Random Musings.

Every once in a while, I run across a viewpoint that makes me think about my life and my values.

I am not questioning who I am and what makes me happy, I just periodically look at who I am as a person.

So I am sharing some of who I am.

This is not an excuse, a defense, nor a desire to change anyone to my way of thinking. I celebrate individual thinking and I hope everyone does what is right for them.




Conformity for the sake of conformity just feels so wrong to me. I don't believe in rebelling for it's own sake. I really don't even view myself as a rebel. I am on a journey of enjoying my life and living according to my values.

Trash left in woods by someone.

I am passionate about nature and abhor the trash and plastic left behind by a few thoughtless people. I am an activist in the way I photograph the beauty of nature as well as the trash left behind by thoughtless people.




I don't like to see children or dogs treated badly. Many cannot speak up for themselves or when they do, people don't listen.

I have found in traveling, that people are basically people no matter where they live and what language they speak. People in other countries still want better for their children, they have the same wants, needs, and desires as do the people where i grew up.

I love to get away from people entirely sometimes and enjoy nature quietly. I am starting to develop an interest in identifying and learning more plants.

While I enjoy nature and the forest, I also sometimes like the city. I just don't like to be in it for long.

The more I travel and the more I camp, the more I find that I like my life. I can always change things anytime I don't like the way they are. Sometimes it takes longer than other times, but it is possible to change almost anything in my life.

I do not have the need to have everyone like me. I think I am like almost anyone, it is nice to be liked, but at the end of the day, I have to look at my actions and decide how well I lived up to the me I would like to be, and what needs changing or not.

I find that as I get older, especially after my recent bout with the spider and the hospital, it is important to me to live my life fully. There are no guarantees in life. I guess for me, values are more important than popularity.

There are many things in society today that make me just shake my head. I recognise that it is not up to me to change the world or to change others. It is up to me how much importance I give opinions. Some I value, some are just noise in the background. It really depends on the person and my perception of them.

I do know one thing, I will not pretend to be someone other than who I am to gain approval from anyone.

At the end of the day, my dogs like me and I like me most days. That's a good thing.

Not Only Has It Rained, It's Been Pouring

Rain is more than just the physical amount of water. The rain I am currently referring to is the deluge of repairs that have happened all at once.





First the van I tow my vintage travel trailer with got stuck with the shift lever not working...at a gas pump while towing the Amerigo. A knight in a dirty work uniform arrived in a tow truck. He disassembled my steering column and did everything he could to get the shifter unstuck. No Success at all. After telling me it was the shifter cable, I asked him to disconnect the cable from the thingamajiggie that it attaches to and to show me where it was. I had a previous vehicle that was on it's last legs and when the shifter cable went, i simply shifted it by hand under the hood.

Three gruesome rainy days of having to get under the van and shift it by hand to start the vehicle and then move forward were not a lot of fun. and they were rainy days.

The good news was that it wasn't the shifter cable, it was merely the brake safety switch. That repair and the gas to get to the mechanic were under $100.

At the mechanic's shop, my travel trailer tire went flat. I carry a small cigarette lighter socket powered compressor. It comes in very handy since I like to camp all by myself in the woods. The tire was aired up and it had a leaky valve stem. I barely made it back to my parking spot 30 miles away.

The darn tire went dead flat. To make matters even worse, I was tired, hot, and dusty when I pulled in so instead of backing in, I just pulled in forward.

The compressor cord wasn't long enough to reach the tire.

It has been a comedy of errors or what not to do when parking.

I had to move a vehicle and work around a big tree right next to me on one side of the van and a stand of cedar trees with a fence on the other side. It took lots of moving back and forth and getting out to look to get the van out from in front of the trailer.

The tire was still flat, flatter than a pancake with no baking powder in it.

 A big thunderstorm was coming in, and the vent cover to the top vent in the trailer was missing from the previous owner. The makeshift temporary cover on it blew off on the highway. Oh and I am a very petite woman without a lot of physical strength since I live with Multiple Sclerosis. Where there is a will ( and the thought of how much repair would be needed if the torrential rain got in the trailer), I thought quickly.

Like any person who has a camper or tent, I have a heavy duty tarp, a very useful item. Simple solution, throw a tarp over the back part of the trailer. Simple solution if you are not a really short woman, have no ladder, and no way to get on top of the trailer safely. I threw a heavy rope over the trailer. It took three tries. I tied the rope through the corner ring on the tarp. I almost wish someone had had the smartphone handy and videoed the comedy of errors.  The tarp is heavy, very very heavy. It took a lot to pull the tarp over the trailer. I used a second rope to secure the back of the tarp.

