Category Archives: Paul Goldberg Blog

In Virginia, Paul Goldberg Blog

What’s Doing?

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Aside from the new header picture, taken in Morocco, all kinds of changes are in the wind. Malena and Dan may be moving the horses up here to their own land. I’m working with a committee to buy a new phone system for Jojoba Hills SKP Resort. Spent two zooms and 3 hours  to understand the proposal and to see how it meets our needs. Still have some work to do. The weather is not playing nice with us. In the middle of a zoom meeting the sun went behind a cloud and it started to rain forcing us ultimately move into the coach. And our Liquid Propane detector has been sounding off for no discernible reason. It’s a year and a half old. 

. . . 

A week or more has passed since I started this post. The weather has been more kind, if you like hot and humid. The rains have abated enough that watering of gardens may start soon. Since the water source is a creek and it is all downhill to the garden a pipe with an opening near the high point yields good water for the gardens.

Carol and I took a great hike with Dan that started off a dirt road and ended up at the Humpback Rocks trail head parking lot.

The trail was mostly empty until we got near the parking lot. The lot was jammed so we didn’t stay longer than needed to use the porta potty. The main trail was part of the AT (Appalachian Trail) and a couple of side branches marked with blue instead of the primary trail with white blazes. All in all we hiked about 4 miles. I was good to keep going but Carol was at her limit as we got in the car. The weather was ideal and being out in the woods hasn’t felt so good in a long time.

Our current plans are to drive to Wilmington NC on Monday to visit a cousin of Carol’s who lives there, another Mimi. We plan to stay a couple of nights. In addition to wading through Covid 19 land I will be staying connected to Jojoba Hills as we continue the negotiations for the new phone system. I have been resharpening some skills I haven’t used in years chairing a committee and building a negotiating team. It is tiring, but I am really enjoying the time. 

Oh, the LP detector has gone back to sleep. If we had a dog, I would blame it.

none, Paul Goldberg Blog

Lots of Tech and Repair

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It has been exciting around here, some of the excitement I would happily do without. But one source of excitement and joy was a birthday present to Alexander on his 21st  birthday. He is working on his degree in Computer Science Gaming and Dan (his Dad) and I thought that a powerful computer capable of at least keeping up in the gaming world would be an appropriate gift. The parts of this custom designed and locally assembled computer arrived over  several days. Finally on Sunday, Alexander was around and Dan had some free time and I brought back memories from too many years ago delving into the guts of large tower computer chassis. 

We started putting pieces in the chassis at around 10 AM. Somehow we forgot one important ingredient. We had the manuals with checkoff lifts in sequence for the parts on hand, but no one thought to read ahead. The water cooling system for the powerful CPU includes a radiator and two fans. We very carefully installed it on the wrong wall of the chassis. The motherboard wouldn’t fit. While Dan was busy setting up a Return and ordering a replacement, I started reading. There was an alternate location for the radiator which we had not noted. This required getting at the back of the motherboard, again. This time one of us noticed a “door’ on the bottom of the chassis which we could open to get at the area under the CPU. Another big cheer as we had just saved 30  minutes uninstalling reinstalling the motherboard.

 

Once we had the radiator, motherboard, power supply and video card installed it was just a matter of running what seemed like an endless number of wires to ittybitty pins all over the place. By 5 or 6 we were ready to turn on the power – NOTHING – oops there are 3 power switches and each one needed to be tweaked. It came up with pretty lights and fans starting and stopping as needed. I left for dinner and 90 minutes later returned to find that Windows had installed and the machine was ready to be setup for use.

On another front Carol has pictures of legs extending out from under the front of the coach while I worked on latches to keep the generator slide closed. I had only tinkered with this slide as a place to locate a wifi router at the end of a long cable from the house . I was removing it after Corey and I had run 120 feet of wire from the far side of the house to the coach with a DSL (internet) signal so we could have our own internet connection in the coach. Dan and I completed the wiring and it worked, and continues to work, on the first try!

One more project involves the new water heater which stopped working and displayed a code meaning “feed me new parts.” The new part will be here tonight, but in the mean time the water heater decided to resume working after being off for 48 hours. ???? Carol doesn’t trust it and continued to shower in the house. 

