Project #5: Making the grandkids' bedroom into a combo bedroom/work room

This one was pretty easy, although bunking the beds required some effort.

Cleaned out more clutter, created more space, and got a desk and organizer for our hobbies.

We like it:

Rufous Hummingbirds are arriving

We haven't seen many, but they are here--after traveling as much as 2000 miles.  JUST TO SEE US!

Our birds are beginning to appear.  We have seen Chickadees, Robins, Juncos, Sparrows, a Northern Flicker, and a Hairy Woodpecker.

Within a few days we won't be able to keep our hummingbird feeders filled.  We are so excited!

Project #4: Painting the "master" bathroom

It really needed it.  It had not been painted since the house was built in 1980, and looked kind of bad, but with potential.  About six years ago I had the overhead fluorescent light fixture removed, but the ceiling had not been painted so it was two colors (both kind of gray---yech).

The light fixture that I had installed at that time never worked correctly.

It was time for a complete make-over:

First step:  painting the ceiling.

Then the walls:

Trim for under the window:  (and for a few other windows in the house)

Getting there:

Painting done:  Installing new light fixture:

Wow.  Does it look nice. 

Project #3: New floor registers

This is something we have been wanting to do for some time.  The registers in the house were probably installed when the house was built in 1980.   They had rusted, had paint dripped on them, and were filthy.

So this year was the year.

We tried several makes and varieties.   Finally decided on cast iron for the registers, and a cinnamon steel for the return grills.  There were a total of 18 registers and return grills.

Another project completed!!!

 New versus old:

Maps. Without them----no roadtrips to our public lands

One of many projects Vicky has been working on in the month since we have been home is maps. 

It's not as straightforward as it may seem.

If one is camping in state parks or National Parks maps are not really essential.  But we camp and hike in areas administered by a variety of agencies:  The Bureau of Land Management, the Agriculture Department, the National Forests, etc.  And in those areas are a maze of publicly-owned places and privately owned places.  And the rules governing where we can camp and hike are complex and different, depending on who administers the areas.

Complex, but worth it.  The reason for taking all of this effort is that we can camp by ourselves, in places where there are few, if any, other people. 

This year Vicky has ordered 25-30 more maps, adding to a collection that now numbers in the hundreds.  These maps are useless unless we have a system for retrieving the ones we need when we are in a certain part of the country.  So, this means she needs a system for them, which she has worked out.

 
 She orders the maps online.

And then organizes them by area, so she can locate them easily when we are traveling:

 

 The puts them into files which we carry in the camper:
 

Knowing how to camp and stay in our public areas, especially when one travels all over the country as we do, isn't straightforward.  It takes some time to learn about how to do this.

But is it ever worth it!