I left him weed-whacking . . .

. . . while I went over to the church to help the ladies make Card Boxes to be filled with cookies come Christmas time. Just three of us showed up but we had a good time and got a little accomplished. The boxes will be filled with cookies and delivered to local "shut-ins" and others in need of a friendly face during the holidays. They are made from Christmas cards which were gathered by Mona, who used to have a home-business making Christmas ornaments for 17 years. She placed an ad in the local newspaper and a radio station. She received over 2,000 cards in the mail within just a couple of weeks! We spent the first couple of hours going through the cards, sorting them into the different pieces necessary for the houses: "sides" and "ends" and "roof tops." Then we started putting them together. We only finished five in the three-and-a-half hours we worked— along with a lot of yacking. I thought it would be a fun thing to do and get to know some of these folks I worship with on Sundays!

My first one!

Here are Mona (on the left) and Denelda.

The one in the center is the sample Mona brought for us to see. We still have to make the bases for the five houses we made today. This could be a long project moving at the snail's pace we did!

Meanwhile, back at the ranch, K had cleared out a large area of brambles, berry bushes, and saplings. Probably a quarter of our small piece of property is covered with that sort of stuff and we want to get a bunch of it cleared away so we can see what we have!

Tiny bubbles!

We should be breaking out the champaign soon. . . thanks to great neighbors.

K and I set out to conquer the world after talking with Jerry, the Shed Erection expert at Rubbermaid. After hearing that yes, the floor is level and yes, the walls are in square, the expert suggested that we connect the first and second panel together and lock them while still on the ground —and then install them together at the same time. Well, okay, but that makes the duo-panel quite heavy. But we did exactly what we were told, and we muscled it on up the ladder, and with K on the outside and me on the inside we got it up to where it should slide right into the groove of the roof beam and snap down in place . . . and it didn't work!

After trying this for a good half hour, our neighbor Richard (who is a thinker as well as good on ladders and strong) came over to lend a hand. And he was an enormous help, indeed. Richard was so strong that when he and K shoved the double panel up into the groove the walls of the shed came apart! So we decided that maybe doing them one at a time would be better, since the double panel was just not going to snap in place. After quite a bit of effort, the three of us managed to get the three left side panels up, one at a time, and snapped down in place! Victory!

Now for the other side. The first panel went up just fine . . . then that d--n second panel was a bear, once again!

After another half hour of trying this way and that way, Richard thought maybe we should file down the corner of the panel giving us such a hard time . . . that didn't work. Then Richard suggested that we get his son, Ben, to help. Now Ben is a short fellow and very limber, and extremely strong (and under 30 years old)! He is an analytical thinker . . . which really helped in this project because these panels had to fit just right and he was able to figured out how to make them do that.By contorting his body and giving a yank here and there, the panels all snapped into place—but the roof extended over by 1/4" on one end of the shed. Richard tried to adjust it, but it took young Ben, with a rubber mallet and some hefty muscle, to whack at the three roof panels and he was able to get them all to slide, in tack, 1/4" so that the roof would snap onto the walls of the shed.

It's a great shed, especially for Camp Cascadia in Oregon. It will weather well up here, we won't have to paint it, it won't leak, and it won't mildew —but we decided we'd not try it again. We're just not as young and as strong as we used to be . . . well, duh!

We couldn't have done this project without our great neighbors offering their help, that's for sure. We were at our wits end. But now the shed is up and we'll be able to go on with the rest of our reorganizing project!

Life is good!

Maybe a third time will be a charm!

We erected the shed for the second time, this time the process was much easier. Everything fit with a "snap" as it should—every single panel. Then we got to the roof. The first panel went up without a hitch. The second panel . . . well, you guessed it, it went up just as before! It wouldn't fit right in order for it to snap into place. Aye yi yi! We tried the panels on the other side just to prove that it must be the panels on the first side that were messed up some way. Same thing! That second panel just won't go in right. And of course, it's Saturday, and the Rubbermaid folks only answer their phone on Monday-Friday. You'd think there would be a panel support group available on Saturdays since most do-it-yourself-ers do things like this on the weekend! So we put everything away, and are taking a couple of days off from this project. More of the saga on Monday, hopefully it will be good news and we'll break out the bottle of champaign!

