I ENJOYED 7 STRAIGHT HOURS OF EDUCATIONAL TELEVISION TODAY

A CANDID SHOT OF KELLY & PHEEBS THIS MORNING

The discontinued same-same barking dog route around the block which we gave up a month ago has actually turned out to be a good thing.  Each morning now finds us walking/hiking in a different section of desert.  This morning we Jeeped out to an area just north of House/Indian Rock.  The area around Indian Rock is a favorite hiking area because of it’s large boulders & rock formations.  Very pretty with all the varieties of cactus & long scenic views out over the desert floor.  But this morning we wanted to check out a rugged piece of road we had first come across a couple years ago.  Located it, parked the Jeep & headed off on foot.

YES WE COULD TAKE THE JEEP DOWN THIS ROAD BUT AT WHAT COST

 

THIS ROUGH GULLIED & BOULDER LADEN ROAD LEADS TO A DISTANT VALLEY

EASY TO SEE SOME OF THE DRIVING DIFFICULTIES HERE

It became apparent right away we would not be trying to head down this road with the Jeep.  We probably could have slowly made our way along it but no road is worth voluntarily risking damage to a vehicle.  Our Jeep is stock straight from the factory.  No monster tires & it’s not raised an extra couple feet off the ground with super duper shocks & all that stuff.  Not customized in any way so there is a limit to where we can go with it.  The smart thing is in knowing where a vehicle’s limits are & resisting that ever present young guy’s urge to just go do it anyway.

THE CHALLENGING ROAD PICKS IT’S WAY THROUGH ROCKS & BOULDERS HEADING FOR THAT GAP ON THE HORIZON… LONG SHADOWS INDICATE AN EARLY MORNING HIKE

 

The road was rough underfoot with ruts, steep gulley's, jutting rocks & loose gravel.  Kelly found herself a dead Agave plant stock & used it as a walking support stick.  Pheebs & I went on ahead a bit to see if the road eased up a bit but it didn’t.  Only tracks on the ground were from ATV’s.  I could see the only way to make our way through this valley between tall rock strewn Saguaro Cactus was on an ATV.  No point in us going any further so we turned around & made our way back to the Jeep. 

Temperatures were coming up as we bounced our way along the twisting windy roads leading back to Congress.  It had been another nice jaunt in the desert to an area we hadn’t walked before.  I always love seeing new stuff.

KELLY FINDS AN OLD AGAVE PLANT & DECIDES TO MAKE A WALKING STICK OUT OF IT

 

HAD TO BREAK THE BOTTOM PRICKLY HALF OF THAT AGAVE OFF

LOOSE STONES & GRAVEL MADE THESE STEEP DESCENTS DIFFICULT FOR KELLY

With Remembrance/Veteran’s day approaching the History channel had back to back programming on the history of World War 2.  I’ve always had an interest in history & years ago read countless books regarding the wars.  Today was one of those days as I sat for 6 hours watching an excellent Canadian series in 6 parts called D-Day To Victory & an hour watching a biography on British Air Ace Douglas Bader.  This is the fellow who flew with 2 wooden legs.  Much of the 6 segment series involves interviews with remaining Canadian, British, & American veterans & I find their stories so compelling.  In my book reading days it was mainly the American side of the war I read about but in these latter years it is the Canadian side of the war I have become more interested in & it is at this time of year around November 11th I look forward to watching the history channel to understand those harsh realities of that time.  I consider today’s 7 straight hours of history television the best 7 hours of television viewing I have spent for many years. 

 

PHEEBS & I WENT ON AHEAD TO SEE IF THE ROAD GOT ANY BETTER & IT DIDN’T

LOOKING BACK IN THE DIRECTION OF CONGRESS

And a word about the History channel.  Once a favorite television channel of mine years ago I have become so disappointed in the direction they have decided to go with their programming.  A show called ‘Pawn Stars’ has pretty well taken over this once fine & respected educational channel.  If I click on the history channel 10 times you can bet 9 of those times it will have the show ‘Pawn Stars on.’  The history channel fills about 90% of it’s air time with this show & another one called ‘Pickers’ or something.  Another wheeler-dealer format.  I’m not one who cares for these types of shows whatsoever!!!!

