So I had this trailer...

This trailer meant a lot to me.  It was built in 1992 and I bought it used in 2002.  I just brought it home.  I didn't consult the husband.  I just did it.  The kids and I enjoyed our trailer for the next 8 (or so) years.  We camped out in it in the back yard.  We hauled it to BattleGround lake on a regular basis.  We took it to the coast.  We dragged friends along for the good times.  We huddled in it playing games during rainy icky camping trips.  

This trailer represented so many good things and so many good times.  I brought it to Lynden in 2011.  It has sat in the barn for the last three years being used as storage.  Peter and I never took it out.  Never used it.  

It was time to let it go.  I considered selling it but I couldn't.  How could I sell it?  Not only is a 22 year old trailer worth almost nothing, I was emotionally attached to the stupid thing.  I'm weird I know.  I will always have the memories no matter what happens to the trailer.

Fortunately my son offered to take it off my hands.  Now that he has a baby, camping in a trailer will be way better than a tent.  THIS I thought was the perfect solution.

We tried to take the trailer to him in February but an unexpected snow storm hit the morning we were to leave and I refused to take it out in the storm.  This weekend was snow and ice free and off we went.  But first the freighbor gifted me with an old mattress we could use to build a "real bed" in the trailer - instead of sleeping on a lumpy, bumpy, poor excuse for a bed that trailer manufacturer's think fits two people.

The plan was to get one last trip in, on our way to Kyle's house, stay in the trailer for the weekend and then leave it with him.  On Thursday we set out for Lincoln City.  The rain poured, the wind buffeted us about. It was awful weather but we made it safely to our destination.

The weather was still awful when we got to the campground.  Despite the wet, we parked the trailer and quickly hooked it up to the utilities.  

I plugged in the water hose, turned it on and water poured out the side of the trailer.  Mmm.. that wasn't supposed to happen.  Not wanting to spend more time in the downpour than necessary I quickly decided to just fill the reserve water tank and use it, instead of the direct feed.  Water poured out everywhere.  Obviously something very bad had happened.  We were going to have to bring in water in containers for this trip it seemed and figure out the leak under dryer circumstances.

We finally got inside the trailer only to find the driving rain had been driven into the trailer and soaked our bed.  Completely saturating it in one corner.  All the bedding was wet.  The mattress was wet.    Perhaps three years in the barn had caused seams and joints to dry out.  

We should turn on the heater!  I stripped the bed and hung up the sheets so they could dry. oh wait.  It seemed we were out of propane.

No water, no bed, no heat.  Oh well - Low tide is quickly approaching and agates are calling to Peter.  We could take care of these other issues later, tides don't care.  I just wasn't up to agate hunting in pouring rain so Peter geared up and went without me while I poked around a few shops, drank some wine and enjoyed the beauty of the Oregon coast.  He eventually sent me a text message that said he was on his way back and safely over the dangerous part of the rocks.  When I picked him up he confessed that he wasn't ENTIRELY over the dangerous part when he sent the text and, in fact, had fallen just after hitting the send button.  He was very banged up, but nothing was broken.

Things weren't going too well.  Perhaps giving away the trailer wasn't going to be so hard after all.

Heat issues addressed, we covered the wet mattress with a plastic table cloth, pulled out a couple sleeping bags and settled in for the night.  The first problem was that the mattress was squished into the space at the end by our feet, and flopping down off the edge on the other end.  Peter slept on the inside and I on the outside, propping myself up against the kitchen wall to keep from sliding out of bed.  Peter was restless because of his injuries (possibly a torn rotator cuff or some other pinched nerve, torn muscle issue) which caused us to look at the clock every 20 minutes it seemed.  About 3:00 in the morning I propped a suitcase under the edge of the mattress which gave me the luxury of not sliding out of bed. Unfortunately, it made me roll toward Peter - who wasn't in the mood to be touched or jostled in any way.  The second problem was that water continued to drip.  Mostly on Peter.  It was a very long night.  By morning I was ready for a cup of coffee. Oh. Wait.  Forgot to pack the coffee.

Friday we abandoned our plans to linger on the coast and took the trailer to Kyle's house.  We parked it and tarped it.  We had dinner with friends, we bought coffee.  We started the night with the suitcase under the bed.  The night was better, it was dry and warm.  Saturday Peter went off to his seminar and I spent the day with my son and grandson.

Then Saturday night happened.  Peter's injuries had reached the apex of discomfort. Swelling was maximized, soreness and pain had grown.  Getting comfortable in a 19 foot trailer wasn't possible.  He was up.  He was down.  He tried to sleep in the car.  He walked the neighborhood.  He was down.  He was up.  Back to the car.  Back to wandering the neighborhood.  He did not sleep.  I got the bed mostly to myself.  That bed was very comfortable!   