And the beat goes on . . .

I believe the last words of the previous post was "We've allowed a couple of days!" . . . well here it is, four days later . . . and we ARE making progress . . . two steps forward, one step backward . . . but we are feeling okay about it!

This is the story— We got all nine blocks with the four-by-fours in place and level . . . well, we thought they were level. We screwed on the plywood to create the deck for the shed to stand on. We erected the shed all but the roof.

This all happened in two days. Yesterday we put the first of six roofing panels up and it snapped in place just fine. Well . . . that's where the progress ended! The second one just wouldn't go in correctly and certainly there was no "snap in place" happening. After a couple of hours of trying it this way then that way, we called Rubbermaid. They have a "Shed Installation Help Line" on their menu of choices of buttons to push. We talked to the woman there and she said "You've got to be sure your deck is perfectly level before I'll let you talk to the Installation Department. We said "Thank you very much!" and hung up. We then went out to check the level-ness of the deck, feeling quite sure it was level . . . and it wasn't! It was off by a little on one side. . . actually on a couple of sides. Apparently if the most itsy bitsy hair of the bubble is not "dead on" in the center, it affects the "level-ness" of the entire floor at the end a lot—up to nearly a half inch! What we were thinking was "level" was a hair off, probably in all cases, which in the end amounted to quite a bit.

We figured the only thing to do was to take the whole thing down, and start all over in the "leveling" of everything! So that's what we did yesterday afternoon. This morning we were up bright and early and started one by one making sure each part was level—and then level with the next part. We used a small level the first time. The second time we got out the big grand-daddy level . . . which I guess is more precise.

There are six "beams" to level with each other. So we meticulously leveled each beam . . . one at a time . . . using lots of shims . . . and at the end of a couple hours we had everything level as it should be.

We went into town to pick up some sealer and a sprayer and sprayed the whole LEVEL deck when we got back.

Now, for tomorrow our plans are to put that thing back up in record time—since we've done it before it should go fast! We'll see, and I'll be sure to keep you posted.

Life is good!

We're Building a Shed

First we had to get the "deck" that it will sit on built, which we finished today. Not as easy as you'd think. All nine concrete blocks have to be at the same height and level with each other —both vertically and horizontally . . . hmmmmm, it was tricky but we were persistent, and patient, and we prevailed! The photos will tell the story. Tomorrow we start erecting the shed which, according to the manufacturer— Rubbermaid—will take only 90 minutes to do this task. We've allowed a couple days!

Nine concrete blocks with saddles for the 4x4 treated lumber!

Three sheets 3/4" marine grade plywood!

Six 4x4x8' treated lumber plus 250 pounds of sand!

A cleared place for the shed to be built!

Working together . . . we each have our strengths and gifts!

Finally, the nine are level!

The othe half of the team, finishing up with sand and gravel.

Mighty proud to stand on a might sturdy—and level—deck.

This is the shed . . . well, the "before" picture!
You'll have to wait for tomorrow's blog to see the finished product!

We made it!

We arrived yesterday afternoon. A typical Oregon shower greeted us on the way up and followed us all the way to Camp Cascadia. It's been raining most of the time we've been here. Here are a few shots I've taken yesterday and today so you can see Camp Cascadia's "Before" pictures. I'll follow up later next week, weather permitting, with the "After" pictures.

First order of business was to clean off the deck. A year's accumulation of moss which turns to slime when it's wet made for a very slippery deck. Last year my feet slipped right out from under me as I went down the stairs on the deck, so we need to get it all cleared off, and when it dries we'll put something on the stairs to keep us from slipping. We put strips on it last year but they didn't last. When the wood dries, it must shrink and the strips just came off. So this year we'll find something more permanent.

This pictures also shows you how tall the weeds grow. Actually this is also what they call grass in Oregon. Just mow it and it's pretty. Check out the pictures below of the driveway. It grows right through the gravel.

You can tell by the poncho—we were both working in our ponchos in the pouring down rain. We had no choice. We had to get the trailer situated before it got dark. However, we didn't realize it but it doesn't get dark here until after nine o'clock. We had plenty of time!


Karen came over from next door to welcome us to Cascadia. And she brought with her this pretty bouquet of "Rodies"—the last of the spring bloom she picked in Meg and Todd's yard.


