What the F*%@ was that??!!


Tuesday night at about 10:50 p.m. there was reverberation that went through the floor of the RV.  I had just finished brushing my teeth when it happened.  It wasn't incredibly strong, nor did the RV shift, but we both felt it.  In response to my exclamation, Dave said, "That is the question."  So, we grabbed a flashlight and headed outside.  Dave thought it felt like a shock wave, coming from some distant explosion.  I tend to be a scaredy-pants and was sure the RV was about to topple over.  We saw no evidence of either.  Wednesday I was moving a bit slowly and took my shower around 11:30.  During my shower it happened again.  I quickly finished up, fearing that the whole vehicle would topple over with a naked me inside.  I got dressed and went outside to look once again.  And still, there was nothing obvious.  I decided to take this as a sign that I should re-level Beans, so I jacked up the back end and pulled the jack stand out.  There was no sign of it beginning to fail.  So, I added a bit of height to my stack of wood and set 'er up again.  I checked the other stands as well and they all looked fine.
On my way out of the campground, I stopped by the office to see if anyone else had felt anything.  Nope.  Ray, who was working the desk that day, was at a loss for what it could be.  He didn't think there was anything in the RV that would cause it.  Dave completely agrees.  I, however, the worry-wort that I am, am not as sure.  

The Best Thing


The best thing, so far, about living in an RV is the free flexibility workout.  I was a gymnastics coach in another life, but somewhere along the line I quit moving like that.  In fact, one of the reasons cited to me, by my first real employer, for hiring me was my flexibility. They were starting diorama renovations and the access was tight. And, once in the dioramas, a certain amount of gymnastics was needed to work.  But, after 10 years of being in project management, 3 of those years working from home, and about 9 months recovering from a severely sprained ankle, I've just tightened up.  

(My sprain in June, '10.)

In the RV, I have to bend - alot.  Maybe it's this way in all RVs, but in ours it is.  The bed in the back is a double bed that is not only wedged between two walls, but also has about 1/3 of it blocked at the end by a cabinet.  Plus, I have to crawl into bed and around two little white dogs that seem to take up much more space than they possibly could.  How do dogs grow this way???

Clothes and towels are stored above the bed, so I kneel on the bed to get to them.  To get under or out of the covers, I lie on my back, pull my feet up over my head, and scoot the covers out from under me (or vise-versa.)


We have a narrow walkway from our "living room" through the kitchen/dining to the bathroom.  Whenever Dave is walking through, I sit at the table and pull my legs up onto the seat.  We've both said that we can't gain any weight or we won't fit into the bathroom.


I actually think this is a good thing!  I'd gotten much too sedentary in a big house.  Because of my ankle I'd started pushing up from a seated position with my hands, now my legs aren't as strong as they should be.  I really think that living in Beans will help get me back into some sort of reasonable shape.  Between the flexibility workout and walking the dogs 4 times a day, it's got to help!

The Heat is On


We've officially made it to summer and it seems that the weather now agrees.  Yesterday we got up to 96.  Not nearly as hot as Terlingua (which has been around 112+) but suddenly warmer than it has been.  
Yesterday while eating lunch I heard the familiar sound of water being released onto the carpet.  I nearly hollered at Henry, ready to chastise him for peeing in the RV (especially after having just been out) when I noticed that no dog was where the water was and Henry was sleeping happily on the couch.  Instead, water was leaking from the rooftop air conditioner.  It quickly slowed to a drip, but it was still dripping often.  So, a pot went under the leak and I went online.  I find it an interesting comment on today's society that, with a book on owning an RV that I just bought, sitting 5 feet from me, the first thing I did was go to the internet.  The second was the book.  
Everything I found (both online and in the book) said that it was, in all likelihood) either a plugged drain pan or dirty coils.  So, up on the roof I went.  I took off the plastic shroud and found alot of dirt, but not much that looked plugged.  I did find a scary yellow warning label telling me to disconnect the air conditioner from the power source before servicing.  Nothing I read said that was necessary and I realized that I had no idea HOW or WHERE to disconnect it from the power source.  (I did turn it off before going up top, though.  I'm blonde, but not THAT blonde.)
So, I did what all good girls would do; I called my dad.  He said that I would turn it off at the breaker.  I suppose, now that I think of it, I could just have unplugged the RV.  Wow, that would have been simple.  OK, so maybe I AM that blonde.  
I didn't turn off the power.  Probably not the smartest thing, but I was hoping that the book would have told me to, if it was necessary. 

