A Few Low-key Days

Friday was a do-nothing day. But Saturday we needed some pieces for our Tire Cover Project. If you remember, our old tire cover was stolen from a Walmart parking lot. But we received a new one for Christmas. This time it will not be easy to take off. I am going to attach grommets around the edge of the cover, run wire through the holes and padlock it to the Jeep. It will probably take us 3 hours to get it off if we need the spare, but it would take someone else three hours, too.

So off to a hardware store to get the pieces: wire, ferrules and grommets. We passed a hardware store in Kissimmee the other day so decided to head there. We parked a couple of blocks away which was so fortuitous. The brick sidewalks had etched stars on corners and embedded steel circles with cutout pictures of cowboys on horses, wolves baying at the moon, landscapes, boots and other cowboy scenes. We passed a chili cookoff in the park and made a note to check that out on the way back. Milkenson’s Hardware was born in 1873 on Main Street. It had tall tin ceilings, linoleum floors and photos of the town from way back on the walls. They had everything we needed and more, but we resisted.

Now for some chili. Oh, no. They stopped cooking an hour ago, and now the judges were deciding on the winner. I counted 25 entrants with some really cute names [none of which I remember – didn’t think I needed my camera – WRONG].

Well, Gary decided he needed some guitar picks, and there was a music store across the street. Pedestrians rule, so cars are supposed to stop for you as you cross the street. They did, thankfully. While Gary was inside choosing colors, I decided to step outside to soak up a little local color. The buildings were adorable: adobe, southwestern style, 1800's . I can just see hoop skirts and parasols combined with horses tied to hitchin’posts. Apparently back to back freezes in 1894 and 1895 wiped out their citrus industry. The freezes, combined with South Florida's growth and the relocation of steamship operations to Lake Okeechobee, left Kissimmee dependent on cattle raising; thus the cute sidewalks.

This morning was cloudy, but warmer than yesterday at a high of 72 finally at 4 pm. I spent the morning working on my Workcamping Resume. This has to be much different than a standard resume. Employers are more interested in your life skills than the year you graduated high school. I have a fair amount of those skills, but don’t really know if they are applicable to Workcamping. We’ll see. After lunch, I went outside to look at our plaque that was carved on Thursday at the RV Show. Hmmm. I thought I would try to paint some swishes on it to match our coach. I had some touchup paint to use, so I made a quick sketch, and then onto the paint.
The semi-finished piece is drying in the bay. I need to fill in the letters, add the wheels and front window.
Stay tuned for the finale. Gary is thinking about how to hang it…

Donna brought over some of her Delicious Lemon Cookies still warm from the oven. They were huge and had a cake texture, light and lemony. Fabulous with a cup of tea!

Gary grilled a small pork loin and I tried to roast a rutabaga (alias yellow turnip). Convection ovens are supposed to be a little faster, but these took twice as long. Maybe I didn’t have the temp up high enough. I hardly use the oven, so I obviously need to practice some more. Brownies, anyone??