Hey Girlfriend

There have been some shenanigans with the girlfriends this month.

 Shelly celebrated her birthday this year in a big way, all day.  I may have celebrated more than her but it's all good.  Debbie came from the island and called a few of us to join her and Shell for lunch.  Great idea Deb!

 Lunch at Keenan's and then back to the farm where we picked blueberries.

We got up close and personal with the dahlias.  Some more than others.  Our plan was to be poolside in the sunshine.  It was cloudy but we managed.

 This week we went to Birch Bay to Grandma DoDo's cabin for a baby sip-n-see.  Four new babies!

 .The mamas with their little bundles.

  

Really, Veira loves her Shema!  Veira, Ava, Briggs and Ivy with the Nanas.  Aren't they cute?

The babies and the grannies!

Doreen with her tribe.

Sheryl with her tribe.

Shelly and I don't have any grand babies but Dor and Sheryl share so it all works out just fine.

It's always a good day at the beach and this was a fun one.

Alcoa Aluminum

 While I was at the Treasures Under the Tents with our '57 Aloha, Hubby was at home tearing into our Curtis Wright Model 6.  Dal had some questions about the windows so Hubby took a hard look at those and removed them.   Our windows are in pretty tough shape.  It looks like the inside metal can be saved but some the exterior metal is pretty corroded.  We will do everything possible to keep the original but we may have to have new parts made for some of the windows.

The interior window trim has some grooves so we'll look for a new match.

 The underside of the aluminum is stamped with ALCOA.  This was interesting for us as we have Intalco, an Alcoa plant in Whatcom County.  We have family and friends that work there.  I didn't realize that Alcoa was established in the late 1880's.

 It's tough for me to drive  onto our place right now and see the CW looking like the picture below.

It's like a flashback to Annie's ugly past and it reminds of all the work we have coming at us. 

Yesterday we removed the metal.  Hubby took the nails out and I did the organizing and labeling.

 Some of the sheets were Reynolds Aluminum.

 There was a method to my madness.  We want to insure that we can put the puzzle back together.

The insulation was not asbestos but it was made from wood fibers.  That made me feel better and safer.  I filled two garbage bags.

 Stacks of metal were everywhere on the driveway.

 The Curtis Wright definitely has some rot and our decision for a rebuild was confirmed.  Hubby's decision was always confirmed but I am shortcutsally and I want to do anything in the world rather than rebuild.  Hubby was right, this time.

 The bathroom in the CW has a goofy window that continues into the bedroom.  The electrical was right out in the open in a wet bathroom/shower.  Ugh! It's hard to believe no one got electrocuted.  The shower curtain must have been enough to save lives but we are not going to take that chance.  We are throwing out ideas to each other to move the bathroom several inches so that the goofy window thing isn't an issue.  And the electrical will be moved to a safer place.  We plan to save as much of the original bathroom as possible.  The floor/shower pan is metal but is corroded so we will have a new one made.

Tonight we are grilling burgers.  What does that have to do with the CW?  Our guests don't know it but we need a little help getting the top metal piece off.  It's not heavy, just large and unwieldy.
Today I'm off to my first upholstery lesson. All part of the CW grand plan!

I Just Love Junking

If my teacher asked me to write an essay on something that I love to do it would be about junkin'. I just love to go junkin'.  Searching for just the right item at the best price. Thrift stores, garage sales, antique shops, yard sales are all good but an estate sale is the best.  

Some sales are mislabeled on Craigslist.  The Blaine High School Band was having an estate sale this weekend.  Seriously, if the whole BHS band died I think we would have read about it in the news.  And if they'd all died I do not think they would be trying to fund a trip to Japan.  Just sayin'.

At estate sales that are really estate sales I some times find kindred souls. Except their souls aren't here on earth anymore.  But if I'd met some of these dear people when they were alive I know we could have been friends.  Not every estate sale but there have been a few that after I left I felt like I'd been to a friend's home.

Last week I went to a sale where I could feel how creative the couple was, both of them.  Her sewing room and his wood shop in the basement belonged to creative people.  I loved how he'd labeled everything in the shop with cut out letters.  It's a dear man that sorts his screws and then labels the cans like a teen age girl cutting out a collage from her old Seventeen magazines.

Everything in the house was clean.  The picnic thermos was dirty on the outside (it'd had been in the garage) but the inside was perfect.  Three dollars and a little elbow grease and it's good to go to Mt. Baker filled with hot cocoa for a snow day.

 The matching luggage is for the Curtis Wright.  It is clean and has no odor.  Anyone that has ever bought vintage luggage knows that is a modern day miracle to find luggage without an odor.

This morning Hubby and I went to a sweet cottage in Fairhaven. I found something that I have been trying to find forever, since we started working on Annie, anyway.  It's a clothesline to attach to the outside of the trailer, so beach towels and swim suits can dry in the breeze. It's aqua!  I have seen them before and they were always the wrong color or their owners were very proud of them.

There was a lot of aqua in the cottage, and a lot of vintage Christmas decorations.  It was a small house and very crowded so I didn't see everything and I left a lot of great things behind but I got enough.

Five deer, a lot of glass garland, some sweet boxes and the most  kitchy garland I have ever seen.  It has pine cone elves.

It was a dear woman's home today.  She made do with what she had and saw no need to always replace things.  She was Catholic and collected crucifixes. She read horror stories, which seemed out of character. She was a baker, a gardener and must have loved decorating for Christmas. A kindred soul, if you will.   I'm going to enjoy her good sense of style.
I like to think we could have been friends. I know I'll enjoy that clothesline!  It's definitely the FIND of the summer.

A Junkin' Weekend

On Friday morning Hubby and I went to Franny's estate sale in the Wood Hood.  Gotta love Franny's signs.  I could tell by the pre-pictures that it was going to be a good one and it was good.

I found myself some new specs.

We got home, loaded up Annie and drove to Treasures Under the Tents at the Lavender House in Lynden. Hubby helped me set up Annie. I got her staged and ready for hosting a party.  We had a few friends in for a drink before the sale.  It was hot and dusty. I went home to shower before the party.

We brought the tiki bar.

 I only have one large serving bowl in Annie so it was bags of chips on the buffet.  It's hard to be classy when you are camping.  I made trailer trash spodie (white wine sangria).

 The guys could visit while we shopped so that worker out well.

I had some great neighbors.  Mindy came with her newest old trailer.  She was still sewing curtains that morning.

The stove sold her on this one.  It is really pretty.

Jake and Ginger were my neighbors and they brought Ugly Al.  They have four trailers.  Two are ready to go and two that they are restoring.  Many of the vintage trailer owners have more than one trailer.  It's not just Hubby and I with the vintage trailer problem.  I realize that doesn't make it okay.

I'm not sure who owns this next trailer but I loved the layout and the front kitchen.

And I didn't take a picture of the front kitchen so that was dumb.  It was hot so I wasn't always thinking clearly.

There were a lot of vendors and a lot of creative energy.

I didn't spend the night because I was so dusty, I wanted my third shower of the day.  I came back Saturday morning for the day.

All of that JUNKIN'... so what did I buy?

I love my new specs for late night reading in Annie.

I bought a vintage table cloth for Annie.

 The table cloth will be pretty with my antlers and my deer pillowcases.

Annie got a new (to her) hot water tank and a Keurig, pictured below.  It may not look like a hot water tank but if we are camping with hook ups I will have running hot water.  And it may not look like a Keurig but it is a single serve coffee.  Hah!

Of course, I found a bit of vintage Christmas and something for my secret squirrel project.

Good things.  In my opinion.