gulf of Mexico, 1.29.2020

So after several Winters in Florida, I at last got to the Gulf.  

around sunset.

I win!!!

I'm going home and maybe paddle around the lake, or maybe curl up with a fan and a good book.  It's done. 

Ok, not completely.  I still have to take a bunch of stuff to the flea market, and a bunch to the dump.  My new unit has a long long list of projects attached to it, with room to work and all materials where they belong. All the things fit in their assigned places.

And everything I'm keeping (and some things I'm not) is out of the old unit.  Everything that's still in there is going away. Phase one, mission accomplished.

Some Stuff Goes Smoothly, Other Stuff Not So Much.

Tuesday, I discovered that the shelving I had ordered for the curbside door area would not work at all. So, instead of installing shelving, I did a return and searched every local store possible for an alternative that would work. I had specific items to store in that location and wanted them accessible from both inside and outside the van.

Eventually, I realized I would have to build it myself, and the result would be better than off-the-shelf shelves ever could have been. I bought plywood, had it ripped down to the widths I needed, and texted my friend in hopes of borrowing a sander. I have tools, but not all the tools.

Yes, he had a belt sander! Even better, he said I could work in the shade of his carport with his help on Thursday.

On Thursday, I showed up at his carport with all my measurements and ideas and got to building. We got it all done, in place, and secured by the end of the day, and it fits and works wonderfully.

Here are pictures of work in progress.

My van was once a handicap bus, so the entrance is where the passenger seat would normally be. It's very tight and was always awkward when carrying anything in or out. Now, the items that have to be removed often—water, laundry, cooler, shower bag—are on the new shelves, and I can just open the side door and grab what I need.

I bought curtain rods, so today, while resting up from moving the library, I worked on curtains. To my great pleasure, I had exactly enough fabric for all of them!

That Van Redo I Keep Mentioning

I've had this van since 2019, and it's been rearranged quite a lot—it's always a work in progress. I used to have the bed across the wheel wells with a lot of storage in the back, but not much space in the living area. This accommodated my folding kayak. Last year, a friend and I completely redid my cargo trailer, and the boat lives there now.

​I was totally fed up with my cot-width bed, so it was time to start a major redo. Rearranging required me to have a place to sleep while doing the work, a place to put my things out of the weather, and a friend with muscles, tools, and a willingness to help. The old bed and loft needed to come out and a new bed built. In February, the stars aligned and all of that came together. The new bed is standard twin width and sits across the far back. There's storage below it, as well as in a storage step forward of the bed.

​The next project was a closet. I thought I would have to build one from scratch, but I found a bamboo clothes rack on Amazon that fit perfectly with only minor adjustments.

​So that part of the van had been redone and decluttered to a level I can live with—but forward of that, chaos still reigned.

 I had redesigned it in my head enough to know what I wanted, but again, the same van-life issues applied: where do you put things while rearranging and building?

Before I moved a lot of stuff into the new storage unit, I took a week to do the front of the van. On Monday, everything came out from the front area except the freezer and battery bank. Cleaning happened. I put the desk in place and screwed crates together to make shelves next to it. The fit was perfect. I had ordered a six-drawer bamboo bureau that matched my closet, and I assembled it. I put my things away in the drawers and on the shelves. It was one of those days where timing, measurements, and everything just lined up perfectly, and voilà! The driver's side was DONE!

i have since removed the spider web of bungees in favor of more aesthetically pleasing methods of keeping stuff in place while traveling.

I moved the library!

Today I'm staying in camp, enjoying the excellent weather and catching up on a few things—like the blog. Since my last post, I've mostly finished the van redo and moved the library, so where to start?

​In the old storage unit, books were on bookshelves, on wooden crates stacked as shelves, and tucked into odd nooks and crannies. Four of those crates hold up the desk box at desk height, so I emptied and moved them last week, then spent the rest of the week working on the van.

​This week, I spent Monday afternoon making sure the area in the new unit was ready for the library to move in. Yesterday (Tuesday), I got an early start: emptying shelves, moving shelves, and sorting and arranging books. I discovered I am about eight books shy of a complete Louis L'Amour set, and I found about that many duplicates to put in the "go away" pile, along with a decent number of other books.

​I also set up a whole shelf of books to read. I'll take a few at a time in the van when I leave here, read them, and either pass them on or put them in their proper category back in storage.