The book and online help said that I needed to remove a cover from the coils.  I did this, but there was a layer of insulation that had been glued to the metal cover that was now stuck to the housing.  I was a bit leary of removing it for fear of tearing.  But, I got it off without incident.  After that I cleaned up what spooge I found and dusted the fins a bit.  (I couldn't find "coils" per se and I need to learn if the coils are not really exposed and everyone really meant fins or what.) 

I buttoned it all back up, handed the tools down to Dave (who would have helped, but we were concerned about how much weight the roof could hold and I'm still a bit lighter than he is) and down I climbed.  We turned the air back on and the leaking seems to have stopped.  (Fingers crossed!)  We'll see how it goes now.  Today is supposed to be cool, so I may not even turn the air on.  

  

Zippidee-do-dah!


Zip ties, cable ties, whatever you call them, they are useful little strips of plastic!  
When we bought Beans the Roman shades wouldn't work.  I thought it was a problem with the pulleys, but on closer inspection I found that the cord on the back had pulled out, on nearly every shade.  Normally Roman shades have rings on the back in two or more columns, spaced about 8 or 9 inches apart.  Ours only had the cord at the top, going through a grommet, but not connected to the rest of the shade.  So, off I went in search of plastic rings, a spool of thread and a needle.  Of course, I have lots of needles and many, many, many spools of thread, tucked away all safe and sound in our storage locker.  But, needles and thread are easy to find - small plastic rings - not so much.  


I'd looked at fabric stores before.  I'm making Warm Window shades for our trailer in Terlingua and have been looking for the rings (off and on) for awhile.  This time I decided to try Ace Hardware, home of the helpful hardware man (and woman).  But, no rings.  However, our helpful hardware woman took me to the electrical aisle to see what might be there.  She was looking for rings; I saw small zip ties.  I was pretty sure I had my solution; plus, I wouldn't have to hand sew at an awkward angle.  Sure enough, zip ties did the trick!  In about 20 minutes, I had my shades repaired, working beautifully! I didn't even trim the extra plastic off the zip tie - it faces out and I'll never see it.

Miller Time


The threat of foreclosure made her head spin, but she could deal with it.  Finding a place to live and packing a house in 10 days was no sweat.  Choosing what parts of her life to abandon was painful, but doable.  Living in 240 square feet was tight, but didn't drive her to do anything rash.  What may push this blonde girl over the edge?  Miller Moths!!!!!!!!

These pesky little transients congregate by the 10s in the RV.  Hiding during the day, coming out at night, flapping at my ears and eyes.  It's difficult to read, something I do nightly before bed to relax.  It's difficult to watch TV or use the computer due to the shadowy flapping.  And then there's the moth poop.  Yup, moth poop - red splotches decorating many surfaces inside.  Once the migration is over, I'm going to wash the windshield curtains and anything else that comes loose.

The other morning I made my regular cup of tea, using an electric kettle to heat the water.  I poured the ounce extra into the sink of dishes and noticed a miller - dead by boiling.  I promptly poured out my tea, washed my cup and started again.  Dave said that maybe I'd missed ingesting the cure for everything - perhaps millers are good for what ails ya.  But, I couldn't do it.  

I don't have a bug phobia, I'm just tired of being dive bombed while reading.  The migration is late this year.  I hope they all make it to the mountains soon.  Then we have to deal with their return in the fall.  yippee.  The birds, however, love them.

Slipstream


This happened almost two weeks ago, but I really would like to write it down so I remember it.
Dave and I had been at the Cheyenne Frontier Days Old West Museum (where he works) helping out for Kid's Cowboy Fest.  The Cheyenne Airport is across the street, past the park.  As we were leaving, a passenger jet flew over - low, coming in for a landing. It came over the building, it's belly right above our heads, rumbling its way past, landing gear down and disappeared beyond the trees.  In its wake came the sound.  Across the cloudy sky a noise, like someone shaking a piece of mylar or thin aluminum all around me, amplified by some cosmic speaker with the most amazing stereo.  The sound bounced, from south to north and back, like an alien racket ball being hit back and forth in a celestial four-walled court, above the grey, low clouds.  It only lasted a few moments, perhaps 15 seconds.  And then it was done.  I looked at Dave, "slipstream" he said.  I don't imagine I'll ever hear anything like that again.  I hope I can keep the image and sound in my head.  It was fantastic.

