Purim & truck - Day 1356 (Year 4, Day 261)

Williamsburg, VA

Purim is a holiday which commemorates the Jews' salvation in Persia (feel free to Google "purim" for the details and history).  In effect, it is an extremely joyous (and sometimes raucous) celebration, in which people are suppose to dress up in costume (Jewish Halloween) and do all kinds of crazy, fun stuff, including get drunk.  Of course, the most important part of the holiday is to be in synagogue and hear the "megillah" (scroll, which contains the story of Esther) being read aloud.  Whenever the evil person, Haman's name is mentioned, the entire congregation needs to make so much noise that you can't hear the name being read.  It's a lot of fun, celebrating the end to a potentially terrifying tragedy.

Another Purim tradition is to bake (or eat) special cookies called "hamentashen" which is a triangular shaped cookie (to resemble Haman's 3 corner hat), filled with pretty much anything.  Most traditionally it's poppy seeds or fruit, but you can use whatever you want.  I spent many hours yesterday researching a keto-friendly recipe (which, to my delight, I found) and then preparing and making them.  I was so excited, even though for the dozen I made, it was by #10 that I finally got the hang of folding them so that I got 3 corners instead of 4.

I BURNED THEM!!!!  I was (and continue to be) absolutely devastated by this.  So much time, energy and love went into making them and I set the oven 5 minutes too much.  They tasted like ash and I had to throw them out.  Way too much trouble to make them again today.  Sigh.

Although there are no shuls nearby where we are comfortable attending for Shabbat services, there is a place (reconstructionist) not too far from here.  We made the decision to go to their services to hear the megillah and enjoy the festivities.  It was to start at 7:00 pm.  Since Mitch gets home around 4, it was doable.  But.....

Wouldn't you know - he stopped for gas on the way home, and the truck wouldn't start again.  Very fortunately, he was at a station that also had a mechanic shop and a mechanic who knew about diesel engines.  He took a look and determined there was a clog in the fuel line (he suggested that one of the tanks probably had some rust or something in it that was putting out sediment and we should avoid using that tank).  Fortunately, he was able to fix the problem and Mitch was able to return home, although he didn't get back until nearly 6:30, by then too stressed and tired to go back out.

At that point, we decided to try to find a synagogue that offered a live streaming of their services.  We did find one, but of course, our internet connection sucked big time and it was nearly impossible to watch, being that we'd hear 1 or 2 words and then it would buffer for about 2 minutes.  We just gave up and spent the rest of the night watching our downloaded shows.

In addition, it is one of our wedding anniversaries.  We exchanged our vows (eloped) on 11/11/78, and then had a formal exchange in front of family and a rabbi on 2/29/80 (leap year).  We always celebrate in November (this year will be # 40 and we hope to be able to do something really special, including a renewal of vows).  But we do try to have a little acknowledgement during the twilight zone between 2/28 and 3/1.  Sadly, because of the mood, it just didn't happen.

On another note, a milestone (new decade) birthday is coming up for me in 1 week and a few days.  I really want to do something very special, but can't think of what.  Ideally, I'd love to have a party, be pampered and be the center of attention (I know that sounds selfish), but we're just too far removed from everyone to make that happen.  I'm thinking of maybe finding a spa with good rates and indulging in something I've never done before -- maybe a couples massage so Mitch doesn't feel left out and have to wait outside for an hour.  But can't find anywhere local that offers that for a reasonable price.  I do know there's this fancy restaurant with lots of vegetarian options.  It means going off my diet but I've been planning to go there for my birthday for a few months.  So I suspect it'll probably be going to the movies and then out to eat.  Who knows, maybe if the weather permits, since my birthday is on a Sunday, we can have a campfire on Saturday night and invite some of the neighbors here.

Anyway, PIBE (play it by ear) as I always say.  And remember that plans are always made in bubbles anyway.  For all I know, we'll get our marching orders in a day or 2 and need to be out of here before March 11th.

Water pressure, finally! - Day 1352 (Year 4, Day 257)

Williamsburg, VA

Not a real exciting week.  Mitch was home twice this week due to rain or mud. Something tells me that this assignment, which is supposed to end by the end of March could extend through the summer, with all these lost days.  I'm not happy about that, as this is not one of my favorite places.  It's very hard to get around the campground due to the constant mud, and the walk to the office (the other campground) is about a mile away, up a steep hill.  It's also a very narrow, winding road so riding my urb-e there isn't a safe option (an aside, we're putting the two urb-e's up for sale as we're hardly using them and they're just taking up space in the truck these days).  Also, although I enjoy history and going back in time (Colonial Williamsburg), we've been there plenty of times now and I'm kind of "CW'd out."  Lastly, once again we're in an area that's nowhere close to a shul and we miss being part of a community, especially with Passover right around the corner and the anxiety of where we can attend a seder (but we have a month to worry about that.  And fortunately, the first 2 seders are Fri & Sat nights so if we need to travel, we can spend the weekend out of town.

