MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Camping Signs, Carpeting and CCC at the Cat Scale

I am going to start off the new year with posting three of our motorhome modifications at a time. I will post repairs, modifications, or neato things we have found for RVing.  I have lots of pics in my files so I will do them in alphabetical order.

Underneath that stuff, I will post my regular daily stuff..... kinda sorta fun, eh?

So here it goes, we are up to the letter C now!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS 

STARTING WITH THE LETTER C

Carpet Cleaning:

I know many folks do not like carpeting in their RV.

I do.  I like taking my shoes off at the door and walking in stocking or bare feet. I like warm comfortable floors when it is damp and icky and cold outside.  I like getting out of bed and walking around in my jammies and bare feet and not have to put on slippers. That is just me.

And I try really really hard to keep our 20 year old carpeting in good condition in our motorhome. Yup, 20 years old.  It is a grey and blue and cream berber and has held up really well, with people, dogs, and grandkids.  And cleaning.

Twice a year I use our big steam cleaner on it. It is a big round extractor canister type, with a good amount of suction to not leave a lot of moisture behind.  Besides a bit of carpet shampoo, I also I use a couple glug-glugs of a cleaning product called Nature's Miracle Stain Remover and a packet of Oxyclean.  Nature's Miracle is available at our local Piggly Wiggly grocery store in the pet aisle or also at the Petco chain stores.       http://www.naturemakesitwork.com/home/index.php

Although we didn't have any pet stains, I find it to be a great all around cleaner and stain remover. It took out a big coffee/creamer stain from a spilled cup that I did not see until it was all soaked in. It works great on clothes too so I keep a bottle with a sprayer by the washing machine and use it as a pretreatment. Takes out old stains that normal detergent or Shout won't even touch.

With such light colored carpeting in our rig, we try hard to keep it nice and never wear shoes inside.  Even for Steve when he is driving, he removes his shoes as he comes in the door and puts on soft soled moccasins that are never worn outside, especially at fuel stations etc.  Otherwise spilled diesel fuel in the truckers lanes at stations get tracked in on carpeting and will never come off.  He wears leather gloves too when fueling up, so he never has oily diesel fuel on his hands when coming back in or touching the steering wheel.

Here is a pic from the kitchen facing to the front of the rig....

I lift up the dining chairs and end table and coffee table to put them 

on the loveseat out of the way 

until everything is dry the next day. 

I think it will hold up for a few more years. If Steve had his way, it would all be ripped out and new laminate or vinyl planks would be put all the way through.  Nope... no thanks. 

Just this last year I put this oriental runner rug in here. It does help with trapping the dog hair and some of the dirt catches in it until it is vacced up.  Mainly I put it in here because I bought a different pattern for the house and this rug had nowhere else to go. hahaha

Camping Signs:

Many people like to put out camping signs when at a campground.  We do too.  I know some folks say that perhaps that opens up an invitation for someone to go to your house and rob it, knowing you are gone.  Oh well, that is what our alarm system is for I guess and we live 2 blocks from the police dept. and 4 blocks from the sheriff dept. and we have two wonderful widow neighbor ladies on each side of us who notice every little thing.  

Many years ago, in Steve's first marriage, his parents gave them a custom sign with the name Pfundtner on it.  It was just about the only thing Steve got out of his divorce (besides two wonderful sons!)   Hmmmm  she didn't want the sign as much as she didn't want the guy?  Her loss, my gain!

I touched up the paint, added our first names together, and added new stain and some coats of polyurethane.  I made it OUR SIGN, and cherish it.  I was thinking about adding the state, Wisconsin to ours. Maybe next time it needs new paint?

It usually hangs from the front of our rig over the spare tire cover with two American Flags holding it up to the tire mounting bracket.  Sometimes we hang it from the numbered post in the campground if it is close enough.

Our daughter Erin gave us this one for a present one year. I hang it from our awning and it rotates in the breeze.  Kinda purty, dontcha think?

