Ruminating

With the passing of time comes the fading of memories and try as we might to hold on to them, we tend to lose parts and sometimes all of the precious memories we create. The enjoyment of the good ones gives us pleasure and peace in our chaotic world while the bad ones can sometimes serve as motivation, not just a reminder of pain and suffering.  Here's to more good times and good memories and the ability to take control and choose to remember more of the good times and less of the bad times.

The year 2013 was a good one. The beginning of the year brought with it the usual hopes of a fresh start and of doing better with the things we did not do so well in the previous year and a new list of projects to be completed. All-in-all, I think we ended in a better place than we began, and that is a good thing. Here is a look back at the Slangsfamily fun 2013

The project - RV 101 2.0
This was a project that taught me to not be so afraid of things I might not know much about.  With a lot of coaxing and prodding, Cherilyn helped me through my fear and I even learned a thing or two. Major props to Cherilyn, I think I wore her out some days just with my lack of desire to face the elements and continue tackling the project. A year later, the project is still not complete but we are entering the "fun" stage.  I say fun in that we are doing things to "pretty" it up as opposed to the rebuilding.  Some of this work is still hard though. HERE is the story of this project and sometime in a future post, the story of the completion will be told :-)

Scary Project

Field trip, Gravel and Snow
February brought the usual spring tease with several very nice days as well as the reminder that winter is far from over. We just have to take advantage of whatever comes our way.

On a few of the nicer days, we were able to do some grounds improvement.  We had gravel brought in for a nice pad to park the 5th wheel on near the barn.

Unfortunately the day of Brittney's class field trip to Fantastic Caverns was not such a great day, we knew it was still winter. In spite of the cold and clouds and some snow on the ground we had a good time. (follow the link to learn more about Fantastic Caverns)

With snow came winter fun

GRADUATION:

Krystene, a proud UNCC Alum

With the RV project still incomplete, we were unable to travel to North Carolina with it for Krystene's graduation. So we packed up the van and drove the 15 hours to Charlotte at the beginning of May. This trip had it's ups and downs. (that's what traveling through the Appalachians will do for you. LOL)

Seeing your daughter graduate college brings a mix of emotions.  Being immensely well pleased is the greatest of these emotions, after that however, come the thoughts of worry - have a done a good enough job as a parent? will she be able to get a good job? holy cow I'm old! etc.

Our trip had the fun of the graduation and all the festivities that go along with that as well as the opportunity to see and visit with good friends.  I must say it was good to be able to see everyone I was able to.  I miss my good friends in NC. Along with the visitations with good friends, we were able to spend time in the local ER - Thanks go out to the ER Staff @ North East Medical Center for taking care of Carissa.  Remember what I said about memories? Well, memories of appendicitis caused a concern in Cherilyn when Carissa described feeling pain in her abdomen and began running a fever. Turns out, Carissa just needed a little more fiber and exercise, nothing major.  :-)

(For full details and more pics, click the GRADUATION link)

Spring Invasion
The springtime in southwest Missouri brings beautiful days, much greenery and good times in the great outdoors. Along with all of that good stuff, comes a few unwelcome guests to the land. Now these guests are great for doing what they do but I do not like to see them at all, especially near the house. Indiana Jones and I enjoy the same expression of displeasure - "snakes! why did it have to be snakes!" Fortunately, I have never heard - "Scott, the floor, it moves!"

Parental Visitation:
The end of May brought Cherilyn's parents for their annual visit. No major activities planned this year, we had been too busy all spring working on the 5th wheel, which still was not ready for use, though it was close. Just before Cherilyn's parents were to leave, the 5th wheel was ready for a trial run and just like the year before with the last 5th wheel, they got to be a part of the first use.

Ready to fly to Utah

NO KIDS
When Cherilyn's parents flew back to SLC, Brittney and Carissa went along too. 

Couple Retreat
While the girls were off having fun in Utah, we thought we should have some fun as well and not just work ourselves to death, after all, we had worked all spring on rebuilding the 5th wheel.  We decided we could take a couple of days and enjoy the fruits of our labors.  We found another State Park not too far from us to explore, Bennett Spring State Park 

what a proper campsite view should be

 

Preparing the treat for the dutch oven

(Thanks to my grandmother for the hand beater) :-]

the treat!

tinfoil dinner

NC Proud

The saddest part of the trip was drinking my LAST Cheerwine soda! :-(

Check out the size and amount of Trout!

