A couple years ago I wrote a blog post entitled "It All Started With a Craigslist Post" The blog post detailed all of the steps of what we undertook after Steve found a beautiful wool oriental rug on Craigslist. We ended up ripping up all of the wall to wall carpeting and restoring the original hardwood floors. Here is that blog post:
This time: It All Started With a Facebook Marketplace Post!
It seems that someone was selling a mission style leather recliner chair that matched the one we had bought six years ago for Steve. It's a very comfortable chair, so much so, that I never get to sit in it. Steve hogs it and all I get is the couch.
Since then, the store we bought it from discontinued them. I kind of always regretted never buying two of them at that time. Although we really didn't have room for 2 in our small livingroom.
But there was that Marketplace ad on Facebook. The guy was selling it for only $200 and it was in "like new" condition. Steve's chair was priced at $850 new when we bought his in 2012. So this was a good deal for $200. And how often would we ever find a matching chair again?
I thought about it a little bit and we called the guy. It was 8 pm at night. He said sure come on over. The only problem is "over" was 127 miles away!!!
We hopped in the Tracker and took off to the west. It was a fun journey, because as we drove, we were talking about all different alternatives of how to rearrange the furniture to make this chair fit. It's not just a mission style chair, it's a recliner as well. So we need some space behind it to recline. It can actually stretch out flat almost like a bed.
We got to the guy's home easily, even in the dark, using the GPS. The chair was just as he had described, the wood was absolutely beautiful and it was in perfect condition. He barely used it. Actually he had a different chair he wanted put in that spot. So once we loaded up this one into the back of the Tracker, Steve helped him carry his other chair from another location to where he wanted it put.
We headed on home, going another hundred and twenty-seven miles. And we didn't get home until almost midnight. But that's okay, Steve was off work the next day, so we planned to sleep in. Our dogs always have a different idea. They had us up at 5:30 am. Argghhh! Soooooo in the early morning we decided to rearrange the living room. That's where I get this theme of "It All Started With a Facebook Marketplace" thing. This is only PART ONE. There will be a PART TWO and THREE in future blog posts.
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Putting the two chairs side by side in front of the fireplace was our best choice of space. Pulling them further into the room so there was room to recline behind them made the most sense. But now the couch was way too big and in the way... Here are the chairs, my new one is on the left with the quilt on it. We each have our little laptops as well.
Sooo we moved the couch out of the room. Ahhh that was better. More space! We are now situated comfortably in our living room with the two chairs facing the fireplace which is the focal point of the room anyhow. I put a lovely antique rocker that we had gotten from our neighbors in the corner by the fireplace. Our tv snugged into the other corner and we are all set with Steve's antique lamp between us. Steve also wired in two sweet little tulip lamps on the mantle with wiring to hide behind the mirror and down to an outlet on the side of the fireplace.
The room seems much wider now with the couch gone, and we can both sit in comfy reclining chairs to look out the window, watch the fireplace, or watch tv like a little theater seating group.
Binney decided her new spot would be
between the rocker and the ottoman.
Finnegan found a good spot behind our chairs,
by the treasure chest.
Now, what to do about the couch?
and the endtables and lamps?
The next step was to take the couch and put it into what is my Loom Room. With two big rug looms in there, it was kind of crowded. I do like weaving rugs, but do I really need two of them? They are both identical and I had to make some choices now.
I decided that I wanted to move one of the looms upstairs--- and make a weaving room out of the smaller room that that I was using for fiber storage. It was originally the maid's room when our house was built 100 plus years ago. Steve agreed to help me.
I not sure when this funky linoleum had been added to the little maid's room, probably in the 1950s. I love it and I think it's really cool and it will stay as the floor of my new weaving room.
We disassembled one of the big rug looms and brought it up stairs in pieces.
We have done this many times before with various looms, so it was not too much of a task.
Then we easily reassembled it and Steve also helped me reorganize the fiber storage room, moved some shelving, and labeled some totes. Now my sweet little room is all ready for weaving.
I sorted through all of my fiber stash, and reorganized a lot of it.
It helps to condense down and combine items in the totes as well.
I hung some lace curtains up on the window.
Steve mounted some other shelves for my tools.
I am all set!
Besides the big rug loom, I also have two table looms. One fits well on the top of a shelving unit and the other one is residing in my quilting/sewing room for the time being. I can take the table looms out at any time and put them on a rolling bench that is kept out on the front porch. I often take them along camping in the motorhome or along to workshops and demonstrations. Three looms is enough now, I think.
