New Microhearth Grill Pan Review

Kim wrote in her blog about a small microwave grilling dish she got - in fact she and her husband liked it so much she got one for her condo and one for her new 2010 Roadtrek - The Good Deal Bus.  It looked like a nice microwave grill, so I decided to order one, too.

Microhearth Grill Pan with a nice lid that stands up, out of the way.

My first effort was the other night when Ron came over for dinner after working on The Palms most of the afternoon.  He was actually my first dinner guest in The Palms.  I had small salmon fillets in the freezer, and some rice and fresh broccoli and cauliflower, so that was the menu.  Of course I had to try out my grill that arrived from amazon.com that day to grill the salmon.

Honestly, I didn't think my salmon was that good.  Ron said his was good and he ate it all, but his piece was a little thicker than mine.  I think my salmon was overcooked - it was very dry. I should have gotten a photo of the fish, but I didn't think of it at the time.  Even though I did put olive oil on the fish and we preheated the grill, the grill marks weren't very dark.  Maybe melted butter would have been better - so that ended up being a learning experience.  I cleaned the pan and put it away, planning to try it again soon. 

Yesterday I decided to make a grilled cheese and tomato sandwich on Russian Rye bread.  Slathered with mayonnaise and mustard.  One of my favorite sandwiches.

I didn't pre-heat the pan, but I did brush melted butter all over both outside slices of the bread.  When I did the first flip after 2 minutes, this is what the sandwich looked like:

At that point the pan was already hot, so the second side got better grill marks.  I grilled it for 90 seconds, and it was perfect.

This sandwich tasted exactly like the ones I grill in my little frying pan, and the cleanup was almost non-existent.  I wiped the grill pan with a wet paper towel and then dried it with a dry paper towel, and clean-up was done.

This pan is small, as you can see from the second photo - just the right size for me and for my small microwave oven - and it's also very light weight. I'm looking forward to trying out more things.  After my first attempt with the salmon, I wasn't sure if I was going to like it, but after the grilled sandwich, I've changed my mind.

Kim said it makes the best toast she's ever had, and they have cooked other things with it, too, that were very good.  She and her husband really like it, and I think I declare it a keeper, too. :)

Here's Katie waking up in the morning.  Can you see her little nose in there?  She's in her bed, covered with her blanket, poking her head up to see what I'm doing at the table.  Then she laid back down and went to sleep again.  And I think I have a good life!

WELCOME to our new follower, Anita!  Anita has four blogs, but none that are bout RVing, so maybe she's an RV wannabe?  Her blogs are about knitting, her favorite photos, etc.  Thanks for following along with me and Katie, Anita.  We're happy to have you on board!

From Me and Katie, have a great Sunday, everyone!  :)

The Palms' Unexpected Annual Service

I am going to apologize in advance for this very wordy post.  I want to remember exactly what was done this week so I'll have the information handy for the future. All these things happened over a period of three days.

When we arrived here at Bluewater Lake, I was lucky to meet up with a Certified Master RV Technician here in the park, and through a series of events, he ended up checking out my entire rig for me and making some repairs.  He taught me a lot, and since I was past due for the annual service on my appliances in The Palms, he helped me out with that.

Ron was parked across from me in the first campsite I chose last Thursday.  Then I decided to move my rig to a new site, and when I was talking to Ron, I dropped my welcome mat in his site, and didn't realize it.  Later, after I was in the  new site and setting up, he walked down the road with my rug.

ELECTRIC PLUG

I was plugging in, and he noticed that my electric plug was not in the best shape, not dangerous yet, but I knew it was going to have to be replaced soon.  That's when I learned he was a retired RV tech and he had a replacement plug that he offered to put on my 30 amp cord.  It was really nice of him to offer to do the repair, and his hourly rate was much less than I would have paid at a shop or dealership.

