Before I get to the self-stroking RV stuff I fixed, I want to talk about something sort of important, for once…

My Yahoo! editor has fallen off the face of the earth which means I’ve been able to write more on this blog. Lucky you! (No contact in about a month now, and I’ve submitted a great story idea and an article in that time, along with a few reminder emails.Whatever.) So in between writing the next episode of Tales From the RV Park, I checked my blog stats on Google Feedburner and noticed I lost about 20% of my subscribers within the four days after this post: Online Dating: Oh my. Well, this explains a lot. The post may or may not explain a lot about online dating, but I can’t figure out why I lost so many subscribers. I thought the post about the hunter-gather principle would’ve been the one to turn folks off. Or, far more likely, this post, this post, or this post. Was it something I said?

I don’t try to offend anyone on this blog, but I realize it happens. Heck, I do it in my face-to-face life, too… I suffer from “Foot In Mouth” disease all the time. It’s probably that missing filter thing I mentioned in my About page.

Since I brought up the online dating, some of you may be wondering about what’s going on with the Online Dating Chronicles. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. Nada. Ziltch. Zero. Concerned I might say something “sans filter” – like I do on this blog – I have been extra cautious when writing back to the few men who’ve sent me a normal email. The conversations always seem to go quite well… and then nothing. They just stop replying, or send one random sentence in reply to our regular email exchange – a sentence that contains no question in which to reply. And, no asking to meet or to talk on the phone.

I do live about an hour and a half (or more) from the ones writing. Maybe that has something to do with it – in the end they just don’t want to bother with the distance. I don’t know, that’s just a guess. Maybe I’m offending the crap out of them, too. 

So,I’m done with the online dating thing. The endless emailing that goes nowhere has taken its toll on my level of interest.

Which means I will continue offending and/or boring the crap out of the few of you dear readers I have left…

Self-Stroking Post RV Stuff I Fixed All By Myself

There is a dichotomy to the RV lifestyle: A lot of stuff needs fixing or regular maintenance, which sucks. But when you fix it all by yourself, it’s an awesome moment of pure pleasure. SPOILER ALERT: If you can tell someone about it and they make all the appropriate facial expressions and comments, the moment of awesome lasts even longer.

Maybe it’s just me, but I get a real thrill out of fixing some, often random, item on my RV. Is that feeling why men love fixing stuff?

*light bulb goes on above my head*

Ohhhh, I totally get it, guys. It makes me want to get frisky, too.

I will now tell you about Stuff I Fixed All By Myself because you are a captive audience that’s really nice to me.

Well, it’s this or you could go back to the work you’re avoiding. Ok, we’ll compromise – I’ll keep it short, kind of. To help with keeping it kind of short, just know the links below are all to previous posts so long-time readers can skip those. Everyone new has to read them. Why? Um, you might learn something. Yeah, that’s it.

Now that we’ve got that settled, I shall commence with the list of Stuff I Fixed All By Myself:

The time I fixed the freezer. My previous attempt at defrosting my freezer was unsuccessful. It bugged me for a long time, but I just looked at the massive iceberg with disdain every time I reached for a frozen dinner. That is, until the glacier of ice started to seriously encroach on my food space. Stuff stopped easily fitting in my freezer. This was bad for the glacier. We could no longer coexist. One of us had to go.

I’m still feeling the bliss from the moment that huge glacier of ice popped off the back of the freezer. It was totally unexpected.

The time I fixed the leaking water heater.  For a long time my water heater leaked. Not much, but a little, and only when it was on. It dripped to the outside of the RV, so this never presented a problem, just an annoyance. While shopping last month with a friend in a small RV store at the coast, we saw a water heater valve. I mentioned to my friend the water heater issue, and the proprietor overheard me. After he determined I had an Atwood, he explained how they need to be drained periodically to remove the accumulated air bubble. It worked like a charm!

The time I changed the water filter. It was awesome, and I did it all by myself.

The time I added water to the batteries. Also awesome, but I needed help to get the cover off of one.

Ok, so those last two weren’t “all that”, but I’m on a roll.

The time I caulked shower/tub.  I thought I’d mentioned this in a post, but I can’t find it. It took forever to find that little scraper tool to remove the old caulk, but once I found one it was on. This time, unlike caulking the roof, I did not get caulk all over myself and clothes. That shit does not come out.

The day I caulked the roof. One day, while peacefully listening to the rain, I realized it was raining inside. That can’t be good. Anyhoo, I caulked the roof with assistance from one of the rangers. It was awesome, except for the part where I got more caulk on myself then the roof. (This post is over a year old, but reading it again still made me laugh. Plus, my butt looks good in the photo. But really, read it for the stories and not the pictures. Yeah, I’m sure you’ve used that line before.)

The time I unclogged the toilet with a drain snake. This one just happened.

I am fairly mechanically inclined, probably because my dad let me take stuff apart when I was a little kid. After I found out what was inside of a click pen, I became fascinated with the inner workings of things. I commenced to take apart all the pens in the house. That is until my mom got annoyed with my dad for having neglected to explain how to put them back together after taking them apart.

I digress, as usual. No need to look so surprised.

I had never used a drain snake, but thought it would be easy. Not so. I had to have Ranger Rick explain how to use the thing. Even then, it took me two different attempts, but I finally cleared the toilet. In the end, Yay me!

In the stuff I haven’t yet fixed category is the stupid fridge drip system hose. That little bugger still gets clogged. I can’t get the weep valve off without cutting the hose.

Ok, thanks for listening to me pat myself on the back. I do get a charge when I fix something all (or mostly) by myself. To all the handymen (or women): I totally get it. In fact, I may just have to start smoking.