Sunday, January 31, 2016

Tana Kitchen Upgrade

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Man and I did a bit more re-hab on Tana while sitting here in Tampa this January.  We covered the wall around the stove area with 'stickemon' tiles from a box home improvement store.

Here is a closeup photo, after the first day of work.  The odd ball piece on the right side wall is just taped up there. We were deciding if we wanted to fill in that wall.


We did indeed fill in the wall.


We were pretty happy over all, but, that little white strip in the back corner by the stove top and along the very top by the microwave did not please, soooooo - - 

We painted:






The over all finished project:


We are happy with the outcome.

Next????



.

Saturday, January 30, 2016

Big Ole Tractor

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Spending time with photos and documents from my family history.  Precious memories and now and then, something comes along that surprises me, sends me on research tangents and teaches me new.

Like this:


This photo came from my grandmother's collection.  It is undated, but, I am going to guess it is from around the Depression era.  This guess is based on the fact that I know the men.  One is my grandfather, one my uncle.

But, what caught my imagination and curiosity in this photo was the tractor.  The tractor has Peerless on the side.

Off I went to research.  The first tidbit I picked up was that "rubber" tires appeared on tractors after 1930ish.  I contacted friend Jan, this gal grew up in Nebraska and she knows her farm equipment.  She estimated the build time as between 1915 and 1925, due to the iron wheels.

I found this web site with image and a date.  

I still have no idea where the tractor came from or went to.  Too bad there is no fringe on top, eh?  

The research will continue.  Of course.




.

Friday, January 29, 2016

The Cookie Shot:: The Whitmer Cradle

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

I have not been blogging much.  I have been reviewing, researching, linking, all on the family history data base.  I have a backlog of photos and documents, so large, I am not going to count them.  It would be discouraging and embarrassing.  It is so wonderful to be so blessed.  It is so easy to just keep researching and having fun.  I need to do better at recording and linking.  I procrastinate.  And, then, I go have more fun, and research more!

I did find this jewel tho, yes, little Carol.  In the Whitmer cradle.


This is another photo, very similar to the one in this blog post from 2009.


However, in the new one, taken from a slightly different angle, I discovered, what I think are bribes to keep me still for the photo op.


I see a cookie in my left hand, or some food goodie.  Yummy.  And, in my right hand, a comb??

Hey parents do what they have to do, eh??

By the way, the original post on the Whitmer cradle is here.  I believe I have discovered another photo of generation # 4, buried somewhere in all these files.  There are no known photos of generation # 1 or # 2 in the cradle.



.

Sunday, January 10, 2016

The Quilt of Many Stitches Revisited, It Really is Crazy (Wonderful!)

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

The other night I posted about the crazy quilt I have added to my wonderful collection of family heirlooms.

When I posted the link on my Facebook page we had a nice discussion there about crazy quilts, and the stitches and the heritage and customs.  I learned a lot!

Here are two links, Decorative Embroidery Stitches: Crazy Quilting and Crazy Quilt History: A Victorian Craze that were shared.

Then, we started discussing, the spider web (stitch) for luck, as found on the page above about stitches.  They show one.

This led to my spreading the quilt out a day or so later, during daylight hours, and looking diligently for spider webs.  And, taking a few more photos.

I took another photo of the back of the quilt:


I took a closer look at the stitches, and the variety and the colors.  Flowers on the blue are red, flowers on the red are white and the stems are yellow (now, I am sure these are not the correct names of the stitches, my apologies to the purists).


Again, looking at the loops, yellow, red, white, and a blue.  At the top, blue flowers on a red stem go from black to green to blue velvet pieces.


This shows many styles of stitches, the flowers, some herringbone, feather (?), and those long stitches with the french knot as punctuation.


The closest I could come to spider webs were these that look more like star bursts to me:


The more I looked, the more I appreciated the variety and the amazing amount of work involved.

Thanks Minnie.  Hugs to heaven.




.

Thursday, January 7, 2016

The Quilt of Many Stitches: Treasure Chest Thursday

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Recently added to my wonderful collection of family heirlooms.  Velveteen pieces.  The stitching I believe is called blanket stitching.


