Paintbrush In Hand

Although I still feel less than myself since being so horribly sick, there is still work to do before I get caught up in reservations and gardening (along with all the fun stuff associated with owning a campground--cleaning toilets being my least favorite). I am painting the finished wall today and anticipating moving the furniture to it's new locations. When we purchased the campground I had thought I would have a nice little cottage style home to live in--not attached to the store--so I didn't pay all that much attention to the living quarters. I soon discovered that living away from the store would definitely be harder as we are open 12 hours a day, 7 days a week. So this has become our home. It is crowded and not exactly company friendly so I spend my insomniac hours planning and my waking hours implementing those plans. I have learned so much in the past five years. I have mastered many new skills. I have always liked to paint (walls, not pictures) and I don't think a whole month has gone by without some paint job by me. It is not unusual for me to respond to the store buzzer with brush in hand. Paint is so amazing. It transforms so much. Unfinished to finished, unclean to clean. I just love to paint! Given the current economy and my love for HGTV all my new plans involve remodeling using only what is on hand. This has been so hard for love of my life! He would rather make as many trips as possible to various stores per project. I find it as challenging mentally as physically. I am quite happy with the results, too. This winter we added a wood burning stove with two eyes to the area behind the kitchen. I added to my cast iron cookware from second hand stores and we have enjoyed quite a few meals cooked solely with a wood fire. I can also keep my tea kettle going all day this way. We built the kitchen we have now in what was previously the laundry room. The kitchen area that was here had less than 4 feet of counter space and hardly any cupboards. There was a lot of wasted space in a storage area behind the store area and then there was this huge laundry room (11X11). We had to buy some new cabinets and used the existing ones as well. Currently we have four different styles of cabinet doors. Hey, it's eclectic and the paint pulls it all together. I bought a beautiful old library table at a second hand store and refinished it. I can now seat 10, but the table is too big for the space it is in. This is what prompted my newest project. We had built an area to house our freezer (a necessity for my garden) and a second refrigerator. I had insisted on a pocket door for this and Drew was none too happy that my new plans took down that wall and the door (don't worry, I am working on new plans for said door---don't tell Drew!). In place of those appliances will be banquet seating with storage in the benches. This meant that I would no longer need the peninsula that we built atop the half of a wall we left up. That is down now and I just painted that wall and I am patiently waiting for the paint to dry so I can move my table to it's new location. We reused most of what we removed and still have some sheet rock left for another (as yet unknown) project. Unfortunately I didn't think to take any pictures before I started--but use your imagination. Taking a cue from RV's I have tried to use every nook and cranny for storage. My pantry is only 8 inches deep and 30 inches wide, but it goes floor to ceiling. Love of my life finally finished my new base cabinet and counter top area near the wood stove--only 12 inches deep, but it holds all my cookware. Above this I hung an old display fixture from our previous venture-it used to hold pager housings. It is heavy duty and I use it to store and display my cast iron. Above that I installed a shelf to hold all my cookbooks. Of course being a short person I keep a stepstool handy. Now that my tour is over my paint should be dry....time to mop!

Spring Cleaning

What a beautiful day! 70 degrees. Sending me out to work my flower beds. The wind however is not cooperating. In I came to look over all the flower seeds I collected last fall. Labor day weekend we had a church group that reserved the entire tent area along with some full hook-up sites. They gave some really nice mums to me and I salvaged the seed. They were wonderful people to work with and asked if they could set up a tent pavilion for their meetings. They set up in the back near Drew's beloved barn in order to have power for their speakers. They also had some impromptu jam sessions of bluegrass music that the other campers enjoyed. I have a limited view of the park from my perch at the registration desk--mainly the front drive and parking area. So, mostly, I watch folks come and go. I wasn't busy when I saw a truck pull up to the propane dispensing tank. They were here to pick up some tanks that had been left for Drew to fill (remember I don't do this). Drew was, as usual, running late so I went out to tell them this. These guys are local and know Drew; and , don't know how to phrase this other than to say that they are "good ole boys" or rednecks. As I approached the truck I saw that they were laughing. I said, "Sorry, guys, he is running late, but should be here any minute." One guy looked at me and said, "Oh, I thought you had gone and kilt (killed in redneck talk) him, cause I see ya'll are setting up the funeral tent." I turned in the direction he had been looking to see what he might be referring to. Sure enough, the tent pavilion my church folks had set up did indeed look like it was ready for a funeral service, flowers and all. Ah, memories.

