RAIN. More Coronado Floor. Safer Cleaners

When I took MaeMae out about 8.00 PM last night, it was finally raining. It wasn't quite dark, so the birds were singing and having a great time. It didn't last long, maybe 50 minutes, but it sure helped green things up.

I think I got too much AC blowing on me in the van, yesterday. At 3.30 AM this morning, my head stuffed up terribly, and I started coughing again. By 4.20, as I couldn't sleep, I had had enough, and turned on the coffee maker. At least it gave me time to try to catch up on my many emails.

This morning the sun came out and it was bright and uncomfortable working in it. We made our own shade, with a golf umbrella clamped to a ladder, so that Ray could work on the back door of the Coronado.

I took Jay into town to the bank, and he paid his utilities. When we came back, we turned on the two fans in the Coronado, and screwed down the new floor joists in the front, ready for the new plywood. The trailer has built-on leveling jacks, so we had to re-inforce the area above them.

There are safer things to use for cleaning around your family and pets:
http://healthychild.org/blog/comments/recipes_for_safer_cleaners/

It was too hot to insulate the floor, so we quit for the day.

Packing, Mailing, Shopping. Everyone Buckle Up

Still no rain. We had 20% chance in the forecast, but it didn't come here.

I went out on the screen porch/greenhouse early, to choose which aloe plants I was going to ship to NY. It is too hot to be out there later on in the day. I soak them in plant vitamins for a while before I ship them. The customer paid for them last Tuesday, but I told him that I wanted to wait until today to ship them, in the hopes that they would get there before a weekend. I got a cat litter box cut into the triangular shipping tubes, then MaeMae and I went to get Jay, as he wanted to go into town with me. After a slow start we finally got underway.

I took the plants to the next town to mail, as I hoped they would gain a day that way. Also I needed to go to Home Depot, to return some things and get a crimper for putting the Coronado baggage door back together. We ate chicken livers at Church's Chicken, stopped at a few more stores, comparing prices, and didn't get home until nearly 3.30 PM.

Everywhere we stopped we put the windshield sunshades up, and even one on a side window, but it was still stifling getting back into the van. We leave the windows open a little, now that I have the Vent Visors, but it doesn't help. If you leave a car closed up here, sometimes a window will just blow out from the heat. Do not leave your kids or pets in a car for even a minute, please.

We have a very dangerous holiday coming up. Now is the time to think about our furbabies safety, BEFORE we take them on a trip. Be prepared, and have a seat belt harness, or carrier, that can be seated belted in. Life jackets, too. Wouldn't you be devastated if something happened to your pet, that you could have avoided?

My daughter let her cat out of the carrier to be loose in the car, and they were in an accident. The cat jumped out of a broken window and was never found again. It was heartbreaking.

http://blog.rv.net/2009/06/unavoidable-accidents-would-your-pet-survive/

Have a safe day.

PS. 8PM: I just took MaeMae out and it is POURING rain!!

More on Mirage. Rain in Forecast!

It was going to be another stinkin' hot day. Bobcat didn't stay on the porch for long when I open up the house early this morning. Then it got that sticky feeling, so I closed it all back up and turned on the AC. The forecast is that we might have rain all next week. Bring it on!

Jay was all set to put the old, cleaned AC back in the Coronado, but with the Mirage auction ending tonight, I knew that we had to concentrate on it. It might not get bid up to my reserve, so then I will do a better ad, and relist it. I had paid for the 24 photo package, and loaded the first 14 on the listing. Then someone bid on it, and I couldn't add the other 10. New rules from when I advertised vehicles before.

Ray wasn't going to be here today as it is his birthdate, so Jay and I turned on the AC in the Mirage and got a few more jobs done to it. We got the table pedestal finished, added some trim to the new cabinet, and above the back door. I am making drapes for the front top windows, I think it will look better. I am still waiting for some drain parts to come in at the RV store, so we are still not through with it. We still have to replace that top window that cracked, so I had already moved the TranStar out of the RVport, and put the Mirage in there, for the shade. Now, I hope that it will be to protect it from the rain!

