Friday, March 12-16, 2021 - Catch Up

Friday, March 12, 2021 - Late Night Problem; Happy Birthday Misti Dawn Blair (on a rainy morning); Change in Plans; Seeking Help; Quiet Evening at Home

After we returned from having dinner with Misti and Haleigh Thursday, March 11, we returned to the RV at Altamont Lake.  I was working on the blog post and Dean was watching TV when we started hearing this obnoxious beep.  We soon realized it was coming from the refrigerator.  There was an error code flashing, "LI" "oP".  Our refrigerator manual said it was "High Temp Limit Switch Open".  We turned the refrigerator on and off (by the way it was almost 10pm when this occurred).  It would be okay for a few seconds and the beeping would start up again.  I noticed our thermometer that relays the temperatures for the freezer and refrigerator was showing much warmer temperatures than normal, so we shut the refrigerator off.  We can't call anyone at this time of night, and we have a refrigerator/freezer full of food - now what to do?  I have two plastic tubs under the bed that I keep extra clothes in, and miscellaneous items in the other.  We emptied all of the items from the tubs and filled them with food from the refrigerator.  We have two large cold storage bags (one for each vehicle) that we use when buying frozen items - to keep things cool until we return to the RV.  We packed all of the frozen items in the two bags.  It was nearly 11:00pm when we headed to Oswego to put them in our refrigerator/freezer  in our garage.  I am so glad we decided to keep this refrigerator.  It took some special packing to get everything in to the small frig/freezer, but we did it.  It was midnight by the time we returned to Bentley.  We were both exhausted!

Happy birthday to my first born, my beautiful daughter Misti Dawn.  I may have related this story before, but I love it, so I'm going to share it again.  When she was born, her Grandpa Blair (her dad's father) joined his friends at the coffee shop that morning and was telling them that we had our baby.  They wanted to know what we named her.  He said I can't remember but it was something like "Rainy Morning".  It WAS a misty morning and she was born a short time before dawn - however, her name had been picked out for quite awhile before she arrived.  I love the story and how the day fit with her arrival.  And today was another "rainy morning".

Our girls day in Pawhuska at The Pioneer Woman's Mercantile
Misti, Me, Granddaugters Kamron and Haleigh

My gorgeous daughter

Haleigh, Misti and Me

Dean had a hearing aid appointment this morning in Pittsburg, for an adjustment.  He left early so he could make a quick stop at Home Depot.  

I called the City of Altamont and explained our problem with the refrigerator, and we needed to move to Oswego where we had access to our refrigerator/freezer for food.  They were very nice and will be issuing us a refund for the remaining days.  Todd had sites available, so when Dean returns from his appointment we will move to Oswego.

In the meantime I called our dealer, Chetopa RV to see if they might be able to look at the RV but they were backed up on repairs.  They suggested we try Coachlight in Carthage as they work on Norcold products.  They could not look at it due to the amount of work they had.  I was at a loss of who to call, when I remembered the RV place we stopped at in Muskogee.  It was a long shot, but I called them.  Earl told me what he suspected the problem was and told me how we could probably fix it.  One of the RV dealers I talked to (I don't remember which one) asked me if we had any heavy rain that might have blown into the bottom vent?  Since we were in Joplin most of the day I wasn't sure if it had or not.  While waiting for Dean to return, I watched a You Tube video on the code that showed up on our refrigerator.   In the video, the couple who made it found water inside the back of the refrigerator.  The steps Earl provided us were a repeat of what this couple did.  When Dean returned home, I told him what I had learned.  He opened the compartment and we did have some water in the area.  He followed the steps Earl gave me.  We waited a short while and turned the refrigerator back on and sure enough it started running again.  As of 8:00pm both the freezer and the refrigerator are now within normal temperature.  

Needless to say we had a major change in plans and the toilet did not get installed today.  Before Dean returned from Pittsburg, I had most of the rig packed up and ready to go.  Once he was done with the refrigerator issue, I finished the last few things and pulled the slides in.  Dean told me to go on to Oswego and select a site, he'd be there shortly.  I had called Todd to make sure he had a spot for us, and he did.  We will be on the south side, the area we prefer, where we can look out the back window of our rig onto a large grassy area, with trees beyond that.  We can also view some beautiful sunsets from here as well.  A light rain started as we were finishing up in Altamont.  When Dean arrived in Oswego at the park, the rain increased a little but it wasn't too bad.  Once everything was done, we headed to the garage to get enough food for lunch and dinner tonight.  We stopped at the grocery store on the way back, to buy a bag of ice.  I put 1/3 in the freezer, and the rest in the refrigerator to help cool the inside.  We are so thankful this was not a serious problem.  God is so good!  

