The Difference Between a Tornado Watch and Warning

In NO WAY is the story I am going to write about today even close to what people in Missouri, Alabama, Oklahoma or even in Indiana 90 miles south of me, have experienced the past few years. I am truly sorry for what those people lost in their tornadoes. This is NOTHING CLOSE to that severe of a storm and what they experienced. I am writing this to show the importance of paying attention to weather warnings.

Me, being the example in this story, of not paying attention on two separate occasions.

Living in the Midwest it is always good to know the difference between the words tornado "watch" and tornado "warning".  Why is this today's topic?  Last night on my iPhone and iPad I was receiving constant message updates from my nearest TV station (WTHI) that an tornado "watch" was being issued and would last up until a certain time. Glancing at the clock on the phone, they always seemed to be in lasting in 45 minute increments with each text extending the "until" time.

The problem, I was not paying attention, but the biggest thing was, I knew the difference of the two words but last night I had them confused....turned backwards in my mind.

"Watches" are issued by the NOAA's SPC, and "Warnings" are issued by local offices of the National Weather Service (NWS). I was receiving warnings and ignoring them. Like I said, for some reason last night I had the two definitions backwards in my head. So I wasn't concerned in the least.

The weather has been so nice that my windows are open 24/7 and have been since April. Slight breezes and sunny skies all day, beautiful but those kind of days can change fast in the Midwest. During the time of the warnings that were showing up on my iPad and iPhone, I was sitting at my computer working a little on the blog, but listening to 60's music on iTunes with a LOUD volume. It was loud enough for me not to hear anything through the open windows like a hard rain or high winds. I can usually hear the siren two miles away that is sounded when storms are imminent and you should take cover. Last night I did not hear that siren. The times I glanced out the window it looked like a normal thunderstorm ... no problem.

So more information on these tornado warnings I was receiving. "Warnings" are issued through the efforts of individuals working for the NWS. They state "the way a warning is issued is that a meteorologist will monitor the weather by radar and look for particular areas where there could be high impact damage. They will issue a warning and there will be a signature for an existing storm or developing tornado." Trained NWS spotters will verify reports of rotation or storm damage. "This gives the meteorologist confidence in what they are seeing on radar".

The t-shirt that I bought at the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame, where I visited in 2003 says "If The Music Is Too Loud ... You're Too Old" ...

Rock n Roll Hall of Fame

A Fat Me and My Younger Brother

So, while the "warnings" were popping up on my iPhone every few minutes I continued to listen to my loud music, working on the blog, answering some email, etc. I saw nothing outside that led me to believe anything weather wise was happening. I've been in tornadoes and straight line winds before and nothing was telling me based on previous experience that a tornado was nearby.

In my head I kept thinking the definition of "watch". A watch is issued by the NOAA's SPC. "A watch is issued when conditions are favorable for a tornado. It doesn't mean severe weather is imminent." Read that again. I was thinking "watch .... doesn't mean severe weather is imminent".

That is why I thought I was ok.  After all, my trusty watch dogs were all sleeping in their favorite spots, wouldn't they know by natural instinct if severe weather was imminent? Not really. These 3 hounds, unlike some bassets I have had in the past, equate storms as being equal to a deeper sleep than normal for them. No need to watch out for anything. Snoring is allowed and they are dead to the world during any kind of storm, at any time day or night.

Heard me getting the camera and woke up

Storms?  What storms?

Heard me and woke up

This is why I will remember the difference between watch and warning in the future.

I was bored last night around 10:45pm, so I did something I rarely do, I turned on the tv and channel surfed for something to watch. I NEVER watch local news/weather ... all my information I read is online based .. not tv based. I'm bored though, and my remote leads me to the local tv channel. There is a newsman standing outside doing a remote broadcast and if I didn't know any better, he sure looks like it is downtown, in the very small town that I live a few miles south of. I'm not really listening to him as much as I am looking at the background to verify he is in this small town ... he is!!! What is this about??

I turn up the sound and find out that earlier tonight a tornado funnel cloud "touchdown" was reported "south of small town".... I live south of that small town ... hmmm. When they mentioned the road, I see that this "touchdown" was 1-1/4 mile south of me. No damages to houses or buildings were reported but they would know more this morning. Not a lot of houses in this area, mostly fields and open land.

