Day: January 9, 2009

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Mysteries of the Bench

I was shocked by what I found in the dinette bench behind the driver’s seat: dozens of plastic hangers! I don’t know what I was thinking! Let’s just say I got rid of them quickly!

Here’s a shot of the drawer into that compartment that constitutes poor design:

The infamous dinette bench drawer

The infamous dinette bench drawer

I’ll let you in on a secret: that drawer is so hard to open that I store my most often used plasticware in… the fridge’s vegetable bin!

I was able to put two small totes in there. One holds the blender and the other linens. The blender will still be accessible here. I had it in a basket over the fridge, but it made the basket so heavy as to be dangerous to pull down. It’s still not the best use of space, but better.

The other bench holds a lifetime’s worth of journals, all carefully sealed against potential flooding. And I thought they were in an overhead compartment in the study. Which leads me to wonder what’s in the overhead compartment?

I think I need to make a map of what’s where!

(I love the expression on Neelix’s face in this picture!)

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What Makes an RV Liveable?

I found an interesting article today about what makes an RV liveable. The author lists twelve items. Of those, four are items that I loved about Miranda from the get-go, two are things I was able to change, and three are things I’ve been hankering to change. That means that nine of the twelve items applied to me. I’d say the article was pretty relevant!

The four items I loved are:

1) Separate vanity and toilet (#8);

2) An accessible toilet (#10);

3) Real doors (#11);

4) Lots of windows (#12). I recently saw a class C that had no window in the back. I can’t imagine not having my great view… even if it means a chillier room in the winter!

The two things I was able to change:

1) Easy to maintain floors (#1). Miranda had hardwood in some places and carpet in the rest. I replaced the carpet with vinyl. The combination of the two is easy to upkeep;

2) A dedicated workspace (#7). I was lucky to be able to convert a whole room into a computer space.

The three things I’ve been hankering to change:

1) Adding a counter extension (#4), but the only place to put one would interfere with the drawers, so that will probably never happen;

2) The wardrobe (#6);

3) The pantry (#9); improving my food storage is my number two priority after figuring out what to do with all my clothes.

The three items that weren’t relevant to me:

1) A re-configurable dining area (#2) since I find the dinette useful (which is good because it’s not removable!);

2) An island style bed (#3) since I live alone and all I want is an unobstrusive flat place to sleep, so the loft makes me happy;

3) An adjustable television set (#5) since I don’t own a tv. I did have a lapse in judgement when I thought “Gee, I should get one since most parks include cable in their free hookups” and then I remembered that I didn’t watch tv most of the year I had free cable included in my rent AND that the reason I gave away my television was that I hadn’t turned it on in over eighteen months and was sick of dusting it AND where, praytell, would I store such an item?

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Nesting Weather

All this time spent cooped up in Miranda is making me eager to get rid of those fur-collecting window treatments! But before I start investing in the third stage of the great big remodel (new valances, new blinds, new curtains), I need to improve on my organization in here! Everything has a home, but not a very neat one, so I need to work on making things more accessible. My wardrobe, especially, is proving to be a real challenge. I need a full-length closet!!! I’m actually so desperate for a full-length closet that I actually found one that would fit in the space by the shower, which means that I would have to get rid of the bathroom storage tower, which means that I need to rethink my bathroom storage to remove the need for that tower. I’ve got a lot of wall space in the toilet room and I really need to better utilize the upper portions.

I can see that I’m slowly beginning to make Miranda ‘mine’ with no consideration for how modifications could affect her resale value. The more I’m out here, in western Canada, the more I find RV parks where the RVs stay parked long term without ever being moved. I can just about visualize myself, in several years time when I’d be ready to settle down for a bit, setting Miranda on blocks in one of these parks instead of renting an apartment or buying a house.

The day I get out the paint brushes and get rid of these bland speckled wall coverings is the day I’ll know for sure just how long term I’m looking at being in here. 😀

I’m off to remind myself of what I stored in the dinette benches, throw it out (how important can it be if I forgot what it is?), move linens under there, and move winter gear to where the linens were. Eventually the winter gear will end up back in the basement and I’ll be able to breathe again. 🙂

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Like March, Only Wetter

We were treated to brilliant sunshine and BLUE sky  yesterday afternoon and this morning I was awoken by SUN. It doesn’t last, though. It’s started to rain again, but the weather is sooooo mild. It’s such a joy to be able to dash out to the laundry in just a sweater and slippers instead of having to throw on a heavy coat and boots!

Some parts of Surrey and the Fraser Valley are severely flooded right now, but I’m still safe and relatively dry where I am. I don’t see water pooling anywhere in the park. I am keeping watch on conditions in case there are evacuations, but it seems like this is a good place to ride out the inclement weather.

A lot of roads into this area are closed because of avalanche risks, including the road I took from Oliver. I really got out of there in the nick of time!

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Mail Improvements

Until I got here, all the parks I’d stayed at preferred that mail not be sent directly to them (courrier deliveries okay, though). So, I’ve been having my mail sent general delivery. This worked out fine until I got to Oliver. The post office there was really bad. Canada Post’s services are notoriously poor, but these guys were the champions of bad service. They misplaced some of my mail, didn’t lift a finger to find it even though I was able to prove that the mail go to their office, and tried to blame me for the error when the package was finally located. I wound up having my mail forwarded directly to the resort by UPS at 30$ a pop!

At Pacific Border, mail can simply be sent to your attention. There are bins at the front desk where mail is sorted alphabetically and guests can go through the appropriate bin to find mail they’re waiting for. Sure, it’s not the most secure method, but, really, how secure is your mail when it’s sitting in a box on your porch anyway?

I continue to be pleased with the service I’m getting from the clerk at the UPS store in Gatineau where I rented a box. Several weeks ago, I emailed him to ask if some mail I was expecting had arrived and if so to please send me all my mail to Oliver, otherwise I would try again in a week. He replied that the letter hadn’t arrived. Two days later, he sent me another email telling me that he’d spotted my letter and my mail was on its way. This is a busy store so talk about service!