Sunday, December 28, 2008

Poor Cupid



Since neither me or my sister enjoy celebrating Christmas the traditional way, we decided to go to South Florida and go shopping over the Christmas weekend. We chose a campground that is 5 miles from the Sawgrass Mills Mall, Markham Park. Within the park there is an off leash dog park. The plan was to let the dogs play in the park for a few hours in the morning and then put them in their crates in the trailer while we went to the mall. We arrived in Sunrise around 4 o'clock on Christmas day. As usual, our first order of business after setting up was to take the dogs for a walk. We had been walking for about 45 minutes when Cupid tripped my sister and made her step on her leg. Cupid let out a scream that seemed to last forever. I'm sure the entire park heard her. Since Cupid has been stepped on many times and has over reacted many times, I wasn't sure if she was really hurt or not. I carried her back to the trailer and watched her closely for the rest of the night. In the morning, she seemed to be feeling better and was slowly starting to put weight on her leg. We took all the dogs to the dog park and they all did very well. Jasmine and Xena even briefly played with some of the other dogs. After an hour or so, we put the dogs in the trailer and headed off to the mall. We left the mall in the middle of the day and checked on them. They all seemed to be doing well and they were not making any noise when we pulled up. We went back to the mall and shopped for a few more hours then had dinner at the mall then went back to the trailer. The next morning, Cupid was still limping so I left her in the trailer while the rest of us went back to the dog park. Xena and Stevie were the same as the day before but Jasmine seemed to be much less nervous and played more with the other dogs. We left the park and crated the dogs and headed off to the mall again. Since they had done so well the day before, this time we did not check on them in the middle of the day. We finally made our way around the entire mall at about 4 o'clock. When we got back to the trailer, Cupid jumped out of her crate instead of waiting for me to take her out. She cried when she hit the floor and started limping much worse. Within the next few hours, her leg started to swell and she was crying every time she moved. It quickly became obvious that she was going to need to go to the emergency vet. The ride to the vet was extremely stressful as she was screaming out in pain every few minutes. The vet gave her a shot to sedate her and took x-rays and confirmed that her leg was broken. He put a splint on her leg and gave me some pain medication. The splint is only a temporary fix until I can get her to my regular vet. He said she will most likely need some type of pin in order to permanently fix it. She hasn't cried any more since he put the splint on her leg. Except for Cupid getting hurt, we had a great time. This trip was filled with lots of "firsts": first time we traveled this far, first time we left the dogs alone, first time the trailer got rained on, first time we unhitched the Jeep from the trailer, first on-the-road dog emergency, first time we had to wash the trailer when we got back. We probably will not be taking a trip in January but we will be going to Manatee Springs in February.
CUPID UPDATE 1/14/09
After doing some research on-line and talking to Cupid's regular vet, I have decided against having a pin put in her leg. She is 11 years old and I do not feel comfortable with putting her through surgery. She had her splint taken off and rewrapped today. The vet says it looks really good and that the bones are already starting to callus.

Monday, November 10, 2008

Anastasia






We arrived in St. Augustine on Saturday around 4. Elissa and Jessie got there a few minutes before us and were already setting up their tent. It became clear pretty quickly that my sister was not going to be able to back the trailer into the site. There was no room to pull forward and more importantly she was blocking traffic. The woman in the site next to us recognized my trailer from the internet and offered to have her teen aged son back it in for us. He parked it right where we want it with no problems. Then I gave them a tour of my trailer and took a tour of their cargo trailer that they are converting into a camping trailer. This was a teardrop gathering that was organized by the people on the trailer forum. So after we got settled in, we walked around the campground to look at the other trailers. Unfortunately, there weren't very many to see. When we got back to our site, a business associate of mine who lives close by came to see the trailer. Several other people from the trailer forum also stopped by. After we ate dinner, we all piled in the trailer (including all 6 dogs) and played cards and Taboo. The next morning, we needed to make a trash run so we took all of the dogs on a long walk to the only dumpster in the park. Then we drove a few miles from the park to a historic section of the city and walked around the shops. We left Stevie in the trailer since he is likely to get stepped on when walking in crowds. When we got back to the campsite, Stevie was sound asleep in the trailer. We ate lunch and played another game of cards and then it was time for Ellisa and Jessie to leave. After they left, my sister and I took turns taking showers which was a pleasant experience as the bathrooms were nice and clean. The rest of the evening was spent eating dinner and watching a movie. The next morning we were up bright and early and ready to take the dogs for another long walk. This time we walked past the dumpster and on to a little nature trail. We also walked around several of the other loops looking at the other campsites. We definitely ended up with one of the nicest sites in the park. Once we got back to our site, we had lunch and then packed everything up and headed home. On the way home, we stopped in Sanford to show Deanna the trailer. We also stopped at Kimberly's job to show it to her co-workers. We had a little trouble with the dogs this time but all and all it was another great trip.

Sunday, October 26, 2008

FIRST TRIP....FIRST TRIP.....FIRST TRIP!!!!!




