We've been a bit busy the last two weeks, at home and work!
Last post was the 7th, that following weekend was the 3 day holiday of Columbus Day for us local government worker types. So we'd decided to take that holiday and really push to get the firewood for winter as done as possible. Stacy's father had been concerned that we might not have enough wood so far so he'd made arrangements to buy four loads of "rounds" from a local person he knows that makes a living of odd jobs including firewood for this time of year.
Anyway, he'd delivered the loads of rounds, mostly one and a half to two and a half feet across by fourteen inches long (thick) to the house.
It was purely coincidental that a very early "late November" type of weather pattern decided to come through just before and stay through that same weekend. So we get up that Saturday morning..............and it's +15 degrees outside!!!! "Normal" temps for early October are as they are today and have been since that weekend, low to mid 30's at night and 40's to 50's daytime. That weekend? mid teens at night and only low 30's in the daytime!
We'd wanted to get started but we also wanted it to 'warm up' outside a little bit before we did.
By 9 am it was "up to" 18 degrees, so Stacy decided we were 'burning daylight' waiting and went out and got both our fire rings going to give us a place to warm up while we worked if needed. We bundled up in our heavy socks and boots, insulated pants, layers of jackets, gloves, the usual try to keep warm stuff of winter!
Sunday and Monday were not any warmer but we got almost all the wood split and stacked working all three days at it. Stacy kept the fires going while we worked and kept a tea kettle on one so we'd get hot water for instant hot chocolate if needed! About 5 or so cords so far with the rounds and with what was left from last year we already have more than enough for this year, especially if the warmer, dryer predicted winter turns out to be fact. There are also 4 trees we took down a couple of months ago as well as dead trees I'd cut down in our 'forest' that still need to be cut up, but they'll be for next year now.
Last weekend we went down to Coeur D' Alene and stayed the night so I could visit with a friend of mine that Stacy had never met before that was there for a state VFW thing. Got to see a meeting, had a nice dinner with the group at the Elk's Lodge there. It was.....interesting. It really reminded me of many of our 3rd Sunday of the month morning Gold Wing motorcycle club meetings back in Victorville.
A couple of weeks ago I'd taken the Fleetwood trailer we'd gotten in June to the dealer for some warranty repairs. We'd found some mostly minor problems on our almost 2 week trip last month. Several lost and loose screws around the place, the shower has the hot and cold valves connected backwards, first time I used it I wondered why it wasn't getting hot until I checked the 'cold' water and almost got fried!! And the electric heating element in the hot water tank kept tripping the circuit breaker so we couldn't use it. Still had the gas heating part though so we weren't without hot water when needed. Now most of these things I'd just fix myself but we'd just bought this in June so let the dealer fix it! When we bought it we were told that Fleetwood had stopped making trailer type RV's but not to worry, they'd still cover all products made before they stopped production for their warranty period of one year.
I started to get called a couple of days ago from the dealer finally going over the list of requested repairs and "Milt" started to tell me that Fleetwood is now taking requests for reimbursement on warranty repairs on a 'first come, first served' review process and that because Fleetwood had become too "slow" to repay the dealers for warranty work they wouldn't do the warranty repairs!!!
OK, "then what about that 'Extended Warranty' we'd added to prevent just such an event as this?"
"Well the ONLY thing they 'might' cover is the water heater, all the other stuff will be at your expense."
"So can you call and make SURE?!?"
So its two days later and they call me back today and Milt starts to say at first that nothing is covered! I was really annoyed at that point. I'm switched to the girl that does the phone work on these warranty things and she starts to go on about "did I read the warranty book that came about the extended policy?" at which point I said that I had and it's supposed to cover the water heater if nothing else! So I told her to "FIX the water heater, do NOTHING ELSE and we'll come pick it up!!! and switch me to the owner of the place!!"
So the owner "Don" gets on the line and he's telling me about how after we'd bought the trailer, Fleetwood and two other manufacturers have gone to all out bankruptcy and how he's been "out about $10,000.00 over it because of all the work he'd done to RV's before he found out he was left holding the bag". I really felt like telling him "NOT MY PROBLEM", but it really is now. So instead I started to ask him, "so do I get the water heater fixed then cancel and get a refund on that expensive extra policy?" Then he starts to say that he's having problems with the warranty company because they don't want to start covering products NOW since the manufacturer has gone belly up and not the year later as it was supposed to be.
