Loss

 

We’re up in the Northwoods on our property this week, trying to get it in shape for selling. After a year and a half’s absence, there is a lot to do. One wouldn’t think the vegetation would grow so fast in the forest, but it even took over all our graveled driveways so weed whacking is one of Marc’s major chores here. Burning off all the deadfall, downed trees and old pallets is another major chore. I raked many Mule loads of pine needles up from around the camper spot and our sitting/fire pit area and garage, and hauled them off to dump in the “south 40”. There’s also been a ton of sticks to pick up but I’m primarily just catching the easily seen area right by the drives and not venturing off into the vegetation. I’d be at this forever if so. I’m leaving tomorrow and will get this posted by the weekend. Marc will follow for a doctor’s appointment on Monday before we return next week to finish more. We’re leaving the new camper by the lake for now. 

Speaking of camper, we got it out for its trial run last week to a nice state forest campground on Big Lake that only had less than ten other campers there. Many of the sites are huge, well spread apart and feature views of old growth forest. Except for the mosquitos just lovely! It had great proximity to a 52-mile paved bike trail which Marc said was fantastic. He upgraded the camper to two lithium batteries so it was a test to see how long we could go without recharging and it looks like it will be around three days, which is great. This camper has a 12v refrigerator, which for people who like to dry camp, does not work out very great. In their efforts to cut costs, RV manufacturers are turning to things that don’t work out so well if you boondock. Other than being a tad snug due to no slides, I think this camper will suit us just fine for the way we want to use it for short jaunts and stays. And having the drop down back screen in the rear is just the bomb! It brings the outdoors in and feels like we’re sitting in a bug proof screen room. 

We had quick success in selling our big RV through Facebook Marketplace, which was a relief since the RV market has shown significant slow down in this bad economy. The buyers wanted it for a close by riverside permanent site so Marc delivered it and we said goodbye to that one. It was a nice trailer but we think our property will sell better without including it.

Finally, I come to the main subject of this post. We had to give up Buster! He had been getting more and more aggressive with the other cats to the point where both of them didn’t want to come out from the bedroom and he managed to slip past me one day when I opened the door and attacked Spirit very badly. If we hadn’t intervened, I’m sure he would have killed her. Both of our girl kitties are getting fairly old and it just wasn’t fair to them that they had to continue to live sequestered away all the time so we made the tough decision to return Buster to the shelter.

Oh my God, did that hurt. It was like he had become the soul of our house in such a short time with us (18 months) and it is excruciatingly quiet and empty without him. The tragedy of the situation is that he is a far better cat than either of our two old girls and he always brought a smile or laugh to us on a daily basis. He was a character through and through and such a happy cat! Not at all moody or standoffish as the girls can be and he was so affectionate with both of us.  Yet, to be fair to the others, he’s the one we had to give up. We both cried for days and I won’t be able to volunteer or set foot in the shelter until he is adopted again or I’d be tempted to snatch him up and run home with him again!

Next up is deciding on a price for the property after the Realtor’s analysis and he’ll send out a professional photographer with a drone for photos once the place is cleaned up. Then we’ll hope for a quick sale, even though I know the real estate market is on the skids and in the tank right now. However, the Realtor assures us there are folks with money always looking for lake property. All we need is one, right? 

 

  

 

Once An RVer...

 I realize it’s been a long time between blogs but that’s what seems to happen to most of them when they’ve been running as long as mine has. I figured I’d spare you the mundane aspects of a Wisconsin shut-in winter, in which we endured some major snowfalls and then just for good measure, a couple of ice storms in March, which did major damage to some of our trees.

I sewed up a storm through winter to have plenty of items for the Humane Society online auction in February and that went well, with most of my items selling. The large polar bear tote, which is one of the first ones I made when I was learning, ended up selling for $60, so we were thrilled for that! I still have enough left that I probably can stock the next online auction in September without more sewing because it’s looking like we’ll have a very busy summer. 

 Marc kept very busy with his daily volunteer activity of volunteering in the wood shop classes at the local high school, where he works to mentor those who have actual avid interest in learning something. Many just sit there as window dressing for what they perceive to be an easy class to waste time. He comes home daily shaking his head at how dangerous some of the kids are around the saws and chisels and how callous and sloppy they treat the tools. Unfortunately, there is a large percentage of young folk who are going to be complete write-offs and likely, entirely useless to society. If it’s not on their phone, it doesn’t exist or matter. Their attention span lasts only as long as the next Tic Tok video and anything hands-on is quickly forgotten by the next day. Fortunately, there are a few shining stars, one of which told Marc he wants to soak in all that Marc knows (not enough time, ha!), so Marc tries to concentrate on them so he can truly make a difference in a young person’s life. 

