By: Bears Butt


The earth is not exactly round you know, it’s more of an oval but very close to round.  If you can imagine an old time spinning top only not so long and pointy at each end.  But out in space where the earth spins it really doesn’t need a pointy end on which to balance.

So, you have the picture of the earth in your mind.  It’s a great place to be and so let me explain what on earth is happening and why some countries are not quite right in the head and why others are.

Bears Butt has been around the world once.  A short stop in the Viet Nam area, a quick stop in Alaska, a hop skip and a jump in Scotland and a longer stop in Germany.  While all the rest of my time has been right here on American soil.  I have not been South, but from my recollection, the South half of the world is just a mirror image of the North half.  That’s enough for me.

So, here the big old world spins, round and round and it doesn’t appear to be going to stop anytime real soon.  And as it spins around on it’s not so pointed little Southern end, it also rotates around the sun.  One complete circle of the sun yields to us one full year of time.  One little spin on it’s not so pointed little Southern end and you have a full day gone by.

Have you ever seen a cream separator work?  I thought not and so let me explain.  First off, fresh milk, and I mean fresh milk, not what you find in the grocery store or at Winder Dairy, but your next door neighbors barn with the cow inside being milked.  That my friends is fresh milk.  Fresh milk contains fat, white fat, that over time and cooling of the milk will rise to the top of the container.  That is cream and it can be skimmed off if you are careful and put into another container.  Cream is rich and good, but it is thick too, at least thicker than milk, but you can do a whole lot with cream that you can’t with just the milk.  Like make butter.

Anyway, to quickly separate the cream from the fresh milk, someone made a cream separator machine and here is how it works.  You pour the fresh milk into this somewhat large metal bowl.  The bowl is attached to a large wheel that will cause the big bowl to spin when you crank the handle on the machine.  So the crank gets going slowly and as it builds up speed the bowl is spinning faster and faster.  Well, inside this here bowl the little fat creams are screaming and heading for the outside of the bowl and their little faces are pressed against the side of the outside of the bowl and then the pressure starts to force them up toward the top of the bowl, partly because of the shape of the big bowl.  Meanwhile the milk is contained inside the bowl and tends to stay there.  The cream guys are pretty soon concentrated all in a small space atop the milk and mostly near the outside edges where they fall into another bowl outside the big bowl.  As the speed of the big bowl is then slowed the cream guys are all safely outside the big bowl and nothing but the milk remains in the big bowl.

So, should our world be spun as fast as that cream separator we too would see first of  all the fat guys spun to the very outside of the world and eventually, given a fast enough speed, every one and everything not tied down would end up flying into outer space quicker than scat.

God on the other hand knew this up front and so he purposely slowed the spin of the earth down to the 24 hour day and 365 day year.  That is plenty fast for everyone to stay on the ground and not have to worry about flying off the surface and yet spinning enough to create a good wind flow to keep us cooled down some and keep the air moving around us.  God is good.

OK.  Let’s look at the world and its people.  Ever since the beginning there has been a need by a lot of folks to “be in control” and they got really big heads to think they were the ones in charge and everyone was working their little guts out to make them happy and all the time the big heads didn’t care about the little guys, they still picked on them and made them do more for less.  In all of time on this earth that has been happening around the world somewhere.  But now, let’s diagnose it even more.

If you could draw a couple of lines around the world as to where the trouble always seems to be coming from you would end up with one line on the North side of the middle and one on the South side of the middle and it would encompass the world completely.  Think about it for a minute.  Most of the worlds problem people come from this general area, the fat part of the world and not because it has any more land mass than the other parts of the world.  The land masses of the earth are pretty much evenly dispersed as I see it.  So what’s the point?

Well, do you see much problem with the folks that live say at the North Pole?  Or for that matter the other end of the world the South Pole?  Nope.  How about a little closer from those two poles toward the middle area…Australia?  Nope.  Greenland?  Nope.  How about right on a line in the middle of the world, the equator?  YUP.  Lot’s of trouble brewing along that line, always.  And as you progress North and South of that line you have a bunch of folks causing grief and destruction and problems for the rest of us.  But is it because they are ugly bad people or is it their environment?  Let’s look further.