I had some hamburger, and I don't really like hamburgers, so now, it is a "meatloaf" day.

Framed Up for AC. Getting Mirage Ready

Ray got here on time, but Jay wasn't ready until later.
I had bathed and groomed MaeMae yesterday afternoon, usually I clip her into a "Cowboy" pattern with "chaps", this time I did her in a "Town and Country" pattern. So when we went to pick up Jay, Claudia's neighbor saw her, he oo-ed and ah-ed. She is a prissy little thing.

Ray sanded, and painted, the circle for the table base support for the Mirage. Then he tried to straighten out the fins on the back of the Coronado's AC with a fin tool, but it was a lost cause, they are all too badly bent. I even tried with some of my metal dog combs. We decided to clean the AC with coil cleaner, anyway, as I don't know when I can get away from here to get another AC right now.

Jay beefed up a lot of the existing studs on the Coronado front wall, added more, and put a sturdy board across where the AC will sit. We can frame the top and sides when we get it in the hole.

Still no rain in sight today.

Tore Out Front Wall. Orange Glow "Capped"

Still No rain. Still going to be a hot one. I opened up the doors and windows early, to air out the house, but by 8.00 AM I had it all closed up again, turned the AC back on, as MaeMae and I went to get Jay.

Ray wasn't going to be here today, so it will be a mad scramble tomorrow to get the Mirage ready for viewing.

Jay and I had decided that we would start earlier, and amazingly, he was ready. We could see that when the Previous Owner had installed the AC, that they had not made any structural changes to help support the weight. We, I, decided that we had better take the birch paneling down to see what was going on under there. I wanted to re-insulate anyway. The old fiberglass insulation was in bad shape, and I was told that it is better to go back with foam board insulation, as thick as will fit, even on a vintage trailer.

Shay was outside with Orange Glow, the stray that we all adopted, well, mostly Shay and Ray. He is now neutered, vaccinated, de-wormed and protected monthly with "Revolution", (for heart-worms, worms, fleas, ear mites, mange mites, etc). They absolutely adore him. He loves to play"dress-up", and here he is with his cap on. These are not the best pictures, as Shay wants to submit them somewhere.

While Jay and I were working on the Coronado, a friendly, little, young, un-tagged, black dog showed up. I gave him water and some food. He had been running loose in the subdivision for a few days. Rather than see him become roadkill on the main road behind me, I called Animal Control. They arrived within the hour, I hated to see him go, but I hope that he gets a good new life.

By 11.30 AM, Jay and I had had enough for the day.

Too Hot To Do Much.

The only time it was nice outside, was early this morning.

Still NO rain, and we are having to water everything.

Ray had to go fix a water leak elsewhere, and Jay and I did some more clean up on the Coronado living room floor.

MaeMae was out there for a while in her 'work-bed', with her own fan. But I made her stay indoors after a while, she didn't like that, she wants to be in the big middle of everything!

We got some of the floor joists screwed in, but it got too hot.

After lunch, as I am getting tired of Jay eating my groceries, I took him to the Food Stamp Office. As we pulled into their parking lot, we saw a very strange sight. The pavement was damp. It had rained a few drops there. It has been lack of transportation that has stopped Jay from getting Food Stamps again. Nobody wants to take him, and wait for him while he is in line for ages. Now, as he gets a disability check, it doesn't take long. He should be eating his own groceries next week, when his Lone Star Card gets here in the mail!! As long as his mother was at home she would feed him, but she won't be back from her liver transplant for at least another two weeks.

