SNOW SNOW GO AWAY- OUR CRITTERS!!!

SNOW:

Well the snow has arrived here in Ohio! Yuck! The snow is starting to stick now and accumulate. Sorry to harp on the weather, but it is a good day to curl up with a book, and hibernate! Today I bought a new book by Nora Roberts, for this weekend, just for that purpose since we couldn't visit our parents! That should keep me occupied for the weekend along with finishing the craft and sewing room. I plan to finish separating all my crafts and putting them in see through plastic boxes so I can store them in the garage.

INTRODUCING OUR CRITTERS:

First of all, we have an 8yr old Dalmation named, Dutchess. She is my little girl, and the last of 4 Dalmations we have had. Depending how she does in the 5er she will most likely be going with us when we travel most of the time! She is extremely afraid of thunder and lightening, so when that happens, she becomes a 60 pound lap dog, right in my lap! It doesn't take too long for my legs to go to sleep!

Next is my Son's dog, a 1 year old, half Yellow Lab, and half Golden Retriever. She is very friendly and affectionate and also scared of her own bark! Lol! I don't think she would be much of a watch dog if someone broke into the house, she would probably lick them to death, or else show them where all the good stuff is! Haha! She is at least 70 pounds of solid muscle, and the only thing dainty about her is her name! When she slams into you, while running, you know you've been hit! Her name is Hannah and Dutchess thinks she is her baby! In fact, Dutchess house broke her by taking her out with her. Now when she wants to go out she grabs Dutchess by the collar, and pulls her out the door! Hannah is always ready to play and she often cons Dutchess into playing tug of war with their throw rope. Dutchess believe it or not can pull Hannah across the floor even though Hannah, the horse, out weighs her!

NOW FOR OUR FEATHERED FRIENDS: The Parrots

First of all there is Jake, he is a Yellow Naped Amazon Parrot. Most yellow napes have a little or alot of yellow feathers on their neck, Jake has none. Yellow Napes are excellent talkers and can imitate sounds, almost as well as the African Gray parrot. Jake has about a 200 word vocabulary, and sometimes talks in sentences and can ask questions too! He once climbed down from his cage, and walked into the kitchen where I was doing dishes. The whole time he was walking to the kitchen, he was saying, "What cha doing, huh?" After I told him he said, "Okay" and, then climbed up my jeans to investigate. He knows the other 4 birds names, and both dogs names. He calls them and yells our Son's and Grandaughter's names too! Every time the phone rings he will say "Hello" and, also when he hears the tones on the phone when you dial. He sometimes has imaginary telephone conversations. One time he was using his phone voice and I said to him," Jake I told you no more long distance phone calls!" He said, " Okay, goodbye" We rolled on the floor laughing about that! I have witnesses who have heard all this, I know it sounds too weird to be true, but it is! Jake is very social, but no one can hold him but me, he is definitely a one person bird, and most Amazons are like that! Sometimes he even bites me and if you own one of these birds that is one of the things you can plan on is getting bitten a few times!

THE MACAW:
Sunny is a 12 year old Harlequin Macaw. He is a cross between a Green Wing Macaw, and a Blue and Gold Macaw. He seems to have almost every color of the rainbow on him! He is about 18 inches tall, and for a bird of his size, he weighs a whopping 3 pounds! Must be all those hollow feathers. He has learned many words from Jake and they often talk back and forth to each other. He also had a few words of his own when he came to us. Among his favorite are: "Hi Big Boy, Step Up, Out, and Come Here!" He came to us by way of the non-profit bird sanctuary in Dayton, Ohio where I volunteer . It is called Wings Over America. Any bird can have a home there, that is no longer wanted, or has turned mean. He came to the sanctuary by way of Jack Hanna of the Columbus Zoo. He will go back for visits when we go full time and will always have a home.

