tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39454034065353233632024-03-13T00:27:17.474-04:00Of Winds and WaterFor that rare breed of people who like tasty foods and VW busesDarcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.comBlogger319125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-8184149178829995382015-12-04T06:20:00.000-05:002017-02-08T22:08:29.252-05:00Home-Curing Sweet PotatoesThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/home-cured-sweet-potatoes/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-89995160409600308352015-11-27T12:52:00.001-05:002015-12-03T18:20:58.879-05:00Black Friday GoalsI never do any Black Friday shopping - I rarely shop at all - but I am in the market for a new phone this year. I'm still on the hunt, I haven't found a deal good enough yet. Maybe on Cyber Monday? <br />
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November was extremely busy, we camped four out of the five past weekends, plus we urban camped last night (so no one had to drive after having a little too much...turkey). As such, the goals for November were pretty relaxed.<br />
<ul>
<li>Get that <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/11/dry-rubbed-oven-ribs.html" target="_blank">ribs recipe</a> out there!</li>
<li>First Friday Art Walk - we went, it was great, Art Walk is the best.</li>
<li>We had two volunteering gigs this month, Harvest Festival and then Festival of the Lights! Photos below.</li>
<li>Then we attended a murder mystery dinner party, which turned out to be a really good time. We met some new people!</li>
<li>A music festival campout, which was really hyped up and then turned out to be a bit of a letdown, mostly because so few of our friends could attend.</li>
<li>Thanksgiving Misgivings campout with the bus club. Part of Kyle's family also attended, and it was nice to see them again.</li>
<li>And after that Thanksgiving itself! We had some lovely friends invite us over and I'm pretty sure we overstayed our welcome, but we had a great time.</li>
</ul>
On Thanksgiving, we didn't eat all morning so when we got to our destination we were both hungry and went overboard on the appetizers. Then after that, there was homemade lowcountry boil (with crab legs! and oysters!), which was all really delicious. I think you can see where I'm going with this, but by the time we sat down to Thanksgiving dinner, it was all anyone could do to try a few bites of each dish. Luckily, we had it all again for breakfast the next day (including dessert!), so we got to really enjoy it. Anyway, December...<br />
<ul>
<li>Get cabinets in the bus. Or get new door seals on the bus. Or replace the seals that are the source of our current oil leak. Just get something <i>done</i>!</li>
<li>I have a corner of the house that has been accumulating stuff and really needs to be cleaned. I need to clean it. Organize it. Get rid of stuff. </li>
<li>Christmas cards! I don't do them every year but this is going to be a Christmas card year. </li>
<li>Find a new phone. Is it ridiculous to buy a new phone, but then just keep it in the box until my old phone finally bites the dust? If I wait for my phone to die first, then I'll have to buy a phone on short notice and won't be able to hunt for a good deal.</li>
</ul>
Since we did a ton of camping this month, expect lots of bus pictures. Like this one from Halloween.<br />
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Next up is the <a href="http://www.ccprc.com/1546/Holiday-Festival-of-Lights" target="_blank">Holiday Festival of Lights</a> at JICP. I guess I didn't take any photos at the Harvest Fest except the pumpkin photo at the top of the post.<br />
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Then we went to a music festival, where we camped with Shawnee and her gorgeous huskies (her bus is very pretty too!).<br />
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The music festival was out towards <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/p/boat-trip.html" target="_blank">the ICW</a>, right on the marsh. We saw <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/05/bull-island-and-boneyard-beach.html" target="_blank">a few gators</a> but didn't get any good photos this time.<br />
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It got COLD at night - you can see the mist starting to settle in over the water in these photos. It even looks cold.<br />
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Then the bus club Thanksgiving campout. We were the first ones there and we made sure to find a good spot in the sun.<br />
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Thanksgiving, as mentioned above, was extremely bountiful.<br />
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I even ate some shrimp! That's kind of a big deal because I have not really liked shrimp until the past year or so, but mostly I am including this photo to show off my new 'wild streak' of purple hair.<br />
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And that leads us up to today! Kyle and I stopped at Aldi to hit up their Black Friday wine sale (just kidding, Winking Owl is $2.89 every day) and also grab a few essentials like arugula and salmon and gummy bears.<br />
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Alright, one last photo. My neighbor had extra sweet potato plants this spring, so I planted 3 sweet potatoes. I finally harvested them today, and check out the haul! Trowel for scale - that potato on the far left is HUGE. Right after washing them, I found out that not only are you not supposed to wash them, but they also need to <a href="http://www.vanengelen.com/pejtest/12sweet.htm" target="_blank">cure</a> for a week or two. So we can't even eat them yet!<br />
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Happy holidays, happy Thanksgiving, happy relaxing!Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-29533376972697009462015-11-20T05:56:00.000-05:002017-02-08T22:09:12.542-05:00Smoked Paprika Roast TurkeyThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/smoked-paprika-roast-turkey/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-50549951043472200902015-11-13T06:03:00.000-05:002017-02-08T22:09:53.996-05:00Easy Homemade Ginger BeerThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/easy-homemade-ginger-beer/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-76438074392744614012015-11-06T05:54:00.000-05:002017-02-08T22:10:29.725-05:00Dry-Rubbed Oven RibsThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/dry-rubbed-oven-ribs/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-87603400231265239132015-10-30T05:10:00.000-04:002015-10-30T05:10:00.151-04:00Turkey MonthBoo!<br />
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Happy Halloween! We're enjoying the fabulous Charleston Fall weather by spending lots of time outdoors and doing a lot of camping! In between rounds of camping, we've managed to fit in lots of other stuff though...more about that in the photos. Instead, let's whip through these goals.<br />
<ul>
<li>We volunteered at another event this month - a Latin American Festival. Except it got canceled due to the entirety of Charleston being flooded. Boo.</li>
<li>I made a couple recipes in early September to share. See <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/10/zucchini-bread-two-ways.html" target="_blank">Zucchini Breads 1 & 2</a>, and <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/10/double-chocolate-zucchini-bread.html" target="_blank">Zucchini Bread 3</a>.</li>
<li>We had at at least one camping trip this month. Maybe two? So we camped one night, and we're slated to be camping again this weekend. Count it!</li>
<li>It would be pretty great to have refrigeration for our camping trip.
