Zap

We had our first killing frost a few days ago, and these lovely Zinnias are no more. I had great luck with Zinnias this year. They liked it in the hot dry spots in my garden and I will (as I think I've mentioned before) plant more of them next year. These were starts from the plant nursery from sometime in June when starts were already 50% off, so it was a good deal. The sun was already low enough in the sky so that at mid-day, these were in partial shadow. 

In other news, Mr W and I came home yesterday to a Sally poop accident. Luckily it wasn't the kind where it is deposited far and wide around the house, but it was right on the wood floor in the living room. Now, my wood floor is old and worn - people tell me that the "look" is very in right now. I was very concerned, as I worked with a toothpick and then a piece of wire to extract poop from between the boards, that it was going to smell permanently. 

I sound like an advertisement, but I had a bottle of Nature's Miracle on hand and poured that between the boards and over the area and let it dry. It doesn't smell this morning, and I'll get down there and sniff the boards sometime today when I work up the courage to do so. I'm relieved, but Sal is still off, digestive-wise. I just let her out this morning and she's no better. I'll have to decide whether to stop in sometime today - probably should, and let her out. Do myself a favor.

And in other other news, it looks like I'll pick up the check for selling Graycie the campervan today. All's well that ends well and she goes to a good home. 

Good news

Well, it looks like Graycie the camper van has been sold. About six weeks ago, I took it over to my mechanic's, where they have a selection of their own used vehicles as well as consignments like mine. It cost me 10% of the price, but he got more for it than I would have. I don't have a check in hand yet, as the final negotiations went into late yesterday afternoon, but if everything works as it's supposed to, the buyer put down a several hundred dollar deposit yesterday, I'll send the title Monday and then get a cashier's check for it after that. Or something like that. 

One of the reasons I thought the sales commission was totally worth it is that they are dealing with the details that I don't want to deal with. 

It's a big relief to get it sold, as in retrospect a second vehicle (especially an infrequently-used camper van) wasn't a luxury that I could easily afford. Live and learn. As these things seem to go, my trusty (and 17 year old) Honda Civic is starting to make a rattling noise in the back that suggests I need to put some money into it. I need to see if I can perhaps use the van for a day or two before it's actually sold so they can get my Honda shipshape before I go down to having only one car again. Timing. 

In other news, this morning I had my biggest sale ever on Etsy!! Someone bought eight (8!) of my button-clay tile bracelets. I'm still kind of waiting to see if she made a mistake and will cancel the order. Ha! I'm also wondering what she's going to do with them and if she's going to resell them. It would be nice to have an outlet where I can sell several at a time. It's a funny thing how I feel kind of validated because someone bought that many pieces. As though since someone else liked them that much to buy eight of them, I must be creating good stuff. 

Anyway, that's my good news today. It's shaping up to be another busy Saturday. They always are though, and it's what I make it, so I must want things this way. 

Dog food

This is my beloved Sal, taken this morning. Sally the Doodle. She turned five last December, and has been a happy healthy dog. It's good for me in many ways, but I am grateful to have her here especially when Mr W's with his dad.

Anyway, I went to visit a friend yesterday who is housesitting at this really nice place a little north of town, on one of the few lakes in the area. There aren't any natural lakes around here; they're all for irrigation, so she said the water goes up and down throughout the season. Nice digs though. Her friend is in Hawaii for 4 months, so S and her husband P and their two dogs get to do some lakeside living for a bit.

She's had the misfortune of having two dogs die before their time in a pretty short time frame. She and P are fans of German shepherds, and after the second dog died, she decided to get a puppy from a reputable breeder. That puppy is about 11 months now, and my oh my, what a handsome guy. I should have taken his picture. He is a beautiful dog. We got to talking and she said she is feeding him a raw diet.

She started it when one of her other dogs had health problems that were eased by the diet, and she just kept going. The prep would be prohibitive for me (unless I could make two portions and turn around and cook Mr W's share....). Her distain for kibble was strong, and it's making me think I should at least look into whether changing to a higher quality kibble for Sally would be good for her health. The question is: is a better quality food (and can we measure that just by the sticker price?) beneficial for a healthy dog?

It's hard to say because she's already healthy, you know? And down the line, if she does get sick, it'd be difficult to attribute that to her diet. I don't buy the cheapest food on the shelf, but I do buy Iams for large breeds at Target. This was a conscious decision, after trying to buy a more expensive kibble at what we call "the dog food store" when she was a puppy and having them be out of the brand, twice in space of a few weeks. I didn't want to vary her food too much, so I decided to feed her something I could get easily all the time.

