Month: February 2017

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Beautiful DIY Plank Wall On The Cheap

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Adding Texture to a Room: DIY Plank Wall

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Spring is right around the corner and I have quite the honey-do list ready for our backyard, which means we need to wrap up indoor projects quickly! I want to be able to work on outdoor things soon when the weather is consistently warm; but for now, I’m excited that we have been blessed with two wonderfully warm weekends here in the Midwest. I have spent them working on updating a shared wall within our main living space using plank panels and wanted to share just how easy this project really was as well as its cost effectiveness. Continue reading

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Demographics of The North American Camper Part 2-RVs

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Over 430,000 Recreational Vehicles, or RVs, from Class A Motorhomes to Popup Campers were manufactured last year, and 2016 marked the 7th consecutive year of industry growth, and a 16% increase since 2001.  While travel trailers/campers are normally towed and Motor Homes are as the name implies, self propelled, I’ll be merging them into one general category for this article.  So who are the 9+ million people who own an RV and what are their motivations for traveling via the “home on wheels”?  Continue reading

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The Demographics Of The North American Camper part 1

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What smell reminds you most of camping? Smoke? Bug spray? Smores? Flowers?campfire




Escape, adventure, wilderness, family, peace,fun are common words used to describe camping. It is about the shared experience, strengthening relationships and allowing oneself to decompress from the stresses of the world.

In part 1 of our series on  camping, we  delve into the minutia of the north American tent camper and the growing interest in paying to sleep on the ground in the middle of nowhere.Over 40 million people camped somewhere within the United States in 2013. and some interesting data has been compiled on the demographics of the who the why and the when and the where.
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The #1 Danger In National Parks-You

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“Fear the goat from the front, fear the horse from the rear, and man from all sides.”

Old Assyrian proverb.



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Their minivan parks along the curb of Laurel Falls, mom slides the door open and out spill the kids armed with juice boxes, apple slices, grandma and the dog. Dad hands mom a couple of bottles of water, some wet wipes to throw in her purse and opens his map of trails within the Smoky Mountains National Park. Flip flops, t shirts and shorts are the popular dress, with an occasional hiker geared in sturdy boots and a backpack.The sign near the entrance says no dogs allowed on the trails but as the day  unfolds that appears to be  just a suggestion.  Continue reading

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When Neighbors Collide- The City vs The Country

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Robert Frost said “Good fences make good neighbors.”good neighbors2

It was a gorgeous property that had recently sold. 10 acres of blooming redbuds and dogwoods, a small pond stocked with catfish and bass and a beautiful newer two story brick home waiting for the next owner. It was cradled by rolling hills and valleys with a scenic county road landscaped with farms and homesteads that created something akin to the opening scene of a movie. Continue reading

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GMOs In You and Your Livestock-The 21st Century Body Snatchers

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raw milkFrito-Lay, Oscar Meyer, Cargill, Kellog, Pepsi Cola, Purina and Tyson are some of the leading producers of the American daily diet.   For tens of millions, a bowl of Capn Crunch and a glass of Sunny Delite for breakfast, McDonalds for lunch and Totino’s Pizza for dinner is the norm. Yet the irony is that many people consider raw milk, farm raised unrefrigerated eggs and organic grown vegetables not approved or regulated by the FDA to be risky. We have become a society that balances a Big Mac and a large Coke with a Walmart salad. A Sara Lee Pie is the whiskey and  Slimfast an aspirin for the hangover.



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How To Survive Falling Thru Frozen Ice

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Video Courtesy Of TechInsider

Check Out “On Frozen Pond”

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