Saturday, November 2, 2013

Ellie J's Last Camp of the Year


Halloween camp.
We decorated her up for her last showing of the year.
Hopefully, when we roll her out in the spring
she will have
a
new towing system,
a new paint job
and
an actual title and license! 
 
We have great plans to go camping a little
farther away than
three miles!!!




We actually went fishing on this trip
What fun!
 
I caught two walleye,
however,
one did get away.
Giving truth to that.
the one that got away story. 


For that handful of you that have been following along,
thanks so much for keeping up
with the
infrequent updates.
 
Ellie J
managed to camp only three times this year.
Hopefully next year
she will get out more! 



Wednesday, May 8, 2013

More Decor

Curtains are next on the agenda. 
Oh, how I can procrastinate making curtains!

Check out those owls.
They were a yard sale find over the weekend and covered a place where the trim was missing.

The percolator is in place!

Vintage camper magazines ready for relaxing and finally reading.
So far, I have only skimmed the pictures. 
 

Reproduction tin pop bottles bought at an auction.
The colors in these were perfect,
the red and blue ones of the set went to Shawnee.

View front to back.

And a better view of the flooring!
I was so trying to keep the old linoleum,
but that was not meant to be.
The new tiles look much better anyway!
 
There were more pictures,
Blogger is giving me fits!

Friday, April 26, 2013

Auction Night

Last night was another auction at the fairgrounds.
The fair board sells the food at these auctions,
but really
we throw out some hot dogs and french fries
and
spend
way more than we ever sell.
One of those puzzling phenomenons.
Last night,
I won the prize for spending the most.
Really, there was not a prize,
but
laughing about it made the pain at the check-out
a little easier.
This little radio,
which will be perfect in my camper,
was a deal despite the hit that my checkbook took.
Two Dollars!
 

This coffee pot...
the only thing that I REALLY wanted
and might have actually
needed,
not so cheap.
 
Apparently, someone else thought
she needed/wanted it as bad as I did.
 
She must have seen the determined look on my face.
 
Her husband told her to let me have it.
The coffee pot that is.
 

Wednesday, April 24, 2013

A LIttle Glitch

And some fun decorating.
The little glitch happened on Monday.
JWS was working on the door
that would not shut easily.
Hinges off, hinges on, hinges off,
hinges on and it worked.
Beautifully.
He said you could shut it with one finger.
He said you could shut it with your tongue.
Not sure I want to go there.
He checked the keys.
They worked.
He threw the keys all on the table.
Walked out,
pushed the door shut,
and...
you guessed it!
Locked tight!
We thought of scenarios,
I tried every key we had.
I mentioned taking out the roof vent and dropping Logan
through the roof.
Honestly, I think we could have done that.
He would have thought it was a Mario move
and
would have loved it!
Finally,
we ripped a screen and got them out.
Another fix on the list.
 
See the dinette above.
After much procrastination,
I finally got the covers made for the cushions.
Sometimes the apprehension of a job
is actually worse than the job.
 
 

 
A little more decorating.
Those lovely wall plaques showed up on my porch one day.
I love them and they were the perfect touch for the kitchen
Thanks so much, Bonnie and Linda!
You gals rock!

I just laid this material over the couch cushions..
and then someone sat on it.
Shouldn't I have fixed that prior to the picture?
Curtains are next
and
new cushions and covers for the couch.
My wallet needs a breather though.
I have the material for the curtains...
it is raining here today,
curtains may happen tonight.

And my pennants. 
I love these, may have to make some more.
This is sitting in our garage that we use to make signs in.
Hence, the campaign signs everywhere.
 
Last night, I started the new floor.
Decisions.
Finish the floor or start the curtains?
Paint the bathroom or keep cleaning up the outside?
 
Quite the project list I have.
 

Sunday, April 21, 2013

Not Pretty Stuff

JWS calls me to the garage...
and this
is what he had to show me.
 
I knew that there was a problem with the floor.
Wow...this looked like a big problem to me.
 

 
But then yesterday,
while I was off on my own little fun thing...
I got this photo sent to me.
 

Fixed!
Now off to someplace to replace the floor.
You see,
I really liked the linoleum.
I really wanted to save it.
The carpet had been ripped up,
and the linoleum scraped
ever so carefully
and
scrubbed.
But to no avail.
I am going to have to tile it.
Now off to look for some
early 70's retro looking tile.

This is the next puzzling thing.
Where is the holding tank?
and
was there ever one?

And finally.
Some new rubber for the old girl.
Hers were dry rotted
and
cheap as I am...
and for all the farther she is going to travel..
I was not looking forward to spending that money on tires.
One morning,
I just broke down
and told JWS to order them.
 
