Update on Mom-In-Law and also a bit around the house

Steve's mom is doing a little bit better, bit by bit.  We drove down there on Monday and visited her.  She is  in isolation and they are being very careful about germs in her weakened state.   We had to be fully gowned and masked, and could not touch her or hug her.  But she wanted to see us.  So we stood far away near the door for a visit.  She needed a few things so we ran errands for her and came back again, giving her time to rest in between.  She is on morphine, and I know what a fog that can be, coming in and out and then wondering if that was real or imagined?   We didn't stay long, but it was worth the 220 mile round trip to get to see her for even a few minutes.

Will get another update later today on her condition and if she is gaining more white blood cells and losing the fever.  Hope so.  This chemo has really drained her and she is battling her cancer courageously.


Not sure if we are going camping this weekend, or if we will just drive in the rig down to their house in Waupaca and help out around the house and yard for them.  Steve's dad said all is under control, but I am thinking his mom is worried that he isn't doing the vacuuming right, or the dishes right, or the laundry right etc. LOL   Always worried about how clean her house is, bless her heart, even in this condition!



We have been cooped up inside with the AC going ... as it's been hot and humid here in Wisconsin.  Have to get the watering and lawn stuff done early in the morning or late evening after it cools off.  Little Chelsea was "helping" me water all the flowers on the deck.   Here is my inviting gazebo out on the back deck, it covers about 1/3 of the deck area that faces the south. Nice place to sit and sip some lemonade or read a book, or cuddle a grandkid.

We take the nylon cover off of it when not in use, so it doesn't get damaged by rain, wind or the sun-damaging rays on the fabric over the season.  We have had it now for four years, and it sure is nice to sit under.  This part of the deck faces south, so it can get rather warm out there.

I thought I would snap pics of these innovative green hanging sacks for flowers that I have on the four corners of the gazebo on my deck.   They hold the moisture in better than hanging pots, and look good from all angles.

These are the Impatiens 

And these are the Begonias

I like these so much that I will probably never use hanging potted flowers again on there.  I have about a dozen more of these bags for planting the next few years before we sell the house.

Hummingbirds fly in and out over our heads as we sit in the adirondack chairs right below the flowers.  I have a few birdfeeders out there, and even  the finches and chickadees are used to us and come to feed when we are out there.

Below this deck is also a poured cement patio, with more doors facing out south.  That is where my studio is with my looms and spinning wheel stuff.  It's such a lovely scene to look out over the river and the woods while I work (or sometimes day dream)

Oh, back up to the deck now.   My tomatoes used to grow so nice alongside the back of the garage, for over 10 years I have been planting them in the same spot.  But then in fall of 2008 we removed all the heavy varnish and stain from the house and garage by grinding it off into a fine powder.  The powder was laying thick in piles around the buildings and we never thought twice about it.  I noticed all my plants around the edges of the house suffered after that.  I am thinking it is because all the chemicals from the finish are in the dirt and hampering the growth of the plants underneath.  Even with adding some new dirt to the row of the tomatoes last year, they didn't grow worth diddly squat!   So this spring I added more dirt, manure, and Miracle Grow slow release granules.   Nope, the tomatoes didn't grow much at all, since planting them in the first week of June!    I had a full row of Black Eyed Susans that grew along the west side of the garage, and none of them came back this year either.

So I dug the tomatoes all up, and replanted them in large pots with fresh new potting soil.  The roots on most of them were still in the small square from when I took them out of the beddeing packs in June.  This is now August and the roots didn't even spread!  They were almost the same size as when I planted them 2 months before!!!

Now I have them lined up on the deck now and they are flourshing!   (I don't care for the look of all those pots cluttering up my deck, but if I salvage some tomatoes, it will be worth it for a month or so more.)

In the spring, we will have to dig up all the dirt in the tomato patch and replace it with some new fresh stuff.

Back to the deck:   Steve's mom had given me this adorable doggie planter a few years ago for Xmas.  I just love him and put outdoor plants in him for the summer, and then replant him with indoor plants for the winter.  His head and tail are on springs, so little grandson Jameson will tap him and make his head wobble!  LOL

Now, around the side to the east side of the house, there is more decking that leads to our chimney and up to the front steps.  Along here I had planted some Snow on the Mountain when we first moved here.  NOTHING kills that off, even the grinding dust from the house finish.  It is flourishing.  Steve mows it back with the lawnmower to keep it "pruned"    It's a nice ground cover and grows back underneath the deck where grass would never grow anyhow.