The colors sing to my soul.  This is the only piece that I have with this variety of stitches.

Here is a closer view:


This is the back of the quilt, the fabric seems to be a heavy cotton.  (excuse the out of focus photo)





*  Update.  Friend Terri tells me that this is considered a "Crazy Quilt" and sent me this link.  Tomorrow, I'll be searching for Spider Web stitching.  Stay tuned.

.

Saturday, January 2, 2016

The True Romanticism of RVing:: A Reality Check

Copyright 2015, CABS for Reflections From the Fence

Man and I love RVing.  We love our Tana and Jolly.  But, not all RVing days are created equal.  Some days are so stressful that we cannot express how exhausted we are when those days end.  There are encounters with less than stellar drivers of other vehicles (can't fix stupid types).  Close calls, like the one last fall with a dog running across the expressway.  Many tight parking spots.  Yellowstone and Custer come to mind.

And, yet, the RV industry in all it's PR wisdom never shares the snarky stuff (I mean, why would they, it is all roses and wonderful sunsets, right??).  We see it all the time, newbies, in person and on the internet.  Newbies, just spent a bucket or two or three full of $$ to buy this wonderful, gorgeous RV.  They have little camping experience, poor souls, have NO clue.  Some don't know the difference in 30 AMP and 50.  They have no idea that they cannot run 2 air conditioners, fridge, hot water heater, toaster, microwave and curling irons all at the same time on a 30 AMP service.  They have no idea about wide turns (which can prove disastrous).  Roofs come into contact with low branches that for some reason campgrounds refuse to trim.

And, it is not just the newbies that have bad days.  Man and I have fought and shoehorned Tana into some spots. Oh, boy.

And, today, I am going to share some experiences that we have had just since this winter jaunt began on November 3rd.

OKKK, here we go, laugh and cry with us, will ya please??  (If you are a Facebook fan, you may have read some of this, some of this text comes directly from my "timely" posts there.)

9 December 2015 15:41

That moment, after a semi-stressful drive you discover an unintended motor home parked in the campsite you reserved weeks ago. And no one is home.

This is not good. Wait till you hear entire story.

16:33 Just. Wait. It's really bad. Tana is fine. But we cannot get in sites.

16:44 I am starting to get just a weeeee bit hysterical.

17:26 Boon docking. No power. Thank goodness we got the frig fixed. Several months of insulin in there. Mr. Winston is hungry. Battery on phone just about dead. Later. It's Miller time!


I was concerned about traffic running into the slides. So we borrowed some cones from the flooded areas. Flooding not so bad. I need the cones more. If people are stupid enough to drive around the barricades. Well. Too bad. (It was getting dark, as you can see from the iPhone photo.)


I'm not In a very giving mood about now. Sorry friends.

9 December 2015 17:54

Ok here is the Cliff notes version. 

We were supposed to be on lot B6. We got there a See Ya MH, as in motor home, was in the site. Oops.

So we were switched to "A something or other". 

As I am waiting for Man to return from previewing site "A something or other", the See Ya goes blasting past me and almost hit me. 

We get to "A something or other" and the very same See Ya is backing in. Yep. Same lot. 

So the campground staff comes and tells him he cannot park there. He is livid and tells them to get out of the way.He pulls forward and promptly runs into a tree and blows out his windshield. 

And we cannot get into "A something or other" site either. 

And so we are in the parking lot. Boon docking. 


We are fine. Thankful that we move slow and careful. Cause we did not hit the same tree that took out the windshield of the MH.  (And believe me, it was very very close.)

For all the trouble today Man and I cannot gripe about how the staff handled this snafu. 

Even the gate guard was sweet and apologetic when we came back in after a great Mexican dinner.  (If you think I was gonna try to find something to cook after all this, you are greatly mistaken!  Mexican = comfort food.)

They had even offered to have the camp host move his rig for the night to give us their site. I would have been distraught if they had. 

We are fine here. Our winter Arizona training with the MOC came in handy. Yaaaaa!!

Course there is no humidity out there. 

Tomorrow we will head south again. Another day another adventure. 

In the meantime. Nite. 

