Home Improvements/RV Style

We are finally "skirted and decked"!  I was amazed today at how colorful our little home looked  - the sky and the skirting  almost match!  I really didn't plan it that way but I believe it just might be God's way of putting His touch on our new home!  It reminds me of the blue that we chose for our wedding color so long ago!  

The deck is wonderful and I love being able to have a place to decorate just a little.  Makes it feel like home for sure! 

Can't wait to put some Christmas lights on the deck and the pine tree out behind our trailer!  Can't give up all the fun of "decking the halls" just because our home is on wheels. 

The next thing we need to do is finish insulating the water so it doesn't freeze. Kind of hard to think to much about it when it is 85+ degrees out but anyone who has lived in Montana, Wyoming and Colorado knows that Fall can bring pretty sudden changes in temps.  So as ridiculousness as it may seem today it would be easier to do it now and not wait until it is 20 degrees and snowing which could happen any day!

The space up under the hitch (front) of the trailer - now that it is enclosed - is like adding an extra room.  Now all we need to do is resist the inclination to fill it with "stuff" that we really don't need! The first thing to go in will be our freezer! Yep!  We bought 1/2 a beef in May not thinking that our house would sell so fast. After that - it is any ones guess what will end up under there! 

Another task we have discovered that we need to do is rearrange the storage shed!  Ugh!  Seems things that we had planned on being up front so we could get to them were quickly buried by all that "last minute - just put it in the shed because I'm to tired to deal with it" stuff.  I'm pretty sure we may have another load to go to the Good Will Store! 

43 Degrees! And Toasty Warm!

 This week we encountered the first cold temps of the season ... Jippers found a very creative way to stay warm at night!  The comforter on the bed hangs down over the foot of the bed and I guess he discovered that it was a nice cover for him also!  Smart dog - yup!


Now we are turning our thoughts to what we need to to do to get ready for fall and winter.  The skirting company was here today to measure and fit the new skirting and will be back at the end of the week to install it.  That should help a lot with the heat that is lost underneath besides giving us enclosed storage under the front part of the trailer and hiding stuff like our freezer and bikes and other misc stuff that there is no room inside for!


Randy made a pretty cool discovery this weekend - seems that he can come straight down out of the floor of compartment where the fresh water comes into the trailer and attach the hose under the trailer so we can avoid the problem that so many full-timers have during the winter with the water freezing at the inlet point.  So now all we have to insulate is the water hydrant and short piece of hose from the hydrant to the point it goes under the skirting!  Yahoo!  That guy of mine is so smart!  


Saturday we got confirmation that the porch/deck that we ordered was shipped and will arrive on Tuesday!  Yeah!  Getting up into the 5th wheel by three rather steep steps is for younger legs and knees than ours! And Jippers short legs will for sure appreciate the more gradual incline!


I'll post pix of all these "home improvements" that we are making.  I wonder if I can find RVGTV -  Recreation Vehicle & Garden TV!  :)

Settling in...

Saturday was the first day of the long Labor Day weekend - a weekend we normally would have been pulling the 5th wheel up the river to get in one last camping trip before the season ended.  Seemed a bit strange to wake up already in the camper and the campground! Why fight the traffic when we are already at a  campground?!  So here we are and here we enjoyed the weekend.

We walked the dog around the grounds, visited with folks from all around the state and the nation, enjoyed a camp hosted "Ice Cream Social" and went swimming!  Sounds like a vacation get away to me.  Now that it is Monday evening everyone is moving on and we get to stay.  :)

Saturday I cleaned and organized and rearranged the 'stuff' that we had yet to find places for and amazingly it all fits!  Even got my slow cooker tucked away and the DVD hooked up.  Experienced my first hour at the coin-op laundry - I thought I new how to do laundry but putting coins in a larger that large machine will take some resorting practices that I have yet to learn! 

We had the trailer washed and waxed this weekend - a different sort of home maintenance - and have ordered the porch/deck and the skirting.  Talked to the park manager and he will set us up with a bigger propane tank and redirect the sprinkler heads before the skirting is attached.  We are definitely getting settled in!  


Now I'm sitting at my desk ready to balance the checkbook and pay the bills - minus a large house payment, garbage payment, gas bill and electrical bill! And I have noticed our grocery bill has gone down... not because we are eating less but because I can't impulse shop any more ... no room for large size bottles, two for one or the 'just because it was on sale' items!  I do think we may see a bigger balance in the checkbook!  Our new rule - if you buy something new, something old has to go!  It is amazing how much you pick up at the store that you don't really need - even an extra bar of bath soap becomes a huge deal when space is limited.  And keeping a good shopping list is critical - no more off the top of my head shopping :)