PSA: Check Those Detectors.....

Happy Sunday afternoon everyone!!  It's been a busy weekend around here, and we've accomplished quite a lot.  By this time next week, if all goes as planned, we'll be all set up for our Spring Break at Huntington Beach State Park in Murrel's Inlet, SC.

This will be one of those trips where the whole Team R&T will get to participate.  Along with Pod and Truck, Chillbert (the ice maker), little and Big Yeti, Miss Molly (liquid fueled Coleman Stove), Things 1 & 2 (folding bikes), Kari the Beach Kart, P-Nutty, PI, and stinky (the sewer tote) all get to make the trip.  Of course Rob, Trisha, and Jackson will be going too.

But back to the PSA part of today's post.  Pod's Carbon Monoxide (CO) detector has been acting strange since the last trip of 2014 and then again the first trip last week.  It would alarm when there should be no reason for it too.  Rob replaced the battery and this really didn't seem to help at all.  Then he got to checking and found out the CO detector was at the end of the designed service life for this unit.

The factory installed CO detector.

The "replace by" date on the factory
installed CO detector.

The new CO detector
bought from Lowes.

New CO detector installed.

This was about a 10 minute job.  So this item of Pod maintenance should be good to go for another five years.  Everyone with a camper five or more years older should check to see if the CO detector is out of date, then change it, or if there isn't a CO detector in their camper, add one. 

Thanks for checking by today for this short PSA blog post.  It's important to keep up with all these maintenance items. 

Until next time, stay safe out there.....R,T,&J.

Kings Mountain Camping Happys......

Happy Sunday evening everyone.  We're back from our season opening camping trip.  In spite of some damp weather, we had a grand time.  If fact, here's a group picture Cousin Sharon had us all pose for this morning before we all went our separate ways.

What a great looking group of campers we are!  And boy did we all have fun too!

But, back to the title of this blog post.  What is a "Camping Happy" you ask?  It is a totally unexpected camping gift one or more of your camping friends gives you for some special reason or just no reason at all.

Our first camping happy was from Cousin Sharon.  She was as excited to give it to us and we were to get it.  She had painted us a very special watercolor of Truck and Pod going camping.  She said it was for all the times we have fed her while camping, like we'd let her go hungry or something.  Haha.   Rob plans on having it matted and framed.  We will find that special just-right place to hang it too!  

Our other camping happy from from a new Podder Mary whom we met on her first Podding adventure back in September 2014 at Mountain Stream.  It was a balloon Mr. Wuf.  This is way cool!!

Our afternoon was spent doing laundry, ironing school clothes, and then while Trisha did some schoolwork, Rob took advantage of the beautiful afternoon to wash Truck, the CR-V, and finally Pod.  

That just about wraps up our weekend.  Thanks for checking by today once again.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

A Turning Point For Our Nation.....

Happy Saturday afternoon everyone.  After a wet start, the Sun is finally trying to peek out from behind the clouds and start to dry everything out.   

Today has been a great camping day so far in-spite of the wet conditions of this morning.  After an early morning potty walk for Jackson, Rob fixed a sausage, egg, and hash brown bake with whop camping biscuits for breakfast.  

After getting ourselves together for the day, we along with fellow Podder Mary, her friend Suzanne, and Jackson loaded into truck and were off to visit the Kings Mountain National Battlefield.

At the visitor's center, we learned about the history of the battle, saw exhibits of the weapons used, and learned how this battle, which only lasted about an hour, led to the British defeat at Yorktown, VA, a year later.  In fact no less than Thomas Jefferson called this battle the turning point of the Revolutionary War.  

To start with, here is a picture of the Patriot Commanding officer of the combined forces at Kings Mountain.

Next is the British Officer in Command who was shot and killed trying to escape once it became apparent the British were going to loose this battle.

Next is both a map of the battle, and a display depicting the layout of the battle.

Here are some the the weapons on display in the museum. 

A few of the common items found in a troop encampment of the period.

And finally a painting depicting the British holding the open high ground, and the Patriots holding the wooded lower ground.   The choice of this particular place to battle, the open position of the British, and the over reliance of the British commander on the killing ability of the bayonette, were all factors in the British loosing the Battle of Kings Mountain.

After learning all about the battle of Kings Mountain, we rode back to Kings Mountain State Park and visited the living history farm, where Jackson tried his best to make friends with some really big dogs disguised as donkeys.  

Thanks for checking by today.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

King's Mountain Kick-Off.....

Happy Friday afternoon everyone!!  Splash T@B and R&T'S-Pod are back in action again, this time hosting the season opening King's Mountain Kick-Off at Kings Mountain State Park in Blacksburg, SC.

This is the 3rd year we along with Cousin Sharon have taken advantage of a South Carolina State Parks half-price weekend camping as our middle of March season opener.  You have to make the reservations back in the winter, and have very narrow window of time to get the special weekend rate.  You never know what the weather will be though.

This year we will have some rain, but that's just fine.  Rob took Friday off, arrived early and had camp set-up before the rain started.  Trisha and Jackson will be here in an hour or so, and then the weekend will be officially underway.  Tomorrow morning should be a little rainy, but Sunday is forecast to be great.