Those who’ve been following us, know we’ve been pretty home-bound the past couple of years and insidiously, it started working on me. I may be old but I’m not ready to give it all up quite yet, so I started dropping hints about the possibility of another RV purchase. Marc was having nothing to do with it; he hates maintaining them, losing depreciation money on them, having to worry about winter damage to roofs, and mostly, fixing them! I’m of the same accord, but the fact remains that unless we have an RV as a means to get out, we simply can’t go. Motel and Air B&B options, beyond high costs, just are a no go with three cats. 

Last fall, Marc decided to take up E biking and has been having lots of fun discovering all the local rides and trails and started getting interested in things further afield. My mind got into gear: what better way to find and experience those possibilities than a camper. And specifically, a camper where you can pack along your expensive bike easily and not have to worry about it. Thus, it came to be that he saw the light (halleluiah), and agreed to start looking for a toy hauler RV. I will say that he also thoughtfully added that he felt badly that I was left home and never got the chance to get out so that’s why he changed his mind on the RV idea.

It didn’t take long; we found a smaller 2021 cheaply made toy hauler in little used condition from a dealer nearby. There are a few minor fixes we’re doing to it: some small repairs; we removed all the attached, fold down chintzy furniture they come with and are installing our own important things like two new reclining chairs and the large kitty condo necessary for our cats’ comfort. Marc replaced the wheels with larger ones and bought new tires and he’ll be building a special storage unit to cover the interior wheel well.

 

We decided to sell the large destination RV we have sitting on our lake property up north; Marc will tow it back here where we can put it up for sale. I’ll unload it and then load up the new one so there will be nothing to buy in terms of household goods. The new RV doesn’t have a lot of storage and the idea is for us to just go out for two- or three-nights max, taking very little with us, so we’re not bogged down with packing, unpacking and setup when we get somewhere. We purposely looked for an RV without a slide (to get away from their endless problems), on the smaller side, but one still featuring a queen-sized dedicated bed, not a Murphy bed or crawl-over bed. 

So, looking forward, you should see more traveling scenery coming up in the blog. We’ll also be making some trips north to try and get our property on the market this summer and there will be much to move or store. I’ve learned at this age, that things move at a much slower pace than maybe what I’d like, but on the other hand, what’s the big hurry?

Wrapping up, these photos of an amazing post-storm sunset were just too stunning not to share!

Shut In So Totes, Totes, and More!

 

I admit it; I kind of become more of a couch potato during winter’s cold, ice and snow. I have full-blown osteoporosis in my spine and hips and since old age makes one unsteady to begin with, I figure there’s no sense taking unnecessary chances. That’s my story anyway. Although I’ll also add that when you step outside and the cold even makes your eyeballs hurt, that’s some serious shit going on. This time of year, I can often go for a couple of weeks without leaving the house so you can see why this blog gets smaller and smaller.

I did have a successful showing of my wares during late November as we set up our display for the Humane Society at an assisted living facility craft show. We featured a darling adoptable puppy and my stuff; I tout that I donate profits to them so feel it makes people feel good about their purchase of my things.

My big totes didn’t go but my most expensive purse/clutch did plus two of the smaller bags, which lends me to believe smaller and lighter could be the way ladies are headed in what they want to carry. So, more and more, I am making these; for one thing they take way less fabric and I can offer them at a lower price point. Designer fabric has gotten outrageously expensive, but often times I just can’t help myself because they are so dang gorgeous! Online fabric stores are definitely my “candy store” and I can spend hours endlessly flipping through wonderful new choices. Obviously, I lean toward bright and lively colors; I just like it when things really stand out. In quite a few of these photos I do have a lot of fabrics which I've upcycled from upholstery samples or thrift stores however.

 

Thanksgiving and Christmas are quiet times at our house since we have no family visiting. Buster precludes us putting up Christmas decorations and he constantly knocks over the Christmas tree just with lights on it in his attempts to play or climb it.  I did really score though for my birthday in that Marc told me to buy a new sewing machine as the old used Viking I had started presenting me with many glitches. I did a lot of online studying of reviews and features and settled on a Janome and so far, I’m very happy with it. There are a ton of features I’ve yet to even try.

Marc is keeping pretty busy at the high school involved in both his volunteer/mentoring and he also is helping out with maintaining and fixing a lot of their saw equipment, which had been woefully neglected. He likes passing on his skills so it’s a good use of his time. He sadly had to park his E bike once the roads became snow coated. 

As a last note, with our harsh temperatures lately, we’ve turned into a little bit of a rescue operation for the wildlife. The black feral female cat we fed and fixed last year is back, along with another cat and I took mercy on a young cottontail who would hang out beneath my lilac branches eating wood. I’ve started feeding it and it now comes out from under the sunroom daily as it hears me calling. Rabbits are slow eaters so it gives Buster endless entertainment to watch it feed as he gazes from his kitty condo out the window. 

We hope you have enjoyable and safe holidays this year end. Merry Christmas and here’s to a much better New Year!