We like walking around the campground and seeing people's signs and sometimes where they are from.  It is sometimes an ice breaker to chit chat a bit.  People usually like to try to pronounce our name, and usually murder it. haha! 

Cat Scale and CCC Cargo Carrying Capacity:

This pic is kinda sorta funny.  Right after we bought our Safari, we went to a Cat Scale to weigh our rig. Steve told me to go inside and find out how to use the Cat Scale.  I went inside and she said just hit the button.  So, I went to find the button.  Well.... the button is situated up high for semi drivers to reach!  What did I know, it was the first time we were ever weighing our rig!    And Steve just happened to snap a pic of me trying to figure it out! 

Our UVH rating is 18,600 (Unloaded Vehicle Weight)
Our GVWR rating is 28,000 (Gross Vehicle Weight Rating)
GCWR-32,000 (Gross Combined Weight Rating)


And...
We weigh in with full water, fuel, and propane tanks and 2 people at 22,000 pounds without our gear when we first bought the rig.

We have about 8,500 pound capacity available from empty. Even with all our tanks full, (propane, fuel, fresh water and waste water) we still have around 6,000 pounds of CCC cargo carrying capacity above that.  It is very important to never overload your rig. Your chassis, handling, tire inflation and most of all, the brakes depend on you not overloading your rig.

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Sad to say, the crud has overtaken me again. I hope Steve doesn't get it again. Last week we both had the digestive crud flu bug that was going around. This one now is the respiratory one that has nailed me. My breathing was labored, and because of my lung damage, I can easily get down and out while pneumonia sets in.  I got up at 5 am and sat in a hot steamy bath for a while to help loosen things up.  Today has been up and down and just about flat out dozing on and off.  I tried sewing for a while, but do NOT sew when under the influence of sinus medication!  Almost everything I sewed has to get ripped out.  

On a good note, the Packers just won the playoff wildcard game.  Next week they head to Dallas! 

~GO PACK GO~ 

The carpeting is DONE!!!! and Jameson the Baker Boy

Wheeeheee is all I can say!  The disruption of moving furniture from room to room, prepping and replacing, and yes, even paying for it all.... well, it's worth it!

The house looks great and it feels so good to have it all done on the main and loft floors.  (we are going to lay the extra piece from the loft into the extra bedroom downstairs later this week)

The carpeting guys came over Saturday afternoon and finished up the loft. Here is Steve giving it a good vacuuming to pick up all the loose fuzzies.  We are very pleased with the finished result.  Except they accidentally covered over a floor flush electric outlet, but we were able to locate it and cut it free.

The afternoon activity proved to be too exciting and exhausting for the little guy.  All those fascinating tools and supplies, watching the guys go up and down and up and down the stairs.  We kept him out of the way, but he was immersed totally in what they were doing. 

I think he was really sad to see them leave, but liked running around in circles in the big open loft with no furniture.   I remember his mommy doing the same thing when we built this house 15 years ago.  She was 12 at the time and she was rolling from one end of the room to the other, relishing in the new soft carpeting and padding.  I have video of it to prove it! 

As for the little guy, he was busy playing on his *drums* while Granfaddah was doing the droning vacuum cleaner.  I snapped the first pic of him playing, and I kid you not---  within one minute I snapped the second pic.  (note the angle of the sunshine and you will see they were taken one minute apart).   He slowly slid to the side and PLOPPED fast asleep on the floor!

  It was like he just melted, all liquidy and smooth.... and was fast asleep!    

He slept for over 2 hours, so I guess his little 3 year old body needed some rest.  

While he slept, Steveio and I quietly carried up all the things to go back in the loft... the tv, the bedside tables, the lamps, the quilt rack, and even my favorite plant.   (I have kept this one going since my surgery in 2005 -- it came from my wonderful inlaws, Paul and Mary Ann)   Here is a shot from the steps going up into the loft. 