Anyway, about the title:  for over a month now, the water pressure in the kitchen has been pretty poor.  We thought it was just a function of the new faucet Mitch installed before we came here.  Last week, however, we noticed a huge drop in the bathroom sink and shower, all of which were just about down to a trickle.  Mitch checked all the hoses and connections and cleaned out any screens (there were no clogs).  We decided to test another hypothesis:  we ran the water via the water pump (taking water from our fresh water tank instead of from the outside hose), and lo and behold - the pressure was fine.  This led us to conclude that the problem was definitely somewhere in the city water system. We thought maybe there was a leak in the outside hose which brings water into the rig (since there's a little stream running along side the trailer, but we later learned this is all from the rain) so he bought a new hose and replaced it.  Still didn't solve the problem.  Today, just for the heck if it, we decided to remove the water pressure regulator which is connected between the water source and the hose (as it's name says, it's supposed to regulate the water flow and ensure we don't get a blast that blows out the lines).  Well, being the cheap model that it was, the darn thing was broken (probably happened when the water froze, which thinking about it, was about a month ago, when the pressure started to drop).

So now we have beautifully flowing water again.  And as soon as he's able, Mitch will buy a new regulator, and this time spend a little more money and get a good quality one (this is the 3rd regulator we've had to replace).

The rest of the day (after troubleshooting the water pressure problem) was spent cleaning out the truck, which was in severe need of cleaning and re-organization.  I then did some baking (my keto crackers and scrambled egg muffins to last the week) and Mitch is creating a new shelf organizer for the bathroom closet (he was so pleased with the job he did in the coffee/tea pantry and his underwear drawer, so now he's in major organization mode.  Which is rather odd since he's so oblivious to clutter and I'm the one who gets bent out of shape if a paperclip is out of place!  He calls it OCD but I think I'm just a neat freak).

Another nice day out in CW - Day 1345 (Year 4, Day 250)

Williamsburg, VA

For a change, this was the first nice Sunday we've had in a while and one in which we didn't have a long "to-do" list (well, we do, but nothing absolutely critical that we couldn't take the day off and enjoy ourselves).  It was bright and sunny and temps in the 60s so we decided to return to Colonial Williamsburg.  We started out at the museum and visited a few exhibits which we missed the last time we were there.  Today we viewed mostly antique furniture and fabrics.  Truly fascinating stuff.

Afterwards, we learned there is a Tea & Spice Exchange in the Merchant Square section.  We had visited one in St. Augustine and Savannah and love the chain!  I'm running low on tea so we decided to go to that section as well.  On a whim, we decided to take a little time off and visit here:



I had the red wine sampler and Mitch had a glass of cider, plus we shared some goat cheese mixed with fennel and lavender.  Yum!  (Note: this is not the actual winery; that's a few miles away.  This is just a store front which lets you sample their wares and entices you to visit the premises.  Or just enjoy some wine and cider).

I also took a little video (360 degree view) of the area (can you spot Mitch?)  It's a large file, so here's a link.  Not sure how long it will work though: https://s.amsu.ng/PVl8noOLNxfN

We did a lot of walking through the area and saw this very interesting classic car parked:



After this, we went to the tea/spice store and purchased some Earl Grey tea, beet root powder and "everything but the bagel" spice (we were going to buy it at Trader Joe's but they had some here so it saved us a trip).  Afterwards, we returned to the visitor center, picked up the truck and headed home.  We were going to go shopping (need more vitamins and wanted to buy a new Shabbat tablecloth) but we were both, as always, way too exhausted.  From now on, if we have any shopping to do on a day we want to have fun, do the shopping first!

My "exciting" life - Day 1334 (Year 4, Day 239)

Williamsburg, VA

Another 2 weeks have passed since my last post.  Hard to believe; it feels like I just posted a few days ago!  How do we keep time from flying by?

