MOOCHDOCKING AND MOVING ON

A week ago when we pulled up to Bob and Deb Cline's farm, we had planned to leave Wednesday or Thursday.  

Ole man Murphy had a different idea.  The weather climbed well into the nineties.  There were air quality alerts which made it impossible for John to be out and about.  

Bob and Deb graciously asked us to stay there until we could travel and John could enjoy being outdoors without putting his health in jeopardy. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, John and Bob worked on the motorhome.  The generator had been giving us a hard time.  Now, the Genny runs smooth as a kitten!

Monday, Deb and I sat on the deck and were spinning away while watching and listening to the different voices of the sheep.  Oliver, Olivia and Fergus the Australian Sheep Dog got to know each other.  

Tuesday, Deb continued to spin and I brought out my antique circular sock machine.  Being away from my fiber equipment for over a year has created quite a review and relearning experience.  Finally, I feel at home again with my wheel and my CSM.  

Wednesday, John mounted the brackets on the trailer bed for holding the bicycles.  Yeah!  Now, we don't have to have the bikes inside the motorhome while driving!  That was a pain!  

 The gathering was an all day affair, so I got quite a bit of spinning completed.  I was even able to  ply the yarns in to two ply yarn.  Now, I need to decide what I am going to knit with it. 

Yesterday, we arrived at Grand Harbor State Park.  The drive was a short one, thank goodness as we had a late start.  

After our late start, we stopped at Bed Bath & Beyond for coffee pods for the Keurig and a few little, miscellaneous items.  Then, John went in Menards (a Home Depot or Loews for all out west).  

We needed a couple two by fourteen boards for the car to sit on.  Right now since the Miata is a little two seater and sits close to the trailer floor and the door hits the metal rail. Right now, it is hard to exit the Miata after driving the it on the trailer.

Getting to Grand Haven was a breeze.  And what a breeze we have here....simply maaavalous. 

The culture shock really got to us though.  Being accustomed to large, roomy campsites, welllll, let's have a look.  Drum roll please!  And on our left....Does the name Intruder describe our situation?  

This unity is cozily tucked to our right.  We can't say that we have a site with a great view.  But, we are here for just two nights and tonight is the second.  But wait!  I am not finished....
THIS IS THE VIEW FROM OUR FRONT WINDOW!

If we were staying here for a full two weeks or even one week, I think I'd be a little bit nuts before the end.  BUT, we are leaving tomorrow.  Ahhh, all is well.

We went to the beach to try to capture a beautiful sunset.  What we got was a so, so sunset.  Here are a few of the photos I took.  Maybe someone will enjoy the sunset at Lake Michigan.  

I enjoy the sailboat with the United States Flag.  It was not in the sunset, but love it anyway.  United we stand!  





T H E . . . . .

  

E N D  !  



You KNOW John is going to get me when he sees this!  

Good Night and God Bless!

SETTLING IN AND MAKING IT OUR HOME

It is a bit of a mess here right now.  You can see that in the photo!  Being a short one, I use the stool in the upper right, but it is foldable and should have been put in it's  place.

Then there is Noah's litter box.  For a while, it was under our dining table, then we moved it in the space between the "navigator's chair and my seat, but that is where my case with my circular sock machine is now located.  The only place I can think to put the litter box is in the shower.  Any other suggestions?

And ladies and gentlemen, on the right just above and behind Oliver, you see a full trash bag.  That dandy item now hangs on the hand rail.  I REALLY do not like that!

With John's COPD, I thought I had to bring our small room air filter.  Again, there is no good place for it.  Last night, it went to the campground dumpster and I will look for a smaller, less obtrusive filter.

Now, for what we have accomplished.  First is our floors that John installed last summer when he felt much better than he does now.  Then there is the Karastan oriental rug on which  the fur kids love to rest.

Well, maybe not so much to rest all the time.  It is  also used as a wrestling mat for Noah (the cat) and Olivia (the dog).  And guess who always wins....Noah!

 Oliver just stands in the background and asks "when will these two ever grow up and be more dignified, LIKE ME?"