We just need a house battery, a regulator, and some wooden stuff. We failed to get any of this done, we were waiting on new credit cards before we started making big purchases.</li>
<li>Ribs were on sale...so I bought a rack of ribs. Recipe forthcoming. Oh dang, I forgot to post that recipe. Next week?</li>
</ul>
Okay, I've obviously got some making up to do. Goals for November:<br />
<ul>
<li>Get that ribs recipe out there!</li>
<li>I missed First Friday Art Walk last month (actually it was canceled when downtown was under water) so I do NOT want to miss this month. </li>
<li>We've got two volunteering gigs this month, including a Harvest Festival!</li>
<li>Then we've got a murder mystery dinner party, which is so far out of my comfort zone I don't even know where to start.</li>
<li>Plus a music festival campout.</li>
<li>And then Thanksgiving Misgivings campout with the bus club</li>
<li>And after that Thanksgiving itself! I'm not sure if I'm roasting a turkey this year, but last year I got pretty turkey-ed out after <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2014/11/citrus-sage-roast-turkey.html" target="_blank">making one</a> at home, then having some at work, then having some at <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2014/11/happy-thanksgiving.html" target="_blank">Misgivings</a>, then having some on Thanksgiving...</li>
</ul>
The first weekend of October had everyone talking about one thing: RAIN. It just didn't stop. We didn't flood much, but we both went pretty stir-crazy being stuck in the house for so long.<br />
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When the water cleared up, we found we had a new neighbor. He lives uncomfortably close to my car, but we've lived in a peace for a few weeks now and I think we can be friends, providing no one strays onto the other neighbor's territory. Besides, his web is pretty cool looking.<br />
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My mornings have been fueled by this. Will I ever stop missing Michigan? Probably never.<br />
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We ended up volunteering at an event called Bark in the Park Octoberfest, where I poured beer all day and Kyle corralled dogs. I couldn't resist snapping a pic of this cutie.<br />
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And then when everyone was cleaning up, I got suckered in by these sweet golden pups. They were just so soft and playful! (No, we do not own a dog now.)<br />
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Since we have actual friends now, we got invited to an awesome cookout where only one person got poisoned a little bit (and he lived, so it's cool). Plus we carved pumpkins and made caramel apples!<br />
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We spent one night camping. We had planned on two, but we had a change of plans. Despite that, we still got to see people we hadn't seen in a long time and hopefully we can catch up more at November campouts!<br />
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Our change of plans happened when I won tickets to a music festival. Lest you think I have all the luck, the ONLY way to attend this festival was to win tickets, so they were doing big giveaways every day. Kyle and I had to stake out a gas station where they were drawing two names every five minutes. It only took half an hour for my name to be called, so we didn't wait around too long.<br />
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The festival was AMAZING. The bands were on point, the weather was perfect, and there were tons of free activities.<br />
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Kyle and I each won a free shirt (by playing the worst version of <strike>beer</strike> tea pong I've ever seen), plus, for the <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/06/mint-iced-tea-world-record-sweet-tea.html" target="_blank">second time this year</a>, we drank some Guinness world record iced tea. Only instead of locally grown saccharine sweet tea, this was heartless corporate tea. Sorry, Summerville. At least I actually got to drink some of this tea.<br />
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The festival was almost 12 hours long, and since reentry wasn't allowed we basically lazed around a park for a day and listened to bands ranging from BØRNS to Outasight to The Roots to Passion Pit(!!!!!). Plus since we hadn't spent any money on tickets it was much easier to justify the ridiculous food truck and beer prices. Definitely an epic day. Ending with "<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T0RvPYRRRbE" target="_blank">Sleepyhead</a>." At which point I declared I could die happy.<br />
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October was absolutely great, and November looks like it's going to be pretty amazing as well. Bring it on!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-25632135410804572772015-10-23T05:54:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:11:05.362-05:00Double Chocolate Zucchini BreadThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/double-chocolate-zucchini-bread/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-58900039268364532082015-10-16T05:44:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:11:39.691-05:00Zucchini Bread, Two Ways<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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This post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/zucchini-bread-two-ways/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-87542272251845218942015-10-09T06:08:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:12:45.943-05:00Hatch Chile Cheese FriesThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/hatch-chile-cheese-fries/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-68179112672349645422015-10-02T06:20:00.000-04:002015-10-02T06:20:00.657-04:00Pumpkin Month<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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September was a giant month full of ALL THE THINGS! Kyle's fall semester is now in full swing, and we are BUSY. Right now our lives are all about balance - Get a school project done...then work on a bus project. Work really hard...then bring some snacks to the beach.<br />
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That's why September's goals were pretty chill. October's will be too.<br />
<ul>
<li>Find some good, easy crockpot recipes to make mealtime easier. I tried out a crockpot 12 bean soup recipe but wasn't too impressed. That's pretty much all I tried. It was really easy, at least.</li>
