While I eat an apple cider donut, I'd like to say a few words about the most recent days/nights with our bus.
My mother is here. This is like giving a knight his armor back after it had shown signs of fatigue and oxidation. The armorer whips it off to the smithy to spiff it up, and when it comes back the knight feels...relief. (S)he feels an over-all sense of security (however false) and comfort that only happens when snugly wrapped in the perfectly fit, made-just-for-me steel that shields and protects the body so that it can carry the mind to do it's work. This is how I feel when Marianne of the North Vancouver Smee's lands at our door.
Having said this, there are many things to stress about/be excited about currently in our lives. We are definitely moving out of our house. We are definitely putting our oldest son into a new school, where he will ride the bus with his sister each day. We are certainly going to move onto a bus for five or six weeks to see how it feels to sleep in the bed of your own making (with a little help from Randy and the Cook boys). And, we do not know exactly where we will house our family of five for the winter just yet, and as you may or may not know, WINTER IS COMING.
But, why worry. Just carry the water and chop the wood.
(This, BTW, is all the wood and debris my mother tossed out of the trailer so we could use it as a spare office room :)
I've learned so much in the recent adventures of the bus. We painted a lot of the vessel. I did very little of this, feeling overwhelmed by the creativity that my wife has been channeling.
S has done an amazing job planning and applying the design of a farm mural on the driver's side, and an ocean mural on the passenger side. Judy has jumped in and helped A LOT. I love to see the two of them collaborating together. On the big paint day, we had several people join in and contribute flowers, burrows, plants, etc.
Rowdy tries to recreate the bus-painting scene in the muppets :)
We were even entertained by some clowns putting on a show for the worker bees!
But then the rain came and washed some of our creations away. Poor Danielle tried desperately to save her ocean waves. In the end, however, the rain left it's own cool effects on the paint. And we continued to paint throughout the week...adding a bee here and a cloud there...
Like R's crab :0
We even had a mermaid drop by. And more is added each day - so feel free to come by and join in!! And, don't worry Cali...there is a space being held just for our girls (and maybe their painting dad and mom too, if they'll not be showed up by their littles' amazing abilities :)
I had a heck of a time cutting through the floor to put in the toilet.
I used far too many tools, each of which informed/enlightened me toward another one better suited for the needs.
The septic holding tank that I scavenged from our RV trailer had two big cracks in it, causing it to leak.
Stella (of current "FACEOFF" fame on TV - watch her awesome special effects make-up on the show and support her!!!) helped me to fix these after a failed attempt on my own with some resin and fiberglass. Stella saved the day with lessons on resin, "CHOP", and how to appropriately measure the hardening drops to the resin so that it doesn't set before you've been able to apply. [Super fun lessons that I have every intention of applying when making wave-riding devices of my own design.] Once I did the final test on the tank to see if our work would hold (IT DID!), I began the task of mounting the tank to the undercarriage of the bus.
With lots of help from Phoenix, of course.
Drilling, filing, grinding, and machining my own brackets. This was some of the most fun learning experiences so far. I used pieces that we'd pulled off the bus elsewhere to create a stable, strong fastening system. Omi and S helped me to lift the tank into place, and offered advice on where/how to make it better.
Now, I'm on to the hooking up the water and we'll see how it all shapes up this week.
I would also like to say how great it is to attend the wedding of the year (Anna and Devin's super fun, dance party wedding) and feel confident that you're leaving your older children in competent hands. I literally did not fret the entire 24 hours I was away. I did dance, though. Dancey dance dance!
So come visit us soon if you want to witness the continued birth of this crazy-great project!! We'll leave you with pics of a few more helpers/visitors. PEACE!