Back down to the loom room.... after moving out the one loom ---- I could put the other large rug loom into the center of the room. Now we could use the couch in there as a kind of a "Fiber Den" when I do my other fiber crafts, like cranking on my sock machine, or spinning yarn on my spinning wheels, I can sit on this couch in my Fiber Den! It will be great for naps as well. I put the endtables on each side and added the stained glass lamps to balance it out.
The remaining loom is in the middle of the room, taking up a large amount of space. The cool old hutch, which is original to the home. It had been in the diningroom, but we moved it to this room when we bought the house. My dining set has a matching hutch and buffet, so this hutch became extra fiber tool storage and does double duty as entertainment center as well with a tv.
I don't think keeping the large rug loom in the middle of the room would work for long. I decided that three looms is enough. I posted an ad to sell it on the Facebook Marketplace. Within 15 minutes a gal from the next town over laid claim to it. She came to check it out on Sunday and will be back this upcoming Saturday morning to pick it up.
In the meantime I am weaving off a few more of my big heavy Birch Tree looper rugs using up some of the neutral warp that is on the loom. Don't worry, there will still be plenty of warp left on there for the new buyer to practice with and make more rugs of her own.
I figured today I would do a blog post about how Steve fixed the dash air on the motor home during the past two weeks. We had already replaced the compressor two years ago.
4526121 8 Groove Clutch New TM-16 AC Compressor NEW Seltec 4526121 8 Groove Clutch 12 volt Vetical # 8 & 10 fittings 10 cubic inch.435-56121, 2521196, 10046121. TM-16 $225.00 plus $23.50 shipping
4103052 Drier 3/8 x 3/8 male o-ring fittings. Replaces: 4103050, 4103052, 4107316, 804-297, 085266-00 , 054-00001. 3/8 male o-ring drier with female & male switch ports. $38.50 free shipping
This year we noticed the AC wasn't blowing as cold, and didn't seem to kick in the compressor on the last trip we took. Steve bought a set of manifold gauges and an electric vacuum pump (he had to do our car and the Tracker too).
He went to fill and pressurize the freon. That is when he discovered this little AC expansion valve was leaking and hissing around the edge of the circular section. He was able to find a replacement from Find It Parts- link: A/C Expansion Valve
Sooooo he replaced the valve and started to pressurize the system with his manifold gauges and electric pump.
Our system takes 4.6 lb of R134a freon. (73.6 oz) He bought six 12 oz cans so that amounted to 72 oz. He had part of a can left over from doing our car so that was enough to top it off. The filling process has the engine running with the AC on low, and it should kick in as it nears the full level of freon. But---- it wasn't kicking in. Hmmmmm?
That is when he discovered that this fan unit was not operating properly. He stopped filling and started diagnosing. Steve figured the center hub of the fan was froze up. The magnetics evidently stopped working and the fan was shot.
He found one on Amazon that's actually for a motorcycle that was a direct fit!!
After the fan arrived a few days later, and toot-sweet he got the fan on... He then went back to filling the freon using his pressure manifold and an electric vacuum pump.
YAY!!!
It filled.
It stayed filled.
And
IT WORKED!!!
We used the rig over the past weekend, and we were very pleased that it was 39.4 degrees at the vents. Ahhhhhhhh
Although in a pinch, we can run the generator and operate the two roof air conditioning units as we drive down the road. Having the dash air blowing directly on us as much more comfortable. Especially when the temperatures are up in the 90's and it's humid and the sun is shining on us in the front seats through that huge glass windshield.
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Remember back in the end of May, when Steve built two beautiful window boxes from scrap lumber in our garage? If not, here are two blog posts about them:
Well, here's what the window box look like in May when I first planted it:
And here is what it looks like now on the front of the house!!!
Also, the one on the side of the house is just as overflowing and bountiful with blossoms. The flowers have gotten so tall that from inside we can enjoy their colors and watch the hummingbirds and the bees come to check them out.
from the Loom Room:
from inside the front porch
All of the flowers around the yard are doing good, and we finally got some rain last night to fill my rainbarrels. We went through a dry spurt for about 2 weeks and things were getting brown. I had to use faucet city water (gasp!) on my flowers and tomatoes. So glad now I have fresh rainwater to take care of them.
We decided to head on up to Holtwood City Campground in the city of Oconto, Wisconsin. Many of my readers remember that is where we used to live. We decided to go up there to camp and visit with the grandchildren. Our oldest daughter and son-in-law needed us to babysit Friday night while they celebrated their anniversary.
Friday afternoon, we drove on up through the pouring rain and set up on our campsite. We really like the D loop in this Campground because there's less traffic. Our campsite backs up to the playground area. A real necessity when you have grandchildren.