<li>Put that <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/08/paint-and-windows.html" target="_blank">stupid window</a> back in the bus. September 6 shall go down in history as the day we called in an <a href="https://instagram.com/vwsnoopy/" target="_blank">expert</a> and traded zucchini bread for manpower and finally got that last window to give. </li>
<li>We both signed up to volunteer at a surf event at Folly Beach. The event was called Wheel to Surf, and we were helping disabled people surf! It was one of the coolest events ever.</li>
<li>Clean up the garden. Dead and dried things removed, now it almost looks like a happy garden again!</li>
<li>Figure out what we're doing Labor Day Weekend. We put the window back in the bus and that is all I remember about Labor Day Weekend.</li>
</ul>
Alright, let's see what I can muster up for October.<br />
<ul>
<li>We're volunteered at another event this month - a Latin American Festival. We'll be slinging cervezas all day long.</li>
<li>I made a couple recipes in early September that I haven't gotten around to sharing, so expect to see some tasty treats this month.</li>
<li>We're looking at at least one camping trip this month. Maybe two? Maybe two. </li>
<li>It would be pretty great to have refrigeration for our camping trip. We just need a house battery, a regulator, and some wooden stuff.</li>
<li>Ribs were on sale...so I bought a rack of ribs. I have no idea what to do with them! So that's happening.</li>
</ul>
Gratuitous shot of the world's most stubborn window:<br /> <br />
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Check out this buddy I found at work! Just chillin' on the sidewalk.<br />
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We hardly ever go out to eat, and when we do, it's usually a taco truck where $9 will sate us both. Well, we decided to splurge during Charleston Restaurant Week. People! This is one of the <a href="http://solmtpleasant.com/wp-content/uploads/SOL_RestWeek_Dinner_9.15.pdf" target="_blank">best meals</a> I've had in a long time. That's why I'm going to make you look at every single thing we ate.<br />
Chicken and veggie empanadas, spicy tuna tostados (with a habanero sauce
and avocado relish), wood fire grilled salmon and veggies, and a
mountain of tenderloin stuffed poblano peppers (with ancho rice, roasted
red peppers, black beans, caramelized onions, jack cheese, roasted
corn, red chile sauce, and poblano cream). <br />
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And to top it all off, an ancho brownie with caramel sauce and tequila whipped cream. Tequila! Whipped! Cream!<br />
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I'm still drooling at the memory....um. Anyway. Where was I? Right, more photos. We started mocking up the bus interior with some scrap wood, because practice makes perfect.<br />
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This was probably the most exciting part - the couch (bench? settee? sofa?) and fold-out bed.<br />
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And finally, we spent last weekend at Folly Beach. Kyle was volunteered for two shifts but I only volunteered for the afternoon, so in the morning I wandered around taking photos. With my eight year old point-and-shoot. Which apparently has smears all over the lens.<br />
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In the afternoon, we were both in the water aiding surfing experts who were guiding wheel-chair bound people through the waves. It was awesome.<br />
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And that wraps up our mega-month. I don't think things will be slowing down at all this Fall, so we just need to focus on balance, and only burn the candle at both ends when we really have to.Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-42243414381031880522015-09-18T05:56:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:13:21.196-05:00Wild Rice SaladThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/wild-rice-salad/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-19935057105264428682015-09-04T06:24:00.000-04:002015-09-04T06:24:00.252-04:00Goals and MichiganAugust was a weird month. Kyle was gone for the first three weeks, leaving me to fend for myself (<a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/08/selfiefest.html" target="_blank">mostly</a>). Then the last week we were both in MI on vacation. Now that we're back at home, I'm trying to figure out my new routine and we're both trying desperately to catch up.<br />
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I'll touch on goals for a second then get to the good part - all the photos.<br />
<ul>
<li>Digitize two comic panels. I started one and it was much more work than I anticipated. Back to the drawing board on that project...</li>
<li>Pick up Kyle's shift at the taphouse. Tell me your problems, I'm a bartender.</li>
<li>Do some fun shopping. Wedding gifts, check. Baby gifts, check.</li>
<li>Take a vacation. A whirlwind trip to Michigan, photographs below. </li>
<li>Elderberries. I still want this to happen, but it's just not going to work out this year.</li>
</ul>
And then it's September. My goals are going to be really lax because we're both really busy with work/school.<br />
<ul>
<li>Find some good, easy crockpot recipes to make mealtime easier.</li>
<li>Put that <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/08/paint-and-windows.html" target="_blank">stupid window</a> back in the bus.</li>
<li>We're both signed up to volunteer at a surf event at Folly Beach later this month. Woot!</li>
<li>Clean up the garden. Most things are dead and need to be removed.</li>
<li>Figure out what we're doing Labor Day Weekend...uh yeah, that starts today. No plans yet!?</li>
</ul>
I apparently got volunteered at a beer festival in August. I had sent an email inquiring about volunteers a couple months before the event, and never got a response until three days before the festival when they told me what time to show up for my shift...<br />
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I prepped <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2014/09/pizza-calzones-freezer-meal.html" target="_blank">some freezer pizza pockets</a> so that I'd have some easy lunches when we got back from vacation. They're the best!<br />
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I got all the wine labeled for my little brother's wedding reception. Such cute labels!<br />
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Finally it was time for me to drive north. 14 hours later I was drinking Moscow Mules with my mother-in-law!<br />