We are here with several T@B's, another Pod, and even one vintage camper.  Rob said he will post some camper pictures tomorrow.   But today, it's just the stars of the show, Splash and Pod.

After getting set-up, Rob went to check-in and on the way back, found what must have been in years past as swimming lake (and may still be), complete with bath house, dam, swimming platform, and a few paddle boats.   Here are a few pictures of it all.

And finally a pre-revolutionary war log-home that serves and the ranger headquarters and temporary campground headquarters.  

Well that's about it for today.  Supper will be steaks on the new Coleman Roadtrip grill and salads.  Check back tomorrow evening to read more about our weekend.

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-Just Rob (for now)

What To Do On A Snow Day.......

Happy Thursday everyone.  Yes, it is yet another snow day here in our part of North Carolina.  Most likely Friday will be another snow day too.  That will mean we've only gone to school 1.5 days our of the last 9 scheduled school days.  MAJOR UGH!!

Here's a picture of Pod patiently waiting in the Pod-Port for our first camping trip, the Kings Mountain Kick-off which takes place two weeks from tomorrow for us.

To keep ourselves busy, we've been doing all sorts of things.   Trisha has been knitting and working on lesson plans clear out to 2017.  Rob has been doing little projects and making soap.  In fact, it is the soap making that is the main subject of today's post.

Rob decided this past Sunday, when there was still plenty of white stuff laying around to make two, 2-pound batches of soap.  Here you can see the view from the door of the shop.

Yes, that is ice still laying around from the storm the prior Monday evening.  

Here you can see the soap supply shelves in Rob's shop where he keeps most of his soap making supplies.

Next you can see the kerosene heater being used to heat the hot water bath used in the oil blending part of the process.

Rob has also used the stove in Pod, or the burner for his turkey fryer, depending on the weather, etc.  

Next, you can see the table saw turned workbench with some of the items left over from the first batch of mixed soap.

Then today, here is the finished product, turned out of the molds and sliced for at least two more weeks of drying before use.  

For those that are interested, this is a five-oil soap.  It contains, 
coconut oil, palm oil, olive oil, castor oil, and cocoa butter, along with water and lye.  The fragrance is a sandalwood and vanilla blend.

This particular batch is for Rob.  He has made several batches for Trisha and they are in the drying stage.  

It is time to wrap up today post.  Thanks for checking by today. 

Until next time, stay safe out there.....-R,T,&J.

A Snow Day.....

Hello everyone!!  Today here in our corner of the world, it is a SNOW DAY!!  We are both home from school.  Monday morning bright and early, Rob had a screening colonoscopy.  The results were excellent and he won't have to repeat the experience for 10 years!!!

Then the sleet started falling Monday afternoon.  All we got was sleet, mixed with a little snow toward the end of the storm.  Other areas just got snow, or a mix of freezing rain, sleet, snow, etc.

This morning after sleeping late and cooking a real breakfast, Rob got out and about with his trusty Nikon.  He's a picture of Pod hunkered down safely in Pod-Port dreaming about warm weather....

Rob also made a collage or three of Snow Day 2015.  Enjoy.....

Thanks for checking by today.  The plan for today is to just relax and enjoy the quite time at home.

Until next time, stay safe out there......-R,T,&J.

A Sign of the Times......

Happy Monday everyone, it's P-Nutty here.  I swiped the computer for a bit to make today's blog post.  You see, I've been sneaking around taking a few pictures of Mr. R today.  He's making this super secret camping sign for Cousin Sharon's Blue Ridge Rally.  

He's determined not to let any of the T@bber's show him up.  So I just wanted to see if I could get a few pictures on the sly to let everyone see what he's done so far.  

Whew it wasn't easy.  First I had to convince Mr. R to let me use his big ole Nikon Camera.  He thought I looked funny trying to hold it and he even took my picture.  Little did he know......

Perhaps I should go back a few years to the previous camper Mr. and Mrs. R had.  It was a little pop-up camper named the "Pop-Ritchie" after Mr. R's grandfather "Pop" Ritchie.  Pretty neat huh?  Well Mr. R had made a sign for it, so this camper sign making stuff isn't anything new for Mr. R.  Check it out....

Now cousin Sharon made a blog post once about Mr. R and his "Tinkeritis" you should jump over there and read all about it.  I'm not exactly sure where to find the blog post, maybe Cousin Sharon will help us out with the link.  

Anyway, once I got Mr. R to turn me loose with the camera I got down to business.  Now that Nikon was heavy, and it has lots of buttons, dials, and settings, and I messed with everyone of them. 

  

If the pictures aren't all that great, it was the best I could do and be sneaky at the same time.  So check them all out here.....

Now I'm not sure what all the different tools and such are, but I know Mr. R does and he worked for quite awhile measuring, cutting, and even once saying one naughty word for some reason.

Next thing I know, Mr. R caught on to what I was trying to do, so he scooted me out of the shop.....

And I had to hang out on the door edge to finish watching.

I do know Mr. R got the sign assembled and it looks awesome.  I also knew I had better scoot back in the house and swipe this computer to make this blog post real quick before he noticed.  

I'll be sure to post some more later if I can swipe the camera and sneak around the shop to take some more pictures.

Thanks for reading my blog post today.  

Until next time, stay safe there.....-P-Nutty.