I feel like I’ve been driving for a solid week. I haven’t -I’ve been home at least a portion of every day -but there has indeed been a lot of back and forth. Mostly to the hardware store.

We’re trying, you see. Trying to get the stove finished, and as usual, it hasnt gone smoothly. Friday afternoon, we repaired the pump. Saturday, we did the weekly hygiene run. Sunday, which was cold and damp and unpleasant, we took a solid run at getting the pipe figured out. And we made some small progress, at least.

But in doing so, we also discovered a few problems. (Shock and amazement) I had forgotten to get high-temp silicone for sealing around the chimney pipe, so actually making the cut through the wall would have to wait until I fixed that issue. Also, the horizontal piece of pipe that goes through the thimble was too short. I had purchased an 18″ length. I needed a 24″ length. So on Sunday afternoon, I took the piece of pipe and headed to the store to return it and get the silicone. And they were closed.

So Monday, I went again. Returned the pipe, bought the silicone, got bags of manure to plant my rhubarb in, those sorts of things. Got a few groceries.

Yesterday, the lengths of chimneypipe I had ordered arrived, so back to the store I went again to pick those up.

Today, we had to make the 2.25 hour drive to the BigCity to pick up the 24″ horizontal length, because that was the only store that had that length in stock. Carsick kiddos, numerous pee stops, arguing and bickering…it was a very long morning.

In theory, though, we have all the pieces we need now, and on Sunday, hopefully we can make solid progress. I never expected to be closing in on May stil living in the bus…