Mostly a maintenance odds and ends day this beautiful Wednesday in the Adirondacks.
I put a pot of homemade chili on at seven this morning. Neighbors coming over tonight for a campfire and dinner. They’ve invited us so many places, it was becoming about time I have them over here, humble as it is. Pretty neat component of our little Adirondack village – most of us are usually one or the other house three or four nights a week for dinner, or at least a few beers and a fire.
As I mentioned before – I think – I got the RV hookup and a PVC joint attached to the top of the line to the septic tank. Super sweet! Why? Because now, we empty the euphemistically named “blackwater” from the RV to a transfer tank, then we roll the transfer tank over to the connection at the septic to dump it. And because the hoses now have twist-lock attachements on their ends, it’s really rather civilized.
There was a bit of an incident when we tried to do all this without the connectors. I suggested we just hold the hose to the transfer tank. (What can I say? I’m an optimist.) Long story short, I totally held my partner hostage, using poop-water as my weapon. You see, partner’s hands were the hands holding the non-attachable hose to the transfer tank. I opened the floodgates, and naturally, by being the one holding the hose, partner is trapped and can’t let go – hands unfortunately moisturized by the foul green sweetwater, and standing there yelling, “It’s on me! It’s on me!” Let’s just say that we now know that composted RV poop-water smells like a wheat-and-antifreeze cocktail. Drinks anyone?
Anyhow. Now we’re totally in the modern age over here. Let’s hear it for PVC and PVC cement! I swear, I could build a house with the stuff.
I buried a Coleman cooler in the dirt behind the shed. It’s a good thing though. Don’t worry – it’s not to store body parts or munitions. A neighbor had an idea, and I had heard the same before, so I thought I’d give it a shot. You see, it would be handy to have a root cellar. But our water table is very high. Neighbor came up with the idea of burying a cooler in the ground, with just the lid sticking up. I’d been reading this terrific root cellar site, and with what I had read there … well, it at least seems vaguely plausible. At least worth a half-hour of my time to dig a hole.
Third little project was putting some air in the RV tires. It’s amazing how sensitive you are to being just a little bit off level when you live in an RV. They looked a hair low, so I checked the air in ‘em. Not a big deal – down to 40 psi when they should be 50. Thought I would just put some canned air or fix a flat in, but then I remembered Mayor Neighbor has a compressor. Awesome. Except when I fired it up, I discovered that the generator won’t run it.
Ah, well. Back to the Fix-a-Flat idea.
Old Cranky Guy Next Door Report for Today – In residence.
Crank Level – Low. No one hanging around to complain to. Ha!
Posted by shelley on June 18, 2009 at 3:25 am
I would’ve been mildly upset to have the RV poop water on my hands – LOL!! It’s great you have such nice and sociable neighbors!
Posted by tourpro on June 18, 2009 at 5:16 am
I tagged this post with ”
pollution“. It just seemed right, and I don’t really use any other way to classify this.
Posted by tourpro on June 18, 2009 at 5:17 am
Well, that was a seriously malformed comment…. I better go do something else.
Posted by Gettysburg Mom on June 18, 2009 at 6:11 am
When we lived in Wilmington, our little road was a dead end. On summer evenings, it always amused me to look out to the road and see all the neighbor boys gathered in the street drinking beers together- standing around and talking. It was very reminiscent of that “King of the Hill” TV show.
We also suffered a high water table level, particularly in spring. On occasion the- ahem- waste water would bubble up into the herb garden. Ewwwwwwwwwwwww.
Posted by smallpines on June 18, 2009 at 7:19 am
Why pollution TourPro? None of it spilled on the ground or anything. Of course, I guess you could apply the term to the disgraced pair of hands. Polluted Hands. Hee!
Posted by Mike and Mere on June 18, 2009 at 7:27 am
I can just picture him screaming! Glad you guys are settling in and it seems the job is going well. I still need your current address info though!
Tell The JV to call us!
Posted by PdiddySL on June 18, 2009 at 7:31 am
I really like your “old cranky guy” report everyday. I’m just really, really surprised that you can find a cranky person in the Adirondacks (not).
Posted by howlingduckranch on June 18, 2009 at 11:21 am
Hi there City Mouse!
Wow, you are sure coming along with your place; Country Mouse living suits you. Haven’t heard from you in a while…kinda miss that. Best wishes and hope Cranky Pants doesn’t get too far under your skin. I’ve got one living next door to me too. He’s costing me a heap in that I’m having to pay for an unnecessary land survey before I refence that side of my property (trying to avoid an argument). Ugh.
kind regards,
HDR
Posted by themac on June 18, 2009 at 12:32 pm
spew!! Be careful, your other 1/2 may plot to join forces with the Old Cranks for the hose incident!
IF we had neighbors other than bugs, we’d have the same beer gathering.
Any signs of snapping turtles? This time of the year they make their way away from the water the lay their eggs. They get freakin HUUUGE! And, sadly Rufus may be curious…that’s my warning.
Posted by Cedar on June 18, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Handy item is a portable air compressor that works from your car 12v plugin. I keep one in the back of my car all the time. Is the size of a lunch box and will do the trick on my vehicle or camper tires with no problem. Also, propane frige won’t work well if not level. back in the 1940s my mother used to bury a cherry can (bulk fruit delivered to the local mom/pop store) and use as a ice chest at our camp. kept it a little below ground level and covered lid with layer of pine needles. Worked like a charm!