Living Our Dream

Motor Home Project Part II: Reupholster Dinette Chairs

Summerdale, AL

As soon as we finished reupholstering the valences, Paul started in on re-covering the dinette chairs. We have two upholstered chairs we use every day and two wooden folding chairs we store under the bed and only use when we have company.

Upholstered dinette chair before

Although the upholstered seats on the folding chairs still looked new, the two everyday chairs were pretty worn.

The seats on the chairs we use every day had started to look dull compared to the folding chairs we only use occasionally.

The first part of re-covering the chairs was to remove the old fabric. Like the valences, there were hundreds of staples; and like the valences, Paul wanted to preserve the pieces of material so he could see how they were cut, fit and folded when it came time to put on the new fabric.

Paul removed hundreds of staples from the old fabric on the chairs.

Paul had prepared a detailed cutting chart for the material for the chairs just like he did for the valences. He used the old pieces of fabric to double check his sizes and then proceeded to cut all the pieces of new material using the ¼" plywood on the bed as a cutting table.

Then came the assembly. Paul put the new fabric on in the reverse order of taking the old fabric off.

One of the last items to be assembled was the band around the bottom edge of the seat. Margery sewed up new welting for the top edge of the band using her trusty Singer Featherweight, then sewed the welting to the material for the band.

Margery sewed welting for the chair trim on her Singer Featherweight.

Paul cut the trim band to length after stapling it to the chair seat.

The band gives the chair a little more detail and a more finished look rather than just wrapping the fabric for the seat down around the bottom and stapling it underneath.

We simplified the seat back and eliminated the sewn ribs because we would have had to sew through both the fabric and the foam. We were confident the Featherweight had enough power to penetrate through both the foam and the fabric, but we didn't think the Featherweight be able to feed the thick foam through the presser foot.

Dinette chair after

Folding chair after

Our final task was to make new throw pillows for the sofa. We had ordered enough of the fabrics we used for the valences to make two pillows. The pillows have the solid color on one side and the tropical leaf pattern on the other. Margery sewed the pillows on her Featherweight leaving an opening big enough to get her hand inside to stuff them with polyfill. After the pillows were stuffed, she sewed the opening shut.

Stuffing one of the pillows with polyfill

The stuffed pillow was a little hard to handle to get the opening sewn shut.

Finished pillows

The upholstery project took us about two weeks to complete working off and on between doing other things. We're pleased with the results.

Finished valences, chair and pillows

Now that we have finished our big upholstery project, we need a little relaxation. However, we also have a couple more restaurants we want to hit and a little sightseeing we want to do while we're in Summerdale, so stay tuned.

Motor Home Project Part I: Reupholster Valences

Summerdale, AL

We finally finished the project we have been working on for the past couple of weeks. Since we were working on it between doing other things, we didn't know how long it was going to take, so we just held off reporting on it until it was done.

Last year, we started to realize our dinette chairs were starting to look a little worn, and we also thought our valences looked a little dated and faded. There is a fabric outlet in Summerdale, AL, so when we were at Rainbow Plantation last fall, we checked out their upholstery fabric.

In order to do the upholstery project, we wanted to get three coordinating fabrics - a pattern for the horizontal tops of the valences, a matching solid color for the vertical legs of the valences, and a coordinating geometric pattern or texture for the dinette chairs. When we didn't find fabrics we liked at the fabric outlet in Summerdale, we looked at Joann Fabrics in Pensacola. Finding nothing there either, we began to search for fabrics online

After we requested numerous samples from several online companies, we found a pattern we really liked for the tops of the valences. However, we still needed the two coordinating fabrics to go with it, so we kept looking.

When we got to our winter stop in Bushnell, FL, we finally found the other two fabrics at Joann Fabrics in The Villages, but they didn't have enough in stock to meet our needs. Therefore, we ordered what we needed for the coordinating materials from Joann Fabrics online store, and we also ordered the pattern we liked for the top of the valences from the other online company.

