Life has been a mass of confusions and conundrums since October last year. And is still ongoing. It has been a very strange mix of unwanted stories. Stress persists still after months on months of different scary illnesses, unlooked for impactful episodes and events, a Status Quo description of daily life attached to Frankie the Cat wanting to always be outside (he has to have, for safety reasons, a 50 feet rope lead and harness and gets tangled up continually in trees, around garden furniture, etc.). Being of a Bengal and Maine Coon mix, he is a really hyperactive feline. Apart from a couple of hours sleep in the day he simply doesn’t keep still. The constant attention required truly wears us both down.
Stress on a daily basis persists. Even yesterday, a loud clattering bang noise came from upstairs. Frankie the Fella cat had jumped up onto my Apple Mac home studio music equipment collective and the studio monitor came crashing down with the screen hitting the desktop. Initially I thought the expensive screen and mixing desk would be broken. It wasn’t luckily. Keyboard, mouse, CD/DVD writer, microphones, etc were all over the Den’s floor. I felt like crying.
However. Summers’ Philosophy? Negatives have to be replaced with positives. To seek to think more clearly and calmly. To meet and tread life’s ongoing pathways softly and gently. To live life quietly and with grace. And ultimately, be respectful to the fact that, in general, being alive and waking up daily with new hope for your ongoing journey is a beautiful gift.
A few weeks ago the VeeDub Bus was finished concerning the fitting of the new ‘all singing and dancing’ carburettor. So the engine is much more reliable now and has eliminated the frustrations of the old stock Solex VW standard original one cutting out when ‘idling’. Used to be that I would approach a road’s junction, slow down in traffic, etc. and the engine always stalled. Frustrating to say the least. Now? The new Weber Twin Port carburettor doesn’t miss a beat. And much more powerful too. It was a pleasure driving the VeeDub for a week a few weeks ago. Down to the local Ynyslas beach/dunes a few times and the Cwm Rheidol riverside. Grandchildren loved the week’s visit here in Wales a few weeks back with the Dub being back again as a little highlight amongst the beach and riverside vibes.
The following weeks after the family visit, the VeeDub Billie the Buddy Bus, went back to the workshop and is currently having a few bodywork patches resprayed. This after a couple of weeks of new metal work under the chassis and around the wheel arches being welded in. Now all is safe and strong again. Trouble with living near the sea’s coast? Sea air can really affect and be detrimental to an old classic vehicle’s bodywork. Over the years causing unlooked for rust. Why? The metal of bodies of classic VW campers are constructed from stamped steel panels. These are welded together. Steel! Not stainless steel. The work done? I have the local restoration guy Paul to thank for it all. A true VeeDub Guru. So Billie has a new lease of life.
So other VeeDub social and music project plans? I bought this Bluetti Power Station below. It will improve the quality of the VeeDub Social and Music Making Inclusions because it is basically an efficient 2,000 watt power source for providing many electrical item opportunities. Four three pin plug banks, DC 12 volt input, USB C and A ports, etc. for various electrical items. Basically has AC, DC and USB ports.
The ways it can be charged are numerous. Firstly, in the house using mains electricity (simply plug it in and about an hour and a half later it is fully charged). An outside charge up can be obtained by using the VeeDub’s 12 volt battery (through the cigarette lighter port) when driving along; an electric port on a campsite; or a bank of four jointed Solar Panels can be set up quickly and we can go eco friendly. The Bluetti can last up to 36 hours before needing recharge depending on what is being used.
Music production? The Tascam Model 12 music mixing desk system can now be used in the VeeDub with opportunities to have other musicians plug in too. Microphones, guitars, keyboards, electronic drum kit, etc. to be considered. All music played collectively by musicians and singers out in the open air can be recorded and captured on the Tascam SD card. A little ‘jam session’ of sorts. Then, when home, upload the Tascam’s SD card outdoor captures into the indoor Apple Mac M2 recording system. Then the resulting music can be worked on and polished up.
Be nice to get an outdoor vibe of well being and happiness going.
Kettle on, bit of food cooked, camp log fire lit under a star filled sky, live music being played from various musicians, music listened to from CD’s……what’s not to love about that.
Gray Summers 
That’s what we have, two different sizes of Bluetti’s. Bought and used daily when we lived off the grid (2020-2021). Lifesavers indeed.
Man, the VeeDubb is in pristine shape, Gray! Was and will be again! Incredible! Had to laugh at Frankie going for the ride too! Figured he would stay home. I have a feeling we still may hear him on outings recordings?
I gasped at the story of him knocking down your Mac screen! Ugh.
Yes indeed you’re living in such a beautiful place! Lucky, blessed, and all that. Gorgeous garden photo!
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The Bluetti looks like it’s going to be a great buy. The solar panels? Fingers crossed we get sunshine regularly here. Wales, as a country, is known for a lot of rain. But I will charge the Bluetti up at home mostly. You’ll know the longevity capabilities having used yours.
