explicitly cast simplexml nodes to string.
Merge branch '7.x-1.x' into eliminate_warnings_during_installation
removed redundant calls to drupal_mkdir. pull drupal_mkdir out of loop to stop warnings.
Merge branch '7.x-1.x' into eliminate_warnings_during_installation
added drupal_mkdir() calls for creating parent dirs back in.
Merge pull request #14 from ucsf-drupal/eliminate_warnings_during_installation

Eliminate WD warnings during site installation