I say it’s their environment and here is my assessment of that.  Way back in the beginning of the worlds time, God was much younger and he liked to mess around with stuff.  He started out with a world that was pretty much just a big ball of water.  When He got tired of messing with that, he introduced some land areas and the world was spinning at a pretty good clip, much faster than it does today, and these land masses started to move around in all that water and that was fun for God to watch as they separated and separated farther.  God was ok with all of that but he was curious as to what would happen if he tossed on some critters and so he did and those critters were pretty awesome dudes in their own rights.  Big teeth, claws, loud voices and some even ate meat, while others only ate vegetables.  Sort of like todays people.

God had a wonderful time watching those critters dash to and fro doing what they did best and then God thought, what if I put this world into the freezer?  And he did, and those critters started to scatter for warmer places, some found refuge in swamps and warm pools of water, only it wasn’t water it was oil and they got stuck.  Others tried to combat the cold by growing long hair and they ended up frozen solid anyway.  Others still, just laid down and died right there.  Not able to grow hair or find a warm spot and the moving of the earth masses covered them up.  Actually almost all of them got covered up with either dust or the moving of the earth.  God became disillusioned with that and took the earth out of the freezer and the ice that had formed melted away and gave us the earth we have today, pretty much.  Then He thought He might as well put some people on the earth and let them play and see what they do.  God likes to have fun.

But the earth needed to be slowed down from its spin and so He slowed it down and kept slowing it down until what you see today is where he stopped slowing it.  Well, it’s my thinking that those early people knew they could just fly off the face of the world because of the fast speed at which it was turning.  They could feel their feet trying to lift off the ground and so they were clinching the ground with their toes and fingers, trying to make sure they were not going to fly off.  That is why they walked bent over and could grip just as well with their toes as their fingers.  This created a mind set even if they did not consciously think about it and that mind set is carried through their genes to this very day.

Back at the cream separator, where is the majority of the pull or push or whatever, that had those fat little creams pushing hardest against the big bowl?  Right near the middle of the outside of it.  That is where the bulk of the spinning sent its energy and so with the world.

The folks right near the center from North to South, that is the fattest part of the world and also where the pressure of the spinning earth is the most susceptible for people to fly off and out into space.  This is where the bulk of the mind sets are that came from their ancestors millions of years back.  That mental fact that at any moment they could be spun off and out.  That would bother me, I know that, and so I’m very glad I was born where I was and that my ancestors didn’t  inherit   that mind set.

So, how does that mind set effect the climate of the area?  That’s easy.  God made everything living have an ability to feel.  Some things  like people can even logically rationalize things.  Plants are known to have feelings and react to different environments that are thrown their way.  Heck, look at the studies about flowers growing (or not) while head banging music is being played, and at the same time in another room where the same type of roses are being played country music.  It’s been proven that softer music makes the plants happier and grow so much better.  And animals too, why just look at the Happy Cows in California.

Well, with all the plants, trees, animals and people in this zone around the world all concerned about being thrown out into space, the minds of the people and whatever makes the plants and animals think and feel, causes all of them to sweat a bit more than those a bit farther North or South of that zone.  That evaporating sweat causes the humidity to be higher, coupled with the fact that the fattest part of the world is closer to the sun causes the area to be hotter.  Couple heat and high humidity together and vuela a whole different set of plants and animals live there than anywhere else in the rest of the world.  Pretty simple huh?   The trees grow with such deep roots, it’s for sure they want the best foot hold they can get so as not to be thrown off the earth’s surface.  The serious animals grow to enormous sizes and some have very big feet.  It’s all very plain to see, just look.  And as for the people.  The ones who are the most afraid of being thrown out into space are the ones who are causing the most problems.  The ones whose ancestors were first placed on this earth when it was spinning almost fast enough to toss them out unless they gripped solidly with their feet and their fingers and walk bent over.