The VeeDub was a bit of a shock. Luckily Paul did give it a deep look. And metal work had to be bought again. This even though the initial renovation was intense. Stripped right back to the shell, repaired and renovated fully. Just be great to have Billy back.
The Frankie situation is a true dilemma. I wish we could just let him roam free. But the village has lots of through traffic, including motorbikes and lorry’s. Cats have been killed on the road over the years. His constant focus is to get outdoors. He constantly noisily meows in the way Main Coons do to get out. Angie and myself feel guilty in all of this situation with Frankie now. I hate thinking of him ‘tethered’. We are currently looking at finding someone local who has a more remote lifestyle in the hills. Perfect for him to run freely. The cattery we house him in when visiting family at odd weekends say they know of people who have lost a much loved cat. So maybe Frankie could make someone’s life a brighter one. We would be truly gutted letting him go, but his well being is really important. He’ll experience a new lease of life so to speak.
The Mac M2 accident came from his constant pacing and darting around the house and his lack of settling down. He only sleeps at night really. So my days are full on as Angie works most days. Be nice to get back to recording songs again. I checked the Mac system to make sure it was okay. It felt amazing playing guitar and singing into the microphone again.
Cheers Sheila.
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You have given Frankie a wonderful home, Gray and Angie. You have given this situation the old “college try” as we say. I am relieved to hear you have come round to even considering re-home ing him to someone who has the property to let him run freely. Ah, yes, when we consider what may be better for him (but better for you too, I dare say), less to no guilt can be experienced. After all, we know all things in one way or another are “attachments” to have, and to let go of. But of course, it can be difficult to choose the time and place for the having and for the letting go! Ugh! Gutted is a great description!
Yes, we have had our two Bluetti’s since 2020 and they have worked really well. We had them powered by solar panels initially, but after leaving the off grid property, we charged from house power and then used when our power would go out during any little wind or big hurricane (when we lived in Florida). They are such a lifesaver! Richard uses the smaller one occasionally still but the larger one is charged up and in our closet just in case we lose power here (which thankfully, hasn’t happened in the year and a half that we have lived in New Hampshire).
I also understand about keeping car finishes from rust while living near the sea. I raised my children in Daytona Beach, Florida and I always had to wash our cars after driving them on the beach, and weekly even when we didn’t just from the salt air! I don’t miss that!
Enjoy recording again, Gray! How fun!
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Sounds like you have had so many different lifestyles in your life Sheila.
We can wait and make sure if something perfect comes along for Frankie. Nothing is urgent. It may be we move too. We’ve been thinking of it. Looking after this house is getting difficult. So can move to more isolation. Not too isolated though.
I did research the Bluetti with other models. New type of batteries give improved performance. And needed a decent storage level. Slave batteries can also be added for more storage capabilities.
The VeeDub can’t be put away into a garage for winter protection as we don’t have one. And no space to put one. And no one local to rent one from either. Maybe a huge fitted weather proof cover which you can buy. A car port won’t stop side winds coming in across the fields from the sea. I bought a hose long handled spray attachment that can be angle adapted to go right under the VeeDub and spray into all areas for complete cleaning of the sand and salt.
And, having dipped back in, the recording is now a must.
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Ooh, I hear you about the potential to move! Maybe a bit more land and a garage is in your future? Hehe! One can dream!
Sounds good about the sprayer for washing the salt off the Vee Dubb, Gray.
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I wouldn’t like more land of my own Sheila. You have to look after it. 😊 I would like more opportunity to have no traffic involvement that can possibly impact on Frankie. Also, a more manageable house. The gables and guttering badly need painting. No professionals here that are easily available. We ask for quotes and no one turns up. Rural places are short on numbers of painters, decorators, plumbers, electricians, etc.
I said to Angie last night that we may have to get a scaffolder to put scaffolding around the front and part of the side of the house to reach the high gable ends. Then I’ll paint it all myself. The gables are too high for a ladder experience. The back of house has the level of the top garden. You can see it in the photograph here in the blog. So can reach with planks across the polycarbonate roof.
Love the current house and its proximity of the sea. It also has fields and woodland too. But would gladly move to more isolated fields and woodland. We’re always near enough in the short vicinity inland to reach the coast with a quickly driven journey anyway.
Cheers Sheila.
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Ah, I hear you, Gray.
Well, fyi we live in a small village like town and can’t get anyone to give estimates for painting my daughter and son-in-law’s 2 story house. It’s been 10 years and has some rotting wood issues, thus badly in beed of painting. Ugh
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It is frustrating. Maybe you can do the scaffold hiring idea. I know Amazon sell different height scaffolding towers too. DIY grade though. But it’s so much safer and comfortable working in this way. Ladders give me the jitters.
