PACKING PACKING PACKING

19 DAYS AND COUNTING!

It won't be long now...  we have been busy taking things off the walls, sorting out what is going to who, and making the final piles of items that are getting loaded into my steamer trunk.

A few years ago, I found this trunk on the side of the road, destined for a garbage pickup.  I loaded into the back of my Heepie Jeepie (1990 Grand Wagoneer)  and hauled it home.   Here is what it looked like when I found it:

And when I was done with it, this is the final result:

It has been just waiting for a chance to serve it's purpose and now it's time has come.  I have planned to load it up with my most memorable keepsakes, and breakables. 

And here they are!   Included all around the trunk are things like my wedding dress, all my lace curtains, handwoven blankets and framed art prints. Photos, books, albums and yearbooks.  Plus the two urns that will be someday be used for our funerals!   Each item has been sealed in zip lock bags (thanks Norma for the extra BIG zip lock bags!)   and they are packed carefully into the trunk with not an inch to spare! 

And guess what???

IT ALL FIT! 

It will be sealed shut with pallet strapping wrap and saved in our son's attic. We will open it again if we buy or rent another house, or the kids can open it upon our passing and dig through our mementos.  

Now we just have to 

lift it up 

and haul it out 

and load it up into a trailer 

and bring it down to Green Bay????  

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"LASTS" plus Sock Cranking and Visitors

Well, with only 20 days left to own a house, we are going through some "LASTS" here.  Like, Steve cut the grass down alongside the river and remarked it was probably the "LAST" time he will need to do that.

We were outta dishwasher packets and I was at the store.  It dawned on me that this was the "LAST" time I would need to buy dishwasher soap, and why grab the big 60 packet container???  I was only going to be using the dishwasher for less than 20 days.... so the 16 packet container went in my cart.

Steve hauled down the big bags of water softener tablets, the "LAST" time we need to buy those and haul them down to load the big water conditioner unit.   And he changed the two water filters on the lines coming in from the well... "LAST" time to do that too.

I am going to clean the oven this week, and perhaps get all the windows washed, and steam clean the carpet down in the loom room... all "LASTS" in my book!

They are not sad "LASTS" obstacles to overcome, but instead kinda poignant markers of the times leading up to the final days of owning this house.  Now it's time to look forward to the "NEXTS" !!!


Monday morning our sock machine group met for a gathering at Oconto Falls Library.  We were a small group this time, only 6 participants.  But that was okay, we had fun, laughed and cranked and shared and learned.

This won't be a "LAST" sock cranking gathering for me though, because we meet four times a year and I will make the trip back up here from wherever we are the next 10 months to attend.

We own antique circular sockknitting machines (but one gal has a new one now made by the Erlbacher Gearhart Sock Knitting Machine Company )    They are fun and funky and we love making socks and other items on them too.

 

On Monday afternoon, our good weaving friends Jim and Norma from Beloit, WI of http://www.paandmasrugs.com  stopped by on their way up to Canada.  We had a good gab fest on weaving stuff till Steve got home from work, and then we cooked steaks out on the grill.  After a little tour around the tiny town of Oconto, we headed back for apple pie for dessert (I whipped that up in the morning before sock cranking).  They stayed in our "Hotel Pfundtner" in the driveway, to awake refreshed and ready to head north on their second honeymoon!

After they were well on their way, we got a call from our RVing friends, Paula and Mel from Wausau, WI.  They own a Safari motorhome the same vintage as ours and we have a lot of fun camping together with them.   They had been camping just north of us in Peshtigo, and were heading back past our house on their way home to Wausau, WI.  They stopped in for a visit, and we tossed some brats and burgers on the grill.   Paula treated Steve with a pan of rice krispie bars (his favorite) and we sure had a nice time.

Steve and Mel solved all the Problems of every Safari Motorhome In The World during their gabfest, fixed the brake light problem on theirs, fiddled with the generator on ours, and just all and all had a good time.   

Paula and I killed a bottle of wine, and we shared lots of ideas and hints and tricks of motorhoming from a woman's point of view.   And we ignored the guys who were busy busy busy...  I had some things for Paula's quilting sewing room and I got rid of a few other things she could use.

Finally we convinced them to stay overnight in the driveway rather than drive back to Wausau (only about 100 miles) ... so they turned their rig around in the driveway and Steve held the tree back a bit to allow backing in easier for Mel.  Then they could plug into the power and have their AC running for a while to cool off their interior.