Home Improvement.....I Hope

Project "make a new space using only what is on hand" is still underway. I am in charge of sorting and cleaning the debris of the teardown. Wore a mask for the worst part and still had an asthma attack. I hate to use my inhaler, makes my heart beat funny and I feel light-headed. Which is why I am "playing on the computer" instead of helping right now. I have all the salvaged materials ready anyway. I would have been able to salvage more if love of my life didn't use the pneumatic nail gun like it was a machine gun. I watch HGTV and DIY and not once have I seen the nail gun used like Drew does it. I wish he had to go to work and I would just finish this myself. It is finally somewhat warm today, almost 50 degrees; making me wonder why he is sawing the boards INSIDE the house. When it was bitterly cold he would go to his sanctuary (the barn) and cut everything out there. The dogs are clinging to me because of the noise and the sawdust isn't helping me breathe.............

Internal Revenue Service

Just when I thought my day could not be any worse...... Dosed the dogs, prepared lunch and got Drew off to work. That's when I noticed there was no firewood for the stove tonight (thanks, Honey). I bundle up and go out and gather wood in between phone calls. It has actually been a good day for reservations. In between attending to my four-legged children (did I forget to mention that crazy cat ate some pizza and fritos and yakked all that up) I decide to try to get some sewing done. Sewing is like therapy, it calms me. Nothing makes me happier than creating something from a mere scrap of cloth. Off I go to my sanctuary...only to discover the halogen lamp has a blown bulb. I don't have a replacement and can't leave because I am expecting a traveler. I try using the overhead light, but there are too many shadows cast on my work table. Okay, it wasn't meant to be. I will read. Can't concentrate, so I turn the TV on and continue to field calls from telemarketers. Mondays are the worst. Phone rings again and prepared to politely announce that I am not interested, I answer. It is the IRS. We were audited for 2006. They have decided to audit 2007 now. I hope the dogs finish pooping by dark, cause I was to go to bed and hide from the world...........

And It Only Gets Better-read previous post first!

Okay, I hit the "publish" button too soon. So, to continue the story of my fabulous morning, after I toweled off my four-legged friends I had the tub to deal with. I scoured scrubbed and disinfected with bleach, only to have the drain back up. Drain-o, wait then scrub some more, so that I can shower. My morning shower is the highlight of my day. It refreshes my mind as well as my body. It is steamy and warm and all mine.( After bearing children for eight years and having no privacy for long after that, I still cherish that little time of relative aloneness in my morning.) I grab what I think is conditioner after rinsing shampoo out of my hair and pour it into my hair. To my surprise it lathers up. Squinting, I examine the bottle (don't wear my bifocals in the shower) more closely. Dog shampoo. I don't have fleas, and now I have a fresh citrus scent. As I get out of the shower I trip on Oscar--he is waiting for me. He had one of Wall-E's white hairs in his eye. I pluck it out and he decides to lick my leg dry as a reward. All I can think about is the worms and wonder if they can be transferred to me by his tongue on my leg.......... maybe a tape worm to eat up all my fat? Just kidding, just kidding.......although....... I am off to the store to purchase the worming medication.

STD For Dogs?

If this is a taste of the week to come, I need sedation. We are keeping Wall-E, my grandson's puppy for awhile. He is a funny looking mixed breed. Looks like chihuahua and terrier. He is white with black spots on his skin that show through the fur. He is very skittish and hasn't ventured out the front door until today. He and his partner in crime, Oscar (the cantankerous dachshund ) took off running through the front lawns. They were gleeful to be out and would stop, jump on each other and play fight before chasing one another. Oscar knows the limits of the property, but I was afraid Wall-E would make it to the road. Can you imagine telling your 4 year old grandson that his dog was hit by a car and killed.....on your watch? This in mind I began trying to lure them towards me so that I could herd them back in. Oscar knew full well what I was doing and kept heading towards the road and the pond---did I mention that he has a streak of pure evil in him. Finally the love of my life came to help. But before they came in Wall-E discovered some kind of animal poop--cat, I think--and managed to smear it all over his back. So, of course, I had to bathe him. Might as well give them all a bath, so I put all three little dogs in the tub and began the task. Keep in mind that Emmy had not gone on the excursion with the boys and due to having had her spine fused several years ago after breaking her little back, she doesn't always have such good control of her rear end. I douse them all with water and then start shampooing them all. During the rinse cycle poor Emmy had a poopy accident. That was bad enough. But when I was cleaning that mess up I discovered WORMS. Emmy is a delicate little thing weighing in at 6 lbs. When I hold her, her little leg bones feel like those of a bird to me. If she has worms, then they all do. I am thinking this would be the equivalent of a doggy STD--what with all the butt licking going on. I am glad I discovered this, so that I can remedy it---it's the remedy I am not looking forward to. They will all have diarrhea and said diarrhea will have to be cleaned up. I guess we all know who the poop scooper is around--me!