While we are at it. The front heat pump also returned from the defunct and has been providing both heat and cooling as required. I have done nothing to make that happen other than try it from time to time. I have a mobile tech coming, someday when the rain stops to diagnose what can be diagnosed and repair what he can. I have had enough crawling under the coach and I won’t go on the roof to work. I am too wise to do what I can hire done and choose to transfer the money from my pockets to eliminate the physical risk to this older body.

For pictures of me under the coach click here 

 

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Time has Flown

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Somehow between departing the Harvest Host, DelMonico Winery, and arriving in Covesville I stopped writing and haven’t noticed until now. The next stop was courtesy Boon Dockers Welcome, a site that puts together people willing to host an RV and RVers for a free night. Generally these are in someone’s driveway, although we have stayed in a farm yard as well. This one has to be unique. The Wythe Race Track is a half mile dirt track in the town of Rural Retreat Virginia. As with so much of the country, dirt track racing is closed for the pandemic. This left a large grand stand parking lot unused. We pulled up along the pit row fence and leveled and put out the slides, HOME for the night. Jim, the host never did appear, not that I really expected him. We had dinner, read and slept and had breakfast and reversed the process to get underway to one last stop in Malena and Dan’s yard. 

The last two miles were the most challenging of the trip as always since we had to drive up the mountain dirt road to their driveway which is more of a challenge being steeper and narrower. It took us only 4 back and forth ks to get the coach up onto the pad where we plan to stay for an indeterminate period of time. We are getting better at this – better be after 20 years, It was sad not to be greeted by Amber who has been gone for several years, but for so many years she barked us up the driveway. 

We have settled in. They bought a nice table and chairs which is setup in the driveway just outside our door so we can eat together when we get the timing right. Our greatest risk is the grandson’s 21 and 18 who come and go with friends. They keep their distance and we share virtual hugs. Sunday night was Alex’ 21 birthday and  Malena’s  mother drove in Potomac  for dinner. 

Dessert was a special treat with a story. Four weeks ago Malena posted a picture of a sour cherry pie (cherries from their tree) with ice cream on it on Face Book. People were commenting about how beautiful it was and they should hold a piece as they were on their way. I posted “That sound you hear is a big diesel engine starting up.” From those words came the decision to start that engine and head east, an idea that had been percolating in my brain without my voicing it for over a week. Dan said when I called to discuss it that we should arrive for Alex’ birthday and I scoffed at the idea for about an hour while I worked out the logistics. 

And the sour cherry pie with ice cream was definitely worth the drive.

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Along the Way East

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Uneventful continues. We got to Tom Sawyer RV Park right on the Mississippi River on Saturday. We had been moving every day since leaving Redlands. Four days without a break is rare for us but none of the places we stopped were conducive to staying one more minute than necessary to get on with it. Tom Sawyer was more than conducive. We had no sooner put the level jacks down than we looked at each other and said “ONE MORE DAY” Called the office and they said we would have to move to a new section they had just reopened to stay another night. Oh well! we retracted the jacks and moved to a new site. It was a bit awkward as it was set up for a trailer with a  rear window. We chose to pull in with our windshield facing the river which meant pulling our utility connectors under the coach. Done! 

I would estimate we were no more than 50 or 60 feet from the river. The sound of the tugboats pushing large strings of barges against the current was powerful. We hardly heard it at night as we slept. It was great to have a day with nothing on our agenda other than a weekly zoom gathering with family. Delicious down time.

Today we headed for  Harvest host winery Del Monaco in Baxter Tennessee. Met some newby RVers in the parking lot and went on in to try the wine. Bought some whites and a pseudo Port. The reds were not up to what we are carrying with us. 

Tomorrow is a 4 hour run to a Boondockers Welcome location in Rural Retreat Virginia. This maybe be the only type of venue that does not require a 14 day quarantine stop. It is a half mile dirt track which has plenty of parking and at present no racing. After that we have less than 4 hours to family! 

Next post should be from our pad in Covesville VA on the Dan and Malena family micro farm.