It was a SAFARI SLEEPOVER!!!!

By the time we headed to bed, it was well into the night, and I think the guys were gabbed out.  Steveio had to go to work today, but the rest of us will visit for a while longer before they head out this morning.  I have more stuff to sneak into their rig or their toad car, as we are still getting rid of things here in the house.

Only 20 more days...  

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CAMPING - High Cliff State Park - days 6 and 7

I was pooped out last night so I didn't get a blog posted ... sorry!

So I will combine Thursday and Friday now into one blog.  I am writing this as we are heading back up to the house in Oconto.  While on the road, our Galaxy Tablet is a router and pulls in the signal as we are driving.  I have my laptop set up to type on with an adorable little pull out desk by my passenger seat.  Safari sure had good ideas when they made this rig in 1996!

(this pic is with my old Dell laptop)   

Well, it's Friday and our little vacation is over and time to head back to the final steps of clearing out the house before it sells.  Just got a few more things to do, plus we have some company coming to visit us on Monday (Jim and Norma of http://www.paandmasrugs.com )  They are stopping by on their way up to Canada for a second honeymoon!   Jim just retired and they are going to be weaving their rugs full time now.



As it was, we extended our stay at High Cliff for just one more day.  Yesterday was the hottest day of the week so far, and driving back mid-afternoon just didn't set too well with either of us.   Nor the dogs!   They voted to stay one more day too!

While we have been trapped inside during the hottest parts of the day with the AC going full blast, I have been working....  cranking socks to build up my inventory for the upcoming fall and winter shoppers in my online Etsy store:

http://kareninthewoods.etsy.com     (shameless plug)

This is my antique1925 Gearhart sockknitting machine

It cooled down a little in the evening, enough to cook supper out over the campfire--- (Alaskan salmon and sweet corn)   Add in a salad and a bottle of wine, and we were all set for "Fine Dining- High Cliff Style" !!!

In the evening, we sat outside for a while and actually had an electric fan blowing on us out in our lawn chairs!   LOL   We did a little walk around the park, but it was too hot for the dogs, so we just walked by ourselves.  Awwww hand-in-hand -- with no leashes or doggie pooper scooper pick-up bags!  

I snapped a pic of this rig this morning before we left... it pulled in yesterday next to us!  What a beauty!!! It's a GMC motorhome!  I think he said it was a 1973, they were only made from 73 to 78 and were a unique vehicle wayyyy before their time!  This one was in very good shape.  The owner just bought it last year after someone had it stored for 10 years inside.  He said it's taken a while to get out the troubles that come from storing it for such a long time, but have most items up and running now.  (especially the air conditioner!)   They took it for a few short jaunts last year, each time ending in a breakdown of some sort.  This is the first outing for this year and it's "so far, so good"!  

They had their kids and grandkids along in the tent.  We shared our firewood with them before we left, as we are not to transport wood no more than 25 miles with the emerald ash borer troubles in Wisconsin.

As I type this, we are almost back to Oconto, the temps are 91 out there right now.  Hope it's cooler by the bay?


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CAMPING - High Cliff State Park - day five

Hmmm the heat must be getting to me, because the last 2 posts BOTH were titled for "Day Three" ...  so I fixed it now so they are in order, and now on Wednesday, July 4, we are on "Day Five" here at High Cliff State Park, on Lake Winnebago, Wisconsin.

We like it so much here that instead of leaving tomorrow on the 5th, we added one more day to our stay to enjoy the shady wooded campsite and electric hookups for the AC.   It's better than being parked in our driveway back at the house, in the blazing hot sun with no shade!

Last night there was some trouble with the breakers on our loop of the campgrounds.  The host worked on the breakers until he could get them to not flip, and cautioned the folks in our loop about their usages and how to help minimize the problems.  We thank Dick, the host, for staying on the job late at night to get power restored to all of us!

Today Steve was over there looking at the service panel with Dick, and they swapped out a few of the weaker breakers to new ones, so hopefully we will all stay connected tonight?

This park is scheduled for a complete electrical upgrade from 200 amp to 800 amp and redoing the pedestals for the campsites that carry electric hookups.  What a treat that will be to have such good service and not deal with flipping breakers all the time.

The historical feature of this park has to do with the limestone bluffs.....  The park is a myriad of bluffs and cliffs all around among the hiking trails.

