CSA week 13 - the motherload

Next week is our last week for the CSA.  It's odd that it's ending in what is peak growing season for most of the country. 

This week:
Corn
Tomatoes
Beets
Cantaloupe
Collards
Kale
Carrots
Jalapenos
Blueberries
Green beans
Dill
Cilantro
Basil
Eggs

Oh -the eggs!  Check out the picture.  I pulled out one of the eggs that was HUGE and set it next to a small one for comparison.  What a difference in size!

A weekend off

 

...Well, a weekend mostly off.  Friday night we went to see 'Brave' and were probably the oldest adults in the audience without kids.  Good movie though.  Saturday I ran errands and took care of some minor items on The List, then we went out to dinner and for a swim at the beach.  The water is really warm and we stayed in until almost 9 pm.  Swimming in the ocean still freaks me out a bit - the biologist in me knows exactly what's out there, and they have big teeth.

Today we really goofed off - drove down to Bluffton, SC.  There's an old historic district with artsy shops and cute restaurants.  Most were closed today (Sunday, South Carolina, typical.) but it was still fun to walk around.  We stopped at Old Sheldon Church again, it's such a cool place. 

I like my coffee on the dark side

We've been on the prowl for some smaller, lighter dishes to use in the RV.  Our dishes are great and we plan to keep them in the long term but they're too heavy and bulky for Irv.  We're a little afraid that if we put them all in the RV cabinets the cabinets will come crashing down off the wall!  Every time we pass a Goodwill, we stop, hoping to find something that will work...ideally something small and light, that doesn't have a totally ugly pattern.  We've found lots of 'small and light' but most have been pretty hard on the eyes (not that I'm opposed to having fun dishes....). 

Finally - Success!  For $4, a set of seven off white, plain Corelle plates and five small bowls.  Perfect.  When I stacked the seven new plates next to seven of the old plates, the difference is HUGE!

We also found this totally awesome mug for Steve's coffee.  It's coming to Alaska with us.  As Steve said, "It's perfect.  I like my coffee a little on the dark side.".  What can I say, he's a funny guy.

Just over 6 weeks to go...

We made HUGE progress on The List over the weekend.  Dad was in town and with his help the generator is now working!  He and Steve spent a couple of hours poking around with it and finally got it up and running - something about water in the float and loose wires...  We spent Thursday night, ALL DAY Friday, and the better part of Saturday working on checking items of the list...generator, water heater, oil change, rotate tires, repack the bearings (front tires), seal all seams and windows, check fluids and belts, change the fuel filter, check the air filter, and give it a good wash from top to bottom.  Irv should be ready to go, at least mechanically!

Dad noted that we still have an awful lot of stuff in the house.  It's true.  We still have way too much stuff, more than will fit in the RV, that's for sure.  We're still weeding things out and since we have several weeks until we leave, we're still using some things we'll ultimately sell (or donate) like the TV, toaster oven, futon couch, our bed, yard tools, etc.  Other things we're not using and are still just trying to sell - know anyone who wants to buy two kayaks, a 55 gallon fish tank, two motorcycles and a tow bar?

So many people have been asking if I'm excited.  Yes.  I am.  I'm getting ready to register for classes and I'm realizing how excited I am about the classes that are offered (I take that as a good sign!).  Sometimes when The List or the seemingly thousands of things we have to do bog me down, I go online and look at pictures of the area, or check out the weather forecast for Juneau.  Then I get really happy, because it's beautiful and cold.  :)

Muffin, schmuffin...that's a cupcake!

A couple of extra zucchini in the fridge and an itch to bake came together tonight.  I made Chocolate Zucchini Muffins and they're fabulous.  Though if I'm going to be honest, they're really more like a cupcake than a muffin.  Muffins don't have frosting in my world.

CSA week 11

We got some new items this week.  Cantaloup and blueberries and jalapeno peppers, oh my!  I can't wait to make Cheddar Jalapeno Bread.

The whole list:
Cantaloupe
Blueberries
Beets (HUGE beets)
Eggs
Green onions
Corn
Summer squash
Tomatoes
Carrots
Green beans

Only three more weeks to go...

Weekend progress on Irv

It was a very successful weekend in terms of progress on the The List.  I figured out how to fix the crooked vent cover in the roof so it won't leak into the bathroom.  We had a wicked storm last night with 2-3 inches of rain, and it was totally dry inside Irv this morning, so I figure we're in good shape!  Actually, while it was raining last night we went and sat inside just to see what it was like, since we'll be getting a lot of rain in Juneau.  It was LOUD.  Hmmm.  I didn't expect that. 