After the rug went down, John removed one of the light fixtures on the wall and hung my cherry Howard Miller wall clock.  It is no longer hanging crooked as you see in the photo.


Next to the clock and waiting to be framed and hung is a pen and ink drawing of Talley's Pub.


John also removed the traditional Winnebago watercolor that comes with every rig.  There, we are going to hang one of my pieces of fiber art work.  This "painting" is composed of hand dyed fibers then blended and laid out to create the picture.  


This "painting" won Grand Champion, Best of Show at the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival. 


The holes left by the watercolor is where this picture will be hung. 

There is another fiber painting to be hung in the bedroom.  A few years ago, this was a Father's Day gift for John.  I entered this "painting" in the fine arts division at our county fair and won a blue ribbon.  What a surprise.

As we travel and John and I take pictures of scenes that we like, I will take the photo and recreate it by painting with the fiber.

I have my dye pot, dyes and all other equipment with me.  I guess we could say that our motorhome is an art studio on wheels.  From our traveling studio, I will be selling the artwork as Merikay and Karen in the Woods will be selling their works.

The final, so far, touch of home we have added is the last quilt John's mom made before her death.  This quilt was even made for John which gives it special meaning to him.

In the lower right corner is a small, portable washing machine.  This baby saves us a lot of money on laundry bills.  It was two hundred dollars and has paid for itself many times over.

As we begin our search for a newer motorhome, a built in washer/dryer is just one of my must haves. What is so funny is that although we have sold our house, we just have not felt a rush to purchase our next motorhome.  For me, that is a good thing.

Enough for today.  If you have any comments or suggestions, feel free to head to the comment box!  Thanks for stopping by.

God bless!

T MINUS TWO DAYS!

In just two short days we will leave for Wisconsin.  The Wisconsin Sheep and Wool Festival is this coming Friday, Saturday and Sunday. September 9, 10 and 11. I will be vending there and Sunday, will be teaching a felting class.  

John has been working on the motor home and there is one leveling jack that is acting up.  It will not retract thus when he wants to level the passenger side, the jack just hits it's "toe" on the ground.  Grrrr.  He has tried to pound it back in with a rubber mallet, sprayed tons of W-D 40 on it, begged, pleaded, offered me as a sacrifice, all to no avail.  

On the brighter side, he has found a wonderful cleaner/wax that is doing wonders on the motor home.  I wonder how long it will take to do all thirty five feet of this wheelestate.  

Did you catch that last word?  We want to eliminate our real estate and have only our wheelestate.  Seems like a good trade to me!  

I am really pleased with some of the fiber that I have dyed.  I finally put on my dare devil hat and started mixing my own colors.  I love how they have turned out.  The fiber I have dyed is mainly for the felting class that I will be teaching, but there will be some left to sell at the Wool Gathering in Yellow Springs Ohio the following weekend.  

	Jeb Mac (Jeff McKinley) and his wife, Carolina Pearl, will be back this year entertaining the kids playing a farmhouse fiddle, banjo, lap dulcimer and other instruments. The children young and old enjoy singing along, playing instruments and dancing.

If we have room in the motor home, I will take my circular sock machine on this trip.  We will be gone for two weeks and I hope I can spend a few evenings knitting socks.

As we look to winter travels, I have decided to take my sock machine, possibly my Schact Matchless spinning wheel and supplies to do more fiber "paintings".  

Since we will be leaving in December rather than February, we will have more time to do our artsy activities.  


As I finish each step of preparation for the fiber festivals, I move the completed items to the motor home and am totally impressed at how much better my studio is looking.  What makes it even more pleasing is that I am not in the cleaning mode, but it looks like it!  I kinda am impressing myself.   


Wisconsin Sheep and Wool is only in it's 10th year and is a huge success!  It is full of classes, competitions, an auction, style show, youth activities, stock dog trials and more events. 

 

There are tons of vendors!  (Ahem....I'm one! - in the west building of the country store.)

 

People come and shop till they drop.  

If you are in driving distance, come visit us.  

