From Albatross to Awesome-tross

In 2009, I spent $2,000 on something that I didn't want.
I had no desire for it.
I thought it was a waste of money.
But...my wife really wanted it.
She doesn't ask for much.
So...I bought it.
I bought my brother-in-law's 1990 Coleman pop-up camper. They stopped using it in 2003. It was closed up and parked behind an auto-dealership for 6 years. It was a quick sale. He and I popped it up together....it was dingy and smelled like mouse pee. I still bought it.....although I didn't want to.
In the Spring of 2010...I hauled it north from New Jersey to Massachusetts and parked it in my side yard..I popped it up one more time, only to reveal some significant structural damage to the interior roof caused by a water leak. I closed it up ...and let it sit. I was still not convinced that it had any value whatsoever. I knew that I'd get around to looking into it sooner or later. Or maybe I'd talk Chrissy into just getting rid of it.
Well.....sooner or later became October 2011.....we planned a camping week in western PA with Chrissy's twin sister and her family....It was time to get to gettin' and rebuild and restore this albatross.
2 weeks ago, I pulled into the front yard and set it up **insert red-neck, hick joke about having a camper set up in your front yard here** There was much more mouse damage, droppings, and awful urine-smelling foulness than I had expected. At first, I was ready to stick it on the curb with a "free" sign on it.
But....
I got to work.
The first order of business was pressure washing the outside and then to the structural stuff. My grandfather and father have blessed me, generationaly-speaking, with a fairly well-rounded workshop. I've pretty much got on hand everything I need to build, weld, grind, drill, cut, torch, bolt, wash, repair, rebuild, anything that comes my way.
After day 1....I had repaired the structural stuff...but I still didn't want the camper. Then came the cleaning.
I spent a few hours everyday just scrubbing, cleaning, scrubbing, cleaning....bleach-water became my best friend. I must have pulled 5 million pebbles of mouse poo out of this thing. We took down all the curtains, took off mattress pads, and ran them through the washer a dozen times. I rented a carpet/upholstery cleaner and cleaned the daylights out of the dinette cushions. I should have taken pictures of the entire process....just to remember how utterly disgusting this mouse-motel was....but I didn't.

Anyway....the dust settled today. She's back. No longer an albatross...but rather a Phoenix, rising from the mouse-crap laden ashes....my "brand new" 1990 Coleman Plantation camper:

Here she is from the outside. She's a beast. 26 1/2 ft. long when it's all opened up. I had to patch a few spots on the canvas where the mice chewed through. I found a place online that will replace all the canvas brand new for a grand....maybe in a few years. For now....I need to settle on a home-grown solution.

Here's a shot from the back-bed looking across the galley. It's something like 160 sq. ft. of living space...bigger than my first dorm room. BTW...the little girl doesn't come standard...I added that accessory myself :^)

Sink, Fridge, 3 burner stove with oven...cuz you never know when you might want fresh baked cookies while camping. This beast also flaunts a hot water heater, furnace, 2 queen beds, air conditioner and....

A hard-walled shower and....

turlet....privacy, baby...dig it.

Anyhow...today, I worked most of the morning on it...finishing up the details....Tonight was pretty much the first night that It was all set up...all cleaned...and restored...and ready to go. Well...In true Leo Family fashion...there was only one thing to do:

Eat dinner in it!! Hot dogs, beans, and beer....a good old American meal for a good old American camper.
We hung out in it afterwards....jumped on the beds...did some puzzles...ate some cookies...watched a movie....




In 2 weeks we're hitching up this baby and cruising out to Amish Country, PA for a week of camping. The Amish make a lifestyle out of generational blessing, fixing what they break, making what they can, restoring what they have, and generally being resourceful and good stewards of what they have been blessed with. Although my camper is a bit modern for their taste....the work and commitment that it took to get it there is right up their alley.

What else are you supposed to do in the Freezing Cold?

