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A Nerds Thanksgiving

Posted on November 30, 2009 by Katya Posted in Mechanical, projects | Leave a comment

I have never really liked Thanksgiving much for many reasons and being British, Ross just doesn’t have it drilled into him like I do. I don’t like Thanksgiving  firstly due to the story itself. The idea of a bunch of Puritans having dinner with a group of American Indians just doesn’t sit right with me. I can only picture a group of fearful religious nuts spreading the word “savage” around a dinner table while a group of Indians, miles away, debate what these new weirdos might want. What they wanted and got was ownership over land they decided belonged to “no one” (the Indians). There’s no way they ate outside in November in the midwest and no way that stuck in their ways puritans just accepted the company of “savages”. Lies, all of it. Secondly, I don’t like a holiday based on the celebratory killing of one specific species and in such large masses. I don’t like when any of them are killed but an actual holiday basically dedicated to the mass killing of one is just overkill, literally. Now that I’ve alienated everyone, I’ll admit that as much as I don’t like the holiday, it’s so ingrained in me (especially with calls and text messages from family the morning of) that I do like to make a pretty good dinner, watch a movie and very willingly take the weekend off.

Thanksgiving with the Nerds

Thanksgiving with the Nerds

I made corn on the cob, homemade smashed potatoes, steamed broccoli and veggie Italian sausage cooked with onions and garlic – all pretty much smothered in HP Sauce. If you haven’t tried HP sauce you should. It’s like a tangy steak sauce but better and goes great on meats, potatoes, sandwiches and whatever you’re willing to try it on. We bought it at Fred Meyers in Portland but you can get it at World Market also.

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As fun as it sounds, we didn’t just eat on Thanksgiving. It was a pretty nice day in Catalina State Park outside Tucson so we decided to take on a list of projects. Ross started with and spent most the day trying to change out the gas tank inlet that has been leaking on us since Portland. I didn’t even know they used rubber for gas tank inlets but apparently they do and as expected, it eventually corroded away. The hose we bought was pretty hardcore with a bit of metal running through it and cost about $50 for 3 feet. Unfortunately it had to be cut, so scuffed hacksaw and pliers later we had the two pieces needed to complete the project. The last people to attempt to fix it ran into the same issue as us, a metal pipe with an oblong mouth – that needs to connect to a round hose. As you can imagine, this didn’t work so well and we still leak if we overfill but at least we’re not smelling gas anymore. We plan to use some “hard as metal” epoxy” to complete the task.

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While Ross was tearing his hair out trying to finish that project, I was inside hanging heavier ceiling hooks for the divider curtain, organizing our bins that sit on the bumper shelf (one of which we were able to get rid of) and putting a railing on the top of my closet so things can be put up there and stay up there while we drive.
The day before we had hung a standing oscillating fan on the ceiling above the back shelf, a necessity for circulating heat in this thing, and Ross wired up a 3 way switch so that the front stereo he worked so hard to install could be used with the house batteries, allowing us to use the stereo for movies or music while we’re not driving (so it wont drain the starting battery).We are definitely making progress on the projects, one of the only things left is to patch the manifold, patch the hole in the floor and figure out whats up with the water pump.

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The day after Thanksgiving was our last day at Catalina State Park and although it was more than time to move on, I kind of wish we’de stayed long enough to avoid this winter storm that’s taking over New Mexico and Texas.

The Fridge and The RV of Illusion

Posted on September 2, 2009 by Katya Posted in cooking | 1 Comment

After a week without the fridge and my little ice idea working at its peak (which wasn’t bad) I finally decided to call a technician. It wasn’t easy finding someone who had gas fridge experience. Everyone kept sending me in circles “call an RV place” – “call a gas appliance place”, both being totally logical but the wrong answer. While I was scouring google, Ross was checking out the local Craigslist for me, finding a guy who specifically said he works on gas fridges. I had tried Craigslist a few days earlier and after no response from the 2 people I contacted – I gave up. The guy that Ross found was in Idaho but would probably drive here for a price. I told him the situation, an old vehicle, old appliances, but given the mileage (85k) I doubt they have had more than a year of actual use throughout their life. He agreed and said to make sue the RV is level and try the electrical method again, This time letting it do its thing for a couple hours before checking it. The fridge is electrical and gas which is really nice, but the first day I was in town me and Ross did both methods with no results. Basically we were too impatient. I think both of us were expecting noise if it had been running. After I hung up, I plugged it in, felt heat soon after and then tried to level the RV (just because I work in the most backwards ways possible for every situation).