And so, there you have it.  The zone around the world where the bulk of the worlds troubles start and end from the beginning of people time until today is caused by the fear of being thrown off the earth’s surface and out into space.

Bears Butt

Sept. 19, 2012

 

Written on September 19th, 2012 , Just more stories
By: Bears Butt

This time next week will the rack be back at camp with the first deer of the hunt?  Will the Magpie Express be back ahead of the rack?  Or will both rigs still be out looking for that monster muley in the woods?  Only time will tell.

The excitement is building every moment of this very long week.

From several conversations I have had with various folks who are going to be joining us on the hunt, it seems likely that we will be spending a whole lot more time glassing than driving.  It makes more sense to me after experiencing the Youth Guided Turkey Hunt last Spring.  Sitting high on a vantage point glassing slowly down into the forest for hours and hours taught me that what appears to be an empty bowl is actually full of animals of all varieties.

Looking specifically for turkeys, we saw moose, deer and elk, and of course the turkeys we were looking for.  On one such occasion I was glassing an open meadow and had been looking at it off and on for at least an hour when suddenly as I panned across it for the “umptinth” time, there stood an elk!  As big as big could be.  Why can’t that happen during this hunt?

Couple the driving with the high price of fuel and it makes a whole lot more sense to stop and kick back on a hill side and try to find an animal to put a stock onto, than to drive from hell to breakfast and not see anything but dusty roads.

Another thought is about hitting some of the hillsides and trails that we all know about and do a little still hunting.  A couple of years back, Brek joined us and he and I found a trail that was so tore up with tracks of every kind it was hard to sit next to it and wonder why we weren’t being trampled on.  I think a bit deeper on that trail down into the steep depths of the hole it headed into just might be the ticket to a big old buck.  A cool pine covered bowl of sorts and I’d bet there is water down in there somewhere.  It looks unforgiving and so I really doubt many people trek down into it.  Make sure you have your hydration pack filled as if a buck does happen to fall down in there, it will be a heck of a haul back out with it in pieces on your back.

The excitement is building more and more as I think about the hunt and the camp.  FUN FUN FUN!

Bears Butt

Sept. 19, 2012

Written on September 19th, 2012 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

I frequent a Utah based forum dedicated to outdoors related activities and it’s the best forum I have ever visited for things like this.  There are a great bunch of people who regularly post things on the site and like all forums there are things that get out of hand occasionally, but for the most part it’s a pretty civil place to visit.

The past few days there have been a couple of postings on the site that have some really good stories about hunting elk in Utah.  These three guys drew out limited entry bull elk tags and wouldn’t you know it, all three decided to try and shoot these big animals with “old fashioned” archery gear.  One man used a long bow and cedar shaft arrows and the other two used re-curve bows.

Anyone familiar with shooting the older type wooden bows knows that in order to shoot a big game animal you have to get pretty dang close before you shoot.  There are a lot of ethics in this sport even if you are shooting a modern compound bow.  Closeness to the animal is usually a must before pulling back on the string.

In my younger days I used a re-curve bow I had made in high school and it worked really well to deliver cedar shaft arrows out into the woods to be lost forever.  I think I soundly lost close to 3 dozen arrows without hitting any animals.  However, I did have one shot that should have been my first deer, but I blew the shot and shot low.  The arrow is still sticking out of the quakie where it planted full broadhead deep after my shot.

So, these three guys used very primitive equipment to shoot some extremely large animals.  Ethical shots at close range.  Their stories are very interesting to say the least and I thought you should read them too.

Here are the links to the two stories.

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=44765&sid=91d345a8522511d80c8a66d0397fc031

And

http://utahwildlife.net/forum/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=44815

I have personally met the man who wrote the second story (Tex-O-Bob) and he is the same person who told me about “single beveled edges” on knives, arrow points etc.

