Month: April 2013

A recent comment by sister-in-law Becky got me thinking: What do Pam and I  have in our garage attic?

Quite a bit.

First, an anecdote. Remember microfiche? When Pam first proposed working from home a couple days a week the question of microfiche came up as many of the records Pam works with are on them. “No Problemo,” says Pam to her boss. “Jer has a microfiche reader in the garage attic.” This statment was greeted with a silence. After all, why would anyone have a microfiche reader in their attic? “Jer used to get his service manuals on microfiche and bought a reader to use them.” So now Pam can, and often does, use microfiche at home.

So what else do we have?

• Old Macintosh computers and printers. At least 3 computers, including a IIFX, the most expensive Macintosh that Apple ever produced. My first Mac with a built-in hard drive, a Mac SE-30, in it’s orginal box. (1986.)
• Christmas decorations.
• Spare propane tank regulator.
• Old books, mostly Macintosh related.
• Lamps, including a banker’s lamp and a floor lamp. Baker’s lamp needs a new shade. (“I’ll get around to it…”)
• Toys. Felicity’s and Toby both have “someday we’ll give them” collections, which include metal trucks, 3-d puzzles, Pound Puppies, logos, posters, and games of various types.
• Doll collections. Pam’s Barbies and some of Felicity’s collection.
• High-schood yearbooks and momentos. Pam and I both have some of this stuff.
• My 35mm slides, negatives, Super-8 film, projector, and other camera and photography gear. Several boxes worth, including several Kodak Carousel trays and a front-silvered mirror. (Not familiar with front-silvered mirors?  Thats what the internet is for…)
• Computer accessories. 3.5 inc h computer disks, various cables, and SCSI hard drives. (Antiques!)
• Motorcycle parts and pieces such as saddlebags and windshields.
• A 5-gallon water tank from an old trailer. (?)
• Fans in the winter, electric heaters in the summer.
• A roll of foam, used at one point under a sleeping bag.
• Guitar case with no guitar in it. (?)
• An IBM Selectric typewriter. Works fine.
• The storage compartment screen from the Subaru.
• An extra kitchen table from myAunt Gina. (Toby used it in his apartment until he moved.)
• Old clothing patterns.
• Kid’s costumes. At least 6 boxes worth.
• An antenna pole. The kind you would put next to a house to put a TV antenna up.
• Two Coleman coolers and a traveling refigerator. Refrigerator plugs into a 12v outlet and keeps food cool. (Pam uses it to keep canned dog food fresh on long trips.)
• Luggage, knap sacks, other travel bags including a couple old backpacks.
• Flooring left over from doing the master bedroom floor. (That was 7 years ago.)
• Old child’s sled, now considered a Christmas ornament.
• An old steel bed frame. No headboard, just the frame.
• Until recently, 3 boxes of fabric and 2 boxes of Blueware.
• Myron and Lorraine (Pam’s parents)  memorabelia.
• A couple of storm windows.
• My collection of ’60s Hot Rod and other car-related magazines.
• Miscellaneous “stuff.” (Quite a bit of it.)

The above list is not complete and certainly does not give a good idea of the volume of stuff we’ve kept. I managed to get a couple  photos to give some scale to this collection.

West end of the garage attic. Bed frame is at bottom left.

East end of attic. End of kitchen table (brown) visible at left.

We have to clean our attic.

Pam has already floated the idea of grabbing a bunch of stuff  and moving it along, either through yard sales, donations, or  trips to the dump. Anyone need a spare propane tank regulator?

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Where does the time go? Another week has passed with many small tasks done. Here is what transpired this past week.

We continue getting the trailer ready to use. Pam has been attending to cleaning and stocking and I have been applying myself to fixing the mechanical issues we have found.

We started to assemble trailer essentials –such as plates, cooking gear, towels, bed linens- much of it from our own stored boxes. Now we need to find a place for everything.We even dug out our “old” tin Blueware from above-the-garage storage and will be using some of it when we are at the mountain location.

Starting to add “stuff” to trailer

Pam is taking on cleaning one section at a time. Here are her tools set up to begin working in the kitchen.

A thorough cleaning is in order.

Much to do, including lining the drawers and cupboards with paper.

Pam is lining the drawers and cupboards with paper

The bedroom is staring to look nice. Mounty Moose feels right at home.

Mounty Moose fits right in

Mounty Moose came from one of our visits to Victoria, British Columbia, and wears a Canadian Mounty uniform. He’s one of Pam’s favorites and we hope he travels well!  M. Moose is joined by Elinor’s crochet beige/tan throw, a perfect weight for cooler mountain nights.

On the mechanical side, I replaced a couple of light lenses, mounted the new left-rear stabilizer jack, fixed all 4 shades that were inoperative, adjusted some door hardware, and fixed the latch on the bedroom screen door. Found a few more items to fix such as the blower for the bathroom vent and one of the bathroom towel holders. Still, mostly minor stuff; the trailer appears to have been pretty well kept. (I have not found an oven knob, though, but will keep looking!)

