THE POWER OF WORDS: EXPRESS YOURSELF
For far too long, Gary has been laying on the sofa suffering from sciatica. It is brutal. However, it has resulted in considerable weight loss, and he looks fantastic. He might even be forced to shop for clothes!
I, on the other hand, have been nurturing my liver by choking down coffee (caffeine gives me a headache, but I can tolerate decaf), taking brisk 5 km walks almost every day, and eating primarily chicken and salad while Gary dines on prime rib. Yet, the number on the scale has decreased little since this fall, after I had lost the weight I put on last winter. It is discouraging, to say the least.
Fortunately, we have been entertained by President Trump and the reaction to his re-lection. But for that turn of events, I might have gone stir-crazy. Even the joy of disappearing into a good novel dims after you’ve been reading them the way a chain-smoker consumes cigarettes.
Our first bit of excitement in quite some time occurred a couple of days ago. My lack of interest in most of the elements of camping was strengthened by having to live without a working refrigerator/freezer for a while. One evening the overwhelming smell of ammonia alerted us to the fact that the appliance had died. Not only does the odor of this toxic gas serve as a safety feature, but ammonia also acts as a highly efficient refrigerant even when we are on the road and powering the refrigerator with propane rather than electricity.
We were in luck. The mobile repairman we had previously employed to replace fraying awnings over the three slides, happened to have the appropriate cooling unit on hand. He had purchased it for a customer who subsequently cancelled the order.
We were surprised to learn a local Mexican party supply store has a large amount of dry ice available. It was our first experience with the solid form of carbon dioxide. For about $13 we purchased four 5-lb blocks, enough to keep the freezer contents frozen and food from the refrigerator cool for up to 24 hours, until it could be repaired.
It took 5 hours the next day to remove the refrigerator, replace the cooling unit, and reinstall the appliance. Yet, the total bill was relatively modest, half of what it would have cost on Vancouver Island, even after paying the punishing rate of exchange when converting our Canadian currency to USD$.
The problem was destined to occur sooner or later, and we’re glad it happened while we are here, in an RV Park. Another purchase of dry ice enabled us to put the food back into the refrigerator and keep it frozen/cold until the unit had cooled sufficiently.
Hopefully now that Gary is on the mend, he will start acting his age. The days are gone when he could lift a 200 lb. tire over his head. Carrying smaller loads will require more trips to and from the motorhome but should result in less time on the sofa so we can enjoy what Arizona has to offer!
