Pioneer Woman at Heart

My first day of the camper purge was pretty successful.  Rain was in the forecast, but very little. The table in the camper folds down, and is a bed for 2.  Under one side of the table bench is a storage area. It's the biggest storage other than the outside front storage bin.   I tackled that area first. I kept extra pillows in there, because we often forgot to pack pillows for camping trips.  Lots of stuff went into a box for goodwill.  Some sheets were washed a saved for those spring frost blasts we get late in May (when we have to cover plants).  I also saved sheets for rag rugs, gave some enamel plates to one of my brothers. Games and doodle books went to Daughter E for her new apartment, along with a pizza pan (have no idea why that was in the camper), some cups/mugs, drawer storage tray, antique counter top mug holder, and other items. Some items went in the trash, like a pot holder that was beyond it's lifetime.  I had 10 pot holders in tha...

We've been "off line" for a while so these are posts will catch up all up to date.  Hubby took us camping!  Oh the fun! This is the fire ring that we cooked on.  We bring along a tri-pod as well.

Hubby was so excited to try out the new canoe, he hooked up the camper a night earlier than we had planned, and away we went. 

The weather was absolutely heavenly on Friday.  Too bad for me I had to spend most of the mid-morning getting my teeth beautified.  Sadly, I had to sit in the chair for almost 40 minutes, after the cleaning, to see the dentist.  After they adjusted the bite on two crowns from last year, and a free oral cancer screening, they finally released me.  I had high plans for a day of outdoor work, but that flew by quickly. By the way, I kept getting told how great I brush my teeth.  At one point the hygienist asked if I could come in and show folks how to brush.  I give the credit to herbal teas, which help keep the mouth, and gums healthy (teas that have natural anti-bacterial properties, like thyme tea). As soon as I arrived home, I had goats to tend, then dogs and then laundry.  Hubby finished the mowing (parts that our buck does not chew down).

We earned two free nights at the campground.  Not knowing how the weather will be in October, we decided to go.  We still came home during the daytime (some of it anyway) to get work completed. We enjoyed the campfire again, on quiet cool evenings.

A few asked how I make my laundry detergent.  I simply grate a bar of unscented homemade goat's milk soap (you can use a bar of Zote as well), add 8 cups of water, and heat until melted.  I then add 1 1/2 cups borax and 1 1/2 cups washing soda, and continue to heat and stir until dissolved. . .

The reason my laundry was up before the sunrise last Friday?  A college campus tour.   After traveling 260 miles round trip and paying $12.50 in road toll fees, we are pretty sure our next child will be attending college there. The Hubs drove.  Need I say more?  If my brother and sister-in-law were driving behind us, they would have been gasping.   On our way home, we passed an A & W drive-in.  Remember those?  We had one in our home town growing up.  We passed it, Hubby pulled off the road, then pulled a "Dukes of Hazard" straight across all lanes of traffic, and up (yes, up) the the entrance to the drive-in.  Needless to say, any projectiles in the car went flying.  People were staring at us.  I was shrinking in my seat and trying to recover, and make sure we were still all okay.  So after that, I really needed a weekend off. We went camping.  

Finally!  We got to take our first camping trip this year.  Although short, we made the most of the time - games, hiking, biking, campfire meals and just hanging out.

My older brother shared several books with me, and these two came in recently.  As you can see, I have already started marking recipes to play around with.

I'm excited to say, that we got another fall camping trip in this year.  Hubby and I decided to camp the first night by ourselves.  Woot!  Oh, we needed the time alone.  It was a relaxing, romantic, camping date night.  And surprisingly, I did not take my camera this time. The second night we picked up a few stragglers - 2 kiddos.  Although it had rained a bit, we relaxed in the camper, reading, knitting, drawing, one kiddo doing school homework, and chatting.  After the rain stopped we started up the fire, and had more fun with s'mores and such.

We now call ourselves "popupologists."  (Snort) The definition is a devotee of camping with a pop-up camper.  Pour yourself a cup of your favorite beverage, and join us while we show you are camping adventure. We took another camping trip.  This is the back of our campsite, where there is a secluded area for more tents or simply "chilling out."

The kids went back to school this week, except for my college daughter.  Unfortunately, she had to withdraw from this semester, even after buying all her books and preparing.  The balance leftover after all her loans and financial aid, could not be paid by her nor us.  The monthly payment for the balance was way too high for her (or us) to pay as well.   Mornings are rather quiet, but exceedingly demanding.  I have been catching up on watering flower beds, dead-heading flowers, weeding, checking the tomatoes, and so forth.  Not to mention putting up the last of the 20 pounds of blueberries.  All of the onions are pulled, except for the red onions. Half were rotten, and what was left, were very small.

Upon leaving the campground last Monday morning, Hubby tells me the front store sells pop-up camper ornaments. Can you hear tires squealing to a halt?  Yup.  I made him turn the truck and camper around, and we bought the last one.  What was he thinking anyway.  Sheesh.  He should have bought it when he saw it. Now, guess who is wanting us to camp at Christmas, so we can put a Christmas tree in the camper? Hubby. Sigh.... Do you think he's gotten bit by the "camping" bug?

We took our first camping trip last weekend.  This was a  good ol' fashioned, cook over the fire, no electronics, hike, bike, swim, and fish, camping trip.  Before we left, as we were packing up, the dogs got into the truck.  They wanted to go for a ride.  We felt so bad, but they would not have had a good time.  The entire 200-some campsites were booked, and there were so many people.

I never thought I would use the camper as my opportunity to find useful homes for things I had stored away in my house. I bought these red dishes about 16-17 years ago, and have moved them twice, and just dug them out.  They will be perfect for the camper.  I'm not filling the landfill with stryofoam and plastic, and I'm not packing glass (which Hubby doesn't want packed in there, and I agree).  Also in my dusty pie safe, was my grandmother's can opener.  I washed it up and it's going on the camper too (you never know).  Grandma would be proud to know it's still being used.  Another item in my pie safe, was this vintage cup rack. At our last (city) home, I had a "coffee house" theme in my kitchen.  I had all sorts of coffee house signs, espresso cups and stand, and all the decor you could imagine.  After moving to the farm house (with very little wall space in the kitchen, and counter space), I put this in storage....

We continue to get rain, but one day we were given a rainbow too. Most of my carrots are underwater, but I managed to pull a few.  They are wide, but short this year.  I'm thankful we will get at least a meal or two from them. We have started the repairs on the barn (that lost it's roofing in one of the storms).  The cement blocks in the base of the wall, on the backside, had been knocked completely loose in one corner.  They removed most of them, and cemented them and tuck pointed them.  Now they are drying, and the roofing starts next.  We've already had rainfall twice (and heavy) since I posted last, so I am praying for no more rain. Before we got blasted with another rainfall, the one prior to the rainbow, I was able to weed most of my flower beds.  The weather was strangely cool, and I spent from about 10am to 4:30pm pulling weeds.  I am still not done (that's how much rain we've had). Ironically, the camper has a propane leak...

We haven't named "her" yet, but she's ours.  We'll be family camping, and just having a good ol' time.  She has a slide out for the table, a toilet, air conditioner, refrigerator, stove that can be moved to outside or inside, and an outside shower.  She sleeps 7-8 (6 adults comfortably).