Camper Cleaned

I got the camper ceiling textured and painted. I just went with white instead of the beige I was going to do. It turned out really well. Hubby has been cleaning a lot of the inside. I've been scrubbing walls and ceilings. Hubby got the outside all spiffy. We still have a bit of trouble getting the mold stains from the siding.

We are getting psyched! We love to camp, even though we've given up our tent and gone soft. Then, again, we had to find something more substantial than a tent to keep 4 dogs in line. We tented with 2 dogs and they gave us a fit. As soon as we jumped into our sleeping bags, they started fighting right on top of us. Literally. They don't fight. But they did that night. Put fear into us that night! Down here, we also needed a bit of A/C. Yep. We've gotten soft. But the dogs like camping with us. Sometimes they don't.

Take care.

Cleaning Up The Camper

We've been cleaning up our travel trailer to go on vacation soon. Hubby found a soft spot in the roof where the antenna comes out. He fixed that from the inside since some water leaked into the ceiling. He did a pretty good patch job on the ceiling. Now, it's my turn to get the ceiling painted. First off, I'm going to do a little texturizing so the patch won't be so visible. Then I'll paint an area between panels a darker color than the rest of the ceiling. That color will actually be very close to a color in the wall paper. I think it will look great. Hubby is a bit skeptical. If it doesn't look right, I'll peel out the white and paint it all.

We've been scrubbing walls, floors, appliances, nooks and crannies. It is getting a really good once-over. We also bought an air deodorizer. It is in a tub and it is really taking the stuffy smell out of the air. Between the scrubbing with Simple Green and this stuff, which I don't remember the name of, it is smelling pretty good in there.

I still need to do the blinds, as well. THAT is a chore I really don't like. However, I'm going to try my household trick. In the house, our blinds are a plantation blind. The slats are about 2" wide with a wood grain that gets dirt and pollen stuck in them. I get a bucket with my ammonia water, dip a sock in it with the roughest side out and stuff my hand in the sock. I wipe both sides at one time which cuts down a lot of time turning each slat.

Then we have to scrub the outside. Down here, mold grows on just about everything. It especially likes vinyl siding and aluminum siding. Mold has no mercy. You can clean it one day and next week it will start coming back. Bleach works for a while, but you can't use bleach through the pressure washer because it degrades the seals in the machine. I have no idea what to use on it successfully. So, we're trying Simple Green and a pressure washer this year. Hubby did a little spot, but he didn't have much success. You can still see a mold shadow on the siding. If anyone has a suggestion that kills mold and keeps it away, please let me know in the comments section.

Wish us luck with this cleaning chore.

Take care.

Tomatoes

Hubby and I took a walk back to gather strawberries when we stopped to check out our tomato garden, which is on the way. Last week I tied up the tomato plants and this week they need tied up again. They have grown so much with last week's rain! We also have some tomatoes on the vines. We counted about a dozen in various sizes. Some of them are bigger than golf balls right now. Whee! We're gonna have tomatoes soon! I can hardly wait to taste a bit of sunshine. Everything tastes so much better when we grow it ourselves. I hope some of the Black Krim tomatoes give fruit. They are a dark blackish tomato with a green halo around the stem part of the tomato. They are pretty but it's a little weird to think of eating a blackish tomato. Well, they're more like a purplish black.

Back to the strawberries...we got about a pint tonight. The second production has the nicest berries. They are hanging above the plant and aren't eaten so much by slugs. Now, the squirrels pick them and leave them laying around. It's annoying because they get the ripest ones and munch on them. At least they munch more than the birds do. Birds take a bite or two and go onto the next one. We lose less to the squirrels. The birds waste more.

We are supposed to get a bit more rain tonight and tomorrow. Just what we need...NOT. We need a bit of a break from rain. I'm sure we'll be begging for rain this summer during a drought.

By the way, the thermometer registered 99 degrees F when I got home tonight. It is hot and a bit humid. Sometimes a little breeze wafts through.

Take care.

Riding Out a Storm

We had about 2 days of nice weather. The ground was just soaking up the last of the last rain. Now, we're having a pretty nasty thunderstorm with tornado warnings around us. However, we have to be aware of what's outside because the weather can change in the blink of an eye here. Our weather isn't very predictable, but the weather people try really hard. Since about 6 pm, we've had rumbling thunder and rain here and there. It's gotten so bad that the satellite TV blurred a few times.

The rest of the week is supposed to be off-and-on rain. Well, I'll be going for now.

Take care.

New Wilmington

From where I used to live, New Wilmington was about 45 minutes to an hour away by car. How did I ever find this town, you say? Well, a long time ago I went to square dances. Someone there mentioned they lived in New Wilmington. I never heard of it so I got out the map and away I went. I figured if someone from New Wilmington was coming this far to go square dancing, then I could go for a visit. There are not too many things in the town, except the college makes it productive.

The town was very quaint. There was a single street with shops lining both sides. I used to get an ice cream cone or a drink and find a bench to sit at. I liked watching people walk by. Mostly it was college kids with their brains too wrapped around something to even notice anyone watching them. Westminster College is the university in the town. Once in a while an Amish person would walk by. The women dressed one way. The men dressed another way. The clothes were the same but the people were different.

There was a Five and Dime on the main street. It was cool to go in there. It reminded me of the stores I went in when I was a child. Everything was neatly arranged in wooden cases or glass cases. There was everything in the store you could imagine.