It looks as if the weather is going to be great this year now that it has cooled down.  Blogger has started creating a problem, so I will sign off since I  cannot control it from this end.  Hopefully, someone will have an answer for me in the comments!  

Be Safe all - And God Bless and keep you....

 

 

 

ON OUR WAY HOME

What a weekend!  First the hacker, then finding problems with my circular machine.  The circular sock machine is on it's way to Minnesota to have an expert repair it.  Actually, it is not the machine, but the ribber attachment.  When it gets back, it is going to  be better than new. 

Lesson learned:  do not buy a circular sock machine from someone that you do not know and trust.  I did not know the seller, but I trusted him as he was a vendor at shows where I participate.  There are many good vendors of sock machines.  If you are ever wanting to purchase one, contact me or Karen In the Woods for some names.  http://kareninthewoods-kareninthewoods.blogspot.com 

As we were leaving Kickapoo State Recreation Area near Danville, Illinois two youngish deer came to the dump station to tell us good by.   This little guy is sprouting fuzzy antlers.  His little girl friend is hiding behind the tree on the right. 

They had been much closer to us, like right next to the motor home, but when I went to snap the photo, I got the "no card" message on the view finder.  I had to come to the computer, remove the card and insert it into the camera.  By that time, they had moseyed on to the back by the trees.  Geesh, when will I learn? 

In this photo, you can see the wee little antlers. 

These guys were so quiet and peaceful.  Quite comfortable being right next to the motor home.  Of course, we sat very quietly while watching them. 

These guys were the best thing about the campground.  It is not on my list of favorites.  Just camping sites market out under trees, nothing special.  Now, If we had been boondocking there with no neighbors, it might have been better.


I have really been a fan of boon docking, as I have said before.  Boondocking or as my daughter from California says, "dry docking:"  I did read someplace that both words have their place.  I read that boondocking is out in the "boonies", in the middle of nowhere.  Dry docking, the article said is like making an overnight stop at Wal Mart where there are no hook ups for water and electricity.  Ahhh, the mystery is solved.

I'd love to be in California next week end.  Jojo, my daughter is going to Gilroy, California for the Garlic Festival  http://www.gilroygarlicfestival.com  I love food with garlic.  I love roasted garlic on crackers!  I love garlic bread!  I love pasta with garlic and basil!  OK Nan, you can stop now.  

We are about twenty minutes from home, but ten minutes from our favorite Mexican restaurant.  Now can you guess where we are going?  It is after five o'clock and I have not had anything to eat since breakfast.  The wait is worth it. 

All in all, this has been a good weekend.  I trust that you have had a good one too.

God Bless! 

MUSIC IN THE NIGHT

Here we are at the Kickapoo State Park and Recreation Area.  It is time to go to bed and all is quiet.  All we can hear is  the night sounds.  The night creatures communicating with one another creating their own kind of music.  I love it.  So peaceful.  he last time I heard these sounds was over thirty years ago when we would go tent camping with our family. 

This was written last night.  Then I received a telephone call.  Someone hacked into my email and sent a message to everyone in my address book asking for money to be sent to me in Spain.  

I am in Danville, Illinois, not Spain.  I do not need $2500 for an emergency.  And to top it off, they changed my password and my mother's place of birth and I cannot access my email to send an apology to all.  Frustrating.  My hands are tied.  

I am trying to communicate with MSN to get this straightened out.  Not much luck so far.  Frustrating.

I am in Danville, Illinois at the circular sock machine  conference trying to learn new patterns and methods and it is hard to keep my mind on my classes.  

I am going to take a lace knitting class tomorrow and am really looking forward to it.  I am finding that there are so many more things that one can do with their circular sock machines.  


There are attendees here from Maryland to California, from Georgia to Canada.  What a great group with so many ideas and so many tools for the sock (an more) knitter.


I have not been able to enjoy the campgrounds as much as I would like, but John, Oliver and Noah must be having a ball.  They are sleeping as I write this!


Speaking of sleep............ I think I will copy them as classes and meetings start at the late hour of seven thirty!  This turns into twelve to fourteen hours days of learning and cranking!  I guess you might say that I'm cranky?????


