliner rides BELOW the level of the truck in tow position which is real sweet.

PPS - stopped in South Louisiana on the way home and bought $150 of frozen local crawfish, alligator, sausage of several kinds, boudin, and pastries called "pistolettes" which has a seafood stuffing (gator, shrimp, shrimp) and I got the gator. I usually run with an empty cooler for opportunities such as this. So the trip did provide future opportunities for etouffee, gumbo, jambalaya and other cajun dishes. And I do make one he** of a roux if I do.say.so.my.self.

 

[jbrostek]

Well I did it. I managed to get a few projects done and relax over the weekend. Saturday was amazing weather and I started it out with just the weekly chores around the yard. Once the RV roof was shaded I got to work installing the soft starts. Only downside is I could no figure out how to get my meter to save the in rush amperage. Even when I set it on peak it only held it for about 3 seconds and then went to monitor. And well without any help it was hard to capture hat data.

Here is what I can tell you. Before the install there was no way to run both ACs on a 30A. My EMS would see the surge of the second AC starting, voltage would drop and it would shut down the entire rigs power like it is supposed to. Installing the soft start just took some mild investigation to find the best location to install since it is kind of bulky item. Polar Start did a great job where you could download a color schematic for any of the listed units following their QR code to their website. I had to get the cover off and note the number on my wiring diagram first, then download and print the proper one. It comes with the Dometic diagram in the box (I have a Coleman which apparently has multiple wiring options depending on model.)



Now the directions said to electrical tape some of these connections. Since I chose not to cut off the factory ends, I did choose to heat shrink those connections instead.



The one thing I did not see was nominal amperage changes once the ACs where running. Once the AC started, they still drew about 12A each (15k units). However, it was clear after install that the soft start did as it claimed. It allowed the compressor to start without as much peak amperage which allowed me to start both AC compressors on a 30A outlet. (NOTE: I did not try to start them at the same time.) I even had the fridge on electric at first which nearly maxed out the circuit.



Once I flipped the fridge to propane I had just enough room to run a TV.



I would normally not run both AC on a 30A, however, there are times it could be needed and useful. So in the end would I had spent the 600ish on two microair units? Not a chance, however, for the 200 I spent on the polar start units, they do what I ask of them and that is perfect for me.

 

[jbrostek]

Oh and we wont talk much about Sunday. It started with me wanting to clean DW car (It was filthy and needed it inside and out.) Then I decided to wash all the pollen off little blue (my commuter that pretty much sits now that my commute is 2 stories), which then lead to the truck getting a bath. Then my DD asked if we could wash her car (by we I mean she moved it in position and left me to do the work. And yes I did wash it and I still love her.)

Then last I was like man I need to wash all that pollen and junk of the nose of the RV. Well it looked so good I then had to wash the whole RV. So I spent about 6 hours of my day cleaning cars. plus side, everything in the driveway shines!

 

[bama_ed]

Oh and we wont talk much about Sunday.

Slacker.





















Seriously though, James, I get exhausted about READING what all you get done so my hat is off to you.



Take it easy this week, man. Me, personally, I'm looking forward to my retirement nap after lunch every day this week to catch up from reading your posts.

Ed

 

[jbrostek]

@bama_ed Well I was pretty beat after all that yesterday. It was not my original plan, but turned into "I guess while I'm at it...."

Saturday was much less work. Hour or so running the zero turn, hour or so on the RV, lots of downtime. followed by some grilling and sitting by the firepit.

 

[Teamubr]

Oh and we wont talk much about Sunday. It started with me wanting to clean DW car (It was filthy and needed it inside and out.) Then I decided to wash all the pollen off little blue (my commuter that pretty much sits now that my commute is 2 stories), which then lead to the truck getting a bath. Then my DD asked if we could wash her car (by we I mean she moved it in position and left me to do the work. And yes I did wash it and I still love her.)

Then last I was like man I need to wash all that pollen and junk of the nose of the RV. Well it looked so good I then had to wash the whole RV. So I spent about 6 hours of my day cleaning cars. plus side, everything in the driveway shines!

That will teach you.

No good deed goes unpunished.

(I have 3 vehicles and the motorhome that could use a good cleaning, inside and out... if you're interested.)

j

 

[tiggerdad]

3 years ago I carved up a pineapple for you gest DD and decided to try out putting the tip in a cup of water. After a week it sprouted roots so I planted it in a pot and since then has spent the summers on pool deck and winters in the greenhouse.

Well...



It sprouted baby pineapple

 

[bama_ed]

3 years ago I carved up a pineapple for you gest DD and decided to try out putting the tip in a cup of water. After a week it sprouted roots so I planted it in a pot and since then has spent the summers on pool deck and winters in the greenhouse.

Well...

View attachment 865645

It sprouted baby pineapple

Michael's deck view in a few years:

 

[tiggerdad]

Michael's deck view in a few years:

If DW has anything to say about it, you're probably not wrong Ed

 

[jbrostek]

That will teach you.

No good deed goes unpunished.

(I have 3 vehicles and the motorhome that could use a good cleaning, inside and out... if you're interested.)

j

Pass. I work hard enough keeping my fleet clean.