Tooth #3 ~ gone

The Thixth year owd lotht a toof.

Measure twice, cut once

Today we cut, laid, drilled and screwed plywood to the bottom of the bus. The plastic underneath is to try to cut down on the moisture. This first piece was a doosy!

Measure twice, cut once....That's Matt's motto.

See that little hole on the right side about 2 feet from the door? He measured and cut a perfect hole. In the wrong place. Forgive him? He's got an awful cold.

And for you Mom and Dad, a picture of the kittens. We've had them just a little over a year and they've never seen them. Even when they "cat sat" for a week. They only come out at night when the kids are in bed. Mater lounges on top of Maddy, while Millie , not wanting to be accused of such an obvious display of relaxation, keeps an eye out for intruders.

More Salvage Yard Etiquette

Well, here we are back at the salvage yard. Here are those drasted swivel mechanisms. They're stuck, no amount of elbow grease will make them give up their position.

"Ya know" Matt says to me, "Fleet farm has them for $30.00 a piece." "Really" I say not wanting to give up hope for cheap ( I mean recycled) parts , "Let's look around some more." I've got the bug. This is my Black Friday without the crowds. The van did not prove to be so stingy with its overhead lights though, we are able to muscle 3 sets away from her.

While I am new to this whole scene, Matt has been doing this for years. BUT he's never looked through conversion vans and campers before, it's a whole 'nother world. He's area of expertise is FAST stuff. You know, under the hood stuff, engines, transmissions, turbo chargers and intercoolers. It turns out as we wander to the camper van to check out the "kitchen" again, we come upon another gaggle of conversion vans. All with swivel seats. Apparently, these are widely available.

The refrigerator is small but in great shape and runs on 12/120 volt and propane. Under the counter top are 2 burners and a sink. After 2 weeks of pondering (and pricing new) we think it's worth taking. The owners manual and operating instructions are even in the glove box. I'm big on owners manuals and instruction books.






After we lug the unit to the van we decide check out the "new arrivals" section. These were not here last time, their doors are still closed, and they have not yet been thoroughly ravaged. We unearth this treasure. The swivel mechanisms are not rusted completely to the frame AND attached to them are really nice comfy driver and navigator seats. I know we were planning on a 60/40 split bench seat, but that's been harder to come by than we thought. Matt tells me the S.M.'s at Fleet Farm aren't nearly as sturdy as these.


We leave this yard 3 hours later with 3 light fixtures, 2 captains chairs, 3 swivel mechanisms, and a kitchen for $200.00.

Since we're still looking for 3 bucket seats from an Astro van, it's off to "Gibby's". The mother of all bone yards. I'm giddy with anticipation. Matt tries to explain that this will be a much different experience. There are rules here, waivers to sign, bigger selection does not always mean better selection... He's right, there is no cat snoozing peacefully in the front office, there are menacing signs warning of "tool box inspection" and "No admittance", There are lots of people here wandering through aisle upon aisle of cars that reminded me of a turkey carcass picked clean after Thanksgiving dinner.

We find nothing in the way of seats, but do come across a utility truck with some interesting locking side panel doors that might come in handy for under bus storage. It is getting late and since Matt had pared down his toolbox to the bare necessities and left the the power screwdriver back in the van he decides to get them at another time. I am happy to leave there. He is right, bigger is not always better. While we are walking out, we discuss (I talk) of how we (I) would run a salvage yard if we (I) had one.

Matt had called another salvage yard a few weeks ago to see if they had any seats. "Scotty" had called back to say they had them but the price tag was quite a bit more than I was willing to fork out. I was confident we could find them elsewhere cheaper so I didn't return their call. We needed to drive by on the return trip anyway so we decided to pay them a visit. My confidence was failing after we turned up nothing in a whole day of hunting and I was now willing to part with a little more cash for the seats.