Then they posted a video of taken by someone on their porch 10 miles south of me, where two "touchdowns" were shown in the area I worked before retirement. I can tell by the sky this storm was before sun down and that even makes it more strange because the hounds and I were outside most of the time during that period and never suspected any bad weather going on.

Now, granted these were not the F-5's you see that destroy everything in their path, miles wide with speeds over 225mph ... but they would have to be winds over 60mph that could cause "high impact damage".

It's not as bad as it sounds. This morning is dark clouds and light rain. I have not watched any news but I really doubt it is anything more than some crop damage out in the open fields of the area.

So it will be wise for me to remember (again) the difference between "watch" and "warning" in the future.

When I think of winds more than 60mph, I think of the different bloggers I read that experience those wind speeds out in the western states while they stay in small trailers, mid-sized RVs and large motorhomes. That is normal out west. I use to see high wind warnings on highways I traveled on going over the Cascade Mountains. Still, things become different when those clouds turn into rotating funnels or are straight line winds. I've experience straight line wind damage and it changed my views on "I like storms".

The following happened in June 2008 and once again I thought it was just a thunderstorm and I was working online in a room in the back of the house. Not until I heard a huge bang and crash did I notice the winds were unbelievable. As I ran into the living room to herd the hounds into the center of the house for safety, the storm stopped instantly.

Storm Photos Are From 2008 Not Last Night

One of many trees (80' - 110' tall) that were blown over or pulled out of ground.

This is the loud bang I heard with the 50' of tree top struck by lightning hitting the house

The winds came from the SW but luckily after skipping over the highway the winds turned due N. All of these trees fell parallel to my house, some within 8' from the front of the house.

This tree measured 110' from the root base that was 7' wide

Poplar tree was 80' tall and 8' in front of house

That water pictured was a recently planted cornfield before the storm

80' Poplar Tree w/Shallow Roots

One of the Sycamore trees pulled up out of the ground

Bertha and Winston inspecting for any damages

DirecTv dish in different angles

That is where the trees went in my front yard and along 80' of bank that use to be solid trees

Notice the tv dish is now bolted to the house and wind protected 

April 2013 - Not a tree in site

Last night and in 2008, only 3 days apart, I wasn't paying attention to how severe the weather was. In 2008 I did not have the tv on nor any radio. The hounds and I had just been outside but came inside when it started raining. I thought it was just a thunderstorm. These winds happen fast and can do a lot of damage in a very short period of time.

That is all I can say about storms and warnings.

Last night I was making some minor changes and additions the blog if you haven't noticed. I moved my profile photo to the left side, then added a "search" box on the upper right. I've decided to keep the title of the blog the same but I did change the description to what seemed to be appropriate. I really think RV research will always be ongoing with me, I'll always be looking at something. Then I added some new tabs at the top. I added a personal photo of myself, a page long description with some information that was lost when Google decided to change my profile from blogger to Google Plus.

For a little added flavor, I added a tab showing my past VW buses I had bought and sold between the years of 2001 - 2008. What do those have to do with this blog? In almost every case there was a cross-country trip involved after I purchased them online and drove them back to Indiana. There was some camping involved with a few of them during those drives. Plus, I just thought they were interesting enough to add and maybe some readers that are fans of VW's would be interested in seeing them.

Actually that was my original plan for my retirement years ago before I learned about the RV lifestyle. I had planned on staying in this house, buying a VW Camper and traveling the country when the urge to travel hit me.

I hope you enjoy the changes to the blog but more importantly pay attention when storm warnings are issued in your local area.

Winston Turned 10 Years Old a Few Weeks Ago

Ten years ago on May 18, 2004 I received a phone call from Winston's breeder that a small litter was born and with my early deposit I would be able to choose from the litter which one I wanted but only after the "show quality" puppies were chosen. Show quality didn't matter to me, I was just happy to have one of the pups. He was the only one in his litter what was not black and white. As basset's get older some of that black usually changes to a gold color. Winston was going to be two tone. I loved the first photo they sent me.