Before heading back to the RV Park, we also stopped to pick up our mail at the Post Office in Oswego.  

Later this afternoon Dean took one of our propane bottles to Bartlett Co-op to have it filled. While we probably have enough for the weekend, we know when one tank is empty and it's still cold - don't wait, go get that empty one filled - just in case.  We are glad we did that in Texas, or we would have had some really cold nights!  It was good to see my cousin Randy and visit for a few minutes.

So it has been quite a day, but we are in good shape.  It's raining now and the forecast says we'll have rain over the next few days as well.

Saturday, March 13, 2021 - Morning Work, Quick Trip to Wichita, Lunch with Jarred & Family, Basketball with Heath & Family, Quick Trip back to Oswego.

I was not up as early as I wanted to be this morning and had much to do.  We are leaving at 9:30 to head to Wichita to watch grandson Roman play his last basketball game of this season.  Yesterday evening we received good news from his dad Heath, that the game had been changed to 3:30pm, rather than the 8:00am game originally scheduled.  It would have meant leaving Oswego at 4:30am to arrive in Wichita before 8:00am.  We were so relieved after the last couple of crazy days.

Before we left, I decided to defrost and clean the refrigerator/freezer.  We wanted to get the food back in it tomorrow if we could.  I wondered why I didn't think to do this sooner, but I guess we wanted to make sure the refrigerator was going to work okay.  I hated to not take advantage of a chance to clean it before returning the food.  By the time I was finished I was running to make sure we left on time.

It was a rainy, foggy and cloudy day.  

Heavy rains overnight caused the river to overflow into areas along Montana Road in Labette County, KS.

We ran into thick fog around Beaumont, KS

Fortunately we never had any heavy rain.  It made for a pretty drive today.  It changes the whole landscape in this type of weather.  

Driving in to Wichita, KS.  I love the design of the walls along Highway 400 through Wichita.  It's so nice that it is open all the way through town now, except for a small amount of construction toward the west side of town.

We planned to see Jarred, Andrea and their girls Emerson and Hayden before the basketball game. Since we would arrive around 12:30, we both ordered meals from Rib Crib.  Dean and I picked them up at one just a short distance from their home.  We had a really nice visit with them.  Emerson wanted me to go play with her, so down to her room we headed.  She showed me all her dolls, moved things around in her room and chattered most of the time.  She is a cutie!  Soon everyone else came downstairs.  We enjoyed watching Emerson and Hayden playing together.  Emerson is such a good, big sister.  

Hayden - 9 mos.

Emerson - soon to be 6!

We left their house about 2:15 as it's just a short distance to the Y from Jarred's house.  We met Heath & Casey there.  They brought lawn chairs for us to set in - as they have taken all of the bleachers out due to Covid.  Only 4 people per family can attend a game.  

Wichita Y

We thought Roman did a good job and we enjoyed having the opportunity to be there.  

Roman is #13

Roman in front, running down the court

 Roman, his teammates and coaches.

It was about 3:30 when they finished and we wanted to get home before it was too late.  It's been a busy two days.  With foggy/wet weather you can see interesting clouds and countryside.  We enjoyed the changes as we made our way home.

Thanks for following along.  It was another busy day for us, but we enjoyed it!

Sunday, March 14, 2021 - Rain, Rain & More Rain; Church; No Sisterfest; Bringing Food Back to Bentley; and Laundry

I woke up this morning to a heavy rain.  For those of you who are in RV's, you know how loud the rain sounds on the roof, but I often find it kind of comforting too, knowing I'm inside where it is warm and cozy on a dreary morning like this one.

The refrigerator was working great this morning.  We didn't have anything to eat for breakfast so Dean went to Casey's for breakfast sandwiches for each of us.  While he was gone granddaughter Logen called Papa on his phone - which he left behind - so I got to talk to her.  She's so cute and has the sweetest little laugh.  I talked to her and Brett until Dean arrived.  We heard Jameson trying to let us know he was there too, and Emilee was on the line as well, so it was good to hear from all of them.