​I have a platform cart on wheels that's great for moving totes. It's an old leftover from my merchandising days, but still highly useful—except that after moving my stuff across the rough pavement between storage units, the rubber on the wheels is completely worn out. I hope I can replace them.

​Anyway, the entire library is moved.  Looking back at the stack of empty totes, I realized I even have extra shelves left over—a rare victory in any storage reorganization. To wrap things up, I leaned some wall art along the tops of the highest shelves, snapped a couple of pictures to mark the progress, and finally called it a day.

I have a crafting space, and progress.

This is the old unit.  Ugh. 

​I took one horribly hot day off, then put the rest of the "furniture" in place in the new unit. I have what used to be a large camp kitchen. It no longer goes to my Rendezvous camp, but it has shelves, drawers, and a drop-down work surface. It gets to stay. Also moved to the new space is a desk box, which was custom-made for me by a woodworker friend who is no longer with us back when I had my travel trailer. It is heavy, and it's waiting for help to be lifted onto the bookcase boxes it will sit on.

​Next, I moved Craft Supplies. That was relatively easy because they mostly stay, in keeping with the purpose of setting up a crafting space. I designated two shelf units for supplies and filled them. Anything else that comes in means something else has to leave. I am certain that I will be able to get rid of some individual fabric and yarn, but I cannot take the time to sort down to that level right now.

​Why so much? I sew. I knit, crochet, and attempt to spin. I work with leather. I do beadwork, pine needle basketry, and cartonnage. I dabble in dot painting. And I still have porcupine quills because even if I decided I really wouldn't do any more of that, Goodwill wouldn't know what to do with them.

​I'm excited to finally be about to have space to actually use this stuff. And yes, some stuff did go in the "go away" pile.

​The other major category was clothing. I found four tightly packed bins of aspirational (aka too small) clothing—stuff I used to fit in and stuff I used to really like, because I have sorted before and this is the cream of the crop. Still, I binned up enough to go away that now I have two loosely packed bins left, and I'll make another pass through those before I recruit help getting them to the top shelf.

​Does anyone remember Gunne Sax dresses? They were so beautiful! I have one I used to wear every chance I got, about 40 lbs ago.

​I did save my china—it's one small tote, just the few pieces I saved from my great-grandmother's extensive set, which I used daily in RVs but not in my current rig. Because someday when I can't drive anymore, or if I have an RV again, I will definitely use them. The corner where the shelves come together is the perfect place for long-term storage of the few things being held for possible future use.

Progress IS being made.

And So It Begins.

 I received the lock and key to my new storage unit and went to Sam’s Club to pick up the shelves I had ordered: four stands of five shelves each, four feet wide. I probably should have borrowed a friend’s pickup truck. It would have been much easier than carrying the shelving in the cargo basket behind my van. Luckily, they did actually fit—just barely—standing on end, and I am well supplied with ratchet straps.

I opened the new storage unit and unloaded my cargo of shelving. Last year, I helped a friend assemble identical shelving in her basement, so the process was easy and familiar, but it still took quite a while because it was extremely hot and I moved appropriately slowly.

Plans are, of course, an invitation to the Universe to mess with you. When I had set up the first stand, I discovered that my Sterilite totes are an inch too tall to fit on any but the very top shelves. That was disappointing. However, I am perfectly willing to have my supplies in smaller containers that are easier to lift. I just wasn't wanting to spend yet more money!

I was about to start the fourth one when my friend came with my wire shelves from Walmart. (They’re for the van project, so they’ll sit there until next week.) He helped me assemble the fourth stand, so that went more quickly.

By then it was definitely time to call it a day.  A long hot productive one.  

A Rolling Stone Gathers No Moss,

Okay, I have been running around living life rather than blogging about it, so I don't know if I have any readers left. Maybe I'll get some new ones. In any case, I'm reviving this blog for myself, in order to document a project I am starting formally, although it's been in progress since February. They say that a rolling stone gathers no moss, but I am living proof that that is bovine excrement. 

I have an extended van, a trailer, and a 10-by-20 storage unit. Since I am older than the internet and started reading long before the Kindle was invented, I don't mind having a storage unit. I do mind it being so full that I can't make good use of it.

So, this is a multi-faceted project which involves decluttering my van and remodeling it, decluttering my trailer and remodeling it, and clearing out a whole lot of stuff from the storage. I intend to do this all before I head south for the winter. A good bit of it has already been done—enough so that I can see the light at the end of the tunnel. I know the level of comfortable clutter that I'm aiming for. The various obstacles that have kept me from doing this in the past have apparently gotten out of the way, so let the games begin!