After almost ten months of hard work, my sister and I finally got to enjoy our first camping trip. We were worried about how stressful it would be with 4 dogs in such a small space so we went to a campground close to my house (Lake Griffin) and only stayed 1 night. The ride to the campground was uneventful but as we started to get close to our destination, the tension started to rise. We had plenty of fear about becoming some kind of circus freak show at the campground with our crazy homemade trailer trying unsuccessfully to get it into our site. We intended to do some practice driving before this trip but of course that didn't happen so we had know idea how long or if we could manage to get the trailer into the campsite. Much to our surprise and delight, my sister was able to back the trailer in within 5 minutes with no problems at all. Once we got the trailer set up, we took all of the dogs for a walk. While we were walking, we ran into a couple that asked us if we were the owners of the pink trailer, no doubt that our attire was a dead giveaway. They said they had already taken a picture of the trailer and wanted to know if they could get a picture of us. After our walk, we went back to the trailer for a late dinner. I knew that we would forget something important on this trip and sure enough we left the house without any silverware. We had to eat our ravioli with our fingers. After a messy dinner, we settled in and watched a movie on our very cool pink dvd player. I knew that the temperature was going to get down into the 60s. However, I did not think that it would be necessary to bring a heater.........that was a mistake. By 3 am, it was freezing inside the trailer. We managed to make it through the cold night and in the moring, we took the dogs for another walk. As we were backing up to leave, the couple from the night before stopped by our campsite to see the inside of the trailer. I am shocked at how smoothly our first trip went. Taking care of all the dogs was not stressful at all. They were all so good. Everything in the trailer worked exactly as it was designed to do. We had a great time and we can't wait unit our next trip.


Sunday, October 19, 2008

PINKALICIOUS!!!!!





After 3 weeks of nonstop sanding, I finally got it painted. I will be doing to more body work where the roof meets the front and back walls but that will be after next weekend. Because next weekend we will be going on our first trip. This will be a test trip close to home. That way we can work out all the kinks before our big trip to St. Augustine next month.

Tuesday, October 7, 2008

Paint?




I thought I was ready to start painting but that was just wishful thinking. Once I painted a small amount, I realized that the finish is just not smooth enough. So I will spend yet another week sanding and hopefully it will be ready to paint by the weekend.

Saturday, October 4, 2008

Road Ready




Last weekend, while I spent hours and hours sanding and getting the outside ready to paint, my sister worked on getting the trailer street legal. She did a great job getting the tail lights, side markers and license plate light attached to the trailer but unfortunately only 1 out of 5 lights actually came on. After doing some research, she was able to get them to all come on this morning.

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Camping in the Driveway


We decided that our first night in the trailer would be spent in the driveway just in case we had any problems with the dogs. And sure enough, ten minutes into the slumber party, we had a problem. But it wasn't one of the dogs. I looked at the floor and noticed a small steady stream of water coming from the air conditioner. Because my driveway has such a steep incline, the back of the trailer was much higher than the front causing the water draining from the air conditioner to run into the trailer instead of out on the ground. The only way to fix it was to pull the trailer out of the driveway, drive it around the block and pull it back in so it was facing the other direction. I did not envision that our first test drive of the trailer would be done at nine o'clock at night with no lights on the trailer. It was scary but we made it and the water problem was solved. The rest of the night was peacefully uneventful. All of the dogs were so good. They slept quietly all night. We all had plenty of room and we were very comfortable.

Saturday, September 6, 2008

Hidden Talent...........who knew?



I knew that I wanted the added touch of hand painting in my trailer but I wasn't sure if I had the ability to produce the desired results. So I took a piece of scrap wood and put my talent to the test. I'm no Michelangelo but I'm pretty happy the outcome.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Ikea Night Light



I got the cutest night light from Ikea. The power cord is green so it looks like the stem of the flower. I painted some leaves on the wall to add to the effect.

Sunday, August 24, 2008

The Windows and Cabinets are Done





Thanks to tropical storm Fay, the weather here was slightly cooler this weekend. My sister and I were able to permanently install both windows and finally attach the last of the cabinet doors.

Saturday, August 2, 2008

A Window and Some Interior Shots






Even though its been almost a month since I posted, I haven't stopped working on the trailer. I have been making the covers for the cushions and painting the cabinet doors. Today, my sister and I finally ventured outside and put on some of the second layer of the roof and cut the hole for one of the windows.

Saturday, July 5, 2008

The Powder Puff's First Trip




Granted, it was only 50 feet down the driveway. But it was SPECTACULAR! This is the first time it has ever been out of the garage. So up until today, I didn't know for sure if it would clear the garage door way. I have a very sloped driveway so anything could have happened. I was really afraid to even attempt this as my sister and I have no experience towing anything. I had visions of ripping of the roof or sending the trailer careening into the house across the street. But I wanted to get some full shot pictures of it before I start painting it. This was also the only way to get a shot of the roof. To my surprise and delight, we were able to get it in and out of the garage without any problems.

Microwave

Yep.......that's right.........I found a pink one!

Friday, July 4, 2008

Backsplash





I got this idea about 5 months ago and now I finally got to implement it. I used some beige floor tiles I had laying around. I primered them and then painted them. Some of them are also sprinkled with pink glitter.

Thursday, June 12, 2008

And Now for the Sewing Portion of this Project


Since it's too hot to be in my garage, I have been working on things that can be done inside the house. I made a curtain to hang down under the counter top to hide the dog crates.

Saturday, June 7, 2008

More Work on the Door



I got the trim around the window and the inside of the door painted.

Wednesday, June 4, 2008

I Should Be Working on My Roof But............

The weather here is just brutal. It's in the 90's pretty much every day. So I've been working on small things. I built a drawer and attached it under the counter top.


Saturday, May 31, 2008

The AC Install is Complete


The air conditioner has been successfully mounted to a drawer slide. The slide I used is rated for 100 lbs. so it easily supports the entire weight of the AC. So I was able to remove the tacky little shelf that I had on the back of the trailer. I tried to take pictures of how it operates but I think you have to watch the video to really understand it.