Elbow Greasers

Today was my turn to take care of Laptop and it was wet and drizzly.  But Laptop was awake and ready to go when he felt my footsteps on the floor.  We took a walk to the river and over to the dumpster and back home and he did really well.  But he was happy to get his treat and snuggle back in his warm bed. 

I could smell coffee when I opened the door thanks to my sweet hubby, so I made some pancakes and bacon with a side of fresh melon (from the CG Manager) to go with it.  Yum. 

What to do today?  Well, we couldn't go too far because of looking after Laptop every 5 hours, but it was not a very pretty day anyway.  We decided to clean the Diamondshield off the coach.  When our coach was new, the first owners decided to apply Diamondshield, a thick, clear contact-like coating that was professionally applied on the front, around the keyhole on the door, around the handle and at the bottom of the 'doorjam'.  By the time we purchased her last year, it had become cracked and dirty like this:

  Having it professionally removed would have cost a bundle, so I sent an email to the manufacturer asking how I could remove it myself.  They wrote back and told me how!   Last summer, at my brother's house, we labored with the front of the coach, actually needing to repaint it because it was so very difficult to remove. Fortunately my brother had owned a body shop, so he did the painting for us.  But we never got around to these last few spots.  So today was the day.

We got our supplies together and went at it.  It's imperative that we not scratch the paint underneath, so it's extremely tedious and time consuming. Can you see that stuff I'm scraping?   But slowly it came off, and then to get the goop off under the surface, we needed to use Xylene.  Two out of the three were done and we were working on the third, but it started to rain. 

We took a little break to put up the shelf that is finished, but our brackets are too big to fit where we need them to.  Another day.

Laptop's mom and dad got back from Charlotte and came over to say hi and Donna got home from the hospital at the same time, so we stood outside in the brightening skies and chatted.  Gary put some chicken thighs on the grill and we had dinner around 7:45.

The rain kept us in bed this morning as we watched the History Channel regarding Woodstock.  I was too young (heheh) to go, well, at least my mom said no way, so it was really cool to watch this peaceful historical moment that has never been replicated.  But, we needed to go over to Dollywood to check my schedule and a couple of chores.  I'm not even on the schedule, at least until Oct. 2, so I'm not sure if I'll make it back to work at all before we have to give our notice.  The Gospel Festival starts on the 28th, so hopefully business will pick up during that. 

We were on our way out and decided to pop in to see the Dreamland Drive-In show that was just beginning.    It was a fun show, similar to the show we saw during the RV Dreams Rally in April, but it had a story line and it won the Heartbeat Award twice.  Of course we were hungry when we came out and Gary had been craving sushi since April.  Today was the day.  We rode over to Little Tokyo and the parking lot was jammed.  This is a good sign at a Japanese restaurant.  We ordered our usual, tuna, salmon, California rolls and eel.  We got free soup and the sushi was very good.  Not the best we've ever eaten, but very tasty. 
I got a text from Donna who had left early this morning for the hospital, and Ron took a step backwards.  It seems they were rushing things, and he wasn't ready for real food yet.  His gastric tube is back in and we feel so sorry for him.  But the xray showed no blockage, so they're just waiting for 'things to get moving'   Poor guy, he's so ready to get outta there. 

We stayed for a couple hours talking to Donna (Ron slept on and off) and then we left to get gas (down to 3.22 and diesel to 3.69) and with our Kroger card, only paid 3.12 a gallon!  Then off to the hardware store for different brackets. 

Gary and I tried out the new brackets, and installed them.  We had no idea what the wall was made of, and would have put it up any way possible rather than drilling holes, but that was the only way.  I believe it was thick particleboard, but what do I know?  Regardless, we are really pleased with the finished product. 

Tonight is what I call 'funny night' on TV comprising of The Middle and Modern Family.  These days it's important to laugh as much as possible.  And these two shows do it for us.

We love our life.  Yep, we do.