The Only One Not Black and White

A Couple Of Days Old

Winston was Mahogany & White, with the sire 'Double K's Billy the Kid' and the dam 'Lamireak's Spirit Epona'. He was not show quality because of his color plus his tail curled off to the right side if you were looking at him from the front, so he was mine if I wanted him.

The Sire

The Dam

On 15 July 2004, I fired up my 1963 VW Panel Van I had at the time, for the 5-1/2 hour trip up to NW Ohio to pick up the new basset puppy. I wasn't going to kennel him on the way home, I had a couple of Mexican blankets for him to sleep on and the bench seat to ride on. I would find out on the ride home if he was going to be a traveler, even back in 2004.

1963 VW Panel - 1641cc Dual Weber Carbs

He rode that 5-1/2 hour trip home with zero problems. He slept most of the way, sat up some to look outside but wasn't tall enough to see out the windows. He would have a surprise when he got home. I had a bloodhound at the time called Bertha. Friends called her "Big Bertha" because she was 110-120lbs. What Winston did not know at 8 weeks, Bertha was going to think he was her pup and they were going to be inseparable for the next 4 years.

Big Bertha

They were introduced that afternoon after we arrived. From that first afternoon they met, they played and played for years.

The Introduction

Family Portrait the First Night

Years later they still patrolled the field and played until they were exhausted.

Much like his owner, Winston has always been the "Thinker" of the pack.

Now as he gets older he doesn't play as much as he use to. He isn't sprinting to fetch back and forth and climbs the couple of steps into the house gingerly. All he wants is a sunny spot to sleep in.

October 2013

May 2014

Happy 10th Birthday Winston

The Blog Will Continue As Is With a Little Expansion

I had a number of people email me late yesterday and last night, plus people commenting on my blog yesterday and today ... telling me to keep blogging, even if I wasn't traveling yet. Some pointed out they only travel part of the year but still blog all 12 months. Others saying they enjoyed what I wrote about. Some requested more photos of the hounds.

While the blog was covering both words in the title of "Hounds and RVs" there was no traveling (yet) involved and that may have been where my hangup was. If it were me and I saw a link after searching google or seeing my blog had updated on some other blog sidebar, I would expect some sort of posting about RVing, traveling and hounds. Why would other people be any different?

My problem is I write what I feel or am thinking at the time. Al over at Traveling With the Bayfield Bunch brought up that same point in one of his comments yesterday. Those wide open commentaries I sometimes go into, opens me up for comments, or emails that are rather passionate and may not agree. Individually, confusion arrives because I think of myself as a private person. I then start asking myself why did I ever decided to blog and writing my thoughts and decision process with a lot of people that I do not know?

So at times to me, it's a double edge sword. One, I THINK I am private but another side of me enjoys blogging, taking photos and hitting that 'publish' button for all to see. This is the time I think of no longer blogging and then I write about it for all to see. In social settings I'm a storyteller. A few friends have told me I need to write a book sometime based on the experiences I have had. They enjoy all the stories they hear when we visit but the difference is, I know them. It doesn't bother me to open up. Blogging is a little different.

So when I decided to blog, I didn't expect the following and the number of readers. I was just writing a public journal on my thought process, deciding if RVing was even possible with the hounds I have. I wanted to ask questions that might reach experienced travelers to gain knowledge about this traveling lifestyle I found. People I didn't know were traveling all different periods of time, different rigs, different trucks, some solo, some with cats and dogs .... this research I started in October 2011 showed me a lifestyle I did not realize existed. All I basically knew of "RVs" were Class A's staying in RV Parks and very few if any that did that lifestyle full-time. I was never interested in that type of travel.

I admit I am somewhat disappointed in myself that I am not on the road by this time like I had planned. I know the main reason, a reason I blogged about after our roadtrip in September 2013 to pick up the Lil Snoozy trailer ... where I backed out of the deal. That main reason is the hounds. I know for a fact with the size of hound Sadie is, it will/would be hard to travel unless I was in a 36' Class A with slideouts. The problem is, that is not the rig I want to do my travels in, plus I have two shorter legged hounds that each push 50# - 60#'s each. All of them take up a little floor space. It took me a while to figure out if hounds and travel were possible, although there are a lot of people that do, even with bigger dogs.

