Learning the Hard Way

Trench dug, conduit in, trench filled.  Progress!  Sounds easy and simple. 

What actually happened was:
Day 1- bought pvc pipe, rented mini-excavator, trench was dug in under 15 minutes by the guy who rents the machines, ends of trench were hand dug by me and my nephew, pipe was glued, picture was sent to electrician, electrician said "wrong pipe".

Oh boy.  I've spent hours in the plumbing aisle and no time in the electrical aisle.  I won't forget this lesson, ever.

Day 2- bought correct pipe.  Grey pipe = good.  Found out 10' pipe does fit in my mother's car.

 Replaced pipe in trench.  Spent the rest of the day moving the stuff in the barn-shed to the center so the electrician has room to work but I really need to move most of it to the mobile home.

Whew, done for now.  Waiting for the electrician to run the wires.

Came home to this dove nesting by my front door.  I hope she doesn't mind a gaggle of dogs going in and out of the door everyday.

Next thing:  Work on taxes and sort through stuff for the community garage sale at the end of the month.  I'm running out of March already.

Progress on the Tiny House, Sort Of

Things are finally starting to move forward out at my property again.  Some of you may recall that I put around $10k into the old mobile home in 2015 so that my nephew and I could live within the school bus boundaries for our preferred school district. 

This is how it looked before:

This is after (before the other furniture and cabinets.

This was my mom making curtains.

Then, I let a guy rent the place at the recommendation of the dog rescue.  He had 2 dogs and 2 cats and needed a place asap.  That was ok but he smoked and cleaning was not high on his priority list.  He moved into the 2 bedroom rental house that I bought and then moved to Brazil last year.  In the meantime, my nephew decided that he wasn't ready for college and returned to Arizona.  I felt he needed to learn some responsibility so he is currently renting the mobile home from me for a small sum plus electricity monthly and buying his own food.  I had hoped this would encourage him to get a job.  He did have a seasonal job for the past few months but that's over now.  He is learning how to budget his money, conserve food and water and live minimally, so at least he is learning something. 

Yesterday I took the afternoon off and met the electrician out at the property, finally, since he had to reschedule 3 times.  He was fantastic.  He changed the RV outlet into a dryer outlet, moved the dryer into the back room, listened to my plans for the barn-shed tiny house, looked over all of the electrical power available, figured out how we won't have to dig under the mobile home (yay!) and told me what I need to do and what to buy before he can come out again and bring power to the barn-shed.  I am so happy and now I have a lot to do if I want to get it done before summer.  The plan is to steal the power from the greenhouse/hot tub pump.  That's 70 amps.  I need to rent a trencher and dig an 18" deep trench from the greenhouse to the barn-shed, about 45'.  I hope it is easier than it sounds.  I can also pay someone to do it but I don't know how much that would be.  My nephew and I will attempt it first.  Then I will buy PVC to use as conduit and exchange my indoor power box for an outdoor box.  I bought the wrong one but I still have the receipt.  He also said he would wire the inside which is awesome because although I could learn how to do it myself from a book and Youtube, it is even better to learn from a professional, especially when electricity is concerned.

This is my preliminary sketch of the electricity needed:

And here is the picture of what I am talking about.  #2 is the mobile home where the dryer was installed.  #3 is the barn-shed tiny house which I am trying to get electricity to.  #1 is a storage shed.  #4 is the 3,000 gallon water tank.

And, my nephew mentioned that he is almost out of water.  He started out with a little less than 3,500 gallons last April and has been stretching it by not showering, doing laundry, or doing dishes.  Hmmm... that's not good.  He buys drinking water from the store so that isn't included.  I told him he would have to pay for the water delivery when he ran out.  That's $150.  But, there are a ton of chores he can help me with out there so he can work it off starting with helping me pick up another water tank with his pickup truck (which used to be mine).  My main water tank is 3,000 gallons and the water truck delivers 3,500 gallons which I have to pay for whether I have room for it or not so I am going to buy another 500 gallon tank so that I can get all of the water.  That is a chore for a Saturday but not this Saturday since it will be rainy and cold.  The next Saturday will be back up in the 70's so I will plan for that.

