A Blustery Last Day of Winter

I  lazily woke up to the weather report - It had been 17 degrees last night with a rain front on the way.  Now of course I had been getting my little home Lolita ready for the road and had taken off her winter coat to go get her new tires... So a rain front was not it my plans.  So it was up an at em for me....  But before I go into that... Here comes the sun!

      Wind, Frost, Sun, Clouds, Fog.... we have it all and it's now 22degrees.

 Whoa Boy!!

 Even the primroses and the pansies that I planted

were frosted last night.  I hope the warmth of the day perks them up.

I have trouble with my hands and feet when they get cold so spending time outside this morning is not something I'm looking forward to.  But it has to be done.  I spent an hour out in the cold trying everything I could think of to get the tarp on top of the trailer so I could get it tied down before the rain....

Tarp in a heap!

Nothing worked.... The Blustery wind would whip it off just as I got to the other side.  This is how it looked after an hour. 

In defeat, I marched into the house and sat on my hands to slowly warm them.  I was in agony.  

Warm weather sounds good right now.  In moments like this, I am reminded  why spending winters in Arizona sounds like a mighty fine idea!!

Throughout the morning, I went back out side and studied the problem.  I came up with several hairbrain ideas. The way I see it, if I am NOT staying in a campground or park,  I need to be able to do these these things all on my own.  There many not be people available to help so problems-solving these issues is important to my success as a solo traveler.  I certainly have the determination... sometimes it just takes a while to figure it out.  

 At least today if I can figure this tarp situation out I at least have all the resources available at my house and then I will know what I need with me.  It is part of the trade off when you have a vintage trailer.  You have to figure out the repairs and how to make the systems work even when it is difficult.

I interviewed several people to take care of my lawn while I am adventuring.  The company I decided on came today and we did a walk through of what I needed done before I can leave and he gave me an estimate.  Like all estimates it is more than I hoped it would be but I am confident he will do a good job.  He will come next Monday with his sprinkler man and we will get the sprinkler system up an running and they will power rake the yards and get the flower beds cleaned out.  One more thing checked off the to do list!!  

Yesterday, I had two house showings about the time I needed to fix dinner.  Eating out wasn't in my plans but it was the way it worked yesterday.  So today I made sure I fried up some pork ribs and put them in the thermal cooker in some barbeque sauce and cooked up some fresh carrots for dinner.  I felt quite clever... Dinner was cooking away in their separate pots within the thermal cooker and I set the whole cooker into a cupboard.  No-one would ever know that dinner was cooking so when they left at 5:30, dinner was served.   

It is amazing to think of where all the time goes in a day.  I still had the trailer tarp to contend with.  I folded the tarp with accordian pleating and then let the wind pull it to the front of the trailer.  It took several attempts but eventually I made it work.

It was difficult but I did it. 

It may not be pretty, but at least it is covered. I know I will get better with practice.

 LET IT RAIN!!