If I were solo, I would have been gone a long time ago. I'm not sure I'd be taking the RV route even with no dogs. I was always interested in doing my traveling with a VW Camper. I favor the 'split window' VW, so that would have included all campers older than 1967. When I had that idea, I always planned on keeping the house as a base camp.

I also know myself well enough, that living without at least one hound in my life probably will not happen. I bought my first basset hound in 1987 and have had bassets and bloodhounds every since then. It's been a long time since I had only one hound. Some were rescues, and others were bought as 8 week old puppies. It's been 27 years since I have been without a hound wandering around. So traveling will always include at least one hound.

I decided that blogging is what I do, good or bad, and it's something that I enjoy. I didn't start it out to have followers, really didn't think about that angle of it. I was just wanting a personal journal and blogger was easier than working with Microsoft Word and inserting pictures. Then, due to my personality, I posted what I thought, what I was thinking, without phrasing it to be less personal. That resulted in some pretty interesting blog posts where I even wondered if I was going crazy or not. That type of writing will continue since I really don't know any other way to write. I think it might also be better to start including more photos than I have in the past. Those photos might give a better feel of what I am talking about.

I am going to add more tags across the top with some of my other interests that ties in with traveling and photos to go with those tabs, with a little history behind them.

I looked back over some of my posts of the past two years and realized some of the information I wrote about when I was looking at the different rigs was actually good information for people that might be just starting out on their own research. I wrote about why I was buying them, only later writing why I didn't buy them...LOL. Maybe that type of information will help someone new that stumbles into this blog looking for information on the rv lifestyle. I've heard from some readers it has helped them in their rv lifestyle research.

So my blogging will continue during the times at home which will include more local traveling and the times I finally get on the road and explore the western states. I've been through a lot of those states by car but due to my schedule at the time it was mostly high speed runs, a little sleep and no sightseeing. I've always loved driving cross-country and use to drive with very little stopping. I'll have to learn to slow down and explore the country I am traveling through.

As it stands this past week, I can back off the increased effort of prepping  a house for sale and spend a little more time traveling the local areas with the hounds, some sleeping bags  and a tent that hopefully Sadie doesn't think it's just for her. For those a little confused by that comment, look to the right and click on the label called "Bloodhound Property Laws", then you will understand where that comment came from. She never get's aggressive but once she finds her spot to sleep, she isn't moving.

I've been following Gary Ramsey for few years. He no longer blogs but does writes about his travels along with great photos on his website and his Facebook account. He found it better to cut the electronic media down to two, so the blog was deleted. He travels solo in the Starcraft ARE-ONE trailer and has a great camera that produces great photos of where he is or has been. It's photos like his recent New Mexico photos that keeps me wanting to travel. His Starcraft trailer also got me thinking that was the trailer to use last summer. Check his traveling site and great photos out here.

Here are a couple of things I would like to do sometime in the future, at least get started on the first one. Really, only the second one would be blog related. The second one would take some time, 2-3 months, since I would be stopping in the exact towns I stopped in before, in 19776. A lot of tent camping would be involved.

1.  I want to take my hand written journal from my 1976 solo-bicycle trip that started in Indiana, riding to San Diego, then up the coast highway to Seattle and transform that into a Word document. I still have all of my maps I used and marked up. I could possibly add those to a google map tracking page or something of that nature. I have the poor quality photos I took with a small instant camera. I can't remember the size of film except they were thin negatives and possibly cartridges that were loaded into the camera.  I could get those photos transferred electronically and uploaded. I would put all of that information and all the photos of the summer trip in some sort of electronic journal or as the Apple software calls 'Keynote'.

This next thing is more blog related. I'm not sure when I would do this but it's something I've always wanted to do when I finally had the time.