I had checked the weather forecast and it was for severe thunderstorms with gusts of wind and the possibility of damaging hail. As you can see the trend of my day, I am sure you will laugh at what happened next. A strong gust of wind caught the tarp before I could secure it and lifted it almost all the way off the trailer. I muttered a few choice words and got it back on top of the trailer, tied it to the tongue in front and the frame in back.

The next day brought even more fun (not really). The turn signals and hazard flashers in the van stopped working. I was finally able to get the relay switch and install it. It doesn't work. As I went to go to the store last night, my headlights wouldn't work. I used the brights, went just to the store and back.

I now have a extension for the lighter socket power plug. That was actually not a very expensive thing. It was about $12 at the auto parts store.

Tomorrow I will deal with inflating the tire. Today was just too much running around to try to resolve things. I am going to take each one of the fuses out, check it, and replace any blown fuses.

I have scheduled an appointment with my trusty mechanic to do the brakes next weekend.

I won't be doing a lot of traveling this month. Gas on top of these repairs is just not happening.
Used vehicles and Vintage Trailers always need some repairs. Just not usually all in the same month.

I am hoping to get the propane tank this month and finally use my stove/oven and light my Humphrey's light. I can manage without the running water until next month.

So.... I am curled up in YEP, another rainy night, in my trailer. I am very tired and I will probably sleep like a baby. Since the tarp held well in the thunderstorm and gusting winds last night, I am not worried about the gentle rain tonight.

Off to bed I go, aren't you glad you didn't have my day?

At the top of the blog is a donate button through PayPal. You don't need a paypal account, any regular credit or debit card will work. Please Please Please, put what ever amount you can help with to defray the costs of all these darn repairs.

Keep your dreams alive, and hang in during the tough times. My worst day in my travel trailer has still been better than many days in a apartment.

Rain, Rain, And More Rain

I sit in my trailer in yet another day of pouring rains. This is a good time to do some work in the trailer and van.

I started at the front of the trailer and I am working my way to the back. I left out of my last parking spot very quickly and I didn't have time to stow things the way I normally do. I also need to do some spring cleaning after being in the trailer all winter.

Mona and Bear are in their preferred serious napping positions and places, curled up on the front seat of the trailer snuggled in the sleeping bags.

I have cleaned off the stove top and cleaned out the oven. I am planned on testing and lighting the propane so that I would have a working inside stove for the first time since I purchased the trailer. The refrigerator that was originally in the trailer stopped working (as many propane/electric ones do after time), and it was replaced with a small dorm sized electric fridge. I was concerned that the propane line was capped off correctly. After a conversation with the older gentleman who owned the trailer (just previous to the person I bought it from), I am now comfortable that it was correctly capped off.

As usual, life tends to throw me some curve balls and often plans are a good idea, but the time frame just doesn't seem to go the way I plan it. However, I am making progress toward getting all systems working on the trailer.

Propane lines are a very serious issue in trailers and a propane leak can explode the entire unit if not correctly dealt with. Propane is heavier than air, so any time you have a suspected propane leak, shut off all propane, open doors and windows, and air the vehicle out for about two hours.

I wintered in this trailer, and as harsh as the winter was, I was unwilling to risk a propane leak. Before I turn on the propane and light the pilot lights on the stove, I will go through and check every propane appliance and make sure all units have the propane turned off to them. Later today or tomorrow, I anticipate having the stove and oven lit for the first time since I have owned the trailer.

i am "work camping" in a sense. I did 4 hours labor today to pay for my spot of parking with electric hookup. i cleaned house and took out 6 bags of trash, did kitchen and dishes in spite of the person's sink not draining at all and no running hot water. So.... I heated up big pots of boiling hot water, poured them in very big bowls with dish soap and started washing dishes. a large soup pot was the rinsing sink. All dishes rinsed and put in the pretty clean kitchen. The floor still needs mopped, the counters need another wipe down, but it is so much better than when I walked into it.

Now to heat up a couple of pots of hot water, enjoy a good shower and wash my hair. Add some clean clothes and I will be ready to relax, make a sandwich, and watch some Netflix.

I have just set up an appointment on the first with a reputable mechanic. I will get as much as I can afford to get fixed on the tow vehicle. There is a donate button on top of this blog. Please feel free to put as little or as much as you can to help me fix my tow vehicle and keep my dream alive of traveling and writing.

In July, I hope to be able to resume taking breathtaking photos of nature to add to my blogs.

See you around on the next blog. May your dreams stay alive.