For her part, Sally's a good eater. Scarfs down whatever's in the bowl, so I'm sure she'd be on board with a menu change, should it come around. If anyone reading this would like to weigh in, please do.

In other news, I checked the want ad for Graycie the campervan and as of this morning it had gotten 355 views. Not bad.

Improvements

I got Graycie the campervan's classified ad (she wants to meet someone online) posted last night. One of the sites is called The Samba, and has all sorts of stuff for fans of old VWs. I checked this morning and it had 135 views in less than 12 hours. Not bad. It was free too. Take that, craigslist! Ha.

The impetus to finally do this is that I want the deck built off of my living room before my brother and his family come to visit in August. And, I'll have some money for such projects once the van is sold. However, thinking about the deck has started sort of a cascade of home improvement wonderings that I've been thinking about lately.

I am fortunate to live in a part of town where it is not uncommon at all to see people adding on to their houses because they don't want to leave the area. It's also getting more common to see a little old house for sale, then demolished to make way for a new (often ostentatiously larger, but not always) house. So I think it's safe to say that almost any improvements I make will increase the value of the house and I'll "get my money back".

So I've started to think about updating my kitchen. It's one of those spaces where things could be arranged better (doesn't everyone store their crockpots on the floor? It's temporary). You can see how the stove (without a hood, which I would like to have) sits at an angle to prevent the user from burning the cupboards above. Good design? I put that little table next to it when I rearranged my living room, and it is really nice to have a flat space next to the stove. It does tend to accumulate things, though. 

Anyway, if you look at the door to the bathroom, you can see there is nothing along the wall so that the door can fully open. I'm thinking of having someone make it into a pocket door, even if it has to be built a little bit away from the wall. Then I could have some more counter space and cabinets. 

That's one idea. I met someone through a friend who does kitchen design, and I'd like to have her come over and give me some ideas. I admire the ability to see the possibilities this way. The other thing that really does need to be done is to get new windows for the place. I've counted, there's only seven, so it shouldn't be too expensive. 

I've got my stack of This Old House magazines close by to get some ideas for the kitchen. I like simple styles and neutral colors for the cabinets, floor and countertops, but I've got a thing for those sheets of glass tile, so I'm pretty sure I'll have to do a backsplash with those. 

And that's as far as I've gotten. I'll have to get some kind of a home improvement loan, but the credit union can help with that. I think I've talked myself into feeling that it's a good investment. 

As close as it gets

I've got room for one seed starting tray, and it has its own light source that I made the frame for after seeing them advertised and saying, "I can probably do that". It's been so warm here (most everywhere, it seems) that it felt like I was slow getting anything started, although mid-March is exactly the time (two months before our frost date).

Most things I'll grow will be direct-sown, and I'll buy a few starts. But I wanted to feel like I was doing SOMETHING while it's 70+ degrees outside. So, after careful consideration, I started the following vegetable/fruit seeds:
Cantaloupe - two varieties, both supposedly early
Broccoli - two kinds
Lettuce - I usually buy starts, but we'll see how this goes

And then I thought I'd start some flower seeds and see how that goes:
Zinnias - two of the giant varieties
Monarda - got these at a talk, so I'm not sure if it's Bergamot or the red garden Monarda
Phlox
Sweet peas - I thought I'd trail them up the old clothesline posts that are in the yard

Let's see, I started the seeds a few days ago, and the broccoli and zinnias are already sprouted. That's as close to instant gratification as it gets, IMO, and it makes me feel good to be growing this stuff.

In other news, I'm going to again make a push to sell Gracie the campervan. I took her to the shop because she was leaking in several places (poor thing) and was asked if I had let her sit most of the winter. Yes, because I was a little concerned she'd overheat or break down - irrational, I see now. My most wonderful mechanic gave her a clean bill of health, and she is ready to go. I've been driving her around more, and found the pictures I took last summer (when she was freshly vacuumed) that I'll use for a classified ad. I'm going to post it on one or two of the sites specifically for VW fans and I think that is the way to go. I have mixed feelings about selling the van, and if I could have it and not have to deal with the maintenance,  I would. But that part of it is a pain (as I knew it would be) and when I'm honest about it, I don't want to camp by myself right now. I spend enough time by myself, I don't want to take a trip to do it.

