Day 497, Tuesday

It was another busy day, with a board meeting at noon and Business After Hours from 4:30pm to 5:30pm.  My mom had invited me for dinner and she was serving pot roast, yum, my favorite.

I got home around 9pm and realized that tomorrow I'm supposed to take the 69 Malibu to a photo shoot in Bend.  I haven't started the car in months, so I figured I better clear the path and get it moved to the front of the garage.  The battery is on a trickle charger, so it was fully charged, but when I went to turn the key there was nothing.  It seemed like the starter was stuck.  I tried the oldest trick in the book taking a hammer to it and gave it several good hits, but no luck.  I texted my good friend and neighbor Jon, and he said he would come over.  A few moment later he was in my driveway and he brought a voltage tester.  We checked connections and everything seemed fine a few more taps on the starter and we decided it was a frozen solenoid.

Plan B for the photo shoot was to take Jon's 1964 Malibu SS convertible, but he offered his 1960 Corvette instead.  I'm a little nervous about driving his pride and joy and a true flawless show car.  I'll keep my fingers crossed and drive extra carefully.

Day 496, Monday and a little more progress on the Traveleze.

Wheel wells, bed frame and kitchen cabinet.

After my workout I checked on the Traveleze and they were working on the back bed frame, interior cabinets and Justin was painting the refrigerator. Jeff was working on installing the wheel wells and progress was being made.  It's a long slow process, but all the parts are starting to come together.  Justin had also pulled in their 30' Anderson trailer and they have started the processing of restoring this giant trailer back to it's former glory.   It is going to be a real show piece when done.  It truly is an amazing trailer with all the original interior, appliances, flooring and fixtures.

Restoring the refrigerator for the Traveleze

Harris helping with the Christmas cards.

After my visit to Flyte Camp I headed off to Costco to start buying all the food for my party on Friday.  It was freezing outside with the temperature at 19 and me still in my gym clothes.  I got home around 7:30pm and was starving.  After dinner I sat down to start writing my Christmas cards.  This is a huge job and takes several hours.  I popped in a few movies and with Harris by my side laying in the cards I got to it.  In all I write about 90 cards and took about 5 hours.  I crawled into bed at 12:57 am and I don't even remember my head hitting the pillow.

It was a very long day and I enjoyed every minute of it.  December always flies by and before you know it, it's over.  I like to take in every moment.  It was a great day.

Day 495, Sunday

Today is the third day of Advent and the children's program at church.  The church parking lot was packed, so I knew all the kids, their parents and all the relatives would be in attendance.  The programs are usually very entertaining and well done.  There is something about young kids trying to sing that cracks me up.  The off pitch, shy voices and forgotten lyrics are hilarious.  The program was short and Church was out 15 minutes early, that never happens!

The view of the Packard from Tracy Roof.

After Church I went over to Tracy's  house to put up her Christmas lights on her house.  I got to Tracy's house early and she was out testing the lights.  It took us a few minutes to access the lights and the house and remember how we put them together.  I was up on the roof in no time leaning over the edge stapling the lights to the house.  I just know one of these years I'm going to fall off the roof, but the view is nice from there and as of  yet I haven't fallen.

I spent the rest of the day doing a little shopping and working on the Christmas gift list.  After dinner I made a Scandinavian Almond Cake in a cake pan that I bought at the Son's of Norway yesterday.  It turned out great and tasted even better.

Day 494, Sons of Norway Bake Sale

A great turnout at the Lodge for the Sale

Today the Son's of Norway is having their big back sale and Bazaar.  The lodge had asked if I was going to be there to help and I didn't commit.  I was up by 7:30 am and figured I should be a good incoming President and at least show up for part of the sale.  I was out the door and on my way by 8:15 am.

I got to the lodge at 8:45 am and the parking lot was already clear full.  The event was to start at 9 am, but people were already inside.  The ladies at the bake sale were still setting up, so everyone asked to please wait until they were 9 am.  The crowds just kept coming and they started 10 minutes early.

Enamelware camp set

The entire event was a huge success with the estimates on the sale being close to $5,000.  I stayed the entire sale from 9 am to 3 pm and helped clean up following the event, which took about an hour and half. 

On my way home I stopped off at the Sportsman Warehouse to look for stuff I can use in the Traveleze.  I have a gift certificate for $100 that I need to use and I found lots of things.  They had a great selection of Enamelware and I was torn between the blue or the red.  I think I want the red plates, bowls and cups, but blue coffee pot and pot.  They also had great cast iron pans in all sizes.  I also had to chuckle at the options in port-a-potties, everything from from a 5 gallon bucket to fully flushing.  I was very excited with all the things they had and I can't wait to go stock up the Traveleze.