AND----  the bed!  Yes... Steveio and I hoisted this humongous king-sized mattress up those stairs!!!!  Just him and me.  What a job!!!   Along with the 2 piece box springs and the frame and the headboard.  Ahhhhh all together again.  

We set my steamer trunk at the base of the bed where I can keep loading it with treasures to be stored once we hit the road.  It's only about 1/3 of the way full now, and I have more things earmarked to go inside.

We got it all put back together before the little guy woke up.  Once he got up, he gave it the good ole boy BOUNCE TEST.   Yup, it's all set up right.

I dragged the rest of the dusty vines from the bathroom valances through the freshly fallen snow.  That sure cleans them up nicely, and I hung them all back into place above the windows.  Steve did a few little repairs here and there, and little Jameson followed him around with some tools poking out of his pockets.  Granfaddah's Little Helper, for sure.

We got a few more projects done during the evening, and played a few games, read a few stories and had a few cuddles before bedtime.  Jameson cozied up on a pile of quilts on the floor next to our bed, and slept like a log till 8 a.m. this morning.



This morning we had a little project to work on.  Jameson needed to bake some little heart cakes, with the same recipe we blogged about the other day that our granddaughter Chelsea used.

Our Little Baker Boy went to work and stirred that batter up.  He was pretty excited to make them, and it went fast.  The licking of the spoon was important too.

One minute and 10 seconds in the microwave... oh my how hard it is to wait impatiently when you are three years old.   Soon the hearts went PLOP on the parchment paper.  DONE!

We had to cool them off first, 

and then he really helped with the decorating. 

Can't you tell?

Those three hearts were sent home for Valentine's Day.

One for him and one each for his Mommy and Daddy.  

Of course, we baked FOUR hearts..... 

the last of which he shared with his 

Granfaddah and Granmuddah Pfun

This upcoming week is some more straighting and sorting in the loom room.  I have a few ladies coming to look at some supplies and looms.  Next we will attack the storage room and some painting down there.  The second bathroom could use some new vinyl flooring, and I know the closet in Heather's old bedroom has her friends names painted on the wall inside!  10 years ago, we let three teenage girls paint the bedroom, and they all signed their names in the closet with big fat brushes.  I will have to snap a pic before I paint over them....



Heather and Jesse came and stole the little boy from us.  They were on their way back from their weekend in Marquette....  Heather cut 2 tracks on a CD that was being released at a Charity Ball.  The event was benefitting Alzheimers, which has struck a relative of her nearest and dearest 4th-5th grade teacher.  He made the CD and invited Heather to sing some duets with him.   They have been coordinating schedules for the last few months to meet at the recording studio to get this done in time for the Charity Ball.

Also she was featured as a vocalist during the ball, to be part of the entertainment for the event.  She has a GREAT voice (she didn't get it from ME)  and sounds professional and adorable.  Today they had a signing party as part of the release, and they even signed one for me!    I smiled through my tears as I popped in the CD to listen.  That was my payment for the weekend of babysitting, a free CD.  I am sure to wear it out.  Heh heh.

I will release more details on the CD once she gives me the links.


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Onwards with the Home Improvements!

Yes folks, here we go with more stuff getting done over the weekend.   I know I have been lax in blogging.  We are working working working on projects to get the house ready for the market.

The carpeting is finished on the main floor- (livingroom, stairs/landing, and changing room)  They did a great job and we are very happy with results.   In reply to my last blog,  a comment by Avril Copperfield:  yes, we did the tear out and prep work and moved the furniture out... but the local carpet store did the actual installation.   Then we have to move all the furniture back again.