One of the many hiking trails

 The trip was REALLY enjoyable. So glad we went.  We were able to enjoy some quality time together hiking and exploring the area and sitting by the campfire. It was a refreshing trip. Amazing what just a couple of days away can do.

Meanwhile in Grandma and Cousin Land (otherwise known as Utah)
The girls enjoyed plenty of good times during their 3 weeks with cousins and Grandma. Thanks to their Aunt Julie, Rebecca and of course Grandma big plans and big activities abounded daily including, Avairy, mountains, lazer tag, miniature golfing, fun centers and multiple trips to the water park where Carissa finally overcame her fear of going down the slide and dropping into the water. :-)

 

Krystene Lands a Job! and an apartment!
Krystene was able to officially enter the "real world" by becoming employed in the field in which she studied. She was fortunate to have graduated in May and by June she had a job that would have her begin her teaching career in July. That employment also meant a big move a few hours away.  Krystene began teaching the 5th grade at a year round school in July. So VERY proud of her! :-) Good luck "Miss Lang"

July
July brought everyone home and good times during the 4th of July fireworks and of course Carissa's birthday.

We enjoyed the annual fireworks in our little town of Marionville on what was actually a pretty cool evening.

Blankets in July

Marionville Fireworks

For Carissa's birthday, we decided to go camping in Branson and spend one day at Silver Dollar City. We had a good time despite the intense heat.  The week before it was cool but for our trip the temps went higher than normal. Good thing we planned to only do water rides on our day at SDC.  It was very fun.
Being at the campsite was like being in a furnace because it was sooooooo hot. We were thankful for the RV with A/C when we could not be in the pool. However, we survived and had an enjoyable time during our stay at the Branson KOA. 

the pool was the big hit of the park

Marshmallow toasting on the grill

Carissa requested a candy cake

"Candy Land" cake

Presents are great for your birthday!

Free pancakes at the KOA

The girls rode their bikes to breakfast at the hall not too far from our campsite

Jumping pillow

KOA RV park camping

Boys Weekend
The end of July brought a boys weekend of camping and mountain biking. I rounded up some friends from church and we set up camp at Table Rock Lake State Park and enjoyed the White River Valley Trail system.

Safety first in my new helmet.

View from close to the top of the trails

Burgers for lunch

All the riding was fun but with several hundred feet of elevation change multiple times on the trails, I realized how out of shape I was/am LOL

Water Project
In August we began our quest for water. The drillers finally showed up out of the blue one day 6 months after we began the process of trying to get our new well drilled.

600 feet down

That was the last day we saw and or heard from them. They never even sent a bill.  Maybe by the end of summer 2014 we will have the water running.

Puppy Love

Earlier in the year Brittney picked a pup from one of our litters. She named her pup Chloe

A girl and her dog!

School Bell Rings
August also brought the start of another school year.  Brittney entered the 3rd grade and Carissa entered the 1st grade. In our school system, this means they are now attending two different school buildings which means we have to leave earlier in the morning in order to get both girls dropped off on time. That is a real chore! :-)

Don't get too close to the fire, you might get burned!
Burn piles happen several times a year at our place and the girls really enjoy them. Roasting hot dogs and marshmallows is always fun. The issue with the burn pile is that it sometimes gets really big and that means it's also really hot. This makes it difficult to roast because you cannot stand close to the fire. Well, Cherilyn came up with a solution.  She had a local welder make her the ultimate roasting stick. It's a two prong, six foot long marshmallow stick.

During this particular burn pile, we had an interesting experience that turned into a gospel lesson.  Right after we lit the fire, a turtle was spotted on the edge of the burn and was headed right into the fire. Evidently we had not noticed him earlier or we would have removed him from the danger zone long before we lit the fire. When we pushed him away from the fire he headed right back in again. He didn't know that the fire would kill him.  He assumed safety was in his "home" the burn pile. We were able to catch him and save him from what would have been an awful experience had he continued into the fire.

The lesson learned begins with understanding what we have been taught - John 13:34 tells us to love one another.  We should love our fellow man. John 8:1-11 tells us of the story of the adulteress which shows us a few things about how we need to live our lives. First, we should realize that we all have issues, sins etc. that none of us are immune. Second, Christ himself showed that we, like him should love the individual no matter what. Luke 10:27 also lets us know to love our neighbor.  With all this in mind, we should be prepared to help those in need whenever we possibly can.  Often in our lives we run across individuals, friends, family or perfect strangers who, perhaps unbeknown to themselves, are creeping too close to danger, the fire.  We have an opportunity, even an obligation to help when and where we can. Just like the turtle who was crawling toward the fire which we knew would harm or even kill him, many people are on the same path.  We were able to help the turtle to safety and in life we may be able to help others to safety as well.