Waste Not, Want Not


While I don't think that old adage is entirely correct, I do think it is truth at its core.  Living in an RV I'm learning how truly wasteful we Americans are.  (Me in particular.)  As I walk the dogs around the campground, I look at how folks have their rigs set-up, particularly those who live here now, and appear to have been living here for quite some time.  Most people have an external 100 lb propane tank.  We are, at present, utilizing what was in our 40 lb tank when we pulled in.  It never entered my head to fill it before we parked.  (When we drove ol' Beans up here, I was barely able to think of anything except, hooray!  we've found a place to live.)


Our campground host has told me that we can add an extended stay valve to our tank (which is integral to the motorhome so we can't pull it off and fill it) and then lease a 100 lb tank from him for $25 for as long as we are here.  I may do that, once I get a better feel for how long we will be here.  In the meantime, we use propane to cook and to heat the water.  While we have easy access to fuel, we are living like RVs, not like home owners.  The hot water gets turned on in the morning for showers and then it gets turned off.  No need to heat water that isn't being used.  And, even though we are hooked up to municipal water, we turn off the shower head while washing hair or ourselves.  


I must confess to running the air-conditioner alot.  In my mind it's because of the dogs.  An RV lacks a significant amount of insulation, even compared to the 34 year old house we moved out of.  We didn't have air there, not even a swamp cooler.  We did have a whole-house fan, which was nice once the temperature dropped in the evening.  But, during the day, we drank cold beverages and sometimes went out into the backyard pool I'd set up.  


We don't turn the heat on at night, even though it gets chilly.  We are toasty under the covers, and if we did feel cold, we have two Bichons to warm us with their thermonuclear reactor bodies.  


We will be billed for electricity.  It flows readily into the RV, but I want to practice for when we are in Terlingua and our power comes from the sun and is stored in a bank of batteries.  I'm learning to live small.  It's an adjustment.

Whiny, but...


I reread (and edited) yesterday's post.  I sure sound like a whiner.  I was really just trying to point out that tasks which were quick in the house, take longer in the RV.  I'm glad I work from home.  Otherwise, this would be very difficult with the dogs.  Poor Bailey has little room.  The other guys are about 20 lbs. each, don't shed and can get up on the furniture.  Bailey is closer to 50 lbs. (though she's lost weight as she's gotten older) she sheds (sort of, she's lost hair too) and she has arthritis.  Even if we were willing to let her on the furniture (which I've considered) she's never been allowed before and I don't know that she would make the change, plus, she can't jump like she used to.

We've been going to the dog park in Fort Collins weekly.  They love it and it's good for them to run around and burn off energy.  But, it's 20 miles away.  Tomorrow we go to the vet to get the necessary vaccinations so we can join a private dog park in Wellington, a mere 3 miles away.  Then we'll get to run more often.


Today I'm going to Cheyenne to work on my wrap-up notebook for the exhibit I project manage.  I need a space to spread out.  I was going to look for an office to rent, but I only need it for 2 weeks.  Dave's boss offered to let me use a spare desk. I accepted.  At the end of the month, I'll re-evaluate.  

Speed Queen


Everything takes longer living in an RV. (Even typing, my space key is a bit stuck and most times I have to back up to correct the ensuing mistake.)


I've learned, in my less than two weeks here, that I spend a lot of time doing things that I either put off in the house or didn't worry about.  For instance, we're living in about 240 square feet.  I've watched House Hunters, I know that in NYC, that's a common size for an apartment, but I moved from a 2100 square foot house.  In here I must clean up after every meal.  No dishwasher waiting to hold the dirty dishes until I'm ready to wash.  


We turn on the water heater about 15 minutes before we're ready to shower.  I must say, I'm very impressed by how far the 6 gallons go.  I don't think there's a temperature lock out, like at the house.  When the hot water comes out of the tap, it's HOT!  And, the heater is well insulated.  It stays hot for hours afterwards.  


I have yet to organize all of what I brought.  When I loaded things for the RV, I looked at everything individually, not in aggregate.  Consequently, I have too many things.  One day, I will have the time and the inclination to look at all my things and pack up some to store for our future home.  But until that time, I must look for items below the seats, or in the poorly organized cabinet.