It was finally morning and we were able to be on our way.  I packed up our things and said farewell to my trailer.  

Despite the very rocky trip and miserable three nights we had just spent in it, despite the leaking and the water problems and the bed issues, despite the fact that it was not being sold to a stranger but given to my son I could not help but shed a tear.

I have Proof!

We got a new oven a month or so ago.  It's a convection oven.  I am having to learn a whole new way to bake and for the most part, everything I've tried to bake on convection has turned out badly.  Coincidentally it just so happens that every loaf of bread I have tried to bake in the last few years has also turned out badly.

Yesterday I noticed a button on my new stove:

Could this be the answer to all my problems??

Although my main focus these days in on the floor, I thought it wouldn't hurt to bake AND strip the floor.  I'm a woman, I can multitask.

So I dug out my mother's 1946 copy of Woman's Home Companion that contains archaic quotes like: "Service with and without a maid, the proper arrangement of silver..." and "Even the sterner sex can bake successfully with the help of the chapter on breads." 

I mean if I don't need a maid, and MEN can bake bread from this book I figure I stood a chance.

 I took this 70 year old recipe and went back to basics.  No bread maker.  No food processor.  No mixer.  I tried to follow this recipe to the letter only running into slight difficulty when looking for the definition of the term "lukewarm."  I really was trying to follow the recipe EXACTLY and I had my thermometer out and on the ready.  I referred to Mirriam Webster and the best I could find was: "not hot, not cold, tepid."  So I looked up tepid and found: "not hot, not cold, lukewarm."  Sigh. So naturally, I tossed my thermometer aside and guessed.  I kneaded the prescribed 10 minutes.  I let it rise for 2 hours. Then another 1/2 hours.  Then another hour.  Allowing it to rise in my new oven on the "proof" setting.  

Now I'm sure you are dying to know what happened aren't you?

I will tell you what happened.  

BREAD happened!!

It's not incredibly pretty (but it's not ugly either).  But it tastes pretty darn good.  I am pleasantly surprised.  Woot!

Now if you are also wondering about the floor.  I made good progress on that too. Although after a week of hard work, my hands are blistered  (one.  I have ONE blister..) they scream in agony when I move them, my shoulders are achy and my back weeps pitifully when I try to stand up straight.  But it's a worthy cause.

Things to do.. Things to do..

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book.  

Oh.  Wait.  I DO do that.  I just feel really guilty when I do.  Let me rephrase that.

Sometimes I long to sit on the sofa and veg with a book, or watch TV without feeling twinges of guilt that I should be doing something else or at least doing something in addition to watching TV.

There is no chance of getting bored around here.  I am getting a tad overwhelmed by all the things waiting for my attention so the other day I decided to make a list on the white board in SharonTopia thinking it would help me feel in control.

What that meant, of course that the first thing on my to-do list became making an actual list.  I couldn't find a marker so I decided on making my list here.  (Much easier than looking for a marker.. not.)

1.  Kitchen Floor.  I started it over a year a go and it is now my top priority.  I've been working hard on it in the last two weeks or so and I'm over 1/2 way done.  I have promised myself that I will clear at least 1 square foot of floor each day.  At that pace, I should be done in a month.

2.  Hawaiian shirt quilt.  This has been on my to-do list for 2 years - although I just started it a few months ago.  It is second on my priority list because it's currently cluttering up my dining room.  In order to make it available to be worked on, the table and chairs and all other dining room "stuff" is shoved into a corner. Not conducive to romantic candle lit dinners for two at the table or enjoying the dining room in any way.

3.  Ear Brassiere.  A small project.  But I started it as a Christmas Present for a co-worker.  It's March now.  Sigh...  I had it almost finished two nights ago when I discovered a huge error early in the project.  I had to rip it all out and start over.  Now I'm more than 1/2 way done.  If I hadn't made that mistake I would be done.  Very frustrating and now I really just want it gone.  Out of my life forever.  I hate it and I want to kill it.  

4.  Beaded scarf.  Another project I am more than 1/2 way done on.  I really love the effect of the beads in the knitting.  I love it so much I started a second one (with sparkly beads and jewel toned yarn) before I finished this one.  Big mistake.  Huge.  Now both sit gathering dust.

5.  Woven Rug.  I got the crazy idea for this project when we were in Florida in September.  I really really want to do this.  Almost bad enough to move it to position #1.  This is my self-imposed lesson in self-control.  I will NOT even start it until the floor and the quilt are done.  I will most probably get serious about it as soon as I can and I think it may be helping to motivate me on those priority projects. I have been gathering the things I need to make this and all the parts are sitting on the loom ready to go.  Oh.. I want to do this. 