I congratulate each of these three men on their accomplishments in filling their tags on some incredible animals.  It just goes to show you that you don’t need the most modern and the best of the best equipment in order to shoot trophy animals.  I personally can not imagine being within 15 yards of a massive bull elk, screaming its guts out in a hollow….I think it would have been real easy for it to “smell” my presence, if you know what I mean.

Enjoy the stories.

Bears Butt

Sept. 18, 2012

Written on September 18th, 2012 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

The LONG week.  Print out the lists of things needed for the hunt.  The list for the camper, the list for the truck, the list for the atv, the list of hunting needs, the list of food.

Gather up what you can of each of the lists and place them where they will be easy and quick to get to and load up.  Load what you can, but there are always a ton of things that will have to be done at the last minute.

When is the last minute?  7:30 a.m. on Tuesday morning.

I can’t pack the tools as I might need them to repair something in the house.  I can’t pack the last of the groceries as they need to be put in the refrigerator or the ice chest just before leaving.  I can’t pack the chain saw and gas, or propane, or camp chef grill box as the truck they need to be put in won’t be here to hook up to the trailer until 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday.  I can’t set it all out by the trailer because someone might come along and steal it.  Stack it neatly and out of the way from our normal living areas.

What’s normal this time of year?  This is normal!  So why not just stack the stuff everywhere, be it in the way or not.  This is the longest week of the year.  The week before the hunt.  Today is Monday, only one more Monday before the hunt.  Tomorrow is Tuesday and then the next Tuesday is when we leave for the hunt.  The longest week is a mis-nomer.  It should be the longest year.

I’ve checked the list of things twice today.  I’ve gotten everything ready, I think.  I better go check the list again.  What did I forget?  Oh, I almost forgot the kippers…write them down.  NO!  NO!  Go get them and put them with the chips and buns, they don’t need to be refrigerated.  Got some candy.  Well, it’s last years Halloween candy, but it will be ok for those who are going to be eating it.  Hard Tootsie Rolls…yum.  It takes longer to eat them this way.  What about this Charleston Chew?  It could be used as a tent stake if we need it.

Let’s see, where is the list for the clothes I need to take?  I haven’t made it.  I will make the list…let’s see, change of pants, underwear, socks, extra shoes…that’s it.  THAT’S IT?  Why have a list for that?  Just gather them up and put them in the trailer.  Good Grief.  Well, that’s something I don’t have to worry about at the last minute.

I can’t put my rifle and possibles in the trailer yet, someone might come along in the middle of the night and pilfer through things and take it.  Nope, another last minute thing.  Golly, it’s already 5 p.m. on Monday, only one long week left to wait.  I can’t put the water in the jugs yet.  I can’t load up the ice chests.

I’ve checked the truck chains at least twice for broken links and extra chains.  We are good there.  What’s the long range weather forecast?  Hot and dry with some cooling.  But that forecast ends Sunday and there is still two more days after that before we leave.  Forget that forecast.  We will check again tomorrow.

Flint and steel kit with fresh char…check!  Hydration pack…check!  GPS with fresh batteries….check!  Flashlight with fresh batteries….check on the flashlight….mark on the “to buy list”, AA Batteries…

The longest week!

Bears Butt

Sept. 17, 2012

 

Written on September 17th, 2012 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

Memories of past hunts.  Need I say more?

Bears Butt

Sept. 16, 2012

Could this be Joe B Pond?

Written on September 16th, 2012 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

Weasel and I are heading to the Perry range to make sure our muzzleloaders are sighted in for the deer hunt coming up.  I told him last night I will take one shot and be done, he said he needs 3.  We will see.

My plan is to shoot out to the 100 yard target and hopefully be about an inch high at that range, that way any animal between 125 and zero is in trouble.  I don’t take shots past 100 yards usually and I like my shots under 50 if possible, but you never know what the game will do or whether you will need a second shot out that far to put it down for good.  So it’s better to be ready if needed.