THE TOO'S:
Cockatoo that is. A Mollucan Cockatoo is one of the largest of the Too's. They are white with some peach feathers on their top crest. Cockatoo's have a white, and
powdery substance in between their feathers and down which is a natural feather
lubricant. It gets all over your hands and clothes when you pet them. Too's have a loud screech that is deafening when you're close, and they let loose with it! We have 2 of these birds! Paco is a sweetheart of a bird who seems to need great amounts of love and feather preening. Hence their nickname, velcro birds. They are very protective of their humans, and are mostly one person birds. Paco is quite a character, who loves to jump, dance,and cuddle.

Cooper is the 2nd Mollucan Cockatoo we have. Cooper is a bird, that I rescued from a bad environment home. He was often screamed at, and had things thrown at his cage, and told to shut up and his owners would often swear at him. He is a sweet bird, who just needs attention and lots of love. He will always have a home with us and the bird sanctuary, he can never be adopted or leave the bird sanctuary or our home. He learned to swear from his previous owners swearing at him. Believe me it is not as funny as most people think when a bird learns to swear. They cannot be taken to schools, or nursing homes or bird shows. It has taken me 3 years to get him to say, " Cooper is a good boy", he used to say all the time,"Cooper is a bad, bad boy!" These birds should never be bought by people who can't take noise. Lots of them are abandoned and abused, because they are not understood. They have the intellegence of a seven year old child and I have seen many self mutalate themselves, and pluck their feathers, because of abuse. They get depressed just like people. Luckly, I got Cooper before that happened, but he did scream alot. He has calmed down alot since being here at our house. Parrots are not throw away pets! They can live a long time, and often outlive their owners, and many are willed to family members. My Amazon Parrot can live for 4o years, and our Macaw can live to be 60 years old! The Too's are about the same as a Macaw as far as how long they may live with good care and healthy food. Parrots need responsible and loving humans, or should be left in the wild. They are a lifelong commitment! Sorry I'll now step down from my soapbox and say ta ta for now!

EVERYDAY HAPPENINGS

Everyday Happenings:
Today was doctor appointment day and xrays. We're trying to get everything taken care of that we can for-see we need, so we won't have alot of doctor or dentist appointments while we're on the road. We can, thanks to Mike spending 20 years in the air force, be seen at any military hospital or civilian hospital if it's an emergency. However, it is nice to get things taken care of at your regular doctor who knows all your medical history. So that's what we did today, sort of check ups and medication refills.

CANCELLED TRIP:
We were supposed to go down to visit our parents tomorrow and this week-end. Now due to the winter storm watch that trip has been cancelled. I was looking forward to spending time with my Mom and Pop and my husband's Mom and step-Dad as well! My Mom and I had a quilting project we wanted to work on and we haven't been able to go down to Circleville, Ohio since Thanksgiving. So I'm a little disappointed about the weather, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. We're supposed to get a couple inches of that bad 4 letter word S--W and several layers of the other bad word, ice over the next 2 days. I hope after this winter I don't have to say either of these bad words again! That is, at least concerning the weather where I am! Haha! I certainly wouldn't want to take a chance of hurting our truck we have to pull our 5er with! Oh well, the quilting project will keep and I'll get over being disappointed. Looks like I'll have some free time to work on the craft room this weekend then, so maybe I'll get most of it boxed up for storage.

SMALL APPLIANCES:
We have looked at the vacuum food sealers and decided to go with the middle of the line one that is between $60 and $70 dollars. It looked like it would do the job we want it for.
I also want to get an immersion blender to take in the 5er for sauces dips and things like that. It would be much easier to pull that out than the mixer and it will fit in a drawer.
Next on my list is a new George Forman grill. The one I have is just about shot, it has been used so much! The one I am going to get has 3 plates, that will grill, make waffles, and has a griddle plate for pancakes, sandwiches and ect... so that will take the place of 3 appliances, which means less space and weight. This is one appliance that I have used alot and wouldn't be without! It is great for grilling chicken breasts, and I have even grilled vegetables for fajitas on it. It is great for shrimp also, and of course hot dogs and brats. I'd rather have an outside gas grill for steaks and burgers but, I have grilled burgers on the George Forman grill with good results.
The next thing is my Paula Deen toaster and egg cooker. My son and daughter in law got it for me for Christmas and it is great! I love it for egg, and ham English muffin sandwiches like McDonald's egg muffin only without all the fat and butter.
It also doubles as a toaster and hard boiled egg maker.
Happy Thursday everyone!