My day starts with the alarm Dave has set so he can be to work on time.  (5:30!  I'm used to  getting up when I awake and then taking the 15 steps to my office to go to work.)  Then, I lie in bed until he gets his breakfast done.  I offered to walk the dogs in the morning, since he has to actually go somewhere for work.  Once he is settled, I get dressed and take the pups out to pee.  Henry, our newest, is a bit insane.  We've had him for about 3 mos.  He had little exposure to a leash, or even the inside of a house.  He's getting better, but he's still a handful, even though he's about 20 lbs. Our walks are full of tugs, twists and braiding of leashes.  


After our morning walk, I make my morning tea and maybe make my breakfast while Dave is showering.  After he leaves, I start getting myself ready for the day.  At the house, we had three bathrooms and only two people.  Plenty of opportunity for us both to get ready at the same time.  Plus, while our kitchen wasn't huge, it was definitely a two butt kitchen.  I think now we have a 1/2 butt kitchen.


After I get ready, I take the dogs on another walk.  By now it's about 9:30.  We're out for 15 - 20 minutes - sniffing, squirting and hopefully pooping.  Bailey, our old girl at 13 yrs. 8 mos., won't do her business on the leash, so I have to go to an area where I can safely (I hope) let her off.  Henry is a maniac.  He runs around me, tying me up, trying to get Rudy to play.  He's distracted by everything.  He's fabulous, but he really tries my patience in the mornings.  I know that they are already experiencing cabin fever, but sometimes I wish they could understand the situation and be calm about it, doing their business and then coming back in.


We must do dishes after every meal.  I know, many folks already do that, but I used to put them in the dishwasher until it was ready to run.  Then I'd let it do the work.


Laundry takes a committed time period.  The campground has a fine little laundry, but, unlike at the house, I can't put a load in, go out and come back to move it.  Here I must plan to be around and engaged for a couple of hours while it washes, then is moved, and dried. In the house, I carried my full hamper downstairs.  It wasn't that far to go.  Here, I have to carry a full duffle about 100 yards.  Seems simple enough, but it gets heavy. Plus I need to have the money and the laundry detergent.  I've chosen to drive.  I know, it seems silly, but that's the way it is.  I wish I'd brought that wagon.  


Cooking takes longer too.  Instead of reaching into a cabinet for the proper tool, I must pull out tubs to get to another tub and then dig through said tub to find what I want.  Then, I have to put it all back.  All this for a spatula so I can flip my egg.  


I could not have a job and be occupied all day with the tasks involved in living in the RV.  Dog walks four times a day, cleaning up everything when it happens, laundry, going to fetch some little item I ran out of, but can't stock a supply of.  I must consider all of this while planning my day.  

Cleaning House


As I've mentioned, I now live in a motorhome - with three dogs and a husband.  I needed a vacuum - a tiny, tiny vacuum.  The motorhome came with a hand held dirt devil.  I thought that I'd give this a try.  


A couple of days after moving in, I decided to see what I could store under the seats in the dinette.  As I opened one side, I noticed light coming in.  The dinette is above the wheel-well and there was a small gap in the sealant.  I knew that I'd have to fix that.  Then I saw it, the medium brown fur, gone flat, and the tiny turds.  Yup, a mouse had crawled into the space at some point and died.  (Later I found the mouse killer that had been placed there as well.)  With a pair of nitrile gloves and a plastic bag, I cleaned up the mouse, but I needed to vacuum the mouse poop up.  I live in an area where Hanta Virus lives.  It's important to be careful when cleaning up mouse poop.  


I pulled out the little Dirt Devil, turned it on, attempted to vacuum.  Worthless.  I threw the Dirt Devil away.  


So much for cleaning up the mouse poop. 


After a bit of quick internet sleuthing, though, I found the perfect thing.  A Dyson City, a very small canister vac.  

It's perfect!  That's my ipod next to it.  It cleaned up the mouse poo (and a week's worth of dog hair and dirt) in nothing flat.  Now it lives under the seat, ready to attack errant fuzz, sand and even miller moths!

Re-Entry


Yesterday I went back into the house.