2. I'd like to load the hounds into the FJ and follow my exact path of that bicycle trip mentioned in #1. It would take 2-3 months to complete that trip as I would plan to stop and stay at the same towns and places I did in 1976. I rarely camped in a campground on that trip. Most of the time I slept in a sleeping bag outside of town on open land, the town park, the local school yard and one night on the only green grass I could find, which was in front of the El Centro California City Hall building. I always woke up early enough and was gone by the time anyone could notice me. I also had some great people along the way invite me into their homes for a hot home cooked meal, a place to stay in exchange of telling them where I had been and what I had experienced traveling on a bicycle that many miles. Some of the cities and towns where I did stayed, I have seen written about from RV travelers on their blogs. Their articles must have stirred of memories of the best summer I ever had, full of traveling.

So in the future blog posts there will be more photos, more discussions of places to go or where I have been that are RV related and might interest some of you for visiting. I always feel like writing, its just that sometimes it's not RV or Hound related.

Thanks for all the comments and emails!

A Short Note

While continuing my thinking about what to do with my blog that started weeks before my post yesterday and feedback from readers the past 24 hours, I am going to continue to blog here on this site. I had thought of starting a different blog for different topics but that is too much time and work to maintain two blogs. There might be a slight change of direction.

I received a lot of good suggestions concerning the blog. Some of them were along the lines of what I had been thinking and some of your suggestions will be implemented. They are similar to the ideas I have been having lately concerning blogging.

I will post later on what those plans are.

There will be more photos for sure, included with each post but not much difference in what has been posted for a couple of years, just a little bit wider range of topics.

Stay tuned ... and thanks for reading.

Moving Slower Than Planned

It's been an interesting week since my last post. No earth shattering news to send you, just normal living. That "normal living" led me to wonder at times this week, if I should shut down this blog. I wrote a couple of different long posts this week explaining why I was going to stop blogging. I kept them in the draft mode, then ended up deleting them. A commenter a few months ago suggested taking the word "RV" off of my blog title because I was really posting nothing about RVing and my hounds were more interesting anyway. In a way she was correct.

My subtitle states: "Researching the rv lifestyle, deciding whether to travel with a bloodhound, two basset hounds and what kind of rig to buy".

Basically that research is done. Maybe I need to update and change the subtitle. I verified the definition of "rv" was a recreational vehicle. The word "vehicle" led me to look up the definition of 'recreational vehicle' because ... would that include trailers? By definition it would include trailers. So by reverse engineering, the RV stays in the title of my blog.

I know that will disappoint a few of my recent new blog fans that like to email me, telling me how screwed up I am, that my blog deals nothing about RVing and the lifestyle. They have a point ... I'm not traveling. For those few that have voiced their opinions the loudest, making comments and sending emails, I found that most of them don't travel either ... except through other people's blogs.

A recent commenter told me "You need help". That is something I have said to myself for a lot of years, so nothing new there....lol

Back to the subtitle. My research is basically done. I know with my current tow vehicle will not change, I am limited to a trailer with a GVWR less than 4,500lbs to play it safe. I have a non-refundable deposit on an Escape trailer but I do not pick it up until October 14, 2014.

In October 2011 the plan was to leave by May 2014, when I would officially retire from my job. Well I did retire a month early but I had not decided on a trailer. It's a good thing I didn't as I don't have the same tow vehicle I had in May.

So where did the thoughts of shutting down this blog come from? Not from the disenchanted commenters/emailers, that's their DNA so to speak. It came from thinking the 'research was over'. I know what I want to buy and how I want to travel with the hounds. Many followers are waiting for the daily posts with pictures traveling the USA, yet I am still in the 'tropics' of southern Indiana doing nothing more than normal activities. Doing normal things just like some readers of this blog.

What's there to blog about?

This past week my effort to prep the house for sale slowed considerably. One day I loaded the hounds in the FJ and we took a 22 mile trip south to a nice State Park sitting on a nice lake. The hounds spent most of the day sitting next to me sniffing the air or sleeping in the shade. I knew then they could be travelers even if State Parks are not in my plans as a place to stay the majority of the time. While there I just relaxed, thought about the 'what if's' and enjoyed the scenery. It was a great day but I wondered if I should be taking pictures and posting about my day on this blog. I didn't want to, didn't have the urge to. The trip was just something I did for my own personal enjoyment. That is where the conflict comes in as far as blogging goes.

