Had lots and lots of fun yesterday. Collected another 1 cubic yard of really good compost (27 cubic feet). Last time I did that was about a year ago. Thought I'd post in the same thread from last year. Used my Camry again to haul the stuff, but this year, I made 2 trips to haul the cubic yard--much friendlier on the car's suspension. Can't believe I was able to fit a full cubic yard of compost into my car last year. Won't do that again though. Yesterday I loaded from 60 to 66 percent of the cubic yard into the car for the first trip and I loaded the remaining compost in the second trip. Much, much better to do it that way. In fact, a 50/50 split may have been even better. It's hard to gauge the 50/50 mark though on a cubic yard. Went to STL Compost in Fenton again, just outside St. Louis county. Got their Field and Turf compost again, instead of their Black Gold, even though I'll mostly be using it in the vegetable garden, not so much on the lawn. IIRC, last year their Black Gold smelled a bit, meaning it wasn't really ready yet to be used as compost, but I didn't detect much, if any, bad smell this year from their Black Gold. Their Bessie's Best is part manure and their premium is a mix of Black Gold and Bessie's Best, IIRC. I think the Field and Turf is like the Black Gold but finer for lawn use. Still their Field and Turf worked great in my vegetable garden last year. Lots and lots of tomatoes, eggplants, squash, string(?) beans, basal, parsley, finnochio (fennel?), and it was all top quality. Good compost seems to help so much. I stored the compost in my garage overnight, because I was too tired yesterday to move it behind the bushes. Later today I'll take it all outside. Nice thing is this compost does NOT smell bad at all. It's been in my closed garage all night, and not a hint of foul smell. This is really good compost! This year I fit the cubic yard into about 28 or 30 big plastic bags. Last year it was just about 20 or 22 plastic bags. It's much, much better to use 30 bags than 20 bags, because each bag is much lighter and easier to carry by hand. My back thanked me. I pushed the compost into the bags with an oversized rubber glove. Much easier than shoveling. Important thing to do, as I may have mentioned last year in this thread, is to control the opening of the plastic bag with a 5-gallon bucket whose bottom has been cut out. Lay the bucket sideways on the ground with the plastic bag attached behind, and just shove compost into the bucket-bag combo. You can work fast that way--much better than a shovel, I think, like that YouTube person recommended. I think I may have provided a link to the YouTube video last year in this thread, or in a different thread. It took about 15 to 17 rubber-gloved shoves of compost to fill each bag to the right weight for me. Twenty or more shoves caused the bags to be too heavy and not easy to carry. Last year, I used 2-millimeter thick bags that were much tougher to tear. This year I used 1-millimeter thick plastic bags, and must have torn 5. Don't use 1-millimeter thick bags (go for 2 mm) because you can even tear the thinner bags while your handling them with just your hands inside your car, not just on the abrasive ground. My hands tore a hole in a bag just while lifting the bag when it was already inside my car's trunk, to reposition the bag. Two millimeters will save you time and energy. Once a bag is torn, you have to place it inside a second bag. I can't emphasize enough how much happier you will be using 2-millimeter thick bags over 1-millimeter. It took me about 2 hours to shove 60 to 66 percent of the cubic yard of compost into the plastic bags, and about another 1 hour to shove the remaining third of the cubic yard on my second car trip. So the glove-shoving alone took about 3 hours, then there's drive-time to add onto that, and unloading the bags from the car, and the preparation, etc. I also ate and rested a bit between the two trips. All-in-all it was about a 5-hour project for a cubic yard. Last year, I did it when it was nice and warm. This year it was windy and cold, probably between 45* F and 55* F. Much better to do it when warm, and not windy.

Ya ought to buy or build a "Tear-drop" trailer! Easy to tow, light weight, all set up as soon as you arrive, sleeps 2, kitchen on the back, just unhook if ya want to, or leave it hooked to the car! Won't blow down in hard wind, bears can't get cha, nor baddies! Carry a folding table and chairs, keep all yer stuff in it when traveling, and in the tow car at night! Never saw a tent that sets itself up! Although, i have seen some folks who thought the tent would do that! Sat and watched it until dark, then went to a motel!

How 'bout looking for singles campgrounds on Google? Or is that not your cup of tea? It is dry, sunny, HOT here in southern california. 90+ in Temecula. You will probably find some beautiful weather if you are you heading down along the coast. Have a great time!

Kathy ~ when you talk "cabin tent" I'm reminded of an old timey canvas "wall tent" I had many years ago. Now the thing had a ceiling height of something like 7' and there was plenty of room, but it was a heavy bugger and it practically took 6 men and a boy to set the thing up! It was like a major military operation going anyplace with the thing. I guess my point here is bigger means more weight (even though the newer materials are lighter than the old canvas) and more time to set up and maybe even more tent area for something to go amiss. What I like to do mostly with a tent is to make an overnight canoe/fishing trip down river. My main base camp is now a popup camper (tent trailer) so the tent is secondary. By the way, quite often I will pitch the tent next to the popup for storage, to get camping gear out of sight, like lanterns, fishing equipment, ect.. I'm 5' 11" and like y'all, I like to be able to stand up in the tent. Now I like the size tent I presently have and the previous one, too, which was the exact same size - 9' X 9' with a 6' peak. Pleanty of room for two people and their gear (and I should think for one little person, too). And it's an easy job of setting up and taking down. The present tent is an Eureka "Sunrise 9", I bought it a couple of years ago for $160.00 and they paid the freight - (www.vtarmynavy.com) This is an excellent summer tent in that it has great ventilation - and I've been caught out in some hard rain and it has nary leaked a drop ... that's around the windows or anyplace else. The previous tent, same size, 9' X 9' with a 6' peak, another dome style tent but it did not have the windows the present Eureka Sunrise has. But none-the-less, it was an excellent tent and I had it for a few years - also, some hard rains, but no leaks with that one either. Now I bought this tent from K-Mart - called "Northwest Territory". The tent was on a 30% Labor Day sale, regular $79.95 and I got the thing for less than sixty bucks, tax included. What's important is that tent does not owe me a dime, it was well used when I got through with it (but I also take care of my gear). Since your not going to use a tent all that much, I don't see how buying a K-Mart or Wal-Mart tent will be all that bad. Consider this, I know for a fact if you bought a tent from our local Wal-Mart and it leaked, or anything other was wrong with it, they would take it back and refund your money in a flash! I see our local Wal-Mart has tents on display and if I remember right, they were something like $59.95 for about the size I'm talking about. Bottom line: your not going to be using the tent all that often. AND, when you are using it, you'll be out doing things and the only time you will be in the tent is for dressing and sleeping. I'd vote for the Wal-Mart special. When you and DH begin planning to climb Mt. Everest, we will worry about finding you a tent with all the whisles and bells ... THEN. Good luck, Dale