We were so busy in Florida this year with the refrigerator project and all, we never got to the upholstery project. We stored the long rolls of fabric along the bed, and Margery has been tripping over them since January.

Since we're going to be in Summerdale for a while, we figured it was a good place to redo the upholstery, so we got started shortly after we arrived and worked on the project over the period of a couple of weeks between other activities. We started with one of the smaller valences on the end of the living room slide. The next photos show the valences before and after.

Valences before

Valences after

To replace the fabric on the valences, we first had to remove all the old fabric. There are hundreds of staples in each valence. Removing them was tedious, especially since Paul wanted to remove the fabric from the first valence carefully so he could preserve the pieces in case he needed to know how they were cut and folded.

Each valence had hundreds of staples.

Paul began to cut the new fabric right after he removed the old. Even though we ordered a little extra material, Paul wanted to be sure we could get everything we needed from the amount of fabric we bought, so he had a detailed cutting chart showing the size and orientation of each piece.

Paul used a piece of ¼" plywood on the bed as a cutting table.

After the fabric was cut for the first valence, Margery sewed decorative braid to the bottom edge of the top piece.

Margery sewing decorative braid for the valences

Then Paul began the assembly. Part way through the first valence, Paul's stapler quit working. He spent the rest of the day trying to fix it without success. The following day, we went to Lowe's (with a stop at Panini Pete's for lunch afterward) to buy a new stapler.

Paul's old stapler was an Arrow T50, which is a reliable, tried-and-true design that has been around for years and years. However, the T50 does require a fair amount of pressure on the handle to get it to fire, so Paul bought a T50 Elite at Lowes. The T50 Elite has a design similar to the T50, and it uses the same staples; but it is supposed to have an improved, ergonomic design and new firing mechanism that makes it easier to squeeze. Since there were going to be so many staples required for the upholstery project, Paul thought a stapler that was easier to squeeze was an excellent idea.

The T50 Elite was a little easier to squeeze, but it unfortunately has one major design flaw as well as a couple of minor ones. There is too much play in the handle so when you squeeze it, the handle can move sideways and hang up on the frame causing the staple not to fire. Paul checked, and all the T50 Elite staplers in the store were the same. Having the stapler not fire a staple when you need it is a major problem, especially with an upholstery project. When you get a piece of fabric stretched and positioned just the way you want it and then you don't get a staple, it is very frustrating. By the time you reposition your hand on the stapler so the handle isn't being pushed sideways when you squeeze it, you lose your grip on the fabric with your other hand. The nose of the T50 Elite stapler also has a slight reward taper making it impossible to get staples close to an inside corner. The third problem with the T50 Elite was that Paul thought it was more difficult to load staples into it than the old T50. Paul returned the T50 Elite the next day and bought a standard T50 just like his old one. It works much better than the Elite.

With the new T50 stapler, Paul was able to continue on and finish all the valences over the next week or so, and you can see the results in the after photo above. We're really pleased with the results. We love the tropical-looking foliage, and we think it adds a fresh, new look to the motor home. Stay tuned, and we'll show you how we reupholstered the dinette chairs.

Freeway Gets Clipped and Snipped

Summerdale, AL - Events of Monday, April 16 to Wednesday, April 18, 2012

On Monday, we decided Freeway was long overdue for a haircut. We had him groomed the first two times at PetSmart at their discounted rate of $16 for puppies under 5 months of age. Now that Freeway is a little over 5 months old, we would have to pay the full price for grooming, which starts at $40. Therefore, we bought a new cordless dog-grooming clipper so we could groom him ourselves. We used to groom our previous dog, Molly, so we figured we could learn to do Freeway as well. The clippers even came with a DVD showing how to groom different parts of the dog and how to groom different breeds. We will probably stick with a puppy cut for Freeway, which is the simplest type of cut where the dog is essentially clipped to the same length all over.

Freeway's coat is very fine, and it tangles easily. The tangles eventually turn into knots, so we need to brush him often. Grooming starts with an extra-thorough brushing so the clipper doesn't hang up on the tangles.