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From there, the whirlwind of visits kicked off. Including my favorite puppy! Look how dignified he's trying to be, despite his crazy hair.<br />
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A 30th birthday party meant we got to see a ton more people than we planned on!<br />
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We made time for a quick hike - we'd hiked this trail <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2014/03/march-in-summary.html" target="_blank">in snowshoes</a> but never had a chance to check it out in the summer.<br />
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We quickly racked up hours on the road, zig-zagging across the state in an effort to see as many people as possible, including this two-week-old.<br />
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Then across the state again to catch up with some friends and try a new brewery.<br />
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A stop in Grand Rapids for a bachelorette party...<br />
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...and then downstate for the actual wedding.<br />
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And to top things off, we overnighted in Kentucky with family! I forgot to take any pictures there, so instead enjoy these succulents.<br />
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It was a wonderful vacation, and I got to see nearly all my favorite people. <br />
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Contented sigh. Now, back to work...Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-24904971779839996492015-08-28T06:07:00.000-04:002015-08-28T06:07:00.160-04:00SelfieFestKyle and I were separated by a thousand miles for three weeks. In a desperate attempt to keep him a little closer, I asked him to send me a selfie every day. I really should have seen this coming, but he agreed only on the condition that I do the same.<br />
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As much as I hate to say it, it did make the whole thing a little easier. And I think we both got better at taking selfies.<br />
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We even managed to figure out selfies with multiple people.<br />
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I'm glad I don't have to take any more selfies though.Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-39627841968434469822015-08-14T06:05:00.000-04:002015-08-14T06:05:00.053-04:00Paint and WindowsIt's been a while since there's been a bus post so here's what we did in June and July.<br />
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The seals on the windows were so old and brittle that when we washed the bus, the seals bled all over, leaving black streaks down the freshly cleaned sides. It was great (not). The seals had to go.<br />
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Kyle cut the seals and we pulled out the windows without breaking a single pane. There was minor rust at the bottoms of the windows, nothing to worry about, until we got to the rear vent wing window. <br />
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That entire window was extra rusty, but the vent wing window itself was pretty bad.<br />
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With the windows out, Kyle neutralized the rust and prepped the interior for paint.<br />
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The really fun thing about buswork is that hours of labored gets condensed into single sentences that don't tell you what it's like to crouch down for half an hour in 100° heat. So next, we masked off the bus then primed and painted it. I figured white would be easy to get along with and would keep the interior bright - most of these surfaces won't be visible when we're done anyway.<br />
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Then, disaster. We removed the masking and there was a thin cloud of white all over the top of the bus, especially above the back hatch.<br />
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My first instinct was to wash it, but with the windows out we'd need to wait until everything was dry. 24 hours and seven google searches later, it turns out you can take care of it with auto wax pretty easily before it dries. Since it was dry, wax only worked with an incredible amount of labor. What worked much better? Acetone. It didn't damage the paint underneath either.<br />
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Here's a pro tip: if you're going to decide you hate the paint color, do it before you remove the masking. Otherwise you've got to redo several hours of work.<br />
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The good news is that I LOVE the color now. It is a lighter version of the exterior teal, but still very vibrant.<br />
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Kyle installed some interior insulation - $14 for a package of floor foam tiles. More masking and some spray adhesive and we're in business! We're both impressed with how well it cuts down on the heat.<br />
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Finally, time to reinstall the windows. Kyle's post about <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2014/05/bus-discoveries-windshield-install.html" target="_blank">reinstalling the windshield</a> details how we accomplished this project. The short version of the story is that we soaked some paracord in Simple Green (enough to circle the window once), applied it to the seal of the window, put the window in place, and then Kyle applied pressure from the outside as I pulled out the paracord.<br />
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I have no photos of this part because we both had our hands full. Suffice it to say the windows went in easily, and it was great because I had visions of shattered window in my mind.<br />
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Of course, no project is without a hitch. We deemed the vent wing window a loss, and after exploring several options it was apparent that the cheapest option was to go with a solid window. Some awesome friends had a spare window for us to use, so after our new solid seal arrived, we attempted installation. Three times. It would not fit. Kyle tried grinding down the window a bit to fit it better, but several attempts later got us nowhere. The new window was about a 1/4" taller than the original windows, and the tempered glass will not be ground down.<br />
