2022 Year End Summary

 It has been a very busy year! We spent three months helping Veronica sort through her house, completed our East Coast tour (which had been interrupted by COVID-19), and:

 

·      Drove over 24,900 Miles in the Behemoth (Our F-350). 

·      Visited 3 National Parks (total so far of 53 out of 63).

·      Visited 6 NPS National Monuments (total so far of 58 out of 85).

·      Visited 14 new States (total of 49 of the 50 states (only missing North Dakota)).

·      Visited 49 other interesting and historic places.

·      Visited friends and family along the way.

·      Saw a lot of Colonial, War of 1812, and Civil War sites.

·      Posted 115 entries to our Blog 

·      Leslie wrote and sent around 560 postcards.

·      Completed visiting the extreme cardinals of the lower 48 states.

·     Tasted wine in an additional 9 states.

 

We’re burned out on colonial sites, revolutionary and civil war battlefields and masonry forts. We are starting to plan next year’s itinerary. We think we will finish up National Parks and most of the scenic National Monuments in the lower 48 States.

24-25 December 2022 Woodlands Christmas

 We headed over to Cynthia’s and Felix’s for Christmas Eve and again Christmas Day. Lauren, Brian and the Girls were staying at Cynthia's because power was out at their house so they had no heat and the plumbing was frozen. Both girls were sick with something and were coughing and running fevers off and on. But they still had fun opening Christmas Gifts. Ava and Andrew made it over as well so we had a whole famdamly together. 

Beginning to look a lot like Christmas

Christmas Chaoes

Twinses

Santa Clauses Sleigh

17-19 December 2022 Shower repair

 For the past year or more, the water pressure coming out of the shower faucet has been an issue. On full hot, we got good water pressure. But as you turn the temperature cooler, the water pressure would drop off to a dribble at times. After some research, David decided that the cold water input to the shower mixer valve was being blocked. Some internet pages showed a screen on the input to the valve that might have become clogged. But to get to the mixer valve, the wall next to the stairway would have to be opened up. Leslie was not thrilled about that idea. But she finally was fed up enough with the shower that she agreed to do what it took. David carefully disassembled the wall and exposed the mixer valve. We removed the cold water connection and looked, but there was no screen on the input. We ran the cold water into a bucket and got little crystals in the bottom. So we did the same to the hot water but did not get the same result. We really don’t know what the crystals were but David suspected they might have clogged the anti-scalding cartridge. Of course we could not find one in the local hardware stores, so we had to order a new cartridge through Amazon. Meantime, David completely removed the mixer valve. With the cartridge removed, he tried blowing on the cold water input and could barely get any air through, while the hot was wide open.  So he  took the valve completely apart, cleaned everything, adjusted the cut off valves completely wide open (they were partially closed when it pulled it off). When the new cartridge arrived, we installed it in the valve and put it all back together again. That shower has NEVER worked this well. So, we probably had a combination of things (debris in the line, bad cartridge and the cut off valves partially closed) causing our problem. We are very happy with how it works now. It took David a couple of weeks to reassemble the wall so that you could not tell it had ever been removed. 

Wall disassembled

Crystals from the cold water line

Mixer valve removed

9 December 2022 Tomball Christmas Market

 Last night we drove over to Avery’s and Olivia’s school to see their Christmas play. Unfortunately, we could not find how to get into the school as all the doors were locked and we could not see anyone. So we missed the play, but caught them afterwards for pictures. On the way to the school, we drove right past the park where they were setting up the Christmas market. So today we headed over to see the Tomball version of a German Christmas Market (Kristkindle Mart). We had gone a couple of years ago and wanted to see it again. We arrived a little bit early and many of the vendor booths were still setting up, so we made our way to the Fire Ant Brewery and settled in to enjoy a few beers while we watched the vendors complete their set ups. Felix, Cynthia and the girls decided to join us and we walked through the venders, got some German food and listened to the Umpha Bands. Felix bought the girls light up magic wands which they swung around in mock sword fights hitting anyone that got in the way. The girls were tired after a long day at school, so Felix, Cynthia and the girls headed home while we continued to explore the market, picking up some last minute Christmas gifts. 

5-6 December 2022 – Fixed the Refrigerator

 We have had an issue with the residential refrigerator for the last 6 months. We found ice building up in the bottom of the freezer and sometimes water would come out of the freezer onto the floor. We broke up the ice and removed it from the bottom of the freezer, but it would be back in just a few days. After researching, we decided the drain from the condenser must be plugged. David did not want to work on it while we were moving every few days so we waited until we settled down for the winter. Our researched showed we need to take a back panel off the refrigerator as well as disassemble the freezer to get to the condenser compartment. David spent 3 hours removing the 9 tiny bolts on the back of the refrigerator through the exterior access door that is in place for winterizing the ice maker. With only a couple of inches to work with, he had to contort his hands, arm and body to reach them with a tiny wrench and break them loose. The next day, we took the freezer apart and found the condenser iced up and the tray under the condenser full of ice. David pulled the drain tube out from the back and found it blocked. So he cleaned it out and reinstalled. Then we used the blow dryer to melt the ice on the condenser and make sure it was now draining properly. Then put it all back together. Problem fixed. 

Condenser Compartment for the freezer

27 November 2022 – Christmas Decorations

 We put up our one box of Christmas Decorations this afternoon. So we are set for the season!

Norman decorated for Christmas