Sort, Move, Clean, Purge

Every once in a while, in the life of every RVer, comes the time to go through the basement bays. Either you are looking for something you know you have, but just can't find. Or, you realize you need to make room for something new you have purchased. Or, maybe, things have gotten to the point where you realize you just need to go through each bay, move stuff around to a different or a better place -- or into storage. Or maybe there's some stuff you know you haven't used for a year or more that you just need to purge.

We are getting ready to head south for the rest of the winter and we are trying to decide what we are going to take with us and what we are going to leave at the ranch. I haven't been doing any sewing for the past couple of years, so one of the things I decided we should move into the storage shed is my sewing machine and sewing supplies. Forry thinks he might not take along his drill press...

We took everything out of the slide-out bays on the driver's side of Auntie Violet. Then it was time to vacuum and clean. We found evidence of some of our previous little tailed,four-legged visitors -- and a large bug! Gross! We also loaded up a garbage bag of stuff to be tossed.

This is what happens to the ground around here after the fall rains start --

It's a nice change from the dust. Too bad it's mostly cheat grass!

A Clean House -- Well, a Cleaner One, Anyway!

We put in some major effort today, cleaning up after all of the dust storms. I think I'd blocked out memories of what it was like to live on the ranch in all of the sand and dust! To this day, I don't care for knick-knacks, got too sick of dusting them and then looking over a few hours later and seeing that they were dusty again.

Forry vacuumed while I cleaned mirrors and dusted, then mopped the tile floors. I went ahead and washed the bathroom throw rugs while I was at it. I'd better take advantage of having water before the well driller finally gets busy. We'll be using water from the tanks that Jeff had filled, but will need to be conserving (back to boon-docking?).

Jeff has had trouble with the domestic well the last month or so. He's not been able to keep ahead enough to keep the yard watered. The water table in this Odessa Aquifer keeps dropping. We drilled the well deeper a few years ago until they ran into sand. Now they will have to pour concrete into the well to fill in the sand area, then drill through it in order to make it deeper. The well driller moved all of his equipment in last Friday, but said he wouldn't get started until after Labor Day. This morning he said they had an emergency, so didn't make it today. Maybe tomorrow?

Laundry and Housework and Gardening...

It's always worse when we stay put for a while. When we're moving every couple of days or even a week, we seem to be able to keep "stuff" put away and it doesn't pile up. We've been here at the ranch for almost a month and you can tell!

Even though we did transfer some of the things we had acquired this winter into the storage unit, we still seem to have more things then we have places to put them! We've not been at an RV park where I could take some of my paperbacks to the lending library and they're starting to pile up. I'll be so glad when my Kindle arrives!

Today I've spent most of the day doing laundry and cleaning the bathroom and kitchen. Forry's been vacuuming this evening. It really doesn't take that long to clean the whole motorhome, it takes longer to put stuff away than it does to clean.

I've replanted my AeroGarden and have tiny shoots of both basil and tomatoes showing. My basil did the best of all the herbs I planted before, so I'll try to see if it will co-exist with a yellow cherry tomato plant.

Sort and Clean

Every once in a while, we almost have to go through everything and start over! After you've been on the road for a while, it's amazing how much "stuff" shows up in both Auntie Violet and in the Toad.

Today we took the Jeep apart, emptied everything out and gave it a good cleaning. Vacuumed, shampooed the seats, used ArmorAll on the dash, cleaned the windows, etc. The back seats and the rear of the Toad seem to be our secondary storage area. Everything that doesn't have a space in Auntie Violet ends up there. Some of it because it seems easier -- for example, it's easier to put the lawn chairs in and out of the Jeep than it is to put them away in the bays. Some of it because we don't know what else to do with it -- the box my computer came it that we wanted to keep until we were sure this one wasn't a lemon too. And some of it, like Forry's compressor, because it just doesn't fit anywhere else.

Then you start looking at everything when it's time to put stuff back and wondering if you really need to have it all...

Tomorrow morning I'm going over to our neighbor Diane's to swim (exercise) in the morning, then will head in to Moses Lake to spend the night with my friend Phyllis while Vic goes to Wenatchee for his sleep apnea testing.

Auntie Violet is Getting Restless...

She is anxious to get on the road again! She has been rather neglected since we're been in California and is quite dusty and cluttered. I started cleaning and sorting in the bedroom this morning and she became very aware we were thinking about heading back to Washington soon. I threw the blanket, bedspread and rugs into the big washer here at camp and got all of the mirrors in the bathroom and bedroom cleaned. It's a start anyway!

The new director should be arriving tomorrow afternoon. We'll spend a couple of days getting him oriented and then try to start back to Washingon on Sunday morning.

While Forry went into Santee and El Cajon this morning to pick up the proper circuit breakers, plus the foundation vents and insulation for House #4, I spent the morning transcribing my notes from the past 2 1/2 months on the computer for Franzie, the new director. Ken, our construction supervisor, had also left a sheaf of notes, so transition may be a little easier for the next guy.

Here's a couple more of the blooming cacti that we've been seeing:

I've always been jealous of Sister Dena getting to see all of the cacti in bloom when they are in Arizona, but I seem to be getting my chance this year. We see more of them in bloom every day and I have really been enjoying them. Even if my friend Robin calls them "weeds"....