MOTORHOME MODIFICATION - Mirror Removal, Recovering Valances and New Quilt

HOLD ON - WE INTERRUPT OUR REGULARLY SCHEDULED BLOG POST TO BRING YOU A BRAND NEW MODIFICATION THAT JUST HAPPENED TODAY.

I wrote last week about taking the big mirror off the wall in the motorhome.  Yesterday a local gal sent her over her contractor husband with two of his workers to pick it up and haul it out of the motorhome.  It was a four man job. I am pleased to say it left all in one piece, and nobody acquired seven years bad luck.

Sadly, I didn't get any pics because I was in the house still suffering from my flu bug. Sigh.  But the mirror is out and now we can get on to the next step.

Recovering Window Valances and Lambrequins:
Last week, Steve had removed the valances and lambrequins 

(cool word--- it's the two side pieces of the window treatments--- 

I found out that is what they are called!) 

At the same time he removed the excess wiring that was hidden behind them.  See, at one time there were long single bulb 12 v fluorescent light fixtures inside of each one.  I don't care for fluorescent lights at all, much less in our bedroom!  We already have 8 other lights in there, so we really didn't need them.  Long ago, Steve removed the light fixtures and we relocated them to the kitchen instead.

Here is when he pulled down the valances last week....

and removed the excess wires.

He decided to cut the valances back along the edge that faces the mini blind. It did not need to be so *deep* of a valance box because the light fixtures were no longer inside.  Now they were shallower to the wall and did not extend into the room as far under the cabinets. 

He brought them into the house and I recovered them with matching material 

to the new king sized quilt I had made for the motorhome. 

The quilted fabric is from the leftovers of the quilt. I did the free motion stitching with variegated thread to match the quilt too.  Using a staple gun, I put each section over the existing fabric on the window treatments. It went on easily and I lined up the random pattern in straight rows.

This afternoon, Steveio said it was warm enough to fire up the furnace in the motorhome and head out to install the valances and lambrequins. OH my.... I got out of my jammies and got dressed once he had the rig warm enough. I didn't feel too well but I wanted to see the fruits of my labors. 

He started with the lambrequins, screwing each one back through the original holes he could feel through the padding. It was exciting for me to see it all come together. I am glad Steve had the energy to put them up. If I felt better I could have done it myself. But it was fun to watch him do it for me. 

I had bought some coordinating color screw cap covers a while ago, so we didn't have to reuse the blue ones that had been on there before. They help disguise the screw heads and help hold the fabric in place too.

After the lambrequins were up, then he put on the valances (I helped to hold them) and he screwed those up into place.  They are closer to the window now and room seems a little wider. I think it looks better...

They are held up into place with a few screws, but Steve needed a longer bit on the drill to reach up inside the valance.  Of course, his bifocals are not conducive to this type of upside down work, so a few cuss words were uttered!  Ahem!

TAAA DAAAAAAH! 

And now it was time to spread out the quilt.... the hardest part of the entire modification.  It took a lot of hours of work to get this done and it was a pleasure to work on.  It is hard to get the entire quilt in the picture, because it is a king size and the room is not large enough to walk backwards to get it all in.

The next step will be to remove all the old adhesive on the wall from the mirror.

We used a heat gun last week and softened up one part,

 and it rolls off like putty. 

 I think it will all come off okay, when I feel better and it is warmer, I will tackle that project. 

THEN we can hang up this lovely print that inspired the colors in the quilt! 

We bought this framed print at an auction. It has been hanging in our bedroom for a few years and I stared at it for hours on end while I was so sick a few years back. It has a peaceful calming effect on me. Fall is my absolute favorite time of year, and this print was so reminiscent of autumn camping days on a lake somewhere in the U. P. of Michigan.

I always wondered what lake it was from?

Wondered if I had been standing in the same spot?

We decided to hang it out in the motorhome once the quilt was finished. 

 It is by a Wisconsin Photographer by the name of Nick Bristol.  

His web site is at: http://www.nickbristolphotography.com/home.html

I found out that this particular image IS from a lake in the U.P. of Michigan called Council Lake near Munising. I love his work and a lot of his images on his website are from places I am familiar with. I got in contact with him and he is sending me some other images I am interested in. He gave me permission to post this information and his print on my blog tonight.

We set the frame against the wall for now,

just to see it with the quilt and the window treatments! 

 It will look a lot better once the adhesive is gone 

and we mount it centered on the wall.

That just about tuckered me out, and I used up the rest of my energy to take the pics and head back into the house and crawl back into bed.  Slept till after 5pm and woke up to the smell of Steveio cooking supper. Gosh, he takes good care of me. 

Steve's dad is still at the hospital and Steve has been running up there every day. I do not want to go back and spread my germs this week, even though I picked the danged germs up there.  He might be moved over to rehab therapy tomorrow in Waupaca, so then his dog Millie can go and visit him.  She is a trained therapy dog and certified for nursing home visits. She has a little vest to wear when on duty.  It is so interesting that his dad would take his dog to visit other people in hospitals and nursing homes..... and now we will be able to take her to visit him during his physical therapy visit! 

