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This weekend was quite a fun one. Cooler temps, fresh air, and simply finding room to pause. And if you’re Charlie, it was an exhausting weekend, too — because my precious city pup saw what cows were for the first time, along with experiencing (for the first time) what life might be like if she had a huge, fenced-in property to patrol.
In short: she loved it. And she’s still sleeping it off as I type this.
I haven’t shared much about “the bearded guy” on the blog (yet), but I’ve been dating a funny, nerdy, southern-twangy dude almost a year now. For the sake of not having to keep calling him “the bearded guy” as though he’s a stranger, I’ll just call him K. I think my favorite thing is that he pronounces Charlie’s name differently (“CHAH-lee”, no “r”). He’s also the owner of the little munchkin (Stella) you’ve been seeing in my social media feeds and will be a big help with the pub shed project (him, not the dog; she likes to dig holes in my garden beds to go after chipmunks, so she balances out the helpfulness of her owner somewhat).
Over the weekend, we traveled to his hometown in Americus, Georgia to visit his parents. As with most trips like this, the intent had a bunch of different reasons, including helping them move some of their furniture (they’re building a house in Tennessee and needed to pack up the U-Haul), rehoming some of his old things (John Deere farm toys?), and spend a little time getting to know people I don’t know all that well yet (spoiler alert: they are incredibly charming). They had also recently chopped down a few trees, and I hoped to take some of it home for a few DIY projects as well as the indoor fireplace and outdoor fire pit (the cedar logs will smell sooooo good).
Anyway, Charlie really enjoyed it. K and I have both tried to train her over the last year to walk better on and off a leash (as in, not simply booking it down the road the minute she’s loose), and it really seems to be paying off: my girl happily walked around with us around the entire property, came (mostly) when called, and spent a good part of the evening staring off into the distance at the strange mooing creatures she’d never seen before. She ran and sniffed and enjoyed so much of the property that she was already hinting at wanting to go inside for a nap before dinnertime (our excuse, “she’s an indoor type of dog”).
I think for Christmas, she’s going to get a dairy cow stuffed animal.
And since it’s almost time for Halloween: wanna see something scary?
This is K’s late grandfather’s old camper. For years, it’s been used as a workshop and for storage and hasn’t moved from this spot (we checked the plate: 1987, aka the year my sister was born). The wheels are flat; it’s rusty and grimy and kind of (okay, a lot) spooky. ?
But, according to him (not that I have a clue yet as I’ve not done any research), it’s from the 40s or 50s and worth something even in this state. So, he wants to restore it — and not, as most of my friends have joked to us so far, burn it.
Well, I suppose I should say restore-ish: he also wants to trick it out with renewable tech and make it smart. Given that I’ve seen a few camper makeovers before (here and here come to mind thus far), I don’t think he’s entirely crazy… but this does also look like a thing where Jason Voorhees and Cousin Eddie might be nightmarish roommates (sooo many jokes, people). So… NOT THAT I’M AGREEING TO TAKE THIS ON YET… if you know of any great Instagram accounts or camper restoration blogs that you love to follow, feel free to send ’em my way to check out. And yes, I may make him wear a bathrobe and a trooper hat for the costume party we go to this weekend just because.
Also, one more update: I’ve caved. I’ve had a DNA test kit that I’ve held onto for a while (it was a gift from my sister a while back), and for the longest time, I haven’t really been all that concerned on what breed Charlie is. She’s a happy, lovable mutt, and since she was a puppy, I’ve always felt it was fun for people to guess rather than spoil their fun… the mystery is enough. But, K brought the kit downstairs the other night and finally convinced me — just for fun — to answer the question once and for all. So, she’s been swabbed and I’m sending off the kit this week. I’ll let you know her results in a few weeks when I get them back.
How was your weekend?
P.S. Speaking of Halloween and costumes, I never got to share last year’s DIY costumes in full with ya, so I’m posting about that this week along with a simple and spooky-ish cross stitch pattern that you might enjoy (a bunch of you guys really seemed to like the last one, so I’ll post new plans every now and then when I make them). But fair warning, you’ll need to be an email subscriber for the library I’ll create for all of the downloads when that goes up. DIY build plans will also be in a similar plans library too, so if you’re interested in either one you should go ahead and sign up. Thanks! <3
More Ruby’s Revival
We’re restoring a 1946 vintage camper called a Spartan Manor. It belonged to K’s grandfather and has been sitting in the woods untouched for more than 30 years. Can we bring her back to life? Check out the video series and see for yourself!
