NOT HAPPY ABOUT THIS 'LIVE WRITER' PROBLEM & OH-OH A PROBLEM WITH THE BIG EEE:((

Not knowing what is going on with Live Writer I am posting this tonight using the Blogger format.  It looks like the great Google God has made another one of their questionable sweeping technical moves & put a hex on Microsoft's Live Writer program.  I hope they haven't knocked out Live Writer forever so that everyone is now forced to use only Google gizmos.  Many of us out here much prefer Microsoft's writing platform as opposed to the Blogger writing platform.  What a total PITA it is inserting photos so if my blog looks out of whack tonight (pics too big, print to small etc.) blame it all on Google's messing with things again.  Anyway, I hope either Google or Microsoft can & will step up to the plate & resolve this problem for we the people shortly & get their focus off their bottom lines for a change.  In the meantime I & many other folks are not happy campers with all this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Anxious to know if & how our new toad towing set-up was going to work I wasn't long this morning in lining up the Libbygator behind the Big EEE.  With our Sterling Roadmaster hitch fitted with 2 Blue Ox adaptors I easily connected the Jeep to the rig.  Our towing set up is actually better now than it was before.  Went over my check list for getting the auto transmission & transfer case positions right, fired up the rig, checked to make sure signal & brake lights were working correctly then had Kelly stand beside the Jeep listening for any bad sounds as I slowly moved the rig & Jeep ahead about a foot.  Everything seemed good so moved another 10 feet with everything still good.  From there Pheebs & took the rig with Jeep in tow for a drive & all was well.  Or was it........well yes it was but something else happened:((

ALL HOOKED UP & READY FOR A TEST DRIVE

OK ENOUGH PICS LET'S JUST GET HER GOING & TAKE ER FOR A TEST DRIVE
 

YEP THERE COMES LITTLE LIBBY ALONG BEHIND JUST AS GOOD AS CAN BE & OMG I THINK THE RIG'S DASH NEEDS A GOOD DUSTING BY THE LOOKS OF IT

Back home again I had just disconnected the Jeep from the rig when my good friend Richard happened to come by & as usual we got ourselves into a conversation for a bit.  Just as Richard was about to leave he noticed about the same time I did something strange hanging down underneath the motorhome just ahead of the driver's side front wheel.  A closer inspection revealed it to be a coiled piece of copper looking much like a bent out of shape mini slinky toy.  On the ground & sprayed around the wheel well & hubcap was a red fluid.  Definitely something bad news alright!!  And this is where I caught a big break.  Richard is a car guy & jack of all trades kind of fella.  Knows his way around just about anything & any kind of mechanical problem is generally right up his alley.  He right away set to work looking for the source of t that red viscous liquid.  A power steering pump problem was eliminated as well as a brake line problem.  After a lot of sliding around under the rig & forays into the tight engine compartment he finally determined the problem to be with the hydraulic pump which is used in lowering or raising the rig's hydraulic jacks.  He was able to remove the part that had blown apart & said he had never seen anything like that before.  Below is a picture of that part which he thinks could be a type of heating coil used for keeping hydraulic fluid pliable in very cold weather.  He had no idea why this part would have come apart like that. 


DON'T KNOW WHAT THIS PART IS OR WHAT IT'S FOR BUT IT'S WHAT WE FOUND

How fortunate it was this morning to have that part fail right here at home in Bayfield & not on some interstate or remote boondocking site out in the southwest somewhere.  Also so fortunate to have someone like Richard standing right there who was able to diagnose the problem or I would probably have had to call Coachnet & have our rig towed to a garage where they may or may not have been able to fix the problem anyway.  Regardless, Richard saved us some money for sure.

BEING AN OLD CAR GUY AT HEART IT DIDN'T TAKE RICHARD LONG TO GET AT THE PROBLEM & FIGURE IT OUT

Kelly phoned the manufacturer of our hydraulic leveling system which happens to be a company called HWH located in Moscow Iowa.  Would you believe you have to be put on a week long waiting list just to talk to a tech.  Yep it's true.  However Kelly did manage to find a listing of Canadian dealers/garages who service HWH equipment & coincidentally there is an RV dealer in London which just so happens to be the same RV dealership we traded in our Class C Chevy Sunseeker for a bigger Class C Ford Winnebago Access Premier 2 years ago.  And the fellow Kelly talked to remembered us.  I emailed him a couple photos of that slinky toy part so we'll now wait for his assessment.  If push comes to shove & we have to take the rig to the manufacturer who builds those hydraulic leveling systems we could do that in October.  HWH luckily is located west of Davenport Iowa which in turn is luckily located right alongside I-80 which just happens to be right along our October route to the southwest again.  We were there once before in 08 when we had a problem with a sticking hydraulic jack. 