Ode To Crazy Cat

My cat, Gremlin, is old--almost 16. We named him Gremlin because he has a smashed face and looks like a gremlin. When he came to live with us he was a very aloof little kitten. Apparently he either came from cat royalty, or was told that his lineage was thus. One of his very first acts of rebellion was to go into the master bath and get into our collie's bed and pee. He peed so loud I could hear it, as I wondered what he might be doing. He was establishing himself as King of the animals in our house. Not a good idea on his part as I quickly picked him up and swatted his bottom as I scolded him ( I am the all-powerful ruler of my animal kingdom, Me and Me alone). Sarge, our sweet collie never held this against Grem and they became allies as we added to said animal kingdom. We added a rambuntious st. bernard to the mix and poor Gremlin, indignant, though he was, eventually accepted Louise and stayed out of her way. Nine years ago we added two daschunds to the mix and once again Gremlin was displaced as the favorite lap animal. All this time he remained aloof and did not allow himself to be picked up or petted by many. He preferred me, liked my dad on his visits, disdained all small people (grandchildren). He was content to roam our big house always confident that he was the only animal able to leap to high places. He used this talent to endlessly torment Oscar and Emmy, getting just high enough to wave his long tail at them so that he could watch them leap impotently into the air. He was not at all happy when Emmy gave birth to three adorable puppies. I can only imagine how happy he was as we sold the puppies one by one. Then we moved here to the campground. He stayed hidden for the first year, no doubt indignant about the lack of space he was used to (we sort of downsized from about 3000 square feet to 980). Our living quarters are attached to the office/store and he didn't explore there until winter came and it was idle all day. Most of the time he would sit on the back of the chair nearest the window to be able to watch the cat the previous owners left. Last year brought many sad changes to Grem's world. Sarge, his best buddy, had a stroke, and died. Sarge was our peace maker, he would simply walk away from a fight and many times he would step in and play ball with Oscar (he would pick the ball up in his mouth and kind of toss it for our little demon). As he grew old most days would find him sleeping away the afternoon on my bed with Grem next to him. Gremlin doesn't do that anymore. We all grieved our loss and the unimaginable happened as only months later we lost our Louise. Gremlin began spending most of his time in the store. He would approach customers and paw at their legs to be picked up! Total personality change, as most folks didn't even know we had a cat. He apparently suffered a small stroke. His face looked funny and his gait was off. He began walking sideways and would sometimes miss when trying to jump onto a piece of furniture. I was not up to losing another pet so soon, but would not have hesitated if Grem had been in pain. He is now very affectionate--almost annoyingly so. He likes to be in whatever room I am in--always in my sight. For a while he had decided to go outside. He has no front claws and has never been an outside cat, so I was hesitant. I was hesitant until he started peeing in the floor. He would pee in the store, in the living room floor, in my bedroom floor, and his favorite thing to do was to get into the guest bed and pee and poop (he must have known better than to hit my bed). I keep that door shut now. Lately he had decided to do his business in our bathroom. Cat pee smells so horrible. I started keeping that door closed, too. I am happy to report that he is now using his litter box again. Lately, though, poor guy will be laying on the back of his favorite chair and suddenly will fall to the floor with a thunk. I am sad to say that he probably won't be around much longer which is probably why I am willing to deal with his messes. I have spent the morning watching my old guy stumble and fall over and over again. He is drooling and doesn't look "right" in the face. I am preparing myself......I think.