Mitch sick, challah - - Day 593 (Yr 2, Day 228)

Asheville, NC
I'm really getting sick of writing "Asheville" as my location.  It's going on 6 months now :(  Then again, except for the winter weather, it's a very nice place to be.  One week ago today we were buried in a foot and a half of snow.  Today I am sitting on a picnic bench by the river, in my t-shirt (while I write this) as it's about 63 degrees.  Here's what I'm looking at:

And another Mitch took of me:

So this past week has been busy, busy, busy with work.  I have 2 very steady clients and 3 as-needed ones.  On Wednesday, ALL of them wanted me to do work for them, continuing on even to today.  I'm not complaining; it's good to be working, especially this week when Mitch only worked 2 days.  Reason follows:

Monday he was off all day due to the ice and snow still on the ground (gas company needed to have their staff available for emergencies; not following up on leaks found).  Tuesday he only worked 1/2 day, again due to the ice and snow -- it was too difficult to get to the gas meters.  He worked on Wed and Thurs.  He's been harboring a pretty bad cold for the past few weeks, and by Thursday night, it had turned into a bad cough and he was running almost 102* temperature, so Friday he needed to take the day off (we also didn't attend services on Saturday so he could stay in bed and rest all day).

Mitch normally does the Shabbat shopping on Thursday before he comes home, which includes buying the challah and fish.  Fortunately, we had extra tuna steaks in the freezer, but nothing that resembled a special bread.  So.... I decided, for the first time ever, to attempt to make a challah.  I have to admit that it didn't turn out half bad.  It was more on the cake-y side than bread, but tasted pretty good.  Here's what they looked like (they were about the same size; not sure why they look so different in the photo)

Today (Sunday), Mitch was feeling a little bit better so we got a relatively early start (9:30 am).  We went to this awesome restaurant (Sunny Point Cafe: http://sunnypointcafe.com/).  It's literally right up the road, and I can't believe it's taken us 6 months to get there!  They have their own garden in the back of the property from which they use their veggies and herbs (in season) and everything is organic; lots of vegetarian choices as well.  It was a bit expensive (almost $40 including tip for breakfast!); it's a very small place and we had to wait about 45 mins for a table (the beautiful outdoor patio is always full) but very much well worth the experience.  I hope we can afford to go back some time for dinner.

One other note to share:  it just amazes me how Amazon packages stuff.  We had to order a teeny halogen bulb for the microwave.  This is the bulb and the box it was in.  Why couldn't they just put it in a padded envelope?

After the storm - Day 586 (Yr 2, Day 221)

Asheville, NC

Wow, that was really some storm.  I'm told it was historical for this part of the country.  When all was said and done, we got about 18".  Not exactly historical for us, but definitely not something we would have expected here in the alleged South, especially since we don't own boots or a shovel.  Unfortunately, the northeast (MD, VA, NY, NJ) got hammered even worse -- they got about 30"!

The electric went off for about an hour before Shabbat started and it was community wide.  Fortunately, it went back on 5 minutes before I had to light candles, so I was able to turn on the fireplace (in case we ran out of gas; it was back up heat).  We are blessed that the day was uneventful.  Everything stayed on; we were safe and warm and dry.  We did, however, lose our water last night, as Mitch forgot to keep the sink dripping so the hose froze up.  Thankfully, we did fill the fresh water tank before the storm, so the water pump and the 100 gallons in the tank should last us  until it melts.

Today is bright and sunny and about 40 degrees so the ice and snow are starting to melt.  The scenery is still very beautiful, with the river sparkling against the white snow.  Unfortunately, there is way too much on the ground to melt enough to disappear; whatever hasn't fully melted will refreeze, making conditions very treacherous tomorrow morning.  I'm not sure if Mitch will be working anyway, as he's feeling horrible (cough/cold).  He's been resting up all weekend, but if he still feels this way, may take a sick day.

Snow! - Day 584 (Yr 2, Day 219)

Asheville, NC

Yes, it has snowed - like 12" worth!  This is the picture out of my front window.  And the storm isn't over yet.  It really is a beautiful scene, though!

I did get to see a few interesting things:  instead of the usual parade of joggers, I saw some folks cross country skiing!  Someone also let her dog out which proceeded to run around and roll in the snow, having a jolly ole time!  I'm also extremely happy not to have a driveway to shovel, and the snow will probably (hopefully) melt by the time we need to go out anywhere (this is the South, right?  Right???  I wonder).

Fortunately, Mitch was off work today.  There was also some awesome karma - a pay it forward moment:  last month during the flood, we helped someone move his rig from one side of the campground to the other.  Today I looked up to see someone shoveling a path from our truck to the door.  I didn't recognize him at first, and he explained that because we helped him, he felt he wanted to do something to repay our kindness.  Amazing people out here.