KELLY SPENT A GOOD HOUR IF NOT MORE TRYING TO SOLVE THE LOG-IN PROBLEM WITH LIVE WRITER TUESDAY NIGHT

GROANER'S CORNER:(( A young lawyer, just out of Law School, was pleading his first case in South Carolina.  A train had killed twenty-four pigs, and the young attorney was trying to impress the jury with the magnitude of the injury.  "Yes, ladies and gentlemen of the jury, twenty-four pigs. Imagine, twenty-four pigs. Twice the number there are in the jury box."

PHEEBS & I SURE ARE GLAD WE HAVE AN AIR CONDITIONED VEHICLE AGAIN

This is my Tuesday May 26th post.  Due to some kind of overall problem with ‘Live Writer’ I & many others have not been able to publish their posts using LW.  I have copied & pasted my post into the Blogger format & published it that way.  Photos may not appear.  Hopefully Live Writer will resolve this problem today……………….. 
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After nearly 5 years Pheebs & I are sure happy to finally have ourselves an air conditioned vehicle for our back road tours again.  Humidity began building early in the morning & as we slipped along a few back roads between Bayfield & Grand Bend that cool air conditioned air coming out of the Jeep Liberator's vents just felt soooooooo refreshing.  We had driven down to Ron's Four Seasons Performance to pick up a couple safety cables to go along with our new tow plate assembly.  Found out after arriving home Monday our Sterling Roadmaster cables were not going to work with the new Blue Ox tow plate.  Ron gave us a set of cables & I dropped off our old Roadmaster tow bar which he is sure he can find a buyer & sell for us.  What a guy, always so very helpful.
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Turned out to be too hot for me to do much of anything today so I stuck close to our cooling fans & central air while Kelly had herself a totally relaxing day after feeling just a little spent after Monday's hospital procedure.  She did end up having to take a couple Tylenol's Monday night after the freezing wore off around the biopsy puncture site.
I would say we are finally in full blown summer mode now with all our forests fully leafed out looking so lush & green.  Insects are in the air with bees buzzing through heated air.  Our front yard has filled in nicely again as our privacy foliage thickens.  Not quite thick enough for my liking of course so I may be out planting some additional shrubs shortly to hide us away even more. 
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Wrote myself out a check-list on a piece of cardboard for preparing the Liberty's automatic transmission & transfer case for towing.  I will keep that in the console for handy reference.  Procedure is basically the same as the Wrangler's standard transmission except instead of depressing a clutch I will be moving the auto gearshift into neutral while going through the steps.  Sometime in the next few days I'll hook up the Jeep behind the rig & we'll take the combination for a spin to make sure everything is aligned & working properly.  The Big EEE is due for another run anyway:))
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GROANER'S CORNER:(( There was once an aspiring veterinarian who put himself through veterinary school working nights as a taxidermist.  Upon graduation, he decided he could combine his two vocations to better serve the needs of his patients and their owners, while doubling his practice and, therefore, his income.  He opened his own offices with a shingle on the door saying, "Dr. Jones, Veterinary Medicine and Taxidermy - Either way, you get your pet back!"

TEST POST

Having a technical problem somewhere with publishing my post.  This is an attempt using Blogger & not Live Writer...........

AFTER HER LIVER BIOPSY THIS MORNING KELLY EXITS THE HOSPITAL WITH A BIG SMILE & 2 TIM HORTON COFFEES

  

It was still dark when I walked out to the Jeep this morning & I was reminded of my days getting up in pre-dawn hours when still part of the work force years ago.  Many jobs in many places had me getting up at lots of weird hours back on those days.  Some days or nights whichever the case was at the time were jobs I looked forward to while others not so much.  Fortunately this morning I was not firing up the Jeep to head off to some kind of employment somewhere.  Happy for the most part to have those days behind me know.  This morning's destination was of a different nature. 

