Puttering, Painting, and Packing

While I may not be technically "moving" I am packing up.  For the 5th time in as many years, I am leaving town. What's different about this "move" other than the obvious - I'm not moving to take a job and rent an apartment/house, is that for the first time, I am not surrounded by boxes and mayhem. It isn't a spotless void by any means, but there has been no packing up of endless boxes, wrapping up the breakables, shuffling through piles and piles of STUFF wondering what the hell to do with it all.  I brought the van home yesterday and started moving in.  There isn't much left to go in, and it only took a couple of hours.  Wayyyyy different than packing up an entire two-bedroom apartment.


I also took the battery from the van.  No small task for a newbie like me.  There was a strap under it, so I had to try and lift it by the two ends of this strap, out of the snug fit it has behind the passenger seat, built in. Batteries are a little heavy.  The connectors were also getting in the way and I didn't have enough hands but eventually I wrestled the battery out of the van and up onto the front step. Now what? I had bought a battery charger yesterday to charge it with, but had never done that before and didn't want to ruin the battery or burn down my current apartment. One fire this year was enough.  So I did what every man out there has rarely done - I read the directions. It seemed pretty straightforward even though at one point I over analyzed the directions.  If you took the manual seriously, you would think I was bringing a neutron bomb into the house.  They scared the hell out of me with such talk of explosions, acid in my face, sparks from electronics and smokers igniting toxic fumes...I had to call for back-up.


With my Dad having passed away last fall, I do not have a current "question man", and I don't want to always be bothering the gentleman I bought the van from.  I could ask my Dad just about anything and he either had the answer or knew where to find it. He also knew how to do just about anything.  So I tried the next best thing - uncles. I called one uncle that has worked on trucks his whole life, and built his own airplane.  He wasn't home, so I moved onto the next uncle, another man who worked on vehicles, and drove trucks most of his life.  He had charged numerous batteries in his lifetime but had no idea what they might be telling me to do.  It was then that I realized I was overcomplicating very simple directions that were broken down into so many steps to prevent those less literate than me from burning down the house with their battery charger.  More education does not always equal common sense.  I had let the process intimidate me into thinking I have to do it EXACTLY as the wrote it.


In any event, the battery is happily charging in the hallway.  I wonder how long it will take...the fan is certainly loud!


The van is nearly packed. I may start bringing some of the dry foods out and seeing what I can fit into the tiny cupboard below the drawer.  I have been brutal in throwing shit away and trying not to load the van up with crap I won't look at or use once while I'm away.


And I didn't do a scrap of painting today...the day got away on me and before I knew it, it was over.

Karma came home today

There are still some touch-ups required, a bit of painting I want to do, and lots of tape to remove when I'm done, but this is what I've gotten ready so far.

Almost Finished!

The pink ribbon is for breast cancer awareness and the butterfly I painted next to it is for my dear friend Brenda who is currently kicking breast cancer's ass.  I'll have you with me Brenda, all the way!


There are still some details left to be painted in, like flower stems, some outlining, some touch-up where the stencils messed.  Karma finally has her eyelashes. I am trying to figure out where I want to put her name yet. On her "brow" or on the cap...hmmm....the mushrooms are being done in layers. I didn't get to it at all today.


It is quite a tight space to work in, particularly on the passenger side, which is unfortunate since that is also where the sliding door is. So I have had to wedge myself in, and sometimes nearly stand on my head to get at some of the space to stencil. It was not easy. I can't get a good look at the van in perspective either, as I can't get far back enough to see the whole thing at once. She should be coming out of the locker on Saturday is my hope, and then I can finish up moving stuff in when it's parked outside of my apartment again.  I haven't been able to spare the time to clean up as it gets dark on me quick.


I'll be glad when I get on the road...I'm running out of steam!

Filling in the details

so the back hatch is shaping up. I can't really see the TURTLE so might paint it again with a lighter shade.  Jerry's bears still need their bibs painted in, and I need another coat of yellow on the "pass me". My license plate will be going on there this week. I have a few other details to put on the hatch before it's done. The foreign language on the bottom are Polish for "wide road", a travel greeting. The former owner is Polish and provided me with this greeting.