And, what if a coyote pops up?  YES!  BOOOOMMMM!!!!!  $50 in the old pocket through the states dead coyote program.  That would help with some gas money on the hunt.  Maybe what this hunt should be is a coyote hunt with deer as an option….HMMMMM, food for thought.

More later on the sighting in results!

OH, and don’t forget, today is the muzz planning meeting up at Bones’ house at 2:30!  See you there!

Bears Butt

Sept. 15, 2012

THE NEXT DAY

Yesterday, when we arrived promptly at the range at 10 a.m. there was already a very large group of people assembled there.  It seems there was a hunter safety course finishing up their shooting and the place was very busy with activities in that arena.

Unfortunately for us who were there the target practice we had to wait.  The range masters said it would only be about 45 minutes and to just hang in there and be patient.  We were.

I need to interject here about the hunter safety training that we saw.  First off on the range there were three officials, but only one doing all the talking and instructing.  There was nothing wrong with that, but for me it was not a time to be teaching the trainees how to lay in a prone position, or how to sit to shoot or how to kneel to shoot, that should have been done long before coming to the range…JMHO!

Secondly, the instructors should have considered how the students performed at “aiming at the same spot” as they were instructed to do.  Even though they were shooting at a jumping squirrel target and the purpose was supposedly to hit the squirrel in the vitals as many times as they could out of 30 shots, that is not how the target is judged for passing or failing the course.  To pass the course the student needs to have 70% of the bullets strike within an area 10 inches in diameter and the animal on the paper target is just something for them to aim at.

Is it the students fault the rifle they are shooting is not sighted in?  NO.  Therefore if the student did not even hit the paper target at all, but hit the background cardboard with all 30 shots contained within a 10 inch circle (clearly more hits than needed to pass) should they not pass?  YES.  But these instructors totally ignored that part of the process and had the students “re-test” and then “re-test” a third time.  NOT FAIR is my call.  Nuff said.

So we waited nearly 2 hours to finally get to shoot.

3 Mile Gun Range, Perry, Utah

When allowed we posted our targets out on the 100 yard range and loaded up.  My rifle liked the 425 grain Hornady Great Plains hollow point/hollow base bullet in the past.  It has killed a nice 4 point buck two years ago, and a fine tender doe last season, so why not stick with success?  I told Weasel, 90 grains of ffg blackpowder and one conical Great Plains and one shot should do it.

Down the barrel went the bullet and I capped up.  At 100 yards my sights completely cover the black bull center of my target and the way I like to aim and have my rifles sighted in, I placed the bb gun type front sight, even with the top of bb gun type rear sight, centering the front sight between the uprights of the rear sight and put that entire picture just under the black bull.  I set the rear trigger and then softly touched the front trigger.  The rifle roared to life and when the smoke cleared my bullet had hit 1 1/2 inches high and two inches left of the bull…..I’m a Happy Boy!

I turned to the Weasel and said, “I’m done”!

Bears Butt is ready to kill his 2012 buck

Weasel hoped for similar success.

He too pushed a Great Plains bullet down on top of 90 grains of black powder and fired his shot.  LOW.  Very low and not good enough to take hunting.  Another shot was needed.  HIGH.  Very high and not good enough to take hunting.  A third shot….where did it go?  Not sure, but not good enough to take hunting.

Weasel cleaned his rifle between all shots using many cleaning patches and lubing the first with windex.  Windex does a fine job of cleaning out the blackpowder residue and it evaporates quickly leaving the barrel dry when finished.

After 8 shots using the Great Plains Bullets and varying his powder charges down to 80 grains with one shot and up to 100 grains with another, he decided to change to a Power Belt hollow point bullet at 430 grains in weight, and back to 90 grains of ffg blackpowder.

The first of four Power belts hit just a bit high of the bullseye, the second hit just low of the bull, the third hit lower and left, and with only one of the Power Belt bullets remaining in our arsenal, I suggested he charge with 100 grains of powder for his last shot, which he did.