HERE’S PHEEBS DOUBLE CHECKING TO MAKE SURE I GOT THAT NEW FANGLED AUTOMATIC TRANSMISSION IN THE RIGHT GEAR
We rolled out of our driveway at 5:40 a.m. arriving at London's University Hospital in London Ontario 65 minutes later.  I was surprised at how light the traffic was all the way & especially in London.  Dropped Kelly off at the hospital's main entrance & wished her well with her upcoming liver biopsy in a few hour's time. My next destination was clear across the city for an 8 a.m. appointment at the The Trailer Hitch Center.  Again light traffic & I had no problem finding the place as this was our third vehicle hitch installation in 9 years. I was there in good time complete with a Tim Horton's coffee stop along the way.  They took Libby in sharply at 8 & I made myself comfortable in their waiting room for the next 3 hours.  Luckily I had brought my Kindle as well as my Toshiba lap top.  No internet of course but I was able to gobble up a bit of time with an early start on tonight's post.

NICE CLEAN SHOWROOM, WASHROOMS, BIG TV, COMFY SEATS, & A KEURIG COFFEE MAKER

THIS IS WHERE I SPENT MY MORNING

SPOTTED LIBBY THROUGH AN OPEN GARAGE DOOR UP ON A LIFT

AND HERE’S SOMETHING FOR YOU BIG FORD TRUCK OWNERS OUTSIDE THE TRAILER HITCH PLACE THIS MORNING

NO IDEA WHY THIS TRUCK IS ALL BEEFED UP EXCEPT MAYBE FOR ADVERTISING PURPOSES

Cell phone rang at 10:45 with a hospital lady at the other end saying Kelly's biopsy had gone well & she would be ready for pick up by 11:10.  Hitch folks said Jeep wouldn't be ready to go until at least 11 & it was a half hour drive to the hospital so told the lady I'd pick up Kelly at the hospital's front door at 11:45.  It was exactly 11:15 when I left the hitch place & with a lot of green lights cooperating along the way I was at the hospital 25 minutes.  Kelly came out the front door with a big smile & two Tim Horton coffees in her hand.  Big difference from when I picked her up from her botched Stratford liver biopsy last summer when a nurse brought her out in a wheel chair.  And that time she was not feeling well at all & later developed a large lump around the site & as I recall we had to return to the hospital a day or two later.  Kelly said the procedure in London's University Hospital went very smooth with a minimum of pain, unlike Stratford.  Only took 10 minutes & she said she could have easily hopped off the table & driven home.  Speaking of home we were back in Bayfield shortly before 1 p.m.  On June 18th we will return once again to University Hospital where Kelly's specialist will go over the biopsy results with her.  Thanks to commenters for their well wishes.

THE VISIBLE PART OF OUR TOW PLATE INSTALLATION

THIS IS A BLUE OX TOW PLATE

HOOKED UP TO OUR NEW TOW PLATE
Caught us a lucky break with the weather today as well.  With a 60% chance of rain we dodged any & all rain clouds making it to London & back without driving through any downpours.  Around 5 o’clock we did have a fast moving storm come in off the lake & dump some rain on us before heading off inland.

THIS FIELD OF CORN IS JUST EMERGING FROM THE GROUND & WILL RAPIDLY GROW TO 7 & 8’ TALL OVER THE COMING MONTHS

LOOKS LIKE A GREEN FUZZ SPREADING OVER ALL THE BROWN RECENTLY FERTILIZED & PLANTED RURAL FIELDS
GROANER'S CORNER:(( EVENING CLASSES FOR MEN!  OPEN TO MEN ONLY - ALL ARE WELCOME  Note: Due to the complexity and level of difficulty, each course will accept a maximum of eight participants. The course covers two days, and topics covered in this course include:

DAY ONE
HOW TO FILL ICE CUBE TRAYS
Step-by-step guide with slide presentation
TOILET ROLLS - DO THEY GROW ON THE HOLDERS?
Round table discussion
DIFFERENCES BETWEEN LAUNDRY BASKET & FLOOR
Practicing with hamper (Pictures and graphics)
DISHES & SILVERWARE - DO THEY LEVITATE/FLY TO KITCHEN SINK OR DISHWASHER BY THEMSELVES?
Debate among a panel of experts.
REMOTE CONTROL
Losing the remote control - Help line and support groups
LEARNING HOW TO FIND THINGS
Starting with looking in the right place instead of turning the house upside down while screaming - Open forum

 
DAY TWO
EMPTY MILK CARTONS - DO THEY BELONG IN THE FRIDGE OR THE BIN?
Group discussion and role play
HEALTH WATCH - BRINGING HER FLOWERS IS NOT HARMFUL TO YOUR HEALTH
PowerPoint presentation
REAL MEN ASK FOR DIRECTIONS WHEN LOST
Real life testimonial from the one man who did
IS IT GENETICALLY IMPOSSIBLE TO SIT QUIETLY AS SHE PARALLEL PARKS?
Driving simulation
LIVING WITH ADULTS - BASIC DIFFERENCES BETWEEN YOUR MOTHER AND YOUR SPOUSE
Online class and role playing
HOW TO BE THE IDEAL SHOPPING COMPANION
Relaxation exercises, meditation and breathing techniques
REMEMBERING IMPORTANT DATES & CALLING WHEN YOU'RE GOING TO BE LATE
Bring your calendar or PDA to class
GETTING OVER IT
Learning how to live with being wrong all the time,