I know he's trying to get me off the phone so I don't start to really yell at him, one thing I learned years ago is that it is so much easier for most people to blow up and yell at people over the phone instead of when with them in person!, and so I try to tell him how I'm so sorry he's been left hanging etc, but do I cancel the policy? But I let him go for now since he wants me off the phone so bad.
He calls me again about a half hour later and now he's going for the 'see! I'm really a good guy angle' by telling me that even if it's "out of his own pocket", he'll fix the water heater. He'll "fight it out" with the warranty company, he might even have to SUE them. But I really should keep the policy, cause you never know!
He's so nice (sarcasm), and it will be fixed by the "end of the week!" he says. I say, OK, but it is Thursday after all, so why not shoot for the next Friday so you can get the parts you need? So by next Friday it will be fixed!
At least that will be done. I'll still do the other repairs myself.
So that's today so far.
Yesterday I was called by cousin Dan in Kansas and he's talking about how he's really taking off in the Real Estate world, talking about (and rightly so!) how pleased he is with his kids now in College. And that the address in the invite to the 50th wedding anniversary get together in two weeks from Saturday in that area is incorrect. Well, since I'm going to be a passenger for this trip riding around the area with Mike and Brenda in their rental car, I'll just hope he'll know where it is since he used to live there. Later during Mythbusters, my father, the 50th wedding anniversary guy himself called. He told me he was looking forward to seeing everybody in two weeks. And so am I, I wish Stacy could go but she's got a court case subpoena and the other girl in our 3 person office will be off to help a friend that's having a hip replacement surgery that same week, so Stacy has to stay at home for this trip.
Last Sunday the 18th was Sean's birthday. He's 26 now, and I sure wish I had been making almost $30.00 an hour was I was his age!!!
Yesterday was Sandy and Eric's second anniversary. Things seem to be going really well for them. Sandy is getting tired from all the things she does, work, teach, travel for her job often, and try to keep everybody happy! I told her not to worry, she can't make everybody happy, just do the best she can and work around the rest.
I think Sandy has been really stressed out by both my and Stacy's constant questions about arrangements she's making for the Germany trip (just a month left!!). She's saying there's "plenty of time" to make plans, we don't think so! But we agreed to stop bugging her and just let her do it!
That's the update for now!
Later, Tad
Last post was the 7th, that following weekend was the 3 day holiday of Columbus Day for us local government worker types. So we'd decided to take that holiday and really push to get the firewood for winter as done as possible. Stacy's father had been concerned that we might not have enough wood so far so he'd made arrangements to buy four loads of "rounds" from a local person he knows that makes a living of odd jobs including firewood for this time of year.
Anyway, he'd delivered the loads of rounds, mostly one and a half to two and a half feet across by fourteen inches long (thick) to the house.
It was purely coincidental that a very early "late November" type of weather pattern decided to come through just before and stay through that same weekend. So we get up that Saturday morning..............and it's +15 degrees outside!!!! "Normal" temps for early October are as they are today and have been since that weekend, low to mid 30's at night and 40's to 50's daytime. That weekend? mid teens at night and only low 30's in the daytime!
We'd wanted to get started but we also wanted it to 'warm up' outside a little bit before we did.
By 9 am it was "up to" 18 degrees, so Stacy decided we were 'burning daylight' waiting and went out and got both our fire rings going to give us a place to warm up while we worked if needed. We bundled up in our heavy socks and boots, insulated pants, layers of jackets, gloves, the usual try to keep warm stuff of winter!
Sunday and Monday were not any warmer but we got almost all the wood split and stacked working all three days at it. Stacy kept the fires going while we worked and kept a tea kettle on one so we'd get hot water for instant hot chocolate if needed! About 5 or so cords so far with the rounds and with what was left from last year we already have more than enough for this year, especially if the warmer, dryer predicted winter turns out to be fact. There are also 4 trees we took down a couple of months ago as well as dead trees I'd cut down in our 'forest' that still need to be cut up, but they'll be for next year now.
Last weekend we went down to Coeur D' Alene and stayed the night so I could visit with a friend of mine that Stacy had never met before that was there for a state VFW thing. Got to see a meeting, had a nice dinner with the group at the Elk's Lodge there. It was.....interesting. It really reminded me of many of our 3rd Sunday of the month morning Gold Wing motorcycle club meetings back in Victorville.
