Since we live in Montana, where there is a shorter growing season for vegetable crops, we are trying to figure out ways to extend that season. The thing is that we don't necessarily want to bury the bed liner completely...looking for a way to provide some more insulation in order to possibly warm the ground up so that the plants can be put in sooner. Have looked into covering the plot with plastic, but have heard mixed reviews on the effectiveness of going that route.

dnt1 said" john g you have gotten yourself stuck on the wrong area with your business. You have to show people something besides good work and here it is. People dont care how much you know until they know how much you care. Customer service good listening skills and lots of empathy man, now get on it and get that business growing as it should." Well if it was really only that easy. I repaired a Jeep Cherokee that had bounced around between 5 shops/techs. The problem surfaced alledgedly right after a major transmission replacement. The symptom was a surging/high idle speed, missfire/cutout when driving. The AC was inoperative, the clutch would not engage. The customer had already tried adding refrigerant with sealer himself, without gages. Plus the 4WD display was blank. The soultion was the computer had failed, but before the computer could be replaced, every possible reason that something on the car could be causing the computers microprocessor to continually reset had to be explored, and proven to NOT exist. Plus I also had to be sure that something else on the data bus on the car was not causing the reset to occur. There are no training manuals anywhere, nor is there service information/repair manuals written at this level. Guys like me are totally on our own with this stuff, and we often spend two times as much time studying the system at home to make each diagnostic move faster, and in analyzing the results to make sure we haven't overlooked something which would result in a customer potentially buying a part they do not need. I had well over eight hours time in this car, and ultimately billed three. The result had everything working, and I did notice some belt squeal, it was a newer, and properly tightened (within tension specs) serpentine belt. Now do you think this guy appreciated what I did? I did not sell any unneeded parts or service and I even cut him a significant break on the real amount of time required to do that. For my trouble I can tell you that I have 80% of the fuel injection wiring diagram memorized for a 97 Jeep Grand Cherokee. That's how close I had to study this system to be positive I was making the correct call. He went out to the Jeep after paying his bill, five minutes later he came back in and wanted me to go outside and hear something. He was concerned about the belt "chirping" when the AC was turned on. He was complaining that it did not do it before, well of course it didn't, the AC had not worked in the month and a half they had been fighting this. I told him shut the engine off, and went inside and got my laptop, and my belt tension gage. I showed him the spec, then I measured the tension on the belt and showed him it was in spec. The I showed him how the belt that was on the Jeep was one of the discount aftermarket replacement ones, that does not actually fit the pulleys correctly. He still insisted that I do something, and at that point I said fine, I'll take it to the maximum tension allowed on the spec, for a fee. At that point he balked, and said it's not adjustable, it has a spring tensioner, which I really got a laugh out of, because I asked him to show it to me. Then I showed him how the belt adjusted with the idler that is just below and inside of the power steering pump. I then asked him, who put this belt on? He said it was another shop he had dealt with recently, and I asked him why not go back to them and have them deal with it? His reply? Because he didn't pay them for it. I didn't press him for details at this point, but one way or another he managed to coerce them into doing it for free, or flat out managed to rip them off somehow. In the end, he paid me to adjust the belt. I refused to touch the rest of the AC system at all, because the sealers that he added have the potential of damaging my AC recovery/recharge equipment, and I'm not ready to have to spend another $4,000 on a new one. I also told him to the best that I could be sure, the transmission shop had nothing to do with the failure of the computer. Three days later the transmission shop involved called me up. He had not seen this guy and was glad that I had straightened his Jeep out. He was having trouble with a Ford tranny he had rebuilt and needed me to help him figure out what was wrong. He had one dissapointing thing to say. No matter what the outcome was, this guy with the Jeep would bad mouth me about fixing his car. It's just the way the guy is..........

DH and I are also thinking about downsizing someday, now that we're empty nesters. Our home, while not huge at 3200 sf, is still very labor intensive with its all-brick floors, all adobe walls, 4 patios, 4 fireplaces, a 300-foot long (gravel, curvy, up and down through the trees) driveway, and several acres of land, in the mountains, achieved through a mountain pass that can get very icy during Winters, and at least 20 minutes from most stores. The realities of what we ideally would like versus what we may need is a real wakeup. When my parents originally downsized from our family home with bedrooms enough for nine kids, they bought a Winter home north of Tampa with 2 bedrooms and one bath. It seemed ultimately practical to them at the time, as my parents were very athletic and Mom was looking forward to not having a large home to clean for the first time is many, many years. But, the reality of it was sadly different. It made it very difficult for any of us with kids to visit them comfortably. At the same time, they also had a Summer place up on Lake Huron in Michigan. That, too, was small, and made visiting difficult. So, the sad reality was that the first 20 years of their retirement were spent pretty much alone, as all of their children lived in Michigan (6), Atlanta (1), Colorado (1) or New Mexico (1). We all had small kids and many of my siblings did not have the funds to put their families up in a hotel for a week, along with the airfare for them all. Mom's health took a bad turn, they sold their Florida home and moved in with my one sister and BIL's large two story home in Atlanta. But, Sis immediately had to have a stair climber put it, as stairs were too difficult for Mom . . . and eventually Dad, as well. When Mom's health progressed to a point where my sis could no longer take care of her, less than two years later, (Mom had Progressive Supranuclear Palsy), we again moved them, this time into a senior living apartment back in Michigan near the majority of their now-adult kids. This was good because it had round-the-clock staff to call if needed. It was also designed for seniors, being a one-story apartment with any tripping hazards eliminated, a walk-in shower with a seat, call buttons, wide doorways to accommodate walkers and wheelchairs, etc. So, what kind of retirement home do I see us downsizing into? Somewhere close to at least one of our kids and their family. In a community designed for retirees. 3 bedrooms and 2 baths. Hopefully wide doorways, etc. just in case, God forbid, we ever need them ourselves! A gourmet kitchen, but it doesn't have to be a large one. Open concept. a great room, instead of our now separate family room, living room and dining rooms. A walled backyard for privacy . . . and this may be our biggest compromise. Having lived here in the mountains, where we all have enough land so that neighbors daily noises aren't heard, it may be very hard to be subjected to close neighbor's music, conversations, etc.. That worries me a lot!.

You did a great job, did you finish it? I would like to see the result of your work. I dream about some RV for traveling, may be someday I will buy one. Now my budget doesn't afford me this. Recently my grandfather proposed me his old sprinter and I am thinking about to renovate it like you did. I am looking for ideas and I liked like your work. I don't need much to have but still there are big work to do. I want to do a place to sleep and to sit. I need a wardrobe for my stuffs, I think under and above the bed will be a place for shelves. Also I think to buy a small stove and fridge. And of course some little things like the lanterns, curtains, bedspread, pillows for decor. I hope I will be able to do all this work soon and to go camping.