Grooming starts with a thorough brushing.

A short time ago, we ordered an arm to mount to a table to hold Freeway still for grooming. We found it works well for the thorough brushing as well.

When we had Freeway groomed at the PetSmart in The Villages, the groomer mentioned using a slicker brush, which we have, to help get out tangles. She also advised getting a metal comb. The metal combs that are available for dog grooming have smooth, round, metal teeth. Unlike plastic combs, the metal comb glides through Freeway's coat. What a difference! The metal comb really makes it easy to keep the tangles out.

The brushing was followed by a bath to remove dirt and grit in Freeway's fur that could dull the clippers. After blow-drying Freeway, Paul started clipping.

Paul grooming Freeway

The hardest part of grooming Freeway for the first time ourselves was deciding how much to take off. The clippers come with several comb attachments that make it easier to maintain an even cut, and we used the longest one for Freeway. We finished up trimming Freeway's face with scissors. That part is going to take a little practice because he fidgets a lot, especially when you stick a pair of scissors in his face. It was hard to get his face trimmed evenly, but we thought he looked pretty good for our first try.

Freeway's first home grooming

Freeway got clipped on Monday, and he had an appointment at the vet to get snipped on Wednesday. When Margery was a little girl, her family always had female dogs, and our first two dogs were females. All the females were spayed. This is our first experience with a male dog, and Paul was feeling a little uneasy about having freeway neutered. However, we had no plans to breed Freeway, and we want to be responsible pet owners to help reduce a pet population explosion. Neutering also eliminates potential problems with aggression and marking in males.

Finding a vet in an unknown area is almost as challenging, if not more so, than finding a hair dresser. Our first year on the road, we had to take Molly to the vet numerous times. In all, we visited at least 6 vets between Pittsburgh and California. Each visit included the first-visit exam (at the going rate for new patients) in addition to diagnosis and treatment of her problem (which ended up being a deep-seated bladder infection). It was a very expensive first year! About a year before Molly died, we discovered Banfield Veterinary Services which is a national "chain" available at most PetSmart stores. Now, Freeway's records are available at any Banfield in the country. It makes the continuity of care from one city to another so convenient...and cost effective. We also took advantage of the Puppy Early Care Plus Wellness Plan. For $39/month, we get unlimited office calls/exams, vaccinations, diagnostic testing, and neutering services. We don't know if we'll continue a plan after Freeway's first year, but it has been definitely worthwhile for his first year. 

We had to have Freeway at the vet before 8:00 AM, and we dropped him off a little before that time. We took advantage of the early hour to stop at Panini Pete's for breakfast after we dropped him off.

Although breakfast paninis are available, we wanted to try Panini Pete's beignets. As you may know, beignets are fried doughnuts that Café du Monde in New Orleans is so famous for. We had heard a lot about the beignets at Panini Pete's, and we have been wanting to try them; but they only serve breakfast until 10:30, and we haven't been able to in gear to get to Fairhope in time. Having to have Freeway at the vet so early was a perfect excuse to stop.

It was a cool, cloudy morning, so we ate inside for the first time.

Panini Pete's indoor seating

Foggy windows on a cool morning

Panini Pete's version of beignets is a little different from the ones in New Orleans. Panini Pete's beignets are light and airy like a cream puff except without the cream filling inside. Like the biegnets in New Orleans, they are smothered in powdered sugar on the outside. Panini Pete's also serves their beignets with a wedge of lemon. Lemon juice squeezed onto the beignets combines with the powdered sugar adds a hint of lemonade flavor. We initially ordered one serving of four beignets to share. They were so good and they went down so easily, we just had to order a second serving!

Beignets at Panini Pete's are served with lemon.

Yum!

We made a few quick stops on the way back to the motor home from Panini Pete's. After lunch, we got a call from the vet saying Freeway did fine with his surgery, and we could pick him up after 4:00 PM.

