(Passing Linda a towel to dab behind her ears)Hey sweetie, my first year winter sowing was last winter. I was very pessimistic about the whole thing but between Trudi's WS site and the WS forum I made it through with great results. I loved it so much and am doing it again this year. The only little tidbit of advice that I would like to offer before you start is to make sure that you have at least 3 inches of potting soil in your containers because it does compact and the containers that were deeper last year did much better than the more shallow ones. Proper drainage is key along with having the tops off to keep the airflow moving, totally eliminates that whole damping off issue that you get with indoor sowing. I started with milk jugs and then moved on to 2 liter pop bottles when I ran out. I like the results with the pop bottles better, they're easier to split without that handle being in the way and I left a tiny portion uncut so I could just flip them open when they needed to be open for a hot day, flipped them down when it got too cold again, and finally snipped them off when the temps were consistently above freezing/frost. I used bread racks to hold my containers and it worked great. Kept the jugs from blowing around the yard and allowed for the containers to drain nicely too. Karen/Kalena was my mentor and gave me all the tips I could handle. She was the best tutor and helped make it a blast for me! Hey Miss Pix! All good points darlin! Missed you! Hugs, Tracy

Elaine - my first popup was a '96 Coleman (really a Fleetwood) that had the front storage trunk and that was a continual leaking problem for some of those models (up until maybe 2002). Anyway, there were some posts over on www.popupexplorer.com where repairs were made and some got into detail on how they made them. Anyway, had never heard of a leak problem in the front wall of a Palamino before - may I suggest - (if you have not already done so), go over there to popup explorer and make a post with your problem and see what kind of response you get. There's a gazillion popupers over there and someone might have just had the same problem and have some detailed information you could use. Some years ago a friend had one of those orginal popups that had come out in the late 1960's (Apache?) and for some reason he had some wall problems that also affected the bed rail on one side of the camper. What he did was to cut a length of 2 X 4 to fit for a brace which worked for him until he found the time to repair it right. Could that be something that might work for you until the end of this camping season? Dale

Linda, there are other ways to lose your livelihood other than being a commercial fisherman should a storm take out several thousand recreational boats here in my town. Many ways. Just a few from the top of my head...marine mechanics, shipwrights, fiberglass specialists, electronics sales/installation/service, rigging specialists, canvas specialties (several types), upholstery specialists, stainless steel fabricators, crane owners & operators, marina owners, dockmasters, deck hands, fuel, pump-out service companies, painters, those who do the shrink-wrapping for winter storage, Tow Boat US franchise owners & their employees, places like West Marine & the marine salvage yard suffer from greatly reduced sales when the boats are not being used, restaurants & their employees (if boaters are not using their boats they aren't in town needing food), hotels, caterers (we have many very large yachts here all summer. They come up from the Caribbean to, hopefully, avoid hurricanes & utilize local caterers every week.), & retail in general. Boaters' purchases are the mainstay of our downtown area. Recreational boating is big business in the Great Lakes area also as it is all along the country's coasts (west, Gulf, & east). People earn their livelihoods in other ways besides farming. And those other livelihoods also ripple through the entire economy. Despite their farms the mid-west is suffering economically right now. So are Connecticut & Rhode Island. IMO, every job we have in America is important...not just farmers. My town lives or dies by the health of our local marine industries that includes oyster bed farmers, scallop divers, commercial fisherman (Stonington, our government jurisdiction, has the last commercial fishing fleet in CT.), sport fishing charter boats, & yes...recreational boaters and all those who support the marine industry that I noted above. The world's largest marine museum is located in Mystic for a reason. As I've said before, Mystic's life blood is the sea.

Believe me I know about this situation, remember the floods etc! So you can get one or make one. Don't get the doodie camping toilet it is too small and low to the ground. Instead get one of the 5 gallon bucket type like this one https://www.walmart.com/ip/Reliance-Luggable-Loo-Portable-Toilet/43257527 You will need heavy duty bags to fit it. Get some old fashioned clay cat litter and some baby powder. Fit your bag in the toilet and put some litter in it and a good sprinkle of baby powder. Change bags frequently! Put those sealed bags into heavy duty contractor bags. They sell a gel product to use instead of cat litter but the litter works better. You can get a privacy tent if you need it. https://www.walmart.com/ip/Costway-Portable-Pop-UP-Camping-Fishing-Bathing-Shower-Toilet-Changing-Tent-Room/327195869 Or you can get creative and do a diy project! Good luck!