Hitting the wall

I have a small house. It's basically my bedroom, the bathroom, the kitchen, Mr W's tiny room, and a largish living room that is probably 12 x 25. It's a good space, but I have been slowly filling it with crafting stuff and things that need to be sorted and put away. I don't qualify for a spot on Hoarders yet, but I'm not happy with the current arrangement.

I've hit an organizational wall and am looking forward to doing something about it tomorrow. My banjo teacher (who sadly is having her senior citizen dog put down today) said she'd take a bookcase off my hands that I got at a garage sale and is too big for the space. If I can wrangle someone to help me, I also have a love seat that I want to donate to the thrift store and get it the heck off my front porch. It's an enclosed front porch, so no one can see it (thankfully). I wanted to put it down the basement, but we couldn't get it through the door. I guess a hundred years ago when people built cellars that later turned into basements, they weren't thinking about accommodating upholstered furniture.

From where I sit, the fact that I've had a love seat on my porch for a year, intending to do something with it, is the epitome of living by myself. No one really cares if it's there except for me, and I must not be too concerned, or it'd be gone by now. Ditto with the vacuum cleaner that's been in the living room for 2 weeks, waiting for me to use it.

Anyway, I've been using the table we eat at to do all the bracelet stuff except gluing, which I do in the basement. There's usually something crafty on it all the time now, and that irks me a bit. I've got a corner desk on the other side of the room that has no lighting (easily remedied) and holds a plant and the wireless router. The plan is to move operations over to that side of the room and have it so I can leave out work in progress, but also have enough bins or drawers or something to put it the heck away if need be.

I'll take pictures of the after.

It's has been a warm and dry January here in Colorado. I need to get the van sold, still. I'm waiting on any home improvements until I do that, so need to get it in gear. Not surprisingly, I've softened a bit on the price, but need to get it advertised and outta here.

I vow this is the year (I've done this for the last 4 years or so) that I put in the deck off the living room. I may or may not do anything with the kitchen, but the other day when I was cooking and, as usual, had about a 1.5 square feet of counter space to work, I thought, there has got to be a better way. After living here this long now, and seeing Mama Pea's remodel, I think replacing the door between my kitchen and bathroom with a pocket door could get me some needed space.

Something about after Christmas that prompts me to plan.

The one that started it

This is the bracelet that I bought a couple of weeks ago that started my obsession interest in putting my own spin on making something similar. This morning, before I got out of bed, I checked my auctions on eBay (only two of them) and found I had been outbid. I upped my bid from the comfort and safety of my own bed.

As you can see, there's a bunch of elements, copper coils, ladies watch faces, a couple of gears. Next to the rectangular watch face is a little pop of purple, hard to see. It's a small half-domed clear piece of plastic or glass that I think really adds something to the piece. Just a little zap of color. My plan is to work with polymer clay to add another kind of element. Still in development, but I hope to spend some time on it this weekend. Along with hitting the flea markets looking for non-working watches, and learning how to coil wire so it lays flat. The glue I bought smells so strongly, I think I'll have to buy something else. Anyone readers know it that dissipates or if there's a less smelly product?

Once I get done, I'm going to give a couple away to friends to see what the design issues are. I know they aren't particularly durable. The flower-shaped medallion on this bracelet came off when I was putting on my lab coat at work the other day.  My design has fewer points to catch on coats. The other thing I liked about this is the scale. A lot of what I looked at on Etsy was larger in proportion, and I just wouldn't wear it. I like my bling on a smaller scale.

I ended up listing the van on cars.com. No nibbles yet, but the ad has only been up for a couple of days. I'm resigned to keeping it over the winter until interest picks up in the spring. We had that big snow storm on Tuesday night, and in the end got almost 10" of snow. One of the trees on my treelawn (the patch between the sidewalk and the street) split at the base and two 6" trunks came to rest on the van. I cut those away and the van seems fine. The trees around town took a big hit, though, as many still had their leaves on them. It's tough being a deciduous tree in CO. I'm hoping that the remaining half of the tree is OK, as it provides a nice privacy screen in front of my bedroom window.

Going to see live music tonight! Out with the friend that I dated briefly who likes the same kind of music. No expectations, and I like that. We're seeing Greensky Bluegrass. They've got a banjo player, so it's likely my kind of music.