Our outside wood work and cast iron pipe work is peeling too. Not rotten hopefully. Last done by myself about ten years ago when I took the opportunity to use the scaffolding when we had some builders repointing our house walls in lime cement. The house walls now breathe more easily because of this. So no internal damp issues. Our stone walls are a couple of feet thick.
Also. No one can repaint our house safely without scaffolding. Health and safety issues determine they can’t use ladders alone at such heights. So I may as well paint it myself, by hiring scaffolding, and save some money. It has deep horizontal under boards on the gable ends. And decorative facing vertical panels. So need to preserve those features. Cheers Sheila.
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I’ll take some pictures and do a post about this after our company leaves tomorrow. (That’s also why some of my replies have been later/shorter.)
Celebrating my husband’s 75th birthday and his sister’s birthday who is nine years younger but both born on the same day!
Yes, we have neighbors doing the scaffolding thing and self painting.
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Love the Bus. Hey what happened to your previous post Gray? It was there and then it wasn’t. (Says it’s private) Aptly titled Weird Stuff! S
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The overall vibe of the ‘weird’ blog, with little new try out songs I’d sung into the iPad internal microphone, didn’t feel good. The new tunes were interesting. But….low volume (I was using an electric guitars but off amp) and so the shallow and tinny results were a bit horrible. I suppose that is why I called it weird stuff. 😊 I liked the blog words of explanation, so wanted to keep them. Otherwise I would have put the blog into ‘bin’ status. So I dumped it into ‘draft status’. Don’t understand why it has the ‘private’ status. I’ll take a look. It was next morning I checked and decided I need do more robust Mac M2 recordings.
The Bus feels great engine driving wise now. Be great to try some outdoor recording. Can’t wait to get it back.
Cheers Shep. Hope all is fine with you.
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hi Gray. when I got to the musical production section I couldn’t help but feel all of these precious moments, what Frankie’s up to, the VeeDub, what’s cooking on the stove, all of them, they’re all part of one song. what may seem like fragments or loose threads are really pieces of what is quietly living inside you. every joy, every sorrow, even the moments that seem empty, something is always there, waiting, and those somethings find their way to the surface in musical form.
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Thanks cookie. Waiting is a fine description. It’s been months on months on more months of no true desired purpose. But one of acceptance in needing to focus on what life needs you to contribute to. The contribution is because we are always needed for some purpose in life’s stories. In some way, we are chosen to assist and give energy to odd conundrums. If it were through choice and there was an intentional stepping out and withdrawing from all activities that would be fine too. But would we leave behind unfinished business.
Currently I feel like Sisyphus endlessly pushing the boulder uphill and then watching it roll back down again. Stuck in an accepting task of, as Albert Camus philosophised, absurdity. But as Albert Camus also stated, accepting it.
You are spot on here. All these life experiences become one’s own song. Just by trying and hoping by clinging on to future ideals and new challenges, by making plans in the presence of inescapable absurdity, we are writing our future songs. Our essence and soul remain and show themselves in our melodies, our songs. Myself? Camaraderie is often on the back burner for someone with an introvert nature. The best way to step from the enforced Status Quo of life is to find something that helps change happen. The VeeDub Bus is that something. It takes you to different opportunities. And attracts people that can provide transient opportunities too.
Rather like your bike rides through to other places. You witness the world afresh. And having travelled? Your stories blossom and grow like flowers in your mind and because life also involves the guitar…it provides the means to write about and cement down the stories you have found. We are both blessed to be musicians aren’t we. Alongside day to day absurdity exists the bike, skateboard, VeeDub Bus, poetical lyrics, melodic minds, guitars. Essential Buddies? Yes. Essentially they are also on our list of our bestest of friends.
Lovely comment from you as always cookie. They provide the opportunity to reflect and find answers. You are a 💫
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Cat vs. computer! Glad it was okay.
You have such wonderfully varied stories to tell. Thanks for sharing them.
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Thank you Stan. A need to review lifestyle presently though. The music recording has been non existent since December/January time. Frankie? An Intense and Overactive feline (Bengal/Maine Coon cross breed) and therefore no chance at all of spending more than five minutes on focusing on recording my music on the Mac. So I just gave up trying back then. It’s been a long intense year!
Loved your holiday photographs. Fine photography skills. And of course, always a pleasure to listen to your ‘variety in genre’ songwriting.
Cheers Stan.
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I understand what a loss it can be when not making music…
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Very true. We are feeling guilty that Frankie cannot run freely here where we live. Living on a 50 feet leash and getting tangled around trees, shrubs and pots is a constant intervention of untangling. He doesn’t want to be indoors either. Very noisy sitting and yowling at the door to be let out. So double dilemma.
We live in the countryside, but a busy road exists in the village and close to our house. Cats in the village have been hit on this road a fair few times. So, as said, much future consideration needed.
Cheers Stan. And…Thank you.
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