We knew our schedule on Wednesday would be a little uncertain and possibly hectic, so we decided to have an early dinner at a restaurant on the way to pick Freeway up. We were both hungry for Chinese, so we stopped at China Wok in Fairhope, which wasn't too far out of our way. The restaurant is located in a strip mall.

We both love General Tso's chicken, and we rarely order anything else at a Chinese restaurant. China Wok had General Tso's chicken on the menu, but they also had a buffet. Chinese buffets are very popular, but we usually don't like them because the breaded coating of General Tso's chicken usually gets soggy sitting on the steam table at a buffet. However, China Wok's buffet looked like it had a good selection of food (including General Tso's chicken). At $5.99, the buffet was cheaper than ordering General Tso's chicken from the menu for $6.75, so we decided to have the buffet.

Paul at China Wok

We were disappointed in our meal at China Wok. The middle of the afternoon isn't a great time to hit a buffet because business is slow at that time of day and there isn't much turn over in the food. Many items were dried out; and, although the General Tso's chicken had good flavor, the coating was soggy as we feared it would be. Some of the other items on the buffet (like the egg rolls, the spicy shrimp, the honey chicken and coconut shrimp) didn't have much flavor.

Most importantly, the steam tables weren't doing a good job of keeping the food warm. Food safety rules say hot foods should be above 140ºF and cold foods should be below 40º. We didn't have a thermometer, but we're sure the hot food wasn't anywhere near 140º.

We didn't know if Freeway would be glad to see us or not when we picked him up, but he was. We expected him to be groggy like he was after his eye surgery, but he was bouncing off the walls by the time we got him home. We are supposed to keep him quiet for a week following the surgery, which isn't an easy task for any 5-month old puppy, and we figured it was going to be impossible the way he was acting. He was running around the motor home, jumping up and down, and trying to get into anything and everything. At first, we thought he was trying to get even with us, but we later found out that the anesthetic sometimes has the side effect of making the dogs hyperactive, disobedient, and downright ornery. Fortunately, the side effects wore off by the following morning.

We still have the job of keeping a young puppy calm and quiet, but we feel we have a fighting chance without the side effects of the anesthetic. We'll be staying around the motor home for a while to keep tabs on Freeway and to work on the project we have mentioned a several times now. It's a fairly big project, and we're working on it in between doing other things so it is taking a while to get it done. We expect the project to be completed soon; and when it is, we'll tell you all about it.

Good Eats

Summerdale, AL - Events of Friday, April 13 to Saturday, April 14, 2012

On Friday, Paul needed to replace a tool he was using for a project we are working on. We'll have more on the project in an upcoming post. We decided to go to the Lowe's in Spanish Fort for the tool instead of the one in Foley so we could stop at Panini Pete's for lunch.

Panini Pete's, which was featured on the Food Network program Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, is located behind a couple of shops along the main street in downtown Fairhope, which isn't too far from Spanish Fort. There is a sign along the sidewalk, but the walkway to Panini Pete's (through the iron gate) is easy to miss if you've never been there before.

Entrance to the walkway to Panini Pete's

Along the walkway to Panini Pete's

Panini Pete's is at the end of the walkway on a nice patio courtyard they call the French Quarter. Indoor seating is available, but we always like to sit at one of the outdoor tables on the patio.

Margery on the patio at Panini Pete's

Panini Pete's is only open for breakfast and lunch. For lunch, they have a nice selection of paninis, burgers and hot dogs that run around $6 to $8 and include home made potato chips, fries or pasta salad.

Margery had a house-roasted turkey panini with baby greens, roasted red pepper, Dijon mustard, garlic aioli and house-made mozzarella on fresh-baked foccacia. The turkey panini is also Paul's favorite, but this time he tried the muffaletta panini. It features Italian meats and cheeses with olive salad on Italian bread. Both paninis were delish!

