Finally a Floor

We have been on our marine-grade plywood floor for about 5 months now, and it is...dirty. While the pooches don't seem to mind, the humans decided they'd had it, so we went to the store and picked out some real flooring. We've been looking at all kinds of flooring types and in a perfect, un-dirty, canine-free world, we probably would have gotten cork or bamboo, but with our temperature-fluctuating, sometimes damp, always canine-friendly Airstream, we opted for a vinyl laminate floating floor that looks like wood. We are in and out constantly and didn't want to have to worry about moisture --this floor is waterproof.

We did a highly technical drawing with measurements to figure out how much flooring we needed to order. Good news -- we ordered the perfect amount!

There's the floor planks ready for installation

We turned our trailer into a construction zone for the weekend...again.

J cut and laid the planks down. After bringing a bunch of samples home to try out, we opted for the weathered-wood look; bright enough to keep things light in our trailer, but textured enough to conceal dirt.

Pups surveying their new digs! Agnes had the best day of her life because she got to spend the whole day outside while the floor was being installed, and Maggie had the worst day of her life because she had to spend the whole day outside while the floor was being installed :)

Maggie would like you all to know that her bed(s) were rudely relocated during this project and when she finally was let back in her trailer, she was forced to lay in a small corner with Agnes mashed up against her. Woof!

We didn't install flooring under the bed. Instead, J put fancy threshold there so our clothes drawers easily roll up over it.

Installing the LAST piece!

When it's winter in the pacific nw and you live in an Airstream and you want to work on your Airstream, this is what your life looks like. Got to get those trim pieces dry = let's go out for breakfast. We started our weekend like this, and thanks to all of J's hard work and Morgan's cooking, we ended the weekend like this:

We're all settled back in now with our nice new floor (so clean!) which I am really enjoying swiffering. I wonder if that enjoyment will wear off...

Let There be Heat!

Hello from your guest author Jacob ( I am the guy in the photos playing with power tools). Well the seasons have begun to change up here in the Northwest; the leaves are at their peak, mushrooms have sprung up everywhere, migratory birds have returned, and the night time temps continue to drop. When we first arrived back from Maui, the weather had us contemplating our Airstream living situation. But, the last few weeks of October have been pretty spectacular and have allowed us to reconsider. Ever since we first decided that we needed an Airstream trailer we had dreamed of it having a small/cute woodstove for heat. After living in the trailer for a while now we have come to learn the value of our precious space in Blue Moon. In total we have 75 square feet of open floor space and the dogs take up about 8 square feet a piece.....that doesn't leave much room for even the smallest woodstove! Lucky for us our buddy Andrew told us about the Dickinson marine heaters that are designed for boats and run on propane.

These stainless steel heaters mount on the wall and have a nice little glass window so you can see the flame....this really adds to the ambiance and the romance. The other cool thing about one of these vs. a woodstove has to do with safety: the Dickinson heater intakes air from outside the trailer, so as not to deplete the oxygen inside our trailer. A woodstove uses the interior air for combustion, which can be dangerous in a small space. The ability to wake up and press a button for heat instead of building a fire is also something Heidi is not complaining about. I ordered one of the heaters from Fisheries Supply in Seattle and it came in just a couple of days. The installation of the heater took four easy steps:

1) Drill hole in the ceiling where you want the flue pipe to exit. The heater comes with a flexible, double-wall flue pipe which could be bent in Dr. Seuss fashion to conform to our curvy trailer's walls.

2)Run 12 volt power to the heater for the heater's fan = small moment of flashbacks to gutting when we had to remove the wall panel to access the wiring! We quickly replaced it.

3) Run a propane line from the propane tank to the heater (up through the floor). In the photo above, I am holding my hand-formed, very special connector piece of copper pipe.

4) Rivet the heater to the wall. Airstream owners are well-accustomed to using rivets in place of screws. The aluminum panels are too thin to hold a screw. The vent cap was also riveted to the outside of the trailer in the photo above.

It was not too terribly difficult to install and has made a huge difference in our overall comfort. It heats the whole Airstream without a problem, even on the lower setting. We were worried about the heater's fan being to noisy, but it is very quiet and circulates the warm air very well.

We're pretty stoked on our little heater. Here's to a beautiful fall!

Of Mice and Maui

September Sunsets!

'Twas the night before our vacation, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring...except for a mouse. We had all been nestled snug in our bed, and visions of wintering in our cozy Airstream were dancing in our head. Then out on the rear bumper there rose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter. Away to the window the mouse flew like a flash, raced up and down the screen and out the trailer in a dash!

