Good evening and hope you all enjoyed a day off on Labor Day!
I had an interesting day today. Not bad--just not what I planned. It's kind of funny, really.
I woke up at 7:30 this morning, which was my plan. I wanted to spend the morning working around my house. I did get quite a few things checked off my list, so I was glad for that.
The plan for this afternoon was to go over to my in-law's home to help them clean their RV. They have the big bus type of RV. They've had it for quite a long time but haven't used it in a few years because my FIL's mobility has become rather limited. He can get around with the aid of a walker or scooter but getting up and down stairs is quite a challenge. So they decided it was time to sell the RV. A few weeks ago my BIL and SIL were in town and they cleaned out the RV of clothes, food, personal items, etc. Today my family was to go over to help with cleaning--scrubbing out the fridge, freezer, sink, stove, oven, bathroom; wiping out the drawers and bins; mopping and vacuuming the floors and treating the leather parts. We planned to go over at 1 pm. My MIL figured it would take about 2 hours to do the cleaning. Then we'd go swimming for awhile then have dinner. I thought we'd be home about 6 pm. At that time, the east side of our house (the backyard) would be pretty well shaded so while it would still be warm, we'd be out of the direct sun and could work on cutting down more of the weeds and sprouts. (Last year we cut down all the trees in the backyard. The tree crew ground the stumps and roots visible above ground and injected herbicide into the stumps but the underground roots are still sprouting). So that was the plan.
My MIL called around noon and asked us to come over at 1:30 instead because she had gone over to the RV lot (which is part of their gated community so right nearby) to pull the RV around to their house so we could use the hose and have easy access to the house for cleaning supplies, etc. The RV wouldn't start. They figured out that when BIL was here a few weeks ago, he left the AC on (and apparently the AC can run off battery power even when the motor and generator are off) so the battery was completely dead. MIL/FIL thought the fix was as simple as plugging into one of the electrical outlets around the RV lot to get things charging. Problem was, the outlets weren't working (which MIL didn't find out until later). We got there at 1:30 and FIL told us what was going on. He gave us a voltage tester and we went over to the lot to see what we could do to help and see if the power outlets were working. NONE of them were! Steven checked the main panel and saw that one of the breakers appeared to be tripped so he reset it and we plugged in the RV and it started charging. We then went back to the house for a bit. MIL decided to gather cleaning supplies so we could work in the lot while the RV charged. So we did that. We did get all the inside cleaning done except for the floors and scrubbing the fridge/freezer/sink/stove/oven. But they aren't bad so MIL should be able to finish that. As we worked we got enough power that we could run the AC and slide out the extendable sides so we could reach everything. Then we pulled the RV over to the house so we could use the hose to wash off the outside and clean the outside bins. By that point it was around 4:30--way after we thought we'd be done. MIL decided she would hire someone to finish the job. We ate dinner and went swimming. Then just before we were ready to leave, Steven and MIL went out to return the RV to the storage lot--and the RV wouldn't shift into drive gear! The engine was running and everything but wouldn't shift. So FIL got on the phone to try to find out what could be causing that. I'm not quite sure what the end result of that conversation was but the RV would stay parked in front of the house for the night and someone would come over in the morning to fiddle with it. By this point it was 8:20 and we needed to get home so the boys could get to bed. So we never did get an opportunity to work in the backyard.
So it was an interesting afternoon but we did help MIL/FIL out with getting the RV ready to sell, we had a good visit, enjoyed a very refreshing swim and still got home in time for the boys to get to bed so all in all we had a good day.
Merilee