Muffaletta panini (foreground) and turkey panini

On Saturday, we took another break from our project to drive across the bay to Mobile for the 9th Annual Shrimp Cook Off. The Shrimp Cook Off is a fund-raising event sponsored by HandsOn South Alabama, which is an organization that promotes volunteerism. It is held in Bienville Square in Mobile and features samplings of dozens of shrimp dishes. 

We attended this event back in 2009, and this is the first time we have been here at the same time the Cook Off is held since then. The admission price to the cook-off is a little steep at $15 per person; but it is for a good cause, and it entitles you to all the shrimp you can eat at no additional cost. Advance purchase discount tickets are available for $10 at some of the area banks. In 2009, the bank branches on the eastern side of Mobile Bay didn't have the tickets available, but this time they did so we were able to save a little money. We're glad we did save money - read on, and you will see why.

We arrived shortly after the event opened at 11:00 AM. It was already fairly crowded, and it got even more so as time went on.

The Shrimp Cook Off was already crowded shortly after they opened the gates.

We made our way around the park sampling as we went. One of us would stand in one of the longer lines while the other went to a shorter line and picked up two samples and brought them back.

Paul with skewers of grilled shrimp complete with little umbrellas

Silly costumes at one of the booths

This hula girl must also be a plumber.

There were far fewer samples available this year than there were when we went to the Cook Off in 2009, but we managed to find a few dishes we liked. In addition to having fewer samples, we also thought the overall quality and variety of the food was down from three years ago. Back in 2009, there were numerous dishes we thought were very good, and we found at least three or four dishes we thought were outstanding. In fact, there was shrimp in Alfredo sauce that we went back to sample three or four times.

This year, although there were several dishes we felt were good, there wasn't anything we thought was worth standing in line a second time for. At least half of the groups at this year's Cook Off made some version of shrimp gumbo that all tasted very similar. Gumbo is the easy way out because they could make it ahead of time, then just keep it warm in a big pot instead of preparing their dishes fresh right there at the Cook Off. Back in 2009, the entrants in the Cook Off were made up of amateurs from civic groups and local charities as well as a few professional chefs from local restaurants. This year, we didn't see any restaurants represented, and all the entrants seemed to be civic groups or charities. Overall, we were disappointed with this year's Shrimp Cook Off.

We left Mobile and headed back to the motor home where we resumed work on our project. We'll have a report on that soon along with some of our other activities.

Pine Mountain, GA to Summerdale, AL

Summerdale, AL - Events of Wednesday, April 4 to Sunday, April 8, 2012

We originally planned to make the journey from Pine Mountain, GA to Summerdale, AL in two days traveling a little over three hours the first day and about an hour and a half the second day. However, when we thought about it the evening before we left and realized it wasn't that far, and when we realized we would gain an hour traveling from the Eastern Time Zone into Central, we decided it didn't make a lot of sense to split the travel into two days. Therefore, we switched to Plan B and decided to drive straight through and arrive in Summerdale a day early.

However, when we got up Wednesday morning and checked the weather radar, there was a large, ominous-looking rain storm just offshore in the Gulf of Mexico that looked like it was heading directly for Mobile and Summerdale. We could only think of the videos we saw on the news the day before of semi-trailers being tossed through the air by tornadoes in the Dallas area, so we started to think switching back to Plan A and stopping for the night before we got to Summerdale to avoid driving through the rain storm wasn't such a bad idea after all.

When we pulled off the interstate for fuel at the Flying J just south of Montgomery, Margery plugged our Pantech modem into the computer and brought up the weather radar. To our surprise, the rain had remained mostly out over the Gulf, and Summerdale's weather report showed it was overcast with only a few light showers. We went back to Plan B of driving straight through. We checked the radar again a little later while we were on the road (something we could not have done with the satellite internet service we used to have), and there was still no major rain around Summerdale, so we drove on.

We hit a couple of very light sprinkles, and it got a bit breezy for the last 25 or 30 miles or our journey, but none of that was interstate driving so it wasn't that bad. We pulled into Rainbow Plantation around 1:45 Central Time.

