On the Road Again

I has been a busy week! Remember those placemats I wanted to make and how what was on my loom was "dust?" Well, I finally managed to get the loom dressed, the heddles threaded and the reed sleyed. (No, Autocarrot, not "slayed." I would have written "slain" if I had meant I killed it.) I plan to weave rag-rug-style placemats, using fabric as the weft.

Also in the category of fiber fun, I finished the ribbing on my next cardigan, the Kultainen käki and have joined to work in the round. Now the colorwork (and the fun) begins!

Monday we went to the dog park. There were no dogs in the little dog park, so we went to the other section. There were about ten dogs there. Dusty had a great time playing with the other big dogs. Sandy had some interaction with them, but mostly watched. One almost knocked me over while playing with another dog. I noticed large bruises on my leg. I'm glad we have smaller dogs.

Sandy is continuing to grow fast, although not quite as fast as before. On Thursday the two dogs looked like this together.

On Friday, Sandy weighed 13.8 lbs, a gain of nearly a half pound in a week.

Saturday we left for the coast. Sandy is turning out to be a great traveler. He mostly slept next to his friend Snowball, who is always asleep (we think...how can we tell?), and Dusty, who never really relaxes until we stop for the night.

Both dogs had a major break in our trip to the coast when we pulled off in Eugene to have a look at a little travel/camping trailer we had found online after a lot of research and thought might do for us. Our breakdown in March and our three weeks in Winnemucca convinced us that we didn't really need such a large home on wheels. Our existing trailer is really bigger than we need for camping trips. There's so much storage, we don't feel the need to unload everything between trips, so we end up hauling around stuff we don't need. The ceiling is much higher than need to feel comfortable and creates a lot of wind resistance when we're moving. It takes a good-sized pickup truck to pull it. This experience convinced us that we needed to switch to something that could be pulled by our family car. This is what we're considering: the R-Pod 171 from Forest River. 

Here's a look at the floor plan:

Sutton RV in Eugene had one on the lot. (At first they said they didn't have it, but it had just been parked in the wrong place. It turned up in the system and they were able to locate it.) We liked what we saw. It has a more open feeling than most similar trailers with the same amenities. If we get it, we will be giving up a lot of storage and our LP gas oven, so dry camping would leave us with just a stove top for cooking, unless we have a gas barbecue or charcoal grill. When we lived on our boat and left port, we were in the same situation. I baked bread in our pressure cooker, so I think we can deal with that. We would have slightly less used water (grey water or black water) storage capacity, meaning we might have to go to a dump station sooner, although it is rare that we have ever used the capacity that we currently have. We would gain access to areas where a larger trailer would be impractical, and we would have solar power, so we might not need our generator when dry camping. We would spend a lot less money on LP gas to heat the smaller space with a more efficient furnace. It would cost less in gas to haul around, so we could travel more miles for less money. We're seriously considering it.

We arrived at Jim's place late Saturday afternoon. The pups have been enjoying the nice backyard. It was good to be out of the car!

Sunday we celebrated Sandy's 5-month birthday by going to the beach. I don't think Sandy even noticed the ocean. It was windy and cool, but the pups had a great time. Today we will go back and maybe point out the big lake.

We went into town for lunch. It was very pleasant having crab chowder, garlic bread and a couple of beers on the estuary, with the pups lying under the table at our feet.

Sunday evening we had an old friend and neighbor of Jim's over for wine and snacking. It will be interesting to see what tomorrow brings.

My latest book has gone to the proofreaders.

For this week's cuteness, here's Miss Daphne on her last day of school.

I have a lot of difficulty responding to comments to my blog posts because of technical issues beyond my control (my lack of understanding of how things work). Message me on Facebook, Ravelry or Spoutible if you need information.

If you have a few minutes and are willing, please go to Amazon and B&N and search for "Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook by Peggy Stuart" in Children's. Every click on the page for the book makes it more likely they will keep a good supply in their warehouse and stores. If you are outside the US, you may have a separate website for these retailers. If you have a copy of any of our books, including Emil and Mariah, please leave an honest review on the websites, especially if you bought from them.

Where's my blog: If you want to follow my blog, go here and sign up to follow.

What's on my needles: Moving along with the Kultainen käki cardigan and the EmPower People Kerchief (hibernating).

What's on my loom: Placemats! (Well, the warp is on it now, but that's progress.)

What's on my sewing machine: Hoping to start on the boys' quilts soon.

What's in The Doll's Storybook: In Making Lemonade, the dolls find out how to work with what they have.

What's on my iPad/iPhone: I didn't get very far with White Silence by Jodi Taylor. Life has been busy.

What's in my wine glass: Madroña's El Tinto 2020, Lot 42, probably my absolute favorite.

What's my tip of the week: Taking an ice chest with you on a trip? See if some of the things you plan to keep refrigerated could be frozen instead. Water? Cooked oatmeal? Applesauce? Maybe you're taking some frozen food that might thaw before you use it? If so, you can cut down on the need for ice packs and ice, which frees up that space for food.

Where are my books: The stories in each book first appeared in the blog and they are reproduced with a few changes. 

Classic Tales Retold: Stories from The Doll's Storybook is available from BookBabyBookshop and other booksellers worldwide. The stories are Little Green Greatcoat, The Boy Doll Who Cried Wolf and Lost in the Woods.

Emil: Stories from The Doll's Storybook and Mariah: Stories from The Doll's Storybook are also still available from booksellers. The link for Book Baby is here. The three stories in Emil are Best Buds, Getting What You Want, and The Boys Cook Dinner.

The three stories in Mariah are Being Little, Besties, and Distraction.

If you don't get free shipping from Amazon or B&N, buy from the BookBabyBookshop, because 50% of the price goes to St. Jude. Other booksellers pay much less. 

Note: This blog post was produced on the iPad and the MacBook, using the iPhone for some photos and some photo processing. No other computer was used in any stage of composition or posting, and no Windows were opened, waited for, cleaned or broken. No animals or dolls were harmed during the production of this blog post.

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