HOT WATER HEATER/ANODE ROD

Once that was done he noticed the screen in the water heater cover wasn't flush, so he went over and opened the door to re-set the screen.  That's when he noticed my anode rod.  It was looking pretty old and discolored and he asked me when I last checked it.  "Never."  So back to his truck he went to get tools to unscrew the anode.  It takes a special size socket, a 1 1/16", and he unscrewed it and got it out.  (I'll be buying one of those sockets.) It was completely worn away, and when he pulled it out we could see my water heater tank was full of white material and large flakes.  He said the tank should be emptied and flushed out - this should be done every six months.  He met me over at a water faucet that we could use, and it took lots and lots of flushes to finally get clear water coming out of the tank.

 My totally used up anode rod. See the white material inside the end of the screw-in side?  That stuff was all over the inside of the tank, in powder form, small flakes and large flakes.  A real mess.

This is a new anode rod.

The graphic below was copied from the Suburban Hot Water Heater Service Manual.  It shows the original anode rod all the way to 75% used up.  You should replace it at 75%, mine was at 100%.

I don't know why I let this go.  I knew about the anode rods, and in fact mentioned them in a previous post.  For some reason, I thought I didn't have to check mine.  There are two kinds of RV water heaters, Atwood and Suburban.  I have a Suburban and this kind uses the anode rods that wear away instead of the inside of the tank wearing away.  I need to check mine at least every six months.  The Atwood water heaters don't use these, and although Atwood makes anode rods for their tanks, according to Ron, they shouldn't be used.  They are not needed and will eventually cause problems with the Atwood tanks.

This is confirmed by info posted on the RVing message boards; Tech Talk.  A question was asked about using an anode rod in an Atwood water heater:

"The principal behind the sacrificial anode is that it attracts the charged water particles which cause rust.  Those particles then corrode the anode instead of the walls and seams of the water heater, thereby extending the life of the water heater. Atwood tanks are aluminum and should not need an anode rod. Suburban's are not and do need the rod. Talk to Atwood. I recall the the new tanks are aluminum and do not need an anode. It also may void your warranty. Check with Atwood." 

After cleaning out the hot water tank, Ron noticed the pressure relief valve shown below was dripping a little, and he wanted to replace it with a new one.  As you can see in the photos, in spite of his different size wrenches, taps with a hammer, and using all the muscle power he had, which was impressive, this darn thing wouldn't budge.  He managed to twist the spout, but couldn't move the screw-in part.  He couldn't get a good grip with the wrench, so he got a metal saw and sawed off the spout.  Still - even with a better grip on the valve - it wouldn't unscrew.  He knocked it with his hammer while trying to unscrew it with all his might.  After a while, he said that was as far as he wanted to go.  He was afraid of ruining the hot water tank itself if he kept going.  I told him I can live with a bit of a leak until I needed to replace the tank.

 All the right tools and muscles couldn't budge this part - the metal spout was bent in the effort to turn it, but the relief valve wouldn't unscrew.

 This shows the first cut from the metal saw.

 Ron working on the spout.

 Cut off enough to get the wrench placed in a better position.

Somewhere during all this, Ron wanted to get to the tank and waterlines that were behind my under-the-sink kitchen cupboard to check them. I emptied the cupboard and he started to take out the removable wall separating the cupboard from the tank.  Unfortunately Forest River seems to have built the cupboard after putting in the wall, which was too tall, and the piece wouldn't fit through the opening to come out.  There is a narrow piece of  wood going horizontally that the removable wall should have been screw into, which left a little room above the piece, but instead the wall was covering the wood all the way to the top of the opening, and now it wouldn't fit through. 

Ron got his portable saw and had to saw off the top of the wall in order to get it out.  Later he cut off the extra pieces of plastic that were the molding around the wall piece, it all fit perfectly, and when he was done in that area he re-installed the wall by screwing it on the horizontal piece of wood, as it should have been done in the first place.  (He also found and cleaned up a little mouse nest that was behind the wall, next to my hot water heater.  Good place for a nest with the heater's warmth. It looked like the mouse left before finishing it's nest - thank goodness.  Might have been the one I impaled to the floor with my butcher knife.  Reminder:  Ron said it's a good idea to use gloves when cleaning up something like this, and a mask if there are a lot of mouse droppings - hantavirus isn't something we want to catch from these little critters or their urine or droppings.)