Rainbow Plantation has a campground, co-op sites and deeded lots. The campground has full hookups. The roads are paved, and the sites are widely spaced and are mostly grass, although many of the sites have live oak trees under which the grass is pretty sparse. Even with the sparse grass, we usually prefer a site with some shade given the heat of the Alabama sun. The eastern end of the campground has 30-amp electric and the western end had 30/50-amp electric. Wi-Fi is available for a fee. Summerdale is close enough to Mobile that the the Verizon Broadband service is 4G.

We usually end up getting one of the same two sites every time we stop at Rainbow Plantation, and this time was no exception. We got set up in short order and settled in to relax for the rest of the day.

Our site at Rainbow Plantation (two days later after the sun came out)

Looking down our row at Rainbow Plantation

The campground does get its share of winter residents in spite of the fact southern Alabama can get many nights below freezing during the winter. However, by the time we usually arrive in March or April, the weather has warmed up considerably. Most of the winter crowd has left so there are plenty of sites available.

We ran some errands on Thursday, and we hit Walmart on Friday to restock the fridge and pantry. On Friday afternoon, Paul washed the motor home and the car while Margery caught up on laundry. It had really piled up after we spent a week at the state park in Pine Mountain with no sewer hookup.

On Saturday, we did our weekly cleaning inside the motor home in the morning and then we drove down to Bon Secour to Billy's Seafood to pick up some fresh shrimp for dinner.

Billy's Seafood in Bon secour, AL

Bon Secour (French for good security or safe harbor) was originally a French fishing village dating back to the 1800s. Bon Secour is the home of several packing companies that buy shrimp and fish from the local fishing fleet and ship the seafood all over the United States. We found out they also sell fresh seafood at retail last fall when we visited the Swift-Coles House in Bon Secour. The Swift-Coles House was built around 1900 by lumber magnate Charles Swift. Click here to read about our visit last fall to Bon Secour and the Swift-Coles House.

Billy's Seafood has shrimp in many different sizes. We bought about a pound and a half so we would have enough for dinner that evening plus some left for another recipe Margery wanted to try a few days later.

Many different sizes of shrimp available at Billy's Seafood.

We have several ways we like to eat our shrimp, but our favorite, which is the way we had them on Saturday, is to just quickly sauté the shrimp in oil with a little garlic, then add some Old Bay seasoning and white wine for the last few minutes as they finish cooking. Margery drains off the liquid and serves the shrimp with melted butter. When dipped in the melted butter, the shrimp taste almost like lobster. Yum!

Sunday was Easter, and Paul was up in time to catch a beautiful sunrise.

Easter morning sunrise

Although we didn't make it to the sunrise service, we did attended the 10:00 AM service at the Church on the Eastern Shore in Fairhope. The Church on the Eastern Shore, or COTES as they call themselves, is where we worship when we are staying in Summerdale. It was a beautiful service with great worship and a meaningful Easter message.

Rainbow Plantation had a pot-luck Easter dinner in the afternoon, but we decided not to sign up because we felt like we wanted a quieter dinner after the sightseeing and traveling we had been doing in the past two weeks, so we went to Cracker Barrel for an early dinner. Margery had fried catfish, and Paul had a more traditional Easter dinner of country ham. The food, as is usual for Cracker Barrel, was delicious.

On Sunday evening when we were taking Freeway for his evening walk, we met up with Darrell and Judy. Darrell and Judy have a co-p site at Rainbow Plantation, and we originally met them through their blog. They told us about the new dog run that was just installed behind the RV storage area at Rainbow Plantation, so we all walked over to check it out. It is only about 3 weeks old, and it is great. Is is very large and completely enclosed by a fence. We will be stopping there often because it is a safe place to let Freeway run and a good place to use for training.

Freeway, sit. Stay.

Freeway, come!

We will be staying at Rainbow Plantation for several weeks. We have some projects scheduled, we have some sightseeing we want to do, and we have several favorite restaurants where we want to eat while we're here. We'll let you know what we're up to in our next post.