Obviously, not much exciting has happened as it's been work, work, work.  Mitch has had quite a number of days off due to the rain and very muddy conditions (very thankfully, not more snow or ice).  At least this gave him an opportunity to catch up on a number of back burner projects he's been meaning to accomplish, and I also gave him some work for my company (A-Z Admin Solutions: www.AZAdminSolutions.com, in case anyone's interested!).  We both agree that it would be wonderful if I could hire him full time, but alas, the workload isn't enough right now to warrant that.  Although, admittedly, a huge project has come in that I don't have (1) the desire, or (2) the time to complete myself and have hired a really awesome subcontractor to help me with.

My "excitement" of the week has been discovering a bald eagle!!  Very sadly, I don't have a camera that could zoom in close enough to get a good shot, although I was able to clearly identify it using binoculars and various bird identification tools.  Here's the best I could do photographically zoomed (it is really majestic when it's flying):



One thing I do find disappointing is our lack of seeing wildlife.  For example, this campground is divided into the front and back sections.  There are loads of deer in the back section (we're in the front) and I have yet to see a single one.  Mitch said he saw baby bears in Asheville (I didn't) but other than many different kinds of bugs, we haven't experienced much.

Regarding synagogue services, we have not gone for quite a while.  I guess we both sort of decided that it just wasn't worth the 25 mile schlep.

This past weekend, as seems to always be the case, the weather was miserable.  We ended up on Sunday just running a bunch of shopping errands (including a trip to Michaels to buy a replacement clock mechanism) and then spent the remainder of the day watching downloaded movies.

Regarding next steps for travel:  it was suggested to Mitch that our next assignment will be in Salt Lake City, Utah.  On one hand, this sounded really exciting as we haven't been out west before.  On the other hand, it's a 5000 mile round trip.  Three out of four parts of our cursed Ford 6.0L engine have been replaced to date but we were warned the last part (the head gasket, the most expensive of all) is due to blow at any given time.  Since the trip would take us 50% of the way through "fly over country" -- the Midwest with nothing but farmland and tiny cities hundreds of miles apart (kind of like our travels in the Dakotas), and then the rest of the way through the mountains and steep grades (towing 20K pounds), we decided we didn't really want to take the risk of this kind of travel at this point.  Mitch asked his supervisor to please keep us on the east coast, which he agreed to.  We will most likely be here until some time (end?) of March but it's unclear where we'd be going next.  So far, it seems like the highest possibilities are either NJ, or Asheville or Raleigh, NC.  Will keep you posted....

Finally got out! Day 1319 (Year 4, Day 224)

Williamsburg, VA

I can't believe it's been over 2 weeks since I've written.  I guess life has just been that boring, particularly due to the extreme cold and snow.  Even taking a little walk around the campground is a bit difficult without heavy boots because we're in the woods and with the exception of gravel on our site, everything else is dirt, which turns to mud when the snow melts or when it rains (and it takes days and days to dry up).

For the past few days, the temps have finally gotten above freezing.  In fact, it was in the mid 60's over the weekend, and in the low 70s today.  It was semi-dry on Saturday, so Mitch and I took a little Shabbat walk around the campground, although it was somewhat limited where we could go due to a lot of mud.

On Sunday, it was another gorgeous day, so we decided to return to Colonial Williamsburg and visit the art museums.  The museums are housed in a building that used to be a mental institution (hospital) back in the 1700s.  The entrance to the museum starts you off going thru the hospital (mini-museum).  It was really quite horrific the way those with mental illness were perceived and treated (worse than criminals).

The museum is actually 2 separate museums: 1 dedicated to folk art such as sculptures, kitch, instruments, ceramics and paintings.  The other is dedicated more towards fine art including furniture and antiques.  Unfortunately, we didn't leave home until 1:00 pm.  We had hoped to park closer to the museum rather than at the visitor's center (where we'd need to take the shuttle bus, and the museum is the 2nd to last stop on the loop).  Unfortunately, this area is not at all truck friendly, so we landed up at the visitor's center anyway, thus wasting about 45 minutes.  It was nearly 2:00 by the time we got to the museum.  There really is so much to see there, but we were only able to visit about 4 galleries.  Definitely need to return there again.

Yesterday (Monday) was another relatively nice day; in the 60's and partly sunny.  I have a large workload but did force myself to take a little walk in the afternoon.

Last night and this morning we had torrential downpours.  Although it's in the 70s today and by the afternoon, bright and sunny, there was no way I could go out walking as there was way too much mud to even approach the road.  

Tires, but not much else - Day 1303 (Year 4, Day 208)

Williamsburg, VA

I do wish I could post lots of photos of fun places we've been to, but life is "a day in the life" and nothing at all exciting.

