Tuesday, April 25, 2023

Shoveling Is Good Exercise

 What a gorgeous day it was in sunny California.  Spring isn't going to hang around long however.  It's going to be 92 Thursday and Friday.  I'm thinking I need to go find a small horse trough and fill it up.  Especially after yesterday's yard work. 

But first, I have a question for all you RV folks who work with this stuff.  This being such a long heavy cord, I decided to roll it up in this plastic box for ease of loading and unloading.  Someone on a group site asked what they could do with their long 50 amp cord.  

I posted a picture.  About half the people said great idea and the other half said NO ... you will ruin the cord.  So what say ye?  Maybe I can find a bigger box.  I'm thinking this one is 16-18 inches square but I haven't measured it.  Do I need to do this differently?


As soon as breakfast was over, I headed back out to tackle this creature once again.  It turns out there is a really big lawn sprinkler INSIDE the flower bed.  My first question would be WHY?  At any rate, for the last year, not a drop of water hit the lawn.  It all went directly to the roots of this growing mass of frustration.  I think if you walked by too close, it would swallow you up.

Probably one of the first things we learned on the ranch, was how to handle a shovel.  The ranch was entirely irrigated pasture with levies throughout to direct the water over the entire field.  When the levy was full, we opened the wooden box to allow water to flow to the next section.  Whether at lunch time or at midnight, you had to open those boxes.

Rubber boots and a shovel were required to remove the three or four slats of wood pushed down into the side slots in order to let the water out.  Crawdads were a problem.  They like to dig deep into the soft mud around the box and hide ... waiting for their dinner to come along.  The next time you irrigated, the box would float right on out into the pasture.  DISASTER!!  In other words, you better know how to shovel and get that box back in place before all the water ran out.  I had arms of steel!!


Who knew I would use those skills 60 years later to remove the green goblin from my flower bed.  Today I feel like I got kicked by a horse, but that's okay.  It will work itself out when I keep digging to remove the tuber-like roots.  I just keep saying shoveling is good exercise!!


Once that was gone, I vegged out on the couch with Cooper while sewing yet another binding on a quilt.  Gee ... only three more to go!!

It's rather weird that my phone camera distorts the color so badly with this quilt.  It shows up bright Christmas red, when it's really a very pretty rust color.  I adjusted the image to make it look more like it does in real life.  


Finally, now beginning to really feel the shovel work, I instant-potted a huge chunk of pork loin I found at the store for $1.99 a pound.  It's a win-win since Cooper loves it too.  This is a sweet and sour version that turned out quite tasty.  Too bad I didn't have any veggies to throw in the empty side.  These went directly in the freezer ... my very own lean cuisine.


By the end of the day, we were pretty beat up.  Sadly, I can no longer shovel like a kid!!


It's time to start gearing up .... it's BINGO night .... oh the fun!!  At least it's not a full moon night.  Say a little prayer for CORN DOGS to be on the menu.  Those things are SO GOOD and I'm sure will help my sore muscles!!




25 comments:

  1. I've never heard of the Corndog Prayer. How exactly does that start out?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It's easy .... Oh Heavenly Father ... please tell the kitchen help to buy corn dogs for Bingo!

      Delete
  2. Shovelling is a talent that is required in many different careers, some of them even use a physical shovel. Lol. Enjoy Bingo.

    Deb

    ReplyDelete
  3. Well after all this talk about shoveling, I now know for sure that you are younger than me! Wish there was a like/love button on your Blog, of course, I would like everyday.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thank you so much!!! I admit, shoveling makes me feel like I'm MUCH older!!

      Delete
  4. Nothing like a good shovel to bring back memories to those 'shovel muscles' that one has not used for a long, long time. You're only as young as you want to be...until you put the shovel down and those muscles yell at you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Isn't it something how many of those muscles there are?

      Delete
  5. Oh...you are amazing. The only times I've handled a shovel was to move it out of my way. I will be saying a corn dog prayer for you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hahaha Elva ..... thanks for the prayer. It WORKED!

      Delete
  6. That's where it's nice to have a husband who does the shoveling! Keep looking for your king! Meal prep looks awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Exactly!!! Those husbands are good for SO many things!!

      Delete
  7. I'll be interested to see what people say about your spooling up your electric cord. I have seen some rvs have an automatic spooling of the electric cord and it is as tight of spool as the box you use . Hope Bill Richards comments. Vern in Boise Id.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Verne, the spool on my class A was a bit bigger than this, but I've seen some pretty tight ones. I'm curious about it now.

      Delete
  8. Regarding electrical supply cords, they should not be coiled when in use. It is best to not use a cord any longer than needed. If you must use a long cord, stretch it out loosely and make sure the connectors or in very good shape. Coiling a cord with a heavy load will seriously reduce the capacity of the cord causing it to get hot.
    Many years ago I worked for a company that rented electric platform hoists to contractors. A customer complained the the hoist would not lift a pallet of concrete blocks, We sent an electrical engineer to the site, and he found that the motor was about 20 ft from the power pole, but the contractor had about 100 ft of heavy cable in a coil. The engineer recommended uncoiling the cord and stretching it out. After that simple act, the hoist had no problem lifting a full pallet of blocks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. That's interesting. I had no idea it would reduce the capacity. Gosh, the cord that came with my rig is about 30 feet long. That's a lot to lay out when I'm parked five feet from the outlet. Maybe I can find a shorter cord.

      Delete
  9. Replies
    1. Thank you Deb. It's my favorite pattern because I can make it with scraps.

      Delete
  10. Ok doing that won't ruin the cord. And the example one commentor made doesn't really apply to your situation. His example would cause a voltage drop and would cause a low voltage in your fifth wheel which could damage your equipment if the cord was too small or your load was huge, neither of which is your case. Also your cord is short and not real long, so less coils, so it's just not a problem for you. A check would be to feel the coiled cord and see if it warm or hot which I'm sure it is not. Warm or especially hot would indicate there is a problem. The best test would be with everything on as that's when this type of problem might occur, under full load. But there are too many variables to consider, so forget it and you will be fine.
    Bobseyes

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I agree, I probably don't pull much electricity all at one time. I will definitely check the heat factor next time I'm plugged in though. Thanks!!

      Delete
  11. I'll leave the chord question to others including Bill. 😊
    Shoveling is so hard at our age! My arms are not strong at all and yet i always think it will be easy. Just up in my small garden or digging a hole for planting, i need to take breaks. Lol good job, kiddo!
    Love the food prep. I never have the same size dishes like you do not the room in my freezer. Haha

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Small freezers are a pain ... you have to be even more inventive in packing stuff in! It's always easier if you first water whatever you are digging out. It's definitely for the "hardy" person and great exercise!

      Delete
  12. Nancy, I don't think you will do any harm with your cord coiled in the milk crate. As Vern says, that the automatic cord reels in rv's, coiled them tighter than that. The other commenter that said about having to uncool a 100 ft coiled for a machine to work, doesn't apply to you. First off , your RV cord is only 25 feet long. Second, you are not pulling a lot of amps when plugged in so your cord will not heat up and will not damage anything.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. 25 foot? It feels like at least 50 when I'm hooking up! Thanks for the info Bill. I really didn't want to hurt the rig or have to buy another EXPENSIVE cord. It might be nice to have an extra short one for close hookups.

      Delete
  13. It is a beautiful day Frances ... I'm loving the sun!

    ReplyDelete