This rig is rated for full time living and has a high insulation rating for temps between -10 and 120.  This will be a good test.  So far, so good between the fireplace, space heater and furnace, we're nice and toasty.  Of course, when the electric keeps going out (which is constant today), the fireplace and heater aren't much good.  I'm also trying to prepare for Shabbat and can't use the microwave/convection oven (Mitch - get on your hands and knees and light the stove which we've only used for storage!)

Meanwhile, the electricians are still trying to figure out and fix the problem here that's causing our (and others') power to go out intermittently.  In their work, they pointed out that we had a bad plug (they fixed it for us).  Not that it helped any; electric still going off.

We also had a little scare the other day.  It appeared that we lost our batteries - completely dead and weren't taking a charge.  After 1.5 hours, we discovered the breaker (fuse) for the converter was off.  So much we still need to learn.

So...  looking forward to a quiet, peaceful weekend of being indoors.

Frigid, snow, and another lesson learned - Day 580 (Yr 2, Day 215)

Asheville, NC

We had our first snowfall since leaving NJ (no, I am not a happy camper.  Even though it was only about 1/4", it is still a 4 letter word).

With the temp about 10 degrees this morning and a wind chill close to zero, it was not the time to run out of propane, thereby leaving us without heat.  We hoped this could be remedied quickly when Mitch got up and dressed so he could go outside and switch to the auxilliary tank.  Unfortunately, that did not happen; when he switched over, the gas still did not turn on.  He noticed that the valve had been left in the open position and though perhaps 40# of propane had escaped.  There was, however, a strong smell of gas inside the rig, so I was afraid to turn the fireplace or space heater on.  So I was sitting and shivering for about 2 hours, until the office opened and someone could come and take the tanks from me to fill them.

When they took the tanks, it was discovered that one of them was still completely full.  How was that possible, I wanted to know?  They asked if we bled the line first.  Huh?  What does that mean exactly?  They explained what you're supposed to do, and if  you don't, it causes air pockets in the line, interrupts the flow and might bring gas into the rig.  Ok, so lesson learned - you need to bleed the line when you switch over the tank.  At least I'm getting toasty again.

Right now, I'm looking out of the window and seeing the snow being blown around.  Looks like lots of flying crystals.

I really, really want to move to a warmer place already!!!  (But not during the summer when it's in the 100s)!

Electric problems - Day 574 (Yr 2, Day 209)

Asheville, NC

There is a dead post running between our site and a few sites down.  Owner is aware but it can't be fixed because the ground it too cold to dig up!!  Should be back in the 50s on Thursday, so maybe he'll get to it by then.  Meanwhile, power hasn't stayed on longer than 2-3 minutes at a time all day.  Glad I have a good laptop battery!  If I need to use the microwave, guess I'll run the generator for a little while.  Only problem with that is that with the cold temps, the furnace has been kicking on so we're going through a lot of propane.

It is also extremely windy here today.  I feel the rig shake vigorously with every huge gust!  At least looking out of the window at the river is pleasant.

Cidery - Day 573 (Yr 2, Day 208)

Asheville, NC

Yesterday, we visited a hard apple cider manufacturing plant / taproom, which is along the lines of a beer brewery, winery and spirits distillery, except that they make -- hard cider, something both Mitch and I enjoy very much.  It was an extremely eye opening (and mouth watering) experience for us.  The place we visited was Nobles (there are a few other cideries in the area).

For one, the only hard cider we've ever had has been the commercially produced stuff such as Angry Orchard or Woodchuck (I'd say Redds, but that's an apple ale, not a cider; the difference being ale is brewed and cider is fermented like wine).  One of the first things we learned, and were able to taste, is that the mass produced stuff adds a lot of stuff like flavoring and water to cut costs.  At Noble, they do their own pressing as well and nothing extra is added. Like a winery, they press their apples and then let them ferment in huge tanks:

Didn't quite get all the tanks in the photo. These are about 1000 gallons; another one was 2K gallons

Here is Claire, our "bartender"

Not sure how much more I can add about it except that they had about 10 different varieties ranging from very sweet (cider mead) to very dry.  All were delicious.  They fill "growlers" so we took home one filled with the Apple Champagne.  Enjoying the last glass right now! :)

On another note, a sign Mitch saw along his route:

Mud, outdoors - Day 569 (Yr 2, Day 204)

Asheville, NC

First, if you noticed that I skipped from day 186 to 204, it's because I discovered that somewhere along the line, starting from June 25, 2014 (end of first year), the math got screwed up.  Rather than going back and retracing my steps and then editing the titles for over 180 entries, it's easier to just correct it from this point on.

So... it was flurrying 2 days ago, and today it was in the mid-50s, bright and sunny.  I can finally remove the double long sleeve layers I've been wearing and replace it with a t-shirt.

