Two Penny Travels

News on Selling the Business

I completed a deal for Nancy to take over the Plug-n-Play LED business at her BriteLEDIdeas LLC website. I was acting as a dealer for her, but now that her website is up and running, she asked that I stop taking orders for her products.

If you go to www.prudentrver.com you will find links into her website.

In the meantime, Nancy does not want to sell the fLEDescent products and linear lighting. So I am still offering those products on my website. Since she is moving toward ending her relationship with Neutek, I will be checking into some of the newer products from Neutek to offer at prudentrver.com.

Stay tuned for more news.

sam

Visited Wilderness Lakes TTN; Added a Dog

After returning from Yuma, we spent two and a half weeks seeing doctors, optomitrists, dentists, RV repair, and truck mechanics. It was good planning on our part to get so much scheduled in such a short time.

The doctor agreed Alice had a sound heart and could go off aspirin for her basil-cell operation. The optomistrist agreed Alice did not need a new set of glasses what with the implants that replaced her cataracts. The dentists agreed Alice and I both had been doing a fine job keeping our teeth clean. The RV repair mechanic said our problem was not a dying motor on our slide, but was poor wiring, and he replaced it. The truck mechanic said our problem was not the air conditioner, but a stopped-up radiator that kept the AC from cooling on hot days, and he cleaned it.

After so much success we agreed we should get out of town and rest a while. We drove all of 35 miles north to the Wilderness Lake TTN Park and found how loud six geese could be 24 hours a day. But it was restful and we found a couple of great places to eat in Menifee.

The morning of the second day I was taking the trash to the trash bin when a lady came out of her door yelling for her dog to come back. It was a pretty sable and blond pomeranian running around chasing the geese. It looked almost like Wolf did when he was younger, except a little darker. I came over as she reached the dog and attached the leash.

We talked a bit and I told how we had a pom that was 15 years old. She said she was looking for a new home for the dog in her arms. He belonged to her sister who had to give him up. Her sister would have to put Teddy down if a new home could not be found.

I went back to our trailer and told Alice what I had seen. I said she and Wolf needed to see the other dog. We walked over, and the lady brought out Teddy. He and Wolf got to know each other as we talked about the dog situation. I looked at Alice and asked if she thought we could take him. She said yes. It was one of our quickest decisions.

For the next couple of days, Teddy got used to living in our rig, and we got used to having another dog around. All in all it went very well.

We have now returned to Jojoba Hills, and have been introducing Teddy to our neighbors and neighborhood. In some cases it was a matter of retrieving him from a different site and showing him the boundaries of our operation. I have been taking much longer and faster walks with Teddy like I should have been doing, and Teddy has been settling in. Wolf is even more frisky. And Alice lets Teddy sleep on her lap far more than I would.

We made a quick decision, and it looks to be one of our better ones. The dogs are happy, and we are happy. That is the way it should be.

sam, the Prudent RVer

Selling the LED Business

For the last five and a half years I have sold retail LEDs to the RV market. It started when I met Kelly Walterscheid at Quartzsite and became a dealer, then a distributor for him in the 12v RV LED bulb business.

One of my dealers, Nancy Lesser-Adamo, became my business associate and ran a booth in Yuma during the last two winters at the Arizona Market Place. I have now sold my share of the business to her and she will be carrying the banner forward from here. She is Nancy, the LED Lady, and has an Internet domain called BriteLEDIdeas.com. She is working on getting that website into an Internet store.

In the meantime, I will continue to sell her LED product line at prudentrver.com until she is up and running. I am acting as a dealer for her, and she will be doing the shipping while I get a small commission. She will also take responsibility for all the dealers and for working with Neutek in Mesa, AZ, on the procurement of product to sell.

It has been a good time in the LED business, and I think I have made some contributions on the direction of that market. But now it is time that I try once again to do the retirement thing. I will try to not flunk out again.

sam

 

Bummer, it's back

My EKG last week showed a classic case of atrial fibrillation, pretty much solid. The good news is that the basic ventricular heart rate remains in the 60s. The PA, Jennifer, was very helpful in discussing impacts on lifestyle and other things to watch for.

I see Dr. Lo next Wednesday to discuss the next step in the strategy to correct the afib or learn to live with it.

I am also trying to get my INR back in range. It is in range, between 2 and 3, but it has changed more than the pro-time tech wants it to, so she is asking me to change my warfarin dosage before we have the chance to see what is the consistent level. I think I have been eating too many salads, and I need to temper my diet a little.