I was watching through the binoculars as the rifle reported and clearly as the day is 24 hours long, a hole appeared as closely to the exact center of the bull as anyone can do with an open sighted muzzleloader!  The Weasel is ready for the hunt!

BULLSEYE! The Weasel is ready to kill his 2012 muzzy buck!

And so, I say to all the big bucks in Utah’s newly assigned Unit 2, you have 9 days to go hide, cuz we is comin!

Bears Butt

Sept. 16, 2012

Written on September 15th, 2012 , Hunting/Fishing/Trapping Stories
By: Bears Butt

Recently I used some Velcro to connect a temporary closure thingy that only gets opened and closed twice each year.  Velcro just seemed like the right thing to use, why use a screw?

That got me thinking about where Velcro even came from.  Is it a spin off product from a need for space travel?  Actually yes it is.  They needed a way for the astronauts to have their tools handy when they needed them and wouldn’t have to go chasing them down floating around in the cabin of the space craft.  That got me thinking and so I went in search of more of the spin off products we have come to take for granted in todays world.  Heck, this very computer has some of the stuff in it that came from NASA research I’m sure of it.  But what else?

The Weasel just replaced all the bulbs in his camp trailer with LED type bulbs and low and behold, those little bad boys is one of the top of the list things that came from space exploration, or at least preparing for space flights.  Something that will emit light and not use a lot of power and will last seeming forever without burning out.  Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s) were the end result of experimentation and ultimately development.  I hope the person who finally hit on that one got a BIG BONUS!

AND just for you today!  I present a list from Wikipedia that you can spend all day reading about spin off products from NASA and of course other countries research as well, let’s not take all the credit.

This is the main site for what I found.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NASA_spin-off_technologies

But this is a list of some of the top items:

You can look up those that interest you the most.  I could spend two or more days investigating these things.  I wonder where “Monkey Butt” powder came from?

Bears Butt

Sept. 14, 2012

DISCLAIMER:

It has come to my attention that the concept of Velcro actually came from a Swiss person in 1941 as listed below:

The hook-and-loop fastener was conceived in 1941 by Swiss engineer, Georges de Mestral[2][8][9] who lived in Commugny, Switzerland. The idea came to him one day after returning from a hunting trip with his dog in the Alps. He took a close look at the burrs (seeds) of burdock that kept sticking to his clothes and his dog’s fur. He examined them under a microscope, and noted their hundreds of “hooks” that caught on anything with a loop, such as clothing, animal fur, or hair.[5] He saw the possibility of binding two materials reversibly in a simple fashion if he could figure out how to duplicate the hooks and loops.[2][9]. This inspiration from nature or the copying of nature’s mechanisms (called bionics or biomimesis) is viewed by some like Steven Vogel[10] or Werner Nachtigall[11] as a key example.

Thank You Magpie!  Keeping the Bears Butt straight is not an easy task!

 

Written on September 14th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

Quick!  Run to the bakery!  The national holiday for today has caught me off guard!  It’s National Cream Filled Donut Day!  YIKES!

The local bakeries will all be sold out before I get a chance to get down there.  OH WHY OR WHY don’t bakeries deliver?  Like Dominos you know!  Or Pizza Hut!

Bears Butt

Sept. 14, 2012

Written on September 14th, 2012 , Uncategorized
By: Bears Butt

I just made this one up this morning and my palate says “Not Bad”!

I’ll call it “The Two Pan Omelet” and it will serve three very well.

6 eggs

6 slices of bacon

1/4 cup diced onion

1/4 cup diced green peppers

2 cups shredded sharp cheddar cheese

Cook the bacon until nearly crip, then cut or crumble into smallish sizes

Heat the onions and peppers and add the bacon to that.  Turn off the heat.  Place mixture into a small bowl.

Spray pam in one of the frying pans, beat three of the eggs in a bowl and pour into pan, sprinkle about 1/2 cup of cheese over eggs in pan.