Good night to all... God Bless! 

Fab Friday!

Now, the day has yet to get into full swing, but I am thinking positive!  Thanks to Big Bad John, I now have a cough to beat all coughs.  At first, I thought it was my allergies as the first symptoms came immediately after mowing, but this has lasted for almost a week.  It is wearing me out, but is much worse for John with his existing breathing issues.  Right now, he's out picking up a prescription, that his lung specialist has ordered, along with cough medicine with codeine.  Needless to say, this is going to put a stall to finishing his installation of our Ultra Allure flooring in the motorhome.  That's the way it goes, sometimes....

I started a H. U. G. E.  felting project.  I am making a rug.  Right now, the lay out is six feet square and the fleece is seven inches high.  When finished, the rug will be much smaller and thinner as the felting process shrinks as it felts.  The fiber scales open up, lock together and the air between the fibers is pushed out.

The scene on the rug will be a primitive view of hills with trees.  Very minimal looking.  This will go the the St James Court Art Show in Louisville, Kentucky the first week end in October. 

Finding a spot for the motorhome is difficult in Louisville!  We had to pay fifty dollars a night for a hook up at the Kentucky Expo Center for water and electricity!  I hope we can find a less expensive place this year, but I'm not holding my breath. 

I just received a telephone call and  have been admitted to Ribber Rendezvous and Fancy Stitches Too the Danville, Illinois COWS Crank in.  There will be no livestock there though.  For the life of me, I cannot remember what C O W S stands for, but it is a gathering of circular sock machine crankers.
 
This does not mean that I will be cranky though, I promise!  This is a photo of the kind of sock machine that I have.

Another reason to be happy about attending COWS is that we will be out in the motorhome at the Kickapoo State Park in Danville.  We have never been there and are looking forward to presenting you with a positive report.

This brings the thoughts of boondocking.  We absolutely love boondocking!  We love the privacy, the quiet, the scenery when boondocking.  There are no neighbors "next door" or next door is a half mile away!  The solitude speaks to our souls and quiets our hearts.  Many people have called it cheap docking.  The fact that we pay nothing when we boondock is only one small factor.  Yes, it's nice to choose to spend our money in other ways, but the reasons I have previously stated are the best.  Boondocking is not for everyone.  Some could not do without their electricity, their television,  people to talk to, etc.  Different strokes.

Well, I must get to the rug.  I hear it calling to me from the studio.  If I am lucky, I will start the felting process today.  With the hot, hot weather returning tomorrow, I prefer to have most of this done as the air conditioning  is not the best in the studio.

Until later............. God Bless

A Day of Challenges

Today's challenges have not been monumental.  They are just challenges.  But for some reason, they bug me today.  The heat, the air quality, the sock machine, the silk worms, the grass to cut, the weeds to pull, the motorhome floor to finish, the kitchen to finish as well as painting the house so we can sell it.  That's all. 

Today, the heat has been oppressive and the resulting air quality has made for a difficult day for John with his emphysema.  Working on the motorhome floor is impossible after about one o'clock in the afternoon.  He is so eager to get the flooring down and it is discouraging for him.  He pushes himself further than he should and this is a concern for me. 

The sock machine and I had a round today.  I am using a new / different yarn and am having a terrible time making all the adjustments.  I've knitted and ripped out more times than I can count!  As I have said before, this is a HUGE learning curve.  On the positive side though, I have found the perfect number of rows to fit my foot.  The first socks were too large for my feet, but the last pair.....just right.   What is so funny is that as I was ripping out a sock for the umteenth time, I was thinking that maybe I should get my spinning wheel and spin.  I had to laugh at myself.  When I was learning to spin, I would think that maybe I should just go felt something.  Nothing like wanting to take an easier road.  