Sans Electric

The first night the Tiny House was parked in the yard, I was just falling asleep when my ceiling fan suddenly stopped.  I could still hear my nephew playing on the computer so I knew the problem was only in one area of the house.  I sent a text to the Tiny House people, "Hmm, ceiling fan stopped".  Then I got a call from them and they said half of their house went dark.  Seems they accidently plugged the half of the house that needs 20amps into my 15 amp circuit and the other side that needs less electricity into the 20amp outlet.  All was well until they turned on their clothes dryer.  This was easily fixed by resetting the circuit breaker and switching the cords around.

On Monday of last week, I had planned to return my mother's car and pick up my car which got the new timing belt.  On the way to work, the Check Engine Light went on in my mom's car so I decided to get it checked out first.  My nephew wanted to go to the CVS Minute Clinic because he had a persistent cough leftover from a cold and he was sure he had something like bronchitis or pneumonia.  After work, I rushed home, took him to the Minute Clinic (I'm so glad those exist.  They are so convenient!), picked up Mc Donald's (I know, junk food), dropped him at home (He's not dying, it's just a cough), and drove to a co-worker's house who had a car code reader.  My co-worker read the code, "small emissions leak", we tightened the gas cap and hoped that it fixed the problem, and I went home, finally.  I try to not have errands after work but sometimes they are unavoidable.

The next day around 2pm, I got a text from the Tiny House people, "Electric is out. Is there a way to turn it back on?"  While I was still processing this information, I got a second text, "Electric Company is here.  It's out in the whole neighborhood."  Ok, so, nothing for me to do.  I called the electric company's automated system and it said it would notify me when power was restored.  Then, another text, "Transformer blew. Electric Company says power will be out until midnight" Ugh.  It has never been off that long.  Now it will affect me.  Anyway, picked up my car after work and got home late to a very dark house.  I had warned my nephew so he was able to do his online homework at the library.  We went to Mc Donald's again because I let my nephew choose and I just wanted to use the Wi-Fi.  After wasting an hour, we went back to the house to search for flashlights and candles.  All of my D size batteries were dead and my lighter was empty.  We both had a headlamp which was handy except when we looked at each other and were blinded.  I brought in a solar light from outside.  My nephew turned on his brightest lightsaber.  He found matches in a survival knife that my father gave to my sister and me when we were teens.  It finally came in handy!  We had my dad's old hand crank radio and my nephew amused himself with that even though he could have been reading with his headlamp. 

I finally went to bed but didn't sleep well because the workmen were working in the alley outside my bedroom and I had no fan to block out the noise of truck doors slamming, lifts going up and down, beeping noises when they backed up.  The dogs did pretty well until they all started barking at 12:30.  I let them out to pee and I noticed the workman hovering over the yard working on the electric pole.  The dogs didn't notice for about 20 seconds and then one dog saw his flashlight and all barks and howls broke loose.  I managed to get them all inside again and we went back to sleep until suddenly, at 2:30am, my bedroom lights came on!  Oh ya, I forgot I turned those on.  Well, we had power again.  I turned off the lights, turned on the fan and slept well until 5:30am when the electric company's automated system called me to tell me that the power was back on.  Thanks a lot.  I got another call from the electric company, a human this time, at 7am asking if my power was back on.  Yes, it only took 13 hours.  Hopefully, my fridge and freezer food was ok.

The rest of the week was, thankfully, uneventful.

My Viewing Screen Gets Even Smaller

My netbook charger decided to die last night.  It lasted 1 year and 1 month.  I guess that's good for a $7 charger ($2 charger + $5 shipping).  This is the fourth charger that I have had.  The first one was chewed by a dog.  The others just gave up.  I don't know how long my netbook will survive.  I don't remember how old it is but it must be at least 5 years old.  Spending $7 a year on a new charger is worth the money for as long as the netbook keeps working.

