November 29, 2016

We survived the first snow, but the melting afterwards has been a challenge. I woke up in the middle of the night and thought I smelled wet wood- that can’t be-

Then, two days later as the water was pouring off the roof of the camper, I noticed the mattress and pillows were wet. Water was coming through the window (or walls). I don’t know which! I called my son over to help me pull up the mattress. Sure enough, the mattress was soaked and the wood board underneath it was wet. We propped up the mattress to let it dry.

I drove to town, bought some sealant, two plastic shower curtains, and another mattress pad. Came home and attempted to patch a crack around the window sill. A little difficult with the snow melt running off. We managed and hopefully that will fix the problem.

December 7, 2016

Snow on my solar panels

You could say I’m torn

I love the white diamond sparkles on this early winter morn

But snow and no sunshine make a troublesome pair

When my panels don’t charge enough, it makes it hard to bear.

So when I thought off the grid an adventure everyone should try

I have to remember how hard this life can be, and sometimes it makes even me cry

December 29

Dave gave me a star chart for Christmas and tonight it was clear enough for us to see lots and lots of stars. Sirius twinkled green and white- gorgeous. We picked out the north star, Orion, Pegasus, and some others. It’s so weird how electric light can affect the sky. The further away from our little town we go, the more stars we can see. Love it!

December 31, 2016

As we come to the end of a very difficult year, I find myself looking back and wondering just how we survived. We sold our home, the one we built together, had to move eighteen plus years of stuff into three storage units. We moved into a borrowed camper (thank you Morelands! You saved us from staying in a tent.) We laughed, we cried, we gained, we lost. We loved, we fought, we had joy, we had sorrow. We prayed, we cursed (that was Dave) we questioned, we moved on. As I look towards the new year, I have hope. I feel God’s presence in our lives and I know since this was his plan all along, we’ll be fine, no matter what the future looks like.

Buh bye 2016- good riddance….

Hello 2017, I’m happy to have a do-over.