The water heater electric on/off switch was frozen and I couldn't turn it off.  He tried earlier and said it was frozen.  Even though the switch was frozen "ON," the electric part of the water heater didn't work, only the propane would heat the water. After all the water spout relief valve efforts, he pushed again on the on/off switch and it broke loose and we could hear the electricity heating element start up.  That's when he noticed the leak had stopped, too.  

Somehow with all the twisting, banging, unfreezing the switch, etc., everything is now working.  What a deal!  I couldn't believe I was that lucky, when I was expecting to end up ordering a new tank.  (Prayers definitely DO work!)

 
So...   that's the story of my annual hot water heater service.  Totally unexpected and unplanned, but it was done, thanks to Ron who gave me a great deal in comparison to other places I would have gone, and he has the training and expertise to do it right.  I trusted him completely and was really happy to have him working on The Palms.  I might add that he has the patience of a saint, and I only heard a couple of bad words through this whole ordeal. My own Dad wouldn't have had that much patience.  :)

I'm hoping I'll be able to slide by for a while with the current hot water heater, but it is six years old, so I may be living on borrowed time.  At least I now know what I need to do and how to do it to keep it going as long as possible.

REFRIGERATOR/HEATER

Ron also checked the outside area of the fridge and listened to the coach propane heater and said they both looked and sounded fine.  

CATALYTIC HEATER PROPANE LINE/SHUT-OFF VALVE

He noticed the new propane line installed in the fridge area that goes down to the outlet for my catalytic heater that I had installed last November.  It seems this installation was not done according to code.  The line installed is rubber instead of copper, and there is no shut-off valve, which is also a code violation.  The installation is right over my rear wheel well, and a blowout that might take out the wheel well could cause a real issue with that rubber line.  If there is a spark and the hose rips open, in seven minutes The Palms could be a pile of ashes on the highway.  So I'm going back to the installer on my way to Arizona when I leave here and have him correct it and bring that install to code.  Hopefully I won't have any problems with that. 

CONVERTER

And guess what - Ron checked my converter and said it is working fine - just the way it should be.  Can you believe that???  I thought I had a defective one again. The first one I bought in Utah was broken after it had been bouncing around on the closet's under flooring without being attached to the floor, but the current one that I received under warranty IS working.  So now I don't have to worry about it anymore.

AWNING

The next thing Ron did for me was to show me, and walk me though, taking down my awning, which I've never done.  This winter I'm having an automatic Carefree Awning installed when I'm at Quartzsite.  Ron said that's the best, confirming what my friend Hazel has been telling me, so I was glad to have that confirmation.  In the meantime, if I want to lower the awning, I know how.  Also, to save a little money I planned to re-use my awning fabric when I have the automatic one installed, and I was glad to see I have only a little mold on the awning.  It looks really good - brand new - and Ron said there's no reason he could see why I shouldn't be able to re-use it.

COACH DOOR LOCK AND TV ANTENNA

Next he took off my coach door locking mechanism and sprayed it and made sure it was closing properly.  I've been having a lot of problems with it shutting easily so now that works well.  It closes and locks easier than it ever has.  He then went up on the roof and oiled my TV antenna, which has been sticking when I put it up and down, and now it's like it's moving through butter, completely smooth - again, the best it's worked since I've had The Palms. 

It was kind of amazing what he had in his Ranger truck that he pulls behind his motor home. Every time he needed a part or tool, he'd come back with the right thing.  I finally had to laugh, and told him his truck was like those clown cars - it was amazing what kept coming out of it.

Ron left Tuesday morning - Ron, if you read this, THANK YOU!  It felt like you were working on my rig the whole time you were here at Bluewater. You did a fantastic job for me and taught me a lot.  And I'll definitely clean out my HWH every six months and will get the new U-shaped tire valve stem extenders and will check my PSI frequently.  I was ready to learn more about my motor home and you really helped me at the perfect time. 