Hike and the first volley

I went on the epic hike yesterday, and it was epic. It rained and snowed on us, glad we had our rain gear. The very very best part of hiking with my 10 year old kid was that he wanted to hold my hand sometimes when we were hiking. How cool is that? And that he wanted me to be there. There was another mom there, whose kid ducked and dodged away from her when he saw her arrive. That would break my heart, no matter how I tried to chalk it up to pre-adolescent goofery. The only downside was that my knee was killing me on the way down. Almost scarily so - some kind of tendon or ligament thing on the outside of my knee. Very painful to hike downhill these days. But today it's OK.

I've sent an email to Craigslist regarding my ad to sell Graycie being flagged. We'll see what they have to say. It is a good forum to sell the thing, and I'm hoping they can help. I did check the terms of use, and the words "price" and "pricing" are not in them. So again I say, PHTTHTHTHTPT!

Power

I've tried to post a Craigslist ad to sell Graycie the campervan three times, and each time the post has been flagged and removed. The first time I thought it was a mistake. The second time, I posted to a forum (populated by people who apparently spend their days offering their wisdom on why peoples' posts are flagged and removed - amazing), and they scoffed at the price I was asking.

I posted it a third time, with a line at the top that said, "This posting has been flagged and removed twice already. If you're flagging it, please send me an email and tell me why." Sure enough, I get an email from someone that says it's because I'm "charging" more for the van than it cost new. That's all.

I replied that it was of course my choice to set the price as I saw fit, and if no one wanted to pay that price, the van wouldn't sell. Sounds simple enough to me. I then asked if he had any experience with these vans, as I had done my research and set a fair price. I didn't hear anything back, but my posting got removed a third time, so apparently he/she was unconvinced.

This troll has made me very frustrated, but I'm done with Craigslist as an avenue to sell the van. I am flummoxed and bewildered that apparently one person can wield so much power that he/she determines whether I can list my van for sale. I mean, really, it's a free classifieds site, the price I set is my business, I really don't understand why this person cared so much.

But it's done. I'm going to advertise in the local papers, and put a sign in the van and park it out front (now that it's not in danger of being ticketed for expired plates). I was tossing and turning a bit last night over this - the strange sort of powerlessness that I felt, and how easy apparently it is to bring someone's ad down on Craigslist. I mean in theory it's a great system. Flag the smut, the postings that are in the wrong place, the stuff that's not supposed to be sold on the site, fine and dandy. But this was so arbitrary, and I still can't picture why this person would care, although I did think maybe he/she was also selling a van and wanted to oust the competition. Nah, couldn't be...

So that's my Craigslist story. To them I say PPPTHTHTHTPPPPPBBBTT!!!

In other news, today's the epic hike with Mr. W. Preemptive Advil has been administered. Sally the dog saw me get out my backpack, and it's really hard to tell her they have a "no dogs" policy on the hike, and that we'll hike on Saturday morning. Sorry, pooch.

Geofile19

I spent a chunk of time at work the last couple of days trying to figure out how to get some data formatted properly so a computer program would read it. It wanted what's called a distance matrix, which is a listing of the names of the mosquito populations I'm working with for this one study along the top, and in the same order along the side of a spreadsheet, and then the distance in between each pair of population is there where the two pops intersect. There's actually two copies of the info in the matrix, mirror images. Not sure why the programs aren't smart enough to do what they need to do with just one copy, but I'll do what they want.

Except this time, it wouldn't read the file correctly, and smushed the numbers over to the side and left some spaces blank, so I proceeded to tweak the file, rename it (geofile2, geofile3, etc.) and try again. I got up to geofile19, and that worked. It looked suspiciously like the first ones, but I had the names in the wrong format at first.

I don't really mind this kind of puzzle-solving. I did it a lot when I was in school, and the software for population genetics is mostly freeware and it all has its quirks. But I'm afraid there were some colorful words said in the lab (I was by myself) when it wouldn't work and I hadn't come up with the next tweak yet. But now, the program should be running over the next couple of days, and give us some good information.

In other news, I listed Graycie on Craigslist this morning, with a little bit of a heavy heart. The circumstances of my life just aren't quite right for me to have this as a second vehicle, although her practical-ness still is so appealing. The apartment on wheels.

And in other other news, Mr W is going off on a three day field trip with school today. He's been so excited, it's been fun. Also a good experience for him to run down a checklist of stuff he needs, and make sure he's got it all. They invited the parents to go with them on their "epic hike" tomorrow - an eight mile hike that includes something called "Heart Attack Hill". Man, if my Spinning hasn't let me hike at the same pace with a bunch of 5th graders, I'm going to be bummed. Actually, I'm not so worried about keeping up cardio-wise. I am a little concerned that my knee and back have hurt some when I've hiked earlier this season. Preemptive Advil and stretching are in order for sure. Should be fun.