The news is full of the amount of power that everyone is using in this area. The AC compressors hardly shut off. I sure hope the power company doesn't run out of electricity, as my generator is down right now! The Mirage doesn't have one, but the trusty old TranStar's genny has powered my house, plus the two neighbor's fridges and TV's, in previous outages. The fuel pump is out on it, and the man hasn't come to fix it yet. My genny was exercised every month, just like it should be, until that happened, so now it will probably need a carb rebuild, too. I wish he would hurry up and get here. It is a very scary to know that you can't make your own electricity if need be. I have never been in that situation before.

Difficult to believe that, again, it is Thursday.

Tore Out Floor in Front of Coronado.

Still no rain, and it's hot and humid. I let the cats go out on the screen porch for about a couple of hours this morning, but brought them in for their breakfasts. It was going to be another hot day.

Ray managed to work for about 1/2 an hour in the Mirage, before he had to leave. We have people wanting to see it, say that they want to buy it, but no appointments yet.

Jay and I worked on the Coronado with two fans going, tearing out the old floor in the front. We got it all out, and washed the inside of aluminum underbelly. So it is just about ready to start screwing in the new floor joists. It was hot in there, but we got 'ur dun.

Then we went to Lowes in the next town, to buy AC coil cleaner and a fin comb. The old unit AC that was in the Coronado, works, but it sure needs cleaning, and the rear fins straightened. They are all squashed flat, that usually happens when someone is careless when pressure washing! That is Ray's job, he is good at that, and does all the AC work around here. Next thing it needs to be installed again, it is so hot in there! The more places we re-insulate, the cooler it will be in there.

We also got Jay a new cell phone. I was on the phone to the company, putting his old one through it's paces, and they seemed to think it was "operator error". Boy, these new phones get more and more complicated.

I know I like each new phone even less than the last one, just like these new car radios.

All in all, a good day.

Mirage little Jobs. Still No Rain.

Still no rain, and we are under water conservation. I conserve water anyway, as I was brought up in England during the war. We were told, "Don't waste water, or children in Russia will starve". I just took it for granted, not to waste water, but now, looking back, I don't know what British water had to do with Russian children! Did you know that during the war the British had to paint a mark on the bath tub at 5" deep, and that is all you were supposed to use? We complied, and I know many did.

MaeMae and I picked up Jay, but we knew he was hung over. She wouldn't have anything to do with him. MaeMae had left some marks on my carpet where she had dragged food out of her dish, and off her placemat. He cleaned them up with the little cordless spot lifter machine, and then plonked out on my couch, till the early afternoon.
Ray worked here this afternoon, as he was busy on another job this morning. He did some more paint touch up in the Mirage, where Jay had fixed a boo-boo. Ray and I went to work on that white stuff you see around the top of the cabinets. It was someone's attempt at covering up the old beige cloth covered trim, but they had just stapled it up there, and the staples were falling out. Those would be great to get in a bare foot, or in the bed!!
We took the staples and white stuff down, unscrewed the trim, and recovered it with some fabric that I had saved yesterday, from that drape. The original screws were covered in cloth covered snappers, so we used them to put it back in place. Of course I had taken my blood thinner, and so I got a staple in my thumb!! It was just a little hole, so it didn't bleed much.

It was really hot, so no work in the Coronado today.

Coronado and Mirage again.

It was going to be hot again, so Jay and I knew we couldn't do much in the Coronado today. We moved all the bed parts, sliding door parts, and closet wall parts, that were stored in the front of the trailer, into the back, now the back floor was done. Whatever else happened we needed to get the front done, so that we could re-install the AC. As old as it is, the unit AC that came with the trailer works. I insulated the kitchen floor and Jay laid the kitchen plywood.

Ray had the easy jobs, he was doing some more painting touch up inside the Mirage with the AC going!

Jay took down that drape that goes around the Mirage pottie area, I cut it and hemmed it, as it was too long. I need the rest of it for another project in there.

Then it was time to go into town for more self-drilling screws, for the Coronado, and groceries for Jay, so that was it for today.

Getting Mirage ready for pictures! Happy Father's Day

I had made up my mind, several days ago, that I was going to advertise the Mirage today. I wanted it to be available for anyone who wanted to camp for 4th. July.