Usually, it would be a major inconvenience to wait a week for the charger to arrive from China.  This time, I have a phone that has internet access and even plays Netflix (even though the screen is tiny) so the biggest inconvenience is having to write my blog posts on my desktop computer.  That's not a very big deal.  I feel very spoiled with my new fancy phone as backup.  By the way, I decided to keep my new phone and I ported my number over and canceled Verizon.  It was hard to give up Verizon because they are the only cell phone service I have ever had but the dollars eventually changed my mind.  My new phone bill with Republic Wireless is $12.50.  So far, the service works fine but I haven't tried it anywhere except home and work.

I didn't feel like getting out of my pajamas yesterday or spending any money so I sewed this pocket for my $300 phone out of some scrap material and thin packing foam.  It just needs a little bit of velcro to keep it closed.  I have some around here some place.  Maybe if I start cleaning I will find it.

Century Links' Merry Go Round Of Despair

You may remember that when I moved in to this house none of the phone jacks worked so I had to plug my phone line directly to the outside box and route the cord through the bathroom window. My router is still living in my bathroom and it hasn't been a priority to fix the problem because my netbook is wireless. Now that my parents have moved in they brought with them a very old Mac computer that is not wireless. The time has come to fix the problem. I tried the phone jacks again but still nothing. I examined the outside cable and it looks like it has been chewed up. So, I need someone to remove the chewed part and splice in a new cable. This sounds so simple. I wish I could do it myself but a google search told me that only a licensed contractor should be doing that sort of repair and that means calling the phone company.

I have posted before about how frustrating Qwest customer service is and now that they are called Century Link, nothing has changed. First, I tried to get on the website. For some reason it wouldn't recognize any of my passwords. I tried to reset the password but it wouldn't recognize my 'internet only' phone number and told me to call customer service. I called the internet repair help line and was obviously talking to someone in a foreign country. I explained the problem and they transferred my to a guy in Idaho Falls. For a brief moment I thought that I was getting somewhere but he said he had to transfer me to phone help and then tried to get me to add Direct TV service. The next non-native English speaker, after hearing that I did not have phone service, said that she was transferring me back to internet help even though I told her that is where I started and I had been transferred 3 times already! The last woman also did not know English well and the connection was bad. She insisted that she could only hear every other word I said and I finally had to hang up because she just kept saying that my internet was working.

I ended up writing Century Link an email which was also difficult because once I admitted I was a customer it kept trying to get me to sign in which I couldn't do. I pleaded with them to send out a repair person but so far all I have received is an acknowledgement of my email and also a very annoying follow up email from the frustrating phone call which spelled my name wrong and then says that they hope they answered all of my questions and then directs me back to the website.

I don't know why I stick with Century Link. I should have switched to the cable company's internet service when I moved. I have heard that their customer service is LOCAL. Perhaps it is just a rumor.

Where Did The Budget Go?

So much to do! I am trying to do a little bit each day just so that I can cross something off the list. Today I called to transfer my internet. It seemed like an easy task. The rep. asked me what kind of modem I have. Of course my modem is really old. The lines at the new house are newer than they are out here so my modem won't work. He offered to send me one for $99 plus $14 shipping but I found one on ebay while he was talking for $60 with $10 shipping. I don't know if it will get here by Friday so I might have to spend the weekend without internet. Oh the horror!

As a consolation I ordered myself a Roku box. I have read about them on other blogs and since I will have a real house with a real living room and maybe other people will want to watch TV and movies too, I thought it was time. If my parents keep their Netflix subscription then they can watch movies on my TV. If not, I think I will get a my own Netflix subscription. I know this is some major lifestyle inflation going on here! I need to pace myself.

No More Puppies For A While

All of my puppies were adopted! I knew they would go fast. I'm very happy for them and also happy that none are going home with me. Potty training is a lot of work and a lot of cleaning.

My other 2 dogs didn't get adopted. Well, one almost did but the people wanted him to be an outdoor-only dog who guarded their chickens. We aren't allowed to adopt out outdoor-only dogs and I really don't think he would have done well with chickens.

I have a backup plan in case the keys for the gate locks on my new house aren't found. My realtor said that I might get the house keys as soon as Tuesday night so if that happens I will stop by Harbour Freight, the cheap tool store, and buy some bolt cutters. I saw some online for $12. That way I can cut off one of the gate locks so that the electric company can get in to the backyard to read the meter. I don't want the power getting shut off and then getting charged a turn on fee just because they can't read the meter because the gate's locked.