LUNCH DATE AND MONSTER COOKIES!

LUNCH DATE:
Today we met Mike's former co-workers for lunch! They we're so excited to know that we had taken to plunge and got our 5th wheel trailer! Now they want us to bring it next time we have lunch so they can see it! We took the pictures with us and they were amazed at how much room there was in it! We got lots of ideas for trips from them! They said be sure we go to the Grand Canyon and Sedona! It was fun to catch up with all of them and their family's. They told Mike all that's been going on at work and made him glad he's not there anymore! lol! Same old politics and things going on as when he worked there. It never ends does it?

MONSTER COOKIES:
To make a long story short I have been making these cookies since the 1980's. They have just about everything in them but, the kitchen sink, and flour! When I first made them they were a great undertaking, because it was hard to mix up the dough, and you have to mix them up in a huge dishpan! One time I even broke a wooden spoon trying to stir them! Lol! They are monster cookies because of their size, you use an ICE CREAM scoop to drop them on the cookie sheet, and you can only put 3 on a cookie sheet because they spread so much! They also, use 1 doz eggs, 2 lbs of butter, 1 lb of M&M's, 2 lbs of peanut butter, and large amounts of the rest of ingredients! I'm using a scaled down recipe this time, of Paula Deen's, so it won't make so much! I'm also going to use a small cookie scoop for them so they won't be so big. They will still be the monster cookie recipe with all the ingredients, just not so big! They are expensive to make and I haven't made them in over 3 years! These cookies are a dieters nightmare! I promise to only eat one, and if ya believe that I've got a bridge for sale, you might be interested in too! Ha ha !
I just love watching Paula Deen on the food network! She is so funny! Anyway I'm baking these cookies for friends of ours, who are hungry for them. I love to bake cookies, but rarely do because they are so fattening! Let's just say there was a lot of begging involved and I couldn't say no!

HUBBY"S OBSESSION:
Since we bought the 5er, Mike sits and goes through RV parts and accessories catalogs! He is seriously scarring me! We need this, we need that, I would like to have this, this would be good to have! YIKES!!!! It must be a man thing is all I can think of! Kind of like me looking through a craft or country furniture catalog, maybe!

ONE LESS THING ON OUR LIST!

NEW LAPTOP:
We found a new laptop on sale at Circuit City and decided that it had everything that we needed to take on the road with us. We will have our desktop and the laptop to take with us. The laptop is smaller than the 17" screen we wanted, but at 15.4" it will do just fine and it is lighter than the 17" one, which was a factor in our decision to purchase the smaller one. Mike my DH is limited to only lifting 10 lbs because of his back problems. So now we will have to get an air card for it.

BIG SPENDING:
Gosh will the big spending ever be over? It seems like we're spending money left and right! I guess I should have started keeping track before this, so we would know how much it cost us to get on the road! No matter how hard I try I'm sure I'll forget to note something! We now have our travel insurance and our fiver insured for replacement value. We'll probably do satellite tv , at least we're looking into that. We just got new cell phones at Christmastime so that's taken care of. We're going to need a digital camera so we can keep a picture record of our travels. Digital camera's are another big ticket item and are as confusing and scary to me as the whole computer, satellite, wifi, air card, mumbo jumbo! YIKES!!! Will it ever end?

WHAT TO PUT IN 5th WHEEL:
So far I want to take my CROCKPOT, SEWING MACHINE, SERGER. STEAMER, MIXER, GEORGE FORMAN GRILL, and my SLICER, which I use every week. I'm sure I'll add to the list as I go along. I can't decide if I need to bring my cast iron frying pans yet or not, because they are very heavy. I don't forsee me cooking over the fire outside very often, so maybe not. This seems like a good place to end this post so I will!