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That's where it sits right now. Missing one window. Waiting for us to figure out what we're going to do now.<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-78532406237087974062015-08-07T05:39:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:13:54.716-05:00Lime Bars with Toasted Coconut CrustThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/lime-bars-with-toasted-coconut-crust/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-1580980561088185992015-07-31T10:43:00.000-04:002015-08-01T12:01:20.992-04:00Goals UpdateWell, there goes July. It passed too quickly - mostly because I was dreading the start of August. Kyle will be spending the month in IN / MI, so I have to figure out how to survive on my own again.<br />
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So here's a quick rundown of the July goals:<br />
<ul>
<li>Put the windows back in the bus! We got three out of four done. The last one just will. not. fit. It either needs extra persuasion...or we need to find a new window. </li>
<li>VW Drag Night + camping. We went to drag night! We went camping!</li>
<li>A visit from a Minnesotan! We had such a great time, even if the visit was short!</li>
<li>High Country Bus Festival. We camped in the mountains of NC for a couple nights - what a beautiful location.</li>
<li>I aimed for drawing ten comic panels again. I didn't quite make it. July was really busy work-wise, so I didn't have a lot of energy for side projects. However, the panels that did get done look good - I think I'm really getting into this!</li>
</ul>
Here's what's on the docket for August:<br />
<ul>
<li>Digitize two comic panels.</li>
<li>Pick up Kyle's shift at the taphouse - while he's gone, I'm going to be serving up local brews once a week.</li>
<li>Do some fun shopping. I've got weddings and babies to find gifts for!</li>
<li>Take a vacation. A whirlwind trip to Michigan this month is just what I need right now.</li>
<li>Get ready for a garage sale. We need to downsize! </li>
<li>Technically, elderberries are ready. I'm not sure I can tackle that project alone, but I'm still putting it on the list.</li>
</ul>
Over the 4th of July we were invited to a barbecue. I swear it was the best barbecue I have ever tasted in my life. The setting was gorgeous as well.<br />
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We painted the bus interior. I love the color so much. So bright and shiny!<br />
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There was a VW car show in Summerville to kick off Drag Night. Snoopy brought his beautiful 21-window. *swoon*<br />
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There was another car show at the drag strip - so many vochos!<br />
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Kyle was in charge of the camera and he got some pretty great shots!<br />
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I spent a night learning how to pour beer with Kyle. It's harder than it looks! There are nine different types of glasses and each beer needs to be put in the correct glass.<br />
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High Country Bus Festival is in the mountains in NC, right on a river, with a high ridge separating the two sections of the campground. So beautiful.<br />
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On Sunday morning it started pouring rain, so we took shelter under a rock ledge along the ridge. A rock with a view.<br />
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The area under the rock ledge was the favorite hangout, and at night the rock wall would be lined with tea lights, giving it a surreal feeling.<br />
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These days, I spend all my time in the office or inside at home because it's too hot to work outside, so spending a weekend in the woods felt so good. Yay camping!Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-7066566413696584092015-07-24T05:07:00.000-04:002015-07-24T05:07:00.218-04:00Ridiculously Easy Pizza CrustI'm more of a buy-a-frozen-pizza-and-pile-it-high-with-toppings-(mostly-veggies) type of person. Dough from scratch? That sounds like SO MUCH WORK. Mostly waiting (aka planning ahead). Mixing, kneading, waiting for it to rise. People there's got to be a better way.<br />
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Don't worry, I've got your back. There's a much easier way. It involves no waiting, kneading, or general dinner mayhem. It starts with yeast, sugar, and warm water. Let it sit for a few minutes. Chop some veggies.<br />
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Mix that with some flour. Add in some salt and olive oil. Let it sit for five minutes. Yeah, that's it - just five minutes. Don't even pretend like you're done chopping veggies yet, get back to it!<br />
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I sprinkled some cornmeal on our pizza stone to give it that authentic pizza crust thing that pizza places do. I didn't know where the pizza peel was. It happens when you move a lot. This recipe is good for one giant thick-crusted pizza, or two thin-crust pizzas. Dealer's choice.<br />
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Top with all the toppings. Back in college we used to make epic pizza that was pretty much a mountain of toppings. I've scaled this one back a bit, but you can take this anywhere from a margherita to a supreme - this crust is robust enough to handle it.<br />
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Cheese has a very basic function here: hold all the toppings together. You can do it, cheese. I believe in you.<br />
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Bake for 15-20 minutes. So this is roughly half an hour from start to finish.<br />
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<b>Easy Pizza Crust </b>(recipe from <a href="http://allrecipes.com/recipe/quick-and-easy-pizza-crust/" target="_blank">here</a>)<br />
Makes 1 large or 2 medium pizzas <br />
Ingredients:<br />
<ul>
<li>1 package of dry yeast (0.25 oz)</li>
<li>1 tsp sugar</li>
<li>1 c. warm water</li>
<li>2.5 c all-purpose flour</li>
<li>2 tbs extra virgin olive oil</li>
<li>1 tsp salt </li>
<li>Cornmeal</li>
</ul>
Instructions:<br />
1. Preheat the oven to 450°F.<br />
2. Mix the yeast, sugar and water. Let stand for 5 minutes.<br />
3. In a mixing bowl, combine the yeast mixture and flour. Add the salt and olive oil. Stir until combined. Let stand for 5 minutes.<br />
4. Form the dough into the pizza shape of your choice on a peel dusted with cornmeal. Transfer to a fancy baking stone (I'm sure a normal pizza pan would be a fine substitute). Top with your toppings of choice, then bake for 15-20 minutes.<br />