Blessings. And. May you learn to boondock.

Now that we have the orange cones.

December 10, arrive Key West, and this was our site, close parking:


With the slide open:


The other side was not much better and Jolly parking was very tight, only had inches to spare to open the door.  We ended up parking Jolly in the next campsite, without permission.  Yes, we did.  OOOO, my!  LOL


December 14, arriving at Key Largo, we had a "pull IN" site, not pull through, but, pull in!  Killer view tho, eh??


I wrote on Facebook:
Well. I am gonna wish for semi cloudy sunsets. I won't lie. This is an interesting set up. You can make of that what you wish. We PULLED into the site. Unhooked. Then had to wiggle Jolly out. Sorta sideways. I'm dreading hooking back up. Ugh. 

Anyway. The view would be terrific out the front window of a motor home. Too bad I cannot enjoy out my desk window. First world problem. 

So pray for "kick me outta this world" sunsets. Cause we really are working this one.

Come December 17, we are leaving Key Largo and heading back to Fort Lauderdale, only first:


When you need 4 wheel drive and it needs service. Ooopps.  Never a dull day in this life.

A few minutes later, I posted: 

Hooked up. Ya us. Man got Jolly out. Well done.

December 17, 2015 Fort Lauderdale, same park as where we boondocked on the 9th:

Over a bit of grass and mud. But we got ER in.



Home for the holidays. Will we have a white Christmas?

This is a gorgeous park, but, seriously, they need to widen the roads a bit and trim the foliage. Stuff tends to grow fast here, eh??  The site is rather large, but, what good does that do if you cannot back into it without running your unit into a tree or sign or someone else's rig/vehicle?



December 29.  Our time here is over, but, before we can leave, this poor fellow had a bit of trouble.  We need to go where he is, eh??  Post from Facebook.

Narrow roads and uncut foliage and oodles of rain. Makes for newbie trouble. This is NOT US.



Man helped them out of this predicament. Sigh. Nice people.

December  29, Tampa, where we intend to stay for 2 months, give or take:

In. Second site assigned. First was a nightmare site. This one is reasonably level at least. And, yes, I need to get a better photo.  And, yes, Tana has love bugs all over her nose. Ewwww.


Man and I see wonderful things when we travel, we get to eat in some great local restaurants and meet up with dear family and friends.  But, it is not always a lot of fun getting "there" or where ever.

This reality check is now over.  Good luck to you all. RVon!




.

Friday, January 1, 2016

South, How Far South Can We Go On 1? Key West, Here We Come:: Rolling, Rolling, Keep Them Wheels a Rolling - Winter 2015-2016

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence



Man had Key West on his bucket list.  And, so, Key West it would be, for 4 nights.  We left from Fort Lauderdale and drove the 180 miles or so.  You know what we saw, right?? Lots of bridges, water, boats of every size and type imaginable and land spaces that were quite full.  And, we did see one alligator crossing the road, he was about 4 or 5 feet long, and was headed to the ditch.  Sorry, no photo.

Loved the turquoise paint in this stretch:


Waterways. boats and homes:


Bridge construction/rehab makes for narrow lanes and slow driving:



Look, at what I was seeing out the side view mirror.  Close, about a foot??  Man did a good job driving.  We were happy there was only one bridge like this on the way down. One was encountered on the way back. (I was glad Man was driving.)


Yes, they fill much of the available land.  There are, though, a number of state parks in the Keys, preserving the "natural".


I love bridges, many are different, a mix between art and engineering.


I discovered on the way back north that the waters were quite turquoise.  The sun and overcast skies and sure give you a different experience.  (This photo, however, is NOT from the way back, no turquoise here.  LOL)


Campsites at Key West were "close".  Driving with Jolly around Key West was a challenge.  Stay tuned and I'll tell you more - - and how we dealt with that one day.



*  Trip to Key West was before the Christmas holiday.  Just trying to catch up a bit.
.

2016!!

Copyright 2016, CABS for Reflections From the Fence


From Man and I:


May 16 bring you peace and good health.  Everything else is gravy, as they say.




* Graphic courtesy of Webweaver's Free Clipart.

.