We have not been going to shul lately because the services just don't seem to warrant the 1/2 hour schlep (and construction zone stress).  For the past 2 weekends, we also haven't gone out to explore because I just didn't feel like going out in the cold.

Mitch has had lots of time off since the last posting due to the weather - lots of snow.  It finally melted and he was able to return for a day or 2, but now there's another storm.  He worked today, but I'm sure he'll be off again tomorrow.  I'm not sure how much comfort I find in the fact that most of the country, including the southern states such as TX and FL, are also experiencing this severe winter weather, so I don't feel as terrible not being assigned there.

Regarding the tires, since the last post, he had another flat tire, also most likely due to the ditch incident.  This week has cost us about $700 in tires.  We also needed to replace a monitoring sensor which was lost in the ditch.  Sigh.  I suppose it could still be a lot worse.

I'm also starting to feel isolated and lonely.  Although I have nice neighbors, I'm not comfortable just knocking on their doors to say hi (although I'm gearing up to do that.  In fact, as I write this, I think tomrrow I may go to Nancy/Steve on the left and Carol Leigh/Chuck/Janice on the right and set something up for all of us to just hang out.  Be nice to do over a campfire but it's way too cold for that).  Due to the harsh cold, I have had no inclination to take my daily walk in sub-freezing temps (I still don't own a heavy winter coat). I have "hitch itch" already, although it does look like we'll be here until March.

One of those (expensive) days... Day 1297 (Year 4, Day 202)

Williamsburg, VA

First, it should be noted, that Mitch has been off of work most of this week due to the snow we had, then ice, then everything being too wet for the equipment to work properly (yes, at least he's still getting paid, and I'm getting to see what it will be like someday when we're both under the same roof 24/7!!!  No comment, 😀).

Mitch attempted to go to work this morning (he always leaves between 5:30 and 6:00 am).  The road to the highway is a narrow, 2 lane road with a lot of curves - for about 2 miles.  There was a car coming from the opposite direction, going way too fast and appeared (in the dark) to be over the divider.  As a knee-jerk reaction, Mitch swerved right to avoid being hit.  Unfortunately, to his right, was a deep ditch.  This is how Mitch landed in a very muddy ditch (note the 45 degree angle):



Fortunately, he wasn't hurt and there didn't appear to be any damage to the truck. He called a towing company to pull him out.  Fortunately, it was another called off day at work due to conditions still being too wet, so he saved having to travel 60 miles round trip to find that out (like he did for the past 2 days).

Anyway, he was home for a bit.  We needed some groceries and my work load was on the light side, so I decided to join him on a trip to the supermarket at 11:30 am.

He fell into the ditch about a mile from the campground.  I drove, and he asked me to stop -- to pull into the nearest side street -- so he could attempt to find the tire sensor that came off in the mud (he looked and decided to forego it as there was just too much mud and he'd never find it; just need to buy another $50 replacement).  Anyway, he got back into the truck, I turned the corner, and heard a loud POP -- the front passenger tire blew out.  Probably had something to do with the earlier accident.

We were on a residential street and were able to pull over in front of someone's house.  Apparently, the owners were home and heard the pop, and came out to investigate.  Now, we have a spare tire but we keep it in the the basement of the rig as there's no room in the truck.  It's a good, full sized tire (not an emergency one).  The gentleman from the house graciously offered to give Mitch a ride back to the trailer to get the tire so roadside assistance could just switch it out instead of us having to get a tow to somewhere (THERE ARE STILL LOTS OF GOOD PEOPLE OUT THERE!!!).

Anyway, it took about an hour, but the company finally came and switched the tires.  We drove to the closest supermarket.  When we went above 20 mph, the truck shook like crazy.  No clue why.  However... knowing that there's heavy rain in the forecast for tomorrow, Mitch suspects there's a 99% chance he won't be working again. He made an appointment for a local diesel mechanic to do our oil/filter change (our neighbor, Nancy, will drive him to/fro).  We will purchase a new tire from them and have them check out why the vibrations (may have something to do with the settings for 4 wheel drive?  It only started once the tire was changed).

Oh - about the title - expensive because instead of calling either one of 2 of our roadside assistance plans this morning, Mitch found a local towing company and had them pull him out.  Not covered if there's no pre-authorization.  His rationale was that they could come out immediately so he could return to work, rather than wait 1++ hours for somewhere else to be dispatched.

We returned from shopping around 3:00 pm.  When Mitch had to get the tire, it required removing pretty much everything from the basement.  He spent the rest of the afternoon not only trying to put everything back, but also taking out our power washer and trying to get all the mud and leaves off the truck.

As I said... what a day!!!