She misses him a lot, I can tell.  But we are keeping her busy with treats, pats and snuggles. She is systematically chewing off the tiny white manufacturing tags on each of the dog toys in the basket. She doesn't wreck the toy, she just chews off the tags! 

Plus she gets to sleep on our legs, on our bed, each night, something our own dogs do not even get to do. LOL

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* Caulking, Coleman Lantern and CB Radio

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

Caulking:

A yearly project is to inspect and fill in all the little spaces along the three trim strips on our motorhome.  It has aluminum siding with three horizontal riveted strips that tend to lose their caulking over time.

Flexing and heat/cold changes seem to make these strips loosen up and allow water intrusion.  Especially the top most strip lets in the water that runs off the roof!  Most of the roof stains and leaks we see on other people's Safari rigs are from these strips.  So showing what to look for and what to use to seal them is our Public Service Announcement today! 

The best product to use is a clear silicone that is UV resistant and made especially for RV's.  It is called Pro Flex RV made by Geocel. Most RV shops carry it, and you can also get it on Amazon. It comes in white, almond, black and clear.  Of course, on the blue paint, we need clear.

 We learned to go over the ridges carefully and clean out any gaps. 

We cut the tip of the caulk tube for only a small bead on an angle,

and slide along letting it seep into the crack. 

Steve also noticed that our front marker lights in the overhead cap were leaking.
He removed each one and caulked around behind each one too, not just the plastic lens.
(note: this is his telescoping ladder we keep in the motorhome)

 Should last another 20 years??

CB Radio:

Breaker Breaker One Nine, heading this ship down a concrete sea, catch ya on the flip flop!~ 

Seriously, our motorhome came with a CB radio! We have used it on a number of occasions and sometimes turn it on when we are bored on a long stretch of trucking highway.  Listening to the truckers can be entertaining, but some of their language will make ya blush.  But they give you up-to-the-second information on what is happening up ahead, or weather, or road conditions.  Especially on mountain passes when there is no cell or data signal to find out what is going on.  

It is a hand held unit wired in and hangs on a clip on the dash by Steve's knee.

Up on the roof is the wired in antenna....  

we check that yearly for leaks and have it caulked up pretty good, eh? 

We also have a hand held CB that operates on batteries.  It works well if I drive ahead in the Tracker into a campground to scope out the sites while Steve waits in the rig at the gate or office. Then he can specify the site and get us registered at the office or kiosk. We like this method if I can tell him the shortest route to get to our campsite instead of looping around and around trying to find a site with the big motorhome.  Also, we have used it with friends travelling in pairs to get ahold of us and not use up cell phone minutes. (back when we had a plan like that)  

We have also used it when Steve goes out in the boat fishing with my brothers up north. No cell service up there in a lot of the places we like to camp. We can call the guys to come back up to the campground when supper is ready etc.  

Coleman Propane Lantern:

Remember those days of the big old lantern with the white gas, pumping up the little rod to pressurize it and turning the vent lever up and down for correct mix of air and fuel?  and the POOF when it ignites?  LOL....  Also how many broken glass globes too?  

Well, Coleman did a bit better with this nice little lantern that runs on those small 1 pound propane cylinders or with a hose to a larger BBQ tank.  Then globe is smaller and surrounded by a protective wire cage.  The glass is also thicker now and less prone to breakage.  (we haven't broken it yet)  It comes with a flat circle stand to set it on a table, and it has a small chain you can hang it up with an S hook. It only has one mantle, but puts off a bunch of light.  