The day before I'd stopped by to get a garden wagon that I'd abandoned in the shed on the side of the house.  I thought that I could use it at the campground to transport laundry to the washing machines here.  We'd left stuff on the driveway, with the plan to call for Habitat to pick it up, but the pouring rain that night made that unreasonable.  All of that was gone, the driveway was completely clear.  The wagon had been taken from the shed.  I went around back to see about another wagon that was in the backyard shed.  The scene in the backyard was truly bizarre.  I'd put a garden fence up to make two yards, one for the garden and one for the dogs.  There had been a double chain link gate in it.  This gate was pushed over, completely on the ground, like someone had driven over it.  There was no access to that side of the yard, except through those gates.  I have no idea how it happened.  And, there was nothing in that area to drag over those gates.  Also, a screen was pulled off of one of the windows.  A friend told me that there had been really strong winds, and I guess that's possible, but I just can't quite wrap my brain around it, even with the thought that someone was trying to break into the house.  


Yesterday I was talking with our insurance company when they suggested renter's insurance.  I was asked if I had any jewelry.  I told her no, which I don't, put it made me think about my old jewelry box, which housed personal treasures.  I had no recollection of packing it up.  I decided I needed to go back into the house.  I still have a key.  


I arrived and looked nervously around.  I have a real aversion to breaking the rules.  And, while I've never received anything from the bank, the lawyers or the county telling me that I couldn't go into the house after June 8, the bank now owns it and I have no idea when it's sale will actually happen.


My neighbors were having a garage sale.  That made my car less obvious.  (Though a screaming yellow Xterra is obvious no matter what.)  As I entered I noticed a slight smell.  Nothing terrible yet, but it will be soon.  I've had the power turned off.  We didn't empty the fridge.  At some point, it will begin to really stink.  I debated emptying all of the food into one of the garbage cans we'd left in the garage, but decided that I wanted to spend as little time as possible in the house.  So, upstairs I went.  My jewelry box was not there.  I'm certain no one has been in the house.  So, I must have packed it.  I have absolutely no memory of it.  


What I did find, however, was my portfolio for work!  I went looking for it in my office stuff for my interviews.  (More on that later.)  I couldn't believe that I didn't grab it, but there it was, sitting on a shelf.  That came with me.  As did a few other items that we'd overlooked.  


Now I've walked away.  I plan never to go back to that house save one more time, in August, when the small Gambels Oak that I grew from an acorn, should have acorns of it's own.  I plan on collecting as many as I can and starting a new generation of trees. 

Week #1 is done


Well, we've been in the RV for a week now.  It took me nearly that long to get it leveled.  We really didn't have a clue as to how to go about it, but thanks to a nice guy here at the Wellington KOA, we're level and I have a working refrigerator.  Yippee!!!  Grabbing my milk out of the cooler every morning and running to get ice every afternoon was getting a bit old.

Today was the first day that we were able to take showers in the RV.  The shower stall caulk was old and the walls were separating from the floor pan.  The walls are super slick, so I was hesitant to use silicone.  (I sculpt and I've used it alot for making moulds.  I know that it will peel off of certain plastics, like the lids of yogurt containers.)  So, I tried Lexel - nope - that peeled right off.  I contemplated Big Stretch, but it's not intended for shower usage.  I finally ended up being a good girl, scraping all the old caulk and using a 1 hour shower ready caulk.  (Though with our lack of humidity, we needed to wait 8 hours.)  But, this morning it was all fine and we both bathed "at home".  It works fine, though it certainly isn't a home bathroom.  (I also had to buy a caulk gun.  Dave says he packed up about 5, which are now in storage.  So, we have a 6th.  Maybe one day we'll set up a Cabinet of Curiousities full of caulk guns.)


I'm trying to learn about living in an RV.  Basic things, really.  Like, should you keep the the sewage in the holding tank until it's full and then empty.  That's what my dad says, and I have NO doubt that that's the best approach, but is that the way it's done, period?  What exactly is winterizing an RV?  If I live here in Beans (the RV) into the fall or winter, what do I need to do?  I'm searching for blogs, websites, books, etc. to help me with that.  


Now, off to use that nice shower.  Then I'll work on catching up the past week.

Gone Mobile, as it were

We've made it out of the house.  It was both a long and short two weeks.  