I got home around 6:30 pm and it had been a long day.  The only thing I had on my agenda was putting up the Polar Express Lionel train around the tree.  The train is always a hit with little people and this year at the Christmas party will probably be lots of kids.

It was a very fun day and I really enjoyed being apart of the Son's of Norway Lodge.

Day 493, Friday and taking the day off.

I have 89 hours of vacation that need to be taken by the end of this year and it's just not going to happen, but I did decide to take today off and get caught up on some Christmas stuff.  One of the new members to the Lodge had asked me about cutting a tree for Christmas I told him all the basics.  He is from Denmark and has lived here for over 20 years but has yet to cut a tree.  He was hoping to take his two daughters and his 18 year old nephew on a Christmas adventure.  I had a few extra tree cutting permits from last year and I offered them if they wanted them.

One big Tree!

At 9 am I got a call saying that they would be by about 10 am to pick up the passes.  I could tell he was still a little unsure of where to go and I offered to go along if he would like and show them where the good trees are.  He jumped on my offer and said he would greatly appreciate it.  At 10 am we were on our way to cut a tree.  He wanted a very tall tree, one that his daughters would not forget.  As it turned out the girls did not come a long and it was just the tree of us.  There was no snow and the road was clear.  After about 30 minutes of walking through some great trees we found the perfect tree, it was about 16' tall.

Enjoying the Season

I helped get the lights on and then it was time for me to actually do some shopping for a few things that I needed. I also needed to stop off at Flyte Camp and go over the final estimates and cost of the Traveleze.  The price keeps climbing as I keep taking the trailer to the next level.  At this point there really can't be anymore surprises, as the entire trailer will be all new.  Can you still call this a restoration, or is a rebuild?

Tonight I have been invited to a Open House/Christmas party at my trainers house.  I had invited Tracy to go with me and said I would pick her up at 5:45 pm. The party was very fun, full of lots of people and the energy and conversation was cranked way up.  It truly felt like the holidays going to a party

It had been a great day and enjoyed every minute.

Day 492, Major work on the Traveleze

The front end being completed

Today I had an appointment to meet with Flyte Camp and pick out material for the seats and counter tops.  I figured I could just stop in and spend a few minutes and then head off to my workout.  When I got there I was so surprised to see that there busy working on the Traveleze.  Two employees were working on windows and three were working on cabinets.  Justin was glad to see me and wanted to show me the progress.  He said by tomorrow all the cabinets will be back in.  He took me to see the Dixie stove they found to replace my stove refrigerator combination and it looked great.  Justin also had me look at a vintage refrigerator that he had upstairs that with a little work would look great in my trailer and be correct.

The little Dixie gas range for the Traveleze

Anna, had picked out some vinyl that was period correct and I loved it.  It was a dark burgundy with a high shine.  She also had a more muted vinyl, but we were all drawn to the high shine for reason.  Anna also had several counter top chips to look at but non of us saw anything that jumped out at us.  She wanted to go look around and see what else she could find and then get back to me.  This was fine by me and I needed to scoot to my workout.

I got to my workout 20 minutes late, but I still had time for about 25 minutes.  My trainer worked me out like crazy for 25 minutes straight and then she had to leave.  I worked on a few more lifts and then did a little stretching and headed out.

I wanted to stop by and check on the Traveleze one more time and take a few more pictures.  Justin was glad to see me again and Anna had gone and found a few counter top samples.  This time we agreed on chip that would be perfect.  It was a marmolium  and was very 50's.  In combination with the maroon  vinyl seats it should all look great, especially with the golden birch paneling. I was so happy to see significant progress being done on the Traveleze I was grinning from eat to ear. 

The golden birch paneling, the marmolium and shiny vinyl

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I headed out about 6 pm and headed to my folks for dinner at 6:30 pm.  This was a great day!

Day 491, Mid week

My work was moved to Thursday and this evening we had a Ribbon Cutting and a Business After Hours at a local business.  It was perfect timing that my workout was moved and this will let me go to these two events. 

The tree all decorated

I got home around 6 pm and it was dark and cold.  I did the usual parked the truck and went to check on the chickens.  This time there was just one small brown egg.  I was pleased there was at least something and I refilled the water and feed.

Back inside after dinner it was time to attack the tree one last time and get the ornaments on.  It took about 3 hours to get them all on and another 40 minutes to clean up and put away the empty boxes and to vacuum up around the tree.  I still need to put up the Polar Express, but that can wait for anther night.

I was so ready for bed and tonight I was in bed by 10:45 pm.