kareina

We have talked for a while about modifying the van a little. The first thought was to take out the window between the cab and the back, and add a cupboard there to keep road trip food, and sewing projects, within reach while driving,but out of the way.

However, we didn't have time for that before any of the last road trips, so it hasn't happened yet. But this weekend we heard from a friend in southern Sweden who wants to ride with us to Drachenwald 30 year this summer. He's bigger than we are, so my current approach of putting the soft sided ice chest on the floor and my sewing ptojects and bag of snacks that don't need to be in the ice chest on the seat next to me isn't going to work, as he needs the full seat and leg room.

Therfore, this weekend we looked closer at the wall veteen the cab of the van and the back end, and determined that we don't actually need to take the window out, we can take out the entire wall, abd set it aside to put back if we ever want to sell the van.

So today after work we made that part so. It went surprisingly easy. Took out a few bolts, drilled out a few pop rivit attachments, unscrewed a few screws, and the wall just lifted out. It isn't even very heavy. Now that it is out of the way, we found a few things lost behind the seat, including the hair stick thst vanished o the last road trip.

We also changed back to summer tires, moved the bed to press against the back wall instead of the front, and washed the car.

Tomorrow after work, we will put a half wall behind the seats, extend the base of the bed forward to make a shelf, and also double as a support for that end of the bed, so we can loose the leg, and hace more room under for all if the tourney chests. Then we can extend a wall up between thhe shelf and the back of the van, ideally with a sliding door between them, so we can access the food from the back when camping.

I spent most of this past week down in Boliden, taking samples from drill core to be analysed later. Reached the end of a core at mid day on Friday, which was good because by getting on the road then I was able to return the rental car to the uni before the reception desk was closed. This time I didn't take my hammer dulcimer with me, because I knew that I would need to spend evenings working on a grant proposal (which I did, but there is still more to be done on it, so this week will also be busy).

Friday evening lord_kjar and I went out to a local cafe where a friend of ours was performing. She has a lovely voice, and played (at various times over the evening) harp, guitar, drum, hurdy-gurdy, and something that seems sort of like a primitive accordion that I hadn't seen before. Sadly I was quite tired, having gotten up at 05:00 that morning, worked till mid-day then done the 2.5 hour drive home, but even tired I enjoyed her show, and meeting some of her other friends who showed up special for the occasion.

Saturday was a day to catch up on things around the house. The laundry room we normally use has been closed for renovation for many weeks now, and the next closest in the complex was far enough away that we avoided using it, and it was harder to book times to do laundry given the fact that more people needed access to the few remaining laundry rooms. So when we noticed that our laundry room has reopened, and that no one had booked Saturday morning we celebrated. As it turned out no one else claimed the other room, either, so we were able to run three loads at a time, which meant that by noon we had completed seven loads of washing. Yay, clean clothes, and clean bed sheets, too!

In the evening we worked on projects--after weeks of neglect my fur-lined hood is finally seeing some attention--I got two of the four gores sewn into the fur, and started the third. It is going better than I thought it would. It is a little awkward having to line up the fur, the two layers of lining that it came with (it used to be a coat), and the thin row of cotton band I am attaching to the seam for extra stability, but it is working.

Today we finally started work on the stand for my hammer dulcimer. Since our apartment is small, and very full of stuff, the only place we could find where it will be able to be set up all of the time is on top of the piano. So we are making a stand which will hook over the top of the piano and hold the dulcimer at an angle for easy playing. The plan is to have two triangles, one which sits atop the piano and attaches at the corners to the legs which extend in front of and behind the piano, and another, which is at an angle, resting on the front edge of the piano and rising up in the back, to support the dulcimer.

So far we have managed to acquire the supplies, cut the large triangle, and bolt and glue it together. Tomorrow we will continue. Still to do: make the small one, attach it to the legs, and attach the large one to them, and the front support.

This week at work I need to finish up that grant proposal. Cut thin sections off of the 70 rock samples I brought back with me, and on Friday drive back down to Boliden for a meeting.

Oops--alarm just went off to do yoga and head to bed...