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Sugarfoot · 12-16-2007, 11:15 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Phil/Edee

Terry... have you shared with all how you're doing lately???? Wow. What an amazing recovery. Are you walking with a cane? Or on your own power. You are a truly amazing couple and we applaude you!

Phil & Edee

Quote:

Originally Posted by overlander63

My cane currently resides behind the seat in my truck. There are days when it would be helpful to use it, like today. There is a cold front coming through here tomorrow, so my bent and broken parts are not cooperating. It's going to sit behind the seat until I really need it.
Gotta run, or I'll be late for work.

Amazing is an understatement. I know Terry still feels the aftermath of his injuries, broken bones have a way of letting you know they are there years out from the injury. But he hides it well. When he came deftly bee-bopping down a hill in October towards my truck, my Mom turned to me saying, "I thought you said he had a broken pelvis!"

Terry, thanks for pushing the bandwidth, the photos are great and we're glad you didn't suffer storm damage.

overlander63 · 12-16-2007, 11:17 AM

After a further conversation with one of the more tech-savvy people here, I was informed that this set of rules was put in place after about 35 people had VOIP phones installed, using the wifi. One was working as an after hours phone answering service, and it was hogging all the bandwidth, and clogging up the works. I know voip takes up some bandwidth, but i didn't think it took that much. Now that someone has told me their reasoning, I can understand it a little better, but I think I should start lobbying for a slightly higher limit to the usage.

overlander63 · 12-17-2007, 05:58 PM

I have started another thread about this, but for those of you that don't frequent the pet forum here, I wanted to let you know that Cookie the wonderdog passed on this morning after a (very) brief illness. She was a week shy of nine years old. We currently are adamantly against another four legged family member, but we'll see if we still feel that way in a few months. This is the first time I have been petless since 1996, and even longer than that for Marie.
Throughout our ordeal, the accident I had, losing most of our "stuff", and beginning fulltiming, there has always been the three of us. Now there are two. Even though Cookie was a dog, she seemed like part of the family, and her welfare weighed heavily in whatever we decided to do. She was there for my father when he suffered a massive heart attack, as his companion, for Marie when she had knee surgery, she had to be pried away from Marie to get her to go out. And also, for me, through several surgeries, accidents, even my sister-in-law's pet puppy.
To say she will be missed is the understatement of the year.

maxandgeorgia · 12-17-2007, 07:16 PM

Those of us who love our dogs, cats, and other family pets understand and feel your loss and heartache. Once again, you and Marie are held in the warm "eoughs" of your forum family, Terry. ~G

overlander63 · 12-18-2007, 04:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by maxandgeorgia

Those of us who love our dogs, cats, and other family pets understand and feel your loss and heartache. Once again, you and Marie are held in the warm "eoughs" of your forum family, Terry. ~G

Thank you. Right now, our Sovereign, which seemed a little tight on space, seems strangely much larger, and quieter, now. There's no face in the window, no one to greet me at the door, tail wagging so hard it looks like their butt is going to lift off. Marie is trying, but she looks really strange when she does it...
On the plus side, there's no toys to trip over inside the trailer, and no walks to the outdoor pet toilet. On the downside, I am not falling over dog toys, and no early morning walks enjoying the early morning quiet. There's no one to let me know someone is at the door before they knock, and no reason to walk down the pet aisle at the store.

Somehow, the plusses seem more like minuses...

vswingfield · 12-18-2007, 05:32 PM

Hi Terry,

I just replied to your comments about the leak from the antenna and realized that I had not checked this thread recently. I am so sorry for your loss.

DreamStreamr · 12-20-2007, 08:10 PM

Terry,
Sorry to hear about yours and Marie's loss. I was close like this to our dog in high school but not since -- still I remember the loss.

Yes, we did sign a two year contract at $60/month for unlmtd Verizon. It has been excellent, but we are locked in for 19 more months whether we like it or not.

Best of luck and warm Holidays,

Jim

overlander63 · 12-24-2007, 10:10 AM

First, happy holidays to all who are currently scurrying around like madmen (and madwomen) trying to finish their last-minute shopping, as well as those who were slightly better prepared, and are sitting in front of the fire reading this missive.

