TOOK A DAY TRIP…..

It started here….
I went to Meadville Pa. where my son works at the local Home Depot. Stopped at Subway got a couple subs and met him in the parking lot for lunch…that’s what is nice about the RV…park and eat in parking lot..not even aware you are even in the lot…when I went in to get the subs…was not paying much attention…until I heard a voice …coming from behind the counter…”hello Grandma”…looked up and there was my grandson :) :)…(sons oldest) I guess this was just his second day at the job..he works as a cook in another diner…this is a second job…

And then….
This was the another reason for the day trip…across the road (US 322) is a Road Side America attraction…PennDot Road Sign Sculpture Garden I think when it first started it was mostly flowers…it has grown…lol..sorry could not resist…
Large murals and colorful sculptures made from official Pennsylvania road signs by Allegheny college students and State Dept. of Transportation employees….these sculptures are just awesome…

This one is called ‘Signs & Flowers" and consists of a bouquet  "road sign flowers" each 10'-12' feet high. They are all  made from used road signs really  clever and spectacular…If you are in this area it is worth a stop and see…this is the best pic I could get…stopped at a red light..the parking lot was full as this is a working PennDot depot…rig was too big to park..

Directions:

On the northeast corner of US 322/19/6 and Mercer Rd, just east of I-79 exit 147A. Giant Eagle & Home Depot are right across the road…Only one min. from the I-79..you really cant miss it…the signs are reflective so it would be really cool night sight…

Also on the agenda….
was picking up a few Geocaches…there were a few that I could easily get driving the rig…located near big parking lots…I have missed caching…so wanted to add these to my fun day…and I forgot to take pics …all but one below…this was in the HD parking lot…

All in all it was a fun day for Maggie and me…just wish it wasn’t so hot…I did fire up the genny and A/C ..for Maggie while I went shopping at WM on the way home…needed to do a genny run anyway…it was due the first of the month a few days early wont hurt…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

GETTING READY….

Started today ….
Doing outside prep for winter…I will be leaving in about 3 weeks…and time goes fast so thought I better get busy…and besides my garbage pick up ends this week so needed to get it done so they will take it on Thru.Working on trimming my butterfly bushes… Got that done and lawn mowed by 11:30 when it started to pour down rain…

While it was raining…
I worked on the front porch …stacking up the couple lawn chairs  I had there and one little lawn table…after rain..took them to the shed. The one little chair left goes in the RV..and table goes in the house…so I can still sit out there until I leave...and of course Maggie girl’s leash…so she can guard her domain…


Also need …
to finish up the trimming of the rose bushes ..but cant find my gloves…might have to go buy a new pair…the roses really grew “leggy” this summer so going to cut them way back…they should be moved not enough sun by the porch…this pic was taken early in the summer…

Hope to be doing….
some of this..(pic below) soon  (camping)…like on the way back to Florida…I have things to take with me..like a couple pieces of furniture…that might make things tight in the rig…

The rest of the story…
There is more storms and rain on the way…just sitting here in the RV..trying to figure out what to do next…only 1pm and I am tired…need to go get some Maggie food..either today or tomorrow..pet store is in a town 20 min. away so need to make a list of anything else I might need in that area…like getting some things at the Wal-Mart there that our WM does not have…It is nice that my sister is letting me user her van while she is recuperating from hip surg.

Maggie taking a nap…all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

THINKING….

I have been….

thinking about a few things…RV things…maybe I am going to need a tow car…I originally thought that having a class C …I would be able to just unhook and go….now I don’t mind that …my problem is that I am too big..I can not go to a lot of places with my rig…it is 29ft. but in reality is 31’ bumper to bumper…it seemed like when in Florida I did not have the problem of tight places like I do there…and I am very nervous about towing…driving the RV was never a problem with me…what is a girl to do…????

One other thing is... did I get to big of a rig for me and Maggie…I love my rig…it is roomy, easy to drive, big enough to live in if that ever comes about…but right now I am thinking it should be more like a class B….

And another thing ……

What about my future…a home base…where and how…selling my house makes my home base then my dads house in Florida…I know for sure how I feel right now..I do not want the responsibility and work that comes with owning a house anymore…not even a house in Florida…

But I must admit I do miss working in the yard ..with the flower beds…landscaping, and my small vegi gardens…but it is just to much work now…but I can take care of some things in containers…I got a very goo crop of Roma tomatoes this year from my container garden…and some great basil…

And the rest of the story…

I had a great moving sale..so now I am going to concentrate on getting ready to move on down south…I will make a list of what I need to do yet…in the house and what I am taking with me and what I need to get the rig ready..I want to take a trip to Meadville Home Depot..that will be a day trip…there is a Roadside America attraction there and I want to get some pics…so this is it for now thanks for looking and come back goon

blessing G&M

LOOK WHAT IS….

