A Little Rearranging

Last night turned into another late one.

Before I knew it, it was almost 2:00 in the morning before I finally called it a night.

For no particular reason either.

I was just up.

So I fully expected today to be a slow day.

Then 5:30 rolled around...

...and so did I.

Wide awake.

I tried convincing myself to go back to sleep.

That lasted about as long as you'd expect.

The first thing I did was pull open the shade and wait for my little morning visitors.

Thankfully they didn't disappoint.

The hummingbirds were back.

After missing them while I was away, it was nice seeing them become part of the daily routine again.

I stayed in bed for a while watching them dart from feeder to feeder before finally climbing out around 8:30.

Today's mission wasn't one I had originally planned.

Sometimes the best ideas happen during random conversations.

My partner suggested we rethink the layout of our campsite a little.

The more I thought about it, the more it made sense.

So today's goal became one giant game of moving, measuring, relocating, and trying to picture what everything might look like when it was finished.

The first stop was the main house.

I needed a couple of buckets and some rope.

The buckets have a job tomorrow that I'll explain when the time comes.

The rope, however, became my measuring tape.

I stretched it out to represent the reach of the electrical cord and started laying out different possibilities.

Sometimes it's easier to visualize something when you can actually see it on the ground instead of just imagining it.

Once I had a plan...

The work began.

I could tell you exactly what I spent the rest of the day doing...

...but I think this is one project that's more fun if I keep everyone guessing for a little while.

Let's just say it involved moving far more than I originally expected.

Water.

Electric.

Landscaping.

A fire pit.

Even our little garden.

One simple idea somehow snowballed into an entire day's worth of work.

The heat certainly didn't make it any easier.

Today was brutally hot.

Every thirty to sixty minutes I found myself heading back inside just to cool off.

Each time my shirt was completely soaked.

By the end of the day I'd gone through almost every clean shirt I had packed.

Good thing laundry is already on tomorrow's schedule.

During one of those cooling breaks I received a notification that another package had arrived.

Inside was a collapsible dog crate for Wyatt along with a pair of hearing protection earmuffs.

If you've been following along, you know thunderstorms and loud noises aren't exactly Wyatt's favorite thing.

I'm hoping the earmuffs help him feel a little more comfortable during storms, fireworks, and even noisy equipment.

The crate is another experiment.

The goal is to give him a place that feels completely safe and secure whenever he wants some quiet time.

My first impression?

I think I ordered one that's too big.

We'll see.

I may end up exchanging it for the next size down.

Back outside I continued working.

One project led to another.

Then another.

Then another.

Before I knew it, I'd spent most of the afternoon relocating, reorganizing, and rethinking the entire area around camp.

One of the bigger jobs involved taking apart the old stone fire pit.

I loaded the rocks into the garden cart four different times because I didn't want to overload it and risk breaking the cart.

As I removed the stones, I found three tiny red bellied snakes tucked safely underneath.

Each one was carefully relocated out of harm's way before I continued.

That's one of the things I love about this place.

Even demolition sometimes turns into a wildlife rescue.

By early evening Wyatt and I attempted our usual 7:00 walk.

He was ready.

I was ready.

The weather had other ideas.

The heat was still hanging around and the bugs were absolutely relentless.

After only a short time we both agreed that retreating back to the motorhome sounded like a much better plan.

Some days you conquer the property.

Some days the weather reminds you who's really in charge.

Today felt like progress.

Not because I finished everything.

Far from it.

But because I took the first steps toward something I think is going to completely change the way camp feels.

I'm keeping this one mostly to myself for now.

There are still a few more pieces to put into place before I show everyone what I've been working on.

For now, you'll just have to enjoy the close up photos and wonder what's changing.

I promise it'll all make sense soon.

~ Making Memories