SRS, no, because only a very small amount gets stowed in the house-- anything that can;t stand freezing over the winter. The rest lives permanently IN the camper. All of it stays in the camper till the freeze is impending because we still take it out the odd night or two till then-- with electric blankets.

What IS going on at this time of year is fabricating improvements that came to mind, during vacation, that needed more tools/purchases than could be handled in camp during the vacay or short camps. And cleaning the outside.

Yet to complete is the canopy-extending tarp's additional grommets.

One improvement this year was the remanufacturing of several 2-drawer Sterilite dressers into 2-drawer units, and the addition of pairs of 1-drawer units. These will stack back up into 3-drawer-high units, in use, but pack more easily into the lower half of the camper (it's a pop-up and thus all storage has to fit under the pushed-in bunks). The removed third drawers will be remade into 2-drawer units for van stuff.

I did go through several of the camper's kitchen drawers last week as I set up the new drawer units. These particular drawers hold spatulas and other food prep gadgets used both in the camper's propane kitchen and Hardi's outdoor cookery. There were no unused items, and the better drawers made favorite items easier to find and grab. We did pitch a dead electric frying pan during vacation; the electric control mechanism turned up a few days ago and is slated to go to the parish kitchen, where I understand they are missing a few bits for their frypans.

We also jettisoned some unused messkit-style cookpots during vacay, regretfully bequeathing them to neighboring site occupants. It was an extended family with younger members just starting to form up their camping supply kits. The nesting pots had been Hardi's when he camped alone with his kids-- much used and much loved, but lidless. He chose to go with the lidded, heavy-bottomed pots I'd added to our gear with this larger camper... the jettisoned pots lasted less than a minute on the campsite's picnic table: "Excuse me, we're leaving these if you can use them." The experienced camper in their group took a few for herself and passed along some of her less-desirable pots to the younger ones, etc.-- like Native American gifting where everyone rotates something around the hoop.

A well-used addition this year was a heavy-duty plastic toolbox, to stay in the van at all times for our frequent, impromptu roadside cookouts. The portable tabletop gas grill lives in the van as well. The toolbox has knives, spoons, flatware, paper plates, and a basic-for-us spice set. Hardi set it up so that one hand carries box, one carries grill, and wife carts camp chairs and mini patio-style umbrella.

Another addition this year was our very own version of tacky canopy lights. Goodwill was very good to us this year, with a set of red hearts just small enough not to be too tacky (for us) or too bright. (I had the choice of Valentine's red or Easter-egg pastel lights.) They're strung on a long bungee cord that goes up in seconds. I set up a string pulley to hike up the extension cord that powers them, since it needs to loop up over a canopy pole that gets way taller than me before I can dig out the cord. The string pulley is there, waiting, till after the more essential camping setup is done. Hardi would wait for me to get it, but we also do our setups in the rain; that cord is one of several items not urgently needed till "later."

Another fabrication yet to complete is the headboard we decided we really need. A headboard, in a canvas bunk-end? Sure, why not. The numerous pillows are stretching out the canvas, and we want to hold them back. Many excellent alternatives were discussed, and the winner was the one that Goodwill supplied.

The most-appreciated addition this year has been the porta-potti and a 4x4-foot throne room tent for it. That thing really WORKS!!!

It's lovely to camp with someone who can and does rough it, but see them gladly taking on additional conveniences with age and new interests. It means we both can make do under less than ideal circumstances, but that we also let ourselves enjoy the easier way when we want to. Yes we each can boil coffee over a fire. It's also nice, though-- when you wake up creaky-- to find the espresso machine waiting on the folding aluminum table, steaming away as you stumble down the camper steps toward your camp-chair recliner. :~) And as the morning advances, we head off for sporty activities instead of spending all our energy all day building fires. :~)

This vacay I took along a bulky music setup and then never used a lick of it. The week we left, I had just achieved a great new portability in the whole kit-- it used to take up half the van and, miniaturized, now resides in a handy cart-- but I am sure my laminated autoharp did not really enjoy the long days locked up in the hot van when I got tired of stowing it in shade day after day. To take its place next year, I just tossed in a used mini-keyboard so I can scope out a few new offertories as I sit in the shade.

~S~