Our current fiasco, err, disaster, umm, adventure (Yeah, that's it, adventure!) began with a trip to Camping World to pick up some needed holding tank additives. Wal-Mart near where we used to live carried it, but not around here, so, off we went.
After being admitted entrance to the facility by the security guard (no joke, I was wondering how bad the neighborhood was), we parked and went inside. This place is arranged differently from other Camping Worlds I have been in, and we had to go on a search and destroy, umm, find mission for the additive. We reasoned, incorrectly it turned out, that the holding tank additives would be placed near the holding tank intake appliances (aka toilets). This turned out to be not so bad a thing, as we found they had Theturd Style II china bowl toilets on sale for less than Bravurra toilets. And the new toilet included the black tank additive. So, for $150, we got a bottle of black tank additive (aqua chem), and a free toilet. We had decided to spend $50 each on ourselves for Christmas, and the old original Galaxy toilet in Bertha smelled like it looked. The seal inside would not hold water, so fumes from the black tank would occasionally waft into the coach, not a good thing.

When we got home, I turned off the water, and removed the old toilet. I then hastily reinstalled the toilet, turned the water back on, and thoroughly filled and drained the black tank

....I should have remembered to do this, but it's been a long week.

overlander63 · 12-24-2007, 10:20 AM

Next I noticed the closet flange was oriented 90 degrees from where it needed to be in order for the new toilet to fit, so a few minutes with a hammer and punch were needed to persuade the flange into the correct position. After dropping the new toilet onto the flange, I then attempted to connect the new toilet to the water supply. Naturally, the new toilet doesn't hook up to the existing water lines like the old one, so off to Ace Hardware I went. $10 worth of brass fittings later, we had a toilet that we could use, and not be embarrassed to let others see and use.
It smells better, too.

Foiled Again · 12-24-2007, 11:37 AM

a new place to sit!.... yeah, "sit" that's my story and I'm sticking with it. Yes, porcelain is so much better than plastic. It may not be glamorous, but on a cold rainy day when the A/S is shut up tight? Ah, what a relief it is!

Paula

safari57 · 12-24-2007, 02:29 PM

So what you are saying Terry is that you have had a "crapper" Christmas, and that's far better than a "crappy" Christmas.

Good for you, and I suppose that security guard at CW was there to protect those who are getting such great deals on toilets.

All the best

Barry

overlander63 · 01-16-2008, 07:44 PM

We had some Airstreaming friends over this weekend for dinner, and the conversation turned to additional storage. One of the friends suggested removing the dead furnace, and using that area for more storage. This idea has its merits, the furnace, while not exactly anchor-like in weight, is not a bag of feathers, either.

I hadn't messed with the furnace, other than verifying it did not, nor would it ever again, work. We examined the furnace, and my friend assured me he had removed his dead furnace, and it was "only 5 screws and an LP line, and it will pull right out. it'll only take about 5 minutes to remove it." Hmm...This seemed like a good idea, maybe I should have reconsidered after the Bacardi wore off

.
But I didn't, and proceeded to tear into the furnace removal with gusto Monday morning, thinking I would have it done before lunch.
Sure.
Right.
I removed the LP line that had been isolated from the system earlier this summer, and pulled the front cover off the furnace. So far, so good.
I then unplugged the electrical connectors and wires to the thermostat, and started removing the screws holding the furnace to the floor. My first problem, and first indication it might take a little longer than "5 minutes", was when I realized I was going to have to remove the shelf over the furnace to get my head and shoulders into the area to remove the screws. Then I saw that in order to remove the shelf, I would have to remove the bottom brace and tambours. I knew I would have to remove this to get the furnace out, so it was only a little out of the order I had planned to do this in. I then started unscrewing screws, drilling out rivets, and removing shelving. Before I knew it, I had spent the entire morning creating a large pile of parts in the living room, which I transferred to the bedroom to give myself more space to remove more stuff.
Then I found I had to remove the outside vent cover to remove the 2 screws holding that end of the furnace in. After that, it was back inside to slide the guts of the furnace out, so I could have more room to remove the case. It was now 1 in the afternoon, 5 hours after beginning my 5 minute project, and I was beginning to wish I had grabbed that Rubbermaid storage building I saw at Ace Hardware last weekend.

Sigh...
Now, I tried to remove the 4 screws that hold the case to the floor, it should be an easy thing from this point...I got the two front screws, but couldn't get the two rear ones. After much struggling, I decided to remove the duct and register from the side of the furnace nearest the door so I could gain access. I removed the register and duct, and finally was able to get the screw out. Whew, only one to go. Now, where the *&%$* is it? I finally found it by braille--buried under the rear furnace duct, behind the water pump, inside a tangled nest of wires and propane lines. ARGH! The only way to get to it was by using a special extra-long screwdriver I had--at work.
Along about now, I decided I should share my newfound knowledge about furnace removal, and called my friend, and asked him "Tell me again about how it only takes 5 minutes to remove this furnace?"

