Wonder Dog, Quilts and Black Water Tanks

I got to doggy sit my grand-puppy this weekend.  Oliver is a 9-year old chocolate Lab who thinks & acts like a puppy.  He may be the only dog I’ve ever met with a sense of humor. When Matt goofs with the dog, Ollie gets it and goofs back.  He’s very well trained.  You know how dogs take forever to sniff out the perfect spot to do their business? Matt’s command is, “This is the place, now POOP!”  When I took Ollie outside I tried the command and it worked!  Now if I could just figure out how to market that command for potty training parents I’d be a millionaire.

Ollie is also the only non-human allowed to use my hand-made quilts.  Quilts are made with hours of loving stitches and should be well used but treated respectfully.  I want my children and grandchildren to use the quilts I make for warmth, for crawling & changing diapers, for picnics & beach trips, for wetting & spitting up and sleeping.   I’ve never allowed an animal on my quilts.  But, I was cleaning out the Casita from my trip to the Keys and threw the used bedding on the floor and  just didn’t have the heart to kick Oliver out of the bed he made from my quilt.  He’s just so damn cute, and, since I was going to wash it anyway ….

Speaking of cleaning out the travel trailer, I finally have it down to a science.  It took me a while to realize that instead of taking all my camping gear; chairs, carpet, buckets, cords, hoses, charcoal, etc. and schlepping them out to the shed, I can just store them in the camper.  So, now I begin by removing all the food & drink; the wine bottles cushioned in my underwear and the vodka & tonic bottles wrapped in WalMart bags under the sink, & other perishables and valuables. Then I strip the bed & convert it back to a table & benches and remove everything else from the Casita.  After a thorough cleaning & polishing, I load my camping gear back  into the bathroom & I’m ready for my next trip.

  Did you know that you can make your own black water tank cleaner?  1/2 cup  Borax laundry detergent and 1/4 cup Calgon Water Softener.  The Borax controls the odor and cleans the tank and the water softener makes the water softer and more slippery preventing waste from sticking to the walls of the waste tank.  Just another great tip I picked up on Pinterest.  Other women use Pinterest for recipes, fashion & design tips and I use it for tips on cleaning toilets – lovely.