Working Our Fingers to the Bone

I thought that while Rick is walking the dogs this morning I would post our Saturday projects.

When we first bought our little 5th wheel trailer, you will recall that I put in all new wall paper and flooring. The floor I put in was just peel and stick tiles that went down over the existing vinyl floor. Well, it has been kind of a mess. I don't know whether it was because there was NO possible way to completely clean the old floor or if it is the heat, but the tiles had peeled up in a lot of places and would not stick. So.....I decided that before we take it to the race next month the floor needed to be done again. This time, I pulled up both layers of flooring hoping for a better surface to stick to. Rick pitched in yesterday helping to pull up the little rubber cord that served as a trim piece and we went to work scraping up the last remnants of the old floor.

As I was scraping I became aware of the fact that there were little spots of blood on the floor. I knew that I was using the scraper in a way that I was hitting a knuckle on the floor every now and then, but hadn't taken the time to look at it.

And, even though I stopped and cleaned it up and bandaged it with neosporin, it appears to be nicely infected this morning. I have visions of having the scab yanked off my finger, and I can still hear Jen's piercing scream ringing in my ears.

It took a while, but finally the old floor was totally pulled up and we were ready to put the new one in.

Ginger was absolutely exhausted by the whole experience, and chose this comfy place to take a nap. Note that her neck is resting on the threshold of the doorway and has a 1/2 inch high lip that sticks straight up, and her head is actually suspended in the air. Dogs are weird.

I chose another peel and stick tile, but this one is in strips and resembles hardwood. I am very pleased with the way it turned out, and am hoping that it will stay stuck to the floor this time.

While I put down the flooring, Rick was busy building a gate to go on the west side of the house between the fence and the carport.

We could have bought a gate for a couple hundred dollars, but Rick elected to build it himself for MUCH cheaper, as we already had the chain link and the posts in place.

Right now, in order to keep the dogs in the back yard, we have no way to get from front to back except to go through the house. It will be nice to have a gate big enough to take the garbage cans or a wheel barrow through.

I am very impressed with the finished project. We have decided
it needs a wheel on the open end, because it is quite heavy. So that will be a project for today.

It is so nice to be able to go outside and get some things done now. Our temps have dropped to the low 90's or high 80's and it will only get better from here until March!