Left after the moving sale…
This is the dinning room…I had card tables set up all around the room with furniture and other large items in the middle…this looks wonderful to me….the desk in the front right corner is the one I am taking with me….

And this is what is left in the living room…the totes and boxes mostly have what was left from  outside on the tables… if you remember I could not walk thru these rooms before sale…

And again I forgot…
to take pics before the sale started…I think it is because people start coming before the time you state in the paper… then it is to late….so this is at the end of the sale…

This patio set did not sell…I was selling it all separate and it was cheap…the chairs are original 1950’s not repos..they had few paint chips…the table is of a newer variety with a glass top…few rusty paint chips…the umbrella is new…this is a shabby chippy set…but next year I am going to sand and paint it..the chairs will be pastel colors..like pink, green, yellow or blue..what ever I fancy at the time…and I will sell it…and not cheap either…I had about 6 of these chairs when I had my store..painted them each a different pastel color and put them out in the yard at the store…and with in an hour they were gone…sometimes I really miss my store and refurbing (if that is a word) furniture …but it is really way to much work for me now…very hard.. you work all the time even when store hrs are over…I am retired now..lol… 

And the rest of the story….
This has been  a very busy summer…and a few weeks ago I was up set with myself that I was not getting enough done…even tho I did not meet my goals…I can now look back at it and see that I sure got enough done that now I can see the light at the end of the tunnel…that being next summer I can wrap it up and still have some travel fun time in the north…in fact I feel pretty good about everything…want to do two more things this week…rest of dry lock on and paint the lower hall way…then the next week and 1/2 ..pack up RV…close up house inside and outside…and get on the road to the south….I am sooooooo glad there are not more yard sales, moving sales, or flea market set ups….for this year…!!!!!!!!! Also next week I will make up a list of what is left to do…can you believe I am almost done with this…all in all I have been working on getting rid of stuff starting with getting rid of what was in my store when I closed it up , down sizing, fixing up house for the last 6 YEARS!! WOW  is all I can say…Even tho the house is not sold yet I feel like a 10 ton elephant has been lifted of my back…Well this is it for now …thanks for looking and come back soon…blessings G&M

TAPPING A NEW WATER LINE

Here is how they….
tapped into my new water line…first they dug up the side walk and drive way (again)…don’t mind my garbage can it was the pick up day…I didn’t have to move the RV because they said it would be done in one day…
I took a lot more pics but figured you all pretty bored with all this junk that has been going on all summer…but I am doing this for my info…so moving on..see that copper pipe?…boy was I ever glad to see that…as apposed to galvanized pipe…that means the galvanized was replaced at some point in time…but not since I have owned the house…36 year…a few people have had problems after hook up with the old galvanized pipe after being disturbed clogging up and having to be replaced at the home owners expense!! Not fair I say but water co is not going to pay for it…..so glad I will not have that problem..this copper pipe goes clear to my basement…
As you can see they had to dig thru some sold rock in order to find the new blue water line..The pic below is how they tap into the new line…that already has the water flowing thru it…they attach that valve you see that has a shut off on it ..then drill thru the pipe, shut the valve off while they hook up  the new copper tubing…

Below they have it all hooked up and turned on…they then had me go in and test the water buy turning on all the cold water taps in the house..make sure it worked and get all the air out… I don’t think they did this with everyone but since I was standing there watching all this and asking questions.. they had me do it…I have kept my eye on everything they have done at my house….

And after that was all ok..they filled in the hole…with dirt..not gravel that I thought they might do…after each layer the tamped it down with the back hoe shovel you see on the top right of pic…they worker spread it around first….

Rest of the story….

Personally I found this whole process very interesting…I know I am weird…but I cant help it I have always been very curious …makes me an adventures person..good for the RV life stile…the part that was most interesting was how they push that new blue water pipe thru the earth under the side walks…moving on…I got the add in the paper for the sale…suppose to rain today so will wait until tomorrow to set up tables outside…might go out to the garage and see what needs to be sold from there…lots I am sure…soon I will posting about my travel back to Florida…not sure how many stops I can make to look around and explore…as I will have a few pieces of furniture to take back making for tight quarters in the RV…well all for now thanks for looking and come back soon… 

MOVING TO THE RV……TO MUCH NOISE…

MAGGIE AND I HAVE…
moved out to the RV….we have been sleeping out there all last week since it was so much cooler here…

Today I started to get the moving sale ready to go on this Fri. and or Sat…depending on the weather…DD and SIL came on Sat and picked up the dining set…so that freed up the whole dinning room…got card tables set up in there…so will only be doing some cooking,shower …and dishes…in the house…also the count down has begun 3 or 4 weeks before launch south…I am glad…tired of all this work..not a fun way to spend your summer…but when I get back to FL..it will be like summer again so I can have some fun time...