Muddy Waters
Brittney and Carissa LOVE to play in the mud.  We were so busy this spring working on the RV then it rained and rained so we never got our garden put in.  The kids begged for dirt to play in so I tilled up a plot in the garden area so they could have a mud bath.

Nationals
Brittney wanted to attend nationals for her birthday trip, so we loaded up and headed to Tulsa, OK to see all the miniature horses compete.

Brittney and Chloe

Hay Bales for Fun
Each year we have the fields cut in the Spring and sometimes the fall. Here, the bales were dropped in the orchard waiting for them to be picked up and hauled away. Two little girls found hours of entertainment on top of them.

Dallas and DM
September brought the Depeche Mode tour to Dallas and Cherilyn and I enjoyed another retreat together. The greatness of going to a DM show is somehow overshadowed at the end by wanting to attend another and not knowing when that chance will come. I am so glad we were able to go to the show and I am thankful to Cherilyn for going with me and making it possible. DM is simply the most awesome group of all time and they put on one AWESOME show!!

Dave, Martin and Fletch

AWESOME couple attending DM concert

While in Dallas, we were also able to visit with some good friends by attending the Dallas Temple (number 12 together) and going out to lunch.  It is always good to catch up with old friends. :-)

October
October brought a 90th birthday in CA, hiking in MO and of course Halloween fun.

We were able to fly to CA for the 90th birthday of Cherilyn's grandfather and meet up with many of her relatives as well.  We had a lot of fun exploring the Bay area.

Alcatraz

San Fransisco skyline

 

We were able to go to the temple with Cherilyn's Grandpa who has been going once a week for over 20 years!

Santa Cruz

Santa Cruz

Birthday Cake

I was tasked with the making of the birthday cake.

Happy Birthday Grandpa Black

Even @ 90, still king of the BBQ

Family photo time

Day hike in MO @ Roaring River

exploring the cave

are you coming or what?

out on a ledge

Pumpkin Patch
What would fall be without a trip to the pumpkin patch? Fortunately for us, we live very close to one.  The girls invited a couple of friends to come along and enjoy the fun.

Halloween

a witch and Alec from the Black Stallion

Fall Fun

December brought wood hunting

the stack of logs in back was gone in less than 8 weeks. That stack should have lasted 10 weeks. It was that cold!

December then brought snow and 5 days of missed school
So glad I had just been able to get all that wood! This snow was just days after the wood cutting.

Face Plant!

We had the opportunity to enjoy the Nativity display and musical production at one of our churches in Springfield.  This was a wonderful experience that included a live nativity as well as some wonderful holiday performances by some of the great groups who perform on the Branson Strip.

the group SIX performs

for more about SIX, click HERE

live nativity

December also brought Christmas, which was wonderful as usual.  Lots of love and presents too.

Our year ended with a trip to San Antonio.  We were able to do some business as well as meet up with Cherilyn's college room mate Jolene. We were thankful to Jolene and her husband Mike for being wonderful hosts and feeding us the best home grilled BBQ food!  We took in the Alamo and the Riverwalk as well as some of historic Gruene. We saw the Gruene dance hall and had a great meal at the Grist Mill. We topped off our trip with a visit to the San Antonio temple (number 14 for us together)

The Alamo

The Alamo was great but from what understand from the locals it is usually not as busy as it was the day we went, even considering it was a Saturday. Our mistimed adventure coincided with major road construction in the downtown area and the weekend of the Alamo Bowl, which was the weekend just after Christmas as well! So, not only were there several hundred thousand visitors in town for the bowl game, all those who were visiting relatives for Christmas also wanted to see The Alamo and evidently we all showed up at the same time. Remember the road construction mentioned earlier? That, on top of the extra traffic, made what should have been a 5 minute trip out of downtown into a 35 minute trip back to the freeway. At those moments, I'm glad to live in the country where I can remember the immortal words of the late Cole Porter - "Don't Fence Me In!"

Add caption

old friends

Gruene Hall

San Antonio Temple

That was Slangsfamily 2013.  Good Times, Good friends and Great memories. 

(Don't forget to click the links to see more of some of the fun places we were able to see, you too may want to visit them one day!)