Leveling the RV was living hell. I used my iphone level for a while with no consistent results, then moved on to an actual 2 foot long brick laying level – also getting completely wack results everywhere I put it. Window sills, counters, upper storage area… me and my friend’s husband Andy (whose yard I’m camping in) could see from outside that the RV was not level… and from sleeping in it, believe me you can tell. We tried jacking it up a bit after we finally agreed on a place to level from. It only seemed to make it worse. The fridge has no shelves in it, so measuring it front to back level was no challenge but side to side I had decided wouldn’t work without removing much of my food and ice. After about 40 mins of attempts and Andy having cut large blocks of wood for me to prop my jack stands on, I gave leveling one more shot and tossed my food onto the couch. The fridge itself was level enough to believe that the process was going to happen. A website I found said it can be up to 2 degrees off in either direction, what they called interestingly “half a bubble” (because my half a bubble was more like 4 degrees). The fridge was perfect one way and just a bit off the another. This is WHILE the rest of the RV had not one straight plane that could agree with another. The RV is apparently a twisted home of mystery, an optical illusion that laughs at me while I run around it and cover my hands in jack grease. I was glad I could sit down and wait for the fridge to either get cold or not.

It never once made a noise but slowly the freezer got cold, then the fridge. This didn’t happen in a “normal” amount of time, I’d say it was at least 8 hours before I was freezing food and cooling water. I waited overnight and finally felt like I could take out my bag of ice (in the cutout 2 gallon water jug) and let it work alone. So far, its doing great. Next step – to actually try the gas process. I’m taking a day off from the fridge. I’m just glad its working at the moment.

First cooking experience

Posted on August 29, 2009 by Katya Posted in cooking, RV life | 3 Comments

I was pretty happy when upon putting propane into the 36 year old tank and turning on the stove I did not explode. I was however disappointed that the oven didn’t seem to work with quite as much gusto as the one functioning burner. I got the pilot to light but wasn’t really sure why the rest of the oven did not become aflame as I adjusted the dial. I later discovered I was just being impatient and there was a longer process involved that required the pressing down of said button while set to a temperature.

Anyway. I decided for my first oven experiment I would go all out and make a pizza. Not one you stick in the oven and wait for, one you prepare with knives, cheese graters, fresh vegetables and such. We make these things quite often – usually at least half vegan but this time I was alone and able to smother the entire thing in pepper jack cheese. The onions and shallots came from the community garden at my mothers apartment and the red pepper from a store down the street from where I currently am, ahem.. Albertsons. I cooked them in olive oil for about 10 minutes on med-high heat while carefully cutting free and smothering in sauce a quality Boboli crust. I grated a fairly generous amount of Tillamook cheese onto the crust followed by black olives and many jalapeno slices. The oven was set to 450, though who knows what temp it was actually at, and I let her go.

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I had spent the afternoon preparing the stove by cleaning it out with intense chemical soakings and the wasting of many a paper towel only to find out that I had missed something rather important. The stove smoked like crazy but I was determined to eat pizza no matter what. I opened the door, turned on the fan (made sure the pizza wasnt on fire) and stuck it out. 10 minutes later I pulled out the pizza and to my wonderment and satisfaction there was a perfectly edible and tasty meal. I normally would have put on some kind of fake chicken product but veggie pizza and protein rich cheese was enough for me (Oh and jalapenos and hot sauce, my 2 major food groups).

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So far cooking is a success. I have blueberries to get rid of so its either pancakes or muffins tomorrow. hmm.

Other appliance news.

The heater works very very well. In fact if you leave it on more than a couple mins you will roast to death at pretty much any temperature its set to. I have been turning it on for about 20 mins in the evenings but really theres not much point because I wont be sleeping with it on any time soon.

I got tired of using a cooler after we unsuccessfully tried to turn on the fridge with both gas and electricity so I spent yesterday afternoon on the lovely Spokane bus system trying to find some dry ice. I should have known better but I was hopeful, and my $15 in dry ice (12lbs) worked amazingly but only lasted about 15 hours. I was more than annoyed.  I was committed to the idea of using the fridge with its ease of access and superior size to the cooler so I cut the top off my spouted 2 gallon water jug and filled it with ice. I put the “most important to stay cold” things (insulin, yogurt) directly on the ice and everything else in the doors and bottom shelf. It works fine and when the ice starts to melt I can use the spout of the jug to drain the water into my pitcher of drinking water and have some nice cold water. Clever me. So far its been lasting about 2 days a bag so at 99cents a bag, Id say 15$ a month isn’t bad until we can get the fridge working eh?

Food success! Things are pretty normal in here besides the inability to use running water. Soon enough though I’ll finish draining the tank, pull the pump, test it and order a new one (tomorrow soon)