Laundry Day – 05/04/2021

Laundry day is no different in an RV than in a regular house. Well, maybe there are some differences in how the chores are performed but when you get right down to it, making the bed and doing the laundry are basically the same. Another difference is that I used to have my own washer/drier setup in the house. Some RV’s are so equipped but unfortunately, not mine.

There are a couple of other differences based on size and what type of RV you have. I have a “room” which is a dedicated bedroom with a short Queen size bed in it. It has an attached bathroom which in my case also contains an enclosed shower unit. Everything is self contained but as this is the only bathroom, any overnight guests would also need to use it. There are doors that close off the bathroom entirely for everyone’s privacy. As I am very unlikely to have any overnight guests with no family living close by and too old to be interested in the opposite sex any more, it is all a very moot point. The dogs ignore me anyway as they are well used to my bathroom routines. Even when I need to get up in the night which of course, I always have to do, they just roll over and go back to sleep looking at me as if to say, “Turn the damn light off, will ya’ “.

After the first night of sleeping on this particular mattress, I immediately went out and bought a mattress topper to soften it up a bit which, I might say, has done just that and makes a world of difference. The biggest problem in any RV is the lack of space especially around the bed. (The bedroom at my house is 400 square feet which is almost twice the size of the entire RV). The bedroom is situated in the nose end (or front end) of the RV and the first 18 inches or so, are tucked under the nose cone. With the additional trim and lighting, space is a bit tight and more than once, I have woke myself up from some crazy dream or another to find myself beating the overhead trim boards with my hands. Guess I was fighting off whatever crazy demons were after me in my dream. That’s what happens when you watch horror movies last thing at night or maybe it was watching my favorite soccer team lose… again.

Anyway, the point is that it darn difficult to make the bed on your own. I use fitted sheets which are a bit of a pain to put on even with a bed that you can walk around. On one where it is hard to even reach the top, almost impossible. I have to start at the top end as it just won’t work starting from bottom towards the top. Believe me, I have tried. I ended up pulling the mattress down away from the headboard which by itself, is no easy task as it does not have loops to grab a hold of so that I could reach the top better to tuck in the fitted bottom sheet. If you don’t get the first corner safely tucked in under the mattress, the whole thing pops out when you pull on the opposite side. No, making the bed is a pain in the butt. It’s a big temptation to just say to hell with it and keep the sheets unchanged 3-4 months or so. The dogs would maybe like it smelling that way. Me, I would have to sleep on the floor…

I finally managed to get the base sheet extended over all four corners of the mattress, being very careful not to pull too hard or it would spring undone requiring starting all over again. Who would think that a simple task like making a bed would give you a feeling of accomplishment. I applied the top sheet, added the pillow cases and pushed the mattress back into place. Incidentally, I forgot to mention that the side of the bed opposite the slide out is the one where I have set up steps for the dogs to get on the bed. This also adds to the difficulty of making it. I only use one light blanket and that is mainly to keep the bed clean because the dogs are my bedtime companions. This time of the year, I get a little warm under too many covers even with the A/C kicking in every few minutes. RV’s, by the way, are not built like a house and although they are insulated, they do not hold heat or A/C for very long requiring the constant heating or cooling by mechanical means. Outside weather factors play a big part of the inside conditions and RV’s can heat up very quickly indeed which can cause problems for any unattended pets left inside.

With the bed made except for the blanket which required washing after a week of dogs sleeping on it, I gathered the rest of the laundry and made the trip to the Laundry Room located on site within the park.. This laundry room is very clean and well maintained with excellent machines, four washers and four dryers, There was one other gentleman just finishing loading in his laundry and with a quick, “Hello” he was gone out the door. It was the same gentleman that I encountered the last time I was here so we must be on the same laundry schedule. So far, the couple of times that I have used this in the past, I have not had a problem finding empty machines. Choosing one for the clothes and another for the bed covers, I quickly got them going and returned to the RV with an hour to kill, spent writing this story.

An hour later I needed to return to put the laundry into the dryers. This time, I walked to the Laundry Room which is only a hundred yards away having driven with the heavy load in my laundry bag the first trip. Again, I was the only person in the room although there was one other dryer that was operating, probably from my first acquaintance. Being a little early, I had to wait around for a few minutes until the first machine had finished washing before placing the laundry into the driers and with both machines operating, I walked back to the RV to be greeted by a couple of inquisitive dogs both wondering why they are not included in this particular routine. Dogs are not allowed in the laundry room otherwise I would take the opportunity to walk them. An hour later, spending my interim time writing this blog, I returned this time in the truck and after carefully folding the laundry and cleaning the lint from the dryers, drove back to the RV to continue this narrative. Actually, that is not really true as I took the time to add the blanket back on the newly remade bed and put all of the neatly folded clothes back into their, at least for now, respective drawers and closets. I say for now, as I might well change drawers or closets as I figure out what goes where on a more permanent basis.

It’s amazing just how quickly the time passes during the day. Of course, not getting up very early usually no earlier than 9:00 am and sometimes later than that, some of the day has already passed. The first thing on the agenda is to walk and exercise the dogs. I always head towards the dumpsters in the hope that the dogs will do their business on the trip down the hill and not require an additional trip back to the dumpster to dispose of their poop bags if they happen to do their business on the way back. Most people are very good about picking up after the pets but there are visible signs that not everyone feels this way. Pity as it is hard to deal with another dogs poop and so unnecessary and unthoughtful of the other pet owners. Alas, such is the way of human nature and there are more than the fair share of bad campers.

With the laundry done for another week, I considered what else needed to be done today that I couldn’t put off. Not having anywhere as near the responsibilities like taking care of a house with fish and ponds, has left me in a lazy state of mind. I seem very happy just hanging around and not having to be busy all of the time. Of course there are chores as described above and other things to maintain the RV but they do not happen every day. Instead, I grow lazier and hopefully, not fatter.

I decided to drive back to the “sticks and bricks” as I received notification of yet another Amazon delivery. I just gotta stop buying “stuff”… Turns out it was a good thing that I did as the mailbox was full. I collected a few more small things or at least those that I could remember and after checking on the ponds and cleaning a couple of filters, returned back to the Eagle.

The laundry is done for another week. This blog is almost finished and the dogs need to be taken out for their evening walk. Another day in the life of an eager old man wanting to just sell the bloody house and be done with it.

Written 05/04/2021

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