L.P. has New Meaning

This is our Liquefied Petroleum Gas tank, also known as the Propane Tank.  Ours is located in the middle between the back tires, just south of the axel.  Since it is so far, they have a filling up location on the side in which a high pressure line takes the propane to this tank.

    

This fill-up area is along the passenger’s side, far back corner next to a storage bin.  In the picture above left you can see the yellow cover, which is removed and the propane filling nozzle is attached, the switch at the bottom is turned off shutting off gas from the motorhome, and the middle relief valve is opened so that when propane starts spurting out, it is time to turn off the pump.  The right picture is the back side of the left picture…and you can see that the high pressure line is missing.  Well, when I tried to top off the propane in Evanston Wyoming nearly two weeks ago, that is when I found out about the missing line.  If you look at the first picture, the line goes into the valve in the upper left, near the middle, of the tank.  Another of the small things one discovers as they use a “new to us” motorhome.  I sure did not see it on my brief inspection under the motorhome as we were buying it because I was looking more for rust and potential road salt damage.  LP’s new meaning?  "Lost Pipes"

Above is the FedEx shipping history on the progress of our awning being shipped to my sister’s house in Citrus Heights, California.  In the upper right corner you can see the proposed delivery date, which I saw last night for the first time….and oh no, there it is…..Holiday, Florida.  Yep, they sent it to Florida instead of California.  Today it arrived in and departed from Orlando.  I talked to the folks at PPL Motorhomes in Houston and pointed out their error, and they were going to try and have it re-routed to Citrus Heights….this is hours before it arrived in Orlando.  It departed Orlando tonight, and it looks like it is still headed to Holiday.  Perhaps it is bundled in such a way that they have to move it on to Tampa before they can re-route it….or perhaps PPL did nothing about correcting their mistake.  Tomorrow I will know one way or another, but it seems like this awning thing has been such a circus.  GRRRRR!!!  Perhaps LP means Lost Parcel, or Losing my Patience….take your choice.

Have you ever heard of Bag Balm before?  This is some great stuff.  Here is what Wikipedia says about it:

Bag Balm is a salve developed in 1899 to soothe irritation on cows' udders after milking.  The product is officially only meant for animals and is inspected as such by the United States Food and Drug Administration, but it's also often used as a treatment for chapped and irritated skin on humans and can be found in places such as drug stores, ski resorts, online vendors, needle-work stores, and of course farm and feed stores. Its uses are many, for example "squeaky bed springs, psoriasis, dry facial skin, cracked fingers, burns, zits, diaper rash, saddle sores, sunburn, pruned trees, rifles, shell casings, bed sores and radiation burns." ….. The active ingredients of Bag Balm are 8-hydroxyquinoline sulfate 0.3% (antiseptic) in a petroleum jelly USP and lanolin base.

Well, my use is for dry feet, which developed while we were in Wyoming.  We had some last year, given to us by my sister in a small container, which we carried in the motorhome….which burned up and became ashes a few months ago.  Well, the other day I broke down and bought some from Walgreens….a bit hard to find unless you know where to look…in the lotions and skin creams area.  It works great, and this “tin” will last us for a long, long time.

As for my knee, it is doing much, much better.  No problems since a week ago Sunday, which means it was probably just a pinched nerve, probably from the hectic drive.  Since I was favoring it, it put more pressure on the other leg which was sore, like a sore muscle, but nothing to worry about either.  Thanks to all who were concerned.

The great squirrel hunters are so happy to be back in Arny and Sandy’s backyard.  Skruffy runs and barks and barks and runs and never comes close.  

Bubba, on the other hand, is a true hunter.  He will sneak right up on the little creatures and with a big, final pounce, he always comes up empty.  It is at that point that he lets out a large, resounding BARK, and sits there and stares at the squirrel which is typically giving him a squirrely chirp.

I just love the trees over at mom and dad’s house.  The lady who use to live there, now deceased, was a great gardener…and from what I have been told, the yard looked even better when she was alive.  Her surviving daughter, who lost the house in a foreclosure, did nothing to keep it up…many plants and even a few trees were lost over the years.  Mom sure enjoys going out and watering….to the point that I had to rescue her the other day when she got her little GoGo stuck out on the lawn.  No pictures of that, unfortunately.  

    

Later this week we hope to visit with Mary-Pat who writes the Butterflies and Heart Songs blog.  She is recovering nicely from recent knee surgery…and we look forward to seeing her again since our initial meeting at Crater Lake last year.

Knee Pain, Family Time

One part of Saturday’s BBQ story that I did not mention was a severe knee pain I developed early Saturday morning.  By 8 a.m. I could barely walk over to mom and dad’s house where I knew they had some extra canes.  I had used a heating pad, and continue to use it each morning and night now.  I needed to get Ice for the BBQ, an electrical plug from Camping World, and so I went to a drug store and got some Icy Hot cream, Icy Hot knee patch and knee support brace.  I put them on out in the parking lot, and by the time I got to Camping World, a two minute drive, I could easily walk again.  By the end of the day, I was better.  The pain seemed to stem from a pinch nerve, as there was no swelling, redness or other symptoms.  Perhaps putting the brace and patch on out in the parking lot “un-pinched” the nerve.  Regardless, I was happy to be better for this special day.

Saturday night I went to bed at the uncharacterized time of 8 pm, and did not get up until after 6 am.  No knee pain for the first two hours…until I put my socks on sitting on the bed, and when I got up there was a slight twist of the ankle/leg and BAM!, the knee started to hurt again.  Not as bad as Saturday, but this time it took all day to slowly go away.  Today is Wednesday, and there has been no return of the problem.  Of course, I have researched and researched the situation.  Some were concerned about a blood clot, but there just wasn’t any other symptoms to show that.  No pain to the touch.  Also, having back pain as a growing kid where my back did not grow as fast as the rest of my body, I am familiar with nerve pain, and this definitely felt like nerve pain.  For now, it is taking it easy, using or having a cane ready as needed, and I am using a Ace Bandage now instead of the bulky knee brace.

For the past few days we have just been enjoying family time.  We had a great mother’s day on Sunday, enjoyed leftovers on Monday, and went out to lunch to Panera’s with mom and dad yesterday.  Awaiting the awning from Houston which should be here in a week or so, and then we will get some work done on the motorhome.  In the meantime I have some Duragloss 521 and 581 coming in from Amazon so that I can finally give the new RV a good cleaning….which after that long trip is well overdue.