Made some progress today.  The word Turtle is an after market addition a previous owner installed. it's on the back hatchway. Stormy is finally on the van! The bought stencils were not that great, slid around, making a mess. The paper cut out ones I used for the lettering worked much better.  So tonight I have been cutting out more paper stencils for tomorrow. We are to get very warm temperatures tomorrow for March, and the first day of spring - exciting! Things dry so much faster if it's warm out.

Okay, that was a learning experience

So there were lessons learned. At first I taped down the letters, traced them out and tried to paint them in. That was easier said than done. My pencil scratched the base paint off, and didn't always leave a pencil mark. And hand painting - it looked like crap for the first phrase. The pink wasn't too bad, but I'll still have to either border them or make a stencil a shade bigger and even out the edges. Then I finally did what I should have done in the beginning - made my own stencil. I looked for days for stencil that looked like more than letters you find on a wooden crate somewhere. I tried cutting out the stencils, but by scissors, they are ragged letters. So I tried a utility knife. Not much better, as it ran away from me, hard to control. Then I found this rig at Staples today - the cat's ass.


I'm far from done, and have just a little bit more lettering to do, like finish one of the lyrics, and a polish greeting on the rear hatch. Then I have to finish up the sun, and start on the other details, like the flowers, tree, grassline, shoreline, butterflies, dragon flies, and of course, Stormy. I think I'll start there on the weekend. I need lots of light to do it, and after supper just isn't enough time as the sun starts to set just as I get here. 


I am very thankful for the wonderful sunny and dry weather we have been getting these past two weeks. Without it, my painting would have been much tougher to do.  I'll be glad when everything is done and I can begin to enjoy the van, beginning with bringing it back over by the apartment. Once the painting is done, I'll be checking out of the locker, and parking it in the parking lot. I hope no one tags it...eeek...I'll be sure to take lots of pics before I park it, just in case.


I must go, I have stencils to make...

Let the Painting Begin

So not only have I found a portable toilet i can tolerate, I have the base coats of paint on all sides. I actually have the ocean and beach added to the last pic, the right side of the van. This is just the base colors, and I'll fine tune and fill in from here the detail and lettering.

For those of you about to paint

I rented a big storage locker today and will be driving the van into it later this week, where the painting will begin! I can't wait and hope I can manage to get it all done before I leave. Otherwise it will be a work in progress as I head out. If I can get some recruits to help me tape it up, it will go a lot quicker, as that is an onerous task in itself, as I'll be taping off the design too, to paint the background first for some of the larger items.


Of course, renting the storage locker was not a simple matter. At least, not this time around. This time I had Karma with me, because I needed to see if she would fit in the storage locker. The first storage place I went to was closed.  The second one didn't have enough clearance.  And at the final one, while checking out another storage locker without enough clearance, the van stalled while I was backing up out of where the locker was. I couldn't go forward because it was too tight a squeeze around the corner. It can probably be done but I was not confident it would be me who could. And then I couldn't get the van started again, and after several tries, the battery gave up. Shit.


Then I remembered having put my Dad's battery chargery in the back. However it hadn't been charged yet, and had drained sitting in the trunk of his car up until a few weeks ago.  Luckily our trusty storage dude (who had hopped in with me while we drove up to the lot where the lockers were) offered to go grab a truck and come back up and boost me. That was a bit tricky, lining up our vehicles, as my battery is in the back seat, behind the passenger seat. My sliding door was facing the guardrail that was all that was between me and a 50 foot drop. We soldiered on, got it going easily with a boost, and I backed the whole way out, which was pretty impressive for ME. I have gotten stuck in the snow several times due to my poor ability to drive in reverse. I did it though, big ole van, cliff and all, with trusty storage dude waving me along.  Some things are just SO much easier with two people.


