Life with Metal

Good afternoon, my friends. It was a "life" day today. Mike has been outside most of the day. First, he washed the windows. Then he went around, wiping off the whole RV with a rag and a bucket. The man is very picky about his toys. 

I've done three loads of laundry today and I made a macaroni salad for tonight's dinner. We're having BLATs. Those are BLT's with some avocado added. If you've been keeping count, you should know that I'm gaining on my goal to use avocados 1,001 different ways. We had them on our hamburgers last night. We've had them in the grapefruit salad I showed you in a previous post. We've had them halved and pitted with a little salad dressing poured in the hole. We've had avocado toast. We've had them in salads. And I made Avocado-Egg Salad with them. I'm sure I could list more, but I'll stop there. They're easier to use than zucchini.

I spent a little extra time on my slow-stitching this morning. When I stopped, I'd filled everything in my hoop.

And that was the last of it. When I took it out of the hoop, it looked like this. It still needed to have the Sticky Fabri-Solvy washed out of it.

That was my first load of wash. My little washer adds only enough water for the size of the load, and so I needed to add in some other stuff to get enough water volume to do the job. It seemed like a good time to wash the rest of the clothes.

While that was washing, I readied Block #8 of the Kittens blocks. I'll start this when I sit down to stitch again.

When the first block for Grandpa's Bridges was washed, dried, and ironed, it looked like this:

The Valdani perle cotton I'm using is a variegated thread. It spans from very dark olive green to black, although to my eyes it looks mostly brown and black. And this was my goal for March's 

so I'll link up there when the party starts at the end of the month.

Smitty got out for a good walk this morning.

He snooped around until he found some good grass to eat. This is his purrsonal pasture now. 

Back inside, he got treats of valor. Sadie got treats of appeasement.

From there, we made a short grocery shopping trip. When we're at the grocery store, we're constantly asking ourselves if we have room in the refrigerator for this thing or that thing. Then, we come home and play refrigerator Tetris. Today's wasn't too difficult. 

We both took naps, and then it seemed like a good time for another photo prompt. This is the one I selected. 

Of course, there's plenty of metal in an RV park. I was looking for things that weren't trailers or cars. The first thing to pop into my head was my magnetic needle nanny and two needles. The one in the front is the one I'm using on the Kittens block with regular embroidery floss. The one behind has a larger eye. I use that one for Grandpa's Bridges, which is stitched in the heavier Valdani perle cotton.

As I headed out the door, I noticed the keys and hooks.

Outside, the wheel on our truck.

From there, I took a walk through the park. This sign is metal. Don't worry...we're only going one way, so we're good.

Here's a metal lamp post.

Each space in the RV park has one of these. This is where we hook up to electricity.

Walking on...this metal fence.

Just to the right, this motorcycle was parked. Gotta be plenty of metal there, right?

Here's a sprinkler head. It might be plastic. I didn't stop to examine it.

These metal rings holding the trash barrel together. I figure anyone watching me probably wonders what I'm doing when I'm seen taking pictures of trash barrels.

Here's someone's propane tank. In this park, if we run out of propane, we set our empty tank at the curb. Someone from the park picks it up, refills it, and delivers it back to us. It's a nice perk, and not uncommon in RV parks.

A few of the spaces are having their concrete replaced. Here, you can see the metal rebar where the concrete will be poured eventually.

They used this little tractor to smooth out the space. It's metal, for sure. Also, it has the word "Cat," and so, by definition, it must be included.

Yes, please. 

If you have an emergency, you can use this emergency telephone. The outer case is metal.

If you have a true emergency, you might want to use this metal fire extinguisher.

But if you need more extinguishing power, there's always whatever this is. 

If you yourself are on fire, just jump in the pool here, and then use the metal ladder to get back out once all the sparks have been extinguished. Be sure to check your hair.

Here's the gate latch. No code necessary.

Some very small people were apparently visiting the office. Their wagon was plastic, but their bikes were metal.

Here we have a metal lock and chain assembly.

Here's where we hook up for water.

When I reached the gate for the park, I took a walk around there. This is a spring on one of the playground pieces.

This is a support bar for the back of one of the park benches.

These metal screws can be found on another bench. 

The park is fenced with a chain link fence and metal poles.

Here's the metal hinge for the gate.

Here's the metal spring that closes it.

Back at our RV, I got the metal spokes and other parts for Mike's front bike tire.

This is the metal zipper on my hoodie.

Here's another spice bottle with a metal lid.

This is the metal hose attached to our shower head.

This is my metal apple corer/slicer. When I took this picture off the camera, I noticed it was broken down there in the lower right corner. Well. That will never do. I went straight to work ordering another one off Amazon. It will be delivered tomorrow. I know I'm supposed to be mad at Amazon, but I can't help myself. I 💗Amazon. They'll bring it right to the door.

Finally, the metal grate and burner on our stove top.

But no walk is complete unless I take pictures of every blooming thing. Here's the hibiscus again, although this is a different one.

And the bougainvillea. I love it.

Here's another color of bougainvillea.

These are blooming on a low shrub.

And that brings me to the end. I hope you've enjoyed this meander through metal. 

We have another free day tomorrow. I expect we'll do something, but we have no plans just yet. We're here until Thursday, when we'll be on our way again. First stop will be in Arizona. We're hoping to drive through Anza-Borrego Desert State Park to see the blooming wildflowers. Looking at the map last night, we weren't sure how to pull it off without taking some winding mountain roads. It seems our friend, Tom, knows a way, and so we'll consult with him when we see him again on Monday.

From here, I'm thinking I'll take the first stitches on the newest Kittens block. There's no time like the present to start something new.