When it comes to being homeless and living in a tent, Donna and I really have it kind of lucky. I mean, at least we can afford to pay campground fees and thus enjoy electricity, bathrooms, hot showers and a sense of security.
One of the adjustments I’ve grudgingly made during this time is surrendering my anti-Walmart stance. With money being as tight as it is for us, and with our very lives seeming to hang on every penny I just felt that I had to let go of my “no shopping at Walmart” mantra. Putting as good a spin on it as I could, I chuckled as we walked through buying stuff remembering an episode of Modern Family which we’d caught before leaving Kentucky. In the episode, Mitchell (Jesse Tyler Ferguson) caves-in on his anti-Costco attitude and wanders around in awe at all the low prices. Yes, the savings really are incredible (when you are buying something that is actually cheaper than other places).
We had to buy a second extension chord so that our heater had its own independent circuit. We blew the reset button on our outlet bar trying to run the hot plate, coffeemaker and heater all at once on just one chord.
An important word of advice regarding camping either in a campground or a wild area is food storage. First and for most, lock things up in your car at night so that critters both big and small won’t rip your tent to shreds trying to get at the good stuff. We keep all of our dry goods in a large plastic tote, and all our perishables are kept in a cooler. We’ve found that during this chilly weather, the ice in our cooler lasts a really-really long time thanks to our putting it in the car every night; resulting in more pennies saved.
Another problem that we’ve had to address is mud. During the last few days of last week we were living with constant rain or mist and tracking mud into the tent was a huge problem. We solved this by laying out one of our bath towels on the floor right at the entrance and immediately removing our shoes as soon as we walked in. This led me to wearing my shoes with the laces tucked inside when I was just running out to the car for something, or running to the bathroom which is just across the road from us. I do tie them on when we go to town, the library or a store.
A view of our Campsite
The view from our tent - The little brown building behind the bushes is our handy-dandy UN-heated restroom - at least it has flush toilets... Yeah!!
Keeping our home fire burning
A view looking up from our picinic table - Just one of the many Walnut trees at the campground. There are three of them just on our little tent site.
That’s my blog; and I’m stickin’ to it.
Hope you all are well.
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Comments: 46
Only if Keenan Thompson fills my role.
One of the best and most strongest things about our relationship is that we are always loving and supportive of each other. Personally, I consider myself quite blessed that Donna puts up with and sticks with me. She's the absolute Best and is totally golden in my book.
Thanks for the blessings. Back at ya.
I hear Massachusetts is nice this time of year. Is it still the height of fall color?
Sounds like you have really had some serious adventures yourself. Ice lasting ten days... that must be a record. I'll bet the stars down your way are gorgeous. We have wispy clouds up here and light pollution from the suburbs that are less than twenty miles away. Although we see many stars, it's nothing like what I have seen from deeper rural areas.
Honestly, we haven't stayed up past eleven all the time we've been camping. The fresh air seems like a relaxing tonic.
Donna just realized this morning as we arrived at the library that she somehow accidentally turned comments off. She was totally bummed and I think that is fixed now.
Sorry for the confusion; not it's not Utica, KY... it's Utica, OH. The second interview went strangely. The place said they wanted to change the job duties, again. I don't think they have their heads screwed on quite right. They seem to treat the job Donna applied for - and one that she is an expert in -- as something irrelevant that anyone could do part-time. In reality, this is the job duty that secures proper payment from medicare and medicaid for those patients that are under those plans; which means it's a money maker when done right and a money loser when done wrong. In today's interview Donna spotted three different areas where the company was under-billing. They could use her, but not if they are going to give her the run-around and over work her.
Thanks for the well-wishes. We'll keep everyone posted.
We'll keep sharing the news as things go along.
Thanks for keeping us in your prayers.
We are going to look at an apartment tomorrow night. Our fingers are crossed.
The mud issue.... this being Oregon mud is a huge problem over the mountain where I grew up. A plastic bag on those short trips to the bathroom or what not..... just take it off and wow, clean boots/ shoes! I also make my boys put these on the inside of there boots/shoes when there's are wet or whatever.
Running water in the toilets, cant beat that hu!! It is hard to stick to convictions (like walmart) when one is in such a situation..... I think everyone understands.
Wish you well.
I remember wearing plastic bags in my boots; both as a child and as an adult. They absolutely are a great way to keep feet dry during wet weather.
I promised the God of conscientiousness that as soon as I (we) could afford it I'd go back to my "No Walmart" attitude.
Well wishes back at ya.
The beauty of the spot is one of the most precious things. And we are nestled near the center of the park so the winds are greatly broken up before they reach us. The sunsets are also quite gorgeous. I'll try to get a picture of tonight's; providing it's worthy.
Peace -
Yup, we sure are; and we are making the absolute best of it.
Same to you.
Yeah, We sure are lucky that Donna can cook in the great outdoors. She even claims to love it. We had pork-steaks and foil wrapped potatoes grilled over the fire last night. Man!! They were delicious!
Thanks for the shopping tip. We'll give that a look.
I buy stuff there all summer, but ours costs more. During the summer, seniors get $40 worth of vouchers. The produce costs more then in the grocery stores otherwise.
The vouchers here are for produce, and this year, honey.
If you haven't checked, you might. I get mine through the Senior Center.
I also like your idea about the car mats. We thought of buying some cheap throw rugs from a dollar store, but haven't gotten around to it yet. When the rain stopped, the need became less pressing.
Thanks for the comment and t thoughts.
The car mats worked great.
With the screen tent, we could have all our coolers and everything in with us during the day (we also put everything like that in the car overnight).
This time of year there is definitely not the bug problem there is earlier in the year. In fact, this is my favorite time of year to camp.
The screen house part just seemed to give us more privacy.
We're doing just fine, so far; and we have every hope of being indoors within a couple of weeks. If not, we'll muddle on through.
Thank you for hoping for us.
Blessings to you too.
We really appreciate your thoughts.
Hope you are well.
And thanks for sending us some luck.
Thanks for posting to my group, Anythingwriting
I've been keeping a journal old school style (pen and paper) so maybe that could happen down the line. If you know an editor/publisher that would be interested, well....
Generic or not it is still appreciated.