I'm a fairly private person, live in a area where neighbors rarely get together if at all and will wave at the mailbox if we are there at the same time. It's a private area. I've never felt the need to plaster a website with pictures of what I have done or am doing. The times I did that were blog related. All that did was open myself up to strangers telling me what I should or shouldn't do. Why does it matter to them what I should do? Why do they get emotional when I change my mind? I find that to be an interesting concept. For those that scream the loudest, I cannot reply in a 'politically correct' way, so I'll not comment.

The day after hanging out at the State Park, I decided to buy something I have thought about for a year. Nothing major but another bicycle, only this time instead of something built to go fast, I decided to buy a mountain bike. This bike would be a bike I could ride while traveling or here at home. Instead of changing into all the bike gear I would wear while riding my high speed 'road' bike, I can hop on wearing my every day shorts, tshirt, road glove shoes and ballcap and take off. I've ridden this bike every day since I bought it, to town a couple of miles away. I've taken off on the rough asphalt roads nearby, over gravel or dirt roads and down a path to the back of a nearby field.

So it's serving the purpose. It's a GT Timerbline 1.0 29er. I don't know all of the mountain bike lingo, nor do I plan to upgrade or modify components ... I just wanted a bike I could cruise on, enjoy the scenery and at my age would even increase my pulse rate for a little work out. So don't expect me to post pictures of me airborne like you may see of other younger mountain bikers online. Like I told the salesman who was trying to get me to buy a more expensive CycleCross bike, "if I am airborne that only means I am in trouble and soon to be hurting when I land".

I did not intend the color of the bike to match the FJ but noticed it after I got it home. Here is a picture of my new toy.

If you have read this far you may be asking yourself "where is he going with all of this"? This past week as I started to enjoy activities and places where I live and those within driving distance. I realized that I was not going to put the house up for sale. I don't see myself moving westward and buying a fulltime residence BUT I do see traveling for part of the year and having this house as a base camp. There was a lot that went into that decision. Some of the reasons are the same as before but mostly it was because of what happened this past week ... "started to enjoy activities and places where I live and those within driving distance".

The short explanation is, I live in a pretty neat location. I have more campgrounds located near me than I realized. The new McAnally map I bought a few weeks ago showed a lot of new places to check out that were close to me. I live within a 30 minute drive to a college town with a major university (lots to do). One of my favorite fall activities is going to IU football games.

I am 70 miles between two large cities if I need to shop or visit. The local stuff  you know about, and it's a great place for the hounds.

Sadie Doesn't Eat Sticks - She Breaks Them Up Into 1" Pieces

Heidi Is Always On The Hunt

Hounds Enjoying The Weather - Sadie Never Likes Her Photo Taken

I realized this past week as I recycled, cleaned out, did minor repairs to the house from the winter weather ... that I didn't want to sell my house. Do I want to get away for the winter? .. definitely.

What about the blog? I don't feel the urge to blog about everything I do every week. The only traveling I will be doing until September will be local trips most likely and tent camping. It all gets back to ... do I need to blog what I do when it's just normal everyday stuff? 

May 2014

The blog itself will stay online if I decide to stop blogging. It can be a reference for those starting out and maybe curious about different rigs or trailers. New readers might have the same questions I had a few years ago. I do have some reviews on what I found with different rigs they could use or people have used. When I started I found very few blogs about full time travelers with hounds. I have only found one traveler with a bloodhound, on Facebook, and they travel in a monster size Class A. So I thought this blog might be of some value to people that have dogs and wonder if they can travel with them.

The ONLY things I know about traveling with MY hounds are, they ride well in the different tow vehicles and the Class C I had. They also handled the State Park well. They didn't bark at everything they saw walking by, such as other dogs or people in the State Park. The only thing they did was whine while wagging their tails ... wanting the kids to come over and pet them.

I am going to keep getting rid of stuff here at the house. I may do some interior painting. I will be riding the bike daily and enjoying the places nearby. The past couple of weeks it seemed for everything I finished on my list I added two new things to it. The list never decreased. At least the weather has been fantastic this spring and early summer to enjoy and get things done.

I wonder if I have a case of "destination addiction" that some of us may have.  I still want and need to see all of the places out west that I have not seen yet, except on other blogs ... I just don't have to sell out and relocate to do that. 