Space Heaters For A Little Longer

Guess what? The HVAC guy went out to my soon-to-be house in the rain and explored the furnace. His diagnosis? Burned up transformer. He asked if I wanted to go ahead and replace it. I said yes because I really wanted the furnace to work. A couple hours went by and I called my realtor. Bad news. The transformer did not help because there were too many other things wrong with it and the repairman said he couldn't get parts for a 35 year old furnace. He wrote up a quote for a $1,500 furnace replacement and moved on the the cooler.

Good news for the cooler. He said that it only needs a $50 replacement valve and it should be fine. Total bill today was $105. Not bad but not what I wanted to hear. I was hoping that he would get the furnace going and then I would buy a home warranty and if the furnace quit then the warranty would pay for it. Oh well. I knew it was a long shot.

Luckily I own 4 space heaters and am accustomed to using them. The listing agent said that he has a verbal agreement from the other 2 banks to make the closing date February 15th. After that I want to get someone to cut down the 2 chinaberry trees before I move in with the dogs since chinaberrys are toxic. By the time I actually move in, there will only be a few more weeks of winter here in AZ. I don't think I will have a problem staying warm. There is also a fireplace although I need to have a chimney sweep come out and clean the chimney. I wonder if that branch that fell in the backyard is dry enough to burn. With all of this tree chopping I have planned I will have plenty of firewood for next year that's for sure.

One Step Towards Civilization

It felt like Monday but thank goodness it was Tuesday. Only 3 days until the weekend! Four and a half weeks until my next 3 day weekend! I'm not looking forward to it or anything. I just really really enjoyed having 3 days off.

I took my last puppy to the vet to get spayed today so she can be up for adoption. Unfortunately (or fortunately) the pound is having a great sale on dogs for only $10 so when our adoption fee is $175 it's kinda hard to move any puppies. I did get one adopted last weekend though so I wouldn't say it is impossible. Sometimes people just fall in love with that one particular dog.

I got tired of carrying dog poo to work to throw in the dumpster and ordered trash pickup service. I hope it works out ok. Having trash cans at the end of the dirt road isn't as convenient as I would like but it is still better than taking it to work. They are supposed to deliver the cans tomorrow. The lady said they would drop them off at my house. I said 'Good luck with that'. I will be happy if they drop them at the end of the road. I will have to put some sort of identification on them so that they don't get mixed up with the neighbors' cans. I can't wait to fill them up with trash! Now I can throw things away that have been sitting around her for a while and were too big to haul to work like old tarps. I have to wait a whole week though. Trash pickup is on Wednesdays so next Wednesday will be my first day. I feel so civilized! Now, if I could only get my water problem figured out.

Water, Water, Not Everywhere

I talked to my neighbor about my water situation last night and asked how their water supply works. She says that they borrow a key from another neighbor and fill up their tank at the main well down the road. I suppose I could ask the neighbor if I could do that too but I don't really want to be dependent on other people. I called the water company today and inquired about the process. I remember calling them shortly after I bought the property and they said that they weren't going to install any more meters at the main well. This time the guy that answered the phone put me on hold for a while and then came back with some dollar amounts. Turns out that for $1,900 I could have my own water meter installed at the main well so that I could haul as much water as I want. That is an interesting idea. I suppose the frugal thing to do would be to just ask the neighbor if I can share his meter but I like the idea of having my own.

Well, right now I don't have any money for installing a water meter so I will just think about the option. Since the neighbor that I was going to share a well with is probably going to move away, I could get a reliable source of water for only $2k compared to $15k for a well share or $30k for my own well. I could also pay someone to deliver water to me but I haven't found that person yet. Right now I don't use a lot of water but if I had access to it I know I would use a lot more, especially since I could do my own laundry.

Lots of things to consider. I am glad that I have anther option now that the rain is not cooperating this year.

An Ounce Of Prevention

An ounce of prevention would have saved me from a big headache this morning. I knew it was going to freeze last night but I didn't check the forecast so I thought it was going to be 28 degrees or so. That usually doesn't make my pipe freeze. I threw a towel over the pipe just in case and filled some gallons of water in case it did freeze and I didn't have water in the morning.