It's amazing what "stuff" you decide is important when you have a short amount of time to chose and only limited space.  I had imagined that we would sort, trash, donate and save items, leaving the house like we had just sold it, instead having it foreclosed upon, but nope, no time or mental energy to do that.  We left ALOT.  I learned that very little is irreplaceable.  And there is much I owned, had carefully saved for decades, that in the end, I just didn't really care that much about.  

I've worked in museums for over 20 years, and I couldn't help but think about the archaeology of our house.  What someone would learn by "digging" through what we left.  I know that the reality is that some company will come through and toss virtually everything into a dumpster.  It was quite surreal, walking through the house as we locked it up to leave.  I thought that this must be what it feels like to live somewhere as a fire approached - told you have 12 -24 hours to evacuate, so choose what you want to save and go.  Our only difference is that we had a moving van.  

Speaking of moving vans, my middle niece helped us out for 4 days.  Without her, we never would have made it with half of what we wanted to take.  (She also rescued items for herself.)  She's got a natural talent for packing a truck!  She's helped us with a couple of small exhibit projects before, but this isn't something she learned - though she does credit years of playing Tetris.

We've been in the RV for 3 days now and we have yet to level it, so no fridge, but otherwise, we have power, water and a functioning toilet.  The shower stall needs to be caulked still, so we shower at the office area.  When we arrived Wednesday night, we had about 30 minutes before a heck of a thunderstorm rolled through.  It poured, hailed, flashed and booms all night.  In the morning, a tub I had outside with some plants in it had about 3" of water in it.  The ground was marshy, but our lovely RV (named Beans, so when she and our Terlingua trailer are together they will be Frank and Beans) was nice a dry.  Yippee!

Yesterday I got us some internet.  The campground has free wifi, but it's unsecured and I'm not very comfortable with that.  So I got Virgin Mobiles mifi, which allows 5 devices to be connected to a modem that is the size of a thick credit card.  It's amazing, and while I have not tried to watch a video on it, it seems to be pretty good.

Hopefully I will catch up on the past few days in the next few days.  Things have been a bit overwhelming and busy, but I've begun to sleep again, so that's a good sign.

T- Minus 40 hours


We're getting down to the wire here on getting out of our house.  We'll be leaving ALOT of stuff behind.  In the before time, if I'd even paid any attention, I would be amazed at how people left their houses when they had to leave due to foreclosure.  Now I get it.  I'm sure they, like us, agonized for months over what decision to make - stay or go.  We went back and forth until about two weeks ago, when we realized that we could never fully save the house, so we had to leave.  It's amazing to me how much stuff we have.  I knew we had a lot, but we have a deadly amount.  And, we've kept things in very little sense of order.  Consequently, we are having to organize, purge and pack all at the same time.  Priorities shift.  What was important a few years ago, no longer is.  


When the tornadoes hit Joplin and other places earlier this year, I looked at the images and imagined the lives of those affected - everything is gone.  In a way, that would be nice, to have the decisions made for me, but the reality is I need to go through this, make my own decisions.  Choose what I will keep and what I will let go away.  It gets easier by the hour.

A Busy Couple of Days


Two days ago we secured our new home.  She's a 1991 Granville Debonair.  I thought we'd get her in the morning and then have the afternoon to prepare for the garage sale the next day.  Nope.  Didn't work that way.  I guess I really wasn't surprised.  Everything always takes so much longer than expected.  I went to get our PO Box in the morning then stopped at the campground to reserve a spot.  When I got there they were having a birthday party for one of the employees.  The campground culture is super nice, at least it is here.  They invited me for coffee (which I politely refused, since I can't stand the stuff) and for cake and treats.  I did indulge in a small pastry, but otherwise left them to their celebration since I needed to get back home.  


We then went after the RV.  The folks we bought it from had it all cleaned out, save a few items for us to choose from.  I kept the bed linens, since we don't have those sized sheets, but otherwise, we left it all with them.  I then remembered that we needed to get insurance on it, so I called Geico, the carrier we have on the trailer parked on our property.  Apparently they don't offer a full-timers policy on motorhomes.  I found this very odd, since we have a location policy on Frank the trailer.  Anyway, it took us about two hours to secure insurance, then I dropped Dave off at the RV to drive it home and I went to the DMV for plates.  When I got there, the woman at the check-in desk thought we'd only be able to get temporary tags, since the emissions test that was in the RV had been used for the previous owners' plates.  After about an hour's wait, it was my turn and we lucked out.  It seems that the campground we're staying at is just outside the area that requires emissions!  I was so happy.  I had imagined that we would have to take the RV up there, then at some point unhook and take it to the emissions test facility.  