On the Road, Paul Goldberg Blog

Cross Country Day 3

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Totally uneventful since we left for service at Redlands Truck and RV.  GeeWhiz was in the shop for 4 hours. We could have rolled Monday afternoon but elected to relax and depart on Tuesday. So far we have been staying in campgrounds using  Passport America or GoodSam discounts. haven’t paid more than $24 for full hookup pull through sites. tonight is $14, listen to the sound of I 40  and the trains. 

The big excitement is I have been using my new TSD Card to buy diesel and so far have saved over $100 dollars off the pump price. for over 150 gallons of diesel.  It is a great deal as long as it lasts. It is only good for diesel at the truck islands. If you don’t have a big honkin’ diesel pusher or tow vehicle just skip on buy. 

Tonight we are outside Amarillo TX at a place called AOK a KOA it would never be mistaken for even though it has the A frame office building (shuttered).  Tomorrow we will pass Oklahoma City. Hope to be at our family by the middle of next week, unless we decide to slow down.

Isolation, none, Paul Goldberg Blog

Zoom, Zoom, Zoom

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And we keep rethinking and changing our minds. Actually there has been little else to do besides listen to reasoned and not so reasoned discussions about how to loosen the restrictions, when to loosen them which ones to loosen. Most of this in Zoom meetings followed up by endless discussions on Facebook. 

In the midst of this our daughter-in-law in Virginia posted a picture of a wonderful desert she had made and the description of the meal she had prepared caused me to post “That sound you hear is a large diesel engine warming up” the response from our son was “your site on our driveway is open” Pause for two days to let it sink in. 

Our next dinner conversation was “should we or shouldn’t we.? Can we or can’t we”? We thought about it and decided maybe by mid summer we could drive across the country to a safe haven in Virginia. Next call was to Dan to see if he really meant it and when would be a good time.  Two hours later he called back to remind us that their eldest was celebrating his 21st birthday on May 31. My first reaction was “no way” replaced by “why not.” 

Initial plans are in place to leave Jojoba Hills on May 10 to get the coach serviced then drive across I 40 or some semblance thereof.  I have begun looking into places to stay every 300 to 400 miles along the route and it seems really doable. So set in jello is our plan to leave Jojoba Hills on May 10 to set up camp at Redlands Truck and RV Service so they can begin work at 7 AM on Monday. We should be able to get on the road by Tuesday.

We are not taking this lightly. We do understand we will be passing though areas that are having a bad time with the virus and places that don’t want to see “tourists” because their resources are strained. We plan to avoid being tourists and places like Gallup NM where they are closing local roads to prevent tourism are definitely off the list for a stop. The Interstate does pass through, we do not plan to exit. 

We will maintain separation even with family to prevent the virus from impacting any of us, to the extent possible. 

I worry what the country will look like a year from now.  Will all our communication rely on Zoom or what ever comes next that is better, slicker, easier to use? Will we be able to hug our friends in greeting? Has the handshake already become history? Will travel return to being routine? We have lots of credits for air travel and tours, how will we get to redeem them? There are so many places we still want to see and a few we would like to visit again. For now the big travel adventure is driving across the country on an Interstate. A crossing we have made most years since 2002.

I expect the next post will be “From the Road”

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

Groundhog Day

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Someday I’ll have to watch that movie, or maybe I have. Lots of people are referring to it these days on Facebook and in blogs. The main things that differ are who we Zoom with and for how long.

However, yesterday Carol asked me to get out the “Winter Bin”. Deep in the bowls of the coach basement it is a bin designated to hold winter clothes when summer approaches. It is that time to move the heavy stuff into longer term storage than the closet. Diligently I opened the basement and rolled the sliding tray with the bins on it out to the driver side (ds) so I could extract the bin while risking severe injury from the bottom of the slideout above should I raise my head a moment too soon. It really hurts and I have the scars! This time in several trips under there I managed to keep my head down, especially when Carol had her hand on it pushing down.

Simple task completed in less time than it took to write a bout it. While the baggage slide was fully extended to the ds I walked around to the ps and noted that the floor exposed by the tray’s position was filthy. I have noted this in the past and ignored it as I had other things to do. It flashed though what is left of my intellect that I did not have “other things to do.” I got the shopvac and somehow the morning passed with me cleverly vacuuming the entire baggage area which included removing everything we have stored under there. Unfortunately my determination to “get the job done” lapsed and everything that came out went back in. Stuff that we have carted around since our first shopping trip for the coach in 2001 and never used is still safely stowed away in its usual places. 