Well, I didn't have water this morning so I fed and watered the dogs like usual and then went out to the RV. As I passed the water tank I noticed this...


That's a big crack. The wind had blown the towel off of half of the pipe and it was completely frozen and cracked for approximately 2 feet. I went in the RV and called my boss to tell him I would be late. Then I thought about what to do. It was 18 degrees outside and the RV was freezing cold too. I didn't want to do any plumbing in that weather and wasn't sure PVC glue would even work in the cold. Luckily I added a screw release component to the pipe and the crack stopped there. After that there is a shut-off valve. The valve was frozen but I thought that if I could get that closed then at least I wouldn't lose my precious water supply.

What did I do next? I took advantage of my good excuse and went back to bed. I was wearing 6 layers on top including a jacket plus 2 layers on the bottom and 2 pairs of socks plus there was a flannel sheet, down comforter and blanket on the bed. The space heater was going too. I was still freezing. I managed to get a little bit of sleep and then got up because I was still cold. I haven't turned on my RV furnace in 2 years but I was desperate so I turned it on and it worked! I was so happy but now I will need to get more propane on Saturday before the furnace uses it all and my propane fridge stops working.

So, after taking a nap and warming up the RV, I braved the cold again and hooked my blow dryer up to an extension cord and thawed the valve. After a few minutes it was shut so I got ready for work and worked a half of day. When I got to work I found out that 3 other coworkers had frozen or broken pipes too. Then I got on Facebook and saw that most of my Tucson friends had plumbing problems. People were asking me if I was going to hire a plumber and I said no, I did the plumbing so I can fix it. I don't even want to think about what a plumber would charge. It was a totally preventable problem. I just didn't expect it to get that cold. Other people suggested that I leave my water dripping but they don't know the strange set up that I have out here. Even if I caught the water in a bucket to re-use, the water pump would wake us all up every 3 minutes. It is very noisy. Next time I need to wrap the pipe well. It isn't that hard. It's only 3 feet of pipe.

Anyway, the water in the RV seems to be having problems too. I haven't figured out the problem yet. The cold water was working this morning but not the hot. This evening neither was working. I looked at the forecast and it will be 65 on Saturday. I'm going to have to do without a shower until then. I forgot to take my gallon jug to work today but I will bring them tomorrow. The main thing that I need is water for the dogs.

Oh and I cut 4 inches off of my hair. I have been running out of hot water at the end of my showers so I figured cutting my hair would make it faster to wash and rinse. Now that I don't have hot water for showers maybe I should shave my head...haha.

Wardrobe Change

It was FINALLY chilly this morning. Soon those pesky wasps will go away and this time I will plug the hole so that they don't nest in my RV again. Actually, I hope I don't have the RV next summer.

I slept without the air conditioner last night. Just the fan was on. One of the bad things about the window air conditioner is that the compressor was so loud it would wake me up when it switched on and off. Pretty soon I will have to get the heater out of the shed. I think I will put the heater, it is an electric oil filled radiator, on top of the counter so that the dogs don't mess with it. Last year I used a little ceramic heater and it didn't work very well. I was very cold. Since I spend more time in the mobile home now, the big heater will go in there and the little heater will go in the RV for now. Sure I could use the RV's propane furnace but I think electricity is cheaper. That reminds me, I am almost out of propane again. I need to go buy some this weekend. I don't want my fridge to die and melt my ice cream again.

I was looking for something to wear this morning but everything either needed to be ironed or was in the laundry basket because I didn't have time to do laundry last weekend. I ended up wearing a long sleeve shirt. It is still 86 outside but I don't care, it is Fall weather to me! I love when the seasons change and I get to wear clothes that I haven't worn in a while. It is like having new clothes again. This will keep me happy for a few months so that I won't feel the need to go clothes shopping. I don't spend that much on clothes anyway because I shop at thrift stores and Ross but I should wait. There will be plenty of time for shopping after the mortgage is gone. I can wait 5 months.

