Keeping Busy

Roy and I are keeping busy with projects and enjoying our time with June and Earl. June and I have done some painting and gardening, and made plans for other projects. Roy built this sweet little custom phone, key, remote, and cigarettes holder. The cool thing about the location of the holder is not only that it is by the door and out of reach of our chewing dogs; but that a phone charging cord feeds into the box from inside the cabinet. Inside the cabinet is an outlet that wasn't of any use except for the microwave.

It's amazing how such a small addition can make such a difference! The white circular thing hanging under the cabinet is called a "Pop-a-Plate". It's a wonderful invention for anyone using lots of paper plates.

Strange Comment

Roy recently commented that when he gets out of bed and looks down the hall, the camper seems big! Wow! It's 13 feet from the end of the bed to the couch! Although his comment seemed strange, I know what he means and am feeling it, too. There is an adequacy, functionality, and organization to every space in our 24' camper giving it a feeling of being larger than its measurements.

What's Roy Doing?

Have you ever wondered how a camper was put together? Below is a peek into the wall. There's the outdoor siding, 2"x2" studs, insulation, and the inside paneling. Sometime during the 16 years that we've had our camper, a water leak developed into the interior wall. Roy has tried to seal it with silicone caulking several times, but the water has managed to continue to damage the walls. The damaged area you're seeing in the picture is just the tip of the iceberg, as they say. Roy will be replacing the side wall by the door and the front wall from the base of the overhead cabinets to down behind the couch! Depending on how the interior wall looks behind the cabinets they may need to come out, too! We hope not.

When not gearing-up to take on the big camper project, Roy is reading a wonderful book series about elves, druids, monsters, and more! The author is Terry Brooks and the first book in the series is called, First King of Shannara.

Last night he made a wonderful meso soup and sushi dinner!!!

More Projects

The walls in the hallway to the cat room at the shelter get chipped by a large wagon the staff roll into the room daily. I've been working on patching the drywall.

I plan to repaint with the same colors this weekend.

To help limit future wall damage, I've padded the cart! Marilyn

Roy's Camper Project

Behind the stove is a tiny shelf. We have looked at it for some time thinking how it is inadequte for the amount of space it renders unusable.


Roy measured the area behind the stove and built a custom shelf providing for maximum use.



Tah Dah! Isn't it beautiful? It's functional not only in fully occupying the space, but it frees up cabinet space and makes the can goods easier to find. Maybe we'll eat more veggies, too! The cutting board fit to the side of the shelf perfectly freeing up even more space! We have found the cutting board makes a perfect sink cover and increases counter space. More camper modifications to come.

Big Project

One of the projects I'm doing at the shelter is creating sneeze barriers between cat cages. This will help limit the cat to cat spread of upper respiratory infections (ie. cat colds: watery eyes, runny noses, and sneezing).


The project is huge. Between every stack of cages will be a 42" wide by 60" high piece of 20 gauge plastic. Later grommets will be added to the plastic for ease in removing the sheets for sanitizing. We've clipped them on for now. The plastic comes in 45' long rolls and the plastic is 54 inches wide. We came up with the plan to use the 12" square floor tiles as a guide for keeping the plastic straight for cutting. Pretty clever, huh? We started out using my cutting mat and rotary cutter, but have moved up to a piece of paneling with guide lines and the rotary cutter. It's working great! Another volunteer is helping me keep everything aligned.


We're proud to say the project is nearly invisible! I've spaced the cages so that you can get a better glimpse of the plastic between the cages. Twenty barriers are needed to complete the front cat room. We're nearly done. We still have the Intake Room to do. Check out the hammocks made while living in the camper at the beach!


Here are a couple of kitties enjoying their hammocks. It makes my heart soar seeing how comforted the cats seem snuggled in their beds! Marilyn