Our neighbor Richard "mowed" our driveway a couple days before we got here, which was awfully sweet of him. Normally K has to weed-whack this before we pull the trailer up. What a nice surprise!

Looking over at Don's place. I love seeing his fireplace smoke rising from the chimney. It's always so cozy looking.

This morning Don came over and asked us if we had anything to add to his burn pile. He got permission to burn today until 5 o'clock. So we gladly stopped what we were doing (clearing out stuff from the pole barn) to gather up a big pile we had accumulated of downed branches and such and added to Don's burn pile!

Just wanted all of my fans to know that I actually do my share too, and that I don't just hang around to take pictures!

And here is Don keeping watch over the fire. He had been down to our place to saw up some of the bigger limbs earlier! He's amazing for 85 years old!

Oregon or Bust

After a good night's sleep in our queen-size bed (mind you, we've slept on a double for the last eight months—it's always good to stretch out a bit) we got off to an early start. We arrived at Moon Mountain RV park in Grants Pass, Oregon, at 2:20 this afternoon. We're going to try to get some work done on our air bags on the back of the truck (at the place called Henderson's in Grant's Pass, where we had the air bags installed nearly seven years ago). The left one doesn't seem to hold air. These air bags raise the rear end of the truck when we're hauling the Holiday Rambler so that the truck and trailer are level. Currently we sink a bit where they join! It was a pretty drive leaving the hustle-bustle part of California and venturing on up the I-5 through the pretty farms with nut groves, and fields of rice, wheat—and rolling hills with cows, and horses. And then all of a sudden it seems like magic when Mt. Shasta looms ahead of you! An awesome mountain, to say the least. Tomorrow, if all goes well at Henderson's, we'll be at "Camp Cascadia!" I like that name instead of using just "our place in Cascadia, Oregon."


I didn't get the camera out from the back seat in time for the classic shot of Mt. Shasta as it loomed in front of us and as it appears on the Shasta cola cans . . . but these show the other side of the mountain and I still think it's the prettiest mountain in California! It is 14,179 ft tall!

On the road again . . .

We finally are able to tear ourselves away from Park Sierra and head north for four months. Right outside of Madera (only 45 minutes from home) a guy in a pickup passed us on the left and was making some kind of hand signals making us aware that something might be wrong with our rig. We pulled over onto a safe spot on the shoulder of I-99. K got out of the truck and walked around. I could see him in the side-view mirror as he walked up along the passenger side of the truck. I opened the door and he said "You might want to come take a look!"—which, of course, I did. And this is what I saw!


I couldn't believe my eyes. We felt NOTHING . . . we could have driven on that thing as it was for a long time, probably until the one next to it might have blown. But the story goes on.

It seems that the tool to get to our spare tire doesn't seem to fit right so our spare tire was of no use to us. After 40 minutes of haggling with the Auto Club about who was going to pay for the tow service (That's a long long story in and of itself!) and then another hour to get the tire off, and the tow-truck driver take K in to town to buy a new tire while I stayed in our truck with the trailer on the highway, and then the time to put the new tire on—we are finally "On the Road Again!"

So, needless to say, today was a long driving day, but we made it to our original goal destination and a cold beer tasted really good!

"Nothing about you guys is normal!"

These were the exact words out our daughter's mouth the other day as we chatted on the phone. After hanging up I thought about that comment a bit and wondered, for just a split second, if it was meant as an insult or a compliment—and then I decided that it was just a fact. So I pondered the thought of not being normal a bit more . . .

n Living the full-time RVer lifestyle that we do?

n Being able to choose where we go next?

n Choosing this lifestyle over working an extra ten years before retirement?

n Being able to call the whole country our back yard?

n Living for six months of the year with four hundred other folks who are enjoying the same thing we enjoy so much about being full-timers?

n Having more good friends now than we ever had in our "other" life?

n Having the luxury of two "homes bases", and two rigs—one mobile so we can take it with us when it's too hot and head for our second home base in Oregon (with the beautiful Doug Firs, lots of lakes and streams, and the ocean along with the mountains) for the summer months?

n All this plus— I, of all people, had fried frog's legs as an appetizer tonight!

I've decided that I LOVE "abnormal!" I wouldn't choose to be any other way!

Life is Good!