Appreciation

Sometimes, the sweetest things happen. In this crazy world we are living in right now, with angry people and horrible war, we need to stop and take the time to appreciate the sweet little things when they happen.

A little package arrived in my mail yesterday. I had no idea what it was, I hadn't ordered anything. It came all the way from Seattle. Turns out it was from a very appreciative customer of mine. She had ordered some things from me, actually she's a repeat customer many times over, through my Etsy store. I had tucked in a little extra something on my last shipment to her, just to be nice. It arrived to her on a day that she said she especially needed my thoughtful gesture.  I don't know what she was going through. But it was nice that I could make her smile. 

Appreciation.

Well, this package arrived here yesterday and it made me smile!

Inside was the most beautiful little silver handcrafted ring with a Ethiopian Opal set in the middle of it. I am October and opal is my birthstone. What an absolutely wonderful gift! She said she is taking a class in silversmithing. And she decided to send me a little something. And it fits perfectly!

This morning, as the sun was shining in, 

it just catches the light and 

sparkles so beautifully.

Appreciation.

On Saturday, another package arrived in my mail. I have a wonderful sister who manages to collect a little of this and a little of that, and puts it together into a package which just arrived out of the blue. There was a super soft skein of wool yarn, and some beautiful quilting books and magazines and a funny little note from her.  I sit back with my cup of coffee and take time to page through them, get inspiration, think of new things, or learn something from these books and magazines. All the while I smile. Because my sister thought of me and took the time to send them to me.

Appreciation.

We had a whole bunch of rain the other night. Big clapping thunderstorms and lightning! Kind of strange for the month of March in Wisconsin. Because the ground is frozen, the rain pooled up and made some ponds in the backyard. I know it will soon go down, to sink into the ground as the frost goes out. But for right now we have "waterfront property" in a beautiful view from the windows on the she shed.

Appreciation.

Our daughter Heather and son-in-law Jesse wanted to go to the gym on Sunday and work out early in the morning. They asked if we wouldn't mind having our grandchildren, Jameson and Whitney, over for a couple hours. Of course! We are always up for visit from the grandchildren, and it brings such joy to our hearts to have them come and visit. We are so glad we moved closer and we can have these impromptu visits.

Appreciation.

They were coming over at 7 a.m. so we set up a breakfast bar of all of the things they like to eat. That way they can pick and choose what they want and everybody has an enjoyable breakfast. 

The giggles and silly goose stories, the talk about school and lessons, the adventures of their pets at home and how much they interact with us is a true joy to have. Discussions around a dinner table are becoming a thing of the past in many homes. I am glad we can still have them, and the kids share spontaneously and with such energy and interest. 

Appreciation.

After breakfast, little Whitney decided she was going to get out some tools and start doing some repairs around our house. Like grandfather, like granddaughter! What is really cute is that these are the same plastic tools that her older brother bought on a trip to the hardware store with us when he was only four years old. These little tools are 9 years old now and still going strong. Many, many repairs were completed by the hands of our grandchildren with these little plastic tools. And many memories were made.

Appreciation.

Whitney decided that we needed to bake something. At first she wanted to make rice crispy bars. But we were out of rice krispies. (she and Claire made up the only box I had last week when they visited). So I dug around in the baking cupboard and found ingredients to make cupcakes! She loves the opportunity to be my little baking assistant. We each put on our aprons and got to work. The Llama Apron was a gift to me from our grandchildren, but they all seem to be the ones who want to wear it when we bake things. 

Learning lessons like counting and fractions. Learning what one quarter of a cup is on the measuring cup and then what a half a cup is. How quarters and halves are like 4 quarters to make one paper dollar. Learning about separating egg whites from the egg yolks because it was a white cake mix. Whitney drew the conclusion that realizing yellow yolks would make the cake look yellow.

This led to an interesting conversation of which came first, the chicken or the egg? Even Jameson weighed in on that one. As they argued the merits of one or the other being first, suddenly Whitney came up with the final conclusion. A CHICKEN BUTT!