The silkworms.....I have three very stubborn fellas.  They just don't want to stop eating those mulberry leaves and make their cocoons.  I have had cocoons for four days now, but these guys keep hanging on and eating.  I still can hear these three chewing on the mulberry leaves.  At first, as wee babes, they needed the youngest, most tender mulberry leaves.  Now they enjoy the large, mature leaves.  When I go out to cut more branches, I see those young, tender leaves and thing, ooooh they will like these.  I put the leaves in the silkworm container and what do these fellas want?  The old, hairy, tough leaves.  I guess my love of the spring mix for salads does not equate here.  I love the young and tender.

You can see the two coocoons and the worms here. 

I am tempted to reduce the amount we are cutting.  With the price of gas, I feel it is a waste of money.  It takes a lot of gas to cut 5 acres every 3 or 4 days.  The grass is still growing at a speedy rate and with most of our grass being out of sight, why not? 

And the weeds.  I just wish everything were level and we could just cut it all down....The woes of summer and home / mini farm ownership. 

We did have a cool visitor today.  I really do not know what it is.  It looks a bit like a dragon fly, but I don't think it is.  "He" was resting on the side of our house and I saw him as I was sitting at the circular sock machine.  Maybe you will be able to tell me it's name. 

Dinner is ready, time to go.....God bless all tonight~!

Two Socks Completed and Three new followers!

Wow!  I'm coming up in the world.  I've completed two more socks and have three new followers in one week!  What's a person to do?  I celebrated by going to see a parade this morning, then on to our local farmers market then to view fireworks tonight!  How's that for a celebration.

Our city has a Freedom Celebration the week prior to July 4th because we are just 20 minutes south of Indianapolis and they have huge fireworks display on the fourth of July in the heart of Indy.  The Freedom Celebration was an all day event.  There we activities for the entire family.  The cool weather made it a very pleasant way to spend the day.

We did not spend the entire day in town.  John has started working on the floor of the motor home.  We will be installing the Allure Flooring System.  The prep work seems to take longer than the actual installation.  But that is what makes the outcome so successful.

I want to welcome Judy C, Karen and Steveio, and Merikay.  They are my 3 new followers.  Wow, I'm up to four.  Who woulda thunked it?

I was so happy today (still am)!  I finished one sock and whipped out one and a half  more!  I think I am getting the hang of it.  Believe it or not, I am going to admit that I'm thankful that I had such a hard time in the beginning.  Those mistakes that I felt were so H. U. G. E. have made it possible for me to fix problems quickly.  Dropped stitches seem to be the biggest problem.  And what causes dropped stitches.....not having the  weights close enough to the needles.  Thanks to Barb Woodard, that has been instilled into my memory bank.

The other thing firmly ingrained,  knitting the pre-heel!  All that work I put myself through yesterday paid off.  I automatically knit those pre-heels! 

Well, nuff said tonight.  Blessings to all.

Catching up on Home Duties

Laundry and other chores are about completed.  We are working on the mowing and oh my gosh, the rain brought out the weeds.  How it makes me long for the open road.  Let the highway road crews mow and take care of weeds with their huge tractors and bush hogs.  You go fellas! 

I've been looking at inventory and checking it twice....to order more inventory.  Hum, vicious circle, isn't it.  We have a short break until the next show.  This affords me to get fiber artwork done for art shows and to work with the circular sock machine......knitting socks.  The dye pots are also coming out.  Lots of  work to prepare for the coming shows. 

It has cooled off a little and I am thankful for that.  We actually were able to shut down the air conditioning and open windows to sleep.  I love a fresh breeze as long as it is cool. 

The silk worms are growing, and growing.  We have increased the size of their habitat four times.  The runt died yesterday.  He had a case of failure to thrive or something.  He/she just did not grow.  So, now we are down to 26.  The day is coming that they will be spinning their cocoons of silk.  Then the cycle will continue.  They survived the traveling.  Mulberry trees are everywhere, so we had a good supply of food for them. Collecting stems of Mulberry trees created quite a few questions though, and the critters had quite a few inquisitive observers. 

Good wishes go to Marilyn and Ed, The Happy Wanderers /www.mytripjournal.com/travel-607759  You can read about their RV fire and see the photos of the damage. 