This weekend I also: put Rain-X on the truck and RV windows, polished the yellowed RV headlights so they're a bit nicer, fixed the engine seal (that keeps debris from sliding off the windshield and into the engine compartment), lubed all of the locks on the doors and under-body storage bins, removed a broken lock and tried (in vain) to find a replacement, and re-painted to stove grates a nice shiny black.  Dad comes out on Thursday and we'll tackle a bunch of other things on The List, and I hope to get a few more things done before he gets here.

One setback though...I got a call from the people who, it turns out, are buying the RV park in Juneau from the nice old lady who runs it now.  They're still sorting out everything there (i.e. moving from paper records to electronic) and they just wanted us to know that they'd gotten our letter about confirming our spot, but they won't know until the end of the month if they have a space for us.  Insert a massive panic <here>.  They don't have any open spaces now, and they 'don't really think it will be a problem' but I can't help but be a little worried.  We don't have many options if they don't have a space.  But, I'm trying really, really hard to not freak out about it and am hoping for the best.

On a positive note, I did do something really fun!  There's very little wall space for hanging pictures or art, which is a bummer.  However, there are four cabinets that have decorated mirrors on them (above), and I really hate the mirrored look.  So, I bought some poster board and used a bunch of photographs of Steve and I, Seca, and our families and friends to make a set of collages!  I don't have them put up yet since I'm worried about what the humidity will do to the pictures in an un-cooled RV all summer, so I'll put them up right before we leave.  In the mean time, this is what they look like!

Too much to do - and only 8 weeks left

Exactly eight weeks from today we close the door on the RV and leave Charleston.  We have a massive list of things to do between now and then.  Most of the time I'm ok with plugging through the list, trying to cross off one or two or even more things in a night.  Today, I'm feeling stressed about it all.  Part of the stress comes from not knowing what I'm doing for some things (which is why my dad is coming out next week Thursday to help for a long weekend - hopefully he can tackle the 'fix generator' item, since I'm not likely to make that happen).  I spent an hour looking through the parts manual for Irv, trying to figure out which vent cover we need as a replacement to the broken one (since the one we bought last night is wrong and of course now needs to be returned)...then another chunk of time trying to find a place to buy it and get a quote.  Don't get me wrong, nothing so far has been insurmountable, it's the sum of all the little things that are eating at me.  I took some time to combine my multiple 'to do' lists into one.  Even though it now looks longer, it helps to have it all in one place...there's a section for items relating to the RV and a section for everything else (like selling things on Craigslist, registering for classes, and ordering contact new contact lenses for us). 

We did pick up CSA veggies last night and now have a mess of fruit and veggies shoved into the fridge.  There wasn't time to take a picture or catalog what we got, so it'll be a surprise this week as we paw through bags to find dinner parts.  I suspect we'll be having a lot of odd dinners, made up of whatever we can cook easily and quickly.

Oh - and good news - it looks like after all that searching for vent covers and flipping between the picture of ours and photos of products online paid off!  I found the cover we needed at the local Camping World and even installed it myself.  Assuming it passes the Steve and Dad scrutiny test for accuracy, I totally rock.  

So crafty!

I'm pretty darn pleased with my craftiness today.  I had a hanging, over-the-door shoe holder that wasn't going to work in the RV (no real doors anywhere).  At an RV supply store a couple of weeks ago I saw long fabric shoe pockets that hung from the bed frame (for way more money than I wanted to spend) and that gave me the idea to modify the one I had to fit on the bed frame!

So I took this and cut it at the bottom of each set of pockets, leaving the top set with the hooks intact.  

I had gone to the fabric store looking for fabric to add length to the top of each shoe pocket set.  My idea was to sew about 8 inches of fabric to the top of the pocket strip, then staple the whole thing to the bed frame (under the mattress to hide the staples).  I couldn't find fabric I liked that matched the tan, and found myself looking at bolts of denim, when I remembered that I had an old pair of jeans I was going to trow away.  I decided to be extra cheap crafty and just cut those up for the fabric!

I pinned everything together, then set up my sewing machine on the kitchen counter (since we don't have a table any more - not ideal but it got the job done), and sewed it all up!

Steve helped me staple them in place.  They turned out great! 

As an added bonus, I found a great place to put the pocket set with the hooks still intact.  I don't know what we'll end up sticking in there...maybe house slippers, or poo bags and a leash, or the TV remote, or bug spray and an umbrella...but I'm sure it will come in handy.