Camping 2025 has begun

Camping has begun for 2025. We're hooked up and ready to go. Don't worry- I did fold the steps up.

This is our site at Grayson Lake State Park. It's only a little over an hour from home, but we always stay close for the first trip of the year in case something goes wrong.

The only issue we had was the distance to the water hydrant. We had 75 feet of hose and it was about 100 to the hookup. We had  to make a trip to the local hardware store and pick up another hose so we could reach.

We visited the Benko Glass Company in Milton West Virginia and took a tour. We saw the glass melting furnaces and mixing areas first. 

Then we went on the production floor and saw how the made the pieces, blowing some air into the molten glass so it would form each different piece they made.

They had a "garden of glass" in back of the visitor's center with the colors and different  things they made.

Sorry about the duplicate picture.

They also made glass bricks and panels for decorations.

They also did some beautiful stuff with making stained glass windows.

This is the room that they started the tour from with some amazing windows they made.
 

2025 garden started

 

It dried up enough to finally get the garden turned over today. We had a pleasant day, sunny and cool.

After it was ready to plant, I made a run to Rural King and got about 100 red onion sets and planted them all. I also put in some romaine and salad bowl lettuce, but not as much as last year. 

Another small update

With the skirting I had left over from the girls place, I replaced the south end of mine. It was the vented kind before, and we have had occasional issues with water lines freezing when there was too much wind with a cold front. This skirting is solid and will let less air through which should help with that.

Lisa and Jim are adding to their paved area up by the garage and had a trailer load of dirt/sod that was skimmed off to make room for the new blacktop. It took me a week or two to get it all shovelled off and put on the septic tank and lines. The weather was not helping me at all with rain then freezing it all together.

But I finished up up at the end of last week. The pipes are all covered and the grading of the hill around the tank has begun.
 

Small update

 Natalie and her mom got the kitchen cabinets painted last week. It really brightened everything up. We added new knobs and handles so it matched the other side. We still have 2 more doors to do. They will get done in a couple of days when she is off again.

Down around the corner

I got the missing pieces on Tuesday, but yesterday was too cold to do anything with it. Today was a little better, so I got back at it. The ground track had to be dug out, same as before.

 I brought both sides around to the end. I still haven't found any dirt to level it out around the sewer pipe, so I cut another piece to slant up over the pipe. I will have to re-do this end when I fill it in, but it's WAY better than it was for drafts under the trailer.

A bit more skirting done

 After digging the pieces of skirting and trim out of the snow yesterday, I got some more skirting put up today. I had to dig the snow and ice away to get the ground clear enough to work. I am now at the point of knowing what materials are needed to finish, so I'll get them as soon as I can.

More skirting done

I got started doing more of the skirting this morning after it warmed up a little. If you try to cut the skirting when it's too cold, it will shatter.

I did get the front done all the way to the corner. It was chipping a little bit, but for the most part, it was manageable. I had to make a Lowes run to get some lag anchors before I started the back.

 Here is where all the lag anchors are getting used. The back ground strips all end up sitting on the foundation, so I have to drill the concrete and use the lag screws to hold the track in place. It takes a bit longer than just whacking a nail into the ground to hold it. I got just past the back door before it started to get too dark to see.