I know … mattress and logging … they go together like ????

Anyway.

In July 2015, I bought what I thought would be a great mattress. I went to a local store, spoke to a sales person, tried out several mattresses and made my selection.

But.

Not a great mattress and over the past year, I have tried to decide what to do.

Making a long story shorter, after spying an ad: “I am a mattress tester and this is what I sleep on” … and no, I did not rely solely on that ad. I read reviews for the choice and looked at a number of reputable rating sites. The mattress referenced consistently had good reviews as well as rating in the top 3 on the rating sites.

Considering that my last purchase in a store with “testing” was not a great purchase … I decided to go for a “virtual” buy and ordered.

The new mattress arrived yesterday: white glove (removal of old, removal of packing material and placement of new). It was slightly more than I paid for the store version.

Last night was the first sleep and WOW!!! early days, but I am very happy. Emmett is also. Emmett has always been a good and quiet sleeper, but this morning, he did not even get up with me … snuggled down for a bit of a lie in :)

We will see how it goes with time … there is a 180 night trial and free return, but based on last night and how good we both felt this morning … I think we might be good to go.

On to the rest of Thursday.

My neighbors … the ones with a backhoe and dump truck and chain saws… are doing some cutting of standing dead trees.

That is 4 trees, I think. I have plenty of firewood, but needed those dead trees down so the trade is: logging for firewood … they will take the firewood and I will benefit from those trees down and out vs maybe falling down in a wind storm. I am thrilled!

The mark of the beast :) … backhoe tracks.

Those 2 standing dead are left to come down … maybe tomorrow.

Meanwhile … the weather is gorgeous with sunshine, blue sky and mid-60F temperatures.

Terrific Thursday: lovely new mattress and logging operations at my little spot in the woods.

Several years ago, I transitioned from 100% paper towel to using flour cloth towels with paper towels as a “super messy” back up option.

Convenience-wise paper towels win, but landfill-wise the cloth towels win … and as I have transitioned to 14-21 days between shopping trips (COVID-19) … cloth towels win BIG!

BUT. The cloth towels must be washed, dried and … FOLDED :( … not my favorite chore. And as a side note, since I also transitioned to a bidet attachment on my commode which entails baby wash clothes for drying … there are those bity things to wash/dry/fold as well.

So, somewhat bi-weekly I am washing/drying/folding flour cloth towels or baby wash cloths. It is always a pile of cloth things to be folded.

It sometimes seem a bit daunting in the day to day must do things …

BUT, one thing at a time and all is done!

One thing at a time. One towel, one task …

Washing the motorhome! One bit at a time.

My plan … a bit at a time and then “MUCH more difficult than I thought” … and a call to the firm that helped me 2 years ago … BUT, then that person injured and …

Anyway, I finished all myself.

But, it was a little bit, day by day, over 7 days, i.e. one thing at a time.

Last week, I happened on this YouTube…

There are so many life lessons in this video!!

If I had to summarize the best things (life lessons) from this video:

When you are making such a big change, do look at the bigger picture …

But in order to actually do it, you need to take tiny baby steps

Break it down into manageable chunks

If I thought about how much work, coordination and money would have come into this …

But once I broke it into small chunks

And got help with certain things

It was doable

Doable!!

One thing at a time is doable.

Whether it is folding a pile of towels, cleaning a motorhome, learning video editing or learning French or whatever!!!

One thing at a time.

OR … GETTING. THROUGH.A.PANDEMIC :)

Yep, one thing at a time.

At my house, Emmett and I are focused on loving time together, loving time outside, loving Autumn light and just enjoying being alive and being healthy. I know all of that can change in a moment so I choose to live in the present moment of good health and good times.

Lovely Autumn color from a Friday Kalispell errand spot.

Lovely, lovely Autumn light and vibes … and one thing at a time.

Onward!

According to my reading, Autumn begins at 5:21 p.m. today in my time zone (U.S. Mountain Daylight Time).

But, we have been enjoying Autumn-like weather since August 17 … with the exception of a handful of 80F-smoky days, but those are easy to forget!

This morning…

Coffee at sunrise in the woods.

Emmett enjoyed a stick with his sunrise!

The sun was just about to hit the front porch when we returned from our walk…

There we are: sunshine on the front porch!

Lovely, lovely morning to start Autumn.

So, not Bullwinkle and Rocky, but … this morning…

Now … I have never seen a moose on my property or on the state land. I have seen elk and I know there is an elk herd that moves through regularly.

So, I jumped to the conclusion that this was an elk … gah!!

Emmett had gone down the ridge after a squirrel (more on them later) and then looked toward the moose and did a kind of jump-fake run. I hadn’t seen the moose yet, but was concerned maybe a skunk or bear or ??? I called him and he came – YEA!

THEN, I saw the moose. But, I thought elk and I was a bit excited because I didn’t want Emmett going back out there and I only had my phone AND it was big, even if it was some distance away from us.

