Sunday, November 29, 2009

Thanksgiving Camping

Bean and Diesel in the best seats in the house, besides outside.
Us at the camp site
Lower Highwater Falls
Lake Jocassee
Thanksgiving dinner, all cooked on our camp stove.

Apple crisp, made on our camp fire. It didn't turn out very good.
Facebooking, and getting looks from Jason.
At the country store near the camp ground.
Awesome picture of us at Lower Highwater Falls.

We had a very nice Thanksgiving, camping in the woods with our two dogs. We stayed at Devil's Fork State Park in South Carolina, on the shores of Lake Jocassee. We are hoping to go back for one last camping trip before Winter, sans dogs, in two weeks. The lake was beautiful, and it's both of our newest favorite spot. Just three hours from Charlotte, it's completely accessible for a weekend jaunt away from civilization.

Saturday, November 21, 2009

Bateleur Found!

Im waiting to hear if the folks at CRC were able to catch her. Hopefully she be home safely, soon.

Friday, November 20, 2009

Bateleur on the Lam

Today I was off from work and received an urgent email from CRC about a Bateleur Eagle who had escaped last night. Search parties were being arranged and they needed any and all available volunteers. So I went up and walked around in the woods for a couple of hours, looking for her. As I was walking around, by myself in the woods, keeping my eyes peeled, I kept thinking about what a cool job that would be, walking around looking for a bird.

I didn't find her, so I came home and worked on my kitchens some more. Then I just got an email saying she had been found, but she is in no hurry to go into the net that will take her home. It's going to be a long night at CRC; I think Jason and I are going to go up to take a shift watching her. Cross your fingers she is brought back; she will not make it in the wild by herself because she is heavily imprinted by humans and it's too cold here for her. She's native to Africa and her enclosure is heated in the winter here. She won't stand a chance in the cold. Cross your fingers now. Seriously, cross them! :)

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Dogs are so great

This is a video of two Dachshunds welcoming their daddy home from Iraq. I love it.

Sunday, November 15, 2009

Yawn, in a good way

I just finished my Statistics homework and I spent all day working on kitchens. At 7:40am, I was at Home Depot, waiting for them to open the doors. After buying a few little needed items, I came home and got to work. 10 hours later, I took a shower and started on homework. Jason is making dinner.

I am tired, but it's a good tired. I love making things with my hands. And selling a few kitchens is a very good thing; they are helping to keep us out of debt. I'm sure the kitchen orders will slow down after the holidays, but for now I am loving the chaos.

Time to eat! I love it when Jason cooks.

Thursday, November 12, 2009

Busy

I'm tired. School is humming along, 2/3 of the way through the semester, and my play kitchens have really taken off. I rarely get phone calls, because I have a small circle of friends, but yesterday I had nine new messages. All were about the kitchens. Two new orders today, and one looks like a fun, out of the box project.

Went to Geekfest today at school and felt so inspired. Met a 19 year old whiz kid who builds interactive robots, saw a presentation on sustainable careers and an informative talk about the Ecobox. Did I mention I'm tired? I'm pretty sure I'm not even punctuating correctly.

Tomorrow I'm putting in some overtime at work...yay, money! And tying up loose ends. Hopefully tonight I will sleep. It's been a few weeks since I've had a good night's rest but a new medication offers promise. Yay, medication! zzzzzzz

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Camping is so awesome


We had a fabulous time. Usually after a couple of days away, I'm ready to come home. Not so, whilst camping. I'm sure I could have stayed a week.

We got off to a bit of a bumpy start, because the weather was too cold for Bean. Despite blankets and flannel sheets and an electric blanket, she was shivering. And Diesel is very skittish of unfamiliar noises, so we took both dogs home after one night, around 11am Saturday. We left them in the house with the door to the garage open, so they would have access to their doggie door.

I'm glad we decided to camp near by, because it gave us the option of bringing the dogs back. Had we gone further, we would have had to stick it out. Next time we will go somewhere warmer or will bring a coat and maybe booties (baby socks) for her. :) She's eight years old and Jase thinks the cold might make her bones ache.

We took a few pics upon arrival, although it was dark. Diesel immediately took to one of the "loft areas". I called it his "fort".



Jason quickly built a fire for us, and I discovered there's not much he likes more than making a camp fire. The man was loving it. And I was loving the warmth. The first night was very cold, dipping down into the lower 30s.


While he was making the fire, I started making dinner. Because I brought leftover Taco Soup, all I had to do was heat it up. I was glad to have something easy to make, since I was tired.




I learned that I needed to heat the soup to a really hot temperature, because the cool air cooled it very quickly. We ate, then hung out by the fire for a while. Then we hooked up the laptop to watch movies in bed. We watched Superbad, and I fell asleep about halfway through, as always. In the morning, we ate oatmeal and drank coffee and tea, then took the dogs home. Can you hear Bean in the following photo? She's saying, 'Seriously, can we go home now? This sucks.'



So we took them home. Then we went back to camp and made hamburgers for lunch.

I love the swing-out feature of the stove. It's nice to be able to cook outdoors. Kind of takes the drudgery out of it, not that it's drudgerous, but if there was any drudgery involved, the outdoors takes it away.

Then we figured out how to correctly install the slide-out beds. We had been doing it all wrong before, at the house. The proper installation created the best reading nook ever.