It was 3:30 when we pulled in. We were met in the office by the owner, a young guy, who was apparently working with a bare bones crew in the shop due to the holiday. When we explained what we were looking for, a light bulb of recognition could be seen in his eyes. He remembered the request and the fact that we had not called back. This set him off in a tirade about John Q. Public being rude and cheap how we could not expect anything to be done at this time of day. Now, if we were one of his buddies it would be different. Do we think he's gonna drop everything to help a guy who spend a couple hundred bucks a year here or the shop owner who doesn't give him crap about what he's charging....blah, blah, blah. YIKES, High prices, bad customer service... I think he failed The Customer Is Always Right 101. Or maybe he was just coming to from a Tryptophan induced coma. We high tailed it out of there with no seats.

Somehow we had overlooked what was right underneath our noses, the local yard only a few miles from our house. Although Matt hadn't remembered ever seeing any vans there, he was wrong. They had 4. We were escorted to and disappointed by the first 3. It wasn't looking promising until #4. There they were, 3 seats, in great condition, same color as the ones we already had. I said out loud, "We've been to 3 junk yards today and haven't found anything this nice." Matt slowly turned to me with a look of disappointment in his eyes. "Salvage yards, Kari" and then to the young boy who had been summoned as our guide, "I'm trying to teach her."

They'll pull all 3 and we can pick them up on Monday afternoon for $80.00.

Will I ever be proficient in Salvage Yard Etiquette?

3 or 2-1?

What do you all think? Seating arrangement......2-1......or.....3 across? It's hard to believe there's the same amount of walkway isn't it? Our first plan was 2 sets of 3 across, but now that we have some actual seats to look at, I'm thinking I like the 2-1 split better.

The plan still remains to have the front 3 (whatever the configuration turns out to be) swivel, but now, instead of one big (removable) table in between them we'll have one medium size table and one small one.

I think I'm going to call the small area the "breakfast nook".

This will cause a bit more work with our flooring though. The original plan was to have carpet under the seats with a small walkway of hardwood flooring going to the kitchen area (behind the seats) which will be all hardwood and then carpet again in the bedrooms. What's the problem with this you ask...two "carpet/floor intersections" instead of one. We've never carpeted before and we're not sure what they do where the carpet meets the hardwood. And now, we'll have to do it twice, once on each side of the path. I'm sure Matt will figure it out.

Above the seats will be enclosed cabinets or open bookshelves. Like the overhead compartment of an airplane only prettier. We'll also have reading lights. I found some websites with similar cabinetry.

I absolutely LOVE these bookshelves.

And I like these enclosed cabinets.

A successful hunt

His first deer! "Was it as bad as Grandpa's last year?" I asked when he called me on their way home. "No, there was a little bit of guts hanging out but not as bad as Grandpa's". Last year he was there when Grandpa had a not so quick kill. I'm glad he had that experience though. *"I'm sorry you had to see it, Son," he said, "but it's that sort of thing that makes a fellow into a man."* relevant excerpt from our current read-aloud, Little Britches by Ralph Moody.





And then there's the Great White Hunter himself! It wasn't his first, but I'm sure it was just as exciting!

Hellooooo?

"Helloooo? Anyone there? Have you forgotten me?" This is what I heard when I got up this morning. I opened the dining room curtain and this is what I saw. Errabundus S. Bus was peering through the window. "I've been rather lonely" she admitted. "Sorry Skoolie"(our pet name for her) I whispered "The boys went hunting, and I had loads of nothing to do while they were gone. You know, a laundry mountain to whittle away at, football to watch, organizing, deep cleaning all while NOT preparing meals three times a day. Whatever was in the fridge is what we ate.....all weekend! You know....nothing." If she could given me a thumbs up, she would have. I just know it. It's funny how just not having to prepare meals and having two less people to attend to makes one feel a little like they're on vacation. I assured her she'd have a floor by the end of next weekend, the salvage yard will receive a visit to retrieve the swivel mechanisms and maybe we can find more seats. I closed the curtain certain she felt less lonely.

Gunk

Matt was on call last weekend so we didn't get much done on the bus. We bought the plywood to cover the bottom, caulked up all the holes that were left after the removal of her seats, and gave her insides a good scrubbin'. Nothing picture worthy.

I will say though, as clean as the bus looked when we bought her...... EEEWWWWW! I can't believe all the gunk you can't see until it's gone. Reason #36 to homeschool your kids. Or at least drive them there and back yourself because at least, then, it's YOUR gunk.