Randy Padgett in DA HAUS!!! (or DA BUS, actually :)

While things have stalled a bit while JR has been off at work, BAM BAM Padgett paid us a special, guest-star visit and knocked the bus back into play!!! In the pics you'll see the major differences they made from our last post...

P is, of course, in the middle of everything and helping.

Using her favorite tool...the screwdriver. At this point, the floor is done and they begin framing and insulating the walls, among a few other details with reinforcing and a bench in front.

They finish the walls and move to a bunk bed structure, much to the elation of the kids :)

Fear not!!! There was some fun to be had as well...

As well as some good-bye tears! DON'T GO, BAMS!!!!

As for some drop-ins...

Milo bikes over to say "HOWDY" and drive the bus, while Penelope is more interested in the chickens.

Uncle R takes a peek, but didn't get the blue shirt memo in time.

And O helps P sort nails with her teeth. (Yup, another good one.) Seems like the mild summer is an amazing time to build a bus, play with friends, and just enjoy the ride.

Stay tuned for MORE special guests, crazy progress, and useless news! Finally, just want to thank you, brother BAMS for all your hard work and for loving our kooky clan and humoring our kooky plan!!! And to your family for giving you up!!! I hope you had as much FUN as we did and we look forward to toting you around in our big yellow sardine can. Cheers

to YOU!

Where We At

OK, we have already mentioned that we have thrown the original schedule OUT the bus window! While speed is not our forte, we (and by "we" I mostly mean my husband!) are making progress and learning a TON! And, clearly, so are the kids.

He ended up ripping out the entire rubber flooring, which we weren't going to do to allow for extra padding and insulation, but are now glad we did.

Next, JR - with the assistance of others here and there - worked on floor insulation, frame and sub-flooring. Sadly, my input lately is minimal with the littlest working on night weening and being rather clingy during the day. However, this has also given JR some brain space to make decisions and choices without too much distracting outside input.

I try and make it a point when I step on the bus to involve whomever is nearby - even with the smallest task. We have had many a visitor stop by. Some to get an eyeball on the situation and chat, some to lend a hand. Unfortunately, the kids all love to flip the switches...which leaves the battery requiring a jump if not caught in time!

I think my favorite is watching my husband really blossom with his creativity and exploration. Not that he is not a creative guy generally, but he isn't often given a carte blanche. Not with something like this. And while he does reach out for help and advice occasionally, there is also something nice about allowing yourself to make a decision and then learn from the results. This is not just a project for him, it is a journey into himself.

In any case, we look forward to more people dropping by just to take a look over the next little while. We have some MAJOR guest stars planned, so stay tuned for more pics!!! Possible future blog topics: why men feel badly if they aren't born a carpenter/handy, balancing the importance of asking for help and creating a team with the benefits of independent learning, travel as a life and not a lifestyle, how to avoid fast food on the road, arial gymnastics in a moving vehicle, making due with what is available, the aerodynamics of a roof-top pool, speeding up in life in order to slow down, how to hide a 40-foot vehicle in the woods, and something with a goat. As always, we welcome baby chasers, advice, building materials/left-overs and keep an ear to the ground for a chance to paint this 'ol girl with us!!! Til then!

Exploring the Unknown (a.k.a. LEARNING)

This is big. HUGE, actually. I get it. This is no small endeavor. I can see it on people's faces when they politely say how exciting it sounds. When you talk to mechanics, carpenters, clerks at the hardware store, etc. When we look into each other's eyes for some sign of "Let's give up!! This is too crazy!! We don't know what we are doing!!". It is not like we don't realize it. And, somehow, the comments you do get on how tough it is or how undoable it is only somehow makes one want to do it more. OR the people who say,"I WISH I had done that when I had the chance!". Mostly, for me, it is about learning. How do you know what you don't know until you step right in it? You don't. But should you stay stationary forever to avoid it? I firmly believe I was taught not to learn growing up. That learning is an awkward and painful process that should be avoided - that you should be embarrassed to show you don't know something. In school, if I couldn't master it quickly or fake my way through it, then I wasn't going to put forth the effort cause it would reveal what a failure I really was. Luckily multiple choice and other school exercises were easy enough to weave my way through. It wasn't until having to attend school in a country where I didn't speak the language woke me up to my complacency. After getting over my acquired laziness I realized...I actually LOVED to learn when given the opportunity. It took me some time, once out int the "real" world, to shake this trained rat way of thinking inside the box and come up with a new paradigm. God, how many useless years did I waste wondering what my life's career was going to be!?!? Does that still exist? Can't we just experience each moment as an embrace of the unknown - of learning - and not tie to it all kinds of stories about who we are, were, are going to be based upon this one experience?! And yet, this thought process dies hard. For example:

There was a metal plate over this and two heaters in the back of the bus that jutted into the middle. We were torn as to what to do since we couldn't see under the plate and were unfamiliar with the workings of the heaters. Should we keep them so we can use the heaters when other heat is not an option - thus also allowing us the ignorance of not tinkering with them? OR do we risk dealing with it? Well, we hemmed and hawed and decided to let an expert mess with it so we wouldn't screw it up. Then, JR was inspecting the radiator hoses to see how to build the flooring around them when a hole opened in one spraying anti-freeze all over the place!!! Hemming and hawing was no longer an option! With Uncle T's help, the system was blocked off and the troublesome piece removed. Repairs were made and now, with the metal plate removed, the inner workings of the system seem much less daunting. Lessons learned.