Many years ago, the limestone was chopped out and fired in these huge kilns to make cement and plaster.  At first it was shipped out on boats... and later railroad tracks were added to haul the freshly created lime by the carful.  The remains of the kilns are still in the park and add to it's history.

We took a ride over by the kilns and checked them out.  It was interesting to see some more information in the park's main office and nature center about the process.

Later, when the state bought the land for the park, there was a dance hall, amusement park, and even ferry shuttle service to the park from the larger cities across the wide expanse of water of Lake Winnebago.

Speaking of Lake Winnebago, today's heat and humidity has added to the growth of what is called Blue Green Algae and its coated the NE shores of the lake where the winds blow it ashore.  It can be very harmful to folks who are allergic to it.  Also the E Coli readings are up in this section of the lake, so they closed the beach today.  It will not reopen until the readings go back into safe zones. 

Good thing the grandkids didn't come to swim today with us, eh?

EEEWWWWWWW!!!!!!!!

Well, it's 9 pm and it's still hot and muggy and icky out.  We didn't even subject the dogs to the heat during our evening walk.  Instead we walked by ourselves and left them in the motorhome.  We came back and took them just for a short jaunt up and down the path behind our campsite to do their duty, and then back inside where it's cooler. 

Tomorrow I have to run into town to mail out some more packages, and maybe I will take them along for the ride in the AC of the Tracker.

The booms of fireworks are going off across the lake, but we are staying inside where it's cool.  Guess we are old fuddie-duddies but we just can't take that humidity no more....  

GOD BLESS AMERICA

HAPPY FOURTH OF JULY TO ALL! 

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CAMPING - High Cliff State Park - Day Four

Again, another humid hot record breaking day in Wisconsin, as is the rest of the country.  Ewwwww.   We loaded up the dogs into the Tracker and took them with us for a jaunt up the pointy finger of Wisconsin to Door County.

At least they had a nice cool ride with us in the air conditioning of the Tracker.  We didn't dare leave them in the motorhome today, even if the air conditioning was on in the motorhome.  All too often, the park's power can go out, and the poor animals trapped inside these tin cans get roasty toasty!


As I type this right now, the power is out in our whole loop of the campground!  We are fine with our batteries and inverter, but the other folks all around us are out of power.  Many are gone to the fireworks celebration in town, and don't even know their power is out.


We drove up to Door County through all those cute little touristy towns, which were jammed with people.  No thanks.  We didn't even stop or shop anywhere.  Steve had some work-related meetings to attend.  Once we got where we were going, I let the dogs out for a bit of a walk along the beach and snapped some pics.   I drove around for a while to keep the AC running in the Tracker... and keep us cool.

It sure is a pretty area of the state! Steve was done with his business and we headed on south, hoping to get back to our campground and motorhome without running into the horrible holiday traffic.  We cruised past this drive-in, once Steve took me and the kids here.  I said pull in while we ate some sub sandwiches we picked up for supper.  What a fun place... and still running today!

This is one of the last nine remaining drive in theaters in Wisconsin, the Skyway....  http://www.doorcountydrivein.com/about.html

We got home in good shape, and the dogs were happy to get back too.  We took a walk around the park tonight and ran into another couple from Oconto!  Geesh, go 80 miles away to camp and run into people from your own home town of 4,000 ....  We had a little chat and then headed on back to our motorhome for the night.

We are still waiting for the power to straighten out, they must be working on it.  It flicks on and then off, each time resetting our EMS power management system.  So we just unplugged our cord from the post totally now.  I am thinking the added strain of the newest rigs that pulled in today have lowered the available power to our section.  We think some folks are trying to run 2 air conditioners on the small 30amp hookups.   We will leave ours off and unhooked till they get it sorted out.

Glad we are self-sufficient with our batteries and inverter and solar panels.  But tomorrow is going to be in the high 90's again, and I hope we have power available.  After all, we paid for an electric site.  If not, they are gonna have to "bend the rules" here and allow us to run our generator in the park (No generator usage is in the rules)   It's pretty quiet compared to some, and we can still stay cool.  Otherwise we will pull stakes and head on home a day early.

Have a cool night, folks!
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(P.S.  added Wednesday morning---  the power is staying on steady now and we have our AC on.   It's already hot hot hot and humid and over 90 degrees already at 10am.  If the power goes out later today, I think we will turn on the generator and let them come "talk to us" if need be.  LOL)