Last week ….
it was so noisy it was almost unbearable…these guys are right across the yard from my drive way…they made noise all day long…

And down the street one block were another group of men…making even more noise….all day…(they are back there again today…)

And directly across the street the neighbor was putting up new fence and they had an old cement make that was cranking, chunking and grinding away…

Plus this guy was out front with a cement saw cutting up my driveway side walk…I was very glad when 4pm came around and they were gone…

The rest of the story…
I guess I was busy all weekend but doesn’t seem like I got much done…went to a few yard sales on Sat. morning…did not buy anything…in the afternoon my DD and SIL came from VA…to pick up the dining set for grandson and wife…he helped me bring down a couple dressers I want to get in the sale…we had a Subway then they were gone again…I will be working on the moving sale all week…I should know by Wed. how the weather will hold out…will put add in paper that day if all goes well…This will be the last sale this year…I guess I will be back next summer to work more…but you better believe it will be done then….and on the market…I got big chunks of stuff accomplished this summer so just few things left…I want to paint the rest of the Dry Lock on and fill a few cracks in the hall plaster.. and paint up the stair way and the down hall…if I can get that finished I will be happy…then I will start packing the rig for travel…that’s it for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings G&M

HUMMING BIRDS,BUTTERFLIES, FALL ???

Looks like a jungle out there…
But it’s really not…my butterfly bushes are doing a great job of attracting hummers and butterflies..

You can see it is not  a jungle…
just my back yard…try as hard as I can to get pics of hummers…none yet… as soon as I step out the back door…they fly away…I stand around and wait they don’t come back until I go away…I did see two of them in some kind of a stand off before they seen me and my camera but could not get the pic..it was funny they were in an up right position and almost beak to beak…flapping wings and bobbing up and down….I put some cut flowers in my old antique watering can …if you look close by the white fence you can see them ..they grow to about 6-8 feet…but this year a ran over them a couple times with the lawn mower..so they would not get so tall…

Is it fall already…

Well if you go by the low temps, the low humidity , and the feeling in the air it is early fall..and to top it all of the change in the trees, these little red berries on my Korean Dogwood..it is a three season tree..in spring white flowers that look like reg. dogwood..then green leaves with green berries..then in the fall the berries turn red…really nice tree…but the berries are turning red way early this year they started at the end of July instead of early Sept….

And then there is this pile of fall leaves I seen at the end of July also…while on our morning walk…I must say it has been  cool, wet and cloudy the whole time I have been here in PA..except that 2 weeks in July we had hot summer weather…and that was all…

And the rest of the story…..
I did get the lawn mowed yesterday and half of the upper hall painted..everything I could reach…I was to tired and lazy to carry the ladder up…Maggie and I slept in the rig last night now that it is cooler…I like sleeping on the memory foam…easy on my back..still only 55 here at 9 am..and cloudy…so guess I will work on the rest of the laundry tomorrow,.,did one load yesterday…I have no dryer so need to hang it out side…if I get that ladder up right now before I get to lazy I will work on paint hall…so better go and do it…thanks for looking and come back soon. blessing G&M

RV STORAGE…

I have a ton of these…

probably about 30 of them left from my craft show days…but they have come in really handy since then..with store closeing and getting rid of stuff at flea markets etc. And just plain storage with things I thought I needed…and also at dads house I have no place to store any thing so these water tight totes I use and the put them behind his shed…out of sight…then when I need something I have to go out there and look for what ever…. a big pain..I tried using them in the RV …but was the same thing had to look thru all to find what I wanted…..right now these have sale stuff in them…

I did not go out and buy these in pic below…but gathered them up from here and there….and this is what I will be using for the RV….What do you all use for storage?

I don’t know why I am having problems getting my organizing in the RV done…I cant wrap my head around the weight and balance thing…I have a couple pieces of furniture I want to take with me…and know I can fit them in but then was thinking about the weight…so where and how do I distribute this weight…maybe I will post some pics and ask some questions on the RV forum…think I will start to paint the upper hall today…and do some laundry…well that’s for now thanks for looking and come back soon blessings G&M

THINGS ACCOMPLISHED SO FAR…

My list so far of things done…

August 11, 2013

new hot water tank bought and installed…

new lawn mower…

new fan light dinning room bought and installed…

attic cleaned out, sorted and priced..

house hold goods sorted and priced…

new kitchen floor installed...

scrapped off upper lower hallway paper…

more dry lock on basement wall…

one – two day yard sale….

one day flea market…

bedroom deep cleaned woodwork painted…

will get both up and down hall way painted this week…

What else…

This is the major things that have been accomplished so far…this does not count the small..and other reg. house hold work done this summer…I’m not sure how much more will get done I went out today and got paint for the hallways and more dry lock…so that will get done..I want more sales going on..but I am so tired don’t know if I can get more than one more done…my list does not impress me…I wanted so much more ready to put on the marked…very upset with myself that I did not get more done…so very thankful to my son for helping me with all this down sizing and remods…if it were not for him..I would not be able to do this…now hope to get this finished up next summer and on the market for sale…soon I will be posting about some traveling…makes me happy …

And here’s Maggie ….

on our walk this morning at the neighborhood P-Office …leaving her P-mail…

that’s all for now thanks for looking and come back soon..blessing G&M

DONE!! AND A BAND….