We opted to take the RV (which REALLY needs a name) up to the site that night, getting it out of the way here while we garage sale and pack.  I loaded it up with some stuff and then Dave suggested we take it for a drive, so we all piled in and headed out.  The dogs loved it!  Henry spent most of the drive on the back of the couch, looking out the window.

Our drive took us to the motorcycle store, where we parked our big motorhome to go pick up my new jacket.  After we got out back to road, Dave asked if I wanted to drive it, so, with a few nerves, I did.  I drove it home.  It was a lot less scary than I imagined it would be.  


Then yesterday we garage-saled it.  We sold quite a bit of stuff, really nearly giving much of it away.  It was painful, but it's better than storing it all again.  We really plan to have our storage locker for only 4 - 6 months.  Then we will either be in Cheyenne or Terlingua. And we won't be having stuff sitting in storage for 7 years.


After the sale, my brother and sis-in-law (who came up on their bikes to check out the garage sale and help out with stuff) and I went for a motorcycle ride.  I hadn't gotten much time on the bike since Dave uses it for commuting to Cheyenne.  We rode up to the RV, where I picked up my new jacket (which I'd stored there, thinking I wouldn't be riding until we'd moved.)  It was a really nice ride and the jacket is amazing!  I barely feel like I'm wearing one.  


Now we're on to packing and loading.  Wee haa!

Editing Memories


We are moving into the, as yet unsecured, RV.  So, we definitely need to pare down our belongings.  And, we have ALOT of belongings.  Both of us collect; not like stamps or coins, but we collect stuff.  Dave gathers things to use in art making.  I gather things for crafting/art making.  Much of it is non-traditional, all of it takes up a great deal of space.  I find as I go through my boxes, boxes, incidently, that may not have been opened since we packed up our last house seven years ago, that I have memories tucked away in those boxes.  Memories that have been jogged as I search through the layers of pens, papers, toys I'll never again play with and for which I have no recipient if I wanted to give them away, I find keepsakes that I can't bear to part with.  Today I found a Doan's Pill canister with a slit in the top that I used to store game markers.  Aside from the fact that they don't make Doan's Pills anymore, I keep it because my grandmother gave me the canister.  My grandmother died 30 years ago.  Other memories I toss away.  A photo album of me and an ex-boyfriend.  I pull out a few pictures of me, but I don't need this anymore; I didn't even remember it existed.  I also find a drawing, done by my elementary school art teacher.  It's in chalk, on a long sheet of black construction paper.  It's Scrooge and two waifish looking children.  For the past 6 months or so, I've thought about this drawing, wondering what happened to it.  I found it a couple of days ago, in our storage locker, rolled in a mailing tube with posters from work - memories of exhibits I have worked on.  They now live in the landfill with many other edited memories and I wonder if someone will find them in a few hundred years, when they do a dig at the landfill to see what our society was like.

My How Time Flies When...


We rejoin our story.

So, apparently I'm not very good at this; the blogging on a regular a basis thing, that is.

It's 4 something in the morning and I'm awake. Not wide awake, mind you, but definitely not sleeping, awake.

Our lives are taking an unexpected turn. Foreclosure. I never would have imagined it - that I would be about to lose my house due to non-payment. I'm sure many folks these days feel the same way.

We are down to one week before we must vacate the premises. I was gone for a couple of weeks in May packing up the exhibit I work on, getting it out of the museum, onto trucks and back to storage. Leading up to that we'd decided to try and save the house, but as we approached the sell date, we became increasingly uncomfortable with that scenario. My contract ends at the end of June. I have no guarantee that it will be renewed, and if it is, it won't be at the current rate, at least for several months. We'd spend all of our retirement to save the house, only to lose it in another six month.

Nope, we're off to live in... well, that's the question, really. During the past year, Dave got a job at a museum 50 miles from here. We can't just pack up and go off to Terlingua right now, though I'm very tempted to do it myself. So, it looks like we are off to a KOA campground in an as yet unpurchased, RV.

Meanwhile, here I sit, with not enough sleep, typing when I should be packing. I'm hoping there will be a therapeutic effect.