Down the road a bit, there was a store called the Cheese Haus. Yep. Full of cheese. Some other things, but a long long case of cheeses. Some were made by the Amish. Some were commercially bought cheeses. There was old fashioned candy in a display. You got butter in a whacked off chunk because it was homemade. I used to buy a pound of cheddar port wine spread, a box of crackers and some coconut watermelon slices or coconut neapolitan bars. Yum! Most of the cheese never made it home. A half box of crackers got lost. The watermelon slices would disappear. And I'd be happy in my tummy the whole way home. For me, it was better than fast food.

I love reminiscing like this. Those were some really good times for relaxing.

Take care.

Rainy Days and Reading

More rain. Lots of rain. What more can I say on this subject? Hubby said he went to the strawberry patch and felt like he was in a rice paddy because there was so much water between the rows. He brought back about a quart of really large berries. They are about quarter-sized and bigger. Yes. Bigger! The second round grows above the ground on raised stems. There is no rotting and no slugs eating them. Yay! They are really really nice looking strawberries.

I just finished reading a book called 'Alaska' by Tracie Peterson. It is Christian fiction. I enjoyed it very much. It was 4 short stories spanning a family's life in Alaska from late 1800's to sometime close to the present. It was pretty good. I'll be reading more from her.

Now, I'm reading a book from Leslie Gould called 'Courting Cate'. I call it a 'calgon' novel. It takes me away... Anyhow, it's Christian fiction about Amish families. This author writes a little differently than the rest I've read. I like her style. I've been reading a whole slew of these Amish novels because they remind me of where I grew up. I used to take long rides to New Wilmington, PA on my days off. It was a college town in an Amish community. It was interesting to ride the countryside and watch the Amish play and do chores. Of course, it's not polite to stop and gawk, so I viewed on the fly. There were also communities all around where I lived. Another was in Enon Valley. Now, when we go for a visit to my stepson's place in DuBois, there is an Amish community there, too.

I also checked out 3 novels by Suzanne Woods Fisher. A few more Amish novels in her Stoney Ridge Seasons series. Actually they're books 1, 2 and 3. I've never read anything by her, but I think I will be. Her story lines are a bit different from the others.

I hope you have something you enjoy that would be your 'calgon'.

Take care.

Rain...Still

Today was a  pretty drizzly day. The skies were gray. The drizzles came down all day. Sometimes it rained pretty hard. A little thunder here and there made it interesting.

What I really feel bad for is the osprey hawks which had a baby recently. Well, the baby is fully feathered but I haven't seen it fly yet. I didn't see mom and dad hawk at the nest during the rain. They may be getting him/her used to the weather by not being there. Then, again, it may be that they were out hunting to feed the baby. It's really cool to watch them. I am on the 3rd floor of the building and I can just see the top of the nest so I can peek at them from time to time. Some of the other hawk babies are learning to fly. What a ruckus they make! They chirp and have a hard time getting used to their wings. It is funny to watch, but it is really interesting at the same time. After they get the hang of flying, they are SO majestic to watch. Sometimes they swoop pretty low over me when I pass by. Sometimes they carry food. Sometimes they carry sticks for the nest. It is so amazing to me to be able to watch them at a close range. I am so fortunate!

I hope all of you have a great day.

Take care.

Another Rainy Day

Today started out a little overcast but nice. There was a little sun peeking out from behind the gray clouds. Then, after I got to work, it started raining. Wow! Rain, thunder and a little lightning. The gardens are taken care of today. No maintenance needed today.  I like it when Mother Nature takes care of us. Not to mention, I love rainy days and nights. We're supposed to have a few more days of rain. : )

Take care.

Berries

Blueberries will be in season pretty soon. A lady at work asked me if I wanted some she had frozen from last year before she puts them up from this year. Of course I wouldn't be turning this down. So I took them home on Friday. Today I made a blueberry coffeecake. It is really easy, nice to look at and yummy. We added some strawberries to it and whipped cream. It made for a nice snack this evening. The recipe is from Ina Garten at foodnetwork.com. It is her Blueberry Crumb Cake. It is now one of my favorites. My other favorite from Ina Garten is Blueberry Coffeecake Muffins. I've made these as is and I also like to make them with a streusel topping. These always get rave reviews when I make them and decide to share. I should say, IF I decide to share.

I love anything to do with fruit. Give me fruit pies, cobblers, coffeecakes, etc. I love chicken with lemons and oranges. I'll try mostly anything as long as there's fruit in it. Glazed ham with apricot, pineapple, cherry sauce. Raisin sauce, too. Yummy!

Down the road a bit, there's a blueberry farm. It is only about a mile away. I am so psyched to go picking this year. I've never been there, but I pass it all the time. Next year, I hope to have some of my own bushes. Actually I have a wild bush growing out back. It looks like it'll be good for about 2 cups of berries this year. This is the most I've seen on it. Luckily Hubby hasn't chopped it down. It is located in a really weird place and we've considered cutting it down before. It never produced like it is doing this year. Being it's doing well where it is, I'll be planting a couple of other bushes near it.

Also, out back we planted some elderberry seeds. They are going to flower this year. There are two flower heads growing and that is a start. This is the second year for the plants. Next year we should see an abundance of them. I've been keeping an eye on the bushes at the roadside. They are flowering really well. Some are even starting to fruit. I'll be gathering and making some jelly this year. My brother-in-law, who visited last week, likes elderberry jelly. So I'll be making extra to take to him.

Strawberries are giving the second round of berries right now. They are almost all at least as big as a quarter and larger. Hubby is getting excited. So am I, to tell the truth. You'd think we'd get tired of eating them. NOPE! Ain't going to happen.

Wish us luck with our plants.

Take care.