My intention is to post regularly my progress, my process, and some updates on what's already been done. If you think decluttering a house is difficult, try a camper van that travels to two different centuries. My longtime readers will know that I do 18th-century historical camping, which involves a whole lot of additional stuff."

Crystal River SP, and kayak in the water.

Note: I wrote this in 2021.  I thought I'd published everything but I had not, so here it is.  I have not looked at my blog in years, but I just did this evening and it was very cool to look back at the old posts.  I think I'll revive it.

It took 3 months and a trip to Florida to find kayak weather for the ORU's second swim.  But now that I'm in Florida, I should be able to get it in the water more often.

I meet up with some friends at the crystal springs archeological state park.  The museum is closed due to the pandemic, but we walked the paths, read the sign board, and climbed the steps up the tall mound by the river.

Then we went on down the road to the kayak launching spot.  My friend had to get on and do some other things, but they helped me remember how to set the kayak up, and then took pictures, before they left.  I had a nice paddle, folded the boat up and loaded it back in the van.

HOW TO AVOID EZ-UP CANOPY COLLAPSE!

Have you ever seen what happens when an EZ-UP style canopy is caught in heavy rain? 

I've owned one for several years, which I set up at flea markets or when I'm camping for a decent amount of time in one place.  I discovered right away that the scissors style frame does not allow water to just run off like it would on my 18th century dining fly.  The frame traps the water and it pools there, and you have to reach up with a broom or something and raise the cover up so the water pours off.  I would watch the weather app and if rain were possible I would take the cover off.  Therefore it was only good for shade, not as any sort of rain protection.

I have camped next to several EZ-UP DISASTERS.  One of my neighbors' canopy got caught in wind and rain and mangled badly.  He put it back up in front of his tent but it was lopsided and a lot shorter than it had been.

Another year the folks camped next to me had their canopy in front of the door of their trailer.  It rained heavily during the night, the canopy collapsed and blocked their door, trapping them inside.  It took them quite a while to get out.

When I parked at the end of March for a long term camp due to COVID, I set my canopy up next to my van. 

And it was only a matter of time, and one night an unexpected heavy rain fell while I was sleeping.  I was sure I had taken pictures of my mangled canopy, but apparently not.  Trust me, it was not salvageable.  The frame was bent in places and broken in places.  It still held a pool of water large and heavy enough that I had to cut the fabric to let it out and be able to clean up the mess.

(If you want to see what all that was like, this other blogger had a similar experience and did take pictures.

I hauled the frame to the dump, rolled up the cover, and ordered a new canopy.  When it arrived, I put the new cover aside, and set up the new frame with the old cover.  I wanted to test my theory.  When I took the canopy down 6 months later I knew my theory worked.

Here's the deal: 

Since the scissors frame holds the water in, I figured that if I put holes in the fabric where the water would pool, that would let it out, keep it from pooling, and keep it from collapsing the frame.  I did not want to put holes in my brand new canopy top, and the old one already had a big slice where I had let the water out the day it collapsed.  So I sliced holes in the other three sides and waited for the next rain to see what would happen.

IT WORKED!!!  Rain came, rain hit the canopy, rain ran out through the holes instead of pooling. 

The canopy withstood quite a few heavy downpours over the summer.  The water goes through the holes, and hits the ground right near where it would have if it would have drained off the roof properly.  Buckets placed there keep me from having to haul dishwater.

So when I do open up the new canopy, I plan to put grommets in the places where I put the slits in the old ones, so the holes will be neat and finished looking.  I was worried that my slits might tear, but that's good tough fabric and they didn't tear at all.

I got a KAYAK!

OK, COVID happened, I stayed in one place for 6 whole months, long enough that Gas Buddy asked if my card had been stolen.  My eighteenth century events were all cancelled, so I did home improvement (another post) and then unloaded my time traveling gear into storage.  My intention for now is to do a lot of woodswalking, bike riding, and every chance I get KAYAKING.

I got an ORU BEACH folding Kayak.  My VA daughter also has one, so we took them out for their first swim when I got to Virginia.

My kayak folds up into a box shape 13 x 30 x 33, which I can carry INSIDE my van.  It only weighs 26 pounds, and the case has backpack straps.  

It behaves very nicely in the water.  Although ORU makes more adventurous kayaks, mine is a flat water kayak - and I am a flat water kayaker.  I have no interest in careening down rapids; I like exploring soggy cypress groves and stuff like that.  