A smaller slap on the wrist

Growing up, I remember my dad comparing things like speeding tickets to a "slap on the wrist". Society's way of enforcing rules that are (we hope) ultimately for the public good. I have not gotten a speeding ticket, but have worked through the process of getting my campervan to pass emissions so I can get its registration renewed. I finally got all that finished up yesterday, and will finish cleaning out the van and get it listed this weekend. Phew!

It's been a bit of work. New water pump - unrelated, but that took time to get resolved. Two trips on my part to the emissions place. Several hundred dollars of work to get it to pass. Then my registration expired, so I got a parking ticket - IN FRONT OF MY OWN HOUSE! - that I had to pay. Yesterday, I went down to the county vehicle registration place (ugh 45 minutes of waiting) and was wary about having to pay the penalty for letting the plates expire. It was only $25, so that wasn't bad. I'm all set now, and looking forward to getting it sold.

Funny how these things work, I'm just starting to see advertisements (I don't believe they will be for sale for a few months yet) for the new, smaller Prius C, which I've got my eye on for my next car. Not that I'm in a rush or anything, but it's nice to know it will be available when I'm ready to buy my next car.

I've got a bunch of stuff going on for the rest of the week and I like that. I miss doing my Monday Spin class, but it's good the kid is doing his cross country, and this is temporary. I've got beer and knitting at one of the local microbreweries tonight and am looking forward to that.

After what seemed like a pretty easy and painless process, my family has figured out a good time for us all to meet up in OH for a few days before Christmas. I am thankful we got our plans going early, because I was able to get Mr W and I nonstop flights both ways at reasonable times. I think last time it was October when we had dates finalized, and we had to leave for the airport really early in the morning. That was quite the snafu, but we had a good time once we got there.

We're going to be staying at my brother-in-law's house. Which is my deceased sister's house, which still freaks me out a bit. We've had a Thanksgiving there since she passed in 2008, but it was painful. Not just for me, I'm sure. Hopefully enough time has passed that we can have a good time and honor her memory as well. It's just weird to be in her house, surrounded by her stuff, and have her not there. But it's time to do this, so we will.

Weekend To-Doodles

I finally got the van back yesterday. I dislike having to rely on the shop to give me rides, so with the van, I've ridden my bike down to get the van so I could do it when it fit my schedule. Yesterday, though, it was raining, so I called for a ride. I waited for an hour, which made me annoyed, especially when I thought of how much I could have gotten done in that hour. I did end up, because I figured it would be "any time now", standing in front of my front window with my banjo, practicing while I waited. It's a different deal to stand and play, versus sitting as I normally do, so it was good practice.

Anyway, the van is back, I'll go online today and update the registration now that it has passed emissions testing and get it ready for sale. I was out with a friend last night who asked, "So, do you feel an emotional attachment to this vehicle?" And I jokingly said, "Not anymore!". But I do, a bit. For what it symbolizes. But it's time to find it a new home. I need to clean out all our camping stuff that lives in there, get it washed and wax it as well.

So this friend I was with last night is someone I had dated briefly a year or so ago. I had a good time. We knew enough about each other that we could ask about family and work and stuff. But it's not physical. He's just off of a relationship, and I'm not going there again (there meaning trying to be in a relationship with someone who is unavailable). But this works. Try as I might, I don't like going to places by myself, especially bars. We listened to live jazz and had a couple of drinks and it's nice to know someone I can call up to do that kind of thing.

Lots of housework awaits this weekend. It's funny, I never have time during the week for this stuff, and then the weekend hits and I want to have fun, play banjo, knit and spend time with Mr W (not necessarily in that order). But I've hit the wall in terms of the place being too cluttered and dusty for my comfort, so it must be done. I'd like to get a couple of yard things done as well.

But I told Mr W we could drive down to Denver, park the car somewhere and ride the light rail, and he's excited about that. Still a train lover, despite disavowing any knowledge of his passion for Thomas the Tank engine years ago. There's also (yet another) festival type thing called the Sustainable Living Fair that we'll try to go to, that has booths, activities and music.

It's shaping up to be a good one.

