More pics of Galatia Property

Southern Illinois Inland Hurricane

Yesterday wasn't a good day and today wasn't much better. First let me say that my family, myself and most of my community are very lucky. We thank the Lord for that and even though we'll have a few difficult days in front of us, it's widely known that it could have been much worse. We experienced what the NWS classified as an Inland Hurricane. We were under a severe thunderstorm warning but who could have known what was coming. We had sustained winds of 109 mph which struck out of nowhere. We worry about tornadoes, never been a need to worry about hurricanes. There was circular motion and you could track the eye of the storm as it moved across Southern Illinois.

As I mention, we are all very lucky. To my knowledge there has only been one reported death related to the storm. We have wide spread devastation in which 4 counties have been declared state disaster areas. The storm followed a major west/east hwy and hit all major municipalities in all 4 counties. 3 of the 4 county seats are still without power some 30 hrs after being hit and projected to remain without power for 3-10 days.

My mother-in-law lives 60 miles west of me. She has two totaled vehicles, a vinyl fence which is destroyed, a few broken windows and a barn which was flattened. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures of her property damage. We were a bit luckier than she was. We have damage to our vinyl fence but not as severe as hers. We have 5 trees down and will start on that clean up tomorrow. Today was spent working at my property in Galatia which is 10 miles west of my home. I knew there was damage but had no idea how much until I pulled up to the property at 7am this morning. I'll be honest, when I saw what was in front of me I burst into tears. Even though I was so very thankful that the house had been spared barring a few shingles the amount of work was just overwhelming. It's a 2 acre property plus the damage we have have on our 3 acres made we want to cut every single tree down to the ground and be done with it. Thanks to my husband, daughter, son-in-law, step brother and sister-in-law for jumping in and helping me out today. What you see in the above pictures has been cleaned up except for removing the large wood which has been stacked and will be saved for camp wood. Not bad for a days work.

It's here and couldn't be happier

Our awning arrived yesterday and we are very pleased with it. Unfortunately it rained all day so we weren't able to take it outside but the sun is shining today. Hopefully my daughter will get back from the St. Louis Zoo with my camera in time for me to take a pic of the rock guard awing in place. The large awning will have to wait as there isn't room to set it up inside the pole barn. Oh well, patience is a virtue.

My new awning was shipped today and it is GORGEOUS!!!

New awnings ordered, Woohoo

Right now I'm so excited I can't hardly stand myself. The other day a member of the USA Vintage Trailer Network generously offered to pass along a deal she had received on a bulk purchase of awning poles. Who would have thought these would go for as much as $27.00 each? After a bit of research we quickly found they do so I jumped on the offer that Marti had made.

During the completion of our transaction I asked if she knew of a good source for online outdoor fabric samples. She hooked me up and I fell hook, line and sinker! Actually I was looking for design inspiration for the Shasta rebuild we are getting ready to start on. I was amazed to find a fabric that will go perfectly with our 1400. Right now we are using a canvas tarp and I've been perfectly happy with it. After discussing it with the husband I found out he's not and that in his mind it was only a temporary fix :) Could this have worked out any better? So I contacted Marti again to see what the price would be for a new awning and rock guard cover in the fabric I had found. What a deal! I can't buy the fabric retail for what she's charging me. This lady rocks and I'm adding her awning blog to my list.

The awning has all the colors in my new cushion material, white, aqua, brown and the best part is silver. You can bet that I'll be posting pics just as soon as it comes in.

Sneak peak of the finished interior

End of winter update, first camping trip in 3 weeks!

Once again it's time for an update. There have been several questions about pictures of the quilts and bags I've made. The fact is I don't have any. At the time I made them I had no idea there would so much interest in them and I was rushed to get them finished. Since that time I decided to take time and make something for myself. This past week I finished a king size quilt for our bedroom. All the sewing is done but I still need to clip the seams then find a washing machine large enough to start the fraying. Once that's done I'll take some pics of it and post them. Maybe we'll have our master bedroom redo done and be able to show a completed project that my husband and I have been talking about doing for the past 4 years.

Actually I have some fantastic news. Our Shasta is almost 100% complete. The galley is finished and all the plumbing is done. After finishing the kitchen I finally confessed to the hubby that I wasn't happy with the cushion covers. Once again he surprised me saying he knew I wasn't and to find something I liked. It didn't take too many minutes for me to find some fabric I love and have it headed to my house. It being on sale for $5.00 a yard helped ease my sense of guilt and yesterday I finished the new covers. They are gorgeous. After I sewed the first set I told myself that if I ever changed them I pay for someone else to make them. Well that didn't happen and this set was much easier and I'm so much happier with the out come. New curtains are next and I'll get started on them in the next few days.

The hubby told me today that I have 3 weeks to get the curtains done. Guess that means our first camping trip is scheduled for then. We have a vintage trailer rally coming up in May and he wants to take the trailer out, test all the plumbing, holding tank, etc. before we head out of state with it. This must also mean that he has 3 weeks to get the screen door built. Once the door is built and the new curtains are up it will be complete. We sent off our door handle for the closet/porti potty room to have it rechromed today and it should be back in 2 weeks. There have been times when I've wondered if this project would ever be finished but we are finally there. It has turned out better than either of us expected and we couldn't be happier with the out come. New pictures have been added to the photobucket album, all you have to do is click on the small pic to the left and you can see how it's turned out.