And it is done…..
making me a very happy camper….this was one job that I looked at every day..wishing I could get going with it and that it was over…hated looking at those paper covered walls knowing what I had to do…Now I am going to WM and get some of their stock paint Antique White and paint it all…

And the band played on….
If you walk out in the street in front of my house and look left…you can see Greenville Senior High School…at the end of the street….

Every August before school starts they have band camp…I can hear them playing all day here at the house…

Then a couple weeks before school starts they march all over the neighborhood playing and marching practice….here they are coming up the street from the school….Maggie does not like parades, or bands…for that matter she does not like anything that is close to her porch or  house…lol….she is barking her fool head of and no one can hear her..lol…

And here they are  headed back….

I love a good parade…and especially love bands..so every time I hear them getting close I go out on the front porch to watch and listen…to my own private parade…

Well this is the end…so thanks for looking and come back soon blessing G&M

ODDS & ENDS….AND EASY JOB!

A little vignette…
in a corner on my front porch…I love hen’s and chicken’s…the plant that is…pretty stone I found at my son’s house…and another plant my sister gave me quite a few years ago…I took H&C’s to Florida with me planted them at the base of a bush in back yard…while I was in PA. dad thought they were weeds and pulled them all up…;)

I have been putting this off…
for good reason (as any of you know that has removed wall paper)…

But yesterday I decided to get at it…
I got one of those large with a handle razor wall paper scrapers…rag…bottle of water for spritzing…and started…the bottle of water has a fine spray mist…the best to use…now I have removed my fair share of wall paper…but let me tell you this was by far the easiest that I have ever done…spayed some water on..using the fine mist bottle kept it from getting all over the place…and making to big of a mess…what made this so easy …it is paper and not vinyl ….this was put on over 30 years ago and vinyl was not as popular if it was even invented yet…(I don’t know).. I just damped it a little and it came off in sheets and you can see buy the pics…I really did not have to use the scrapper much at all…I got all the upper hall done …hope to get stairway done today…progress…

Here is Maggie girl…
sleeping in here spot while traveling…between the seats in her fluffy bed…she is a good little traveling girl…well almost sleeping …one eye looking to see what is going on….

Was suppose to go to some yard sales with my sister…but cloudy rainy day…this will be the last time we can go this summer while I am here…she had her hips replace a few years ago and got the bad ones and has to have it done again..so the first one will be next week and then one month later will be the other…she sure has had problems with them..please say a prayer for her…thanks…
That’s it for now thanks for looking and come back soon..blessing G&M

SOMETHING DIFFERENT FOR MY BLOG TODAY….

Butterfly Puddler’s….
Did you ever notice how  butterflies gather on moist spots in a garden? This is known as puddling…. Below are some puddler’s that I use to make…also in the spring time in Volant were my store was located…we had an event …at that time it was called Spring Garden Party…any way everyone did some special things for our customers…so I had a “make it take it” project with the puddler’s…I got these clear plastic things at a craft store..it think they were used for setting flower pots in so they don’t leak all over…any way..got those as a mold…here are 3 that are mine I set around yard ….and butterfly bushes…notice that they have a nice garden patina on them …
Here is one (below) I studded with those glass bead type things you can get at a craft store…I used these when I had the make it take it project..the kids love them…this one is sitting below one of my butterfly bushes…

And the one below is shaped like a butterfly..I cut the shape out of piece of wood on my band saw…the put a dowel in it to make a handle so I could press it down to make the image…

And the rest of the story…
The name of this process is Hypertufa…you mix equal parts … cement…peat moss…and perlite with water…this will set up fast so you must work quick doing this…first spray the mold with cooking spray…then put in the mold and press your choice of design …be sure to take it out of the mold when it sets up…less than 24 hrs.…or you wont be able to get it out easily. You can also make flower pots, planting troughs using different size cardboard boxes…shape them into balls for garden décor…it is a very fun project…..I am going to take one with me in the RV…to use in my “outside room” while camping…If you want more detailed info…just Google it…got some done in the basement yesterday…put  on another gal. of Dry Lock…but I need at least one more gal….might head up to the  Home Depot….where my son works and get another one and check out some geocaches and take another look at a Roadside America Attraction that is right in front of the HD…that I never new was on that list…I will take pic and make a blog post…that will give me something interesting to blog about…so that’s all for now thanks for looking and come back soon…
blessings G&M