Ready

I am so ready to get the van sold and get on with things. It's been a month-long process of getting it repaired and able to pass emissions testing. I am supposed to have it back today, and I shudder a bit to ponder how much it's going to cost, but it is what it is.

I'm a little wary of selling it on Craigslist, but it's easy enough to show the van in a public parking lot instead of at my house, so I'll pick a public place. I hope I can get what the mechanic and I have agreed it's worth. I'm a few thousand dollars past getting back what I put into it, but that's OK. It's going to make someone who knows a thing or two about fixing things very happy.

I will miss having a second car that is capable of hauling things, but that's not worth the expense of this one. It sure has been fun to camp, but I don't feel like camping by myself at this point in time, and Mr W and I can do tents if necessary. His dad has a van as well, so he won't miss out.

In other news, I made peach jam on Sunday. I put ginger and cinnamon in it and it is fantastic!! Really good. The spices enhanced the peach flavor instead of tasting like themselves - it is so yummy. And a lot of work. I made two batches, and one would be fine. This way, I'll have a few Christmas gifts (if I can bear to part with them). I'm still waiting for enough tomatoes to really make a push with canning tomato sauce. I might just buy some at the farmers market this weekend and go that route. We could get  frost any time in the coming weeks, although it won't be cold for a while.

Wasn't I just saying...

While I was out with the van yesterday doing errands, I came out of a store and saw about a cup of antifreeze had leaked out in the 20 minutes I had been in the store. My first thought was, "Crap! Two cars down, how am I going to manage the logistics of this?" The second thought was, "I'm SO glad this didn't happen when I was off camping." Isn't that strangely weird in a good way? Things held together just fine while I was off by myself, and sort of waited until I got back to home base to go kerfluey.

But this leaves me with some scheduling to do. I can ride my bike to work tomorrow. I'll have the Honda towed to the repair shop today, and I hope they can fix whatever's wrong with it and be done by the end of the day. Mr W's first day of school is tomorrow, so I can walk over and get him when he's done, and I can ride my bike to Spin class. The repair shop is good about giving me rides, so it will all work out. The weather's supposed to be warm and dry, so I won't worry about getting rained on for the moment.

It's funny, the community center where the Spin class is held has been closed for the last week for maintenance, so I haven't had class for the last week. I miss it!! It's funny how things become routine, and I'm looking forward to getting back to it. Yeah, I can't believe those words just came out of me regarding exercise either.

So it remains, what do I do today? No car, but of course have the bike. I was at the store yesterday to buy canning supplies, and while I got some jars, I balked at buying the big pot for the water bath. The one they had was so big, I thought it would be hard for my sort of basic stove to keep boiling. Then I remembered that I had an Amazon gift card that I could put toward a pressure canner, so I did that. I got a 23 quart Presto. It should be here in a few days, which is fine, because the main things I wanted to can, tomatoes, have been so very late this year. I have had three grape tomatoes, and every thing else is still green. Crazy.

A funny thing happened...

A funny thing happened when I was camping with the dog. I realized that, while I am good company, while I don't mind my own good company in the least, I don't want to camp by myself at this stage of the game. It wasn't about safety, because I do tend to pick places that will have some people, and it wasn't about being lonely, really. I had a perfectly good time, hanging out, reading, knitting, playing my banjo. Yesterday, the dog and I hiked about six miles, a nice hike through some pretty country. I just don't feel like it.

With the shot in the arm that I've gotten by knowing I'm keeping my job, I'm doing more stuff at home and in town. I'm keeping busy, and didn't really feel the need to get away from anything by going camping. It was more like I felt I should go camping, and that's why I'm going to sell the van.

But not before I get my other car looked at! I went out to use my other car, my trusty 1995 Honda Civic, which I bought new and has been the most awesomest car EVER, and it wouldn't start. I really did laugh out loud. It's making this screechy sort of noise like the engine wants to turn over, but it just can't get there. So I'll get that issue taken care of before I start the process of getting the van sold. I'd like for the Civic to last a couple more years (it's not too much to ask, is it?) so I can buy a Prius C, which is a smaller hybrid slated to be released next spring.

Other than firming up my opinion that I don't need to camp by myself again anytime soon, I felt what I can best describe as a slight shift in my perspective. I feel like I'm settling into feeling a more appropriate level of gratitude for what I have. How does this translate? I'd like to have more fun, thanks. Continue to try to meet new people, continue the search for my half-orange, follow through on getting work done on the house, that kind of thing.