But you never know. In 2001 I bought a set of safety triangles instead of flares. They have been stored near the door of a bin waiting for an emergency for 19 years and last Fall as we were returning from Rochester to the West Coast we had the breakdown and I used the safety triangles! They do have a purpose. The handle with 250 feet of kite line on it is another story. Haven’t flown a kite in many years and all the ones we carried are destroyed, but you never know, I might have the urge to go fly a kite any day now.

I have read that people are having many more dreams they remember and they are more HD than in the past. Count me in to that group. I will not recount what I can remember because it seems too weird and at the same time too boring to recount for others, but boy at 3 and 5 AM I think I am awake until the dream or some variant  resumes.  

I have no idea what I might write about next, any more than I knew where this was going when I started. Couldn’t even think of a catchy title.

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

so it goes

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There are very few high points that mark the passing days. Unless you call a Zoom gathering a high point or the rare trip into town for supplies that are urgent. We have put gas in the Jeep twice since March 18, and only  a half tank each time. 

Each evening we check the calendar for the next day to see if we must get up at some time. Carol gets up most mornings at 6:15 to work out in the living room. Monday, Wednesday and Friday I must be at my computer with at least a shirt on to host an hour long gathering of the tech gang the the tech wanna be’s called JCATS at 8 AM. Mostly the trouble phone has no calls and we share stories of things that have broken in the past. We also are working on replacing an existing PBX phone system that was installed when the park was built in 1990. It was bought used! It’s amazing how few phone systems are built that aren’t cloud based. Cloud based comes with a monthly subscription and a special phone that costs a lot more than the $10 Princess type phone from WalMart.  Somehow I ended up a Chairman and my CoChairman just got appointed to the Board so I may need to replace him. There are only 4 of us on the committee.

In my last post one of the failures was the water heater. It resumed working just fine after having a 12 hour hissy fit. I did nothing to fix it, just opened the cabinet and looked around seeing nothing amiss on the surface. It has been working just fine ever since. Its replacement is sitting on the deck waiting for the mobile tech to come to swap it out. I keep saying “It Works” Carol keeps saying “Until it decides not to” This has gone on intermittently for 7 years (It was trouble free the first year). 

We had a Sedar, just the two of us and our three guests from the bedroom. By the window are Owl and Fox and diving into the Sedar Plate is Olm. Its a shy creature from a cave in Slovenia. Carol took this picture which is why she isn’t in it and I am. I could show you my version but it isn’t anywhere near as good.

Dose anyone need some Kosher for Passover Matzah? In the scheme of things we had to by 2.5 times our need. The cost to ship 2 boxes was more than the cost of 5. It’s gone now. 

Daily life is filled with small pleasant surprises. Each day some baked goody appears on our doorstep and on many others as well. All the bakers need to bake and then take part of what they baked to others. The trick is to deliver without being spotted. Not easy since we are all in our RVs most of the day and there are plenty of windows. Carol has been caught a couple of times

A brisk walk with mask on never goes for more than few minutes without stopping to chat with someone at a greater than 6 foot distance rehearsing what we have done today and what we think we might do after the walk. It does beat beating our heads against the all to close, at times, wall of the coach or whiling away hours on facebook or reading the NYTimes. 

“so it goes”

ps we do Zoom and will be happy to meet with anyone at most any time, 

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

Perils of Paul Continued

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Haven’t posted one of these in a while. You would think that sitting still for week after week there would be nothing to go wrong, go wrong, go wrong!

Earlier this week Carol’s computer (new in November)  started having problems with using the power button to bring it up after a night’s sleep.  Then the WiFi device went away. Did all the usual hoops including reboot and uninstall reinstall the device, no go. Even spent time with Dan finishing some more esoteric diagnostics. There was no WiFi device to be found. Found a JCAT with an adapter from ethernet to usb and got her online.  Called Lenovo got a ticket number. They are backed up two weeks! Very next morning after the usual struggles to start the computer it came back on WITH wifi! Go figure. Will probably send it in for repair anyhow, it is under warranty. I have set it to NEVER turn off and it seems perfectly happy.