Emitting gales of laughter....

Of course, one of the best parts of baking is after the cupcake tins are filled, she gets to lick out the bowl with the big "pink pig spatula". Another gift from the grandchildren. 

Appreciation.

More memories being made. I love having one on one time with my grandkids. I hope they remember these days too.  My memories of my grandmother are strong in my heart as I type this. 

Appreciation.

While we were busy in the kitchen, grandson Jameson was busy updating all of his apps on his phone. We have unlimited Wi-Fi at our house, but they have measured Wi-Fi at their home out in the country. So when he has a chance to get here and update everything or download things, it's a nice thing to let him concentrate on that and get it all done.  I am glad we can have something to offer a teenager that makes him WANT to come to our house.  LOL

Appreciation.

While we were waiting for the cupcakes to cool, little Whitney decided to pull out her Great Great Grandma Kafehl's Fisher-Price farm. Even though she's six years old, you're never too old to play with Fisher-Price toys. Lots of imagination and silliness, and fond memories of playing with this very farm myself when I was young at my Grandma's house. I'm so glad that I have been able to keep it all of these years. Now my grandchildren enjoy it. I am sure Grandma Kafehl smiles from Heaven each time it's taken out to be played with. More memories being made.

Appreciation.

The cupcakes were finally cool enough that we whipped up some frosting. Whitney wanted pink for hers and Jameson wanted green for his. Of course, each cupcake needs to get a liberal amount of sprinkles. Our grandchildren Chelsea Clayton and Claire buy me that big container of sprinkles every year to keep up the supply on hand. We put sprinkles on everything. Even applesauce.

Appreciation.

Yayyyyyy! She has such a sense of accomplishment. Plus she gets to bring some home to enjoy with their parents. After their efforts at the gym, I am not so sure they really want cupcakes. Oh well, maybe the grandkids get more that way? 

Appreciation.

Guess what?  We kept a couple for our own dessert! Made with "love".  I can taste it. 

Appreciation.

After the cupcakes were done, we took time to play some games of Candyland, and Trouble. Even big brother Jameson joined in, although he is 13 years old. Spending time at Grandma and Grandpa's house means you don't have to meet or exceed any age expectation for games. It's just spending time together laughing and teasing and having fun. Besides, Jameson won!

Appreciation.

After a nice lunch, they were picked up and headed back to their home, with cupcakes in hand. Now it was time for Grandma and Grandpa to sit back, put up our feet by the fire, and look out the back window at the snow softly and gently falling down. The big ponds that were back there have frozen over and they are now ice rinks. The softly falling flakes are mesmerizing and beautiful. We are so lucky to have such a view out the back, and enjoy the weather, no matter what season it is in Wisconsin.

Appreciation.

A couple months ago I saw this cute little African violet plant at the grocery store. For less than $5 that pretty little plant got popped in the shopping cart and came home with me. I have fond memories of my Grandma Kafehl with her beautiful skill of growing African Violets in her windows. She could get them to bloom year round, and have so many different colors. She could propagate the leaves by pinning them down into dirt with a hairpin. She had such a green thumb and her violets were absolutely beautiful. As kids, we had to be so careful looking at them, because it was way too easy to crack off a leaf with their stiff brittle stems.  That is when Grandma would scoop up the broken leaf, and propagate it in another little cup with a pin.  I guess I remember it well, because I was probably the one who broke off the leaves!  

I haven't had to do too much to keep this one going. I put it in a larger pot and I water it carefully using a funnel between the leaves, so the water goes down on the dirt and not on the leaves. That's when it makes spots on the leaves---  if you let water get on them. I remember my grandmother telling me that.

It has grown from about 6" across to now well over 12" across. 

I guess I am doing something right? 

Now I am rewarded with the most beautiful blossoms this week as it sits in my kitchen window.

Appreciation.

This morning, I was greeted with a mug of coffee and a smiling husband.  We made a nice breakfast together. We are sitting in the sunshine. There's not much more that we can do about what's going on in the big bad world outside. But inside, we can stay close, stay warm, and truly appreciate what we have.