A couple of weeks ago I'd taken the Fleetwood trailer we'd gotten in June to the dealer for some warranty repairs. We'd found some mostly minor problems on our almost 2 week trip last month. Several lost and loose screws around the place, the shower has the hot and cold valves connected backwards, first time I used it I wondered why it wasn't getting hot until I checked the 'cold' water and almost got fried!! And the electric heating element in the hot water tank kept tripping the circuit breaker so we couldn't use it. Still had the gas heating part though so we weren't without hot water when needed. Now most of these things I'd just fix myself but we'd just bought this in June so let the dealer fix it! When we bought it we were told that Fleetwood had stopped making trailer type RV's but not to worry, they'd still cover all products made before they stopped production for their warranty period of one year.
I started to get called a couple of days ago from the dealer finally going over the list of requested repairs and "Milt" started to tell me that Fleetwood is now taking requests for reimbursement on warranty repairs on a 'first come, first served' review process and that because Fleetwood had become too "slow" to repay the dealers for warranty work they wouldn't do the warranty repairs!!!
OK, "then what about that 'Extended Warranty' we'd added to prevent just such an event as this?"
"Well the ONLY thing they 'might' cover is the water heater, all the other stuff will be at your expense."
"So can you call and make SURE?!?"
So its two days later and they call me back today and Milt starts to say at first that nothing is covered! I was really annoyed at that point. I'm switched to the girl that does the phone work on these warranty things and she starts to go on about "did I read the warranty book that came about the extended policy?" at which point I said that I had and it's supposed to cover the water heater if nothing else! So I told her to "FIX the water heater, do NOTHING ELSE and we'll come pick it up!!! and switch me to the owner of the place!!"
So the owner "Don" gets on the line and he's telling me about how after we'd bought the trailer, Fleetwood and two other manufacturers have gone to all out bankruptcy and how he's been "out about $10,000.00 over it because of all the work he'd done to RV's before he found out he was left holding the bag". I really felt like telling him "NOT MY PROBLEM", but it really is now. So instead I started to ask him, "so do I get the water heater fixed then cancel and get a refund on that expensive extra policy?" Then he starts to say that he's having problems with the warranty company because they don't want to start covering products NOW since the manufacturer has gone belly up and not the year later as it was supposed to be.
I know he's trying to get me off the phone so I don't start to really yell at him, one thing I learned years ago is that it is so much easier for most people to blow up and yell at people over the phone instead of when with them in person!, and so I try to tell him how I'm so sorry he's been left hanging etc, but do I cancel the policy? But I let him go for now since he wants me off the phone so bad.
He calls me again about a half hour later and now he's going for the 'see! I'm really a good guy angle' by telling me that even if it's "out of his own pocket", he'll fix the water heater. He'll "fight it out" with the warranty company, he might even have to SUE them. But I really should keep the policy, cause you never know!
He's so nice (sarcasm), and it will be fixed by the "end of the week!" he says. I say, OK, but it is Thursday after all, so why not shoot for the next Friday so you can get the parts you need? So by next Friday it will be fixed!
At least that will be done. I'll still do the other repairs myself.
So that's today so far.
Yesterday I was called by cousin Dan in Kansas and he's talking about how he's really taking off in the Real Estate world, talking about (and rightly so!) how pleased he is with his kids now in College. And that the address in the invite to the 50th wedding anniversary get together in two weeks from Saturday in that area is incorrect. Well, since I'm going to be a passenger for this trip riding around the area with Mike and Brenda in their rental car, I'll just hope he'll know where it is since he used to live there. Later during Mythbusters, my father, the 50th wedding anniversary guy himself called. He told me he was looking forward to seeing everybody in two weeks. And so am I, I wish Stacy could go but she's got a court case subpoena and the other girl in our 3 person office will be off to help a friend that's having a hip replacement surgery that same week, so Stacy has to stay at home for this trip.
Last Sunday the 18th was Sean's birthday. He's 26 now, and I sure wish I had been making almost $30.00 an hour was I was his age!!!
Yesterday was Sandy and Eric's second anniversary. Things seem to be going really well for them. Sandy is getting tired from all the things she does, work, teach, travel for her job often, and try to keep everybody happy! I told her not to worry, she can't make everybody happy, just do the best she can and work around the rest.
I think Sandy has been really stressed out by both my and Stacy's constant questions about arrangements she's making for the Germany trip (just a month left!!). She's saying there's "plenty of time" to make plans, we don't think so! But we agreed to stop bugging her and just let her do it!
That's the update for now!
Later, Tad
Comments