Thanks to God for the successful surgery of Gene Woodard.  Gene's wife, Barb is a fellow sock machine cranker and had asked for prayer.  Gene's surgery was yesterday and he wants to go home today~!  God is good!

Blessings to all, God speed till next time.   ..............

Happy Birthday Ross!

Today is our grandson Ross' birthday.  You can see Ross' pictures along the side of this blog.  He is a hoot and a sweet, sweet boy!  We will be attending his birthday party Saturday.  Some of his gifts came from our travels this winter.  While at the Grand Canyon, then at Joshua Tree Nation Park, we admired the cutest Junior Park Ranger outfit - including a Ranger hat!  We didn't get it and now we are so sorry!  Next year! 

The sun has been shining all day.  Most of the ground is no longer wet so I mowed.  It was good to be outdoors and I plan on working outside again tomorrow - if the weather man will let me.  I still cannot get all the way back on our 5 acres.  A huge "pond" of standing water blocks the way.  I think we will have to bale it if it does not dry up soon.  If not, we will have to have a bush hog and that's expensive. 

What do you think about the price of gas?  It has gone down from $4.29 to 4.15 in the last two days.  Thank goodness the Miata gets wonderful mileage.  We have just parked the truck for now.  I sure wish Obama would do something about the gas prices. 

I want to knit another sock on my circular sock machine tomorrow.  Looks like I have a big day planned!  Oh, I also have a hat in the studio that I need to finish felting.  The St. James Art Show in Louisville, KY is sneaking up on me.  Art shows, fiber shows, oh my! 

Have a great day all!  Blessings....

Rain, Please GO AWAY!

It has rained so much that we have not had a day to mow the lawn.  It is about long enough that we could cut and bale it!  The rain started a week ago as we went to Greencastle, IN for The Fiber Event.  The Fiber Event was great!  Sales were up and I met many new friends and had such a great time talking with old friends.  Dinner at Greencastle's restaurant, Almost Home was again a treat.  A great big YUM! 

After coming home from Greencastle, I taught a felting class.  The class was using a resist in felting.  When one uses a resist, they can make an object with no seams such as a vessel, mittens, slippers, etc.  This time the student wanted to make a saddle pad for one of her horses.  By making the pad by using a resist, she will be able to add padding to the hollow inside of the pad.  This project is the largest using a resist.  I was very thankful that I have the felt rolling machine or we would have been totally exhausted!

Late Thursday, Edmundson RV called and said that the motor home would not be ready for our trip to the Fiber Arts Festival in Kendallville, IN.  (again)  We loaded the truck and were on I 69 heading north.  Since we had such a late call from Edmundson, we arrived with only about an hour to set up our booth, but we made it. 

Friday, we were greeted with more rain and a cold that was totally bone chilling.  Since my silk long johns were in the motor home, I was totally unprepared for the cold and drank more hot chocolate than I had all winter!  Surprisingly enough, the die hard fiber artists came out and shopped for supplies.  I was very pleased that our sales were as much as they were and looked forward to Saturday's sales since it was not supposed to rain before 7:00 p.m. and the show was to end at 5:00.  Saturday's sales were also good and for a first time show, I was mildly pleased with our sales.    We packed up and headed home and of course it began to rain as we approached Indianapolis.  

It has rained all day and we have had a quiet, thoughtful Easter.  Our California daughter, Jojo, sent me a picture of Joshua Tree.  They are camping there this week end.  Later, she called and we talked for a wonderfully long time.  It is so hard to have a child 2000 miles away.  Her phone call made the day wonderful! 

The rain is supposed to continue all week.  This will guarantee that I stay in the studio and get some work done.  I also need to order more pottery knitting bowls and the knitting lights.  I have sold about 50 lights in a week.  They are truly a hit with knitters, weavers, and those who do other kinds of needle work and reading! 

The end of this week we will be heading for Nashville, IN and the Brown County State Park.  John will be fishing and I will be attending a 3 day crank in for owners of antique circular sock machines.  This is going to be a great time.  I have yet to make a second sock because I keep running into a problem when I get to the increase portion of the heel!  There will be plenty of people to help this newbee cranker.  So far, I have just been a cranky cranker and I plan to leave as a happy cranker! 