APPRECIATION.

Where the Rubber Meets the Road

It was that time. Yes, time to spend some money. We hate spending money. 

The tires on our motorhome are very important. Literally, our lives depend on them. We need to pay close attention to not only the number of miles put on, the inflation, the wear and tear, but also the age of the tires.

Most RV tires do not get used on a regular basis. Not daily like a family car or truck. So the oils and chemicals within the rubber do not get flexed and circulated within the material of the tire itself. That is why tires on RVs tend to kind of dry rot and crack the sidewalls, or rot from the inside, or just "age out". Sometimes it looks like there is plenty of tread left and it looks just fine, but if the tires are too old, they will blow when overheated or over-inflated.  It can be a real hazard. Not only can it cause a possible crash, killing yourself and others around you, but even a blowout underneath an RV can rip out important components like plumbing, wiring, holding tanks etc. We see plenty of tales of woe from other RVers with horrible damage to know that we need to watch our tires carefully.

It is recommended by most tire companies that it is good to replace RV tires after 6 to 7 years of age. Some manufacturers say 10 years. So somewhere in that range it's good to replace them. Before it's too late. 

That's just what we did yesterday.

Our tires are just going on 8 years old, but we really didn't use them much over the last two years due to Covid. It was time to get some new ones. Past time. Steve likes the Toyo Tires and that has been the brand we have been running on our motorhome ever since we got it back in 2006.

Steve called around and checked prices, and it turns out the very best prices are from the same exact place we got the tires from last time. To make matters even more interesting, the tires are $27 LESS for the same exact tire than it was before! Imagine that??? 

We asked for the freshest tires possible and they found some that were made within the last 5 months.

When reading a date code on a tire, it's a 4 digit number stamped on during the manufacturing process. The first two digits are the number of the week, and the last two digits are the last two digits of the year that it was made. So a number date of say 4521 means it was made in the 45th week of 2021.

They had all 6 of them in stock and ready for us, on hold, waiting for a good day for us to drive down there and get them installed.

When we had the grandson over on last Sunday, he helped Steve remove the pretty stainless steel liner and rings and caps from each of the tires as well as the front cover over the spare tire.   The wheels look kinda ugly in the pic below.

We carefully backed it out of it's winter resting spot alongside of the garage, even though we have some ice and snow on that side of the driveway. With me outside on the passenger blind side guiding, and Steve backing up, we were able to get it free of it's snowy berth and parked in the driveway. 

The sun was shining and the pavement was dry. No ice or sleet or salt or wet slush to spray up all over the motorhome. Once we were sure that we were out of the snow, we called the tire place to see if we could arrange to have the tires balanced and mounted and put on the motorhome in the afternoon. They said "Yes!  Come On Down!"

It was an absolutely beautiful afternoon to take a drive. It is 60 miles one way to this tire supplier in Appleton.  We tossed in a few things and our credit card, and hit the road. 

Just look at this happy man as he's driving his motor home again. It's been a long, long winter and it sure feels good to get behind the wheel and fire her up and head on out.  This motorhome is his "old man retirement hobby car" and he loves the chance to get in and take it for a spin. 

The dash heater works quite well, and we were comfortable even though it was only 21° outside. Little Binney nestled into her hidey-hole spot under the dash by my feet on the passenger side. She has a little bed there and she's very happy to go along for a ride. She doesn't know where we're going, she doesn't care. Just as long as she is with us. That's all that matters to her.

Even though it was only 21° out, that intense spring rays of the sun were really warming us up. Can you imagine this, we even saw a motorcycle rider out for a jaunt?? As we got closer down south towards Appleton, they have less snow than we do up in Oconto, but it still was plenty cold. What a die hard motorcycle rider to get out on a sunshiny day in early March. Guess he loves his bike as much as Steve loves his motorhome. 

We arrived a little early at Ray's Tire

 on Bluemound Road in Appleton.

We pulled right up where we were parked last time, 

we are too tall to fit in their work bays. 