Later that same morning,
and before he had the chance to order them,
the
tire fairy
showed up with these in the back of his
tire fairymobile.
 
One fourth the cost of new ones!
 
Sometimes it just pays to tell everyone that you know what
you are looking for.
 
One man's junk,
another man's (or woman's)
treasure!
 
And finally,
The Really Not Pretty Stuff
 
JWS installed the refrigerator.
Well, in truth,
I helped to at least get it in position.
 
Several bumped knuckles
and more than a little sweat and tense moments
it was in and I had Ieft the garage.
 
Next thing I know,
JWS is sitting staring at me,
white faced and sweating saying...
"Something bad happened!"
 
The fact that he had just came in,
with grandson in tow
made me immediately check Logan.
He seemed happy enough.
I didn't see any blood on anyone.
My comment,
"Is my refrigerator OK?"
 
JWS:
Yes, but it was bad, come with me.
 
Off we head in the direction of the garage. 
 
He stops me at the back door and says,
"I was cleaning out the vent for the refrigerator and
I
found....
(Insert shaking voice and more sweating)
 
A SNAKE SKIN!
 
Hahaha...I just laughed and went back to work.
I think he is still sweating!
 

Sunday, April 7, 2013

Camper Junkyard

 
JWS likes Craigslist.
I am not a big fan.
He finds things and tells me about them though.
I really should look at it more often.
This time,
it led us to the
Camper Junkyard
and....
we found a refrigerator for the camper!
Woo Hoo!

It was a fun outing.
Rick, the proprietor
could not have been more helpful.
His statement,
"I'll have that out in ten minutes!"
was not far off.
I managed to take some pics.
 
This was sure a cute little trailer.

 
Here are some pics of the inside.
Not in as good a shape as my
Little Ellie J.


 
And the best part of this event?
JWS is once again ready to work on the camper.
I think he was worried that he was not going to
have a place for his
food and beverages.
Another crisis averted
at
The Strate Household!


Wednesday, March 13, 2013

The Bunk is Done!

Three coats of paint,
one primer
two color.
A lot of sore muscles,
a few bruises,
(where I missed the ladder and came down without it)
and this...

Let's just say,
this is not easy to get out.
Considering,
I just spent how much time and $$$
to make this hair
this color,
I wasn't after a latex frosting.

 
The cupboard doors are painted and sealed,
and we are on to the bathroom.
 
Not as much painting here,
I am planning on keeping the wallpaper.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
A

Monday, March 11, 2013

More contortionist feats

See this bunk?
What you don't see is this 50 something year old body,
that has not wintered well
trying to figure a way to maneuver
in there to paint that bunk.
 
Let me tell you folks,
it was not a pretty sight.
And it is not done.
One coat of Kilz,
and it still needs two coats of paint.
You guessed it,
two more nights of contortionist training.
 
 I

It was tight.
Very tight.

Then I folded it back up and painted the underside.

Some more painting on the doors and drawers,
and a coat of sealer on them
so they wipe clean.

I was hoping to salvage this linoleum,
but
JWS is not optimistic.
 
I did manage to rehang this magazine rack.
I can't wait to fill it with some of my
vintage trailer magazines.
 
We have a camping trip planned for mid May,
close to home
because we are not sure how far we should try to
tow this.
and
we have no title.
 
Anyone have any thoughts on how to get that?
 

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Spring is Coming!

And I really need to get back to my
 "little" project
in the garage.
It has been a bit of a rough winter.
I had such big plans to have this camper
done early in the spring.
Actually, by now.
Instead, there the poor girl sits
all lonely and deserted.
At least she is in where she is warm.
For those of you that don't follow
the chaos
anywhere else,
Starting in November,
life took some twists and turns,
and in January,
we lost my mother-in-law.
Soon after that,
we welcomed a new little baby
to our growing collection
of grandchildren
and
not long after that
I spent two weeks in Ohio.
with my Mom very sick.
I know that we can't predict the future,
but I am very hopeful
that I will have time this month
to work on my camper
and
hopefully have it ready for a
short
close to home
May camping trip.
Feet up at a campfire,
relaxing with friends,
camping trip.
The picture above
was a gift that I found on my porch yesterday.
What a great addition to my 70's decor!
Motivation I needed to get back to work!
Thanks, Bonnie and Linda!
 

This little fan was found at an
estate auction the other night.
Cleaned up,
it will be perfect sitting in the camper
and
it does actually work!
 
Not the safest thing,
I think it will be more of a conversation piece
than functional!