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Never eat frozen pizza again (just kidding, sometimes I need an effortless dinner and that's okay).Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-90751757850886142642015-06-26T05:29:00.000-04:002015-06-26T05:29:00.460-04:00June GoalsDespite my best intentions, June was a big month! We didn't have a whole lot planned so we were hoping for getting a lot of buswork done. We worked on the bus, but we also did so much more!<br />
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First things first, goals.<br />
<ul>
<li>There's a concert in mid-June at the VW dealership - just a quick jaunt in the bus. We went, we had a good time. </li>
<li><a href="http://www.piccolospoleto.com/" target="_blank">Piccolo Spoleto</a> festival. This ended the first week of June; I thought it would be a longer event. We missed it.</li>
<li>Ongoing bus work, of course. Windows out, paint in. </li>
<li>Start working on a plan for the second
garden season. Still on my list is to plant a bunch of baby tomatoes, but I think I have a good idea of what I want. Just need to decide when to plant.</li>
<li>Play around with my camera more - spend one night at the beach
taking photos. Being on the east coast, it made much more sense to get up early and take photos of the sunrise, so that's what I did.</li>
<li>I've been thinking about starting a webcomic, so I want to draw at least ten comic panels in June for practice. Oh man. I cranked out six panels in the first few days of June and thought I was going to blow this goal out of the water. The count still stands at six though.</li>
</ul>
Okay, what's going on in July?<br />
<ul>
<li>Put the windows back in the bus! </li>
<li>VW Drag Night + camping.</li>
<li>A visit from a Minnesotan! I hope he's bringing lots of sunscreen and light clothing, because July is a killer month in Charleston.</li>
<li>High Country Bus Festival. The bus won't make it out there, but we'll bring a tent!</li>
<li>I'm aiming for drawing ten comic panels again. This time I'll actually get it done.</li>
</ul>
On to the photo recap of my month. We celebrated the world's largest batch of iced tea (ahem, sweet tea) and whipped up a batch of our own <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/06/mint-iced-tea-world-record-sweet-tea.html" target="_blank">mint tea</a>.<br />
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The VW dealership hosted a concert and car show, where I fell in love with this little guy.<br />
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We harvested some corn from the garden this month! All ten kernels went on a plate of nachos. I almost tasted them. (All of the corn is so dinky. I assume it's just too hot.)<br />
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Speaking of nachos, can Greek nachos be a thing? We made gyros this month and had some leftover tzatziki. That was about all we had left, so this plate isn't really all that Greek, but don't tell me Greek nachos don't sound delicious.<br />
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We also helped a local brewery celebrate their grand opening! Apparently the number of craft breweries in this area is doubling this year. Amazing.<br />
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Then there was the bus work. We cut off the old brittle window seals and removed the windows.<br />
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With the windows out, we masked off the whole thing and painted the interior.<br />
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That's when we found out that we didn't mask off the WHOLE thing...and the roof was covered in overspray.<br />
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One morning we got up at the crack of dawn to see the sunrise. It was much better than I anticipated.<br />
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My photos don't do it justice, but it was fun to try.<br />
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So that was June! A surprisingly busy month, but definitely a good one.Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-49582396728462065492015-06-12T06:08:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:14:51.811-05:00Mint Iced Tea + World Record Sweet TeaThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/mint-iced-tea/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-20610122119935628582015-06-05T05:28:00.000-04:002015-06-05T05:28:00.273-04:00Camping WeekendWe had big plans for spending Memorial weekend in Savannah after spending a night camping with the bus club. Well...we never made it past the campsite. Savannah will be there anytime, but great weekends with great people don't happen often enough!<br />
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The campsite was only about an hour away, so we didn't get quite the shakedown cruise we expected, but I got to test out the brakes while we were still in the city - they work great.<br />
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When we first arrived at the site, we met some bus owners nursing a 4 week old kitten! Roughly half the photos I took were of this guy:<br />
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As always, in between chatting with some really fun people, we were treated with some amazing food. This weekend included some Southern classics that I hadn't tried yet - lowcountry boil and shrimp'n'grits!<br />
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To work off the food, we practiced hoopin' and also kayaked down the Edisto river.<br />
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Last but not least, plenty of relaxation.<br />
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Okay, and one more picture of the homicidal psycho jungle cat. He's ferocious!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-85797220016018923162015-05-29T05:51:00.000-04:002015-05-29T05:51:00.156-04:00Goals RecapSuddenly May is coming to a close. It was a great month! We ramped up our weekend game this month with lots of events.<br />
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Here is May's list:<br />
<ul>
<li>Have a Star Wars marathon. We watched the original three, it had been so long since I've seen them!</li>
<li>Bus stuff (always). We didn't work on the bus too much this month, although Kyle knocked a couple things off the list.</li>
<li>Camping / Savannah trip this month! Well, we never made it to Savannah...</li>
<li>We've volunteered at a brew festival at the end of the month. After work today, we'll be on our way!</li>
<li>I've got to finish up the elderberry wine (again) and get a new batch of wine started. Gah. A new batch has been started, but the elderberry still needs to be bottled.</li>