After our phone call, I got ready for church.  My sisters and I were supposed to meet at Cindy's after church today for our first Sisterfest since we left the first of February.  However, Cindy's daughter Melissa invited her and Elmer, and sister Nikki and family to their house in Nevada, MO for a birthday dinner.  Her birthday is tomorrow.  That will be really nice for all of them and I'm glad they did this for her.

While I was gone to church Dean removed our old toilet and planned to install the new one.  He was just getting ready to install the new one when I returned.   I told him if he didn't mind I'd like to clean the floor and walls really good before he installed it, making it much easier to clean around it after it's installed.  It didn't take me too long, and just a short time later he finished up.

Once he had cleaned up, we headed to the garage to bring all of our food back to the refrigerator.  We were surprised to find the freezer door was not shut tight and some of the items had started to defrost.  We may have had it a bit too full.  Only one package of meat was entirely defrosted.  It was still very cold, so I fixed it for our dinner tonight.  None of the other meat was defrosted at all - it was at the back, but some fruit, chicken and beef broth I had was partly thawed.  I'll have to make something with those right away.  I checked online and they said it would be okay, but the taste might not be as good.  So far we have not noticed that.

I sure was glad I took the time to clean the refrigerator and defrost the freezer before we brought all of the food back.  

I fixed us a sandwich after we returned.  I spent the rest of the day doing laundry, and trying to get things straightened up after all of the chaos we've had over the past few days.  It has been a crazy three days.

About 6:30 this evening we decided to take a ride around the area.  

As we leave the RV Park - you can see all of the water standing.  

With all of the rain we enjoy getting out once it has stopped to see how high the water is on the Neosho River.  First we went west of Oswego to one of the creeks but it wasn't out as bad as we expected.  Next we drove to our city park to the overlook to see how the river looked from above.  

As we drove over the Neosho River bridge north of the City Park - the park is on the bluff above.

Taken in the small park along the river north of the park.  The river has started rising into the park.

When the water is at normal level, the concrete step you see, goes down several steps to a landing.  It's all underwater.

The river was definitely coming up.  We drove on down to the small park across the river and I took a few pictures (above).  Our next stop was driving to Chetopa to the river.  

Neosho River at Chetopa

Neosho River Bridge in Chetopa

As we headed west back through Chetopa, the sun was putting on quite a display.  

The sun was putting on a show for us as we headed back to Oswego, heading due west in Chetopa.

Labette Creek north of Chetopa was also out and I took a few pictures there.  

Love the reflection of the trees in the water here.

As we arrived at Oswego we enjoyed a beautiful sunset.  It has been another busy, but productive day.

Monday, March 15, 2021 - Happy Birthday Cindy, Laundry, Paperwork, Bank Business, Picking Jaxson up At School; Marc Visits and Leftovers.

I was up fairly early this morning, despite the time change.  I have a list of things to get done today.  After turning the coffee pot on, I started another load of clothes.  I've not had the chance to get entirely caught up after our return to Kansas a few days ago with all that has been taking place.  I think today might be the day I will actually find the hamper empty!

We finally had everything here to make our protein shakes this morning.  It's been a few days since we had one, and I missed them.  I did the dishes from last night and breakfast, putting those away, before I started my paperwork.  We've received quite a bit of mail that I have not had time to deal with so it is high on my priority list for today.  

Dean asked me to make an appointment for him to have an eye exam.  It's been well over a year and he needs some new glasses. 

We are going back to Wichita on Thursday and stay through Sunday, so I called to make a reservation at the RV Park where we prefer to stay.  It's very close to both Heath & Jarred.  Fortunately, they had several sites available.  Heath's boys will be on spring break so we plan to spend at least one day with them.  I'm not sure what we will do yet, but we'll find something.  I hope the weather is decent.

Saturday is Emerson's birthday party, so we will be going to that Saturday evening.  We have a few things we want to do during the day Saturday.

Dean received a summary benefits from his drug benefit plan, and one of those was a discount on new eyeglasses.  The timing was perfect for making an eye appointment earlier.

It's time to start thinking about getting our taxes together.  Ugh!  I'll probably focus on that in a week or two.  Next week is spring break for Oswego & Parson schools.  Cindy and I plan to spend a day together, and I want Jaxson & Kamron to come over one day.  Hopefully we can get together with Haleigh, Dacy & Tucker sometime during the week as well.  With school and work, it's harder for them to fit everything in to their schedules.  At least we got to spend some time with Haleigh last week and I've seen her a couple of days this week at our grocery store here in Oswego where she works.