MaeMae and I drove down and picked up Jay. Ray was not working today, as he was spending some time with his and Shay's son, and then with Shay's father.

We turned the roof AC on in the Mirage, remounted the cabinet doors with different type of hinges, and put the door knobs on. That worked a lot better. This how the cabinet that we made works: you open the right side door, then lift up part of the counter, pull the drape all around you, and you have access to the pottie. The left side door houses the plastic chest of drawers.

There is a lot of space inside this little 17 ft. motorhome, but no room for a shower. This was the best way I could figure out for a private pottie area.

It sleeps four, two in the overhead bed, and two on the dinette. So the
area in front of the back door is quite wide between the kitchen cabinet and the cabinet we built, on the other side. Next to the kitchen counter is the pantry, with the fridge under it. We installed the table that we had made, and did a few more odds and ends to it.

The sun was shining too brightly when I took the pictures today.

Live Writer. Adoption Day

Another hot one. No rain for 28 days.

Jay and I put the second seat back in the minivan, and I spent the rest of the morning trying to download and figure out Windows Live Writer.
I have got my pictures pretty well trained to stay where I put them, but I heard it was easier with Live Writer. I sign into windows, but I can't find the Live Writer, and wouldn't know what to do with it, unless it has step by step instructions!

After a quick bite for lunch, I got the cats loaded up, and their cage and carrier seat belted onto the second seat.

In this heat, and as I had been up early, I got them settled at Petco and came home. I was at one of those stages where if I didn't lie down, I was going to fall down.

I felt a bit better after a nap, and reading some emails. Back I went to the next town, 30 mile round trip, to get the foster cats. But I did go to WalMart before I picked them up and got a few things.

No one filled out applications for adopting either of my cats today.

Shopping for Birch Paneling for Coronado

Another hot day, but I knew that I would have to get some birch paneling and plywood for the Coronado before tomorrow.

The two troublesome cats, will not be at the SPCA Adoption Day tomorrow. My SPCA boss knows that I won't take mine when "Troubles" and "Wobbles" are there. Their foster mom always puts them in prominent cages, and folks get their fingers bitten or scratched, think that all the SPCA cats are like that, and walk away. My cats are not like that, and none of the other foster mom's cats are. It is about time Mime and Patches got some exposure. Now I have the little rabbit cage to transport Patches, I can take her. She is claustrophobic in a carrier, as she was locked up in one for a long, long time in a previous life.

To take the cats I have to put the middle seat back in the van, as I have to have the seat belts to strap in their cage and carrier. So that is why I wanted to get the plywood today.

Jay and I went into the next town, and I bought some lumber, paint strippers, and plumbing parts. For the really good birch paneling for the parts that show in the 1947 Coronado, I will have to make a trip to Houston to a hardwoods company.

Ray spent the morning replacing two more lights in the Mirage, and stripping paint of the doors on the Coronado.

This afternoon, Jay and I tried to do some more work on the floor of the Coronado, but it was just too hot today.

Mirage drain and faucet. Coronado floor

Well, there isn't any rain in the forecast for many days. The sun is scorching hot, the plants, and grass need watering frequently.
I don't remember it being this hot this early in the year before.

Ray and I went over the kitchen sink plumbing in the Mirage, and made a list of parts to get the faucet hooked up to water, and the drain working. As always, with plumbing, we are a few items short. We did a few more little jobs to it too.

Jay worked on the next part of the bedroom floor in the Coronado, I got the insulation in, and he screwed the plywood down, so that part is now done.


That was it for today.

Progress in the Mirage. Another hot one!

No let up on the heat around here. Bobcat was out on the porch at 5.30 AM, but came back in for her breakfast, and sat in her bathroom window seat looking out to the road and fields.

Jay was "all better", apologetic, and wanted to work, so MaeMae and I went down there to get him. Said he wasn't going to be led astray by that drinking buddy again. (Heard that before).