New Horse Photos

The other night I woke up to Katie's low growls and barks and she wouldn't stop.  I looked outside and in the bright moonlight I could see six horses right near The Palms, grazing in the field.  There was a little one that was trying to nurse, and the mare kept jumping out of the way and it looked like they were having a little dispute.  Finally they walked away and the other horses followed them.  Very cool to wake in the middle of the night to see these beautiful animals in the moonlight. 

Hazel and I took a ride the other day and I got some photos of  horses by the lake, and I also snapped some in the campsite near me.  I love being back with the horses again, especially since there are so many new foals to watch:

From me and Katie, have a great weekend, everyone!  :)

Villanueva and Bluewater Lake State Parks

WELCOME to our new followers:

First, Martha Perez, Martha Berriera!  Martha doesn't show a blog, but she shows interests in biking, reading, crocheting, and nature as well as - of course - her kids.  Martha, thank you for following along with me and Katie!

Welcome also to BSG - this follower doesn't show any information at all, so I can't give their blog a plug, either, if they have one.  They are following a lot of RVing blogs, though, so BSG must be an RVer, or maybe is planning to be one.  Thanks for following Me and My Dog, BSG.

Welcome aboard to you both!  :)

So...  Katie and I left Storrie Lake early last Wednesday and headed to Villanueva State Park, NM where we stayed only one night.  We got there in the morning about 11, and there wasn't much left as far as electrical sites.  Just one, and it wasn't a very good site.  There was also the group site, which I was told I could take for one night.  I am meeting Hazel and Cari here today, but they have made reservations, so they have decent sites.

Some of the sites are "doubles," there's one electric post and the two sites are on either side, so you're pretty close to your neighbor.  Not my favorite kind of site.  So, I hooked up at the group site and it was actually okay.  Lots of room.

 The Palms at the Villanueva State Park Group Campsite

A little while later, another rig drove up, backed up to my kitchen window and plugged into the other side of the the electrical post.  I felt like they were in my kitchen.  My neighbors:

 Nice view out the kitchen window. 
Good morning, would you like some coffee?  :(

Then a while later, another rig drove up and parked on the other side, not quite as close, but my view out the front windshield was gone.   I really don't like to park that close to neighbors, especially on two sides of The Palms.  But...  it was only for one night.  I planned to leave early the next morning for Bluewater Lake State Park again.

I did see a couple of critters that were interesting.  These squirrels had a big hole under the fenced propane tank and were having a blast running around inside the chain link fence.  They were running up and down the fence.  Katie and I watched them for a while, and when I walked up closer, they all ran for the hole and went underground.

I saw this bird on a wire over the road, this was a new one for me.  I guess I should look it up, but I haven't yet.   Anyone know what kind of bird this is?

 Bird on a Wire

The park and the area are beautiful, there are electrical and dry camping sites on the floor of the park, and some really  nice dry camping sites in an upper campground.  I don't know why, but I didn't like the upper campsites and wanted to be on the floor of the campground.  This campground has NO cell or Internet service (maybe spotty service in the upper campground-depending on where you are), so I hadn't planned to be there for more than a day or two.  In a nice campsite I might have stayed a little longer, but I didn't like where we were parked, so one night was all I wanted to stay.

Katie and I took a couple of short walks on the other side of the river and down the road a way.  As I said, this area is really pretty, and if you are lucky and can do without cell service, there are some campsites right on the river.

 Bridge over the Pecos River near the group campsite.

This Horno (pronounced "or-no")  below is a traditional pueblo beehive-shaped adobe oven used mostly for baking and roasting.  It didn't look like this one was ever used, so it's probably a display of the ovens the local Indians used. 