Go? Gone

I'm gone this morning on my camping trip with the van. I picked a nice spot that's about 4 hours away, and have heard it's bee-u-tiful. The dog and I will leave when I get packed up, no huge hurry, and we'll get back on Friday (just in time for the weekend!).

I'm going to sell the van. Thanks Mama Pea and Ruth for the comments. It's true, it's more work than pleasure, so it needs to go.

And Mama Pea? Pot. Kettle. Black. Just sayin'.

I had my third banjo lesson last night. I am having a lot of fun with it. I don't know why it took me so long (or why it has been so long) but practicing has really shown me how practice makes one incrementally better. It's been so cool to put some work in and see the results. Satisfying.

I'm also getting fed up with this old computer, and will likely spend Saturday backing things up in order to reformat the hard drive. The plan is to give this computer then to Mr W, and get a new one for myself. I'm tired of sharing.

Stay? Go?

I've been putting off camping in my campervan all darn summer, and I'm trying to figure out why. Maybe I don't want to go alone? Maybe the prep is daunting? Concerned about the thing breaking down? Whatever, it's the end of summer, I've made reservations to camp for a couple of days this week, and I'm waffling.

Do I need to go? Not in the the "gotta get away" kind of way, no. I'm really enjoying myself at the moment. I've got stuff to do, places to go, and don't feel the need to escape from anything. But I've got this van, and I'm paying for this van, and it's fun once I get there.

There's already two things that I'll miss/have to reschedule if I'm gone this week. My boss is fine with me going, so work is not the issue.

Well, at any rate, this is the situation that will determine whether I keep the thing. It has been nice to have something big enough to haul stuff, and of course the camping is fun. Lately, though, I've been considering that if I would sell the van, there would be enough money to update my kitchen. What would I use more? Does the van add more value than work to my life?

If I knew more about maintaining and fixing it (and I'm not really interested in learning) I'd be more comfortable, I suppose.

Stay tuned...

The Plan. No, another plan.

Well, after running the numbers three ways for getting to MN to visit my brother and SIL, I think I've settled on flying. Since we've got $125 vouchers from Christmas, I can apply those and it's more reasonable. The van is a true guzzler (in my book) with gas mileage at about 17 mpg. Take a couple miles off for using the A/C if it, theoretically, were to work and it's about $450 for gas (premium, thanks) to get there and back. 

Getting there the first way was to drive the van and camp outside of Omaha. Eighteen hours of driving over two days, and of course, the same return trip home. With the money I'd save on gas, it was just about the same cost  for the second way: rent a small car and stay in a hotel.

Here's the thing, though. I have come to the realization that four long days of driving over eight days does not a vacation make. I'm trying to squeeze a lot into eight days, and it's simply not worth it. The journey to get there and back would be mostly something to endure. Now, if I had a solid two weeks to do the trip, with the benefit of A/C, that would be a different story.

So we're going to fly. I'm going to call the kennel first thing tomorrow and see if they've got room for Sally. There's also someone from the dog park that might be able to take her for that time. I don't think Sal would really mind either way.

It ends up being about an extra $200 to fly when I considered the expenses of driving, not including my time or mental energy. So, while I was looking forward to some contemplative time on the road, it'll have to be to and from the airport. Is my time, and the convenience of stepping on a plane and just getting there worth something? Yup, about $200.

Logistics. Now I'll need to adjust Mr W's camp schedule so he's around two partial weeks instead of one week on and one off. I'll just work for the two days that I was going to be driving and get paid for that time. I'm thankful my work situation (dwindling as it is) is flexible in that regard.

Speaking of work, I got another fed application in yesterday. It was so involved, I must have spent 30 hours on it easy. It was partly my fault, as I read the "write a narrative about how your experience matches the specialized experience required for this position" as writing several paragraphs under each of the five kinds of specialized experiences. What they really wanted was to divide it by job, not the kind of specialized experience, so I had to edit and cut and paste. The nice thing was that when I submitted, it checked for errors (three kinds, even) and found none. So I've sent that one off into the ether, and will hope for the best while thinking that I did my best.

So today, there's no job search stuff to do, and the dating thing is sort of waiting for us both to get done with the stuff we've got going on these first couple of weeks of July. So, no dating stuff to fret over today either. Mr W and I will see fireworks tonight at City Park, and try to arrange for him to play with a buddy for a while. I'll tidy up the house, check on my garden and it's therefore shaping up to be a good day.