LAZY SATURDAY

Today is cold and dreary here in Springfield, Ohio! Not much going on today due to all the errands and grocery shopping we did yesterday. Why is it running around all day makes you more tired than if you worked 8 hours? We did shop for the whole month of February so I guess once we get on the road we'll be shopping more often. Most RV refrigerators unless you have one of the new double refrigerators we saw at the Dayton RV Show, don't hold much, and the freezer section is even smaller. It was suggested to me in RV Dreams chat that one of the things you can do is to shrink wrap everything, and then the food doesn't take up so much room. I will be checking this option out to see about the cost, weight, and how much space one of these units will take up in the fifth wheel. I'll keep ya posted on the progress with that. Sounds like it could be a good idea though. Most of the chatters I talked to said they shop once or twice a week. Wow will be alot of changes to get used to, once we're on the road! Then again I think we should be living at a more relaxed pace than we do now with the kids and grandkids running in and out, doctor appointments, and so on!

NEW TIRES AND FIFTH WHEEL HITCH:
Before we go on the road, we have to get 6 new tires for our truck! In the days of oxen pulled wagons they had to have food and water for their oxen, so I guess having to put tires on every once in a while is comparable. We want to start out with brand new tires just for peace of mind. When we bought the truck it had pretty good tires on it so we want to wait until the last minute
before we leave to have new ones put on.
When we bought our fifth wheel, we bought the hitch at the same time. So we need to make an appointment to get our hitch installed in the back of the truck, before we can even pick up our new fifth wheel! There is a lot to be done and it seems to be taking forever, perhaps I'm getting a little inpatient to get our trailer picked up, and start putting things into it! This last stage before getting on the road feels like its going to last forever! Then there is so much we still need to buy before we can go. The internet and tv options are so confusing it can scare you to even make a decision!

Time To Get Organized!

We are in a unique situation here. Our Son is buying the house off of us, so I really don't have to pack up all our things. We will have the use of the garage for storage and our bedroom anytime we want when we are near, so I only have to sort and pack the things we either want to store, or take with us. I do have to empty out all the other bedrooms of extra stuff so he can spread out a bit. Then too some of the things I have he doesn't want to use,because he has his own.

THE WORST ONE OF ALL:
The bedroom that I use for my sewing and craft room is packed full of my little goodies! I had already separated things into plastic bins so it will be a little easier, but I have been dreading doing it. So here goes!

SEWING:
First all my sewing patterns I have decided will stay here, so that wasn't hard. Out to the garage they go in plastic tubs. But that is only a small part of all the stuff in the room. I want to take some of my quilting material and gadgets, cutting wheels etc... with me in the 5ER so, I will have to separate the colors, pack my sewing machine and serger. Then it can go in the one tub I have marked for hobbies to take on the road with me.

YARN:
Then there is my yarn, crochet hooks and directions. I will have to pick a few colors and use them and replace them on the road when I run out, because even though yarn doesn't weigh much it does take up space, and there wouldn't be room for it all! It would fill up the whole closet in the bedroom of the 5er! I keep telling myself that I'm not saying goodbye to all my stuff I still get to keep it! Most of my craft things will stay here in the garage too. I condensed two tubs into one and threw a bunch of misc things away. The more I throw away the more room we'll have in the garage to store some of the furniture and nick knacks I want to pack away for safety because they are breakable.

FLORAL:
Next are my floral supplies, and I think I will just take my wire cutters, wire, and floral tape. The silk flowers I can buy on the road if I want the make a wreath or arrangement for someone. I do silk wedding bouquets, corsages and all kinds of arrangements, but I doubt I will be making wedding things on the road! LOL! Ya never know when an opportunity to make money on the road will present itself at a kraft show or flea market!


I can see this is going to take more than one day, because I have only done 1/3 of the stuff and, I haven't even started on the crafts! What a fantastic craft and sewing room it has been,with everything I need from paint brushes, paint, glitter, thread etc... at my fingertips! I never dreamed I'd be packing most of it away, but I am always up for an adventure, and I think this will be a most excellent one! It will also be interesting to see what I can do without! At least I'm doing all this while it's cold outside so come spring it will all be done and we'll be ready to roll!
Hurry up spring!

Sassy's Schooner Saga - RVing the Modern Way!