Wow, this week is going to be really productive!  I'm going to felt hats and vessels in the studio and then crank some socks!  What else could I ask for other than 2 dry days to mow!  Hey, maybe we will meet some campers in Brown County! 

Till next time.....may the meaning of Easter bless your lives.....He is risen! 

OH, Good Grief!

Today, we received a much anticipated telephone call from Edmundson RV. After their receiving parts that were defective and more parts that were the wrong parts, our motor home is ready. We can pick it up after lunch break tomorrow.

BUT...... Right now, there is rain falling....freezing rain.....or should I say that there is ice falling from the sky?? The forecast is that we are to have freezing rain. Enough freezing rain to cause power lines to fail, power outages to prevail, travel to come to a stand still.

Now keep in mind...we were supposed to leave here a month ago....do you hear me??? Four weeks ago! We have packed then unpacked and packed again then used clothing that we packed. We have repeated the laundry drill over and over...therefore we have the right to claim the title of repacking champions.

Right now, I am actually listening to rain falling - hard. Oliver went outside and slipped then fell on the ice covered patio. The snow that was already on the ground is now covered with a sheet of ice. What else can happen weather-wise? Geez. I think that next year we will leave here right after Christmas.

Nothing can be done about this. I can't change a thing, John can't change a thing...OH YES, we can change our attitudes. Enough whining.

We were to leave here and travel I 70 through ST Louis. This evening, after some research, we found that if we would go to Memphis then over to Oklahoma City, we would miss the bad weather conditions. Sounds good doesn't it. BUT, we must be able to get down to Edmundson's RV to pick up the motor home. Then we need to be able to get the motor home into our drive and to be able to load the things in the house into the motor home without falling and hitting our noggins, breaking an arm, or just landing on our bum! This is getting funny...kinda. If all else fails, it looks like things will be decent by Thursday, Friday at the latest.

We are looking forward to Joshua Tree National Park in California and Leo Carrillo State Beach, CA. When we arrive, all this will be a memory. In the meantime, we look forward to seeing NancyJo.

What do you think? When will we get out of here?

T Minus 4 .... Finally

In four days, we are outta here! OH Happy Day! After installing the cherry hardwood floors in the majority of our home and being dog tired from the effort, we are ready for a break. We have and more delays than there are M & M's, but finally, the brakes are fixed as well as the list of other fixes on the motor home. Sigh......

Zack (grandson #1) and Danielle's wedding is Friday evening, then we are free to roam westward. Ya know, it seems like yesterday that I was rushing from Indy to Cincy to be with my daughter and help with my first grandson. Oh, what a joy he was! (and is)..... And his big sister was such a hoot. Now, they are adults, making their own decisions, planning for their futures. What is a grandparent to do? We pray. We pray for them to have God's guidance and wisdom as they make their life choices. We pray for their safety as they go through life. That, my friends, is what we are here for...... to pray for our children and our grandchildren. That is the best thing we can do for them.

Speaking of children, our first direction will be westward to California. Daughter # 2 is there. She has been there for a long time (a mother speaking here). It will be so good to see her and share her new life for a while.

After California, we will head for Texas - taking our time. We will then spend the rest of our time exploring the "wild, wild west".

I will be taking my spinning wheel, fiber to spin, wet felting supplies and my new to me antique circular sock machine. Oh my gosh........what a learning curve there is to mastering making socks on that dear ole antique Legare 400. Let's see, I've started and restarted a sock so many times that I have lost count. BUT....each time, I get a bit further along on the sock. Today, I finished the heel and started on the foot before I dropped stitches and took it off the machine.....again! big, big sigh along with an eyeroll. Oh yes,,,, John will be taking his new rigid heddle weaving loom. Thanks goodness we have plenty of room!