Alternating Appliances

I haven't done much cooking this summer. Last summer, before the dogs, I cooked a lot and had to juggle the energy use so that I didn't overload the circuit. Today I was making dinner in the RV with the air conditioner on, the water heater, the TV, the toaster oven, lights of course, and I thought I would put some broccoli in the microwave to cook for lunch this week. That did it. Everything went off. That happened a lot last summer. So I had to go outside, around the other side of the mobile home and flip the switch. Luckily it is an easy fix. I turned the AC back on, finished my toaster oven pizza, then cooked my broccoli and then turned the water heater back on. It's a little annoying to have to alternate appliances but I have to work with the little power that I have.

This week the boss will be out of town, yeah, jeans all week. Maybe I'll bring one of my dogs to work. The weather is supposed to be hot all week even though a few days ago they said it would cool down. 94 is the coolest day in the forecast for Saturday. It seems like Summer just won't let go. I guess I shouldn't complain. I saw on the news that it was 111 in Yuma where I used to live. I'm sure glad I'm not there anymore.

Bored Dogs

Yes, they did it again. The doggy or doggies played "doggy splash park" until the waterer was empty and I got to mop up the mess. So much for my great idea to easily provide plenty of water in the hot months. I guess I will just have to fill small dishes and put them in different places.

My no-bark birdhouse does not seem to be deterring the little dog from barking either. The directions say it could take 2 weeks before the dogs associate the ultrasonic sound with their barking. Maybe the little dog is deaf.

I am having a nice time puttering around the mobile home and trying to make the space more usable. It is so nice to have running water in there now. I hooked up the second window air conditioner so the temperature is pleasant. It is 93 degrees today. Of course since I am not totally moved out of the RV I have the AC on in the RV and both window AC units in the mobile home. I can feel my electric bill exploding. I will get it all sorted out soon. Hopefully my solution will result in cheaper electric bills, or maybe this will be a very very expensive summer.

Internet Ups and Downs

When I got home on Sunday my modem lights were blinking. Since I just went through this a few weeks ago, I didn't even try taking the modem outside to test it. I thought I would just have to wait a few days until it magically came on again. Well, yesterday it was still blinking. Today it was still blinking so I decided to call Qwest. I went through the whole "turn the modem off, turn the modem on" and what do you know? It worked. I should have tried it before calling but I was so sure that wasn't the problem. Oh well, at least I am back up again.

I added up my expenses for April. Wow. That was one expensive month. No treats for the next 6 months! I spent twice as much as I should have. My 3 gallon dog waterer and no-bark bird house arrived today. I probably shouldn't have bought them. I could have gotten by with a pail of water and a muzzle. My little dog is actually getting used to the new foster dog. He has been letting her hang out in the dog run so I am not finding doggy doo-doo in my bathroom any more. At least I didn't yesterday. I haven't checked today. I haven't tried the no-bark bird house. I need a 9V battery. But right now they aren't barking so there is no urgency.

It is 90 degrees in the RV right now. The weather is getting hot and I need to get my cat moved in to the mobile home very soon. That will undoubtable cause some barking. At least I will be prepared.

I'm Connected Again

The internet is back up. I came very very close to switching my service from Qwest to Verizon. This morning the internet was still out so I called when I got to work. It is hard to call from home without the internet because I don't know any Qwest phone numbers. So, I make it through the whole recorded introduction (which, by the way, I hate with a passion...that guy's voice is SO annoying and I hate having to say my responses instead of pushing a button. Do you know how hard it is to hide the fact that you are making a personal call at work when you have to say everything so loudly and clearly so that the robot man can understand you???) and I was connected with a human who was just as unhelpful as robot man.

The customer service agent told me that I had to call from home so that they can run diagnostic tests on the line which I know is not mandatory because the last customer service agent submitted a trouble ticket for me without doing that. I told the guy that I had taken both of my modems outside and plugged them in to the pedestal and tried them with different phone cords and nothing worked. I knew it was not my problem. The last time the internet went out it was caused by someone cutting the cable with a road grader so I knew there was a good chance that this problem would get resolved, it was just a question of how long it would take.