Just like the pioneers with their Prairie Schooner covered wagons and oxen, modern man hasn't lost his urge to wander, and look for a better life! This is the reason for my title. Although unlike the pioneers who had great hardships on their journeys, modern man has found a better and easier way to go than wagons and oxen. The RV or recreational vehicle! All the conveniences of home go with you, no roughing it like the pioneers for modern man! So this begins the story of our journey.

FIRST A BIT ABOUT US....
Mike and I have been married for 35 years and Mike retired from 20 years in the Air Force, and then retired from 20 years working as a contractor on Wright Patterson Air Force Base in Ohio.
Sassy is my nickname because sometimes I am! LOL! Kris is my name, and I retired in 2000 after running a home day care for 17 1/2 years. I have done many jobs but doing child day care was my favorite.

We raised 3 sons during that time and 2 of them are married and have children, and the youngest is getting married at the end of 2008. He is buying our house! We have three granddaughter's ages 8, 6, and 4.

WEEKEND RV'ERS:
We have been weekend rv'ers for 25 years! We camped at various state parks in Ohio over the years. Then we had a spot in a private campground on beautiful Indian Lake, near Lima, Ohio for 20 years.

We started out in an 18' Shasta trailer which tended to get even smaller when it rained, with 3 small boys! Next we got a bunkhouse trailer with 3 bunks in the back that lasted until the boys became teenagers, and no longer wanted to be seen with parents anymore!
So we sold the bunkhouse and bought a used 5th wheel, and so began our love affair with the 5er! In 2005, we gave up our campsite and sold the 5er, but kept our 22' pontoon boat. We wanted to see if we missed boating, because we had decided we wanted to go full time in 3 years and didn't want a motorhome so we could tow the boat. Funny how you can go boating for years, then give it up and, you don't even miss it!

RESEARCH:
For the last 3 years we have gone to just about every RV show we could find in the state of Ohio! We have also searched the Web and, that's where we found out about the RV Dreams website!
We knew we wanted a 5er and a truck for our full time travel. I need to backtrack a little in order to go forward with our story, so please be patient with me, I haven't quite got the feel for this blog thing yet!

SERIOUS BLOW:
In July of 2007 we are dealt a serious blow to our plans! Mike has been diagnosed with prostate cancer! We find out it is in the early stages and is slow growing. He will have his prostate taken out in September 2007! All through this, we didn't know what was going to happen to our dream of going full time! Two weeks before Mike's surgery we find THE TRUCK!

THE TRUCK:
We decide to think positive and to go ahead and buy it! We got a 2001, Dodge 3500 dually with a V10 in it, and only 40,000 miles on it! Finding this truck renews our dream and we feel like it was meant to be! We decide we're not going to let the cancer interfere with our dream! Our motto became: "Hold On Tight To Your Dreams!" Mike had his surgery and by December 2007, he is fully recovered! We find out in December that they got all the cancer too! We put our pontoon boat up for sale and it sells the first week of January 2008! We now have a good down payment for our 5er! We decide to go to one more RV show and see if there is anything we like better. Now, on we go now to find a 5er!

CHANGE OF MIND:
In January of the new year we go to the Dayton, Ohio RV Show. We finally see one we like as well as the Titanium, that we had decided we were going to try for. It is also just a little more than the used Titanium we were going to buy. The Titanium was still our first choice, but we can't afford a new one, over $70,000. We can afford a brand new 2008 model of the one we like at the RV show.

WE BUY OUR 5ER:
So on January 18th, 2008, we signed the papers on our new Cedar Creek Sliverback 5th wheel!
We chose the model 30LSA with a rear entertainment center! Reason being that most of the time we went to RV parks we always had another trailer behind us so we had no view anyway! Our 5er is 34'7" and has 3 slides, and is just right for the two of us! We now have our version of the oxen (our truck) and our schooner covered wagon (our Silverback 5th Wheel.) This modern day pioneer couple are ready for the trail!!!!! Wagons Ho!! We are now ready to realize our dream! WOO HOO!!

Please stay tuned for the next part:
Packing, what to take, and what to leave behind!