Busy day around the trailer today. First thing on the list was to install the new micro-wave I picked up at Target last night. The people I had bought the trailer from had clued me in that the oven wasn't working before I bought it, but I had been hoping it was only a matter of changing out a burnt out fuse in order to get it to working again. Alas; it seems that there were deeper issues than that so the old one had to go.
   The oven sits in a cubby hole located over the regular gas stove with its smoke hood light and fan. It is held in with a metal face plate that goes around the front of the microwave and has 4 metal brackets that stretch from the front to the back side of the oven. I ended up drilling a couple new holes in the bottom of the oven bottom and installed the old ovens feet on to it so that the new one would sit at the same height as the old one. There were then a couple more holes drilled into the back frame of the oven so I could attach the old frame metal brackets to the new oven.
   The outside dimensions of the new oven were a little bit smaller overall than the old oven, so there was a 1/4"-3/8" gap all around except at the bottom. My first thought was to add in some wooden slats to act as fill like I did on the last trailer microwave I installed. But in this case there were some black foam rubber pieces that had come off of the bottom of the old oven and I took those and crammed them into the edges where they filled it up just right.
    Once the installation was done it was on to checking out the couple of lights that still didn't work. I had replaced all of the old small incandescent car type bulbs with newer LED types that have a bayonet style base. Turns out that there is a right and wrong way to push these types into the fixture, so it was a simple matter to pull the bulbs out that weren't working and simply turn them over and plug them back in. So now at least all of the light fixtures are working. The only thing left to do is figure out what one switch in the bathroom controls.
   Also on the list to do was  getting rid of some of the 6 remote controls that came with the trailer. 5 of them were for the TV and DVD player, but not a single one of them worked. Most in fact looked like the previous owners dogs used them as some form of chew toy. The other remote is for the radio/CD/tape player, and while it doesn't work either, I think it is simply a matter of needing a new battery. I threw all the old ones out after I had bought a new remote the other night, and got it programmed to run the TV and DVD player together. So last night was movie night at the trailer, watching one of the original Robin Hood movies starring Errol Flynn and Olivia DeHaviland. What a hoot!
   I took a short road trip over to the town of De Land Florida this afternoon. I had passed through it several times before and always wanted to have some time to get out and just wander the streets of the old town section. It was a wonderfully warm afternoon of 70+ degrees so it was fun to walk up and down the streets looking in at small shops, antique stores and old record shops.
   After a couple of hours there, it was on to Mt. Dora, another small town located just west of Apopka. Some pretty scenery along the way, but nothing much else of interest. I'm currently in a McDonalds using their WiFi and drinking ice tea. But I'm starting to float from so much liquid and there are a batch of very noisy cub scouts running all around so I will try to finish this up in the next 20 mins or so and then head back to the trailer for the rest of the evening. It is interesting to note that the new trailer is already starting to feel like home to me.

   In the mean time here are some more photo's from my trip to England last April.

 Contra Dance Week in Ely England - April 7 to 16 - Part III

All of the photo's in this batch are of our first afternoon in Ely, when our leader took us on a short tour of the town and surrounding area.

The school we were all staying in is known as the 'Kings School' and is the very first 'Public' School in Great Britain. It is interesting to me therefor that the school is actually a private school, more along the lines of Eton than your local  school here in the U.S. This photo shows more of the wall that once enclosed the abbey grounds. The building in the foreground is evidently where the local Bishop resides.

Just an everyday house there in England, but likely to be several hundred years older than anything we have here in the U.S. This one may have once been a carriage house for a much larger house in the vicinity.

An old 'Plane' tree.

The Cathedral looms over every view around town and the local area.

A nice view of Rima standing in front of the Octagon Tower. It was under repairs while we were there so we didn't get to go up in it.

Just a view that caught my eye.

A closer view.

Rima and I actually arrived a day earlier than anyone was expecting us... a matter of miscommunication on my part I think. Gwyn our host, and leader did a masterful job of finding us a place to spend the night with some friends he knew, as well as letting us spend a couple of hours, as well as eat lunch, with his 90+ year old mother who lives within walking distance of the school.  It was a wonderful lunch, not only tasty, but full of great conversation.

brk*