Ray's Tire

1121 N. Bluemound Dr.

Appleton, WI 54914

their website:

https://raystire.com/

Here is what we ordered:

Six new Toyo tires,  mounted and balanced and new metal valve stems.

255/70R22.5 H 140/137 Toyo M122 

date codes all less than 6 months old.

Both Harry and Mark jumped into action, even though we were earlier than what we originally agreed upon. Right away they started removing the two passenger rear tires first.

To make their job easier, Steve ran the hydraulic power leveler jacks for them on each section of the motorhome as they worked their way around, one tire at a time.  They were busy removing wheels, removing the tires from the rims, then putting the new tire on the rim, balancing and then mounting it back into place. 

They did one portion at a time and Steve was able to operate the hydraulic jacks for them. That way they didn't have to use their floor jacks or make us worry about them punching through into a holding tank or a storage compartment. We've heard horror stories from other RV people when they've had tires changed....   so this made it really easy for them, plus Steve could supervise their process at the same time. It really helps when having a motorhome worked on to be able to observe what the workers are doing. I know some places don't like that. Or sometimes they throw out the excuse of "their insurance doesn't allow you in the repair area". But when you're talking this big of a rig and this big of investment, we prefer to stay with the rig and observe everything that's being done. In the past, with our other old motorhome, we had a VERY bad experience with what happens when you leave it in the hands of a repair shop unsupervised. We never want to go through that again!

Steve has a little switch panel in this rear compartment to lower and raise the levelers as needed. Or it can be done from inside of the rig on the dash with a duplicate set of switches.

While they had the dually wheels off, Steve was able to examine the hubs and check things over underneath there. Good time to give it a good go-round after it's been sitting all winter.

Steve also inspected each tire as it was mounted onto the rims to make sure that they all had the proper date codes as promised. It's nice that Steve was able to verify everything, because once the tires are on, it's kind of hard to read the codes, especially on the inside dually wheels.

I popped out of the rig for a little while to watch the process and take a few pictures. When they inflate or deflate tires they use this big red iron cage in case something goes wrong. 

They also put the tires on this huge balancing machine.... it is amazing that it can hold up those big heavy tires and spin them perfectly after the guys put on the appropriate weights at each section of the rim. Each tire is balanced to run on the road and not wear the tread in odd spots. 

We also had new metal valve stems put on. This is very important. Rather than the braided ones which can be faulty and leak, especially on the inner duallys. Having metal valve stems is imperative.

They even took the tire off the front spare tire rack for Steve and put one of our used tires in place of the other older spare.

Now by rotating one of these into it's place, we have a pretty reliable spare if need be. Hopefully we never need to use it.

While the guys were busy doing the tire stuff, I made lunch. Before leaving the house, I had grabbed a container of frozen beef minestrone soup, a loaf of bread, some salami and some crackers. I made lunch inside on the stove in the comfort of our motorhome. It felt good to be inside my little motorhome kitchen and cooking again.

The sun was shining in and it was just an absolute beautiful day, even if it was cold. There wasn't any wind blowing so the intensity of the spring rays kept us nice and cozy and warm inside the motor home. I kicked on the big propane furnace for a while to help warm things up. I also went around with my clipboard and made a list of the things that I need to replenish or restock for the upcoming camping season. I like to make lists when I am in the rig, and add to it as I think of things.

I turned on the TV for a while and scanned in the stations. Binney and I spent a while watching This Old House, while the guys were finishing up the tires outside.  We may have even dosed off a bit. 

They were on the final set of dually tires on the back driver's side and I hopped out to take one more picture. They had all 6 tires done, plus the spare swapped over in less than 2 hours total!

When Steve went in to settle up the bill, it was amazing that the tires were actually $27.00 less per tire than what they were the last time we bought them. No increase in labor for all the other stuff either.

Here is what we had done:

6 new Toyo tires

255/70R22.5 H 140/137 Toyo M122 

date codes all less than 6 months old.