We did do all of the original carpet and ceramic tile installation 15 years ago ourselves.  But for only a $550 fee, the local guy and his worker are taking care of installing all this carpet for us this time.  Steve said he needs to save his knees for retirement.  LOL

Here is Steve relaxing in his chair near the tv, and Duchess thinks the carpeting is just fine too.   Over by my side, I have the fireplace by my chair.  I took the wreath down over the fireplace, and re-stained the wall to cover up the light spot from where a special print hung for the last 15 years.  The pine wood all around the print had darkened and mellowed with age and UV exposure, but not underneath the framed print.  We had the frame rebuilt and hung it in our motorhome instead.  Here is the blog post of that project: Robert Duncan print

On to the next step... the loft!

Steve and I cleared out everything from the loft and stacked it down in the livingroom.  It was kinda disappointing to pile all that stuff up in my nice neat livingroom. ARGGHH   We even horsed down the bulky awkward huge king sized mattress and box springs by ourselves....   now THAT was a job!

Keep in mind that our loft is HUGE... it's 24 feet wide by 19 feet long!  That is even bigger than our livingroom.  The carpet will be seamed down the middle of two 12 foot wide rolls.  That is what we had before too.  My brother took one side of the old carpet out already, but they had four guys to haul that piece out.   Steve and I rolled up the other half last night and got it down the steps ourselves.   Here we stopped halfway for a break.  That is a 19 ft long roll hanging there like a limp sausage over the railing. 

From that spot, we hauled it out the door on the right... around through the yard, under the pine tree, down the slope to the lower level patio doors... and brought it into the lower level.  IN THE DARK!   It's laying in the middle of my loom room studio.  Later this week or maybe into the weekend, we will lay that piece in the extra bedroom by ourselves.  It's the easy cheaper carpet with the foam backing, not the good stuff to be tacked and stretched.  

So here is our loft with BARE NAKED FLOORS!!!!

They should be here tomorrow to finish the loft installation.  I said we were flexible and he could fit it into his schedule this week any time.  We have the extra bedroom to sleep in downstairs, which is fine with us.

Altogether we are having 92 new square yards installed.  We are re-installing 25 yards in the bedroom downstairs from the leftover piece from the loft.

I snapped this shot from below in the livingroom with all the glowing gleaming pine woodwork.  I am gathering the good shots for our data sheet when we start to market the house.  My new camera makes "glare" circles, so I will have to a little photoshopping on them before adding to a data sheet.

Another project I did this weekend was to paint over our 15 year old pitted brass icky looking wall sconces with some textured brown speckled paint in two tones.  I had to do 3 coats, and one can of spray was just enough.  Came out pretty nice!   We had first looked at replacing all four of the lights, but at about $25-35 a fixture, times four fixtures....  ahhh this works out just as nice and keeps the rustic feeling. $6.99 a can. 

Over each of the windows, I have these cool vines with tiny deep burgundy berries.  Passing years has the dust collecting on them and it won't vacuum off.  (top vine)   

So I took them outside and dragged them through some of the last remaining snow, which scrubbed them free of the dust and cobwebs!  (bottom vine)  I hung them back up over the windows and patio doors.

We got a lot of other smaller projects done too.  We put up a handrail to the basement (after I stained it in the garage)  The house has to meet code on all aspects before we put it on the market, and the handrail is something we just never did before.  Now it's done.    We will also get the well water test and septic/mound system inspections done on our own dime, so they are on record.  That is one less step for a buyer to wait for during a closing process (I sold real estate for 9 years, so I know how this stuff works) 

Another project I did this weekend was a favorite of mine.  I love staining new wood!  We bought some new bifold wooden closet doors for the lower level bedroom.   I did the staining out in the garage.  It has been unseasonably warm this week in Wisconsin, so the doors dried nicely in the fresh air of the garage.  

There had been sliding mirrored doors in that room, which cracked over time from teenagers banging them open and shut  (and too thick carpeting underneath them).  So when we go down to put in the new carpet, we will haul out the old doors and install these at the same time.  

Also, we distributed some heirlooms to the kids... 

