Lemons Aide: February 2018

Years ago, I got this long camper. Some friends had it behind their house, and graciously gave it to me. We brought it to our house... She is a big travel trailer... We got her here, parked her next to the workshop, and got busy working on her. Then comes the detour.... My dad became ill. I spent my days taking care of him, with at least one grandchild in tow. As he began to recover, my mom fell ill. It started with a severe sinus infection, then to bronchitis, and eventually pneumonia. She started feeling better, and it was back to the Gypsy. Dad had a relapse, and Mom was diagnosed with Leukemia. My world revolves around my family, so, again, the Gypsy took a back seat. I cared for mom until she lost her battle with Leukemia. We spent most of our time in Medical City, in Dallas, Texas. On the weekends, my girls would drive to Dallas to stay with Mom, while I made the 2 hour trip home to care for Dad. During the weekdays, while I was in Dallas, my husband and girls took care of Dad. It was a crazy whirlwind, for sure. While the craziness was going on, my Gypsy was neglected. To be completely honest, she was dropped in the pasture, and left for dead... A few weeks ago, I decided to bring her to the house, and begin working on her. The neglect was showing. From the outside, she looked good. The inside, however, did not. Rats had nested in the oven, couch and dinette seats. The roof was leaking, and one of her doors was completely gone. The back door was still there, but it had a gap at the top about and inch wide, and...you guessed it.... more water damage.... I do not give up, when I am faced with challenges. I dig my heels in, and get to work. She is, in fact, a diamond in the rough.... and when I say rough, I mean ROUGH!!! She was hurting. The floor, for the most part is ok. The floor by the back door will need replacing, but that is nothing I can't handle.... Right? I, again, start demo. The dinette, and upper shelves were the first to go. I cannot describe the smell... it was horrid... Then, the couch. Again, the smell.... it wasn't bad, until I started moving the stuff out, but WOWZA! I refused to let anyone inside, for fear of them contracting some kind of horrible respiratory infection. Next came the mattress from the bedroom and the osb bed platform.... Yep... more smells........ But, it all came out. Trust me on this: a small sledge hammer is your friend sometimes! Talk about getting some frustration out! While I was in the bedroom, I noticed something strange. A random piece of romex running along the back wall. I pulled the paneling, and traced it to a metal junction box. I took the cover off the box, and was immediately shocked. The connection inside the box was missing wire nuts! So, there is a 110 volt plug, wired directly to the 30 amp plug in, with no wire nuts,in a metal box attached to a wooden box that holds the 30 am power cord. And, it was mounted UNDER the bed..... I was in such a state of shock about the fire hazard, that I didn't notice the extent of the water damage to the back wall..... Oh, but that is for another day... My next step was to find the bottom piece of trim for the missing door. This was a nightmare! After weeks of searching, I came up empty. I just couldn't afford a new door, so that was not even in the realm of possibilities. After a few trips to junk yards, rv supply places, machine shops and endless internet browsing, I decided there had to be a way to rebuild a door. I was in Lowe's, and was scanning the aluminum trim, when I had an idea. I bought 2 pieces of Angle Aluminum, and a door sweep. This is my 'Frankenstein' fix. I searched for fiberglass sheets, and styrofoam filler until I was getting frustrated. One day, I was at our local Cafe, and some of our neighbors/friends came in. Luckily, they were remodeling their mobile home, and had taken the factory door off, and replaced it. It was a bit bigger than my dimensions on the Gypsy, but it could easily be cut down to size. They refused to let me pay them for the door. Sweet people! And let me say this..... We have some wonderful friends! We loaded the door into my Tahoe, and off to the house I went! As soon as the weather allowed, I meticulously measured, and cut the door. Then, I took the 3 pieces of factory trim that I had, and dry fit it on the door. It was perfect! Mother nature had a bipolar episode, and we had freezing temps and high winds. This is Texas, but you just cannot work outside in that kind of weather, so, the Gypsy was closed up, the best she could be, to await tolerable temperatures. The weather forecast was looking great, and I was itching to get back to my diamond..... or my piece of coal, at this point.... Then, we get another set back.... everyone in our home came down with the flu. 7 days of fever, aches and sleeping, while the weather was soooo nice outside.... just my luck... We all finally started to get back to normal... as normal as this house can get, and my poor husband had to have surgery. Again, my family is my life. Gypsy was going to be put on the back burner again, no doubt about it. I am happy to report, at this point, everyone is healthy, and the Gypsy and I are back to hanging out together. Last Wednesday, I started the finish work on the door. I will say this again: its a good thing I don't quit easily.... In the amount of time the door had sat, freshly cut to the correct size, the fiberglass sheeting on it had came loose along one of the sides... no problem... I can just glue it back, right?? NOPE! The humidity would not allow the glue to set up.... I have an idea. It's kinda crazy, but it should work. I need duct tape! I can place a thin strip on the edge, to hold it down long enough to put the trim on....Now, where did my duct tape go?? I look in the workshop, barn, feed barn, house, trucks, my daughter's house, her shop... it has disappeared... a whole entire roll of glittered duct tape has vanished. I am desperate at this point. I have 2 choices. 