 Horno Adobe Oven

We were on the road at 7:15 the next morning and drove to Bluewater State Park.  Still my favorite park so far.  I was happy to be back here, and found an electrical site for $4/night with my annual pass.  I moved a couple of times - sometimes it takes me a couple of days to find just the right site, and ended up yesterday in site 14, the one I was in during my last visit.  I like this site because it's level, The Palms is pointed in the right direction - due west - so I don't get much sun in the larger side windows, and I have a great view of the big field across the road where the horses graze.

On Saturday night we had a beautiful Harvest Moon, a gorgeous huge orange moon as it came up over the horizon.

Good night from Katie.

That's it for now.  From beautiful Bluewater Lake, have a great Tuesday evening, everyone!  :)

Moving on tomorrow - to Villanueva State Park, NM

Boy, the last three weeks have just flown by.

It's been nice camping near Hazel and Cari again, and we are all going to head on down to Villanueva State Park for a couple of nights. Since they don't have good cell connections, that will probably be enough, and then we are all going on to Bluewater Lake State Park again.  After that, I think I'll head to Glendale AZ to see Ron, my solar guy, and see if he can figure out my converter problem.  His is a full service shop, and he has very good reviews for problem solving.  I hope he will be able to help.

The following are the "clean up photos" that I have left from Bluewater Lake and Storrie Lake that didn't get posted, but I wanted to use them tonight.

These have been hanging around in my photo folder from my last visit at Bluewater Lake:

 The Dam at Bluewater Lake from the other side of the lake.

It's pretty, isn't it?

The full moon behind The Palms

This Great Blue Heron came to the lake late afternoon to fish.

I was sure this squirrel was a Prairie Dog when it came up out of the hole below.  It stood up and looked around just like a Prairie Dog.

I didn't know squirrels had holes burrowed in the fields.

 They have some weird looking squirrels at Bluewater Lake.

Looks like they have a sweater on.  At first I thought he was sick.

 
The following photos are from Storrie Lake:

 A hawk in the field.

 A flock of these yellow headed blackbirds swarmed in to land in this tree:

 Canada Goose keeping guard at the lake.

I was telling Hazel about this round cat bed I had - Katie won't sleep in it and I wanted to give it away.  She has a cat, Chica, and said she would take it.  So, I brought it over to her rig yesterday and dropped it off.  Not ten minutes later I received this photo in an e-mail.  I think Chica likes the bed! Can you see her?

 The bed is on the passenger seat, and Chica, a black cat, is curled up inside it. 

Notice Hazel's cactus garden and the gorgeous new curtains and cover on the seat back.  Hazel just finished sewing them while she was here at Storrie Lake. She also made valances.  It looks really nice, very rich. 

 Good night, and don't get my toys!

From me and Katie, have a good evening!  :)

Kitchen Mod :)

I ordered a new magnetic knife holder, doesn't it look great?  Not only is it functional, I love the way it looks.

Kuchenprofi 14-Inch Magnetic Knife Rack in 18/10 Stainless Steel

I had my smaller knives in a kitchen drawer and the long knife in my "kitchen gadget holder" shown below - a container I got at Michael's when I was living in my condo.  I used to put my favorite "fat quarters" in it when I was quilting.  It has a high rounded lid, so it's great for things like my strainer and steamer.  They are rounded, too, so I put them on the top of the spatulas, wisks, large spoons, garlic grater, wine bottle opener, etc. That large knife barely fit from one bottom corner to the opposite lid top, so I'm glad to have another place to put it.

Kitchen Gadget Holder

I love having my knives close at hand, and this frees up some space in my kitchen drawer.

This is the first time I've screwed anything into my rig. I really didn't want to - I love the original coach and don't want to make any permanent changes.  At least not now.  But this seemed like such an obvious space saver and with the weight of the knives, the holder wouldn't stay on the wall with just Velcro strips.  So I had to use screws to attach it.  

See the knives on the right, on the wall? I lined the handles up - OCD anyone? :)

So far I love it, and we'll see what happens when I'm on the road.  Will the knives stay on the magnetic strips?

 Katie says, HI!

From me and Katie, have a great weekend, everyone!  :)