I'm Back!!!

Hello everyone!  Sorry for the long delays between sharing.  Ever feel like there just aren't enough hours in the day sometime, well that is what happened to me.  Oh there has been so much that went on for the month of May so where to begin.... well let's start in the beginning of the month.

Aside from putting all my free time into fixing the multitude of issues on this trailer I work a regular job of 40+ hours a week and as if that wouldn't keep me busy enough I also sit as President for wonderful nonprofit charity that assists law enforcement families.  Sharing this with you leads me into why May was off the charts busy.
Every year during May the nation honors all the fallen officers during Police Week.  Our organization runs a booth in DC during the activities and our Auxiliaries host numerous memorial events statewide.  This puts me and the Board of Directors into a flurry of activity managing everything from merchandise to memorial arrangements.  My heart is completely devoted to assisting the law enforcement community and making sure the families know they are never alone.  My plans were to go to DC this year to assist during the week long events but I couldn't because my extra money has been diverted to fixing this money pit.  During this time of year we are also scanning, processing, and scoring hundreds of scholarship applications for the WBTB Law Enforcement Children's Scholarship which is awarded in May.

Auxiliary T-shirt fundraisers going on during May.

Participating in Police Week was a huge success and our committee is already working on plans for next year.

Okay you can start to see it is a busy month, this was only part.  We decided to take our annual Mother's Day camping trip because I was very depressed over missing the opportunity to attend Police Week in DC.  We chose one of our favorite state parks that was close.  I was excited because this was also the first time all the girls and our new grandson could go since the older girls entered the workforce.  About three days before we left the older girls canceled due to getting called into work.  Well that left Bill, myself and our youngest.... still a good time so we continued on our plans.

The day before we left we got a surprise, our feral cat had four kittens.  They were healthy and cute and momma was taking good care of them.  Okay off to camp!  Morro Bay was wonderful and it was a great way to test everything I had done to date.  Our first evening there was very windy and I decided while we set up camp I would dust off my dutch oven skills and cook dinner while we set up.  On the menu for dinner was Cajun duck, dirty rice, and stuffing.  I loaded my dutch oven and set it with coals and went on setting up camp.  With the new tongue jack it really made stabilizing the trailer so much better and wow pulling it was a dream!!

This was the first trip since we put in the new wiring, insulation, and walls (I had brought my trim hoping to get a chance to work on it in camp....no such luck.)  With the battery fully charged we turned on our galley light and man oh man was it great!!  It didn't dim like it had before we rewired everything when Bill turned on the cabin light or when I tested the new charging port I added in the galley while I charged my phone.  Lights that work!!!  That was success!!!

We had a great visit from another Tearjerker member on Sunday.  It was great chatting and hopefully we'll see him again at their next gathering.  :)  Camping in a teardrop brings out the social in everyone and even the kids through the camp loved coming over to watch the pirate flag, especially the girls since it was a sugar skull flag.

Dinner was excellent and I guess I wasn't as rusty as I thought I'd be using my dutch oven.

These are the memories we live for and why we trusted to have the trailer built for us.

You can see we still have a lot of work left but we did enjoy the trip and learned what we needed to work on.

Dutch ovens are great, the crock pot of the camping work...set it and forget it until it's done.

Our Mother's Day feast was slow roasted buffalo, sweet corn, and sweet potato with sour cream and chives..YUMMY!!!!

I bought glow sticks and glow necklaces for glow in the dark ring toss,as you can see huge hit!  We recycled our water and soda bottles and filled them with water to use for the game.

After we returned it was time to get back into work..... well we thought we would.  We came home to the kittens and after 1/2 a day home it was clear momma met her end while we were away.  I had the kittens gathered up and went out and picked up supplies to start bottle feeding them.  A heating pad, basket, and some towels and we are in business.  It took awhile to get them eating well but it was worth the effort.

After getting them eating well my girlfriend agreed to take them and raise them for us.  I was so happy I know they have a great home.

Okay so this brings us up to this weekend and getting back into the swing.  It was a struggle I won't lie because the desert summer has started early and we battled 100* heat all weekend.  After measuring and cutting all my wood I started assembling the back wall frame that I secured to the existing frame and affixed the fuss box to the new back wall.  Once it was in I added the insulation and called it a night.  I'm going to add the back wall and then add the new galley shelf so then I can get the cabin cabinets and nose cabinet.  The to do list gets smaller but of course new issues pop up.  We still have to address the galley lid issue.

The new back wall is coming together with the insulation and framing in.

The new fuse box looks so good and everything works like a charm.  I'm very proud of my wiring skills.

You can see the existing framing behind the new wall frame.  The pink wood there is the wood I added behind the aluminum Crybaby used as our back wall.  This is now very stable and with the insulation it is now warm too.

This was a nice way to get back into the swing of the trailer but man I could do without the heat!

Stay tuned I'm going to try and get the wall up and the galley shelf in before the weekend.  Thanks for staying tuned.