Took my photo, got us home and then cropped and enlarged…

I still had elk on the brain and posted to Instagram as elk. But just after I hit send, I finally woke up and noted that the antlers were wrong and the nose and the shape … MOOSE! Wow. Embarrassing mis-identification, but WOW!!!

Exciting morning outing.

Squirrels. I would not be writing about the squirrels except that I wanted to title this post “Moose and Squirrel”, but anyway, the squirrels are a bit of an annoyance. There seem to be more than usual and they are noisy, drive Emmett bonkers and make a mess under the trees. Neighbor Mike will concur if he reads this :)

This is just a small sample of the mess they make. Multiply that by 20 or more. And those bits are sharp as well as unsightly.

I have turned it into a training game for Emmett, though. If he spots one and then sits at the slider, I allow him out for the chase. He is a smart cookie and has figured out the sit, although I have observed that his bottom is nearly off the floor … still, SQUIRREL!! … so I give it to him.

And we are having lovely weather for going outside: no smoke, sunshine, mild temperatures: my favorite!

Tomatoes and basil from the front porch garden!

AND, it is almost Friday!

Moose and Squirrel(s) and all kinds of fun here – Happy Thursday!

So … Wild Thing is about 1/2 cleaned up on the outside.

AND, I called in reinforcements…

I took Tuesday off from cleaning. Wednesday, I really felt the ladder climb muscles and did not get much done. Hence, called Malloy Auto Detailing …

I am so pleased and happy! Dan Malloy’s customer service is excellent! And it has been a tough year for his small business. Last round, as a “high end” auto and rv detailing business, he was a bit hesitant about working on Wild Thing, but showed up and did EXCELLENT and above and beyond service at a reasonable price.

This round is so much easier as we had a small established work relationship … and he remembered “working on the RV in the forrest” :) … yep!

So, I moved Wild Thing and put her back on jacks and leveled and am mostly working inside. I would like to do a bit more outside pre-Malloy but that is a bit weather/schedule (mine) dependent.

Weather … we had a mini heat wave last week … mid 80’s forecast but, it was not too bad heat wise. The “bad” was smoke. The smoke came down with a vengeance on Thursday afternoon. Thursday night on our last outs in the dark … the amount of particulate (ash?) that showed in the flashlight was horrendous. Friday was socked in as thick and low as I have ever seen it. Emmett and I were out for only brief times for “business” and a little play.

Meanwhile … I thoroughly enjoyed a sourdough how to with my friend and neighbor! The loaf above was in progress when she came over for some info. I shaped the dough while she was with me and it was a great opportunity to show how to handle a high hydration dough.

And the end result was beautiful as well as delicious.

Saturday (yesterday), the weather changed: some rain, smoke cleared and we are to slide into Autumn-like weather with slight chance of rain, sun, partly sunny and no smoke conditions … my FAVORITES!!

Emmett and I are so happy to see the smoke gone and even if overcast, we breath easier.

Good stuff!!

In September 2019, I paid $380 to have Malloy’s Mobile Detailing wash Wild Thing. It was SO worth it!

Day 3 of my own wash experience and I am half way done.

And I am tired and a little sore. Up and down the ladder, being careful on the ladder, being careful with the power/water/wand of the power washer, directing the power washer, scrubbing with a long handled brush … back and forth to water supply. GAH! In hindsight, I wish I had called Malloy’s again.

But, I am half done and will finish the job.

This morning, I gave the back driver side section another round … and the back end its first go. AND, I emptied all of the basement storage, sorted what could be kept and what was throw away AND washed out all of the compartments.

Thankfully, it is warm but not HOT (70F when I was working) and low humidity so everything is drying nicely.

The rear (one pass so far) and the untouched passenger side. It might not look bad in the photo, but above the rear slide and the awning and any “grooves” … lots of dirt, mold, mildew.

I think 2-3 more morning sessions for the outside/passenger side basement compartments and then she can return to her normal spot for the interior. Heads up… the interior looks a bit like The Addams Family: spider webs, dead flies … probably mouse droppings when I get all opened up. It will be a 3-4 day steam clean and vacuum extravaganza :)

I thought I was cleaning up to sell, but I’m now not sure. We’ll see. I contacted local dealers re consignment sale … I don’t need this size RV … but she has been a good ship and I don’t know…

Meanwhile…

Morning scratch and snuggle.

The wind shifted, the smoke lifted and it has been a beautiful Labor Day Monday!

Lovely light.

Happy Emmett!!

The front porch continues to look beautiful with all plants thriving!

Tomatoes are slowly ripening … I’ve had a small, consistent supply of the Husky Cherry tomatoes. The Manitoba … 1 so far has ripened. But so much fun even if not exactly an economical venture.

And inside … the change in light angle … Autumn light which is my favorite.

It has been a glorious Labor Day weekend. I have enjoyed all of it: motorhome cleanup, time with Emmett, some cooking and baking and some downtime reading and catching up on my YouTube favorites.

Cheers!!