1. Drive into town to get a single roll of duct tape. 2. Go to the cafe and see if Larry has any. Luckily, he did! Have I said I have great friends??? Back home with the borrowed duct tape, and I get back to work. It worked for the most part. I still had about 6 inches left that just would not stay down, no matter how hard that tape tried. Plan B. I took my trusty aluminum carpenter's square, and used two C clamps to hold the edge down, and the trim slipped right on like butter! Whew! I put all the screws in it to hold it until I could find the Rivet gun (seriously, looking for tools around here is a scavenger hunt every single day) Thursday comes, and we are still searching for the rivet gun. It has walked away from this circus. Who am I kidding?? It RAN away! My biggest supporter, my husband, tells me to get in the truck, we are going to town. He takes me to get pipe clamps and a rivet gun :) I am not a 'flower' type girl.. get me tools or something for my truck, and I am thinking it is Christmas. We go over a list of what we will need while we are in town. Caulk? I have 2 unopened tubes in the house... check Drill bits? We have a whole set of them in the toolbox.... check Plenty of rivets? the gun came with quite a few... check We got home after dark, so there was no more working on Gypsy that day. Friday, I rush home from the Cafe, eager to finish.this.dang. door... Rain is in the forecast, and I have a ginormous hole in the wall that needed to be closed! I start drilling holes for the rivets. I break the first drill bit on the second rivet. No worries, we have more.... then I break a second one, then a third... and I only have 6 Rivets in the frame. *sigh* After my pity party ended, I quit for the day. Yay for Saturday! The hubby and I head back into town... once again.... Drill bits are on the list. We get 3 of the best ones available, and I grab a small nail puller for the staples in the paneling while I am there. After all, I really don't need to make any more trips into town! We get home and start to work. I only needed 1 drill bit, thank goodness, and all of the rivets are going in like they are supposed to. 3 pieces of frame are on the door and riveted! Yay!!!! I get my angle aluminum Frankenstein idea going. Things are going great! All of the cuts are matching up perfectly, so I run in the house to get the caulk and caulking gun. I move the vacuum cleaner and carpet shampooer out of the laundry room, to get to the closet where the Caulk gun hangs... that is a comical scenario in it's own, but I get the gun, grab the caulk from the shelf, and I am feeling accomplished! I can see the end of the door building process and it is right in my grasp! I cut the end of the spout off, poke the hole thru the foil on the caulk, and set the gun. No caulk is coming out..... I poke another hole, thinking I just didn't get the hole right. Still, no caulk. It is dried inside the tube :( No problem, there is another new tube in the laundry room. Well, Heavens to Betsy, it is dried up too. UGH! Well, that is all for today, because I am exhausted and I still have a vacuum and a carpet shampooer in my hall. Sunday comes in and it is going to be a beautiful day! I get my coffee fix. Seriously, can anyone get motivated without a few cups of this amazing stuff? Not me. After the caffeine hits my system, I am on my way to... you guessed it... to town.... again.... I grab a tube of caulk, some paint tape (It was right there handy, and I know I will need it sooner or later, so, why not? I had forgotten to get the size of the rivets, so I just decided we would probably have enough. I was wrong. Soooo wrong.. I drive back home after getting a large sweet tea to go, and I am well on my way to having the door finished. I caulk the Frankenstein pieces together, clamp them in place, and start riveting. I was 5 rivets short.... Yes. 5 rivets halted the work again. Me and the husband go back into town, and get rivets. This time, I got the big box of 1,000 rivets, in varying sizes. Ya know, because I will need them and they will be here. Unless they run away to find the original rivet gun. We get the door finished finally! At this point in the project, my husband is as determined as I am. We get the door out to check the fit to the frame, and IT FITS!!! Oh the happiness filled the air. We were high on our own power. I lift the door into place, and my husband grabs the drill and screws, and we attach it to the frame. Before closing the door, for the final fitting, my husband stops me. He says "Now, Honey, I just want to say something. You cut this door, and as thorough as you were, you might need to make adjustments, ok? I don't want you to get frustrated if it doesn't sit exactly perfect." I stared him right in the eye, and swung the door shut. It was terrifying, yet exhilarating for the mere second that it took to close. And, it was perfect!! All of the trips to town, frustration and anger was gone. The door was attached and it shut perfectly. I was walking on a cloud!