Oh the busy I've been this last 2 months so am going to try to catch you up and see how good my memory is.   Will also have some camping trip posts coming up so stay tuned for those.   Honestly, I literally just got photos off the phone and off the cameras last night and now that I think of it I think I have some on other cameras I need to get off.   I'll get those posted and blogged soon.   Favor though for you all, if you find in general my pictures are looking like they are under exposed (dark) on your computers, please drop me a comment.  I'm finding that when I edit on my laptop, literally having the lid open farther or closed farther makes a huge difference.   I think I have some that are way more dark than they need to be!

Okay onwards.   So first off my brother arrived mid August and that is mainly why I've not been blogging and such.   There are MANY projects that have been worked on and some still on the list.  Not sure if we'll accomplish them all as we are trying our best to do some fun stuff in between.   I think the Summer theme has been projects though!

One of the first was to do some remodel work in his trailer that he has here.   Since he works in there full time for the months he is up here AND camps in it, there were some things we talked about last year that might make is work time especially more comfortable.   I don't have any photos but suffice to say we ripped out the dinette and the jack-knife couch and replaced it with a desk/work area and a deeper couch that is long enough he can lay on and watch TV.  It also gave him more floor space and honestly more storage should he need it.

Of course I still had trailer items on MY list to do and other then doing some finish painting where we ripped out the two bedside hanging cabinets (that were worthless for storage) I think I'm really done in my trailer now.   VERY happy with it and how it works for my camping with the animals.   You can see below where the cabinets came out and were replaced by an overhead shelf which works so much better!

I took one of my old window covers and repurposed it into a bedside pocket for my phone, glasses, ipad and what nots that I want to have handy but secure.  Yes, I actually dragged out the sewing machine!

I really didn't think we'd get to the bathroom but we did!   Old plastic toilet OUT, lovely tall ceramic bowl one in.   Space sucking sink and cabinet OUT and lovely narrow shelves in (and covered up all the plumbing that runs under it.   Took the pegboard off the front wall and added some cute pictures as I just don't need that much pegboard anymore now that  have the shelves (no such stuff in the old toyhauler).    Also found a great place to store the rechargeable Shark.

After using the "projector" for a few trips for my TV watching (not that I do that much but it is nice to have), I decided a small flippable laptop would better suit me so the white roller shade wasn't a required option.   So the brighten things up I put some fabric and a quilt panel I had on it and I really like it!

We also spent one very warm weekend working on firewood.   I had a tree down up back that needed to be felled completely and another that needed to be cut up from 2 years ago.  The neighbor had trees taken care of as well so hauled down most of that wood and split it.  The plan is we will rent a big tow behind gas splitter to do the gi-normous pieces that still need to be done and plan to do that in the next few weeks before my muscle power goes home!   Yeah the carport is kind of a hot mess right now but will be so nice to have wood to burn this winter and not have to buy any.

Meanwhile my garden plants are hanging in there.   I've lost some, had some do well and had to get some of the beautiful zinnias/mums that Costco had to replace my entryway stands.   My striped garden spider by the water hose is still around as well and she is HUGE!   We've had a banner spider year this year as the bugs have been soooo bad!   I have a bunch of bulbs to plant now and still hope to get the back slope daylilies moved up front as well.

Here is one of my hostas blooming.   This particular one has never bloomed before but we had a great summer for hostas and luckily I didn't seem to damage them too bad when I dug them up and moved them to the new beds.

The below are Ganzania's that have been well, hit and miss.   They are supposed to like hot dry conditions but I think they like it a bit LESS hot than it has been up front.   They close up their blooms at night and open when the sun comes around.

The weather has been crazy, HOT for a few days then COLD.   It definitely is Fall feeling in the air though but I don't think we will see much "fall color" this year.   Too many extremes too quickly.   I could be wrong but so far things are looking a little yellow/brown not the pretty bright colors.   Fingers crossed though.  We've had some lovely sunsets though and it has been lovely spending time out on the deck and out back.

Speaking of out back, another project we tackled was moving the parrot aviaries.   I initially had put them against the fence back in the area where I have the patio between the garage and house.   Then I decided I really wanted to replace that fence and that the parrots didn't really seem to enjoy being back in a "hole".   So we took it apart and moved it to the area where no grass ever would grow so I had put down weed barrier and some of the left over granite as part of the path around the back door porch.    The parrots seem to love it and I like being able to just peek out the back windows and see them.

I'll plant up the raised beds back there come next year with something hopefully that will get some height.  We've also put some of the "river rock" in the cage bottoms after Gizmo decided it might be fun to eat the sandy stuff.   It really finished them off as well.   Yes, that is my brother and I am always and forever thankful to him for being willing to come help me with all these "projects" and to be my camping buddy!

It has been such a whirlwind of activity around here that I know for a fact I've forgotten stuff.   Kent has worked on a number of other things on his list of to-dos on his truck and such and we do still have some other items to try to finish (or not).   It won't be long and I'll have to really kick winterizing into gear to be honest.  Getting all the outside stuff put away and the yard put to bed.   

Till next time - ta-ta!