Erin is the recipient of my "fine china"  heh heh   I was collecting my china dishes as a new bride.  I bought one little stamp at a time for 99cents to collect each piece if you spent $25 on groceries back in the early 1990's from Super Ron's grocery store.  I collected 8 place settings over the year long promotion and had them proudly displayed in a china hutch in our house in Green Bay.  Since we moved up to the woods, they have been sitting in a cupboard, unused.   Now Erin can have them when her illuminated china nook gets finished in her dining room in the future.   

Erin, being the oldest daughter, also gets my grandmother's cedar chest.  It was bought for my Grandma Kafehl (Beatrice)  by my grandfather (Harvey) in the 1920's. We even have the card from when he gave it to her, along with a card from some roses he gave her on their wedding day.

Also there is a little pink slip of paper which says: "cedar chest key".  There is a story to that key.  See, when we were clearing out Grandma's little apartment after she passed away, and I was getting the chest.  But we could not find the key. Anywhere.  Later as we went through one of the last dresser drawers, we found a jar of pennies, buttons and paperclips.  Inside, tucked on top was this little pink piece of paper with a bread twistie tie around it, attached to the key! It said: "cedar chest key" in Grandma's handwriting.  I cried.  Oh Gram!   

The cedar chest was made in Sheboygan, WI at the famous Lakeside Craft Shops and was done as a quality piece.  I am pleased to pass it along to my oldest daughter... as she knew and loved her GREAT grandmother as a child.  She was 13 when Great Gram Kafehl died.  And someday Chelsea will get it...  it will be from her GREAT GREAT Grandmother.  Hope it keeps being passed on for years and years and years...  We hauled it over to Erin's house and we carried it in for the very pregnant Erin on Saturday.

Speaking of chests....  here is the steamer trunk I mentioned in my other blog post.  I found this trunk on the side of the road, destined for garbage pickup.  I snatched it up (along with a wooden wine rack) and took it home to refurbish it.   Inside, I have been carefully putting all kinds of treasured items that will be stored away for us in our son's attic.   Each item will be double sealed in zip lock bags, and will have a few space bags double layered too for some textiles I am going to store.  (wedding dress and woven coverlets)

Once it is filled, I will seal the edge of the opening preventing an intrusion of dampness or bugs, 

and hope the items will last safely inside until we are tired of travelling 

and want to settle down into one last house. 

Each step is one step closer to getting this house sold 

and us getting on the road! 

Anyone wanna buy a house? 

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Prepping the house for sale - carpeting project

Like I said in yesterday's blog, we are going gangbusters to get the house ready to put on the market.  We spent the last week decluttering and getting the kids to come and get pieces of furniture we no longer need in the house.  We got the whole kitchen painted, all the sections around the cabinets, up above and between, and then the ceiling too.  That came out nice on Sunday and we were pleased with the results.

We had little Chelsea here overnight last night, so we took a bit of a break.  I snapped this pic of a certain little imp, when my computer kept mysteriously rebooting......   No wonder why!!!  That is where my POWER button is!

This morning she woke up all smiles and giggles, and we had a great snuggly morning before I took her off to the day care center.  We called her in late to her daycare group and said she was playing HOOKY!   She loved the word and kept chanting it over and over.  Rhymes with COOKIE!   After a fun breakfast with her, I took her into the daycare center.  With wails of tears and dramatics, she didn't want her Granmuddah to leave!  I hung around for a while, and when she was thoroughly spoiled rotten, then it was time for ME to leave and get to work on the house.


I hauled down the rest of the clothes from our walk-in closet/changing room, and the shoe rack unit and hampers... stuffing them all down in the guest bedroom for now.  Then it was time to paint!  I cut in and rolled out the paint on the walls, and it got darker as it dried.  Oh my!  It was not quite the color I wanted, but oh well, I am not going to live here, right???

