30 Years in a Housetruck

Page Thirteen: Back at the Punishment Farm

When we returned home, we found that Kim and Terri had been eating the groceries that we bought the day I left. In fact, the groceries were gone. It would be understandable for them to consume perishables like milk or eggs, but they scarfed up the staples too. We asked (quite reasonably, we thought) that they replenish these food items, since we had made the purchase but then not been around to share in their consumption, but we were told in effect, "Tough luck, you move, you lose". Requests for repayment were also rebuffed. After all, $20 worth of groceries (in 1975, $20 was a lot of food) for two people who weren't making a steady income wasn't anything to walk away from. This really disturbed Woodley, who had (and still has) a fine-tuned sense of fair play and justice.

The kitchen and food seemed to be a continuous point of contention. Whenever we were able, we tried to help out with meal preparation, or to take turns doing the cooking. Since Kim and Jeep were so fond of keeping Woodley and I busy doing their projects, we frequently had to fall back on Terri being the cook. In those instances, we would take responsibility for all of the dish washing after the meal.

Woodley and I had been attempting to follow a vegetarian diet for over a year, but unless we did the cooking, we would come in from pouring and finishing cement, or digging the garden all day to be fed Hamburger Helper, meatloaf or pork chops.

As for KP, Kim would have no part of it. He never cooked, would no sooner wash dishes than eat a toad, and would consume a meal, push his chair back from the table, and walk away, leaving his plate and utensils on the table. We tried to talk to him about this, but his response was "I'm a medic. I can handle having to stuff a guy's guts back into his body cavity, but dirty dishes are too gross for me".

Attempts to have "house meetings" to try and work out some of our disagreements didn't go very well. Terri was "very sensitive" and as soon as any complaints or dislikes were expressed, she would break into tears and run out of the room, which of course, put Kim into major defensive mode.

In all, Woodley and I decided that it was time for us to get busy and begin assembling our own kitchen to relieve some of the stress resulting from using the kitchen in the rental trailer. As such, we began building a kitchen counter for my Housetruck. I guess we chose my truck due to it's being bigger. My refrigerator was larger as well, and my cook stove free-standing. Woodley's step van was going to require some careful planning to fit in kitchen appliances and counters without it getting crowded in a hurry.

Woodley had good woodworking skills, but neither of us had built kitchen cabinets before. We just started logically, building a base and toe-kick from 2x4 lumber set on edge. Over that, half a sheet of plywood, cut two feet wide. Some 2x2 and 2x4 framing and another half sheet of plywood for the countertop base. Everything was cut and fitted to the space in the rear corner of the truck box were it would be installed. We decided early on to make the cabinet free standing rather than built in. This was a good choice for several reasons. I needed to pull the cabinet away from the wall several times over the years to change paneling, add plumbing or electrical, or make modifications to the cabinet's back.

Instead of nails to assemble the wood, we used wood glue and ⅜” hardwood dowels. I had never used these as fasteners before, but the construction seemed sturdy, and using the doweling jig to make blind fastenings made it all seem that much more craftsmanlike.

It would be a while before the counter would be ready for use, but in the meantime, we scoured the local building materials supply stores for a double stainless steel sink, a faucet and the bits of plumbing that would be necessary to eventually complete the project.