Of course, it didn't end there. After we finally picked out a suitable locker, we drove back to the office to finish the paperwork. I left the van running, knowing it would be a short while for the bit of paperwork to be done, which it was. Then I got back into the van and threw it into reverse, but forgot the parking break was on, took that off but stalled the engine. And then couldn't get that rotten bitch to start again, the battery had not had enough time to charge for more than a couple of starts.  So out came trusty storage dude who gave me another boost, and I was off to the races. I was going to stop off at Sobeys before heading home, but then didn't want the van to not start for me and I'd require a 3rd boost today.  2 were bad enough. So we must get that little issue looked into. Either I'm doing something wrong, or the battery needs replacing, both of which are quite possible.


 Let the painting begin...

Karma

I've decided to give the van a name - Karma.  The past year of my life has been an interesting year, with lots of highs and lows. The highs were exciting, and the lows, devastating.  I may not subscribe to any particular organized religion, or but the concept of karma does appeal to me. While my apartment fire was very much a low, the karmic side of that is I was grateful to be alive, I received a chubby little check from the insurance company with which I bought the van, and it turned out to be a terrific van is what I'm told. I took it to a well-known and respected VW mechanic this week for the required inspection, and his opinion overall of the van, as I wanted more than just the basic safety items checked over. He showed me the underside and remarked that it looked as good as if it just rolled out of the factory. He figures it was either stored inside during the winter, or at least covered up and never driven in the winter.  The owner I bought it from had it covered outside and parked for the winter, taking the battery out.  The mechanic felt someone had taken very good care of the van over the years, and that it was a sound vehicle.  There was an exhaust stud and gasket that needed replacing, so he did that. He also showed me the combustion chamber for the furnace and told me about the high incidence of fire with these things when they're this old. He said most people have them disconnected from the main gas line (as they are gas fired, not oil).  He also said that those who have fires are most likely from the furnace issue.  It was a no-brainer. Please disconnect the potential for FIRE. I have had enough for this year.


He also showed me how to work everything on the camper, where to fill the propane, the water, run the fridge, etc. The fridge and two burner stove both burn propane. The fridge also can burn electricity, or battery power. Apparently the fridge eats propane, so is much more economically run using either battery or electricity. There is no recreational battery in this model, but the option is there, and the place for it is under the driver's seat, so it wouldn't take up any space.  They are cheaper on the west coast, so I won't bother until then. I won't be cooking a ton in the van until I leave Canada I reckon. I'll be barbecuing or eating with friends.


So the curtains are finished, and now that the van is back home again and I have some time, I can move in all of the bedding. I didn't want to before as the engine is below the bed, and the mechanic needed access, of course.  The curtains look great, and I reused the tiebacks, as they already had the snaps that fit the screwhead snaps in the van, and were in good shape.  I also have some decor left to do inside and out. I want to hang a couple of posters, a small map, and so on inside. Outside is a different story, and one that will be a surprise until it actually all comes together as I have a few ideas I'm toying with.  Put it this way - the van will no longer be stark white, nor will it be one color.


My new passport came in the mail last week - yahoo! Now I can go across the borders. My former passport was water damaged in the fire. Ironically enough, it was the 'watermark' that was damaged by water.  I don't mind particularly - it had no stamps so had not seen anything interesting just yet.  My old one has lots of history, and I still have that as a souvenir.


Time is getting short, just a few weeks of work left!!! I have so much left to do, but it is all coming together. I should get my car back tomorrow or Friday and then can sell it and pay off that debt.  I'll be driving just the van after that! I have a road trip to Antigonish yet for work, but will likely rent a car for that.  I have my storage stuff nearly all packed up. Some of the things are still in use, so will wait a few more weeks before packing those up. I have so very little that is personal and older than 2 months here, I am reluctant to put the few things I do have away just yet.


Once I get my car back, I will be able to move things out of that and into the car. Then I have to clean my car...I may pay for someone to do that nasty chore. I spend a lot of time in my car...it gets messy.

Getting back to karma, I am planning to continue to be mindful of karma.  Along my journey for the next several months, if there is an opportunity to help someone, I shall do my best to do so.  Karma might kick me in the ass again if I dare stray...