By this time it was after 5 in the afternoon, and Marie showed up shortly after. Since the kitchen had been rendered inoperable by my project, it was off to the nearest restaurant for dinner.
Next post will be day two of the five minute furnace removal...
Here's a photo of the furnace, with its rotted-off inspection cover:

overlander63 · 01-16-2008, 07:56 PM

Tuesday passed relatively uneventfully at work, with nothing more than a guy with a '72 Sovereign stopping by, and wanting to know if I wanted to buy it.

My truck is not silver, I don't have our WBCCI numbers on it, there is no signs saying "Airstreams wanted, enquire within", nothing, still he found me. If anyone wants a '72 Sovereign International, center double, with a Zip-Dee window awning, and a Carefree main awning for $3750, let me know, I'll try to put you in touch with him. But I digress...
I arrived home armed with my screwdriver, and attacked the offending screw. After getting it out, I tried moving the case, and found out to my chagrin I had to cut apart the rear furnace duct to get enough room to slide the case out of its little hole.
I finally wiggled it out, and went to put all the bits and pieces back together, and made yet another unpleasant discovery: When we moved, I had put my rivet kit in storage about 50 miles away. Terrific. I put everything I could back together using some sheet metal screws, and the riveting will have to wait till i can get over to Ace Hardware for some rivets.
Here are some more photos of the removal, and how the area looks without a furnace weighing it down:

CanoeStream · 01-16-2008, 07:58 PM

Good news - no hidden rivets. So has 'B' stopped chuckling yet?

overlander63 · 01-16-2008, 08:00 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by CanoeStream

Good news - no hidden rivets. So has 'B' stopped chuckling yet?

I asked him if there were any more "5 minute jobs" he would like to help me with. He declined for some reason...

**HiHoAgRV** · 01-16-2008, 08:09 PM

Good Grief what a mess. I've had my furnace out of it's case in about 5 minutes, no wait, 3 minutes because 3 of the 5 screws were missing

.
Your under cabinet looks 10X more crowded than mine and our units are of the same vintage.
I never pulled the outer case so it might be as difficult as yours, the empty case would make a fine liquor cabinet exactly where it's bolted

overlander63 · 01-16-2008, 08:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HiHoAgRV

Good Grief what a mess. I've had my furnace out of it's case in about 5 minutes, no wait, 3 minutes because 3 of the 5 screws were missing

.
Your under cabinet looks 10X more crowded than mine and our units are of the same vintage.
I never pulled the outer case so it might be as difficult as yours, the empty case would make a fine liquor cabinet exactly where it's bolted

It seems to be the model of furnace, along with the year, the fact that it's an International, and a couple of other factors. '72-74 used this furnace in this spot, it's an NT32A. It may be a few other years, but the guy trying to sell his had the same furnace in the same spot, so I am sure about those years.

**HiHoAgRV** · 01-16-2008, 08:30 PM

Mine is a '77 29' international and it looks to be the biggest difference is the routing of the water inlet, the gas lines and the harness ALL being jamed into one area on yours. My furnace is mounted in the same spot but the gas line approaches from the rear, the harness from above and the water inlet is further to the rear. My pump is on a stand above the upper shelf, properly designed to drip on the furnace when the bellows springs a leak, a thoughtful design feature

resulting in igniter board #2.

overlander63 · 01-24-2008, 03:37 PM

Below is a photo I took of a monster 5-er that backed into the space behind us, after countless attempts, and an hour of trying. I happened to be home from a doctor's appointment when I caught the action.
I cringed every time I heard the diesel engine spool up, and the "assistant" yelling "stop!!!" I heard a crunch, and saw they had managed to run over the telephone hookup, visible at the base of the electric pole. How they managed that without flattening the pole, and knocking everyone's electric out, is beyond me.

They also nearly knocked over the little building that we keep the generator in, and came within inches of the awning on Bertha, not to mention trying their best to knock down the giant oak tree that is shading us.
They have finished parking (I hope), and the park owners will have to fill in some pretty deep ruts where they tried to park where they oughtn't to be.
They do have a beautiful Sheltie, so they can't be all bad. Maybe I can make friends with the dog...

Phil/Edee · 01-25-2008, 12:25 PM

Hey Guys.... what's the celebration going to be when Terry hits 10,000 posts??? Gonna have to do something... since I'll bet y'all enjoy reading them as much as we do!!

There's only 28 or so left....if my math skills are still working.....

Thanks, Terry, for the lightness and laughter!

Phil & Edee