1st Weekend

Listed the El Paso house starting last Thursday. Posted on Craigslist. Not 1 phone call. Over 800 homes for sale listed in Zillow just on the East Side of El Paso. Listed on Zillow also.
Zillow says housing prices are dropping even in El Paso. We were at $175k they say 167k now. Boo.
I've done many more fix-ups. The latest was staining the cabinets in the kitchen and both bathrooms. They look considerably better.
I've got the worst to do yet, I've put off for 2 years. Painting the garage. Painting the laundry room and installing new flooring.
The house in Sherman. We put a bid in for $50k, they countered with $65k. I think the septic will need work. I may recounter with $60k and they have to inspect the septic system. I don't want to go higher. The double-wide home does not have any book value. And it may need a lot of work.

We are going to do it!

We put a bid in on a double-wide prefab home with 1848 s.f. on 1.6 acres. There's room for another prefab on the 2nd lot for Mom and Helen. I've wanted a house with a view for many years. We can see out 15-25 miles. Dogs are more than 200 feet, rather than 10 feet away.
It has a large barn-garage 20 x 40 ft, 2 single doors. A started but much unfinished loft is above.
The neighborhood, could be better but the price is less than 1/3 of this house in El Paso. Garage has electric and water. Taxes should be 1/3 or less than El Paso.
The house is huge for a trailer/prefab. 2 living rooms (one will be a large dining area). One larger master bedroom, next to living area, with a 2 sinks, a shower, and a tub. 3 more bedrooms and 1 bathroom. The patio looks out onto the "view". Probably would get enclosed if there's a lot of bugs. That's where my rocking chair will be, for the 5 min. a day I'll sit in it.
Several trees and a fenced in yard for the dog we will NEVER have.
The RV can sit on the old garage cement pad next to the garage.
It is 12-15 miles into Sherman. It is a old farming community, with a nice square downtown. The best shopping is kiddie corner to us in the city with Wal-mart, Lowe's, Home Depot, Albertson's, on Rt 75 about 20-25 miles from the house.
Tori is 58 to 65 miles to the south on Rt. 75, depending on the route.
We visited the local " what's there to do?" visitors center. The gave us many booklets and described the happenings...
There is a lake 25 miles north at Denison on the OK-TX border. I would like a john boat. There are 4-6 TX state parks within 50 miles to go camping. Linda had a concern I would not use the RV as much because every day will be like camping out now there...
Since we are not cable or sat. people and TV reception is limited, this may be a problem.
We can get Verizon cell and wireless internet there. Probably won't get a phone land line, DSL surely in out of the question.
The heating-cooling is all electric, so our utility bill will get up. I'll try to insulate to save energy.
We will be 500 miles closer to Dort, Wes and Jim, sorry Carolyn/Bill.
We wanted to stay in Texas for better weather, I did not say good weather, than you snow freaks. Taxes and Dallas things to do were a consideration.
Many more pics at: http://picasaweb.google.com/linda.french/ShermanHome#

Ram Cold Air Intake on my RV

4 PICTURES TOTAL
This was one of the easiest, cheapest ($10) and most effective mod I've made to my 33" Fleetwood Fiesta 32S yet. MPGs probably up .5-1 .0
Take off the original restrictive intake that reduces noise and limits air intake in a low pressure area. You probably won't hear any increased noise except at full throttle. I cut out part of the bottom of my air cleaner to increase hole size and to facilitate easier mounting.
Depending on your vehicle you may have to buy/bend elbows or flex dryer vent tubing. You want the scoop to be larger than the intake tube.
Scoop should be mounted into a direct frontal air stream. On rear engines put it along the outside edge, not in the rear/back
Make sure rain can drain down and out. I live in the desert so it rains little here. I do have a deflector I can install behind the grill X's you see in the pics in seconds.
Why it works?
1. It is in a high pressure area, was behind a shield in a low pressure area.
2. It was near the radiator, it now gets cooler air.
3. The engine has to suck less hard to get air. (pumping losses)
4. It helps even more in headwinds when more air in being pushed in
5. I always use guaze air filters (K&N-Accel-Fram). Mine was <$30 on Ebay, Cool Blue Accel.