O.K....so let me just start by saying that I'm 100% positive that by the end of this post, there will be several people out there who think that our family (or at least me...and especially my dad) needs serious help...and I'm o.k. with that. Before I get into what happened, let me offer this caveat:
Around here, we fancy ourselves amateur explorers...we're blessed to live in an area with so much nature so close by....we feel it's important to seize opportunities to check stuff out..especially in nature. Dissecting a beehive, eyeballing a bunch of frog eggs, prodding a beaver lodge, examining animal tracks in the snow, identifying bird species at the feeder, breaking up a pine cone, checking out milkweed seeds pods....we love this kind of stuff. There really is no better way to learn about nature, science, God....than to get right in the middle of it and soak it in. That brings us to the activity at hand:

Frozen Roadkill Science Extravaganza.

Before I go any further, let me say this...my father is a rather unique guy. He loves The Lord so much. He loves his family so much. I am an only child...my children will be his only grandchildren. he loves them so much. He lives to show them interesting things. My dad's the kind of guy that can (and has) designed and built an entire house from the ground up, but literally has no clue how to turn on the DVD player to watch a movie. Let me pause and show you the guy I'm talking about:

Here he is in all his glory. He broke his hand shoveling snow off the roof last week. He told the orthopedic to give him the "brightest cast that they had". That pretty much tells you all you need to know about him. He's awesome. Anyway...back to the Roadkill.

2 weeks ago...my dad was so excited to tell me the story of how he found a dead hawk on the side of the road...in relatively good condition...frozen solid. He was so excited for me to show it to Gavin and Ivy and to teach them about it. It turned out to be a very cool experience. The Hawk was in very good condition. We looked at the markings and referenced them to a local bird field guide and found it to be a Sharp-Shinned Hawk. We got to check out all of the cool aspects of this bird...the reptilian feet and talons...the curved beak, the sharp eyes. It may sound really weird and disgusting to you...but what a cool opportunity it was for Gavin and I to explore this awesome animal...this was the closest that we would ever come to one of these creatures. Getting to see all of the little parts that makes it such an efficient hunting machine.....it was great stuff. I regret that we didn't take a picture of it, but we did save a few tail and wing feathers:



Definitely cool...but nowhere near as cool as what my dad found yesterday.

He emailed me to tell me that he had something amazing to show me...and...if you are into frozen roadkill...he was right on.

A Fisher Cat.

Dead...but very well preserved. Now, for those of you not in the know....
the Fisher Cat (or Fisher, to some) is, pound for pound, one of the most deadly animals on earth. It looks somewhat like a big weasel and is a relative of the marten. They have the ability to rotate their hind paws 180 degrees...which gives them the ability to climb trees and then turn and descend them head first (unlike a cat or raccoon, which has to "back" down")...because of this, they are considered as efficient a hunter as a puma or leopard. If you live in MA and have had a pet cat killed, chances are it was at the hands of a Fisher Cat. Pretty much, whatever they hunt...they kill. But the craziest thing about them isn't this...it's their call.
The call of a Fisher Cat is other-worldly....it literally sounds like a small child in horrid pain and great distress. Like a little girl being brutally injured...google it, check it out. We hear them throughout the Spring and Summer in the woods near our house...it's chilling.
I've heard calling as close as our back yard, but have never spotted one. Until yesterday:

He was awesome to check out....his teeth, his claws...the pads on his feet that looked just like a house cats. He's got an amazing coat....super soft and full. We had a great time checking him out. We're going to give him to a family friend who is into taxidermy to see what he can do with it.

Call it weird...call it bizarre....but the fact is....God gave us this amazing world to explore....we pay 25 bucks a pop to go to a zoo to check out exotic animals at 100 feet away....we got to do the same thing...just frozen and at point blank range. Is it really so weird?

Thank You, Lord...for these amazing creatures....for the tools that you give them to survive...teeth....claws....talons...instinct....how much more to you care for and equip us?