$320 each tire 

$18 each to dismount the old ones and mount new ones

$14 each to do each wheel changeover

$28 each to balance each one

$5.50 each for metal valve stems

They purchased 5 tires back from us for $50 each, and we saved the 6th tire as our spare.

They mounted that on our spare rim for free.

Total amount out the door, tax and everything $2,290.41. 

The shop purchased our 5 old tires from us at $50 each. They can resell these tires to truckers that use lowboy units for hauling items at slow speeds or for farmers on equipment out in their field. Because the tread is still pretty good, the tires have less than 15,000 miles on them. That was an additional $250 off our bill!

All in all, the extra savings were great. To top it off, they accepted our American Express card, which gives us an additional 5% cash back on this purchase. So that is a whopping $114 back into our pocket.

The guys had done such a good job, working quickly and efficiently with a smile on their faces. Allowing Steve to monitor every step of the way was greatly appreciated. We were sure to tip each one with a little bit of cash when the job was done, just to show how much we enjoyed working with them. Nowadays, with so many disgruntled workers and lackadaisical efforts, finding two workers like this really made a difference. I guess we don't mind spending quite so much money when we know the job is done correctly.

With new rubber all around, this happy motorhoming man had quite a smile on his face. This is something we have been wanting to do, especially before we plan to take some longer jaunts this summer and into the fall. Just look at that guy. He said the rig feels different and handles better and the tires feel really good. I'm glad he is happy.

As we travelled our 60 miles back home, we had pulled up local diesel prices on the Gasbuddy app. Around the Appleton and Green Bay area it was at $4.09 a gallon! Oh my! As we got closer up to Oconto we managed to top off our tank at the local Shell station for only $3.94 a gallon. That's 15 cents a gallon difference! Steve also had a chance to scrub off the windshield bugs from last fall that have been kind of stuck there all winter long...

As I type up this blog today, local diesel has jumped up to $4.49 a gallon---- holy cow! Are we ever glad we topped off the tank yesterday. Now we're good to go for at least 800 miles on our hundred gallon tank.

We have the motorhome parked in the driveway safe and sound. We didn't put it back in it's little nestled spot alongside of the garage for now. We're hoping some of the sunshine will melt the frozen ice alongside the garage where it had been parked all winter.

Steve put all of the shiny steel wheel liners and trim rings back on...