The sites are large and open grassy, (in the D loop) some big shade trees and are level throughout the entire campground. The cost is $28 a night and includes electric, sewer and water. They have rate discounts for people staying for a week a month or the entire season as well. No stickers are required for vehicles, no additional fees necessary. What you pay is what you get.
They have two shower buildings and one laundry area. All of the buildings are in moveable mobile homes because this area floods up in the springtime due to the ice flows and blockages from the Oconto River out to the waters of Green Bay.
The campground is located on a peninsula that juts towards town, but to get there you have to drive around to the backside and come in around the ball park and the city pool near the entrance.
Little Chelsea Clayton and Claire were so excited to see us come to their daycare center and pick them up. That's a special treat to have Grandma and Grandpa appear at the door and say come on, let's go! (Pre-arranged with the staff and the parents of course)
It was raining out, so they helped us set up the awning and little Clayton helped with the party lights. I have a lot of crafts and toys in the motorhome, so we kept ourselves busy while the rain poured down outside.
It was still raining outside so we did not really have a chance for a cookout, or the s'mores that we had planned. We made the best of it and cooked hot dogs and macaroni and cheese inside.
The rain let up a little bit during the evening and we were able to get out and walk around the park. The dogs enjoy the visits from the grandchildren just as much as the grandchildren enjoy seeing them.
We got in some outside playing, with the playground nearby. The kids made friends with the people in the campsite next to us. These people had a wonderfully funny gangly 10 month old Saint Bernard pup named Penny. Here she was watching us out of the zippered side screen of their camping trailer. She watched everything we did and kept her eye on Finney and Binney.
One by one I popped each kid into the bathtub before bedtime. By the time the third kid got done, the water was getting pretty brown. I am so glad we have a bathtub in our motorhome. It sure beats trying to stand in the public campground showers with three wriggling soapy kids trying to clean them up.
With all the fresh air, they were fast asleep by 9 p.m.. but of course that means they were wide awake at 5:30 in the morning ready to start their day!
The best part about camping with grandkids is when they come in the morning to hop into bed with us and snuggle for a while and laugh and giggle and plan what to do for the day. And they have to pull the dogs up into the bed as well. Free for all fun and giggles and snuggles.
One of our special traditions is that I buy those little boxes of cereal when the grandkids come camping. My grandma used to buy them for us. It is enough cereal with some bananas on the side, to hold them over until we cook a bigger breakfast. Now little Claire (one and a half years old) is big enough to sit at the table with the Big Kids!
At the entrance to the park is an office. Clayton had spied the various items that were available for rent. The office rents out canoes, kayaks, tubes, big four-person float devices, and best of all, these very fun four-wheel Pedal Go Karts. He had to finagle us a bit until we managed to find him $5 to go and rent it for 2 hours.
My oh my what a happy boy!!!
He had to take turns with his older sister Chelsea. They made sure they got their money's worth out of it before we had to return it.
There wasn't much traffic on our small D loop road, so they could enjoy themselves and pull over if a car happened to come through. The speed limit is 5 mph and there are speed bumps and curves that make sure the vehicles go slow. We kept them in our range of eyesight and watched them having so much fun. Good exercise too!
Later on after lunch, the parents came to get all three of them, while Grandma and Grandpa needed a nap!
It was pouring rain all afternoon, It was very pleasant to lay in the motorhome and sleep with the rain hitting the roof. One of the nicest camping experiences if you have to have lousy weather is to at least hear the Rain On The Roof!
Because it was raining, Erin and Waylen invited us to bring all of our cooking out stuff for supper over to their house. Our younger daughter Heather and her husband Jesse joined us with two more of our grandchildren, Jameson and Whitney.
Waylen grilled out all the food and we ate indoors because of the weather. The kids had a blast in the toy room and finally settled down with a movie while the grown-ups visited out in the living room.
"Peace, man" (Whitney)
We toddled on home to the campground, which is only about 4 or 5 blocks away. This time we swiped the oldest grandson, Jameson who is 9, almost 10. He will be quick to remind you of that.
It was a pleasant evening walking around the campground because the rain stopped. It was now dark out. We got to walk the entire campground with the dogs before bedtime. It's a very quiet park, on a Saturday night there was nothing going on of any noise whatsoever. Many of the sites are seasonals in loops A and B. With the weather forecast of rain all weekend, not many even came to spend time at the campground.
Jameson curled up on the loveseat to sleep with the dogs out in the living room in the motorhome. It's nice to notice that as grandchildren get older, they also sleep in later in the morning. So we got to doze until almost 8 a.m. before we all started moving around.
