I woke up early, before 5 AM, so I got up, showered, shaved (not a daily occurrence), got dressed, and sat in the living room to read.  I started making coffee around 7 AM, which provided Linda the clue (incentive?) to get up and get dressed.  Ahhh, breakfast (homemade granola).

No more limbs hanging over the bus.

Linda was on tap to babysit in Ann Arbor today and left around 8:15 AM.  I got the Little Giant ladder out of the front bay of the bus and set it up as 14′ extension ladder.  This is the only ladder we own that will get me onto the roof of the bus.  I took a brush to clean off the roof of bus and a pole saw/pruner to trim tree branches encroaching on the bus.  When I was done on the roof I collapsed the ladder and put it back in the front bay as this ladder goes wherever the bus goes.  I trimmed lots of other trees from the ground and then gathered up the limbs into a pile to get them out of Keith’s way so he could cut the grass.  (Monday is grass cutting day this year.)

I wanted to run the Aqua-Hot but discovered we had left the electric heating element on so the coolant was hot enough the diesel burner would not come on.  We have been told by Aqua-Hot service technicians in seminars that the unit should be run at least once a month to keep it in peak operating condition.  I turned the electric heating element off and checked to see what else might be on that wasn’t needed.

I looked at replacing the overflow reservoir with the larger Oasis one I got from Butch, but it would require stand-offs or brackets to clear existing water lines (at least until I rebuild the water bay) and I did not feel like getting involved in that today.  Besides, the overflow reservoir was just below the full/hot mark from having left the electric heating element turned on, so I needed to let the system cool down before I could do anything anyway.

No limbs hanging out into the pull-through driveway.

I chatted with Keith for a little while after he finished cutting the grass and then had lunch, after which I settled in to work at my desk on the SLAARC WordPress website.  I took a break mid-afternoon and made several phone calls.  My first call was to Heights Tower Systems in Pensacola, Florida to start finding out what I need to get our used Heights tower erected, how to order it, and what it’s going to cost.  My chat with Katie made it sound like they might not be all that helpful.  They need measurements, photos, and the name of the previous (original) owner as a starting point and I said I would send her that information as soon as I could.

I called Paul’s Tree service next to see if Paul Keech might come out and trim our trees.  The gal who answered the phone said Paul was trying to get out of the tree-trimming business but wanted to know if we needed trees trimmed or felled?  We need both, but I was primarily looking for trimming.  I guess that was the wrong answer.  I left my name and phone numbers and asked that he at least give me a call.  I suspect we will have to find someone else to trim several trees in places I cannot reach.

My last call was to EZ-Connector in Tulare, California.  I talked to Joe and was ready to order until he suggested I double check a couple of things first, specifically the number of circuits (wires) I need and the length of connecting cable.  I need to get these parts ordered, but I’m not sure when I will find time to verify these things.

Linda stopped at the Whole Foods Market in Ann Arbor but still got home ahead of the afternoon traffic.  She bought an Amy’s roasted vegetable pizza for dinner which we enjoyed with red grapes and sweet Bing cherries.  I worked some more on the SLAARC website creating pages for business meeting documents and uploading them.  I also uploaded my blog posts for the last five days of July to our personal blog.  I added more projects to my bus project list, got discouraged at its growing length, and went to bed.