Off this side of the yard to the east, we can see Steveio's grape arbor.  It's growing like gangbusters in this heavy humid weather, and will soon be ready for harvesting once we get a frost.  He can drive underneath with the rider mower, and the grapes hang down inside for picking.  He was going to add the extra supports to make it taller this year as the vines grew more, perhaps next year he will.  It also makes a fun hideout for grandkids!

Over on the west side of the house is another deck, between our garage and the house.  It's our main entrance on that side.  I have a nice planting of more impatiens there to greet us as we go in and out.

Below this side deck, I have a group of Hydrangeas (my most FAVORITE flower)  My neighbor gave me some small sticks that were offshoots from her plants 2 years ago.  Already they are HUGE here and keep growing so nicely.  I think next year I might take some of the new growth and move some to another spot in the yard.  I pluck some blooms off each fall after they dry out and keep them in a vase in the house as a dried flower arrangement in my kitchen window over the sink.  I smile inside any time I see hydrangeas.  

Along this side deck, I have some shade loving plants.  My coleus I keep going every year, by carrying in 3 or 4 pots and wintering it over in the house.  I have keep the same plants/strain going since 1989 or so from my friend Connie from her yard.  I give pots of it to my friends each spring from the new rootings I grow from the plants.  Once we go full-time in the RV, I will pass on this task to Erin and Mark, to keep some going each year.   

I plant the coleus in rows between my hostas too along the garage.  They do better facing east or in the shade. The colors are deep fuschia and rich green.  If facing south or west they get too much sun and are faded pink and pale.   

Now.. the last part of our yard, actually 2/3 of our land, is woods. That is our Natural Garden.   Facing to the south of our house, you see our woods and our river.  We have about 120 feet of frontage. It's calm and peaceful and green and rich.  The only thing we do is mow down the stinging nettles (itchweed).  The leaves on the trees block off a lot of the view of the river, we see it better in fall after the leaves are down, or in the spring before they bud out.  Of course, in the middle of winter, it's frozen over and covered under a couple feet of snow!  Our river is shallow and slowmoving, with a sandy bottom.  The deepest part is maybe up to your waist.  Makes a good spot for dogs to splash in and out with frizbees, or kids to dip in  and cool off in the hot August summer heat.

When I look at our woods, I hum the John Denver song:  "Cool and Green and Shady"

So, any time you wanna come on over, sit on my deck, and look at my woods, ...   I will hand you a glass of lemonade, perhaps plop a grandchild on your lap, and spend a lazy afternoon among the flowers.

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DANG!!! The Shocks Are HERE! plus carpet cleaning and around the yard photos

(please see the post following this one for an update... 

the shocks DO work!) 

Yes, they are here!  and they look to be TWICE as long and twice as lightweight as the originals!   I have NO idea how Steveio will deal with this now.  ACK!

I didn't really explain before, but a few folks emailed and asked me WHY is it such a big deal about the shocks?  Well, it is because the mid 90's Safari motorhomes were constructed on their own exclusive chassis that Safari made themselves, with a sub company called Magnum.  Both of which are no longer in business.  It's not like a common Roadmaster or Freightliner, where parts are readily available.

The suspension is a specially developed style called Torsilastic developed by the BF Goodrich company and is called Velvetride.  It is comprised of a series of rubber wedges and big rubber bushings.  No springs, no air bags.  Just shocks.  (and it does ride like velvet!)  Not many repair places even heard of it, much less able to do any alignment or repairs on it.  Some of the larger coaches/buses like Foretravel used this suspension too.

The trouble with the shock replacement on this chassis is that the original shocks (now 14 years old)  were made exclusively by Koni as a special configuration for the Magnum chassis and not available on the open market as replacements.    They are adjustable, but one shock on one side of ours will still adjust, the other side won't hold anymore, so the seal must be blown inside.  No leaking hydraulic fluid, but if Steve grabs one end and I grab the other, we can pull it apart too easily.

The only other alternative for us vintage Safari owners is to buy a special bracket made by a guy out in Washington for the Safari rigs that will let a person install pairs of smaller more common Koni FSD shocks-- 2 together on each side.  Just the brackets are $295.00 for a pair,  and the 4 shocks just for the front would be another $145.00 each, which is a total of almost $900.00  !!!!

 So THAT is why we were excited to locate a company that has a single larger shock that will fit the original configuration at a great price of $75.00 each.   Compare $150 to $900 ?  The rig rides just fine with the original configuration, so why change it?  We prefer to just replace the shocks with what was there before.