So after about 20 years of trying to get out of that damn box - learning to unlearn - it is still my thinking patterns/my fears of learning, the unknown, and feeling silly when I don't know something that puts me back inside it. Watching my kids learn and attack something new is the exact opposite. I remember watching W start to use the sewing machine. She would grab some cloth, cut and throw it into the machine. And out would come this amazing piece of learning and experience. And all I could say was,"Wait, you can't do it like that! You need a pattern, and to measure things out, and...and...and...". Which is probably why it has taken me 40 years to learn to sew. There always seemed to be one right way to learn and NEVER (GOD FORBID!) with reckless abandon. Well, here is to the BUS and to RECKLESS ABANDON!!! On behalf of and side by side with our kids in the name of learning to learn! And here is our shout out to more peeps who have come by to learn, help, or just plain snoop!!!

Ah, gotta love neighborhood boys! And BABY LOVERS (and watchers) ALWAYS WELCOME!!!!! :)

Feel free to join them/us! See you soon :)

WE GO SLOW

I have seen this phrase drawn in chalk on the rear of the Unschool Bus, and clearly it is true for us as well. Not only will we be driving slowly through life in our new abode, but progress is also slow. The weather is FINALLY bearable that we don't freeze our hands off working. However, while removing seats we realized it was a two-person job - one up top to use the ratchet on the bolt and one below to hold the nut. This, then, demands that the squirreliest of our brood not get into trouble during that time. Impossible! SO, we could only proceed when she was asleep. And let me tell you, that doesn't happen often enough when you are jonesing to toss seats out yer bus!!!

HOWEVER, it was really fun, believe it or not!!! Trying to figure out the torque and angle of the tools I was using (I know very little about tools), the best position to come at it from, how to communicate with your husband when there is a screaming whirrrrr in your ear and a floor between you, how to focus the light in the hands of an antsy 5 year old, how to involve the kids, how filthy bus-riding children are with their candy wrappers and filthy filth filth filth!!!! We have had a few visitors along the way, some help with kid-sitting, some cool ideas thrown at us, some donated goods, and some real good night sleep (R has slept soundly in his bed every nite for almost a week!). The kids are really getting into it and excited to make their space their own.

So the seats are OUT!!! Now what? We have worked out a floor plan based upon the size of this bus and how the space feels and are now prepping to insulate, frame and work out the issues with the heating units. Feel free to come visit and see our progress, play with a baby, hear our ideas, offer advice, etc.

As we go along we will announce what materials we are looking for in case anyone is looking to unload something. Hopefully we can build this bus with mostly recycled goods. JR got a GREAT deal on some bargain lumber today, but for now we are still looking for any left-over 2 x 4's or 2 x 2's, water tanks, 1/4 inch plywood or any old kitchen cabinets. That's it for now! Cheers!! The Rody-O

BUSSED A MOVE!!!!

It has been a while since our last confession (and you can still visit our old blog - vonrowdy.com - for our past entries until we get everything put together in one place). Nothing new here...just the proud owners of a 1996 BlueBird 78 Passenger Diesel School Bus! "For what?!", you say? How about for the ever-continuing VonRowdy Adventure as we take our kids on the road to life lessons, pavement, friends and family and the exploration of the time-space continuum. (The Doctor has the TARDIS; we've got the BLUEBIRD). A shout out to Tim and Damon at Don Brown's Bus Sales for all their help!!! Stage one: we FINALLY have the bus, now what? Well, seat removal mostly. And then building it out. What everyone wants to know..."Will that thing have a toilet?!". Yup, and a whole lot more. Do we know what we are doing? Not entirely, but that is what this whole thing is about. Not being afraid to learn, even when it is messy and dirty and awkward and uncomfortable and not just when it is clean and safe in neat rows with hall passes and common core, hired professionals with degrees, waiting for the bell to ring and such! SO if you have some knowledge about bus conversion you'd like to lay down upon us (or free building supplies, frankly)...BRING IT, we say! :) Is there a road trip forthcoming? ABSOLUTELY!!!! Cali, here we come! And if we succeed without killing each other in such a small space to the West and back, perhaps that is just the test run for this 'Ol Girl! "Live in a bus?!", you say! It cannot be done!" Well, it has, and it is. The question is how does it suit us? Unknown. Stay tuned.