We used to run a Hopkins N Vision brand tire pressure monitoring system, but all of the sensors went dead over the last 2 years.  The batteries within each sensor are not replaceable. The sensors are pretty pricey to order new ones, especially for 10 tires total. So we are going to invest in a new Tire Minder System with replaceable batteries in the sensors in the next month or so, before we take any trips.  Just waiting to see if it goes on sale. 

~~~~~~~~~~~

Want to hear something funny? Well, underneath in the gravel where the motorhome had been parked all winter, it is becoming a big huge KITTY LITTER BOX! 

Seriously!!!

We see stray feral cats from time to time crossing our backyard and sneaking over to that spot on the other side of our garage this winter. Do you want to know why? 

When we put new gravel in our driveway and the parking area, it's small size gravel almost like mini pea gravel. It's called "fines" from the Gravel Pit. It's a soft gravel that easily mushes flat. But you can also easily kick it up with your heel if you try. It's got a consistency of almost like kitty litter. I kid you not. And it seems that the feral cats in our neighborhood think that's a PERFECT spot to come and dig a little hole and do their business! Especially in the winter months when everything else is frozen. This gravel is still soft and diggable.

Now--- you might think that's totally awful and we should do something to get rid of those cats doing their thing in our gravel. But think of the plus side of that? With our motorhome, and our kid's motorhome parked out there, with little bits of kitties droppings buried underneath, do you think we're going to have any mice????  LOL! I think the mice would highly avoid the area because of such a scent to their sensitive little noses. So I guess it's a good thing.

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Well it's another sunny beautiful day today in Wisconsin. We are up to 30 degrees. The upcoming weekend looks like it's going to be horrible. I see sleety rainy frozen blowing miserable weather so I think it's good to hunker down and hold on tight. 

The kids wanted us to come up to the cabin on Saturday and help install some exterior French doors, but I think the weather is not going to cooperate. We'll see what Sunday looks like.  For now, we will hunker down inside and wait for Spring. 

Has Spring Sprung Yet?

Spring is in the air!!! The sun is shining bright and the temperatures are warming up slowly. We had such a beautiful sunshiny day yesterday. Even though the temperature didn't get above 34 degrees, the rays of the sun are warming us up, increasing in intensity, and starting to melt the snow. That's just fine with us!

Although we can easily get another foot or two of snow during the month of March and even into April. Three years ago, right before we moved into the house, we were dumped with 21 inches in one day in the area. So anything can happen in Wisconsin this time of year. But we will appreciate the sunny days when we get them. 

Yesterday, we did some work in the garage, then we sat out on the front porch for a while in the sunshine. It felt so good to sit in the rocking chairs again and soak up a little vitamin D.  Our friend Roger said I need to be in a bikini to get that vitamin D... LOL Those days are long gone, Roger. 

 

Silly little Binney had to come and lay out on the porch too. She really enjoyed the sunshine and she has a fur coat to protect her from the cold temperatures.  We watched people out walking by the house, and even saw a motorcycle cruise on past! 

Even though it was a little windy from the West, it felt good to sit out on the porch and enjoy this part of our house again. It's been a long winter, and sitting on the front porch is a distant memory from last autumn. After the winds kicked up a little more, we switched sides of the house and sat in the backyard, sheltered in the secluded area by the back patio.

Why where we sitting and resting? 

Because we had just unloaded 15 heavy pieces of sheetrock! It's 1/2" thick, 4' x 10' sheets, which weigh 56 pounds each. But they are attached together as a pair, so that's 112 lbs. Ugh! 

We got them all unloaded and stacked up into the garage. This is the first time in a month that we've even felt like really doing anything physical. After being sick for almost the entire month of February, this was great to get out and stretch our muscles and breathe in some fresh air. It was quite invigorating. Plus we didn't collapse into a fit of coughing and wheezing and crawling back into bed in our jammies.

So what do we need all this sheetrock for? 

Well, this winter, before we got sick, Steve had finished insulating the whole ceiling of our entire garage. It's two stalls wide by two stalls deep so it's 24 ft wide by 40 ft deep. Since he got up all this insulation, it's made a huge difference in the garage temps.  No more cold winds blowing in the open soffit vents or the ridge vent along the roofline.  It can be well below 0 outside, but inside stays in the 20's or so, with no heat source. The Saturn starts right up with no struggling from a cold battery or engine.  It's nice to go out in the garage to get something out of storage, as I have a lot of my fabric inventory out there on shelves for my rug weaving.   We can work on projects with a supplementary propane heater if we want to warm it up, or do a needed car repair (hopefully not). Steve did change the oil in the Saturn the other day, in comfort of a warm garage. 

This sheetrock is only about half of what we need, but our trailer can only haul so much at a time. We will make another trip on another nice day when the pavement is dry to pull the trailer down the road. You definitely don't want wet slushy snowy salty roads when hauling sheetrock on an open trailer.

Three of the sheets are set aside for another inside project. We were going to start doing the beadboard on the walls in the master bathroom, but Steve figured that we should tackle the ceiling first, then work on the walls. 

The 100+ year old bathroom ceiling has some cracked areas where the plaster is uneven and it really should get a whole new layer of sheetrock all of the way across the entire ceiling. It'll be close quarters for working, and we will cut it in pieces out in the garage to bring in and screw up into place. It'll be quite a project, but it's something that we would like to get done before we even begin working on the walls down below. It will mean removing the bathtub for a couple days, but the shower will still be usable, as well as the rest of the bathroom facilities. Good thing we also have a half bath to use during the process too.

The previous owners had done some textured plaster 

and rough repairs

that need to be covered up.

This crack over the shower area is a potential problem

if not taken care of right away.

That will be an upcoming project on our radar.... 