Ok, why the title?  Well, being a really nice day, I took a walk to the office, but upon returning and finding my work load very light, I decided it was time to give my urb-e a little exercise and took it out for a ride along the greenway.  Mind you, this is along the French Broad River, which a week ago had overflowed its banks.  Although the campground is pretty much dried out now, I hadn't thought that the greenway was in much worse condition.  It wasn't bad, but there were about 3 or 4 patches of muddy water, which I had to ride through.  Not at all deep - basically just wet and muddy ground.  It wasn't until I got back that I discovered that not only was the urb-e completely covered with mud (up to the seat), but my shoes, pants and even bottom part of my sweatshirt were also covered.  I gave the urb-e a good rinsing with the hose (will need Mitch's help to wash it down with a rag and detergent due to the bending), removed all the muddy clothes, rinsed them out in the sink and then put them in the washing machine (except the shoes which hopefully will air dry in a few days).  Either way, it was well worthwhile.

The "entertainment" for the day was what I found at the end of the path (about 2 miles down).  On the other side of the river is the Biltmore Estate, which is over 8000 acres.  During the other 3 months, you can't see anything because of the trees, but now that most of the trees are bare, you can see what's on the other side.  This is the far corner of the estate, not far from the hotel.  They are currently running their annual gravel grinder bike race (more info: http://idaph.net/events/du-the-asheville-du/gravel-grinder-bike-race-course-information/).  I heard about it on the local news.  Difficult is a complete understatement, even for the most professional mountain bikers. I was able to hear the announcer and see part of the trail and the bikers, as well as all the tents set up.  I took a photo from my phone, but it appears too far away and you can't make out any details, so I'm not posting it.

First snow - Day 567 (Yr 2, Day 186)

Asheville, NC

Ok, I guess based on NJ standards, you really can't call it a real snow, but it has been flurrying all day.  To me, if it's little and white and falls from the sky, it's still that four letter word!!!  Grateful it's not sticking, although the temps are in the high 20s today (forecast for 60 degrees on Saturday).  I really want to leave here!!

Mitch, meanwhile, is having his nice long "vacation" extended.  He was off for New Year's (New Years Eve day, New Years day and the weekend).  Unfortunately, there is NO WORK at the moment so he was off today and most likely for the next few days.  There's no new work in the rest of the country either, so there's more of a chance for work if we stay here.  Boss promises no more than a few more days.  We shall see.

A bit more of a background:  the company he works for contracts with many regional utility companies nationwide and sends contractors out to do surveys - checking for gas or water leaks and the condition of the equipment.  Residential areas need to be done annually, and businesses every 3 years (I may have that reversed).  Either way, it needs to be completed by the end of each year or the company gets fined, thus the rush and mandatory overtime.  When January rolls around, either contracts need to be renegotiated or renewed, or they just need to re-establish the maps and then assign them.  So although there's no work today, hopefully everything will be rolled out again by next week.

Disappointing New Years Eve - Day 565 (Yr 2, Day 184)

Asheville, NC

So much for the NYE party.  We invited everyone we met at the campground (pretty much everyone who's here - total of 11 people).  All said they would come.  We brought lots of wine and beer and snacks (including veggies so I could indulge).  7:30, 8:00 came and went.  9:30, still no one showed up.  So it turned out to be our usual celebration of just watching recorded movies (no Scrabble this year).  We did, however, manage to make it until midnight, so we turned on the tv to watch the ball drop, and then went to bed.  At least the rig got a deep cleaning again!

New Year's day (Friday) was a somewhat stressful day.  There were a few things needing fixing, with the most urgent one being the pipe connecting the shower to the gray tank having broken off.  Mitch had to make a trip to Lowes to buy parts (note: still not fixed - he has to work on it more tomorrow-Sunday).  The plastic part of the door that slides to open has also been getting stuck, and Mitch had to remove it and sand it down so it would open more smoothly.  One of my clients also called with an urgent, time critical project of proofreading and editing a 50 page document.  I figured no big deal- just a couple of hours.  No - didn't turn out that way.  This client (despite my having created a video tutorial for him last year) refuses to learn how to use a word processor and types as if he's using a typewriter, which means every place he indents a paragraph (in this case, LOTS), there is a "carriage return" at the end of the line, and lots of spaces at the beginning.  Of course, any changes I need to make throws all the spacing off, which means I had a ton of formatting to do.  What I anticipated being 2-3 hours turned out to be about 8.  This on top of having to prepare for Shabbat, which still starts early (I made it within about 15 minutes).  Thankfully Mitch helped with some (ok, most) of the cooking.

Today, fortunately, was very restful except for waking up freezing.  The heat pump always turns over to the furnace when it gets below 40 degrees.  We heard it turn on during the night, but this morning it was off.  We figured we must have run out of propane, so Mitch switched to the alternate tank.  Still no furnace, so we ate breakfast while seeing our breaths.  Fortunately, by the time we returned from shul, it was a little warmer so the heat pump was on again.  After Shabbat, we manually turned the furnace on, and it seemed to be working fine.  So no clue what that was all about.  Hopefully it was just a fluke, as the winter weather has finally decided to stay (can't believe it was over 70 degrees just this time last week!) and it's getting down into the 20s overnight.

Not many plans tomorrow except for finishing fixing the shower; maybe getting a haircut.  Such an exciting life (not)!