Do YOU Have a Weather Radio?

Zephyrhills, Florida  ( high 86, low 59)

The tornado outbreak the past few days has been really bad.  I hope all our blogger friends are safe out there.  I know a lot of you are making plans to leave Florida and start your summer travels.  Some of you have already started your journey and I hope you stay out of harms way.  I’m sure glad we’re staying put right now and I’m glad we’re no longer living in southern Georgia.

I hope everyone has a good weather radio and that you keep it turned on all the time!

This is what we have and it’s worked perfectly for several years.

They only cost about $50 and in my opinion everyone should have one, but most especially people who travel in an Rv.  What are you waiting for…..go get one!

 

The community yard sale is today, so I’m up early to have some coffee and computer time before we have to get started.  Al is still in bed.  He’s trying to sleep through it!

We gathered up quite a few things and hopefully we’ll be able to clear it all out.  Al doesn’t want to have a sale today…he wants to GO to other peoples sales, in case they might have some good deals…..and there is the reason we NEED to have a yard sale!

Our weather continues to be warm, but it looks like it will change tomorrow.  Thankfully, there is no severe weather here.  The high on Sunday is only supposed to get up to 65.  That’s about a 20 degree drop for us….and I’m looking forward to it.

Yesterday was spent on projects around here.  Al washed both cars and I finally got a “new” computer program to installed properly and working.  In November, we bought a computer program called VMSpc. 

It is a vehicle monitoring system, that plugs in to the diagnostic connection of our motor home.  It gives you all sorts of engine readings and much more information than your standard gauges.    

Some coaches have these types of systems built in and we first saw one on the Beaver motor home we looked at.  We  always remembered the nice VMS it had, and wished we had one,  but they are thousands of dollars installed.

So, in reading some Rv forums, I discovered one for around $300 that uses your computer monitor to give you the very same information the more expensive ones give.

It has a little box that connects to my laptop and the engine diagnostic plug. 

The following picture shows an example of what information I can get from the program.  It is completely customizable.  There are many, many things you can monitor, including, engine and transmission and  manifold temperature.

 

 

You can monitor your fuel mileage and MPG.  How much fuel you have until empty,  travel distance for the day or for the trip, not to mention any and every oil and temperature reading on the motorhome.

This is what the system looks like.  You use your computer monitor.

It is much more accurate than the gauges on the dash and there is a lot more information available.  These big diesel engines are very expensive and the more we know about what’s going on with them, the better. 

All this information is available for mechanics when you take the vehicle in.  They plug in their little computer and can get a lot of engine diagnostic codes as well as what has been going on with the engine.  This way, we can get the info ourselves while we’re traveling.  Of course, we need to know how to interpret them, but at least we’ll have the information at our finger tips.  It could be handy to give more info to a mechanic if we’re stuck on the side of the road somewhere.

I had not been able to get it installed properly until yesterday.  It turns out I needed to install some drivers and I didn’t know which ones, or where to find them.

I procrastinated getting it installed because I needed to make a phone call on a business day on a day when I could run the engine.  The problem with a diesel pusher is when you run the engine, the airbags inflate and then you have to deflate them and re-level.

Anyway, I got it done yesterday, and we just need to learn more about what information we want to see and then set the program to show us that information.  There is a LOT of information available. 

Have a happy week-end and go get your weather radios!

Windows Live Writer or Blogger?

Zephyrhills, Florida  (high 85, low 64)

We’re still having cool nights, but these day time temps are a bit too warm for us this time of the year.  I think another cool front it expected and that’s fine with us.  We’ll have plenty of time for hot weather.

I got a nice surprise in the mail yesterday.  It was a letter from Trailblazer Magazine, along with a gift certificate for $50.  Evidently a photograph I submitted won their contest and should be published in their upcoming magazine.

Here is the photo.  You’ll probably recognize it.  It was when we kayaked around the perimeter of Sunshine Key.

 

Just curious. Do you write your blogs on Windows Live Writer, or through Blogger?  I prefer Live Writer.  I had too many problems on Blogger getting the line spacing to come out right.  I also find it easier to enter photos with Live Writer.  It’s also nice to be able to get the blog written and ready to publish, even if you have no internet connection at the time.  I don’t believe you can do that with Blogger.  Of course now that we’re fulltimers, we normally have internet.  Should I try Blogger again?  Have they improved?  I know Rick will have some input on this!

I went back to the Ophthalmologist yesterday for a check on the pressure in my right eye.  The pressure hadn’t gone down enough and he put me on some drops to decrease the pressure.  It was 29, down from 35/36 the day before.  I don’t know what’s up with that, but I have another appointment Monday for a re-check.  I’m not liking this. 

Many Rv parks in the area are having community garage sales on Saturday, so Al and I raided our storage shed for items to sell.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get rid of a few things.  We’re going to stay home today and go through the basement and some cabinets and look for more un-needed items.