~~~~~~~~

We had a couple little giggly granddaughters over for a sleepover on Friday night. They played together so well and then both finally dropped fast asleep, totally exhausted in the little grandkids room. I didn't even have time to read them a story.

In the morning they both crawled into our big king-size bed and decided to watch old fashioned Tom and Jerry cartoons---- upside down! For some reason, watching it upside down makes it much more hilarious, especially when you are only five and six years old.  See those chins in the air? 

Later on, after a big breakfast, they got their "Green Thumbs"! They earned them by helping me pot some coleus rootings that I had started in the window in the kitchen. They learned how to carefully scoop the dirt in around the roots and pack it down. Here they are showing off their green thumbs. What good helpers.

Of course we had to get in some time at the big Sanna Kangas Finlander Barn Loom. We've been doing a series of "caterpillar rugs" lately and they have been enjoying being the ones to design the rugs. I do the main beating part, and they help with all of the assistant designer work. They pick out each little piece of colorful knit scrap socks (they are left over factory waste from a sock knitting mill in New York). They decide which color should go next, to be inlaid on each row of the rug as we go along.

So far, the last three rugs that we have woven together on the loom have all sold to new customers. This one will go up for sale in my Etsy shop as soon as we finish it up. 

When our daughter and son-in-law came back from a trip to Milwaukee, they had made a pit stop at Trader Joe's for me. The nearest two Trader Joes are 150 or 165 miles away.  These are the two most favorite items of mine. Only available at Trader Joes, and not sold online either. 

Now I am stocked up on more cookie butter and another case of my most favorite wine, Two Buck Chuck White Zinfandel.  Steve loaded up my little wine rack and now I'm good to go for a while.

~~~~~~~

On Sunday, the youngest grandson Clayton came over to spend the day. He wanted to have some jobs to do. He started out with filling all of our bird feeders. The birds are coming back in scores and we have to fill them up every day now. The squirrels are gobbling down all of our suet as well as the woodpeckers, so we are going through two blocks every day of that too.  He knows how to lower the feeders and suet cages to fill them up for us. What a good helper.  The deer wander in at night to clean up anything left behind from the messy birds. 

Clayton helped Grandpa remove the shiny stainless steel decorative rims from the motorhome. We are getting ready to take a jaunt down to Appleton to have our new tires balanced and mounted. We are waiting for a dry pavement day with no salt or slush or snow or ice. The tires are there waiting for us, as soon as the weather cooperates. I will do a separate blog post on that.

Clayton helped cook lunch and made us macaroni and cheese and hot dogs. He likes using the stove and being our little chef. It's good that he learns how to make food, even if it's as simple as boiling noodles and mixing up a box meal. He'll never go hungry. LOL 

For supper, we had some leftovers to eat up from our take out meal the night before. But Clayton made his own dinner. Aldi carries these cute little pizza kits of three crusts and three packets of sauce. So he took out a crust and then he added pepperonis and cheese. Created his own little mini pizza. Just the right size for him. 

~~~~~~~~

Steve got a new toy in the mail yesterday. It's a "surge tank"! Its also called an overflow tank for the radiator that goes on the motorhome. Last fall, right before the end of the camping season, we noticed a crack in our old one. We had replaced it 12 years ago, so we did pretty good getting 12 years worth of pressure out of it before it cracked. Steve sealed it up as best he could with epoxy last fall, but he wanted to replace it with a new one before we start doing any traveling this spring. He found one at a good price and ordered it, which came within three days. It even came with the right pressure pound rated radiator cap. He's like a silly little boy getting presents at Christmas.  Awwwwwww

He grabbed his tools, and went outside in the sunshine yesterday, making a beeline for the motorhome. He quickly removed the old tank and got the new one into place before I could even take a photo of the process!  Mr. Zoom Zoom. 

~~~~~~~~

It is lightly snowing out today with big soft fluffy flights floating down. We aren't supposed to get much, but you never know.   This is Wisconsin, and the time of year when the weather can change in a heartbeat.   Time to get some lunch going, and post this blog.