Phase One - Bye Bye Wood Paneling

I wish that I could boast that clean, fresh mountain air is filling my lungs, but sadly we here up north are inhaling a smoky haze instead.  It is forest fire season and I do live in the forest so there you go - smoky air.  On the worst days I keep the windows closed during the day and do my best at not letting the gloom sink into my bones.

This is a view from my balcony

On the worst, smokiest day I drove to Westwood Nursery and bought some plants to put into a couple of pots that sit close to the RV pad.  It is a cute little garden center that cheers my heart here in town.  I spent the day planting my pots and building a little rock border around them in the smoky air in hope of brighter days ahead.  I thought that the mums, violas, and cabbages would also make a nice welcome for Corey's parents when they arrived with their camper.

One of the RV pad flower pots that Asa and Eleanor have commandeered for their toys to live in.

 The good news is that Bruce and Greta did arrive with their camper, but unfortunately they were not able to be the first to use our RV pad.  Our gate wasn't big enough and the uneven entrance coupled with some crazy tree branches rendered the smooth cement, flower-pot laden slab unreachable. Bruce considered the obstacles and decided to park his camper in front of our garage doors which worked great.  He and Greta still had access to electricity and they were relatively close to our front door.  Hooray! The kids could still enjoy eating sugary cereal in the mornings while visiting with Grandpa and Grandma in their camper.  We had a fun and productive week together.

The bathroom is still a work in progress.  The tile is installed and grouted and all the dry-wall is taped and mudded.  Bruce and Corey worked together to install the bathtub drain and put all the hardware in the shower.  Installing the drain looked very challenging, but finding faucet knobs that I liked and fit on our extra long knob stems was an on-going project.  Bruce and I frequented Ace Hardware several times while he was here and we became familiar faces in that store.  The last time that I purchased a faucet knob the cashier clerk asked me, "What are you doing now?".  Eventually Corey went to Lowes and bought all the faucet knobs that looked promising and finally we found a match.

So shiny and white

 We are still using the composting toilet and outdoor shower.  I don't mind using the "dry toilet" so much now.  I just read a great book by Gene Logsdon called Holy Shit and it really opened up my mind to considering alternative means of waste removal.  Using clean, potable water to flush away all our poop and pee is convenient, but requires a lot of infrastructure which is expensive and complicated.  Dry toilets are more demanding for the individual but much simpler to maintain - plumbers are not necessary.  You are more in control, less dependent on specialists and government agencies.

What a beauty!  It has literally saved our  you- know- whats.

The dining room is finally painted and I am pleased to announce that 95% of all the wood paneling has been covered with paint or removed!  The utility room which houses our dry toilet, washer and dryer, and food pantry is still completely paneled, but it is not on the Phase One list - whew.  I think that we will eventually take down the paneling and dry-wall this room.  I will send out pictures of the dining room once we rehang the chandelier.

Isaac's face is mostly healed and other than a chipped tooth he has no permanent damage - praise God!
 We joined a home school co-op and our classes started this week which helped motivate me to start our daily lessons at home.  We are reorganizing ourselves to meet this new challenge.  Every year is different and adjustments must be made.