So that's it from the recovery ward for now. I feel good and am optimistic this will clear up enough for us to travel soon. I will keep you posted.

sam

Five days

I had the cardioversion last Friday. Initial results seemed to be that it worked. However, my blood pressure machine keeps saying I am experiencing arhythmia in my heart beat, so I am not sure.

I have an EKG next Monday and we will get a clearer picture of what is going on. Hope it goes okay.

sam

Cardioversions

This morning I had a cardioversion procedure. The intent was to stop the atrial fibrillation in my heart and bring it back to sinus rythm. At this point, it has worked. Now it is a matter of seeing how long my heart will continue to beat properly.

I am feeling well, so maybe things are looking up. We will see.

sam, the prudent rver

Win a few, lose a few

Over a year ago I developed atrial fibrillation. The doctors and I tried to control it with medication, but we finally agreed a more assertive approach would be advisable. So the first week of last December, Dr. Lo did a heart ablation, a matter of cauterizing some of the nerve endings inside my heart to stop them from messing up the rythm of my heartbeat. It was supposed to get me back to regular sinus rythm.

A week ago I went back for a checkup with Dr. Lo, and he said my heart was still exhibiting afib. He changed the medication and said I should plan on a different procedure called cardioversion. The doctor will put a couple of plates on my chest and hit me with a big electrical shock to stop it. Then it is supposed to restart in sinus rythm. Maybe so, maybe not. We will find out in a few weeks.

So life has been pretty good and the doctors are watching after me. That is a win. But it is not over yet. That is a lose.

sam

"Was a Time When" Available as Printed Book

My book is now available as a printed book at CreateSpace.com or Amazon.com. Now it is on to the book launch business.

sam

Have a Happy 2012 New Year

To all our friends and readers, have a good 2012, even if the news seems it could be somewhat sour. Keep a healthy spirit and go with the flow. Be prepared and keep you fuel and water tanks full, your waste tanks empty.

The price of fuel may rise during the year, but get out and do some exploring while you still can. Maybe we will meet you on the road.

While you are out, visit our booth at the Arizona Market Place in Yuma, or just come by www.prudentrver.com and get your LEDs. Oh yes, also visit www.WasATimeWhen.com to keep up on my new book. The kindle version is available; the paper version will be ready later this month.

Hugs, Sam and Alice and Wolf

"Was a Time When" Published on Kindle, Dec 27, 2011

It's done, or at least the Kindle part is done. I published my new book last night as a Kindle book. It is available at Amazon for $3.98 and ready for immediate download. The paper copy book will be available around mid-January.

I am very interested in getting some professional reviews of the book. If you have a blog where you discuss books or the fate of the world in the next 75 years, let me know your background and how to reach you and I will send you a review copy, either a .pdf or a paper copy (when available), free of charge.

For your information, here is my product description.

This tale began in 2006 as the autobiography of my fictional great-grandson, Sam, yet-to-be-born in 2015. Sam would live through the greatest cultural transition ever experienced by the human race. I encased his memoirs in a short story telling of an expedition of Neu-human archeologists from a thousand years in the future, 3100 A.D., who return to the Pacific Coast searching for their roots. They find Sam's recorded life story and hear a first-hand account of the “Great Collapse” of human society as they had come to call it.

Sam Hardy's life begins at the peak of the tremendous spurt of technology and social advance in the second decade of the 21st century, powered by what many still thought at the time would be an infinite supply of energy and a stable world of commerce and trade. Sam writes the history of humanity's course through the transitions that result from expected natural disasters, resource depletion, climate change, over-population, and economic and cultural failure as his family and tribe struggle to learn to live in a new world of limited resources and crashing dreams.

There are many possible worlds our progeny could face, but in my mind the world described here unfortunately seems to be one of the more probable. My goal is to tell of some of the changes that can be expected as our society searches for its future, and as those technologies and resources on which our civilization depend fall away. This is a tale of retrospection, as seen through the eyes of someone who lives through it and remembers that there Was a Time When things were so different.

And yet, in Sam's final words, there is still hope: “So this is goodbye. Maybe I have been wrong in my pessimism and damnation of humanity, and there really is a future for mankind on this planet. At least I have joined a group that is beginning the steps to future recovery. God willing, I will have the chance to watch that future blossom. I pray this band I join will build the roots of a better civilization than what my peers built for the last one.”

I will be discussing the book and offering ideas on other options and how to cope with the future at www.WasATimeWhen.com. Come by for a visit.