Went out to our shed and found the power was out. Did the usual, reset the breaker, no help. Decided to wait for a warmer, drier day to work on it. That was today. I tore into the box with the switch and the outlet and puzzled and puzzled. My meter showed power to ground, but nothing to the negative. Finally I noticed that the outlet I was holding in my hand was a GFCI and it was tripped. Reset it and put everything back together feeling just a bit dumb. There is now a great big label above the box “GFCI ” maybe I will remember the next time.

As we prepared dinner last night there was no hot water flowing from the water heater! It had been a bit erratic recently so this was not a total surprise. But it was particularly unpleasant as it was Friday night, of course. We went into “camping mode” and prepared to do without hot water until at least Monday. This morning while washing up I ran the hot water more as a joke than an expectation. And there was hot water. Maybe the fact that the rain has stopped and the humidity is returning to normal made a difference. I have no clue and no expectations other than we will now replace the water heater after 8 years of intermittent problems.

A final minor kerfuffle involved Zoom. I have a licensed account. I noticed when Carol installed her free account the application was a newer version than mine. When I tried to update I got a message “Auto Update Blocked, Call your IT Admin” I tried calling myself, then I called Dan, again, and we spent an inordinate amount of time trying to fix it. Even tried reinstalling it which did nothing. Eventually out of lack of anything better to do I, uninstalled the application and rebooted the computer. Then I went through a new install which brought me to the current version with all the new security “stuff”.

That was one week of stuff during which the temperature never rose above 60 and the rains were almost continuous and we were content to being Safe in our coach in our wonderful SKP Resort where the virus has not yet intruded.  At least I didn’t have a lot of time to develop cabin fever.

Isolation, Paul Goldberg Blog

A Strange and Painful Week

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A week ago I moderated my first Zoom meeting. Today I am beginning to  feel like a pro – actually I paid for a Pro account to accommodate longer meetings. We like to talk when we get together and 40 minutes isn’t very long either  for family or JCATs. 

Early in the week we learned that our sister-in-law Natalie Rudin had a very serious stroke, at 85 this is not to be taken lightly. By Thursday she was in hospice in NJ and no way for anyone except her son to even see her. We gathered the family from coast to coast and NJ to FL on Zoom and spent time getting reacquainted and starting to share memories of Natalie. Friday afternoon we received word she had died. Shabbat precluded immediate sharing, we have received word the funeral will be Sunday and will be live streamed in some manner. Shiva, the 7 days of mourning in Jewish ritual,  will be on Zoom. It enables us all to be “present” and saves a lot of air travel. Would rather get on the plane, but . . .

Also during this week we learned that Carol’s dearest friend from before Kindergarten – even before me – is in hospice after a long time of in and out of hospital care and weeks of no news. 

Pile this all on top of quarantine and necessary supply trips and it has been an exhausting week. A week like we have never seen, a week of watching stock market gyrations that are making me sea sick and I don’t get sea sick on the ocean. Sometimes, unintentionally I hear the orange head proclaim something clearly contrary to fact and wonder how our nation will pull through both medically and economically. Many governors seem to be actually responding to facts and scientific reason rather than emotion and bias. That may well be the source of our recovery leadership. 

Carol and I feel safe and secure. We are still under quarantine from our return from Panama, only yesterday was our scheduled return. We made a trip into town on Thursday to get hearing aids for Carol and pick up some last minute necessities – Yellow Dot Irish Whiskey is clearly a necessity isn’t it. We also bought supplies for a neighbor. We have daily offers to run errands and help us with things we cannot do in quarantine. As soon as we hear of someone having a need it seems a member will supply the need, even to an internet router replacement.  

I attended two events in Rochester. On Monday I attended a meeting of the Rochester Jewish Community Board of Directors by Zoom like all the other members. Yesterday afternoon we attended Shabbat services at Temple B’rith Kodesh in Rochester, it was a bit early, but we needed the break and the sanity and even more it brought us back to the community where we have spent most of our lives. We do miss it, but not quite enough to give up our current lifestyle and venture back into winter.