Monday, September 10, 2007

Bad Day at El Casa Móvil De Pennington

Bad day, indeed. I didn’t write about it, some things being so trivial as to be undeserving of a post in and of themselves, but I ran out of propane last Wednesday night. Or rather, the internal LED gauge for the propane tank hit “Call Albert.” So that’s exactly what I did Thursday morning. And, somewhat true to form, Cortez Gas’ truck was in the shop down in Roswell. “Not today, I’ll try and get around by your place tomorrow…” came the answer over the phone. Well, OK…not a lot that can be done about this, so I’ll wait.

Friday came and went: no Albert. I went the weekend with no propane at all. No cooking on the stove (no big deal — there’s always the nuker) and no hot water. “No hot water” was a medium-to-large Big Deal, but I survived. This morning Albert came by and filled me up, and the FIRST thing I did was reset the hot water heater in anticipation of a nice hot, long-delayed shower. One small problem: the hot water heater wouldn’t reset. I went through the complete ritual of resetting every frickin’ switch in the house that has anything to do with propane (and some that don’t), including pushing the reset button on the hot water heater outside the house, too. No joy. And no hot water, either.

So now I have a pot of water heating up on the stove in preparation for a stand-up bath, which should be followed in short order by a visit from The RV Doctor, who was called after I’d exhausted my (admittedly meager) repertoire of corrective actions.

It’s ALWAYS sumthin’. It remains to be seen just how much this particular “sumthin’” is gonna cost.

Let us pray.

Update, 9/10/2007 1615 hrs: All fixed - bad thermostat. An interesting coincidence of timing, this. But, Hey! I have hot water now, and will finally get my shower...after the news. And I got a bad valve replaced in my toilet at the same time, so I can retire my ad hoc coffee cup toilet flushing mechanism. Total bill: less than $200.00. Not all that bad, for a house call.

9 comments:

  1. Oh, nooo. Say, didn't that very same thing happen to you within this last year, Buck?

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  2. Not exactly, Bec. I had a minor problem with the water heater, but it turned out to be my stupidity, rather than the water heater. Stupid, as in not knowing where the proper reset button is...

    This time it was a bona-fide problem, as noted in my update.

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  3. Bummer indeed! I hope things get fixed for you soon!

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  4. So sorry to hear about all the troubles Buck. Back in 1994 we had a hurricane come thru New England - rare to be sure. Knocked our power out for one week - that's right, one solid week. We did fill our tub and some buckets with water, but the only way we could heat it was on the gass grill. Sponge baths with lukewarm water get old after about 3 days. And NO hotels available...ugh.

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  5. It's always something...
    Seems like I'm always replacing or fixing somehing around here, especially the last 6 months.
    Even my RV parked out front (very neglected this year I should say) has needed repairs.
    My dream is to one day live in an RV when I retire...it's such a beautiful country to roam...you're livin' the dream Buck.

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  6. Glad all is fixed!! Who did you get to come out and do a housecall on your RV?

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  7. Oh geez, thought you were getting into shape to move out here to the creek for a moment there. Isn't it a bear to run out of DIY fixes?
    How about picking up a ten pounder to keep as a back up? With our propane fridge, we don't want to rely 100% on delivery out here.

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  8. Jenny: The RV Doctor, literally, and his tag line is "I Make House Calls!" His name is Andy Csakan (762-5868) and he works out of Clovis. I see him out here at Beautiful La Hacienda Trailer Park all the time... and he does good work, too!

    Triple E: "Livin' the dream" might be a little bit hyperbolic, but it ain't BAD! I think my roaming days are behind me, however, unless it's on the bike or in the car. The combo of $3.00+ gas and inertia have curtailed my desire to "hit the road" of late.

    Kris said: Sponge baths with lukewarm water get old after about 3 days.

    Boy...do I hear that! And there's no good way to wash your hair, either. Not without assistance, anyway.


    Lin: I've thought about getting a small "reserve" bottle of propane. Storage is a problem, though, and although Cortez Gas has been a lil bit unreliable of late, they always come through. Eventually.

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