We needed to go to the bank to take care of several business things, so Dean and I both headed up there after lunch.  We enjoyed seeing everyone at the bank and visiting with them a bit.  The lobby is closed due to Covid, so we had to make an appointment to meet with them.

After leaving the bank, Dean went to the garage and I headed to Cindy's to give her a birthday card.  She rode along with me on my way to get Jaxson.  It's about a fifteen minute drive, so we had a chance to visit on the way there, and Jaxson always entertains us on the way back.  He was surprised to see me again.  He sure brightens my day!  He came home with me after I dropped Cindy off.  Marc is installing some cabinets in another town, and he's going to pick him up on his way home.  It wasn't too long until he arrived.  He stayed to visit for a little while and it was nice to get a chance to do that.  He's a busy guy.

I have another list for tomorrow, so it will be another busy day, but it keeps me up and moving, so I don't mind too much.  With all of the ice and snow, and now rain, everything needs a good cleaning.  Dean wants to get Bentley washed so badly.  I think this may be the dirtiest (outside!) I've seen it since we've owned it.  Hopefully we can get it done this week.

I had leftover spaghetti in the refrigerator from Thursday evening, so we ate the last of it for supper.  It hit the spot.  It might have been because it did not require me to actually make something, just a good warm up.  I'm thankful Dean likes leftovers as much as I do.

By 9:00pm my mind was almost mush, so I set this aside.

Tuesday, March 16, 2021  Last Load of Laundry, Our Printer Quit Working, Cleaning Bentley Inside, Updating our Monthly Budget, Chicken & Noodles for Dinner, Evening Drive

I was up about 5:45, started the coffee, put in the last load of clothes to wash, put a few dishes away after letting them dry overnight.  By the time the coffee was done, I was ready to set at my computer to read my devotional for the day and my Bible reading.  I ran across something I wanted to print.  The printer that worked perfectly yesterday, refused to work today.  When I tried to print, I got a message the colored ink was empty, so I put in a brand new cartridge, but it still will not work.  Back in December, you might remember Dean received a new Chromebook for Christmas.  It would not print to our printer.  I read online that you could get a printer cord and it would still work.  Will it didn't work on his, but it did on mine.  I printed several things yesterday with no problem, but today nothing.  At 9:26pm this evening it still will not work.  I've shut it down, restarted, etc.  In December we talked to someone at Best Buy about it.  He said whatever you do, do not replace your printer until after the first of the year as there are several new ones coming out that will work with the Chromebooks.  We want to be sure and purchase an inkjet when we do, versus the ink cartridges.  At this point, that may be our next step.  We don't print lots of stuff but we do use it several times a month.  

After our shakes, I did my daily work, then Dean and I went to the garage.  Dean needed a haircut.  He looked like a new man when I was finished.  LOL!!!  I know he felt better.  I told him I took off enough I could have made a toupee for someone.  😅

He took me back to Bentley and he headed back to the garage.  He has started working along the property line on the south side, cleaning the underbrush and trash.  While he was busy doing that I decided to give Bentley a good dusting - from top to bottom, then swept and vacuumed the kitchen floor.  After the last few days, it seems like we have drug in a lot of small rocks and grass with the wet weather.  It is supposed to reach 70 today but I'm not sure if it is going to make it or not.   We had a light lunch, then Dean headed back to the garage.  I visited with Cindy for a bit in the afternoon.  We didn't get much of a chance to visit yesterday, so it was nice to really get caught up with her.  We are going to do something one day next week - since she is a cook at the school, she two will have the week off.

I utilized the chicken stock I had in the freezer that had thawed a bit to make chicken and noodles for dinner.  Now that is usually a cold winter meal for us, which at the time I thought was going to be great.  About 3:30 or so, the sun came out.  In no time it was in the 70's.  The soup was still really good.  It's a good thing as we are going to be eating it for a day or too!

After dinner, wanted to go for a drive.  As you know we like to do this and in my little car we get such great mileage we don't mind.  The river had dropped quite a bit and was within its banks tonight, although still higher than normal.  I'm glad Dean enjoys drives as much as I do.  I spent a lot of time with my grandparents (my dad's parents) when I was small.  They took a ride in the car every night.  I can remember driving in the rain and snow, it was a ritual.  I loved it then, especially when we stopped for ice cream, and I'm sure it's part of the reason I love it so much today.  

Sunset taken from the RV Park this evening.

Goodnight all!