Of Mice and Linoleum

The mice have multiplied. Oh dear. Opened my oven to see at least 3 little pairs of eyes staring back at me. Starting to smell a little bit too. I figure I may as well wait until I put in new insulation and start to wrap it up before trying to get rid of them. I would assume they would just get into the new insulation and it would be a frustrating cycle.

Mouse living quarters.

Land O' Linoleum

It's just me and my stepdad today. I have a blast ripping up the old linoleum. Kind of like peeling an apple and seeing how much you can get in one long strip. Quite satisfying. My niece comes by and helps me out a little bit. Squatting for two hours while doing this was not the best idea in the world. Seriously had a bit of a challenge walking the next day~ouch! Maybe also would have been a good idea to wear a dust mask. Oh well, next trailer!

My little helper :)

We got the front aluminum panel off ok, but the back was a bit of a, well, a bitch. The two pieces of metal didn't just overlap, but wound around one another. We considered leaving it all one piece with the top (which would have made it difficult and awkward to remove) or cutting it. We finally decided to at least attempt prying it open then lifting up and back and it worked!! I love problem solving :) I kinda felt a little badass, not going to lie. :P

Resident Critters

Found knife and soap...not really a good sign

My beloved red chair

What happens when the windows are broken

No, there wasn't a fire!

Let's get down to the nuts and bolts...and the dry rot

Renters

So today is the day!!! Where to start where to start?  I just jump and down because we are finally going to dive in. I know that we need to peel the skin back, so I guess we should just grab a couple of screwdrivers and have at it. I kind of have a plan of action. Take off the front and back metal panels, then the top. Then replace all the damaged panels and put it back together. Then start on the inside. Sounds simple and easy! :/  The screws have been painted heavily over and don't want to budge. The guys start with the front window and panel. Woohoo!!!! The process has begun! I feel like I should have smashed a bottle of champagne on her or something, but we'll save that for the last day when we officially christen her. So many little spider critters live in my trailer. Little spiky egg sacs that I've learned are brown widows. That's ok. I'm glad they feel welcome. Although they will have to find another home before I move in.

Yay!! First screws are out!

Here we go...

Goofy

Inside door

Window frame~ Ooh, she was turquoise

My friend, Ben, didn't waste any time

It's going to take days to get these screws out!

Ben assessing

I have no idea what I have gotten myself into, but I'm really excited about it!

Made an interesting discovery today. I opened up the oven, peeked inside and then closed it. Took me a second to realize that I had just seen two mice nests in there when there had never been anything there before. Oh yippee! Critters! What a most wonderful way to begin. I felt honored that they wanted to make their home in my trailer. Why is my whole family looking at me like I'm crazy? They should know me by now. I felt so bad that we had been so loud, they must have been so frightened. My stepdad removes one (empty) and tries to remove the other but the mouse runs away so we leave her little bed. Minutes later, I hear screeching and I open a cupboard to find a tiny little grey mouse just screaming his head off, all alone. I freak out and we try to figure out a way to get it back into the nest. A little garden shovel? No! It would chop its feet off. We see a fly swatter and we attach a "My Name is Earl" birthday card that is lying there for support. We prepare the attempt and I really hope this doesn't turn out badly. We turn around for just a second and when we look back, he's gone! Apparently momma used this opportunity to snatch him up. Big sigh of relief. No mice would die today.

"I'M YOUR SPONGE!"

Somewhere around this time, I decided to give my trailer the most awesome name ever... 

me:  oh! i didn't tell you my trailer's new name
joe:  oooo thats right!
joe:  what is it
joe:  ?!?!?!
me:  Agnes Gooch
joe:  gooch?
me:  yep
joe:  hahaha i like it
me:  it's a character from Auntie Mame
joe:  fun!
joe:  you are a little off your rocker
joe:  hahahha
me:  and totally appropriate!
me:  yep!!
me:  just the way i like to be :)

Ok, this is a really, really sad excuse for a video clip. I took it from my tv. I was going to say something about how I would upload a better version later, but the fact that it's shaky because I've been drinking wine and because I did not position myself in a comfortable position first seems to make it that much more appropriate. So it's going to stay.

There is more than one way to skin a trailer

You gotta glue it then screw it!

One word. Larry. I love Larry. With vanillabean out where I couldn't just go and sit and wonder what to do with her, I decided it was time to really dive in to the research and educate myself exactly what this renovation thing was going to entail. Tons of forums, blogs, before and after photos, the Shasta cliques. Just because there were tons of resources for Shastas and zero for Aljos didn't make me feel the least bit alone. I didn't want those stupid wings anyways.. (I jest, truly).


You really have to click here to get an idea what I'm talking about...

