Homemaking

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Impromptu Oyster Fest

Shortly after Caroline and her husband arrived today, a lady from further down the beach made an invitation to come down to their rig for oysters at 4:00. They had bought a gigantic gunny sack of them and the whole beach was invited! Just bring a beverage, a chair, and something to eat out of.

What a fun time! I’m pretty sure we were all there and between everyone there was quite a bit of food. The oysters were offered raw, grilled, or deep fried. I have decided that while I don’t not like them, oysters don’t do much for me and are very over rated.

I don’t have a problem eating raw seafood, so I think I can get away with saying that raw oysters are slimy and unpleasant without sounding like I have a closed mind about such things. Without lemon juice or a little hot sauce, I don’t know how people get them down their gullet. Their texture is slightly improved by grilling. Just about anything is palatable with a crunchy coating and bath in hot oil. My favorite part about the whole oyster thing was washing them, then learning how to shuck them!

It was nice to chat with everyone and get to know the neighbours by name, not that I’ll remember all of those names (the beach is packed). I wish I was better stocked for impromptu potlucks though so that I could have contributed to the spread.

After, Caroline and her husband invited me into their trailer for a chat. We should be neighbours for at least a few days. Caroline has been following my blog since the very beginning and we are pleased that our paths have finally crossed!

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Errand Day

I awoke to a very grey and heavy sky, a good day to go for a drive, even a short one into town, to charge the laptop in the truck. My PayPal transfer had finally landed in my inbox, so a Walmart run was definitely in order. The couple of times I’ve gone into town lately with L as well as with S&B, I was able to duck into Walmart for a few things, but I was due for a proper grocery.

Another thing on my Walmart list was motor oil, but I decided to wait to get some and just go get an oil change even though the budget is super tight. I forgot that US prices for such things are reasonable, so an oil change wound up being just $33. Woohoo! They even vacuumed the cab for that price, a nice perk.

I picked up something interesting in the produce aisle, so I now have to Google “How to cook cactus but first, how the hell do I get rid of the spines on the dang thing?!” I will report back on this.

The beach gang is heading down to the saloon for happy hour tonight, so that will be a fun mid-week activity. I may learn how to play shuffle board….

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A Useful Tool For Deep RV Compartments

I would like to introduce you to one of my favourite little gadgets, my Grabby Thingie:

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Officially, it’s a 36″ pick-up & reach tool.

I got this wonderful tool from Donna and Ken, whose RV should have really been named Ali Baba’s Cave.

As you can see, there is a handle at one end and a gripper at the other. You just squeeze the handle and the gripper closes to grab whatever you need to fetch that is beyond arm’s reach.

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This gripper is very strong. I have actually used it to pick up heavy tools like my hammer and drill from the main floor while working in the loft. The warning sticker that says to wear goggles while using it (LOL) puts its capacity is 2lbs. It also has teeth that actually grab the item.

I mostly use the gripper to grab things deep in my pass-through compartments so that I don’t have to empty everything out and then crawl in.

Donna claimed not have much use for it, so I don’t feel too guilty about having accepted the gift since I use it several times a week. 🙂

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Best Comment Ever About Class Cs with Overcab Bunks

Talking with my Franco-Ontarian neighbours yesterday, we somehow got on the subject of the layout of our rigs.

I told them that I could not live in a class A like theirs because they are too open for me and therefore feel very small. Some class Cs, like mine, are much more like an apartment with several rooms, so I can have an office and then use the overcab bunk to sleep.

The gal replied, “Oh, you sleep up there!”

And her husband wistfully replied, without a hint of sarcasm, “Man, I wish my RV had two stories.”

 

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A Little Paint and a New Solenoid

I can’t believe I was hesitant about painting the new wall yellow. It now feels like a proper room in here!!!

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I definitely need another two coats on everything.

Now, the solenoid project. As a refresher, the solenoid is what allows an RV house battery to be charged by the RV truck alternator when the RV engine is running. Mine has worked intermittently but recently failed completely.

L and his buddy B came over this afternoon and I knew immediately that my rig was in good hands because it was obvious that they knew what they were doing!

We started by testing if the solenoid would click when the key was turned to the on position. Nope. It was time to get a look at the dang thing.

Pulling the battery and getting to the solenoid required three sizes of socket wrenches. It also took two strong men to pull the battery out. Definitely not a job for me. I don’t even own socket wrenches!

Once they could get to the solenoid, they jiggled some wires, connected the battery via my heavy duty super long jumper cables, and had me turn the engine on. Click. But nothing was happening in the house.

They decided to pull the solenoid to clean the contacts. That done, we hooked it up to the battery and tested it. Click.

Next test was to check the voltage coming in from the house to make sure the problem was not at the battery bank end. 13.8V.

Next test was to check the resistance in the solenoid. Ooh… massive amounts of it. But the more we made the thing click, the less resistance there was and we finally got resistance down to almost 0. There was no way that thing was going back into my RV, not with how iffy it was and hard to get to.

So I was sent to town with the old one to find a new one. I went to O’Reilly’s auto parts and the guy at the counter knew exactly what I needed and they had one in stock. I almost fainted when he told me the cost was $50.14. The budget’s really tight this month but you got to do what you got to do. The cashier laughed when I handed him exact change. “Not fifty, fifTEEN.” As in it was a $15.40 part. WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

This is my old solenoid:

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The new one is identical except it’s shinier.

I got it home and made L test it before B installed it. Everything looks good on the engine side, but nothing’s happening on the house side. We think it’s because the alternator recognizes that the house batteries are full.

I am going to use a lot of power tonight once the solar cuts out (my rig needs vacuuming…) and then try the engine. If I don’t see any results, then all three of us are at a loss, and two of us are engineers! But we are optimistic!

I had to two regular Buds in the fridge and one Bud light, so we had a cold one once the hood was closed. Retired friends make for cheap labour! 😀

Croft, I know you’re waiting with bated breath for news of this project, so I will report ASAP once I do the test tonight. We’ve still got about two hours of daylight left.