To blog or not to blog?

Downsizing is Never Ending

I'm not really taking a break this morning because I haven't even got started on today. It's 9:15am local time. I've had a couple of cups of Starbucks Columbian coffee, read blogs not only about RV traveling but those on my Feedly list that covers Mac O/S, Bedlam Farm, Sports, etc. Still after all of that reading, only 2-3 hours of my morning has slipped away. I'm not really a morning person but the hounds wake up daily about the same time (6:30am) and want to go outside for their morning trip. I am usually more productive in the hours after 12 noon.....so I have convinced myself today I can still get a lot accomplished even with a slow start.

After almost 2 months of retirement, I am finding out something my dad told me years ago after he retired ... "know what you are going to do for that day when you get up" ... maybe not a list of things to do but a good idea of what you want to accomplish. Otherwise it's like a few days I have had getting nothing done with a whole lot of hours spent on the computer either reading, commenting on forums, looking at spreadsheets or like yesterday .... moving all of my .jpg files from my "Documents" folder into a "Pictures" folder. I also downloaded them in bulk into iPhoto which was pretty fast, going through over 4,000 photos by "select all", import into the iPhoto library and clicking the box "not to import duplicates". This caught any photos I had not previously imported into iPhoto after my switch from Windows to Apple in October 2010.

Sad to think it was beautiful yesterday and I sat inside doing self-imposed computer work. I was still able to sit outside and watch the soft summer rain in the late afternoon. While smelling the rain, I pictured doing the same thing in places out west in my future travels.

Now to the title ... "Downsizing".  I did some major downsizing last summer and fall, taking 3 Hummer truck loads (cargo area) to Goodwill. That was mostly clothes, dishes, and silverware. Then this past winter I didn't buy anything that I did not need....zip, nothing! Yet as I walked around last night sorting stuff that was either going to be sold online or taken to Goodwill, I could not believe how much I had to get rid of, even after getting down to the basics last summer and fall. The clothes I used to wear for work can now be sold or donated.

Where does "stuff" come from?

What would you think if you went to see a house for sale and that house was fairly empty? Should it be all or nothing? Such as selling everything from books to desks and some furniture or should I leave the interior of the house looking full, as if someone really did live here?

I am past the point of giving things away....possessions that are left have more value than "free", plus any money earned from online sales is gas money down the road....that is the way I look at it. So it might be more time consuming taking photos and writing for sale ads for Craig's List and eBay but there is some potential dollars sitting around here for things I no longer need.

By the time potential buyers view the house, it might be pretty bare. Will that be a problem in getting the house sold? I'd hate to have to wait until after the house is sold, and then rush to sell things during the time period the house deal is closing. If for some reason the house has not sold by the time I leave to pick up the Escape trailer, I've always planned on leaving it empty for the realtor to show.

Usually my rule on clothing is if it has not been used in the past year or two, it is gone. I am having a hard time applying that same rule to my vintage 33LP vinyl record "unintentional" collection, or the 80's cassette tape collection and a lot of the CD collection. I can't remember the last time I even listened to a record album but find it hard to let them go. I have an interested Craig's List buyer for all the music I have. I think getting rid of all the cassette tapes and record albums is a good idea, while keeping just favorites of CDs and DVDs. I need to download the CDs into my iTunes or iPhone and play them that way.

DVD's are another story. Like all media changes, I never intended having as many as I do. Yes, I do watch some movies more than once or more than a few times over the years. Due to available hard drive space I will not be downloading them into any iMac or iPad to watch later.

Other than that, I don't have much left. Some of the furniture, the vacuum, the Rug Doctor carpet cleaner are spoken for when I leave. That only leave things I think I will store somewhere out west in a very small storage room, for when I want to set up a new base camp. Then I think forget that storage and sell everything. Whatever is left, I could have a weekend yard sale and I'm pretty sure most if not all would be gone.

As I write this post about downsizing and telling you what is left, I realized I really don't have that much more to get rid of.

Well, I'm going back to work loading stuff into the FJ for my recycling trip today, a possible future Goodwill trip and taking photos for my eBay and Craigs List ads.