Steps....

Here's what going on in my world these days:

The deck is coming right along, I now have steps to go up and down a few more cedar rails and it's done! Now if it will cool off to where I can enjoy sitting there, that would be nice... it will stay bloody hot right up until it turns cold! That little tiny window of good weather is not always a given!

Change is about to come to my neck of the woods as I am preparing to hit the road for a couple months.  I have been low on data since I've been doing a lot of research, points of interest,  possible camp spots, etc... I should take my laptop to the library to do that and use free wifi..but darn I'd rather sit in the comfort of my home and listen to my playlist, I get carried away people watching;  suddenly I'm Walter Mitty when I'm out and about and get nothing done!...I create my post while Im off line then do a quick copy and paste into blogger editor. Zip in and zip out....Verizon is now at the top of my "serious" WTHeck list! Their newest tactic to try and draw me over my 5 G's is to turn off my DATA usage calculator on my device so I can not tell how much I've used... I have to go online to see it, which """uses MORE DATA""" Yes I am paranoid.

So my sis left CO today  heading East she is going to wilt in this heat...I told her it was 83 here...she said, "oh that's not so bad," I said, "that's INSIDE THE HOUSE with the AC running!!" She said, "OH!" BUT in my defense she chose this time frame not me. She will stay here with Mom and take care of my girls who sadly won't get to come along, I need a bigger camper so all 3 of my dogs can have room to bunk down at night IF it wasn't summer it would be different...3 big black fuzzies on a hot summer night in one bed>>>NOPE!

... with the current heat my fuzzy black dogs would be at risk of heat stroke...they are great roadies, but when camping there just is not enough room for all of us in my van since I need to carry more stuff.  Casey is planning to come with me, he is so small it's easy to forget he is with me.  In the heat he won't be left in the van either!  NOW if I planned to sit in one spot for several days they could hang out in the screen room I have but when I'm traveling I don't normally spend more than one night in the same spot, I don't bring the screen room....my objective is to keep making forward progress...and I have a deadline as to when I need to be back in SC. I plan to cover about 4,800 miles give or take in about 60 days OF course this is the first draft!

 I bought a second battery powered fan which I will def need.   I do plan to head for the HILLS to get to higher elevations ASAP, Blue Ridge, Shenandoah, then north, north, north, then west.  I'm not leaving the minute my sister parks in the yard, It will be a few days after so it will be official soon...

don't know my blast off day exactly.   I have my route outlined but the actual route may vary according to the weather, traffic, and my whims! I'm famous for getting completely off course and that's the great part about it as long as I'm enjoying myself it doesn't matter where I am. I have not been retired long enough to be happy just sitting around reading books in the shade or window shopping,  It could take years, who knows, to  get my mind that calm!! Maybe one day I could enjoy that... just not right now... I want to see AS Much as I can. 

I will miss my office!!  This is my current work space, my go to spot! I am now an official grounds keeper just trying to keep the wilds from taking back our woodsy homes! I know each of these tools intimately!  Okay... the old saw has been replaced with a chain saw so some rust is developing!

I hope to see some new birds I'm horrible at planning for good birding spots tho..Its hit or miss, the migration has already begun baby birds are fully fledged and soon ready to take to the skies... I head north just as the birds head south? No telling what I will see or what I will miss seeing!  What I do is just plan to bird where ever I happen to be...the intrepid....accidental birder!

When I return some family time is planned as we all celebrate our birthdays! My Mom will be 92 that calls for some BIG celebrating.  I will have yet another one, and another one of us is hitting the big 6-0! 

Life is just way too short y'all!!  Mom plans to ride back West with sis as long as she is healthy and then I will drive out in the spring...and stay several months..so lots of "plans in clay" which I hope firm up to concrete.  One step at a time!

SO the girl at Verizon said, "its a known issue with that device, be patient, and no it won't work in Canada." 

 Move my paranoia up another notch to critical! 

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.

The Simple Life---- explained!

HAULED AWAY 2 TRAILER LOADS OF STORM DEBRIS

...and have not started on the field area yet...The afternoon storms have not been violent ones since the ones on Thursday and Friday nights...but the heat builds and by late afternoon its either rain or explode!  The rain is good no watering to do so that means more time just relaxing in the afternoon A/C inside listening to John Denver's Back Home Again album on my old record player.  Before him its been about 2 weeks of Seals and Croft. Love those guys no one can harmonize like they can...Year of Sunday c-1971 and I'll Play For You c-1975 so happy I held onto my vinyl!  Yes I was a young hippie now I'm reliving my teen aged years, in music least ways!