I know, it may be a little early for holiday lyrics, but with the weather here, we're feeling the force of winter. Let's rewind...  Two weeks ago J and I booked a totally spontaneous trip to Maui (wahoooo!) The forecast looked brilliant there and we both had the time off. Flights were a darn good deal so we packed our bags. There was the issue of this mouse, however. If you have ever been kept awake at night by the clatter one little rodent can create, or the agony of knowing this small furry creature is SOMEWHERE in your house and you can hear it but not see it and therefore simply cannot sleep, you can understand J's pain. As I snored peacefully, he vigilantly kept watch over the kitchen cabinet that seemed to be making scratching noises and producing little brown turds all on its own. And then, suddenly, a flash of gray fur! Let's just say our Airstream door has never really closed all the way, and we actually saw this little mouse leave through the crack in the bottom of the door -while it was closed. We couldn't leave our wonderful dog-sitter, Morgan, with a third furry friend to deal with on her first Airstream sleepover while we were on vacation! Necessity is the mother of invention, as they say, and J went to work sealing off the door. It was time anyway--the nights had been getting cooler for sure. Little mouse was used to his racetrack pathway in and out of Blue Moon so J figured he didn't even need to bait the mouse trap, and that said mouse would just run right over it in his haste to get to our crumbs. I was totally skeptical. But, on the morning of our Maui departure, there was his cute face (*dead*) in our mouse trap. We both momentarily felt sad because he was really cute, then ceremoniously bagged him and tossed him. Whew. 

We left our little island one week ago while it was still glowing in the amber light that I've grown to love out here each September. But, it was time for a vacation! It was knockout b-e-a-utiful on Maui. We snorkeled with a gazillion fish, 6 massive sea turtles, and did some serious beach lounging. Despite developing a nasty cold mid-trip, I still got on the plane home feeling a little lighter. We returned to Seattle late at night and crashed on our friends floor until morning. I don't know why our friends live in Seattle. I have told them this. When we woke up to a total deluge of rain pelting the window with massive force, I said, "I don't know why you guys live here." I sincerely love to remind them that the island gets significantly less rainfall than their dreary city (and they know this because they used to live on the island and are always tempted to move back and I want them to so I have no shame in pestering them with these type of comments). But, they would not budge from their cozy apartment that day, so after a delicious breakfast with our beloved friends, we drove back to the ferry landing to catch the boat home. I said I would call them when the sun was shining on the island just to rub it in. But, the deluge did not stop. The ferry pitched and rocked in the rough seas all the way home and both J and I were a little land-sick when we got there. Bit of a shock from our tropical island vacation paradise, to say the least. 

But miracle of miracles, we came home to hot showers! As you know we don't have a shower in Blue Moon, and sadly the season for solar showers ended about 3 weeks ago- when even on sunny days the shortening daylight hours just weren't long enough to heat up our 5-gallon bags for evening showers anymore. We'd been taking coin showers at the harbor but we had a call in to the owners of our property to see if there was a chance they wanted to fix their water heater in their old trailer up here so we could take showers in it. Running. Hot. Water. Uh-mazing!

After our blissful showers we hit the sack - me still a little sick from my cold. It was still absolutely pouring down rain. Sleeping under a tin roof in a rainstorm takes some getting used to :) Around 3 am I woke up coughing and had to sit up in bed to blow my nose. While sitting there, a cold drop of water fell on my head. And then another drop. Drip, drip, drip...J turned the light on and we discovered that the skylight over our bed was leaking. So at 3am in the pitch-black and the pouring rain, poor J was running around outside with a ladder tarping our skylight. Welcome home. With the addition of the tarp, we had officially entered the dreaded trailer trash land. Tarp on the roof, towel on the bed comforter, we miraculously slept on and didn't wake up until late this morning. 

After spending the day at Morgan's and recovering from the shock of re-entry into our real life, here's what we fall asleep with tonight...

URGENT - WEATHER MESSAGE
NATIONAL WEATHER SERVICE SEATTLE WA
921 PM PDT SUN SEP 29 2013

...POWERFUL WINDSTORM TO AFFECT PARTS OF WESTERN WASHINGTON
TONIGHT...

.AN UNSEASONABLY STRONG STORM WILL MOVE THROUGH THE AREA TONIGHT.
THIS HAS THE POTENTIAL TO BE ONE OF THE STRONGEST SEPTEMBER
WINDSTORMS ON RECORD. NORTHWEST WASHINGTON...FROM THE CENTRAL AND
NORTH COAST THROUGH THE STRAIT OF JUAN DE FUCA AND THE NORTH
INTERIOR...WILL BE AT THE GREATEST RISK FROM THE STRONGEST WINDS.

The tarp has been replaced with caulk over the leaks, and we're thinking heavy thoughts so as not to be blown away. Our phone line has been out all day, sorry if you've tried to call! Visions of a cozy Airstream winter are no longer dancing in our heads...perhaps it will all end with Autumn.

Wish us luck.