The Awesome and most Fabuolus Krystene meets the adult world

The Spring of 2013 saw Krystene's college years come to a close.  She is the proud graduate of the UNCC college of education. Though nervous, she set out to become employed as an elementary school teacher in the state of North Carolina. Searching out school systems and attending job fairs she was determined to find the perfect job for her.  With her charm, charisma, knowledge and skills, she won over the powers that be at Salem Elementary. She was offered a position teaching the 5th grade at the year round school.

From graduation in mid May to starting a full time job in July, Krystene had little time to relax. After landing her job in mid June, she was able to seek out and find a place to live, pack her things and arrange for help to move. WOW my little girl is all grown up! :-) She now has a regular paycheck and pays bills and everything. LOL  So very proud of Krystene.  She has worked very hard  and that work has paid off but as she is finding out, the hard work doesn't stop, it continues as different hard work. Reality welcomes you!

For more on the life of Miss Lang, 5th grade teacher, Click HERE You will find out how adventuresome teaching can be. :-)

I must say that I am proud of Krystene and so VERY grateful that I have the privilege of being her father.  I miss her but I am glad she has struck out on her own and is doing something she has wanted to do for a long time and has worked hard to get it. I couldn't ask for a better daughter - I love you Krystene! You are truly AWESOME! And on that note, click HERE to listen to a tune that she use to use as her theme song.

Maiden Voyage

Having gotten the RV back from the RV mechanic where, among other things, new tires were installed and the bearings packed, we decided to take it out on a trial run before Cherilyn's parents left to go back to Utah.  We decided late on Saturday evening that we could through together a single night trip without too much effort.  So, after church, we loaded everything and were on the road in less than 2 hours.

Our trip took us to Roaring River.  We had camped there before back in our tent camping days so we thought it would be a good place to begin with the new RV since we knew the campground and it was close by.  To our surprise, the campground was nearly full.  We had thought that pulling in on a Sunday evening there would be plenty of spaces as the weekenders would have had to go home.  We managed to find a decent spot and get set up in time to cook dinner.  Everything we needed to use was operational and we were happy to have been able to obtain our new toy.

The girls roasted hot dogs for dinner after a bike ride

Our camping trip took place on the 2nd and 3rd of June, notice the long sleeves?  I think the morning temp was below 60, we actually turned on the heat in the morning just to take the chill out of the air.  And it was a good excuse to make sure it worked. LOL

View from the top of the hill on the hiking path for the short hike around the hatchery.  A natural spring feeds the pond below that begins the river

The girls always enjoy playing in the water

The water is shallow and cold

RV 201 - We Built this RV, well sort of ;-)

OK, so how many of you read the title of the post and heard the tune of We Built This City?  Sorry about that.  It was kind of my intention even though I think it is one of the worst songs ever.  So sad that Grace Slick had to be associated with that one.  Anyway..... I digress :-)

The 5th wheel is now operational. (well, it has been since the first of June)  Still a few minor things to work on but it is useable. 

From this

To this

As you can see, we still need to build a new night stand top.  We will actually build two so they match.  The plan is to build them and use the same panel board we used on the wall as the tops so it will all match.

From this

To this

We could not find an exact match to the siding so this had to do.  Doesn't look bad and if it is noticed, we can tell the story of how it got to this point.  To see more of the pictures of this project, click HERE

The bottom line is that it is operational and we have had the opportunity to use it. :-)  There are still some little things to do but we can do them over time.  We need to purchase a slide out awning as well as a full awning for the entry side.  We continue to seal the seams (that's a never ending job) and we discovered we need to completely redo the seal around the sky light over the bathroom.  We have build a shelf for the front cargo area and Cherilyn modified some wire cube shelving to maximize storage space in several of the closets. 

The unexpected project: Landing gear rebuild

The pin that goes through the 3:1 gear box and controls the landing gear broke at the connection point to the crank rod that controls the extension and retraction of the opposite side landing leg.  This was an interesting learning experience.  At first we thought the 3:1 gear box had broken and we called the parts and service store and were told the manufacturer was replacing them and if we brought it in they would swap it out for the new one.  After taking it off, I discovered that it was the pin that had broken.  To get the pin out I had to disassemble the gearing that held it in. There were 2 clip pins that were not easy to access that had to come out to release the pin. Fortunately I was able to get them out but lost a pin in the process. After the hour drive to the parts and service place, new parts were obtained.  The process of putting the landing gear back together took a lot longer than taking it apart.

broken pin

new 3:1 gear box - metal, not plastic this time

Grinding the frame to allow the gear box to fit

Originally the gear box was plastic and it appeared to us that it NEVER fit properly from the manufacturer.  Cherilyn had to grind the frame down a bit in order for the gear box to fit and lock in place. We believe this was the cause of all the landing gear issues. We had already replaced the gear box once when we replaced the motor right after we got the 5th wheel home from purchasing it in OKC.