                     WHEN ITS ONE HUNDRED DEGREES PLUS OUTSIDE...

RAIN!

So happy I hooked up the ice maker! I went back n forth about it; was a pain to hook up had to crawl into the dark crawl space and fight a couple of my phobias to get it connected the dark, spiders, claustrophobia, just to mention a few....to a copper pipe, now I stand around constantly with a cup of ice in my hand! How did I ever live without it? The sparkling rock hard magic of water gone beyond 32 degrees...ohhhh so nice! I make Iced Coffee, I sip Cream Soda, I fill er up with Root Beer, follow that with Lemonade, Iced Tea or Gingerale, or just plain old ICE cold WATER!!  My cup is from the one dollar store..its insulated and has a cap I can have on or off and the insulated cup preserves my sparkling clear ice for hours, all I have to do is refill, refill, refill!! 

lemonade-- and in the back a collection of what we call Indian Paint Rocks. These are Hematite, SC Geodes! Break 
them open with a hammer, and out pours ferrous oxide! We were told local Natives mixed this powder with bear fat to make paint for their faces! We don't find as many as we used to find since all the fields are now planted with pines! People make the mistake of thinking they are supposed to "paint" with the sandstone rock it'self...nope you break it open and paint with the powder mixed with saturated fats!

              
OF COURSE THERE IS WORK THAT HAS TO BE DONE

Got out very early this morning by 8:30 I was hammering away on the deck again.  I got the stringers for my steps...I went with a 5 step configuration which is gonna be a bit steep but it was prefab made and in stock at Lowes.  I don't have the lumber for the treads that is next and I have to get more cedar for my rails. Got one side up on that, and it doubles for a guard rail and clothes line! MY sweat soaked clothes can now hang there to dry before tossing in the laundry basket. I have been thinking of a clothes line,,,,I have line, now I need to select the perfectly spaced trees to hold up my line.... it goes on the wish list along with....

AN OUTDOOR SHOWER

Do you enjoy skinny dipping?  I sure do, and one thing I want is an outdoor shower!  I work like a slave back on the plantation! I finish up with "granny beads" on me, dirty all over- my hair a matted mess, I'm a pig sty when I finish working!!  I live in a very secluded spot, it has more privacy than you can imagine...so an outdoor shower to wash the dirt of the day off without dragging it into the house will be a welcome thing for me! It is going to be a very simple affair and I don't know when it will come to the top of the list but its on there.  I'm thinking a floor of pebbles, probably a hand held shower head possibly with a massage selection for my poor aching muscles....and with an off/on valve so you can turn it on and off,  wet yourself down, turn the water off, lather up then turn it back on to rinse! Saves water and it could work with a coiled up garden hose on the stall roof to create hot water!  I have it visualized perfectly in my 3rd eye. 

I hung my 4 bamboo canes from one of the dogwoods, my son asked what is that bamboo for....I had to think and realized he didn't see what I have envisioned. SO my reply was "it's the beginning of Zen".

THE MARTINS  

My old neighbors who moved about one mile away bought them a spread of about 20 acres because they didn't want to see any neighbors...it was NOT me they were seeing but some others to the east of them... They had a huge colony of Purple Martins, they took their martin houses with them on the move and I wondered what happened to the colony.  My martin houses were out of commission for a few years and now I've moved them back to the center of the field...but squirrels have damaged the doors to almost destroyed! I was able to order more doors so I'm installing in hopes that the lost colony will come here instead.  Unfortunately these are plastic...wished it was metal and even tho I scoffed the idea of purchasing a Martin decoy (also made of plastic) in the end I did buy only one.  I like the new neighbors much more than the old ones, they lean left like me! I'm surrounded by a sea of conservatives.  They have one horse and one burro, one dog, 2 roosters, and some hens, and they don't mind if they can see a neighbor or two. 

martin houses 

PORCH CUSHIONS

I did find time to sew up the cushion covers for the porch...It is some of my fabric this one is from the line I called Chi Chi, and this pattern is called Rising Sun Teal- I just made them as simple as possible no frills.  Now the porch is ready for relaxing time.  I take my coffee out there nearly every morning...enjoy the quiet and watch the birds get breakfast. 

porch cushions

I enjoy the simple life!
What simple pleasures do you enjoy?

PEACE

Eleanor Roosevelt: You must do the thing you think you can not.