I don't think I will be able to work on the CSM any more until we are on the road. Tomorrow, we shop for my shoes for the wedding, get a wedding present, pick up some food items from GFS, do some health food store shopping. Then we make a stop at the vet for micro chipping of Noah, the cat and Oliver, the dog.
purchase more ink for the printer so that I can finish copying information for the Hoosier Hills Fiberarts Festival that is coming up in June.

I am co-chair of the festival and this will be my first year directing the activities from a computer in route to many destinations. The classes have been scheduled, most of the vendors are set, competitions are in the planning stanges, so most of the work is done.

We pick up the motor home Thursday, pack and be ready for the great escape on Saturday. My suggestion was to take the motor home to the wedding and head out right afterward, but for some strange reason there was a veto....spoil sport!

We have another winter storm watch,...another 6 inches of snow predicted....oh happy day! Calgon....(motor home), take me away!

Until next time....

Trip Modification

After some thought, we have decided that we are trying to pack too much trying to pack too much into two months. We have cut our trip to the south east, Florida, Gulf Shores and New Orleans from our trip. Instead, we are heading to California to see Jojo and to Texas to enjoy new sights and experiences. In essence, we have cut our miles in half! Less time driving, more time enjoying!

We made that mistake last fall on our trip to North and South Carolina and Virginia. Being our first extended trip, we tried to pack too many "places to see" into 4 /12 weeks. This time, we travel smarter, not harder. Wow, we leave in just over a week!

On a fiber note, my waste yarn finally arrived yesterday. Now I can begin to use my antique circular sock machine! I've made only one sock so far and that was with Mary Ann, a wonderful and patient teacher. Now, to have a go at it on my own! I'm so sure there is a very steep learning curve, so here I go! That's okay though. John will be learning to weave on his rigid heddle loom and I will be on my Legare 400 making socks. You know, all that travel time we are saving? That time will be spent weaving, making socks, fishing, hiking etc. Sounds like a super trade-off to me!

Gentlemen, Get Ready to Start your Engine!

With the holidays over and the hardwood floors installed in the house, we are a few steps closer to leaving the Indianapolis area and heading on to warmer country. The Motor Home is at Edmundson RV, located in Taylorsville, IN for it's oil change, brakes, new water closet and a few other minor repairs to make our road trip worry free, (we hope) and more comfortable. Since we are new to this lifestyle, we are learning new things every day as we read the blogs of those more experienced. Oh, what a learning curve!

As of today, our first stop will be Savahna, Ga. Then on to Florida to watch the launch of the last space shuttle. Once we have experienced that, we are off to Gulf Shores, Alabama to meet up with family for a day or so then to New Orleans. After that, it is off to California to visit with daughter #2. After this, we hope to spend time in south west TX before heading home for the Smoky Mountain Fiber Festival in Townsend TN March 18 -20. From there, we head to Bowling Green, OH for the Black Swamp Market Day on March 26.

During all this time, we will be stopping off at antique shops and yarn shops seeking our dreams. We dream of any fiber related item, and John, also, of coins. Since I have discovered the antique circular sock machines and knitted my first sock, I'm on the look-out for more sock machines. Oh, my gosh, what fun the sock machine is....and when good at it, I will be able to knit a pair of socks in an hour....did you hear what I said???? AN HOUR!!!! Holy cow! I'm on one pair of socks I started knitting at the Michigan Fiber Festival in August of 2009! These sock machines were popular in the late 1800's and early 1900's. Many were sold or given to people to knit socks for the soldiers in the war. Now, these machines make socks that exceed the quality of any sock made in China or wherever.

John has started weaving on his birthday present I purchased at the southern Indiana Fiber Festival in Corydon, IN. He is learning to weave on a rigid heddle loom. I have a 4 harness loom, but he wanted to "start small" and work up...He's about to get hooked!

The drawback to this trip? My niece, who is more like a sister (6 yrs diff), is having total knee replacement. I wish I could be here to walk through the experience with her since I had my first TKR 12 years ago and my second 4 years ago.

Enough for now, but as the "blast off" date grows closer and arrives, there will be more.

quote of the day: "Success if the ability to go from one failure to another with no loss of enthusiasm." Winston Churchill