Rain is gone

Columbus-Belmont State Park - Columbus, KY

June 2 - 15, 2014

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CONTENTS

RV LIFE

S&B LIFE

CRAFT/MOD

AUDIO BOOK REVIEW

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RV LIFE:

I hear the pitter patter and sometimes the plunk plunk of the rain on the awning as I sit protected underneath it. I love the rain and imagine sitting on our large covered porch when we move into the house. But for now, yes I'm enjoying the rain. So no, the  rain is not gone. But...I no longer hear the pitter patter and sometimes the plunk plunk of our little stray pup. Her owners picked her up this morning. Her name is Rain.

It's with very mixed feelings we let her go. Father and son, around 11 yrs old knocked on our door. I just knew what it was about, but I made sure they described her and her collar. Have a happy life sweet Rain.

I love this piece of artwork. It is meant for when a pet passes. Your buddy is always there beside you in spirit.

What a sense of freedom, now that she's gone. Similar to the feeling we had when we sold our house in NJ. The responsibility is lifted! No having to get her to the vet, eventually get her spayed, put her up for adoption, etc. No responsibility of having to constantly keep an eye on her to make sure she doesn't chew on the wrong things, or pee inside. Overall, she was a very good puppy, but still a puppy.

As I stated in my last post, this is a very small town. I figured if someone wanted the puppy, the owners would find their way here. There is one restaurant in town and is the gathering  and I assume gossip spot. Sure enough, that's where the owners started asking around, which led them to the park. There was already an offer to take the dog in if the owner wasn't found.

The owner said that if we were looking to help a stray dog, just go to the center of town and I'd find some. I'm never LOOKING for a stray, but if they happen upon us, well...it's difficult to not help.  I don't plan on heading to the center of town.

Having puppy, Rain around for a couple of days reminded me of our English Setter, Lyla. We adopted her at about 10 weeks old. She was born deaf, so was turned over to rescue instead of being put to sleep, which means KILLED because she was deaf. She is now 10 years old, but the memory of "puppy from hell" is still fresh in our minds.

This was our bathroom in our house in NJ. Disregard the ugly wall. I could say Lyla tore down the wallpaper, but she didn't. We removed the wallpaper and hadn't prepped and painted it yet. Take notice of the rack on the right. It held paper towels, book/magazines to read, and containers to hold headbands, etc. This is BEFORE Lyla discovered it. 

And this is AFTER. Or, really caught in the act!!! Of course since she can't hear, she didn't hear all the naughty things coming out of my mouth.

This is a beautiful park. Not many sites, maybe 40? Rolling hills, lots of greenery, beautiful views of the Mississippi River.

There's a museum on the property, but I think it's only open on the weekends. Maybe I'll take a stroll over there this coming weekend and check it out. On the outskirts of the museum overlooking the great river, there are signs talking (signs talk???), I mean signs describing about the area and the Civil War activity and slaves and freed slaves joining the Civil War. There is also a graveyard from the early 1800's. I used to really enjoy walking through old graveyards. Now, not so much. Maybe if Hubby would come out of the RV and take a stroll with me through the graveyard, I might find it more enjoyable.

Same dog (Devin), Same chair (Blue Bubble), Different scenery (Parkers Crossroads, TN)

Making friends during our travels

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S & B (Sticks & Bricks) LIFE:

Things are moving along well towards the closing of our house in Tennessee. I keep telling myself, we will be traveling to the Upper Peninsula this Summer, but will we? Even Scott admits, that it will be difficult to leave a house we just bought. But then, our RV is equipped with all we need. If we wait until next Summer to travel, we'll have to get the RV ready for travel. It will be weird to have to winterize the RV. We've never had to do that since we've lived in it during our whole ownership.

We've found that home insurance seems to be higher in Tennessee than in NJ. But maybe since Sandy, policies have increased. We finally decided to go with Liberty Mutual through our truck insurance, Geico. It was the least expensive. That should be the last item we needed to deal with until closing on July 15. 

I hope we made the right choice. I have a difficult time with change. Life is just fine in the RV, but I think it's time to enjoy the steadiness, the spaciousness, the privacy of S&B life. 

We haven't been to the dentist in 2 yrs. It will be nice to establish a regular dentist, a regular doctor and a regular vet again. And to be able to order things on line and not worry about where to have it sent, or sent to our mailing address in TX and then have that sent on to where we happen to be. All of these are just little things, little conveniences that you don't have while traveling. Nothing that should stop anyone from going full time in an RV. I'm so glad we did it and that both Scott & I were on the same page of what kind of rig, where to travel, how long, and even when and where to settle again. 

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CRAFTS or MOD?:

As you walk into our RV there is a narrow cabinet that contains our switches for outside lights, slide controls, tank levels, etc. We hung some cup hooks under this cabinet to conveniently hold poopy bags & leashes. But over time, we have used longer leashes so Devin can have more freedom, and extra collars to be fashionable. These seem to gather on the floor by the door since we ran our of empty hooks. They end up being dust bunny collectors and just a nuisance to move when I need to vacuum, sweep or mop. Plus it looks sloppy. My solution?

Take an empty powdered laundry detergent box

Use it to hide your clutter

Disguise it with some pretty paper

Now it's easy to move when I need to clean and looks attractive (if you like checks). Works for me. I didn't bother covering the back. Who's going to see the back? And I just used regular tape and packing tape to secure it. I feel so much better. I am a great believer in pretty containers, lots of cabinets & closets, to "hide STUFF", so things look neater.

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AUDIO BOOK REVIEW:

The Outlander Series: Outlander / Dragonfly in Amber / Voyager / Drums of Autumn / The Fiery Cross / A Breath of Snow and Ashes / An Echo in the Bone by Diana Gabaldon
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I read these as individual books (7 in the series). I started in June of 2002 and sadly, finished in March of 2010. Probably the best series I have ever read! I'm usually not into time travel. I get confused, but this sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading.
I thought I'd write the review now, since the "Outlander" series will begin on the Starz network in Aug. 2014.
Oh my, oh my oh my. Loved the characters, loved the romance, loved the damsel in distress, loved the ongoing saga and the experiences of modern times and times from the past.
This has war, murder, romance, suspense, mystery, fantasy, history...I would suggest you read or listen to this series and then impatiently wait for the TV version to start in August.