<li>Plant more things in the garden / keep up with the garden. I don't think I planted anything else, but we've been eating greens, radishes and peas and watching the tomatoes get bigger and bigger.</li>
<li>Make some fun anniversary plans. I wasn't sure if we'd get a spot on the ferry out to <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/05/bull-island-and-boneyard-beach.html" target="_blank">Boneyard Beach</a>, but we made it and it was a phenomenal trip - read about it <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/05/bull-island-and-boneyard-beach.html" target="_blank">here</a>!</li>
</ul>
June is looking like a quieter month, but it's still early.<br />
<ul>
<li>There's a concert in mid-June at the VW dealership - just a quick jaunt in the bus.</li>
<li><a href="http://www.piccolospoleto.com/" target="_blank">Piccolo Spoleto</a> festival is going on, and I'd love to attend a couple events for that.</li>
<li>Ongoing bus work, of course. Hopefully we can make some good progress in June.</li>
<li>As the summer months progress, it's going to get too hot for most garden plants, so I'm going to start working on a plan for the second season - the one that starts when it cools off a bit.</li>
<li>Play around with my camera more - spend one night at the beach taking photos. I keep trying to learn more about photography, but when it's so sunny that I can't see my camera screen I can't tell how the photos are turning out so I don't really learn anything. </li>
<li>I've been thinking about starting a webcomic, so I want to draw at least ten comic panels in June for practice.</li>
</ul>
That's about all I can think of right now. Okay, on to photos from my month. We spent the first weekend camping close to home.<br />
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The garden gets more and more out of control. This photo is from mid-month, the tomatoes are much bigger now!<br />
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We spent a Saturday exploring a remote island. <br />
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The local wildlife kept us entertained.<br />
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I just love the beach.<br />
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Last weekend we went camping with the Moonies, which is always an out-of-the-box experience. We planned on spending one night camping and then heading down to Savannah for the rest of the weekend, but camping was so great we couldn't leave.<br />
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It was such a perfect weekend, full of bright sun, great people, and cold drinks. Not to mention the hula hoops, drum circle, and kayaking down the river.<br />
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We did so much in May. And it's not over yet! We've got awesome weekend plans that are sure to close out the month with a bang. Summertime is the best time!Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-84567177225606091382015-05-22T06:17:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:15:24.333-05:00Bull Island and Boneyard BeachThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/bull-island-and-boneyard-beach/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-80530303223982385782015-05-15T05:57:00.000-04:002017-02-08T22:15:51.967-05:00Creamy Tomato Basil Soup with Grilled Cheese CroutonsThis post has <a href="http://www.theeverythingkitchen.com/creamy-tomato-basil-soup/">moved</a>!<br />
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Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-34869564797567725582015-05-08T05:51:00.000-04:002015-05-08T05:51:00.160-04:00May GoalsAs April crossed into May, I have officially lived in South Carolina for one year. It has been a tough year. BUT there have been lots of positives, and living in SC has been a lot of fun. I was eating home-grown radishes by mid-April - what's not to love about that?<br />
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I didn't choose goals for April, because right now my to-do list is very steady: garden, bus, wine. And visitors! However, I think I really need to choose some goals for May to pull me out of this funk I'm in, so here goes.<br />
<ul>
<li>Have a Star Wars marathon. I'm only aiming for the original trilogy, not sure I want to subject myself to hours of Jar-Jar. </li>
<li>Bus stuff (always). I'll ask Kyle for the list later.</li>
<li>Camping / Savannah trip this month!</li>
<li>We've volunteered at a brew festival at the end of the month, really looking forward to that event!</li>
<li>I've got to finish up the elderberry (again) and get a new batch of wine started.</li>
<li>Plant more things in the garden / keep up with the garden.</li>
<li>Make some fun anniversary plans. I've got something in mind but I'm not sure it will work out yet. </li>
</ul>
We kicked off April with a visit from family. Of course that included a trip to the beach...where we found some sea stars (at the last aquarium I visited, I was continually told that they are NOT STAR FISH because they are NOT FISH. They are SEA STARS!).<br />
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We also visited a new taco truck on our way to a brewery. Excellent.<br />
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Now that Kyle is bartending, our weekly bar night has started to look a little different. But there's still beer.<br />
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We did a bunch of bus work but you can read about all that <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/04/bus-stuff.html" target="_blank">here</a>.<br />
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My garden is looking awesome. Baby tomatoes, zucchini with a thousand buds, peas that are starting to blossom!<br />
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I'm still dealing with some garden pests, but I think that's a pretty constant state whilst gardening. I don't know quite what I'm dealing with at this point, though, so I'll keep an eye on things.<br />
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The excellent weather continues and I continue to enjoy it. Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3945403406535323363.post-11561898310810958162015-04-24T05:39:00.000-04:002015-04-24T05:39:00.036-04:00Bus StuffMy interest in writing a blog post right now is roughly nil. However, we have yet to keep a good record of what we're doing to the bus, so I'm going to throw a bunch of information here and you can read it if you want. This is coming from someone who spent her last lunch hour mowing the lawn...in dress pants. This post might be unintelligible. I apologize in advance.<br />