Strike One

I had a thought, sort of in passing, the other day that went something like this: "I should turn on the A/C in the van to make sure it's working because we'll need it for the trip". Time passes. Life happens, and so yesterday, I'm finally turning on the A/C as Sally and I head to the dog park in the heat of the afternoon.

No A/C. Just a lot of hot air. Pick your own metaphor there.

I howled at this. I paid a guy, who several folks recommended as THE guy to fix a vanagon's A/C, $700 last year to fix the A/C shortly after I bought the van. And the thing is, I didn't use it much. We used it on our trip and it worked pretty well. Then, I can't recall using it after then, as I'm one of those people who don't turn on the A/C for short trips around town (much to my kid's dismay).

In hindsight, I ask myself, why did I wait so long to check and make sure it worked? Because it was fixed and it was supposed to work. Simple as that.

So, now what? We were supposed to leave Tuesday to drive to MN to see my brother and SIL. I'm not driving the van all that way without A/C. I hate the feeling of being beat up by the wind. That ain't no vacation. I'm going to leave a message on the guy's voice mail today, very nicely asking if he could look at it first thing Tuesday. I'm not sure if I should try to pack in the meantime.

I checked flights and at this late date, they are $400 apiece. Plus I'd have to board the dog. J and M have lots of travel planned this summer, so if I could leave a day later, I guess, and that would still work. We might be able to swing something at the beginning of August. Or I could pack up my 16 year old Civic (which has working A/C and cruise control, btw), and give it a shot. Or I could rent a nice little car that is sure to make it. Both of those options would require a night in a hotel somewhere around Omaha.

I'm afraid this is Strike One against Graycie the Campervan. I love her, but I am no tinkerer. I need my transportation to have a level of reliability that I'm comfortable with, and this demonstrates how things go with such an old vehicle. It's the prime season to sell it, if it goes that way, but I'm not there yet. I do feel a twinge because I'm still paying for it, and haven't camped in it this year yet.

Connected

I admit I've been experiencing the same up and down thing lately that I've been prone to since this job search thing began. I'm fine one moment, and then I think something like, "what if I lose my house?" "what if I have to commute to Denver?" and, the ever-popular, "what if I can't find a job that pays enough?". *sigh* I get tired of it. Weary. And it passes, and then I feel like things are going to be OK. More than OK, that things are going to work out to my satisfaction all around. They just will. That I will at some point look back on this phase of my life, where it felt sometimes like I was double-whammied with having to look for both a job and a mate, and think, "that was tough, but things are better now".

I'm trying to be more mindful, as in the Jon Kabat-Zinn kind of mindful, as I think this is going to really help me move right on past the doubt and the worry over things that simply aren't in my control. As I've got about 32 hours of driving ahead of me over the next week (wow!) I've downloaded one of his books from Audible, and am going to really make an effort to DO it, not just read about it and think it's a good idea.

One of the things that never fails to de-funkitize me is experiencing the connections I have during my daily activities. Work's been pretty solitary lately, with me doing my experiments, crunching data and writing manuscripts.So I have enjoyed the friendship of the people in my Spin class, who seem just as delighted as I am that we've sort of come together as a random bunch and have so much to chat about.

Then there's the dog park folks, who I see almost every day. We talk about our dogs and our lives, and it's great to celebrate and commiserate there. I'm also tickled that I have wonderful neighbors. It's something that is hard to predict, but I have lucked out in that department. It eases my mind that I'll have people to foist extra vegetables on later this summer, too :-)

And this morning, I stopped by the farmers market to pick up my CSA egg share. It was so nice to chat with Claire, whose family runs the farm. How cool is it that we've been able to develop a friendship that started out over me wanting to buy eggs from a farm? Cool indeed.

So it's these kinds of connections I remind myself that life is all about. Trying not to forget it, either.

In other news, tomorrow and the 4th will be spent getting ready for our road trip. This will be the year to determine whether it's worth it to me to keep the van. I haven't camped this year in it at all, instead feeling like I needed to put time and effort into the house. I'll tally up the cost in time and money and see if it's just cheaper to fly!! That makes laugh, because it's probably close. But it will be a good experience for Mr W and I to see that part of the country. I really enjoyed seeing the prairies through Iowa last year, even though they were the ones along the highway.

In yet other news, I've traded a few more emails with BW, who is out of town and we won't both be available until after Mr W and I get back. I've been ruminating on our conversations, and am looking forward to getting to know him better.