Home maintenance

One of the things that's different about living in an RV is that when you need maintenance done on your house, you need to drive it in for the work.

This was never a problem before we had a family, we'd just drop it off, get in the car and head out for lunch, shopping or a movie.  But we have a family now.

Why do you suppose she's putting all our stuff in that car?

So, as we prepared to leave for the next campground Left Brain scheduled the repair work to be done our last day.  My morning was spent with the cats with me in the car. Where to go?

Sitting around Goose Island is not an option as it's too warm being in the car with the windows up and lowering them is to invite several thousand mosquitoes to come and dine on your body.  At least the robin and her family left, so we could remove the nest from under the RV.  Does this mean we're suffering from empty nest syndrome?

So we went for a short drive to visit Auntie Lois, who has a nice shady yard in a quiet neighborhood.  I wanted a chance to catch up with her and see what she'd done with the yard and pond.

I was not prepared for the beauty and magic I'd found there.  She is such a like minded person in many ways, but especially in creative artisitic gardening.

Several of my plants from the Big House have ended up here, so it's another chance to visit my garden...which has been disbursed to many other homes and states.

Tomorrow's blog will be a continuation of my tour throughout her yard.

Long Live the Queen of Contentment

Photoshop Friday

Since I love using background textures to filter many of my photos, I have been known to photograph some odd stuff.

Others in the crowd will be ooohing and aaaahing over the subject matter we all came to see and I'll be off in the weeds shooting things like this gravel.

It's useable as it is, but I keep thinking it might be more interesting if it were liquified and swirled a bit.  So this is what I ended up with.  Maybe I should stop sniffing the cats phernomes.

Long Live the Queen of Swirlies

Car trips with cats

Well, it was finally time to take the fur kids to the vet for their checkups and vaccinations.  It was a moment I was dreading.
Apparently they could sense the mood change as well, which sent George into hiding behind the bed which is his normal refuge.  No problem.  Snagged him up and put him in the carrier.

George is considering the rabbit hole, a space about 4" square

Gracie then streaked across the floor and dove into the rabbit hole, a very small space between the bench seats and the couch that only a slim cat could dream of getting into.

Curses!  Foiled again.

After Left Brain dismantled the couch and pulled out the folding bed I was able to get a grip on her and weave her through the bed springs and into the carrier.  Whew. 

We set out with Left Brain driving and me riding in the back with George and Gracie.  George whimpered a bit but seemed to take it pretty good.  Gracie shivered and panted off and on throughout the journey, whether she was in the carrier, on my lap or on the floor.

Our first stop was at the human clinic where Left Brain needed to run in for a quick blood draw for some tests.  Yup, we are all going to the clinic today, except me.  I stayed in the car with the kids and did kitty comforting.

But we arrived on time without any major problems to see our favorite vet, Dr Havlik, at Sand Lake VCA clinic.

George was first and the exam revealed some determititis near his eyes and nose, apparently very common with orange kitties.  It makes sense when you consider that humans with red hair have much more sensitive skin as well.  But otherwise he was deemed sound and healthy.  He got his rabies shot and then had his microchip inserted.

Gracie was up next.  She did her very best impersonation of an invisible cat but to no avail.  She handled the exam well and only cried out when the microchip went in.

Now they will never trust me again as I told him we were going to go out and get some chips.  I think they envisioned fish and chips, but ...oh well.  We figure with our lifestyle it was important to have them chipped for maximum safety.

I asked the vet about the phernomes I'd seen in the pet centers and whether or not they really worked.  She strongly recommended this for easing their anxiety, so we bought the system that plugs in and used it on the way home.

It has a mild odor, but not unpleasant and soon we were all feeling kind of mellow.  I was hoping it didn't interfere with Left Brain's ability to drive.  It was reminiscent of being at a rock concert in the sixties and taking in the fragrant odors of....oh well, you know.

Let's just say that both cats were very relaxed, Gracie was almost falling asleep on the floor under the carseat.  Myself...I was singing a chorus of "feeling groovy".

The vet recommended feeding them primarily canned food  with the dry as back up only since cats (as well as us) are carnivores.  Now they will get wet food three times a day instead of just twice and I'm sure they will be thrilled. So I fixed up a little lunch for all of us and soon afterwards Left Brain went outside to enjoy the fresh air and the three of us all took a long nap. 

ZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ

I can't say for sure it was the phernomes, for me I think it was relief to have this first hurdle passed.

Long Live the Queen of Mellow

Wet campers are NOT happy campers

The deluge continues, we have not had a full day of sunshine without drizzle from May 18th until June 10th.  June 11th was a nice day but we woke to the sound of rain again this morning. Let's just say this is getting old.

kids playing in the "pond" next door to us

But it had it's entertaining qualities as well.  For instance, one morning we sat at our little table and watched the campers light their fires, kids sitting at the picnic table huddled up against the cold wind waiting for breakfast.

First the wind kicked up, always the first sign of impending doom.  The paper plates went flying with grownups chasing them, kids starting to whine.

Then the rain came down and the campfire sputtered to its end and the responsible ones started to gather up everything.  The kids are running about like its the end of the world and heading for the tent.

Then the scene is quiet with everyone huddled inside the tent having a family meeting and making a decision.  Yup.  I knew that would be the decision. 

The women and children were still inside, no doubt packing and the guy was hauling wet sodden things and flinging them into the van.

Traffic had picked up considerably by that time, trucks pulling campers heavily laden with bikes and toys meant for sunnier days leaving in a mass exodus.  These were followed by pick up trucks with boats.  Yup, there go two fifth wheels trying to race to the exit.

Nothing like a rainstorm to create a traffic jam on the Island.  You can tell the ones who are in it for the long haul, they sit in the windows with their coffee and cocoa like we are watching the show.

We need to exit next Saturday morning, so we will be waiting for the last clear weather day when the chairs are all dry to pack up stuff for our departure as well. 

I sure hope it's not raining that day.

Long Live the Queen of....wow, are those gills growing behind my ears?

Saying goodbye to friends

There is a long list of people to visit while back in the home area and we had hoped to invite several over to the campground for supper, but with the weather being so nasty for so long that was harder to pull off.

When you live in a very small home you really want to be able to eat outside on the picnic table when you have company over.  So we kept putting it off waiting for better weather until lo and behold we are in our final week.

So, we grabbed the first opportunity to have our friends Eric and Colleen over for supper and to see the kitties.  Colleen graciously agreed to bring cheesecake for dessert.  You gotta love friends who come bearing food!

We were able to sit outside and enjoy the weather, in spite of the mosquitoes and gnats that were beginning to descend.

I should have been expecting it, but no...I was very surprised when Colleen ambled over with that mischievous grin on her face proclaiming "I brought the cheesecake".

Hmmm.  I guess I didn't need to clean those blueberries and strawberries for this kind of cheesecake.

Colleen is an artist and has used her multitude of skills to venture into the most unusual cakes you've ever seen.

This lucsious cake resembles a wedge of cheese with tiny mice scampering in and about it in a feeding frenzy.  The plate was covered with little mouse droppings that looked only too real, but were very tasty.

Here is a closeup of one of many mice adorning the cake. 

 And yes, they are edible. 

The cake was orange colored and orange flavored with orange marmalade between the layers and fresh squeezed orange juice taking the place of the water in the recipe.

It was the perfect ending to a lovely night visiting with good friends that I will miss during our next exodus about the country. 

But the best thing with friends like we have is that they are always there, you don't need to see them each day to feel their presence.

Long Live the Queen of Mice