ENJOYING THE LAZY, HAZY DAYS OF SUMMER

Monday, August 17 - Paul purchased a new satellite tripod and a couple accessories. The old tripod was getting pretty wobbly, and he didn't think it would last through our fall/winter travels.

We both made time to help out with a home build our church is doing for the local Habitat for Humanity Organization. Marsha is the coordinator for all the snacks and meals for the days our church works on the house. This particular Saturday, she provided a delicious lunch, and Paul joined the men working on the framing of the house.

Marsha has been very busy working on all her crafts. She found some time to create a couple of pine needle baskets. She is working on a few more also.

The orange baskets is holding some of Paul’s precious Petoskey stones he brought back from Michigan. The other is a cracker basket.

As if she doesn’t have enough hobbies, Marsha found a new hobby this summer…mats for the homeless. There is a group at our church that calls themselves the Bag Ladies. They crochet plastic mats out of plastic shopping bags. It is a great way to recycle the bags and makes a great barrier between the person lying on the cold or wet ground. She has set a goal of making one a month. It takes about 700-900 bags to make one mat and about 70-90 hours. The size of the mats are about
3 1/2 feet wide by 5 1/2 feet long. Yes….just about every free minute she has goes to making the mats. She really enjoys it.

Marsha baked 92 loaves of various sizes of Zucchini bread. She freezes most of the loaves. We love it with coffee in the morning. She also gives away tons and tons of the loaves to family and friends.

Just a small sample of the loaves and muffins.

As mentioned in a previous blog, Paul has been Mr. Trapper this summer keeping busy re-locating about a dozen groundhogs and raccoons. Marsha still noticed something was digging around her bird feeders so Paul set the trap again expecting to catch another raccoon. Well, you might of guessed it......a SKUNK was in the trap the next morning! YIKES!!

Paul has trapped and relocated numerous animals over the years and this is the first time he trapped a skunk. With no experience moving a skunk he resorted to Google. He found that many areas have laws against relocation of skunks because of their tendency to be carriers of rabies. Also, there's that threat of getting sprayed.

He was successful in getting the trap covered with a tarp and not getting the proverbial skunk treatment. Actually, it was fairly easy to get that cover in place. That skunk was probably happy to get out of the hot sun. Now how to lift the trap into the back end of his truck? He didn't want to get the skunk upset again and have it let loose with that killer smell.

Since it was only digging around the bird feeders and eating wasted seed, Paul decided to just let it go here. It wasn't eating Marsha's flowers or digging in the yard. If it continued to be a nuisance, he could always re-trap it and attempt to relocate it.

So, Paul simple released the lock on the cage door before removing the tarp. He stepped back and yanked the tarp away letting the trap door fall open. Peppy La Pew ran across the yard, under the 5^th wheel, along the fence and into the neighbor's driveway culvert. We'll see if he is brave enough to risk the rage of “trapper Paul” in the future.

We have had some of the most beautiful sunsets we have ever seen in Ohio. We were visiting with dear friends who live on the lake by our house and witness a gorgeous sunset.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

RV UPGRADES, REPAIRS AND VARMINTS

Thursday, August 5 – Since returning from our excursion to the UP of Michigan, we've been busy making some improvements to our fifth wheel and some repairs where necessary. There's been some time for hobbies and some baking too! We'll share some of these activities in the next couple blogs using pictures.

Dirty AC

Dirty AC cover (Amazing the dirt buildup inside that cover)

Clean AC (that's better)

Don’t forget to clean the filters periodically…Yuck!

Paul removed the vent screens and gave the fans a good cleaning.

The nails were falling out of old handles of our landing boards---don't want to run over a nail.

Now that's much better!

A screw had worked up and was tearing the covering under the slide-out.  Better get that removed!

Furnace tape has proven a good fix for tears to the under cover.

Paul installed the new regulator in the water bay. Now he won't be leaving this expensive regulator behind in the campground as happened in the past.

Paul installed a new smoke detector in the bedroom. The former location in the hall experienced false alarms while cooking. Scared poor Bella to death.

Paul built a couple corn hole games---one for us and one for Kelly and Dave.

Marsha shows off her painting skills. She wanted one to be her beloved Cleveland Indians and one our undisputed National Champs…The Ohio State Buckeyes.

Kelly and Dave enjoy painting their boards in honor of the Cleveland Browns.

While Dave gives instructions on how the painting is to be done, Kelly does all the work.

It is now midnight, and Kelly finishes the job while the boys enjoy some refreshments.

Paul's been the trapper all summer using his live trap to re-locate numerous raccoon and groundhogs. Too be exact…he has caught SIX raccoons and FIVE groundhogs. Oh….and a neighbor’s cat!

Marsha just about had a fit when she looked out the window and saw this guy eating her flowers.

Don’t look at me that way. You are on relocation assignment.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!

FATHER OF INDUSTRIAL EDUCATION…HENRY FORD

Monday, July 20 – Our last day in Dearborn, Michigan, was spent at the Ford Rouge Factory – part of the Henry Ford. The Rouge initially produced submarine chasers, or Eagle Boats, then tractors. The Model A was the first car produced there, beginning in 1927. At its peak in the 1930s, more than 100,000 people worked at the Rouge. To accommodate them required a multi-station fire department, a modern police force, a fully staffed hospital and a maintenance crew 5,000 strong. One new car rolled off the line every 49 seconds. Each day, workers smelted more than 1,500 tons of iron and made 500 tons of glass, and every month 3,500 mop heads had to be replaced to keep the complex clean.

This is the factory where the new aluminum body Ford F150 is assembled.

After taking a short bus ride from the Henry Ford Museum to the Rouge Factory, we began the tour with a historical film in the Legacy Theater. An interesting historical fact we learned from the film is Henry Ford tried auto production three times before he was successful. Twice he lost everything and had to rethink his dream.

After the film, we moved to the Manufacturing Innovation Theater where everything from robots to laser beams are use to light up your senses illustrating the production of the new F-150 from concept to highway. It really is a pretty amazing production. No photos permitted in this theater.

We exited the second theater into the Legacy Gallery. Here we walked past the historic vehicles made at the Rouge factory. Included are the Ford Model T, the Mustang, the Thunderbird, and of course the F-150. Quite a history for this factory that in its heyday employed nearly 100,000 workers. They currently have 2000 hourly workers that work two 12-hour shifts.

What a hoot!

The last, and perhaps the most interesting aspect is the walking tour. Absolutely no photos permitted in this area. We were free to roam at our own pace along an elevated walkway over the entire production floor. In order to mass produce the new aluminum body Ford 150, the entire factory was gutted and rebuilt in three months. During that time, the workers were being trained to learn how to use the new technology.

During our walking tour, we saw the cabs being assembled and then attached to the box. Also, the glass being set in the cab and all the doors, the interiors put in place and the bumpers and lights. Last was the final F-150 rolling off the assembly line and being tested. They test every truck before it is called complete. I think we saw everything but the painting department and the placing of the body on the chassis. Those departments were not able to be seen from the viewing platform. The installation of the windshield and back window was the only place we saw only robots doing the work. Men and women do all the assembling.

It was a wonderful tour and one we are glad we took. We were not as exhausted after this portion of the Henry Ford. Today we only walked 6,027 steps and 2.92 miles on the tour. Guess you could partner this tour with one of the other shorter excursions at the Henry Ford if you selected carefully.

Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see y’all back real soon. Have a great day!