We had a cold weather spell, below freezing, a couple of nights last week. More of the same is on the forecast; next Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday nights are all going to be below freezing. Because of this I have not put water in the trailer’s fresh water tanks to test the water system. We had covered some flower beds in the yard and will do the same this coming week. Winter just won’t let go.

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

The past week has been quieter than the past few weeks, no major purchases or events. This doesn’t mean we aren’t busy, though. Yesterday I went truck shopping to see what was available from dealers in a used Crew Cab truck. I looked at several Chevy, Dodge, and Ford units. Dodge seems to be the best priced, and one unit looked good:

2005 Dodge Ram 1500

This truck is already wired for a heavy trailer and has a heavy-duty hitch.The trim level is the “Laramie” package with interior upgrades for a bit more comfort and convenience. Engine is the famed Hemi V-8. Good for power, not so good for gas mileage. Pam likes the idea of the 4 doors as the dogs would travel in the extended part of the cab and could be let out and in through the extra doors. Having a Crew Cab does mean the truck bed is shorter than the standard 8-foot bed. The ATV would fit, but full-size sheets of plywood and lumber would hang out a bit. I don’t think this would be a problem as we have our 5 foot by 12 foot utility trailer to haul larger items.

We would have to take the Subaru in and see what kind of trade-in financing we could arrange. Asking price for the truck is $15K, but a quick search of the internet shows the same truck for sale at other dealerships for less, down to a low of $10K. The $15K price seems a bit much. We shall see.

Our daffodils (and dandelions) started to bloom yesterday. Spring is still not fully here, though, as below zero temps are forecast for this Tuesday night. Still it is nice to see the flowers progressing. Below is a photo for Mike and Virgil; these are iris plants they gave us a few years ago. Coming up nicely this Spring!

Iris plants doing well

The white lilac bush behind the iris plants is budding out as well. We’ll have to cover this bed Tuesday, though, to help protect it from the overnight frost in the forecast.

Here are a few of our daffodils blooming, and a literary moment:

Shortest Daffodils you may ever see

Daffodils

I wandered lonely as a cloud
That floats on high o’er vales and hills,
When all at once I saw a crowd,
A host, of golden daffodils;
Beside the lake, beneath the trees,
Fluttering and dancing in the breeze.

Continuous as the stars that shine
And twinkle on the milky way,
They stretched in never-ending line
Along the margin of a bay:
Ten thousand saw I at a glance,
Tossing their heads in sprightly dance.

The waves beside them danced; but they
Out-did the sparkling waves in glee:
A poet could not but be gay,
In such a jocund company:
I gazed–and gazed–but little thought
What wealth the show to me had brought:

For oft, when on my couch I lie
In vacant or in pensive mood,
They flash upon that inward eye
Which is the bliss of solitude;
And then my heart with pleasure fills,
And dances with the daffodils.

William Wordsworth

We have begun working on the trailer, fixing things and checking items off our list. Small stuff, such as trying to find a replacement for the missing oven knob. I have a few items on order including some light fixture lenses and a replacement stabilizer jack. I did get the front window cover fixed, lubricated the slide mechanism, and started fixing the shades. A couple other items have cropped up that need attention: one drawer in the kitchen need the support rail fixed and one towel holder in the bath needs work. Again, small stuff, but needs to be addressed. Pam will be going through the shelves and drawers, cleaning them and putting down freezer paper as drawer linings. Lots to do yet before we’re ready to pull up the RV to the lot. Here are a couple more trailer photos.

Slide out extended

Front window cover repaired and open, slide out lubricated and extended. I put the matching spare tire on the ground and will use the mis-matched tire as the spare.

Rear of trailer with slide-out extended

I have extended the awning a bit to test it’s operation , but the trailer is too close to the trees to extend it all the way. Still, it looks like the awning is fully functional, if a bit dirty.

Awning and hardware looks OK.

Clean-up and repair work will continue over the next couple weeks. Trailer should be good-to-go by the end of the month.

Finally, a request:

Who’s visiting this blog?  Judging by the number of hits the blog page counter is registering (sometimes 20-40 in a 24 hour period), people are looking at these posts. Please leave a note and tell us who you are!

That’s it for now. Thanks for looking in!

Pam’s 2 cents worth:

Our children have commented on the recent acquisitions.  Toby says, “Land for his birthday, an RV for Easter.  What are you getting Dad for Father’s Day?”  (I think the answer to that question is, “A truck.”)  Felicity draws a parallel between outfitting the RV and outfitting a covered wagon.  For one we need “horsepower” while the other relied on oxen.  Provisions are required for both, anticipating time in the wilds away from “civilization.”  Interesting perspective.