The new pin fully installed.  The top of the leg frame comes off and inside the pin goes locks into a set of gears that turns and pushes the legs down and brings them up. A c clip locks in on one side and a tapered pin locks the crank pin to the gear on the other side.

Gear box and motor reinstalled

It seems that RV ownership requires a lot of work and well, it does.  Something always needs to be fixed or replaced but when you are at the campsite making wonderful memories, it's all worth it.  I would like to say that I had my doubts when we got into this project but I am glad that Cherilyn had the vision where I didn't and the strength to keep me going through it all. 

Pictures and stories of the RV adventures to come in future posts - Stay tuned ........

RV 101 2.0 - the PROJECT

You may remember that last year we decided we needed to step up from tent camping.  Cherilyn had initially wanted to look into a pop up that included AC.  As we looked into the different designs and cost points, we discovered that for just a little more, we could get into a 5th wheel.  We decided that would be the way to go and we eventually found a good starter model. A little more about that HERE

A year has past and we were able to enjoy some 5th wheeling adventures that have left good memories and and fun thoughts of the future.  As you might have experienced with a car or house purchase, once you have had them a while you discover things you wish you had and some things you wish you did not. That is true of an RV as well.  So what did we do, we went to the first RV show of the year to see what was out there  for our future RVing needs (needs is used loosely, more of a want).  It is always fun to go to these places and see all the new goodies you would love to have if you had no $$ considerations.  :-)  However, since we do have money considerations, we are grounded and could see where in a few more years we could buy a newer used model than the one we currently have.  The RV show did put a bug in us for the quest to find something we would love to have.  We discovered that we really wanted a bunk house in our next 5th wheel and an outdoor kitchen might actually be a good thing.

Just for fun we scoured the internet to see what was on the used market. This was kind of to see what was available and what might be around at a good price point in a few years when we were ready to make another purchase.  What we found was the opportunity to MAYBE make something happen this year. We found that a bunkhouse model was not far from our reach, after selling our current 5th wheel.  We took a day and went to a lot not far from us to see a model that we thought might work for us.  The layout was more in line with what we were wanting and the price was decent enough. It was good to look at because we found the same model, a year newer in OKC and for 1k less. When we got home from our excursion, Cherilyn called the place in OKC to inquire about the model they had for sale.  To our surprise, the salesman told her that it was not what she would want.  The pictures on the net did not show it but it had some damage.  Cherilyn asked if he would take some pictures and send them to us so we could decide if we had the ability to do the repair work.

Here are the pictures we saw before we knew of the damage

Saturday, we received the pictures. Not only did it look to Cherilyn like we could do the work, the damage looked to take a significant amount off the price and that was REALLY intriguing to Cherilyn.

Here is what we found out

Someone had purchased the RV a week earlier and after leaving the lot, the siding pealed back and they simply returned to the dealer and said we cannot have this and they were given their money back.  Evidently there was a leak that was never properly repaired and this is what happened.  Water caused the rot and the wood just gave way when the last person got up to speed.  Their misfortune has turned into our new project.

We drove to OKC after church on Sunday and stayed with our good friends - shout out to Jason and Trudi for putting us up and watching the girls while we worked the deal! :-)  Monday morning we drove to the dealer and after looking at the RV, we decided we could handle the project.  We negotiated a GREAT deal and the team there screwed and taped up the siding so we could drive home.

We need a dealer license now! LOL

So that is our new project.  A front end rebuild and minor interior remodel of a 30' 2006 Frontier Explorer 295S Of course we also have to now sell our 1998 25' Coachman Catalina.  From the above picture you will also note we have a few too many vehicles as well.  Also for sale is a 2001 Nissan Altima and possibly a 2002 Pontiac Montana - any takers??  LOL  :-)

PS - just to let you know, if money was no object, I would want to purchase an Open Range, check them out, absolutely top of the line in quality and innovation.

Update June 3 2013:  The 5th wheel is complete to the stage of being able to use it, just a few details to handle.  Pics of the remodel are HERE