OMG, It's true...I have turned into my mother!

Really, it's true. Do you have any idea how many years I've tried not to be like her? My mother and I were not close until a couple of years before her death in my mid twenties. I hadn't been around her much between my junior high years and early twenties. It was the typical middle daughter syndrome. My older sister was the beauty queen, my youngest sister was the smartest student in her class and was advanced two years in school so that she graduated when 16 and got a free ride to college due to her SAT score. It was hard to be average.

So...it's ironic that I've turned out to have the most in common with her. The older sister owns her own salon in Dallas and the younger one is an HS advanced math teacher. Neither one of them have grown or harvested a thing in their lives. They certainly haven't canned anything which leads me to toady's entry.

I'm canning, freezing, pickling..maybe I've pickled my brain???? Six years ago you couldn't have drug me into a vegetable garden and now I'm giving advice to my friends. Have I grown old and not realized it? If only my grandmother and mom could see me now!

Actually I know that it's my husbands influence and the fact that I'm not working full time. Let me tell you, if I were still working 12 hr shifts I'd be buying my veggies and fruits off the grocery shelf. Since I'm not I've been spending this last week putting up fried apples, green beans, and corn. I'll be doing cream style corn tomorrow and start on my peppers and okra. We've been growing jalapenos and okra for several years but this will be the first year that I pickle any. It's also the first year we have grown banana peppers and I'll give those a try also.

Highs and Lows

Well, I guessed right. This past month has been hectic, not much work has been done on the campers. The month has been filled with highs and lows. The high is that my son's wedding went off without any problems. It was a beautiful event and the reception was very nice and a lot of fun.

The low side is that my father is back in the hospital and has now been there for 15 days. It was very difficult and stressful at first because he wasn't doing well at all and I didn't know if I would be able to make the trip to Chicago for the wedding. After being in there for 3 days he started showing improvement and we decided to go ahead and make the trip. He had a relapse over this past weekend but is now eating again and seems to be improving. Unfortunately during a conversation with one of his therapist this morning it led him to believe that he would be released tomorrow. After conferring with his doctor we found out that this information was incorrect and he would be in there for at least a couple more days if not another week. Dad is not going to take this well and tomorrow will not be a good day for any of us.

On the up side, Mark has been able to put in a few hours work on our 1400. We were not able to locate the correct window to replace where the previous owner had cut the window frame to install a window unit so we located two windows to replace the large one that was damaged. Come to find out we had a leak in the area between the two replacement windows and damaged some of the new birch we had installed. The leak was found, repaired and new birch installed. The best part is that I now have three new cabinets. One large one in the back of the trailer and two smaller ones on the side. As I spent three weeks inside this trailer earlier in the summer without any storage this improvement is huge. He doesn't have the doors built yet and I think he is going to start on the bathroom wall first. This is fine with me as I just want it finished. We have a huge camping weekend planned for Columbus Day with all the kids, their families and my sister and her family planning on joining us. As long as my Dad continues to improve and I can keep Mark out of the garden then I should have a completed trailer for this trip.

Here's a few shots of the wedding, the garden (my husbands second love) and my new cabinets.

Shasta Twenty Update

Unfortunately we haven't had the time to actually work on either of our Shasta's this past month. August isn't looking any better as we have the wedding this month. We returned from our last camping trip the first week of July and Mark just got the Twenty parked back behind the garage and the 1400 back into the pole barn.

I'm back on the schedule at work but that hasn't stopped me from doing a bit of on-line shopping :) On the way to my house is a set of 42" wings for the Twenty. They will have to be rebuilt but what doesn't on these trailers. Cannot tell you how excited I am about this. It is very obvious where the wings once were and it looks naked without them. The paint is very bright and shiny where they use to be and it just makes me happy all over to know that I have wings to put back on her.

Also on the way is two replacement globes for the light over the sink and the ceiling light in the bathroom. Both lens covers for the 12v lights in the main cabin have cracks in them. Honestly, it isn't really noticeable unless you look closely but it bothers me. So...I've found one and will keep looking for the other one. There are also some sconces I'm keeping my eye on.

It's very difficult for me not to get too wrapped up in this project. We won't start working on her till next year and I want to start shopping for fabric. This is a mistake I made on my 1400 and won't do that again. I won't commit to an interior fabric scheme till new paint is on the trailer. Realistically this may not be for another two years. When we decided to buy this trailer it was with the plan to make it a 2 or 3 year project. There is hail damage on one side of the trailer so we will be replacing all the side skin.

We still have a lot of unanswered questions in regard to our Twenty. We are looking at this trailer as long term. It needs to be designed where it will be an easy set up at a local campground but also be capable to boondock for up to a month at a time. If we can't take it to the ranch in Colorado for as long as we want without electricity then it isn't worth investing a bunch of money in. So...we'll be researching generators, batteries, gas and solar panels. How we'll be able to incorporate these items into our vintage trailer and not be able to see that it's been modified is an issue for us. It isn't that I'm a purist and have to keep it completely original but I would like it to appear as original as possible.

Not a blogger nerd!

Well, I found out today that I do not belong in the blogger nerd club. Since I have to work till 1 pm today and I'm bored (at work) I thought I'd check out the blog (hoping that I would remember the user name and password). When I logged on it took me to an area that said I had four comments waiting to be approved (they were from weeks ago), sorry girls...I didn't know.

Obviously, I need to pay more attention while I'm on my laptop. Gosh, I just really don't want to have to go through the log-in process each time so that pc's set to remember me.

Anyway, thanks for the comments on Dad and the girls. We are cautiously optimistic about Dad right now. He didn't use the wheelchair at all yesterday but he is still so very frail. He has now made the comment "This isn't anyway to live" several times. It's in God's hands as to how long he'll be with us. If his time is up I just wish God would go ahead and take him and not make him go through this. I lost my father-in-law in May from cancer but thankfully it was fast, to look at him you'd have never known he was sick. Unfortunately that's not the case with my Dad and it just breaks my heart.