In the morning, Grandpa and Jameson made a quick run over to the local Kwik Trip gas station. He stocked up on glazer donuts and bacon!!! Jameson said these are two "must haves" for breakfast when you are camping. LOL
Of course, Clayton had told Jameson all about that wonderful four-wheel pedal go-kart so we had to make sure we went back to rent another two hour stint for Jameson to enjoy.
There He Goes!
The weather was pretty nice and things were starting to dry up. Jameson had had fun riding around the campground and being very careful if there were any oncoming vehicles. Like I said, there really weren't that many, as most of the regular seasonal people didn't even bother to come camping that weekend due to the weather reports. I think by the afternoon, there were only 2 or 3 other occupied RV's in the whole park. We let him pedal around the entire grounds and enjoy his fun time.
Of course, I had to have a try at that fun little pedal go-kart too!
Jameson filmed it with my phone, he forgot a few times to aim at me because he was busy watching his silly almost 60 year old Grandma acting like a kid!!!
As the day went on, it began to heat up. Jameson's parents came to pick him up in the afternoon, and brought Whitney for a while to play as well. We had a little tea set for her to set up while the grown-ups visited in the shade under the awning. They had to go visit other family later on Sunday, so we were left to ourselves again.
It was pretty hot out, so we hopped in the Tracker to ride around our "old home stomping grounds". Remember, we lived here in the area for 13+ years. We drove out by Oconto City Park which is a small campground right on the waters of Green Bay. There are 9 rustic sites for $15 a night. The sites are located across the road from the actual beach and picnic area. We were thinking about going there on Monday and Tuesday, depending on the weather reports.
From there we drove up to the city Breakwater Park. No camping, but just a pretty park to go out to see the waters of Green Bay, which leads into Lake Michigan.
This park has a beautiful harbor and docking area. There's a long causeway that goes out into the bay with a turnaround at the end. Attracts a lot of local fishermen. I am pleased to say that the water levels in the Great Lakes have risen back up to normal levels again. All of the cottages along the shoreline had lost their waterfront beaches and had been nothing but a swampy marsh for years and years. Now the water is back up to where each place has it's own beautiful shoreline and beach again.
From there we drove a little further up the bay to North Bay Shore County Park. This is run by Oconto County. We like camping here as well, the sites are nice and clean and open and far apart. Some of them are even blacktopped. The rate here is $25 a night and includes electric and some of the sites also have water. There's a small newer shower building and a beautiful harbor access to put in your boat if you are a fisherman.
Here is a little map of our travels and where the other parks are located:
We drove on back to our motorhome and decided to stay put for the night, rather than pull up stakes and move to one of the other parks. We visited with the neighbors until dark, and then went in to take showers and go to bed early. Woohoo! Those grandkids sure wear us out.
Monday morning we woke up and checked the weather reports. Now the weathermen were promising hot humid sticky weather for Monday and Tuesday. Ick! Instead of spending the extra money to camp with hookups, just to sit inside in the air conditioning is not really to our liking?
Steve did a good rinse out of our holding tank because we had sewer at the site. Then we started packing up by 10 a.m. We hit the road and headed south towards home.
The nice thing about having a Wi-Fi thermostat at home is that I could turn on the air-conditioning via my phone, and have the house cooled down by the time we would get there two hours later.
On our way home, I also looked up the local ad for Dick's Family Foods in Sherwood. They always have wonderful locally butchered meat and we try to buy a lot of our groceries there.
They had country style boneless ribs on sale for a $1.50 a pound, as well as pork roasts for a $1.50 a pound. Great for pulled pork sandwiches. They had big sirloin beef roasts for $2.50 a pound. Large frozen turkey breasts were on sale for $ .99 a pound and our favorite 1/3 pound hamburger ground chuck patties were on sale as well. We got 18 meals for two of us) worth of meat for only $67.00!
The nice thing about having the motorhome right in the (parking lot is that all the meats and freezer items can go directly into the refrigerator to be transported the last 17 miles to home. I even stocked up on sherbet that was on sale, otherwise it would have melted by the time I got home in this weather if I had been in the car.
We got home in the afternoon, got the rig parked, unloaded, and laundry started as well. Although we had planned to camp for two more days, the weather just wasn't cooperating. Now that we are back home, Steve called his part time job boss at the county ADRC Transport service to let him know he would be available to drive if needed.
Of course, they needed him. So it was back into our normal routine.
But having a fun weekend with some of our grandkids was priceless!!!
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