What I like BEST about it, is that it is not so NOISY!  Ya know... that noise the old lanterns used to make?  Kinda a whooshing buzzing vacuum sound?  This one is pretty danged quiet and makes it much nicer to use out in the quiet woods. One small propane cylinder can last all night for these if you wish to keep a light on. 

~~~~~~~~~

Well,, I am not going to write a lot more tonight.
I picked up a flu bug while visiting at the hospital
and it is taking over pretty strong this evening.
I spent most of the day in bed,
and I am going back there now.

Nighty Night!

MOTORHOME MODIFICATIONS *C* and Three Dog Night

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

Compass:

Compasses seem to have gone the way of the past, since GPS has come into our lives.  Older RVs do not have a GPS built in. A lot of people rely on the GPS on their cell phone. What if your cell phone battery goes dead, or your GPS unit in your rig keeps saying Rerouting... rerouting.... ???

Both Steve and I navigate and keep track better if we have a compass to glance at. In our car, one is built into the rear view mirror and I use it a lot to keep my bearings when I drive.  Same with Steve in our motorhome.  I found him this one years ago... and we keep it velcroed to the dash.

It is a digital one that runs on a few AAA batteries,

 and has a light to illuminate at night. 

I think I found it at an auto parts store. 

Containers:

When dealing with the smaller cabinets and lighter payloads in an RV, we try to find things that stack compactly and take up less space.  Instead of the full paper bag packages, I only take along partial amounts of flour, sugar, brown sugar etc. I put them into containers to seal out any critters when we travel in the south.  I used to have these round ones, but they took up a lot of room and wasted space with their cylindrical shapes.

Instead, I found these containers from our local Shopko chain of stores.  Here is a link and they are on sale right now.  Gourmet-Living-8-Piece-Square-Rectangle-Air-Tight-Canister-Set   You could google the brand Gourmet Living to find some online I am sure.  They are thick plastic and have a lever of top that vacuum seals the lids down tight.

The rectangular shapes help to stack them tight, 

and keep things from sliding around. 

Cover on Console Shifting Pad:

Our Cat Engine on our motorhome has an Allison Transmission with a push button keypad on the left side of the drivers seat for shifting.  With a simple push of the button, you can put our rig into gear!  Just imagine the horror of us being outside hooking up the Tracker Toad and having someone push a button... or a dog jump up on the seat to look out the window and push a paw onto the keypad?  Yes, we always try to pull the emergency brake when stopped... but things can happen.  I was always nervous about something or some pet pressing a key when we were doing the hookups.

Steve eased my fears by making this heavy plexiglass cover for our shifting pad.  We flip it up out of the way to lean against the wall when we are driving, and we always flip it down flat over the keypad anytime we leave the drivers seat.  Even if it's just for a minute at a wayside to grab a drink from the fridge, or pulled over to do a potty break. Better safe than sorry!

~~~~~~~~

I am sorry that I missed a couple days of blogging here.  Things have been a little up in the air.  Steve's dad, our wonderful Pa Pfundtner, leader of the clan, decided to have knee replacement surgery.  At 84 he is going strong, out and about and doing things, but his knee has been giving him grief.  So he scheduled a knee replacement for Friday.  He made arrangements to stay overnight at the hospital guest house the night before, because he was scheduled for the first surgery in the morning  and had to be there at 5:30 am.  We met up with him and big brother Mark on Thursday night for the great handoff of precious Millie... Dad's dog!  

She is his pride and joy and constant companion.  He adopted her from a rescue group and gave her a new lease on life. (and spoils her profoundly!) He has trained her for doing therapy dog visits to nursing homes and hospitals.  She is so well behaved and sweet.  Those eyes just melt into you....awwwwwwww

We took her back to our house, driving through horrible fog and rain that we have been having for days on end in Wisconsin.  Our snow is crusty and hard and melting fast....  It took us twice as long to get home as the fog was as thick as Sea Poop!  (pea soup?)

We got her to our house about 11 pm and although she has been here before she was so confused about not having her Daddy around.  She gets along well with Finney and Binney, and we made a little bed for her alongside of our bed on the floor.

We turned out the light.

ooooh 

the moans! 

the groans! 

the whines! 

the wimpers! 

She missed Paul so much.... and was miserable. 

After 20 minutes of listening to her little heart breaking, 

we let her up in our bed!   

Laying on top of my legs and sprawling out across the king sized bed suited her just fine. She konked out and slept peacefully for the rest of the night.  Each time we tried to move, she was a lump of doggie fur and not easy to roll over.

 Oh well, I guess it is a Three Dog Night! 

In the morning we popped up our two stinkers onto the bed. They had been sleeping nicely on their doggie beds on the floor.  I suppose for poor Millie who misses Paul so much, we can give her a bit of comfort for the time she is here.  Steve brought up coffee and we had a Three Dog Morning! 

We ran back to visit on Friday, and then again today to see how Pa is doing.  Therapy has started and they have him up and walking around multiple times a day. We will keep Millie with us until he is ready to go home and resume his spoiling of her. hahahha


Today Steve decided to teach these dogs about doing household tasks and projects.  As you can tell, they are not too impressed?   Since we put the new tv up on a wall bracket (see last blog)  I wanted to hide the coax antenna and the power cord in a trim strip.  Better than having those ugly wires hanging down loosely on the wall.

I painted the special metal trim strip the other day with the same color as the walls.  Then Steve measured for the brackets and spacing to put it on the wall alongside of the tv. We had to take the tv off the wall to re-route the two wires behind it, so they would come out on the far right side:

We tucked the coax and power cord into the trim strip and slid it down into place. A few taps of the hammer did the job.  It was just the right height to come out next to the tv and run down the wall to the baseboard.

As the dogs dozed on the bed, we worked around them, as they lost interest in our project.  The walls are a soft blue color. But on a dreary day, the colors do not show up so well.

And there it is.... 

all encased in the trim strip and I think it looks a lot better! 

Steve went downstairs to put away the tools and he shouted up for those three lazy dogs to get up and go outside.  ZOOOM they left the bed in a rush!

I was left alone to test out the tv and make sure it worked 

and that our connections did not come loose. 

Hmmmm I thought about taking a nap....

On a rainy icky afternoon,

 it seemed like just the thing to do. 

So I did.