Today was the opening day of deer season in Southern NY. I look forward to this day all year as it is a day when I can go sit in the woods, watch the sun come up, enjoy nature, and if I'm lucky, put some venison in the freezer. This year my middle son, Jacob, wanted to come along. Actually, all 3 boys wanted to come but it was Jake's turn to spend some "special time" with Dad, so off we went. I was a little bit hesitant at first, because if you've spent any time at all with a 10 year old, you'll know that they don't generally have much of an attention span. I thought I'd be constantly telling Jake to sit still, be quiet, only 15 more minutes and we'll leave, etc. I was completely wrong. We sat in the rain for almost 3 hours, waiting for a deer that we wanted to shoot. Eventually, I was the one who suggested we go back to the house to dry off and try to warm up. Jacob would have remained sitting in the rain all day if I'd let him. After a cup of coffee and a snack, we decided to head back out to the tree stand and see if we'd have any better luck. The rain had let up a bit, but I was not feeling very good about our chances. Well, we got to the stand, climbed up, and before I even had a chance to sit down, Jacob was whispering "Dad, Dad, there's a buck!". I turned around to see a deer, not 30 yards away, looking straight at us. I unslung my rifle, took aim, and shot. The deer took a few steps, and then fell dead. My kids know where a hamburger comes from, and understand that hunting is one of the ways we feed our family. They know that a gun is a tool that can be used to good and bad. They know that when something is shot, chances are good that it will die very soon. All of these thoughts were going through my mind in the moments after I watched the deer fall. "Good learning experience". "Respect wildlife even as we kill it". "The Lord provides". All of this fled my mind when my boy turned to me and gave me a hug that I will remember until the day I die. It's about all of those thoughts that I was having, but today was also about so much more.
I titled this blog post November 15th, 2028. My son will be 30 years old then. Most likely he will be busy with a career, a family, a life of his own. I will be 59 years old, and I may be wishing for just one more hunt with my kids. Just one more time to be together when it's just us. Well, today I got that wish, even if it's 20 years before I make it.
After a long, cold winter my Airstream is ready to see some attention. She's been parked behind the shop, a long way away from the driveway. I parked her there last fall with the plan of painting the interior and working on her all Winter. Well, we've had a really cold and snowy one here in central New York. Oh, and that painting I was doing in my last blog post? It was a disaster. The paint did not stick as it should have. It was a combination of the wrong paint, poor preparation, cold temperatures, and pesky leaks that allow water to run down the interior walls when it rains or the snow on top melts. My plan for the past month has been to get the trailer out from behind the shop and get it over to Don Stanton's place in North Norwich so he can paint the Zolotone for me. He's a pro painter, and does amazing work. The picture above shows what I was looking at as far as getting back to the trailer. This is after 2 weeks of nice warm weather melting much of the snow. Intimidating, to say the least.
Problem number 2 was getting my truck positioned in front of the trailer so I could hook on and try to back it out. I have to drive through a swamp to get there, too. I can hear you asking "Why the hell do you park there?". Easy answer: when I park there I can walk right out the back door of my shop and right into the trailer. Very convenient to wotk on, not so much when you have to move it in the winter.
That pile of snow I showed in picture number 1? It's at the edge of the driveway, and to get back up onto the driveway after hooking on I'd have to climb this little hill, on a side slope, with trees just off to the right. Trees that looked like they were willing to do a little panel re-arranging on any Airstream that gets too close.
Ahh. This picture says it all. I was able to get her back out and ready to be towed over to Don's with no trouble whatsoever. I never even spun a tire out in the yard. I have a 1996 Dodge that did the job for me, and I'll forever be a Dodge man from now on. Work can get going on my silver beauty and I'll be with my friends in D.C. in a month and a half for the WDCU Cherry Blossom Rally. Thank God it's out.
Here's one wall just about finished. Once the walls and ceiling are covered, I'll go back and work on getting the nooks and crannies around the windows painted.
This is what the finish looks like. That's one coat over the off-white paint that was on the interior. I think it looks great. Much like Zolatone, but not exactly. There are blue and dark red flecks in the almond colored base. I'm going to put a clear coat on the paint when it's done to hopefully add some durability and make it easier to clean.
It's been a while since I last posted an update, but that doesn't mean I haven't been working. I've got all of the interior skin in, and I primed the aluminum that I had stripped. Originally, I was going to strip all of the paint in the back, but honestly I found it to be too much work. Stripping the paint off a panel that was on a bench in my shop was a bear, and I did not even want to get into trying to strip the paint off the ceiling panels that were still attached to the trailer. Screw that. So I'm going to paint. I found a paint I like, I've got the bare aluminum primed with an etching primer, and the old paint sanded. I also re-installed the window trim prices. If you take these off, make sure you mark where they came off to make re-installation easier.
I had curtains like this in college.
I really like Frank's map-covered wall treatment. The effect looses something when you do it with the Sunday paper.
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