Day 34 & 35 - Poop Snakes, Swedish Meatballs & Feeding Shanti

Much like a stationary house we have a shower and two toilets. That's one toilet more than we had in our home! We also have a full kitchen with a residential refrigerator, three burner stove, and an oven. The fridge, stove, and oven are pretty easy to maintain. It's the plumbing that needs extra attention. We have full hook-ups, meaning electric (50 amp), water, and sewer. The water is hooked up with a drinking safe hose, the electric is hooked up with a surge protector first (life saver!), then a 50-amp cord, and the sewer... well... that gets what we call a poop snake. We have 4 tanks total for holding used water; two grey tanks that are for the kitchen sink, bathroom sinks, and the shower, and two black tanks which are for the toilets. We have 4 different pulls to empty the tanks. You always empty your black tank, then your grey so the cleaner water can clean your poop snake hose of the fecal matter. When hooking up and unhooking the poop snake it is recommended to use gloves so if anything spills you are not getting it on your skin. Great best practice. We have watched multiple people put their gloves on, handle their poop snake, and then KEEP THEIR GLOVES ON while they pack up other things. One guy opened his truck doors, opened the storage containers, touch everything including their pants and pockets. It really defeats the purpose of eliminating cross contamination. It is comical to us, and now you are a little more educated on RV things.

The transition from poop snake to dinner isn't a graceful one, but here I go. Alanna and Brandon made Swedish meatballs over egg noodles for dinner last night, and it was delicious. I love that we are getting creative in the kitchen. For dinner tonight we went out for BBQ at Bedlam BBQ - so good! The bartender was so very intrigued with my maiden last name. I have changed my last name on everything, yet my credit cards still say Golebiewski.  I guess Polish is exotic in Oklahoma.

Since we arrived at OKC we have been talking about going to the zoo. There was a baby elephant born in January, and they have to be adorable. We planned on going Saturday, tomorrow, but our plans changed so quick with getting the spot in Colorado that we are now leaving tomorrow and not going to be able to go. I knew if we (I) didn't go to the zoo we (I) would have regrets. So, today we went! We got there just in time to feed Shanti, a Rhinoceros! She is 35 years old, and she was precious. I was so excited I almost cried! And the baby elephant was so playful with his branches. My heart! Brandon interacted with the Mountain Lion as the exchanged growls. We even saw a little bit from home with the Bison and the Flamingos from Cheektowaga! This zoo is one of our favorites so far. These animals are taken care of so well, their enclosures are amazing, and as Brandon noticed, bathrooms were abundant! The only thing that would have made our trip better is if it wasn't over 90 degrees! But we had a blast. Enjoy the photo dump at the end!

Things we learned:

• The thermostats for the garage and living room were switched. We fixed them and the climate in here is much better.
• Even if you eat nothing but lettuce, you could still be large and powerful. Learned that from the Rhino and Elephants!
• Homeschooling requires field trips too so create your own!

Much Love & Happy Times,

The Blackshire's