6.  Shrugigan.  This project I started in 2010 - When I was still working.  Peter gives me grief on a regular basis over this project.  I mostly want to get it done so I can wave it about in his face saying "Ha Ha Ha Ha! Neener Neener Neener!!" and doing a most ridiculous dance.  Once it's done I suspect it will go into a drawer and never be looked at again.

7.  Woven basket.  A fun little project.  This one is a good "car project" or for taking places that require waits.  I've made a couple small baskets and it's a fun technique.  I'm not in a hurry to get this done and it's really only on my list because it's started and does need to be finished.  Eventually.

8.  Shearing.  It's spring.  The Alpacas haven't been sheared in nearly two years.  It's time.  It's more than time.  They are shaggy and filthy and complete wrecks.  This is Cheeka.  Of course, once they are sheared then I'll have pounds and pounds of fiber that will need cleaning and washing and carding and spinning and.. Yikes!!  What was I thinking???

9.  Silk spinning.  Because I enjoy torture.  Spinning silk is a completely different thing than spinning other fibers.  Silk is fine and delicate.  I can even only TOUCH the silk when my hands are in the best condition.  If they are dry or cracked they snag the fiber something awful.  I most certainly can't touch it after working on the floor or messing with concrete.  Silk has intrigued me since I first learned to spin.  I have often looked at silk and silently ogled it.  A few months ago a fellow spinner gave me this "hanky" of silk.  Now it must be included on the to-do list.

10.  Cleaning Pads.  Back when I lived in Salem and Peter and I installed the wood flooring in my house I bought a swiffer sweeper with a large box of disposable pads for it.  I just used the last one this week.  Clever me, with time on my hands, has decided to make reusable swiffer sweeper pads out of an old towel.  It should be a quick project.  I may even sneak this one in before I'm done with the kitchen floor.  After all, I will need to be able to clean the floor once the lino is pulled up..

11.   Soap.  I need to make more soap.  I WANT to make soap.  I've been gathering supplies at discount prices.  I scored on 99 cent bottles of Olive Oil, a clearance on lard (yum!) and other assorted things.  I'm ready.  But where do I find the time??

12.  Blogging.  This is a continuing to-do.  I confess it's getting hard to write creatively.  My life is more boring than it used to be.  I assume any readers I have left aren't interested in daily postal fun, or the fact that the cat likes to sit in a box or it rained, again.  Blogging takes time and when something interesting IS going on, finding the time for quality and entertaining documentation is challenging.

All of these things are just the "my" projects.  As the weather improves we have a driveway to finish, the garage to convert, a garden to plant, additional pastures to build, SharonTopia to finish and so much more.  It's a good thing I don't have a dead line.  I tell myself to just keep plodding along and it will eventually get done, breath deep and relax.  And most importantly, appreciate the fact that I'm in a position to do these things at all.

I feel better.

EGGceptional..

Have I mentioned I love chickens?  It seems we have finally eradicated our ugly chicken virus and my chickens are healthy, happy and approaching their first birthday.

I had purchased 6 little chicks - all sold to me as hens.  As they grew, one didn't match the others.  It turns out I ended up with a fine and handsome rooster who takes his job very seriously.  He struts and crows and protects his harem from pesky interlopers.  He is truly magnificent.

But then I'm a little partial.

Since we seem to have beaten the virus, the worst of the winter weather is behind us and I conveniently have a rooster to do a rooster's job I have decided to allow my chickens to make more chickens.  Cuz, again... I love chickens and 5 chickens is not enough.

Since I'm trying to encourage my chickens to make more chickens I am not gathering their eggs on a daily basis.  I want one of them to get broody and start sitting.  They need a batch of eggs to do that.

I am still unsuccessful at convincing my hens to sit on eggs.  Today I gathered up the existing clutch preparing to try again in a week.  I immediately became concerned.  I was thinking that one of my poor hens must have gotten VERY hurt in this process. It had to hurt.  How could it not hurt??  Yikes!

I took this 'ostrich egg' to Peter to seek his input.  He has experience at these things.  He's a doctor even.  He could assure me that this was normal, or at least that I did not have a hen with problems.

His first comment was "that seems a strange color..."
Then I looked at his eyes.  They were twinkling and he had a repressed grin on his face.

Yep.  I was on the getting end of a practical joke.  Seems THIS egg was layed by one of our geese late last week.  Peter had put in the chicken coop three days ago and was just waiting, waiting waiting for me to make this discovery.  I did not disappoint.  Someday I hope to be less gullible.