New TV Service

We pulled another trigger yesterday - on our TV service.

Our association with DirecTV will end today with the installation of a new Dish system this morning. DirecTV has gone steadily downhill since they were acquired by AT&T and the DirecTV service tech that we had out a couple months ago agreed. He indicated that the long term plan that AT&T has for DirecTV is to convert to streaming services and eliminate the satellite service entirely. As a result, the DirecTV service has been a problem and getting worse. That ends today. The Dish satellite network has overtaken DirecTV as the number 1 satellite provider and they get a chance to prove it now. We will also get Dish equipment that we can take in our RV and still only receive one monthly bill whether at home or away in the RV. That will be a separate transaction as the antenna for the RV has to different from the DirecTV antenna we currently use I the RV. The installation is scheduled today between 11 AM and 12:15 PM and expected to take a couple of hours.

I also got the name of a new landscaper for us from our neighbor. I will call him today and try to schedule a good time to come out and review our needs as soon as possible. The added benefit for this replacement is that the new guy speaks clear English - I will probably understand everything he says for once.

We are going through some very hot weather and winds to boot. Hopefully it will all improve starting tomorrow...

New Insurance

It took nearly the first half of the day yesterday to wrap up our insurance changes. The final result is: Progressive for vehicle insurance, Progressive (underwritten by Nationwide) for homeowner's insurance and Good Sam (underwritten by National General) for our RV insurance. It was a real challenge trying to match coverages against what we gave up at Liberty Mutual, but we finally got pretty good matches with our new coverage and will save several hundred dollars for the year.

The most disappointing aspect of the switch is the total lack of concern and attempts on the part of Liberty Mutual to keep us as a customer. We have been customers for many years and expected much more loyalty from them. It is what it is.

I didn't get my other tasks accomplished yesterday - Landscaper change and Satellite provider change. I concluded that it would better for us to get a (local) landscaper that is recommended by friends/neighbors vs selecting one from an ad in the local paper. I will begin that search right away.  The satellite provider issue was a dead end yesterday as the address I had for the DISH Network retailer was actually the Fry's store location in Surprise where they only accept DISH network bill payments. I guess I will do that research online as much as I can.

Josie came home from work early yesterday as she was having symptoms of a cold or allergies that were making her feel very congested. She appears to be much better today.

With all that was going on yesterday, I missed the National Championship basketball game last night between Virginia (winner in OT) and Texas Tech. It was a thriller from what I saw this morning and kick myself for missing the game.

Next up is the Masters Golf Tournament and I will NOT miss any of that...

Pulling The Trigger

I expect to pull the trigger today on several fronts.

Starting with a new landscaper - I will locate a more reliable landscaper today to install our needed water lines. I have mentioned before that our current landscaper is so unreliable and we have wasted our last day waiting for him. I have a couple people in mind and will talk with them today.

We will pull the trigger on new insurance today. I have narrowed the choices to Progressive and GEICO. I am leaning toward Progressive as they offer RV insurance where GEICO does not. It appears that we will pay slightly higher rates for homeowner insurance (provided by Nationwide, a Progressive partner), but will save lots more on the vehicles. Goodbye Liberty Mutual.

I will make a stop at the local DISH Network provider today to get the facts and figures on switching from DirecTV to DISH. The plan is to use DISH for our summer in Jackson and, if all goes well and we like it, we will totally drop DirecTV when we return in October.

We will be celebrating our one year anniversary in the house next month. As part of that anniversary, we received our annual renewal notice for the property assessment for the Rec Centers. It will be the best $496 we could possibly pay for another year of unlimited free use of all of the Sun City Rec Center amenities. I don't know of a better value anywhere.

Yesterday, we made a trip to the Pottery Place in Surprise to pick up a small table for our patio. We have been using our small, wicker table from our patio set but we are afraid the sun will ruin the wicker. Also, we wanted a table that would be heavier than most other tables we have seen that are plastic and would blow away in any heavy breeze. This is a shot of our new table:

I'm sure it will serve us well...

Kind of a Lull

Sorry that there hasn't been an entry the last couple days. There hasn't been a whole lot of activity to report. We have been doing some minor tasks around the house but, for the most part, have been enjoying the beautiful weather and sunshine.

We did play a double round of miniature golf on Friday - both won by yours truly - and Josie is getting better each time. Soon, she will become a real tough competitor.

I have been trying to get our landscaper to come out and install a few new water lines to our new potted plants, the lime tree that I planted and to the grape vine. He says he is coming out, gives us a time and never shows up or calls. We are now going to drop him and locate a new, more responsible landscaper.

Josie has been working on new afghan in her spare time and she is moving right along with that project:

It looks like summer is arriving over the next several days as temperatures are forecasted to break 90 for the first time this year, In fact, we will get days of 96 band 97 tomorrow and Tuesday. Almost time to crank up the A/C...

Projects Started

There are several projects that need to be completed before we leave for Jackson in May. Two of them were addressed yesterday. The first was to create a deterrent for birds around our grape vine. The best solution I found after researching options was to hang reflecting tape on the vine:

There are lots of strips that aren't visible in this shot and the vine is pretty much covered with this tape. It is an inexpensive solution and one that is proven to work. We'll see.

The second project was to remove some debris that has sitting on the side of our house since we moved in last year. I have been waiting to remove it until I make sure none of the items will be used. I removed those items and placed them in the garage and sent this photo to our trash pickup folks to schedule a special pickup for them. I found that the cheapest solution for removal was to use our existing service and just schedule a special pickup. The other option I was going to consider was taking all of it to a landfill. That was not an economical solution and required a lot of extra work on my part:

The list of projects is growing, and we will just take them one a time...

RV Repair Estimate

We finally received our estimate for RV repairs yesterday. It turns out that the suspected hydraulics issue is actually a different problem. The suspension is cracked on the one side and the entire suspension needs to be replaced. That will result in an additional $2500 which brings our total (estimated) to around $3500 for everything on the list. That was not an anticipated expense and makes it even more important for us to work the summer in Jackson to get the extra cash. Any thought of skipping this year goes away with the RV repair costs. Maybe it will be the last year.

I'm still trying to sort out insurance options, so there is nothing new to report on that task.

Our cactus plants are beginning to bloom which is a sure sign of summer being close by. We took these shots of the one large bloom in our yard this morning:

There are many more cactus plants about ready to bloom and we will take some shots of each one as they occur...

Too Quiet Now

Now that everybody has left after a wonderful week of visiting with family, it is too quiet. We (me, at least) are still recovering from our intense hike last week and I am slowly regaining full use of my legs. I won't be going to the rec center anytime soon to do treadmill.

I received the annual auto insurance renewal documents and went through the roof. Without any changes in coverage or vehicles, our monthly premium jumped 45$! I started searching for new insurance yesterday and now realize how difficult a task that is going to be. None of the insurance companies have a way to do apples to apples comparisons and I have to interpret each company's system to try to match coverages. So far, it appears that there may be several companies that can save us lots of money. I really hate giving up Liberty Mutual, but they priced us out of their family. I think it will be awhile before I settle on a change.

I talked to the RV repair shop yesterday and expect to have a final estimate today along with a completion date. There has been no pressure to move faster on this event as we still have the month of April to get things together...