Cramming In Christmas Shopping

With all the hours we've been working, there has been little time to do any Christmas shopping. That was a major goal for yesterday and we got most of it done. The fact that we have to work again beginning on Friday for 4 more days, it meant that it was now or never. We still have a little more to do and maybe we can get that done today. The temperatures are still Arctic class, and we are going through propane like crazy. The bottle (9 gallons) that We filled up on Sunday AM is already gone. We filled the second bottle yesterday and it will probably last only a couple days also. It is still pretty reasonable for heating costs as we remember - when we lived in stick built homes - electric bills and gas bills in the winter months that ran around $300 per month. Of course, we're heating a much smaller space too. This whole experience with the weather has soured us on the East - at least for the winter months. Even Florida hasn't been spared.

The "honey wagon" guy came this morning and there is frozen liquid in our drain pipes once again. The main valves must not be closing entirely which would cause this problem. Of course, when the low temps are between 7 and 12 degrees and the highs in the low 20's, there is little chance for anything to remain thawed out for long. Our neighbors on the one side are at work and their valves are frozen shut so they will not be emptied today. I have a space heater positioned on the end of the drain pipe and hope that it gets thawed before he leaves our campground.

The rest that we got yesterday was very helpful for the healing process. Josie is feeling much better and our aches and pains are slowly recovering. We talked briefly about maybe working Thursday for an overtime day but it was a "brief" conversation. The rest for the next couple days is more important.

As a result of the nasty weather, the mobile tech guy wasn't able to come out to fix our hydraulic jacks problem. We will be doing a temporary fix to hold up the jacks and limp to Chattanooga TN to the Camping World facility there. They have the technicians that can work on the problem and we will stay right there at their campground - free. It appears that, depending on the parts situation, that Christmas will be spent in Chattanooga. There are probably a lot worse places and we will make the best of it. That's about it for today...