I have NO idea now what we are going to do.  ARG!


Went out this morning to the motorhome to check on the carpet cleaning and drying.  We left the windows open all night as rain wasn't forecast and the sky was clear.   But I slept with one ear open in case I heard any rain, prepared to rush out and shut windows.

Well, it looks GREAT!   I used a couple glug-glugs of a cleaning product called Nature's Miracle Stain Remover and a packet of Oxyclean in the hot water compartment of our Bissel upright steam cleaner.     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 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 hard soled moccasins that are never worn outside 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 side entry door facing to the front of the rig....

Even the couch came out nice... it wasn't too dirty but needed a freshening up.  I put all the furniture back into place and snapped a few more pics.  Since we took out the second couch and added the euro chair, we have a lot more floor room for sprawled out lazy lounging doggies. That is when they are not hogging the couch too!  LOL    But when we removed the second couch, you could see where it had been and where the main aisle had accumulated dirt over the last four years that we have owned the rig.   We vacuum often, but it's hard to keep up with two sassy doggies armed with 8 dirty doggie paws. 

 

The morning sunshine coming in sure makes it feel good!   We keep the 2 chairs to the one side of the table, which leaves more room at the side entrance doorway, and the basket with our shoes and dog leashes etc.   We just move one chair over to the other side if we are eating inside.  Usually we eat outdoors at the picnic table.  The tiny speakers at the head of the table are for my MP3 player.  They require no power other than the battery on the MP3 player, and we use them often.  Great for boondocking and conserving power. 

The table can pull out longer with one more section of a leaf put in, or we can remove the first leaf that is there now and have it even shorter.  I like having the choice instead of one fixed table size like in our Sierra Travel Trailer.   In the Coachmen gasser motorhome we had, the table could fold down or completely remove and store under the bed.   That was nice too.  This table is attached to the wall cabinet, but at least is adjustable.


Seeing as I had the camera outside, I snapped a few pics around the yard.  The weatherman said it will go over 80 degrees again today, which is very strange for us in May in Wisconsin.


We only put the fabric top cover on the gazebo frame when we are out there on a hot summer afternoon, otherwise it will become tattered and weathered if left on all the time.  I like these new hanging green bags for flowers, and put one on each corner of the gazebo frame.   My huge fuchsia plant from  Mother's Day is hanging up in the center section.  It's getting ready to burst out in new blooms any day now.  Hard to see against the green trees.

The back deck stretches all across the south side of the house and around to the east side.  Then on the west side we have another deck too.  We spend more time outside than in! Here is a pic I found with the fabric top on the gazebo, taken from down below.  The two sets of lower patio doors face into my studio, and I have more chairs down there to sit one too.

This is our view from the back deck and that is the Oconto River in the background.  We are fortunate to live on a section of the river that is sandy, shallow (about waist deep in the middle) and slow flowing.   Our kids and dogs enjoyed all the years of dipping in and cooling off. We kept our woods natural between the house and the river, and just make a walking path through the trees each year.    Those tiny white dots here and there along the ground are the wild Trillium flowers that pop up each year for a week or two, then gone again till next year.  We also get wild roses all summer, and bright brilliant sumac bushes in the autumn.

Here are my 21 tomato plants all in a row behind the garage.  This side faces south so it's like a hothouse here with the sunshine and heat coming off the logs of the garage.   Won't be long and those plants will be crawling all over above the cages and a bountiful crop of tomatoes will last till fall.  Yummmmmmmm    If we get frost warnings, (very common here till June)  I just cover the whole works with cloths over the cages and hope they make it through the night.   I have the cages nailed right to the log wall, so they don't tip over from the weight of the tomato bushes as they grow.  4 Early Girl, 8 Better Boy, 8 Beefsteak, and 1 Cherry Tomato plant.

These coleus plants are from some starter plants from my friend Connie, from her home back in Green Bay in about 1995 or 96.  I keep them all winter in pots in the house and keep splitting them, re-rooting snips and sharing them with friends.   They get darker purple if kept shady, and brighter green and pink if kept sunny.  I will transplant these three pots on the bench into the flower bed along side the garage, perhaps this evening.

After I was done with my picture taking this morning, a little princess arrived.... 

complete in a cute outfit with a picture postcard that says:  

SEND ME TO GRANDMA'S! 

Now, what can be cuter than that????

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