Squeak Fetch

It's been really chilly here in southern Arizona since Tuesday.

It was sunny today, but the high was only +4C (39f).  My Fella was doing some research online and discovered that last night was the coldest it's been here since the 1930's. And the local forecast is predicting we'll drop down to -8C (17f) tonight.  

JohnnyDisco hates this weather as much as I do, so My Fella disconnected and drained the main water hose and made some adjustments to stop our main pipes from freezing. (There's not much else he can do, but if you have any good cold weather RV tips, please share - after only one year full-timing we're still new at this...)  

To keep warm inside, we:

• run the propane heater in JohnnyDisco
• cuddle
• play a lot of Squeak Fetch with Shelbert

If you were loitering outside our bathroom door, here's what you'd see.

Yes, I look like a complete tool when I play Squeak Fetch.  But look how sweet The Bert is ...

Here's what we'd look like if we played blindfolded.

Shelbert has excellent doggie sense so even blindfolded, she would avoid all obstacles.  

Unfortunately, my aim wouldn't be as accurate.  The cameraman (hi honey :) would probably get accidentally conked in the head with the Squeak toy.  

Perhaps we should test this theory.  We have nothing else to do in these frigid temperatures   :) 

FYI:  we refilled JohnnyDisco's (24 gallon) propane tank yesterday.  There was just under a quarter tank of propane left and the fill up cost us $46 (USD).  It's hard to say how much propane we use since it completely depends on the weather, but the last time we filled the tank was May of 2010.

Comments

[Brenda]

Love the fetch pictures.
Cold here too and very windy, we only had a high today of about 9 C. BRRRRR We have all our (few) heavy clothes on.
We buy our propane by the tank also; but it is bought by Kilos. Our tank holds 30 kgs. and the last one cost 304 pesos around $25.00 CAD. Have no idea how that compares to your price per gallon.
Stay warm.

[Mavey]

We filled our propane tank today and it cost us 333.26 pesos. We've been running the fridge on propane. Our last fill cost us just over 200 pesos but I can't remember when that was. Around the end of December? Mike would probably remember. It was cloudy and cool here today and the waves were weird; noisy and crashy but not too high. I saw a whale this morning as we were waiting to start our yoga class. At first I thought it might be an Orca but the second time I saw it it was not an Orca. The other day we saw rays flying across the water. Guess I should put that in my blog, lol.
My Spanish lecciones are coming along. I'm a better reader of Spanish than listener. But it's coming and I'm learning lots of new words.
Adios mis hijos.
Madre Mavis

[Peanutt]

Hi Brenda,
Your price is still cheaper than ours. With our tank they only fill to 80% of the volume. Not sure if that is the same with yours. But our total volume if 100% full would be 45.81kilos. At 80% our tank holds 36.29kilos:)
Kelsi wanted me to reply because these kind of numbers don't involve stock or money percentages. It really throws her stock math skills in a bit of a whirlwind if $$/%% aren't involved.

[kelsi]

Hey Brenda - My Peanutt forgot to mention that when he was calculating the price per kilo of propane, he ran out of fingers and toes so he used Shelbert's paws as well to help him count.
(Actually it was probably Shelbert who did the math :)

[kelsi]

Hola madre Mavey - I hear it's been a little cooler there this winter, compared to last. Have you guys been in the water at all?
We are DEFINITELY heading back to Mexico next year - it's been waaay too cold in Arizona. We saw online this morning that it's warmer in Enderby right now. Arizona is -6C, Enderby was -2C. !!??

[Brenda]

Kelsi, at 11:16 AM Friday it is +13 C. here and we are frozen solid.
thanks for the conversions Peanut. I didn't realize that you would have a tank that big. Our tank is about 4 feet tall and not sure how big around perhaps 10 inches or 12 ?? Not going out to check it, too cold lol.
The truck comes here when you call and they just take your tank and give you another one. We don't own the tank, we just paid a deposit on it the first time we got one.
We don't go through much gas, maybe 1 1/2 tanks a year at the highest. We don't need the hot water on in the summer and don't cook as much in the summer either with the stove, so it lasts a long time. In summer I cook more outside with the crock pot and electric frying pan to keep the heat outside.

[Don]

Hi, we spent a lot of time in our rv in below freezing weather and never had any problems. The furnace should keep the compartments, tanks and pipes warm because it circulates the warm air around them. If it is below freezing in the daytime, keep one of your inside taps trickling and make sure your sewage drain valves to the sewer are open. That way you can use city water while you are awake. At night, disconnect and drain the water hose and use your holding tank water and pump. We found that propane was the cheapest part of rv living.

[Peanutt]

Mr.P
The furnace does keep it fairly warm in the water compartments but I still put an old blanket on the aluminum bottom just for some added insulation.
Did you ever insulate your main drinking water hose?? Or did you always disconnect, drain and store it when it was freezing out??

[John Calypso]

It hasn't been below 69F (20.6 C) since we have been here in November to now the highs have been as much as 85F (29.4 C) - cannot complain ;-)

If it really gets to 17F I would let the sinks drip just a little. Or shut the water off and blow the lines out (more of a hassle).

Requires a lot of cuddling!

[Don]

Hi, I found it easy just to disconnect the water hose from the rv and hang it up empty until the next day. I have seen some with insulation wrapped around them but I didn't. We tended to move if the weather was too cold.

[kelsi]

"We tended to move if the weather was too cold."

This would be my solution too, but we paid for the full season already. Last night we set the bedroom thermostat to 14.5C (58f) and it was just about perfect for sleeping.
Our small space warms up quickly, especially with Shelbert (our four legged space heater) on the bed!

[kelsi]

Senor C - that is my weather ideal. 30C during the day and 20C at night... where do I sign up?

And I'm really, really enjoying your series of posts on buying ejido land and finding a prestanombre. Great info!