Thinking outside the box

Our family has always camped.  Every summer we’d load up our tents and camping gear in the station wagon, Land Cruiser, Van, or whatever jalopy we happened to be driving at the time and head to one of the State or Corps of Engineer camp grounds - usually Alley Springs in Eminence, MO. Once the kids got older and had families of their own, the camping bug kind of left us.  Other than a couple of family trips to Alley Springs, we were camped out.

Then in 2013 our son and his family invited us to go camping with them.  Sure!  But we needed to have something to camp in.  Tents were not going to cut it.  Our good friends, Patti and Bernie, had us looking in the direction of a cute little trailer like theirs.  The Casita.  We fell in love with the simplicity and just plain cuteness and had to have one.  We quickly discovered Casitas have an almost cult following and once they are on the market, they don’t last long.  It took awhile, but we finally found our Casita and enjoyed trips to many State Parks, NC, Indiana and other places I am sure I've forgotten to mention.

Fast forward to 2019.  I started planning a road trip to Alaska and Jim started trying to figure out how to make the Casita work better for us.  Things that we didn’t use, such as the shower, kitchen, and furnace, were taking up valuable space.  That is when we started looking at Cargo Trailer Conversions.  We (sadly) sold our Casita and got serious about getting a cargo trailer just right for us.  We put a lot of thought into how we wanted it set up and ordered one on March 5th.  Though we were promised an 8 week delivery date, 15 weeks later, June 14th, we picked it up and began putting our finishing touches on it.

The back of the cargo trailer with the ramp secured

The ramp lowered, exposing the trailer wall, screened back door.  The ramp itself will have indoor/outdoor carpet on it and will be used as a back patio.

The inside is a work in progress.  Photos to come soon.   We originally planned on leaving for Alaska in mid June, but the delays now have us currently heading out on Sunday, July 14th, if the good Lord is willing and the creek don't rise.

Supermarket flowers

I received this text from my youngest with a link to this beautiful song.  Way to make a “mum” cry.  As I get older it feels like time has hopped onto a locomotive barreling down the track full throttle.

From Julie:  This song makes me think of grandma Haslag and Hood. It makes me think of you to but your not gone from this world thank the good lord lol”

Ed Sheeran Supermarket Flowers

I’m just a coyote....

This story may be a repeat, but we just watched a news story about a spunky 105 year old, and it reminded me of my 85 year old friend,  Dorothy.  This story is one that needs to be told over and over again.    

On most Tuesdays Dorothy and I quilt side by side, along with four other ladies.  There is no telling where the conversation will go during the two hours we are together.  Quilters lips are sealed about what is discussed while quilting... except the coyote story.

Years ago hubby Jim and I hosted an annual Christmas party with two other couples.  Folks were encouraged to dress up and enjoy the fancy hors d’oeuvres, drinks, and conversation.  I took a picture of Jim and Dorothy at one of these parties.  Both were dressed to the nines and smiling big.  It was a frame worthy photo, so I gave Dorothy a copy.  We got to talking about how much fun those parties had been and Dorothy grinned and said she loved “that picture” and had it on her bookshelf.  I couldn’t resist teasing her that she was “hitting on my man”.  She batted her eyes and said, “you know, I’m just a coyote”.  Errrr I think you might mean cougar?

I have changed the name of my blog from My Loves, My Lives to Golden Wanderings.  Sheepishly, I admit this was done by accident.  But, as is often the case in the world of technology, once that OK button is hit, there is no going back.  At first I was bummed, but then kind of pleased with the change.

When I first started blogging many years ago, my focus was on the day to day family happenings.  We seem to have entered a somewhat different phase of life now.  Where we used to see our kids and grandkids weekly, and sometimes more often,  we now see them on the major holidays, the occasional birthday, and big events like Graduations, and soon to come, the first wedding of the new generation.  The distance of thirty to sixty miles seems more like 1,000 when it comes to the busy lives of our family.

We find ourselves more at loose ends.  I seem to wander from project to project, as does Jim.  We also find ourselves more involved in Church (because we now have the time) and taking long drives, just because we can.

We sold our loved Casita (Tubby) several months ago.  I still have a bit of regret over that decision, but within the next week or two we will take possession of our cargo trailer that was built to our specifications.  Our expectations are that it will function better with our camping style.  More on that as we figure things out.

Valentine’s Day

Me:  If it’s at least 65 degrees, let’s take a glass of wine onto the porch
Jim: It’s 64
Me:  Close enough
Happy Valentine’s Day. 

It is a biscuit and sausage gravy kind of morning as ice covers my little corner of the world.

Thankfully I remembered to fill the bird feeders before the storm blew through.  Our feathered friends deserve to eat too.  I just wish Mr. Woody Wood Pecker wasn’t being quite so greedy, while Little Red waits patiently in the wings.  Animal life once again mirroring real life.

Have a wonderful Sunday everyone and please stay safe if you have to get out.

What I like about retirement:  Everything!
I re-retired last June.  I’ve had friends who have said they don’t like retirement.  They actually use the word bored.  No way!
Because I am retired, we were able to pick up and head for Arizona to my sister’s wedding last July, with no thought of when we had to return.  Days were spent in Arizona, Sedona, at the Grand Canyon, and we even made an out-of-the-way stop in Waco, TX.  Yes, I am a big fan of Fixer Upper. I sometimes think I am a fan as much for the fact that Chip reminds me so much of my son as I am to see the transformations.  I like a lot of what they do in their remodels, but cringe every time they paint beautiful brick.  Taking low-maintenance brick and turning it into a high maintenance painted surface just makes no sense to me. But I digress.
Some of the other things I like about retirement is having time to do some remodels around the house, go to grandkid events when they come up, go to lunch with Miss College Grand Emily when she has a break in classes, volunteer at Church, schedule things like Jim’s knee replacements without worrying about working around a work schedule, and get after my many hobbies.  Quilting has been the hobby that has been consuming most of my waking hours lately.
Currently I am working on a Jack’s Chain Quilt to donate to our church.  A fellow quilter sewed the 9 patch blocks together and I am assembling them.  It took me awhile to get onto the technique of working with hexagons, but I persevered!  It is coming together quite nicely.

The patchy quilt below is giving me a run for my money in the way of time consumption.  Each patch is 1 1/2 inch square.  Each finished block is 10 inch square.  After spending more hours than I care to count on this quilt, I figure I am exactly halfway there.  The destination of this quilt is unknown.  I might just have to keep it for us.

Did I mention we added a new member to our family?  Sadie Jo is the sweetest little girl ever and has added a lot of fun to our lives.

We used to raise sheep, so I thought it only right to make a throw of sheep for Jim.  Each sheep is made of wool material and it turns out this little blanket is mighty warm on these cold winter nights.

This quilt is called an Orange Peel Quilt.  I quilted it in a space saver quilting frame that my dad made for me many years ago.  This quilt is twin size.  There is another one very similar in a Queen size ready to go into the frame.