No pictures today due to bad cell reception. Instead of 4G I’m getting 1x if I get anything. Voice phone calls work sometimes and sometimes they don’t. So you’ll have to use your imagination to picture our day. 🙂
I pulled everything out of cupboards yesterday, anywhere there was a pipe joint. I wrapped toilet paper around each one so that a drop of water would be visible. And then I waited. There was nothing even damp in the area I had found the water.
So then I went outside to see if the pressure relief valve was leaking. It was bone dry.
But, in the lower left hand corner of the water heater cover there was a puddle, along with a visible spot of water on the concrete below.
So I pulled everything out of storage underneath Ron’s bed, and discovered the bottom of a cardboard box was wet. Uh oh. I stuffed toilet paper everywhere to hunt for leaks, and felt all around the water heater. It also was dry. Then I went outside and opened the storage door by the water tank and felt around. Again, everything was dry.
Then I noticed that the wet cardboard box I had pulled from under Ron’s bed box smelled like urine. Light started to dawn.
Sunny is getting incontinent and can’t make it through the night anymore, apparently. I guess I’ll get some puppy pads and hope he will go on them.
Later, after running the pump and checking all my toilet paper indicators, I couldn’t find a hint of a leak. So I went back to the site of the original leak, and smelled. It was urine that had run along the cabinet to puddle under the dog food.
I had been wanting to rearrange my storage areas but had been putting it off. Since everything was out and piled on Ron’s bed, this was the perfect opportunity. I thoroughly cleaned the floor and started repacking. And I really love my new arrangement.
But there was still the water heater leak to worry about. When we checked it this morning, it was dry and the spot on the ground had evaporated. Apparently it was condensation after all!
I still have some toilet paper wrapped around pipe joints and will check them often until I’m sure that Sunny is the only culprit.
When I dug all the food out, I rediscovered I had brought along quinoa and red lentils. They have to be rinsed before using, and I had left my sieve at home because it was too big for the trailer’s silverware drawer. But now I need one.
So I started thinking of what I could use as a sieve instead of buying another one and worrying about finding a place to store it. And then it hit me. Our coffeepot has the permanent filter that we just wash and reuse. It could also hold small amounts of quinoa or red lentils while I ran water over them. Problem solved!
After getting all the storage areas cleaned and organized last night, it’s Casita cleaning day today.
Ron is doing laundry and I’m getting ready to vacuum the A/C filter, the screens and the screens on the fans. Also, our blinds have picked up a lot of grit from leaving the windows open and running the fan. I can’t take them down and clean them properly, but I can at least vacuum them.
We’ll be heading back to Ocean Pond tomorrow. Mike and Gail are both sick and in bed with bad colds. Hope we can avoid catching them. In any case, I need to be near them while I can.
Tonight I’ll address the Christmas cards I thought I had left at home. I found them also while hunting for leaks. 🙂
Tinycamper's Blog 
Jerryc
/ December 8, 2014Glad you found the source of your problem. Not unusual to find water from the pressure relief valve in, or under, the outside water heater door on our Casita. Especially after using lots of hot water such as a shower or two.
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 8, 2014That is such a relief, Jerry! I suppose my old Aliner’s leak problems have permanently sensitized my brain where potential trailer leaks are concerned!
LikeLike
cozybegone
/ December 8, 2014Oh poor Sunny….not a good way to find out about but glad you’ll now know. Water leaks…ecks! So hard to figure out…great idea using the TP. Hope nothing serious….moving day and more family time…yeah!
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 8, 2014The poor little guy spends most of the time sleeping now. Or nervously pacing back and forth over and over when he’s awake. He stays in a state of high anxiety. I sometimes wish he could go fast instead of a long, lingering decline.
LikeLike
Judy Crankshaw
/ December 8, 2014Camping with an incontinent pet is so hard….small spaces make some things inordinately difficult. Glad you seem to be finding a way to work things out. Hang in there.
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 8, 2014Thanks so much, Judy. I just keep remembering how Sunny came into my life at a time I really needed a buddy and all the love he has given me. I want him to know I really love him now. He can’t see or hear, but he still loves to feel me. 🙂
LikeLike
Kim
/ December 8, 2014Poor Sunny! I’m sure you wish it was a pipe. 😦
This past summer I just knew I had a leak. Water all over the underside of the van. Turns out it was muffler condensation. Whew!
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 8, 2014A pipe would be fixable. 🙂
I know how frantic you must have been thinking it was a leak. And I know how relieved you must have been when you realized it wasn’t!
LikeLike
Jo
/ December 8, 2014It must be so hard to watch Sunny go down. I always think about Fred who is so much like a puppy still at 5. Like you said hope it isn’t a long decline to cause him suffering.
But at least you know there isn’t a big leak anywhere and you were able to clean up before the smell got really bad.
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 8, 2014Fred has a lot of good years left!
I use OdoBan for pet odors. It’s a lifesaver!
LikeLike
happytrailsga
/ December 9, 2014All’s well that ends well!!! Glad you found the “leak” but sorry Sonny is having the troubles he is having. I so understand everything you said and feel. Our almost 18 year old Shih Tzu is beginning to really decline. She eats and sleeps most of the time and we also just want her to have a peaceful ending. Our youngest Shih Tzu, male, is right at 8 years old and is so attached to Casey. We worry so much about what will happen for him when she is gone. We don’t do alot of camping right now because she just doesn’t ride very well. She gets very nervous and anxious. Oh well….she is worth it.
Cleaning and organizing is a good thing from time to time!! Have fun!!
LikeLike
Sharon
/ December 9, 2014Gerri, I also hope that the younger dog doesn’t take it too hard when the older one goes. Dogs have such different personalities and ways of coping — just like people.
Sunny also gets terribly nervous and anxious, but he did a lot better today when we moved.
I’ve got the trailer clean and smelling clean. Now to just keep it that way! 🙂
LikeLike