But since the robot man and the customer service agent were so annoying and unhelpful I looked in to switching to Verizon. I was about to do it but Verizon requires a 2 year contract in order to get any discount on the modems and a $35 activation fee. And I looked up some reviews and there were some unfavorable ones that made me worry that I might not get a good connection in this rural area. I was concerned enough to give Qwest more time to fix the problem and when I came home today the internet was back up. I wish there was some way for Qwest to notify its customers that there is a problem in the area so that we aren't left wondering. I don't want to call the help number and listen to the robot man if I don't absolutely have to!

Anyway, it is good to be connected once again. 3 1/2 days without the internet is too long.

Dogs And Blogs

It is hard to blog with dogs fighting on my lap. I tried every configuration that I could with the telephone line splitter but I couldn't get both the RV and mobile home modems to work at the same time. I guess I will have to switch the plug around every time I go back and forth between the two. I hope to be permanently in the mobile home soon so it will only be inconvenient for a short time.

Unfortunately I let my netbook run out of power so I do have a cord and the dogs are tripping over it. And two dogs want to be in my lap, one of them weighs 60 pounds. I'm trying to watch Chuck too but the lovely digital tv signal won't come in consistently. I can watch it after on Hulu I suppose.

I hope to hear from my tenant this week. I got a notice from the home owner's association that said there were too many weeds outside the house. I should offer her some weed killer. Anyway, another Monday has passed, only 4 more days left until the weekend.

26 Minutes

26 minutes, that's how long it took for Qwest to straighten me out. I'm not complaining, I'm just making an observation. I said it would take at least 20 minutes and it did. They were very helpful and walked me through all of the steps. I am now wireless! I can watch hulu.com and tv.com on my netbook all day long...except that I have other things to do like go to work, visit family, and take care of the dogs. But it's nice to know that I have the option.

Can I also add that the Qwest voice annoys me to no end. And I can't stand having to say what I want. He can never understand me. At least they have added an option to push a number instead. I do like that they have people scanning the internet for Qwest comments. The Qwest agent who left a comment on my blog was very helpful and gave me the number to call so that I didn't have to search for it.

Now that I have wireless in the mobile home, well, it will be there as soon as I take it over and plug it in, I am another step closer to moving out of the RV. Next...cooking facilities and fix the shower enclosure. But wait, I must finish my taxes. The deadline is looming. Now if I could only get a free check of my tax forms. Where's the phone number for that?

Wireless Frustration

I planned to finish my taxes tonight but instead I chose to do what I thought was more fun...set up my wireless modem. I fought off the prickly cactus and other spiny plants to plug in the telephone cord and fished it through the window. The first attempt didn't work because my connector was too big. A little re-configuring and I got it plugged in. But now the Internet light is red. The directions might work if I could make sense of what they are talking about. I don't know where the Main Menu is or the Utilities option. Then it says call my Internet provider for a code. I am frustrated because I was hoping it would be easy. Calls to Qwest always last 20 minutes minimum. I don't have time for that tonight so I gave up and went back to using my old computer in the RV. Maybe tomorrow I can get some help from Qwest. I should have finished my taxes like a good girl and left the wireless alone. Now I am annoyed and my taxes still aren't done.

Catching Up On Gas

I was going to let the propane run out but it was really low and I don't have a kitchen set up in the mobile home yet. I use propane for the fridge and for cooking in the RV. I have a replacement fridge but if the propane ran out I would only have the microwave and toaster oven.

Since I've been driving my own truck this week for various reasons, I took one tank downtown to the propane depot yesterday during my lunch break. They checked it for leaks and gave it a new certification sticker. They didn't even charge me for it. Today I took the second tank down. Again they didn't charge me. Now I have 2 full tanks that will last around 2 months or more. That gives me a lot more time to get things organised and set up in the mobile home.

And in dog news...the little guy got neutered today but not before terrorizing the vet staff and biting the vet on the finger. The lady in charge of the rescue was there too and she said maybe it would be better if I kept him, she didn't want a lawsuit. When I picked him up he was freaking out on the leash and had wild dog eyes. He quickly calmed down when he saw me and the vet staff were amazed at the transformation. There is someone who wants to meet him. I might just take him to meet her and see how he acts. If it doesn't go well then maybe I will keep him.