After about one day, I was finally able to relax. Relaxing is very hard for me. It's something I'm sure I will be good at by the time I'm 80 or so.

Jason relaxed too. He even got a little goofy.

This morning, I broke out the tripod to take some final photos. I have a very unsteady hand, so the tripod helps me immensely. I used the timer feature on the camera to take one of my favorite pictures of us ever captured.

I think it would make a great holiday card, maybe sent out for Thanksgiving rather than Christmas. And I'm going to put it on my desk at work, to help remind me of good times.

I'm ready to go camping again, this next weekend. I have already checked the weather and it looks good. There's a place close to us, McDowell Nature Preserve, and I'm going to check availability of camping spots tomorrow. I would love to take the camper down there Friday while Jase is at work, set it up, and get it ready for him to come "home" after work. I'm probably going to try to bribe him with a steak dinner. But, I may not need that steak because I think he likes camping as much as I do. Fantastic!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

We're going camping!

Inspector Taylor came out this morning at 830 as promised, and within an hour he had verified the VIN on our camper. It took a while because the thing is over 30 years old and people tend to paint over VIN numbers. As soon as he left I headed up to the DMV to get a tag. It went well, I was fortunate enough to have gotten a person who actually gives a crap, as opposed to the person I got yesterday, who would just as soon I stay at home, never get a tag, and never go camping.

Speaking of the word camping, I have decided we are going glamping, not camping.

And we're pretty much set. Terry the RV Mobile guy, who is totally awesome times a million, seriously hooked us up today, re-greasing the wheel bearings and checking the brakes. If anybody needs anything RV related, I'm sure going to give them Terry's number. The camper is good to go and street legal. I cannot wait to go!

I have prepared a menu and grocery list and will shop tomorrow. Then I will do all of my Statistics homework, pack and anxiously await our 4pm departure. Many pictures are forthcoming, I am sure. Have a great weekend!


Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Good surprises

We have been stressing about finding material to support the beds in the camper. We didn't find the supports when cleaning out the camper and the previous owner said he had never seen them, so we were pretty sure they were MIA. Then today I read the owner's manual, cover to cover. It talked about an itty bitty compartment at the rear corner of the camper. That was where the poles were supposed to be. Even though we had checked the camper out pretty well both before we bought it and after we got it home, neither one of us saw this tiny compartment, that has a three inch cover. Tonight I got home and took a look. It was right under our noses the whole time. A little bitty compartment, in the rear of the camper. The cover took some convincing to come unscrewed, but when I removed it, I saw the glorious support poles. Awesome.

Things seem to be falling into place with this camper. I'm hoping (maybe praying?) tonight that tomorrow will go well, when the inspector and mechanic are here to look at it. After they leave, hopefully, I will be on my way to the DMV to get a tag. When I get an "all clear" from the DMV, it will be OK to say WE ARE GOING CAMPING!!!!! Statistics class is from 6-815pm, then I will officially be on vacation. I will spend Friday morning packing, refilling the LP tank and flushing the water system. And dreaming about our maiden voyage. I can't wait!!!!!!!!!


Tuesday, November 3, 2009

The To Do List gets a little longer

Turns out the camper is so old, it only has a 15 digit VIN number. Cars, trucks, campers etc. nowadays have 17 or 18. Sooooo, the DMV has to have an inspector come out to our house to verify the VIN. Not sure how long this will take, probably a few days for the appointment and ten minutes for the actual appointment. Then I have to go back (yes, I went to the DMV this morning to find all of this out, even though I called on the phone before and they said I was good to go) to the tag office to apply for the tag. I'm thinking our chances of getting to go this weekend are about 50%. But I'm hopeful. I really want to go!

Oh, and Jason ran in to a mechanic while getting the light adapter today. The guy mentioned that the type of adapter we need indicates that the camper has electric brakes. So now those are on the list of things for the RV Mobile mechanic to look at Thursday. Hopefully we won't end up spending hundreds of dollars. I'm hoping less than $200 total.

Last but not least, my school is having GeekFest next Thursday. I can't wait! Lord knows I love to hang out with my kind. Yes, I'm a geek and proud.
One lecture in particular has me excited: EcoBox
Here's the lecture description: ECObox: Building a Portable Sustaining Livable Habitat
The EcoBox is a self-contained environmentally sustainable workshop built from a standard shipping container. The workshop comfortably accommodates two people for extended periods, and include all energy needs and waste disposal without connections to outside systems, excepting sunshine and rain. This project is a leap towards a truly sustainable design.



Monday, November 2, 2009

I am better

Thank god. I was getting a little worried that I had Mono or something. I no longer think I do.

So we're getting ready to go camping in our "new" camper this weekend, on a maiden voyage. Probably going to a park in South Carolina since it's a little warmer there. We have lots to do before we can go:
Tag for the trailer - me, tomorrow at the DMV
Wheels and bearings checked - Terry is coming over Thursday
Adapter for the lights - Jason is getting tomorrow
Metal conduit for bed supports - Jason is getting tomorrow
Find a dog-sitter - Jason is researching tomorrow

Yes, we're going sans dogs. This is because they are a pain in the butt to take care of, and god forbid if something should happen we do not need to take care of the problem AND the dogs. Plus it will be more romantic. Bow-chica-bow-wow. It is a 1970s camper, after all; what did you expect?