Waking up in our regular bed Wednesday morning was a little unsettling after sleeping elsewhere for the previous 3 1/2 weeks. And the dogs were a little unsettled, as well.
But we all got back to our regular routine in a short time. The big job, which we had started on Tuesday, was moving a ton of "stuff" from the rig back into the house. Becky, the champ, did most of the work, of course. The house was fine, but we discovered that our "water feature" was not working---apparently, a burned-out (or at least very cranky) motor. Becky ordered a replacement.
Although we had not gained any weight on the trip, we both thought it would be best to lose a little before embarking on our Transatlantic cruise in October. So we dug out The South Beach Diet book that we have been using rather successfully since 2004, and started in on its regimen Wednesday morning.
Wednesday night we watched part of the Republican Debates on CNN. We gave up halfway through the second one. The structure---pitting one candidate against another over often petty matters---was both uninformative and boring.
Thursday, I started to work on the faucet in our laundry room. It was not only crusted with lime, but it leaked when you turned on the hot water. After struggling with it for two hours, it was shiny and clean, but it still leaked. I'll get a new one on Friday when I go to Flagstaff.
Friday, I went to Flagstaff to run some errands and Becky washed the rig. It's beautiful again.
Becky also started to replace the pump for our water feature. It needed some connecting parts, which I went to the hardware store (twice) to get. I need to go again on Saturday, since my last trip produced a wrong-sized coupling. Oops.
Saturday was a great day. First, we joined fellow Williamsians (?) in a two-hour local trash-cleanup effort,
then Becky completed the water feature pump replacement and it works beautifully, and I successfully replaced the laundry faucet. I also fixed a leaky water hose that was connected to the rig, and otherwise prepared the rig to go into the barn until we leave for the winter. And I got the truck washed by a bunch of middle-schoolers who were running a fundraiser in town. Months of bugs were finally off the grille.
And, finally, Stanford upset USC and UCLA beat BYU. What a wonderful way to end a terrific day.
Sunday's big goal was to move the rig into the barn. First, I had to lower the hitch in the truck 3 inches so the rig would fit in the barn. I've done this before and it was difficult but not too hard. This time I was so visibly struggling with it that Jay, my next-door neighbor to the South, came over and volunteered to help. I accepted, and in short order we had the job done. Becky then guided me through backing the rig into the barn---much more easily than last time, due entirely to the new driveway gravel that helps prevent wheel-spinning.
Monday was my day to go to Flagstaff for a CT Scan of various parts of my body. It was a scheduled follow-up to my recent bout with melanoma. I had to drink some prepared stuff the night before and the morning of the test, and I couldn't eat or drink anything else for many hours before the test, but I survived. And the report from Dr. Mathern afterwards was that I passed with flying colors. Hurrah!
Naturally, since we were in Flagstaff, we had to run some errands. One of them was to got to the Amtrak station and pick up our Southwest Chief tickets to and from Los Angeles for the beginning and end of our Transatlantic cruise. We now have our train and airline tickets. If we get our weight in line, we'll be all set.
Tuesday was a simple day; nothing special. It rained a little, I took the tire monitors off the rig to save their battery life, I sprayed the rig's tires with some stuff to make them look nice, I arranged with a fence company to re-do the fence and gates on the South driveway (in November; they're very busy) because the current setup is sagging, and I read a lot. Nice, quiet day.
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