WE HAVE AN EARLY MORNING AHEAD OF US

YOUNG LILY PADS IN A POND
We will be up well before the birds early Monday morning & on the road making our way to University Hospital in London Ontario.  Kelly is scheduled for a liver biopsy at 7:30 a.m. & I have to have the Jeep Liberty clear across the city by 8 a.m. to have a tow plate fitted enabling the Liberty to be towed behind our Motorhome.  The Trailer Hitch Center hopes to have me out of there before noon & hospital personnel figure Kelly can be picked up around 1 p.m.  If all goes according to plan we could be back in Bayfield sometime after 2 p.m.  We'll see....................................

I BELIEVE THIS TO BE PHLOX
A walk in the swamp for Pheebs & I this morning was once again the high point of our day………….

HURON COUNTY’S HULLETT MARSH

NOT SURE WHAT BIRD MADE THIS NEST IN A SHRUB BUT I DID SEE A GOLDFINCH FLY OUT OF THE SHRUB…

SNAPPING TURTLE ON A LOG

ALTHOUGH HAVING AN AUTUMN LIKE APPEARANCE THESE SPRING MAPLE LEAVES WILL SOON BE FULL GROWN & PROBABLY GREEN
GROANER’S CORNER:(( A surgeon examined a new patient most carefully. After studying the x-rays, he turned to the man and said, "Could you pay for an operation if I told you it was necessary?"  The patient thought for a moment, then said to the doctor, "Would you find one necessary if I told you I couldn't pay for it?"

BLOG BREAK

SAD TO READ OF A FELLOW RV BLOGGER PASSING AWAY……….

A DELICATE LITTLE CRITTER ON MY FINGER…………….. (A butterfly's antennae are club-shaped with a long shaft and a bulb at the end. A moth's antennae are feathery or saw-edged)

Always sad to read of a fellow RV Blogger passing away.  Although we had not formally met Hazel Bluhm of Class A Greyhounds - RVing With The Big Dogs we did see her at Blogfest 2015 near Quartzsite Arizona this past February.  Both Kelly & I remember seeing Helen with her Greyhounds across the way that day but in the melee of people we just never got around to meeting her.  Helen passed away after suffering a massive stroke Wednesday morning.  Karen over at RVING: THE USA IS OUR BIG BACKYARD has written a nice tribute to her good friend Hazel.

THIS LITTLE MOTH LANDED ON MY KNEE & I WAS ABLE TO GENTLY COAX IT ONTO MY FINGER FOR A FEW PHOTOS BEFORE FLUTTERING AWAY
In Wednesday's post I had wondered how my cactus plantings were doing at our house in Congress Arizona.  A few hours after publishing that post I was looking at photos of just that......how my cactus plants were doing.  Thanks to our good friend John King (Sarge) who also lives in Congress & reads my blog I was able to see a couple dozen photos showing my cactus plantings were still green, not chewed off, & doing great with some of them actually having blooms.  We also noticed the absence of weeds on our property meaning the weed spraying we had Les do last March was successful.  We sure didn't want to return to a big yard choked full of weeds like we did our first year there back in 2012.  Thanks Sarge, very much appreciated:))

Washed both our Pontiac Sunfire & Jeep Liberty this morning & that's about the only half interesting thing I did all day.  Just not a lot for one to sink one's blog writing teeth into these days........................

GROANER’S CORNER:(( Since I was a new patient, I had to fill out an information form for the doctor's files. The nurse reading it over noticed my unusual name.  "How do you pronounce it?" she asked.  "Na-le-Y-ko," I said, proud of my Ukrainian heritage.
"That sounds real nice," she said, smiling.  "Yes, it is melodious," I agreed.  "So," she asked sweetly, "what part of Melodia is your family from?"

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A customer sent an order to a distributor for a large amount of goods totalling a great deal of money.  The distributor noticed that the previous bill hadn't been paid. The collections manager left a voice-mail for them saying, "We can't ship your new order until you pay for the last one."  The next day the collections manager received a collect phone call, "Please cancel the order. We can't wait that long."