Cook until nearly done, meanwhile begin heating the second frying pan, when there is still some runny eggs stuff on top of the one cooking, turn the pan with the egg in it over the pan that is heating and the egg will drop into the second pan.  Turn off the heat to the second pan.

Spray pam into the first pan again and mix up the last three eggs and pour it into the pan.  Sprinkle 1/2 cup of cheese on the egg in the pan and cook until it is nearly done, some uncooked egg will show, add the bacon, onion and peppers mix onto the cooking eggs and spread it around.

Add the last cup of cheese on top of the bacon mix and then take the first “plop” of egg from the second pan and place it on top of the egg being cooked in the first pan.  Turn off the heat and remove the pan placing it on a cool surface.  In about 5 minutes it’s ready to eat!

Serve with toast, jelly, milk or juice.  Enjoy!

Bears Butt

Sept. 13, 2012

 

Written on September 13th, 2012 , Recipes
By: Bears Butt

Today I gave it a go to winterize my 1992 Fleetwood Flair Motor Home.  Earlier in the week I spent part of a day trying to locate the hot water tank by-pass valves and I found one!  I was elated!  I knew it had to have one and sure enough I found it.

So, with 3 gallons of RV Antifreeze in my hands I attacked the job!  I knew it would not take all 3 gallons, but since I was walking all of the 50 feet to the coach I decided to take them.

In the past I would winterize by buying 8 gallons of rv anti freeze and filling the hot water tank with 6 of those gallons, finish off the winterizing and then draining the hot water tank rv anti freeze back into the bottles.  Yes, it would be diluted some, but it still would not freeze.  Each year I would buy 2 more gallons and so forth.

This year I was bound and determined to find the hot water tank by pass system and only need two gallons to do the job.

I was also going to make sure I made notes as to how I accomplished the task in case someone else in the future needs to do it.  I did not have any instructions when I bought the coach.  I guess the other owners must have either lived where it was not necessary to winterize or they hired it done.

So, to the outside rear of the coach I went.  Opened up the access door to the water pump and pulled my handy dandy homemade connector and hose from its hiding place.  Unscrewed the cap on the side of the water pump and installed the connector with the hose to it.  Turned the valve above the connection to point at the hose and stuck the other end of the hose into a bottle of rv anti freeze.  Oh, I got the step stool out from inside the coach to set the bottle of rv anti freeze on.

Inside the area close to the water pump are two valves.  One I have to turn in order to fill the fresh water holding tank and when done, I turn it the other way to drain the tank.  The other is positioned closer to the water pump and I have no real idea what it is supposed to do.

Today, I decided that the “unknown” valve must be to help facilitate winterizing and so I turned it across from what it was.  And then into the coach I went.  I was filled with joy knowing I was going to only use about 2 gallons of rv anti freeze and by pass the hot water tank.  Happy Guy was I!

Into the coach and under the drawers used to hold knives and folks and things I pulled out a box of whatever we were storing there and turned the valve!  Life is good.

I have an old milk jug I have cut a hole in the side of that allows me to place it over the tap faucet to keep water and stuff from splashing all over the inside of the coach.  I placed it over the kitchen sink faucet and turned on the cold water tap.  Then reached over and hit the pump switch.  I could hear it hissing and I waited patiently for the pink fluid to push out the water from the line.  It hissed.

It hissed some more but nothing was coming out.  I scratched my head and then turned off the pump and went outside to see what was going on.  The one gallon jug was empty and fluid was pouring onto the ground!  YIKES!  That valve I turned caused the fluid to pour straight out of the pump and onto the ground!  Why on earth do they have that valve in the first place?

I reached in and turned it back the way it was, which happened to be lengthwise to the coach.  I felt a tag on the valve and picked it up, it was in my own hand writing and it said “To send water forward into the coach”!  Oh my, I just wasted a gallon of rv anti freeze.

Well with two gallons still remaining I knew I could still get the job done.  Here is the configuration of the valves at the pump area.

Water Pump valve points toward hose, first valve points toward the front and back of the coach, second valve points across the coach.

