Give Me a Hand

Last summer BJ commented that it would be nice to have a grab handle inside the door. We actually stopped at a Home Depot somewhere in Eastern Washington on our way to Spokane and purchased one, but held off on the installation thinking we might find something better.

Since we've given the handle six months to age, I figured it was time to get it off the bench and get it installed. It took longer to drive to the hardware store to get the right length screws and acorn nuts than it did to install the handle. The upper three screws use stainless washers since they're exposed on the back side of the stair bulkhead.

The lower three screws also use acorn nuts, but with cheaper washers since they're hidden inside the cabinet that forms the right hand side of the stairs.

Turns out, I rather like the handle and wonder why we didn't do it sooner.

More Lights

I was going to link this post to another, but it turns out I apparently never did a post when I added some additional LED lights, so this post will document what I did recently as well as what I did a couple years ago.

Every year I think there are no more mods to do on our Scamp, and every year we end up with a few things on the list by the end of our summer travels.

Our trailer doesn't have an oven. What it does have are two cavernous cabinets below the stove that are the definition of black holes. The upper cabinet typically has extra paper towels, paper plates, and bread.

The lower cabinet is even darker, and we use it as the home for our pots & pans.

A couple years ago we got a pair of Striberg lights from Ikea. One replaced the light below the communications shelf, and one added light on the mirror in the bathroom. These assemblies draw 3.5 watts when they're on. While these lights have a sensor for automatic operation, we didn't use that feature in either of the two initial installations.

The packaging makes you think the lights are 110v, but in fact, the included power supply converts the 110 AC to the 12 v. DC that the lights require. I toss the power supply and direct wire the lights to a 12 volt source.

I could have used more strip lighting, but thought the auto-on feature would be nice in these cabinets, so we sprung for a couple more Striberg lamps.

The lamp assemblies could be mounted with double-faced VHB tape, but I've had good success using the snap mounting bracket that Ikea includes in the package. They also include a pair of threaded stand-offs in the package - I've never found a good use for those!

It made for a clean installation. It was a bit challenging since I was installing it on the back side of the cabinet face frames, working in the blind and backwards, but the installation still went pretty quick.

I took this picture before I finished the wire routing. Real pleased with the lit cabinet. It will be much easier to find stuff.

Unfortunately, the auto-on feature isn't going to work. There's enough light gap around the cabinet doors, the light never goes out. Instead, we'll just use the switch when we need the light.

Fountain Hills

Another one of those spots I've always driven past is the 'lake' in Fountain Hills. The fountain is rather famous. When it was built, it was the world's tallest fountain. Using all three 600 hp pumps, the fountain shoots 560 feet high. Normally they only use two pumps for a height of 300 feet. On the day I was there, the fountain wasn't operating.

The lake is filled with reclaimed water and thus no swimming or boating is allowed. There's a wide array of public art around the lake. When I was there it was abundantly clear that many of the local residents enjoy an early morning walk around the lake with their four-legged friends, although this was the only turtle spotted.

This sculpture intrigued me, in part because it seemed it was an open invitation for kids to climb on it.

This was the smallest sculpture that caught my eye,

but it was the horse that sucked me in. I must have spent 30+ minutes looking at the details of this fascinating piece of art.

Everywhere you looked, you'd spot another unlikely component to this horse. This is the left side

And this is the right side. Somewhere, there's an old, now empty, kitchen!

Yes, there's a geocache there somewhere. No, I didn't find it although others have since I was there. I'm going to have to go back with BJ since she spots stuff I can't find.