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Right after we got the <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/02/engine-out.html" target="_blank">engine put back together</a>, and then figured out how to solve our <a href="http://ofwindsandwater.blogspot.com/2015/02/the-seventh-circle-of-vacuum-leak-hell.html" target="_blank">vacuum leak problems</a>, we still had one lingering issue that we could NOT figure out.<br />
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One of my biggest challenges is these "impossible" problems - I simply do not have the resolve / perseverance to work through them. Thankfully, there's a lot of VW resources out there, and Kyle has a great tenacity for these sorts of things.<br />
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1. Voltage problem - for lack of a better term because I still don't fully understand this one (see previous paragraph regarding my resolve). When the bus was cold, it would have a propensity for dying, stuttering, and generally not running well. Especially if the lights were on. After it warmed up, all symptoms disappeared.<br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ignition switch - old and new</td></tr>
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1a. We got a new battery<br />
1b. Kyle installed a new ignition switch.<br />
1c. Kyle installed a new TSII sensor<br />
1d. We put in all new light bulbs<br />
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None of these things solved the problem. Lots of voltage testing at least showed that something was...um. Well, there was a thing. With electricity. Kyle will have to fill in the blanks here. I truly tried to follow <a href="http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=621518" target="_blank">the Samba thread</a> on this topic, but electrical stuff is not my strong point. Long story short, Kyle uninstalled the Pertronix ignition he'd put in right when we got the bus. Problem solved.<br />
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2. With neither a working gas gage nor a working odometer, it was impossible to tell when to fill up with gas (or what our mileage was!). It was driving me crazy.<br />
2a. The odometer had a broken gear. The other piece was intact in the dash, so I epoxied it back together. It broke again soon after and Kyle fixed it in a more robust manner. We have yet to run a tank of gas with a fully working odometer so the mileage is still tbd.<br />
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2b. One of the previous owners sliced this lovely access hole above the gas tank, and then screwed on a nasty piece of sheet metal to cover it. Gee, thanks, buddy.<br />
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However, this jagged, tetanus-infested hole does allow access to the gas gage.<br />
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Which meant it was pretty easy to figure out that the gas gage wasn't working because all the old wiring had shredded (is that an okay way to refer to wiring?).<br />
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I cleaned up the corrosion, took it apart, wrapped a new wire on, did some stuff with epoxy, read this helpful but very optimistic <a href="http://www.thesamba.com/vw/forum/viewtopic.php?t=380693" target="_blank">Samba thread</a> at least five times, superfailed at everything, and then let my patient, tireless husband come to my rescue. It now works. How well? That's also tbd. It tells us when it's full. It hangs out at a quarter of a tank for a very long time. The accuracy is anybody's guess. I don't think too many people actually rely on the gas gage (I should clarify: bus people), most of them use the odometer and fill up every 200 miles.<br />
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3. We meant to fix the shift coupler when the engine / transmission were out, but it was on backorder and of course they don't tell you that until the rest of your parts arrive, at which point it's a little too late. So we (Kyle) had to do this the hard way: while everything was installed. Somebody (the internet?) recommends a hybrid of old and new shift couplers.<br />
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4. Stripping the interior latex paint. It was peeling off the ceiling anyway. It had to go.<br />
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The ceiling was easy - it's not insulated at all, so on a hot day the paint was pretty pliable and most of it peeled right off.<br />
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After that, we made some good headway with razors.<br />
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Finally, it came down to oven cleaner and brute force.<br />
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It is mostly gone now, but there are a few spots that will have to be sanded. We've got several rust spots, so the current plan is to grind down the rust, rough up the original paint, and repaint the interior.<br />
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5. Kyle was doing a thing and he tried to put a little body weight on the bumper and it fell off. Not great. One of the previous owners decided to weld the bumper on (in addition to installing a trailer hitch that made it impossible to install a muffler). Kyle had ground those welds off a year ago and installed it properly. I forget what the root cause was here, I think it was partially that the old weld prevented the bumper from sitting flush and there was a bolt that stripped out. Either way, Sixer got a metric tap and die set in the Easter basket and after the weld was ground down more, the bumper was reinstalled.<br />
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5. What better time to fix those exhaust leaks than when the bumper is already off? Kyle got new exhaust seals and resealed that system.<br />
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6. What easier time to fix the oil leak in the valve covers than when the bumper and heat exchangers are missing? This valve cover oil leak has been the only leak that has persisted after removing and cleaning up the engine - but this was at least the second attempt in fixing it. The latest fix was only done on Saturday so I'm not sure if they're still leaking or not.<br />
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Here's Kyle hard at work on the exhaust system, even though he's getting rained on. What a champ.<br />
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Bus stuff. It's perfect camping weather, yet here we sit in the driveway. It's also perfect working weather, so...you know.Darcyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/17254443240545100258noreply@blogger.com0