Friday, October 16, 2015

Car and Motorhome Fixed; Adoption and Visitors

Our week was busy, with Don’s surgery on Monday, dialysis on Tuesday, PT followed by Honda service on Wednesday, Tiffin service and dialysis on Thursday, and PT followed by an adoption and friends’ arrival today! Whew!

If you’re a friend on Facebook you’ve already seen this picture of the newest member of our family, Gigi.

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She’s a real sweetheart, with a calm temperament, and seems loving and intelligent. She’s a Parson Russell Terrier, about 4 years old. (Click the link for the Wikipedia article on the breed.) We found her at the Pima County Animal Care Center, where she arrived just 2 days ago. She’s been spayed and chipped, and checked out by a vet. We have a coupon for another free vet examination. Because the clerk who helped us with the paperwork slipped us a coupon, we didn’t have to pay for the adoption. Of course, we stopped at PetSmart on the way home and Gigi helped us spend about $130 on a bed, food, dishes, harness, etc.!

Judy & Luke Rinehimer arrived in Tucson today and are parked near us at the FamCamp. As soon as they met Gigi she decided Luke had just the right touch for neck skritches!

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Don took Gigi for a walk down the street, where she tried to eat some grass (he didn’t let her) and left a little piddle here and there. It was great to see him with a new companion who will help him get more exercise. In fact, Don walked faster and with more stability than I’ve seen since before his surgery!

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When he walked her back, she seemed to know where home was. And she waited till she got there to do her serious business.

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While the humans went out for dinner, she was a good girl. When we returned, there was evidence that she had gotten up on the sofa which I had covered with a blanket. But we found her cuddled up in my chair. She was happy to see us and needed some attention and affection, but after a short while she settled down in her bed.

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I think we made a good choice, and we look forward to enjoying this little buddy for a long, long time.

Now that we have our car Carrie repaired (normal maintenance, plus brakes, rotors, suspension, etc.), she should be good to go for many more miles. And we’re thrilled to finally have the bedroom slide in the motorhome fixed, after living with it pulled in since early June.

(Note: what follows will only be of interest to RVers, and possibly only those with a similar refrigerator. Everyone else, skip to the last paragraph.)

We also got the leak fixed in the freezer, which allowed a sheet of ice to form in the bottom that had to be removed every few days. Because it’s a residential refrigerator/freezer, we had to get service from Whirlpool (which makes Kitchen Aid, our brand). But that service tech didn’t know how to get the fridge out of the cabinet it was built into by Tiffin. So, while we were at La Mesa RV for the other repairs, we arranged for their techs to pull the fridge out, then the Whirlpool guy fixed the leak, and the RV techs put the fridge back in place.

Food was removed from the freezer, and the pull-out drawer was taken off. Then the RV techs removed a wood trim piece from above (picture below) and slid the fridge out into the room.

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The fridge tech was able to get to the back panel for the fix.

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Here’s the rubber part that was causing the leak. It got plugged up with debris, which caused water for the ice maker to divert elsewhere.

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This is the replacement, a P-trap. Obviously, the part above was a poor design.

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It’s so nice to have everything working correctly (we also got a new water pump), and we can now spend our time enjoying life rather than juggling appointments in our semi-busy schedule! We look forward to spending more time with Judy and Luke while they are here for a few days.

6 comments:

  1. We were excited to see you both and to meet Gigi. What a great companion and walking partner she will be. See you more tomorrow.

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  2. We were excited to see you both and to meet Gigi. What a great companion and walking partner she will be. See you more tomorrow.

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  3. Our grandkids call their other Greek grandmother, Gigi. I know Don mentioned in Michigan that he wanted a dog. She's a perfect size for your lifestyle. .

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  4. LOVED seeing the pics of Don walking GiGi! Nothing can lift one's spirits quite like the unconditional love of a furry companion. So glad to see so many positive things coming your way.

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  5. Good luck to Don on his recovery. We have been following your blog but decided we had to leave a comment.My wife had acute kidney failure in January and is diabetic. So we know about trying to find a diet that works for you. She is not on dialysis, just when in the hospital. Her kidney functions had returned from 25% to about 35%. Enough about us. Again we are glad to see Don is doing better. A DOG is very very therapeutic. We found this to be so true with Linda's brother while he was in as assisted living. A dog would appear at his door and he would light up like 1000 watt bulb. Good luck to Don and you for being a great care taker and good luck with Gigi, she looks like a super companion.

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