Ray arrived, and I asked him to take the blasted cabinet doors off the Mirage cabinet. I am going to have to find a different concealed hinge system. Jay is better with 12v. whereas Ray is better with 110v., so Jay and I worked inside the Mirage. Ray just stayed out of Jay's way, (as he doesn't like him), and worked on stripping the Coronado's doors paint. Moving to the shady door, as the sun went around.

Jay and I added a new extra 12v. light over the new cabinet in the

Mirage. We were already using the new 110v. outlet that Ray had added. We had to do this before we put the rear panel back over the back door, as this is where the new wires would have to tie in.

We also added aother new light on the rear panel, as I found out that it is difficult to see inside the closet or pantry which are each side of the back door.

Now we just have to put the center panel back up, but we were done for the day.

More Work On Doors.

It was going to another blazing hot day. I let Bobcat out on the porch first thing when I got up, but brought her in before her breakfast.

When Ray arrived I suggested to him to start stripping the Coronado back door first for a while, until the sun came round there, then move to the front door. The sun really hurts my eyes, and it even hurts me to see someone working in this blazing sun.
Ray is very painstakingly removing two layers of paint off the door window's trim, and getting it back to aluminum. He even removes the screws, one by one, to get all the paint off from under and around them. He likes fiddly little jobs like that. It will take ages to get all the windows looking good.

Jay and I worked and worked on the Mirage cabinet doors. They just wouldn't do right.

After we quit working outside for the day, I tried to rest for a little bit before I started my next job, but Jay had already found a drinking buddy and woke me up. I had just dropped off! He knows not to bother me after we quit work, but he interrupted me four times during the evening, until I was just exasperated and exhausted.

A very trying and tiring day.

It Feels Like August!

Last Winter started early, and was cold for a lot more days than usual. Now this Summer has started early too, and a lot hotter already. We hardly had any Spring!

I knew Jay wouldn't be here today, so I drove down to Sam's and got Mikey, his poodle, and spent the morning bathing and grooming him. He is really good on the grooming table, but he jumped around all over in the bath tub, and he wore me out. I have a restraint anchored to the tub wall that I rarely have to use, but I will remember to use it on Mikey, another time!!

Ray stripped more paint off the Coronado doors.

After lunch I went out on the south facing screen porch to pack up some aloe plant shipments. The thermomter out there said nearly 100 deg., and my forehead was dripping all over the plants! Another thing I will remember not to do on a Summer afternoon.

A trip to the Post Office and Kroger's, and I am done for today.

Mirage Cabinet, and Coronado Doors

We knew it was going to be a hot one! I let the cats out on the screen porch early, but wanted to bring them in for their breakfasts. Patches had other ideas, and wouldn't come back in the house, so I had to leave her out there while it was getting hotter. Then she realized why I wanted her in. Maybe she learned that Mom knows best! Bobcat and Mime are a lot easier to herd than Patches.

Jay was mounting the new roller catches on the Mirage Cabinet doors, but they are not as good as Bulldog Catches. So I will probably order some. We nut and bolted a wooden stiffener on the larger door, so now the buttons, hiding the bolts, will have to be painted.

Ray painted the locks to the front and back doors of the Coronado, we put corks in the 'handle holes' so that paint wouldn't get into the works. Then he started stripping the paint off the front door. I can see no reason why someone painted the doors and hinges, and did such a horrible job of it. It will look a lot better when we are through.

I was just running back and forth getting different tools, screws, nuts, bolts, drinks, etc. Jay had the fan running in the Mirage, so MaeMae stayed in her work bed in there with him. We didn't run the AC as it was in the shade, and we had the back door open as we were running in and out too much. Yesterday, Ray and I had run the AC for the first time since I bought the Mirage, and I was so glad that it worked.

Well, with all the graduations going on, all the report cards are in.

I hope they were all good, and no one got grounded!

Y'all have a safe day.