Those pine tree swinging doors are from wood we had sawn from big pines that blew down the first year we moved here.  We had a portable sawmill come and cut out planks that we used for the shutters on the outside, the doors on this changing room off the master bath, and then all the 2x4's to build the garage! From ONE giant white pine tree!  Oh, and the log mantle over the fireplace was from the top of the tree.

The pine tree cutout motif we *borrowed* one Sunday afternoon from a logging implement company in the UP of Michigan. I made Heather (then about 12 or 13 years old)  hold up a paper bag while I traced the pine tree pattern from the cutouts along their railing on their office!   LOL  She was mortified, and I was happy to embarrass her for once.

I was done painting the walk-in closet room in no time, and the paint dried nicely. When Steve got home, we put the brackets and rods back up.  Then it was time to start tearing out carpeting!!!   We ripped out the carpet in the changing room in the pics above...

We also removed the carpeting on the landing and steps leading into the bathroom...  there are two steps up, then across the landing, and two steps down into the bathroom.  Up to the left in the photo are the log steps that lead into the loft where our master bedroom is.

Now comes the BIG JOB!  We moved all of the furniture into the dining area, shoving it all up close and tight to get it all off the livingroom carpet.  We shoved the couch along the railing to the lower level, and piled the coffee table and end table on top of the couch. 

Some certain dogs were NOT much help, as you can see!!!

We pulled the carpeting all loose from the fireplace hearth, and then started rolling it up across the floor... the livingroom is 23 feet long by 12 feet wide so it was quite heavy for the two of us.   We decided to leave it all in one hunk, in case someone can use it for a cottage or someplace.  There are some stains here and there, and a few worn areas.   The new stuff coming will be darker!

Again, those dogs are NOT much help!   

The more we tried to move them around, the more they laid in the way.  

We almost rolled them up into the rug! 

We pulled up the pad too, and got it all out.  Steve had to crawl around on hands and knees to pull out the staples left behind from the pad.  Once that was done, the room seemed HUGE! 

The house feels funny without the carpeting.  It echoes!  It reminded me of when we were first building it 15 years ago.  At that time we considered doing hardwood floors throughout, but the loud clattering echoes with 18 foot high ceilings made up our mind to do carpeting instead. Good choice!

On Saturday, we also removed half of the carpeting in the loft master bedroom.  We did half already because my brother's friend needed it.  So for now we have the king sized bed shoved to one side, and we will removed the other half tomorrow evening and put the king sized bed down into the hopefully finished livingroom.  That way the loft can be cleared open wide to do the new carpet up there on Thursday.  That piece leftover in the cream we are going to install down in the guest bedroom because it's still in pretty good shape.  

I also got the wall behind the bed painted yesterday too.  Almost the same color, but freshened it up and made it look good....

Tomorrow morning the carpet installer is coming at 8 am.  We ordered all of the same color carpeting, enough to do the loft, livingroom, stairs landing and changing room.  He will install all four areas for us, as it will save on Steve's knees.  We had always done our own work in the past, including all the work on building this house ourselves after buying just the log shell.  We did all of our own plumbing, electrical, insulation, laying tile, hanging cabinets, etc. beside laying all the original carpeting. 

So this is strange to have someone come in and do the work for us!  He is only charging us $500 for the installation work in all four areas after purchasing all the carpeting and pad from him.  Plus, he gave us a good deal on the carpeting because he was ordering a full roll of this particular kind, and we liked it enough to say "Sure"!  Besides, being the installer, he is a the owner of this little carpet shop in town, and we are trying to keep our purchases local.  Rather than the big box stores like Home Depot or Menards.  He was priced right and we are glad to give our hard-earned dollars to a local hardworking businessman. 

Well, Steveio is snoring here, so I should post this and get to sleep too.  

P.S. Steve has a huge gooseegg knob on his shin, because he forgot that he put the coffee table down off the couch so the dog could hop up to sleep on it yet tonight.  He walked by and slammed his shin right into the table.. ouch!   Hope it goes down tomorrow!

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