But I digress. Back to Larry. Larry has the best videos on trailer renovation. He changed my trailer renovating life forever. His videos are not professionally filmed and not in a professional garage. They have the funkiest opening music and graphics. That is what makes them so perfect. He is just a really regular guy who restores trailers and films the process. But that's what I needed. It's not intimidating and he always makes so easy to follow. I want to see and hear about all the problems that arise and issues I may come across. I want to be entertained when Larry goes on about what he is doing but forgets to adjust the camera on the tripod or just blocks it with his body so you can't see what the hell he is doing. I love seeing the improvisations and knowing that I can trust my common sense (well, sometimes, hindsight is 20/20). He is awesome. I found his videos and spent about 4 hours watching them over and over in one night (and an embarrassing number of times since then). He has been the best resource hands down. I emailed him a question and he responded graciously right back. When the trailer gets finished, I am going to go visit Larry. :)

Larry in action:

Trailer travels to tulleville

After doing just a little research on how to approach renovating a trailer, I soon discovered that to replace the water damaged panels, one must remove the outside aluminum layer, or skin. (This subject was later up to much debate by several people who eventually admitted I was indeed, right. You know who you are). As much as I wanted to work on the trailer in my driveway, I realized it probably wasn't a realistic notion. Even though I technically had the space, I knew once I started to dismantle everything, there would be bits and pieces laying around to get stolen or moved and the eyesore factor would be pretty high. I reluctantly decided to move it to my parents' house (the only reluctance being that it's an hour away). At least I would be able to spread out all the pieces and not have to worry about any neighbors. My stepdad has quite the workshop so I figured he could not only help me with the heavy duty issues, but it would also be a way to visit with family and work on a funky project together. Plus, it's a beautiful and peaceful setting.

Yay for AAA! Called them up and for an extra $35 rider, I could add RV coverage. Prorate due to being the end of the year and for $12 I get a flatbed out to my house. After about an hour of muscle, sweat, and I may have even detected a tear, the tow truck driver successfully got her on the road without running it into my neighbor's garage.

Easy does it

 We left about an hour after the driver and hoped that we would still get there around the same time. Driving on the highway I noticed something up ahead. It was a teetering hunk of round metal, was it my vanilla bean (did I say yet that that was the temporary name I gave her?). Coming up upon it and passing it made me laugh. Looking at it again from the outside in that capacity made me think I was a bit crazy. Yay! I love being a bit crazy.

I see a little round somethin somethin...

Is she leaning..?

There's my pretty girl!

Trailer found her home in the backyard. Close enough to the garage for all the cords to reach. And directly next to a spiky bush that would later become the bain of my existence. This would be her home until I (later to become "we") finished all the major work.

Making space. Stupid spiky bush in the background.

Nice little spot

Not a bad environment to work in

Temporary home

Happy and silly swinging

Alright! Let's get started! Got my beat up old trailer (found out it's actually a 1956, not 1954). There she is. Sittin in my driveway. Yep. Uh huh. All ready for me to get started on. Here we go. Let's get started. On the way. Should be done in no time. Have all kinds of brilliant thoughts for paint colors, beds, artwork, lights. Yep. I go out and look at her everyday with excitement then just stand there, staring, blankly, realizing I have not a clue what to do. I feel a little panic, a little of that overwhelming anxious feeling working it's way from my stomach up. Before it sets in, I take a deep breath and decide that the best thing to do is just dive in.

So Will told me that she had been sitting in lot for about 10 years. Hmm. Never would have guessed that ;).  I knew I couldn't really start working on anything complicated yet, but I decided just doing something, anything, would get the ball rolling. I washed the outside and scrubbed with it a broom. All kinds of fun things came streaming, flying, and falling out of nooks and crannies. Adorable little spiky brown widow eggs, black widows, and an abundance of pine needles and leaves. Cool! Already feeling productive. I'm not sure what went on inside while it was at that lot, but a little imagination and the "decorations" left made me pretty sure it wasn't really anything I wanted to think about. I got two bottles of Simple Green and wiped down every surface on the inside. Ah, much better! At least I removed any surface nastiness. The bathroom was a different story.  I have to admit, it scared the hell out of me. I'm not sure what I was looking at. I took an extra deep breath and squeezed into the tiny 2 x 3 space and gave it a quick once over.

I decided to do my best to assess the issues of the trailer so I could do some research. Here is all the nitty grittiness of my beloved little caravan...

Hmmm. Wonder what was supposed to be here

Oh look, a wire thingy sticking out from the side!

A really thick piece of wood. Good thing they used a lot of screws straight into the skin.

Worst corner

Cute little levelers

Duct tape bandaid

Martin is starting to come around...

And yet this tiny little bulb is still intact...?

Interesting...

Only missing 2 lights/reflectors!

Apparently she was a lemony greenish color

Ick!

Gonna hammer this out

Yeah! Screw 'em!

Sweet nothings

Ok

Trailer was a hot spot!

Hoping this is of the liquor variety