I put a second gallon of rv anti freeze on the step and put the long plastic hose into it.

Back inside I went.  Ok, now it should pump rv anti freeze for me.  I hit the pump and sure enough water began coming out of the cold water tap at the kitchen, pretty soon it was solid pink and I shut off the pump and the cold water tap.  Back into the bathroom I went with the old milk jug.  Put it over the bathroom sink and turned on the cold water tap.  Reached into the hall and turned on the pump.  Water soon turned to pink and that was done.  Off went the pump and off went the cold water tap.  Next the shower head, same drill and then the toilet and hand wand.  All spewing solid pink fluid.

Now for the hot water lines.  Back to the kitchen, on went the old milk jug and on went the tap, on went the pump…nothing.  HMMM.  Must be out of juice at the pump.  Off went the pump and outside I went.  Sure enough the jug was almost empty.  I put the third jug on the stool and put in the tube.  Back inside I went.  On went the pump, it burped and then stopped.  HMMMM.  I turned on the cold water tap, the pump began going and out came pink.  Off went the cold water tap, the pump stopped immediately.

I figured there must be another valve somewhere to the hot water tank.  I turned off the pump and started to search for a second valve to the hot water tank.  Pulling everything out from under the sink and the two drawers that hold knives and forks etc. I followed the hot water line as far as I could see it.  Nothing.  Now what?  I started reaching in behind the paneling and suddenly I could feel another valve.  This valve is located above the “easy” one to find.

I say to myself, this is a valve I need to turn, but how on earth do I get to it?  Soon I discovered the small panel under the sink was only held in place with velcro.  I removed the panel.  Access to the hot water temperature adjustment!  But not to the valve, unless I reach across, which is doable, but the valve is on the other side of the pipe.  I think again to myself, well, if this panel is removable, I wonder if the one in the little spice drawer is removable.  I pry at the top with my stubby fingers and pop!  Off it comes!

From this “opening” I can see the top of the valve that needs to be closed.  It has not been moved in a very long time and took me a bit with my handy dandy Gerber to get it to move and close.  Now things are really looking up.

Back to the pump, it’s on and water begins to pour out of the kitchen hot water tap almost immediately.  Soon it’s pink and off goes the pump and into the bathroom I go.  Bathroom sink done.  Shower head is last, sphushhhhhh, sphushhhhhh…..no fluid!  Off goes the pump.  Back outside I go.

Sure enough gallon number 3 is empty.  Dang, so close!

So, into the garage I go to see if by chance there is more rv anti freeze!  YES!  Behind the jug of windshield washer fluid is a half filled jug of rv anti freeze.  I’m a Happy Boy!  I’m a Happy Boy (sounds like a song doesn’t it?) and I was a happy boy indeed.  Now I can get the job done!

And so it went, I finished the job and that will be it until next Spring.

Here is the valve locations on the inside of the coach:

Notice the removable panels.

When I was done, I opened up both of the valves to the hot water tank and some fluid sprayed into the tank.  No big deal as it drained right out the outside drain hole.

So here is the whole story in a nutshell:

Set everything up before turning on the pump.  Start pump and turn on one faucet at a time until pink fluid comes out.  Flush toilet and turn on hand wand until pink comes out.  Make sure drains in sinks and shower get pink fluid into them.  two gallons will do the job, if you follow these steps!  Trust the Butt!

Additional Information:  The Low Point Drain valves for this 1992 Fleetwood Flair Motor Home are located behind the panel in the door opening under the fridge.  You have to lay down and work with one hand to unscrew the panel, but you can do it!

Bears Butt

Sept. 12, 2012

 

 

Written on September 12th, 2012 , Uncategorized

BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man is proudly powered by WordPress and the Theme Adventure by Eric Schwarz
Entries (RSS) and Comments (RSS).

BearsButt.com | Stories, Ramblings & Random Stuff From an Old Mountain Man

Just some of my old stories, new stories, and in general what is going on in my life.