[JimJohnson]

I am just doing finish up work now; vacuuming up sawdust, the occasional mouse poop, snipping off any errant zip-tie ends, re-installing the fuse box, final circuit testing, and then the hatch cover goes back, the mattress on and done! Off to kitchen renovations as per the missus.

I'll be sure and post a full report. And yes, it does eat up a bit of the storage but anything I had in there still fits.

Looking forward to that full report! - With photos.

Speaking of a mattress... As expected, the mattress that comes with a new camper is not much better than laying on the bare wood deck under it. Our replacement mattress arrived today. I first tacked a trimmed canvas painting drop cloth over the bare wood to keep slivers out of the mattress. Then the hybrid pocket spring, foam and pillow top mattress. A mattress pad to protect the mattress from stains, another pillow-top, sheets and blanket. Ahhh! At least our arthritic bones will survive a night.

[Racer X 69]

Here is something I found after falling down the YouTube Rabbit Hole.

You Tube

You Tube

I’m speechless.

This guy built a 1/3 scale replica of a B17 that he can hop in and fly.

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

You Tube

Incredible.

Sadly, Jack Bally passed away in 2020, at the age of 79.

[tim60]

Yeah, that's ridiculous. That's almost a full week longer than American baseball, basketball, and football.

Baseball players used to be called "The boys of Summer". Now it's more accurate to say "The boys of late Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall, and early Winter."

Long gone are the days of professional sports players who play a summer and a winter sport, both professionally, with one being the way of keeping fit for the other but not over straining particular bits of the body.

[tim60]

Looking forward to that full report! - With photos.

Speaking of a mattress... As expected, the mattress that comes with a new camper is not much better than laying on the bare wood deck under it. Our replacement mattress arrived today. I first tacked a trimmed canvas painting drop cloth over the bare wood to keep slivers out of the mattress. Then the hybrid pocket spring, foam and pillow top mattress. A mattress pad to protect the mattress from stains, another pillow-top, sheets and blanket. Ahhh! At least our arthritic bones will survive a night.

So would you get better value if they supplied the trailer without a mattress and then you would only pay for the one you really want? And you would not need to pay to dispose of the wrong one!

[tim60]

It is raining this morning. The day of our local community picnic in the park just near our house, we can see parts from our house windows.

Well, it is England.

[StiffLegged]

It is raining this morning. The day of our local community picnic in the park just near our house, we can see parts from our house windows.

Well, it is England.

That’s terribly disappointing. I type this while gazing out at another day of blazing sunshine and scarcely a cloud in the sky: unusual, I’ll grant you, but if we need to remember when this year it happened I will know where to look.

[tim60]

That’s terribly disappointing. I type this while gazing out at another day of blazing sunshine and scarcely a cloud in the sky: unusual, I’ll grant you, but if we need to remember when this year it happened I will know where to look.

It rained before I needed to leave home.

I did not need an umbrella, because I carried it with me, for two one mile walks to town and back, possibly because I had an umbrella.

Then the grey sky, great for colour in photos, held its rain except for a bit of mizzle (that is a cricket commentator’s descriptor of a certain kind of precipitation) during the estate association lunch in the park. Worked out fine.

When I got to church they were hanging red white and blue balloons. A little later a lady who is returning to France arrived so I told here they were farewelling her for her move.

I think there might have been another reason for the balloons. Some of them burst early causing some people a start.

BTW: when you have lived through many consecutive days of blazing sun and 40C temperatures you have had enough of that.

[StiffLegged]

... when you have lived through many consecutive days of blazing sun and 40C temperatures you have had enough of that.

I did hear of a woman who married a Scot and moved to Dunoon, Argyllshire, where it rains quite often. When it's not raining, it's pouring. She, however, was from Chile – to be precise, from the outskirts of the Atacama Desert, where it rains once in a decade. In a good decade, that is.

She would often walk in the rain to enjoy it.

[tim60]

I did hear of a woman who married a Scot and moved to Dunoon, Argyllshire, where it rains quite often. When it's not raining, it's pouring. She, however, was from Chile – to be precise, from the outskirts of the Atacama Desert, where it rains once in a decade. In a good decade, that is.

She would often walk in the rain to enjoy it.

I feel a bit the same.

MrsTim is bothered that I do not use an umbrella much. She uses it much more.

On umbrellas, we found a really good brand, made in NZ: Blunt. Good, but you do have to put up with it being all black. At least it does not sing a dance song when you open it.

[StiffLegged]

...On umbrellas, we found a really good brand, made in NZ: Blunt. Good, but you do have to put up with it being all black. At least it does not sing a dance song when you open it.

Um, Tim; it's the umbrellist who's supposed to sing the song...

You Tube

You Tube

[Racer X 69]

Around here they call them bumbershoot. Even have a festival for it.

[JimJohnson]

So would you get better value if they supplied the trailer without a mattress and then you would only pay for the one you really want? And you would not need to pay to dispose of the wrong one!

Yes I would get a better value. They already skip a whole bunch of rather needed parts like any way to hold toilet paper or hang a towel or coat. They created a place to mount a television, but didn't supply the television. So not supplying a mattress wouldn't be such a long reach. On the other hand, I doubt they pay more than US$50 wholesale for those horrible bags of dense fiber-fill.

The new camper is almost ready for its maiden voyage - I just made a reservation to spend our anniversary night at the State Park about 50 miles / 80km north of us. We almost always drive up for dinner at a nice lake side restaurant. This time our bed will only be about 10-15 minutes away. Our cellular signal is pretty sketchy there also. Gee darn!

[rod_grant]

we found a really good brand, made in NZ

That's why the Brits colonised so much of the world.
There was so much stuff that they needed back home, which could be made in the colonies!!

In return, they sold us Austins and Morrises and Vanguards that have all gone the way of the dodo.

EDIT; ...and Land Drovers which Mark will attest that are half the reason that the world is short on oil!

[tim60]

People in this town would be most offended by your comments about Morris cars. They enabled and motivated the building of the Littlemore and Crowley estates to feed the prime factory with fodder and also other factories around town, such as Osberton Radiator, just north of Jericho and Lucy Ironworks at the north end of Jericho. That was one of the Dickensian place built before Dickens and the subject of the kind of places of great concern to him.

Austin were a bit small, made to fit the size of garage still built in English houses.

Vanguard, the 4 cylinder was successful but did need mechanical knowledge of the driver. The Vanguard 6 was a dog. Only useful for purposes such as being set as a gate post just like some farmer did with one at Pt Augusta, a couple of miles along the flat on the road approaching the Pichi Richi Pass into the Flinders.

And the Land Rover is a “wish I bought a Toyota” type of car.

[StiffLegged]

Austin were a bit small, made to fit the size of garage still built in English houses.

Just like Cadillac were built so big, made to make Texans feel less lost in the vast expanses of empty Texas?