The camper looks awesome! Check out LizWilcox.com – she’s a full time RV’er and her last two posts have been remodels. Also HeathandAlyssa.com – full time RV’ers and I feel like they’ve recently featured remodels as well. Should be fun!! :)
Off to check them out, thanks so much!
One of our dogs is a cattle dog and last year we took a road trip from Arizona to Montana. Along the way we stayed one night at an Airbnb farm in Northern Utah. The people were so nice and let us walk the dogs all over the property. Ringo went crazy over the goats, sheep, and horses (unfortunately, they didn’t have any cows). I have a picture of him with sheep in the background and he’s looking up at me with the happiest face ever.
I bought a DNA test for one of our other dogs, but I still haven’t tried it. I’m curious to see what they end up saying Charlie is.
I’ll definitely keep ya posted on the results. I wish I could have gotten a shot of Charlie a little closer to the cows, but part of me was scared once she saw how much bigger they are, she’d run away (and without a leash that would be kind of a problem in a place she doesn’t know). She’s kinda skittish though — just the other day, she FREAKED out at my neighbor’s inflatable Halloween spider (the kind that sit on the lawn and light up).
One more – just saw 188sqft.com on the A Beautiful Mess blog… they have some pics on ABM, but go to 188sqft and check out all the before and after. Really nice remodel, though no the work you guys have in front of you! :). (We got an RV and started camping this year, so I find myself looking at all sort of RV/camper blogs.). :)
Then keep me in the loop — with the kind of comments I’ve gotten so far, people seem pretty jazzed about the idea, and it’s making K all the more confident he’s going to convince me. I have some crazy ideas on what I’d do to gut and redo the interior, so this is leaning far more “yes” than “no” right now!
Awesome property, murderous trailer with a lot of potential! My weekend? Halloween Bingo at grandson’s school, reptiles and amphibians exhibit (loved the scorpion), and an afternoon at the beach here on CT coast. Crazy weather for October!
Wow, it’s FREEZING lately down in GA! But I probably would have liked the scorpions too!
You could redesign it with all of the renewable techs and then advertise it as an “off-grid” tiny home. I’m not sure what the market is in Georgia, but I’ve watched a lot of “House Hunters: Tiny House” so I’m sure there is something.
Also once you do it post it on here! Imagine the crafts opportunities!
Oh believe me, if I do this you guys will get to see the whole reno from top to bottom! We’re trying to figure out storage for it first so if that happens where it’s easy to work on, I’m leaning towards yes.
I bought an old camper one year . Totally gutted it and installed sliding doors. It was a work in progress as it was used by guys as a hunting cabin.
People around me when they came up each eeekend monitored the work in progress.
It wss a job it even had a lakeview! Sadly the campground/resort had a fire and it burned to the ground one year later! ACK!!!
Oh, I’m so sorry to hear that Debe! Must have been hard to lose all of that hard work and memories. But, thank you for sharing… I never even thought about adding sliding doors to a camper, but that sounds like a great way to move in and out (I’ve actually been thinking of replacing the sliding glass door in my house lately; is that project difficult?). I bet it was fun for your neighbors to see it take shape!
A friend gifted me one of those for my dog this year, so we could finally figure out what he is (he’s 7… I just never cared enough to get the test). Anyway, long story short, I swabbed him and anxiously awaited the results, just to find her’s 50% Mutt! Thanks for nothing! Hope your Charlie results are a little more satisfying :).
I didn’t even realize that “mutt” was a possibility of the results. I would respect it more if it would just say, “To be honest, we kinda half-assed this one. Toby was out to lunch and no one felt like finishing it.” Fingers crossed Charlie didn’t vigorously squirm away from that cheek-swabbing for nothing!
shut up! somehow i missed this post originally. i went to college in americus! small world!
No way! Yes, definitely a small world. :)