So stay tuned for kayak explorations.

 

My Thoughts on RV Design

My home has had wheels since 1995. I've had dwellings as small as a Dodge Grand  Caravan and as large as a 32 foot Class A motorhome. With an assortment of trailer and Class C in between. So I have formed some opinions on RV design. 

Thursday, I went to the Ocala RV show.  I saw a lot of RVs. Mostly travel trailer and fifth wheels, although there were motorhomes, some Class B camper vans, some truck campers, and some A-liners.  

It was a pleasant day to spend at the show, but I was disappointed by the RV industry.  So many of the rigs, although made by different companies, looked the same.  Same floor plans. Same features. Same features omitted.  

My long standing RV pet peeve continues: rigs that sleep 6 or 8 people but have NO closet space.  Really? Are nudists a large part of your market base?  

Other peeves: 

Slides.  I found very few rigs without slides.  And even though slides have been such a popular feature for quite a while now, they continue to design them in such a way that you can't use your rig without deploying the slides.  Which means you can't make a quick stop on the way for coffee or to use the bathroom.  

Beds: either they're Queens and Kings, or they're hole in the wall bunks that are impossible to make up and claustrophobic to sleep in.  How about some rigs with single or full mattresses and some useable floor space.  Ever try to do yoga in an RV? 

Entertainment: There are always televisions. But never book shelves.  It's been a while since I've shopped RVs, so i hadn't seen the outside TVs before.  Flat screen TVs built into the outside wall of the RV.  Why?!  If you have that feature, please do not park next to me.  

Something else that surprised me... The show was in Ocala FL, which is a horse area. It was held at an equestrian center.  So I was surprised that living quarters equipped horse trailers were totally not represented.  

And another thought I had... There were no rigs that seemed like they might be easy to adapt to use by people with mobility problems.  Narrow doors and passageways, awkward bathrooms, beds with little space next to them.  I mentioned this to several of the sales reps and was assured that there are companies that would remodel rigs to accommodate chairs and scooters.  I didn't find that at all reassuring, since it would have to be extensive and expensive.  

I know that there are no perfect rigs. But it would seem that more options would be a good thing.  RVs for single people, mobility challenged people, people who need to carry craft supplies and musical instruments and books, or who do yoga.

I did see one rig i really liked. It was a pull behind toy hauler, with the ramp that can also be a porch.  It has enough room for my music and craft stuff and a decent house layout. 

It did not follow me home because any trailer larger than what i currently pull would make it extremely difficult to visit my daughters.

Today's Bird 2.17.20

Hawk just hanging about for a photo op.

Today's Bird, 2.8.20

Another eagle pair. (The other flew off rather than pose)

Live Opera

One of the things we did last week was attend (and thoroughly enjoy) a performance of Porgi and Bess at the Metropolitan Opera.  Because you can go to local theater and see the Met's performances streamed live.  If you knew that, why didn't you tell me? I didn't know. Now I do.  If you also didn't know, now you do. 

 https://www.metopera.org/season/in-cinemas/

Today's Yard 2.5.20

special places, special friends, 

special times, return again, 

same dock, different view, 

every day, each day's new...

Today's Birds 2.2.20

The gulf of Mexico wasn't all i got to see this week.  There were birds.  No pictures of the first one, who presented himself to us while my friend and i were paddling a tandem kayak through mangroves.  A mangrove coucou, who hung out with us for a good while, going from branch to branch, taunting is for not bringing cameras aboard.

Later in the week, i saw my first burrowing owls.  And yesterday while hiking on Pine Island, both eagle parents were at the nest, and i caught one in flight...

Today's Yard, 1.28.2020

My fortune cookie at Buffet City said "old friends are best friends".  Yesterday i drove to the gulf coast in time for lunch with childhood friends I have seen in at least 50 years, reunited through Facebook.  I did not know what to expect but as it turns out we have lots and lots in common, philosophically, musically, crafts-ily (is that a word?)  and we're having a wonderful visit.

Morning coffee on her dock.

Today's Yard, 1.27.2020

After a long day of breaking camp, my friend Teresa and I had a delicious dinner at Buffet City in Winter Haven, FL.  Conveniently, there was an ANYTIME FITNESS in the same shopping center.  The parking lot was level and a good night's sleep was had.

Today's Yard 1/26/2020

Breaking camp after the Alafia River Rendezvous.  We had some cold and windy but we didn't have wet, and we're packing out dry canvas.  It was a good time.