 

IT WAS A WEEK AGO SATURDAY WE HIKED UP THAT HILL ON THE LEFT

Figured the true test as to how well our new Omni antenna was working would be when we turned on our computers this morning.  Would there be a connection & if there was how strong would it be.  Happy to say we did have a strong internet connection & it was reasonably fast.  If nothing goes bump in the night I will optimistically crawl out on a limb here & say ‘yes’ our new Omni antenna as solved our internet connection & strength problems.  Several readers had a few questions.  TOM asks, “What is the GAIN on the Omni? IN radio or telecom, 3 db is twice the power. Also another thing with radio, is that the cable length is tuned. Is this the cable that came with the Omni”?  Don’t know the answer about GAIN & yes the 20’ cable came with the antenna.  DAVE asks, “Al, in the "Wi-Fi Settings" there are two choices -- 2.4GHz and 5.0GHz, have your tried both settings”?  Kelly is guessing we have the 2.4GHz but we’re not sure.  And IVAN had this caution about the antenna, “You may want to research/consider adding a ground wire or grounding block to your antenna cable ... I had a scanner antenna on my roof and it got hit by lightning. Blew off a bit of siding the coax ran under, and fried my computer even though it was not connected and was unplugged. Luckily, the coax burned off before much more damage could be done”. 

And a note to KL…..like you I use the jpeg format for all my photos, not the Raw format.  Oh, & what did Kelly get at the North Ranch garage sale Saturday you ask…….one small green  plastic outside folding table to set beside her front porch chair to set her afternoon tea on.  Total garage sale expenditure….$2 & yes our Omni signal remained strong & reliable all day.  Bonus:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A lady reflecting back on her annual summer vacation trek from Chicago to a cabin on a lake in Wisconsin has this memory.  Every year, it seems, we would get on a highway a few miles out of the city, and mom would wail, "Oh my goodness! I think left the iron on." And almost every year we would turn around and go back. But as I recall, not once was it was ever plugged in. She often had the same fear that all our earthly possessions would disappear in a fire caused by her forgetfulness.  When I was about 14 years old, we were headed out of Chicago for Lake Geneva, Wisconsin and, sure enough, Mom gasped, "I just know I left the iron on."  My father didn't say a word, just pulled over onto the shoulder of the road, got out, opened the trunk and handed her the iron.

SO WHAT DID AN OMNI ANTENNA, A VERIZON JET PACK & A WILSON SLEEK AMPLIFIER HAVE TO DO WITH MY DAY…

US GUYS ARE THE BESTEST PALS:))

We decided a month or so ago we didn’t really need to check out any more garage sales.  We have everything we need for the house & we just didn’t want to get in the habit of dragging home more ‘stuff.’  Well old habits can be hard to break.  For the past 2 years we have attended the annual second November Saturday garage sale at North Ranch here in Congress.  The pull was too strong this morning for Kelly & off she went.  I stuck to my guns & stayed home.  Besides, I had a little project on the go.

YEP SHE’S THE QUEEN OF THE HOUSE ALRIGHT

Our Omni internet antenna from the 3G store arrived late Friday afternoon & I was anxious to get it up before it got too hot out today.  Figured we’d put it at the second highest peak on our house which is at the south end.  I later changed that thought but in the meantime I determined I would have to put the antennae on another piece of wood before affixing that piece of wood to the roof peak.  And I would have to do everything with a screwdriver because I have not been able to find my Black & Decker battery powered drill since we arrived.  Only conclusion is that I left it in Bayfield.  Also needed to saw up a piece of wood.  Luckily I had brought an older Skil saw along with us last year & just left it here.  But there was a problem.  When I retrieved the saw from the shed it was immediately apparent it was not going to work.  A Pack Rat had chewed the electrical cord off right at the plug.  I’m usually in the habit of cutting electrical cords off things before I throw them in the garbage & fortunately I had a couple cords hanging around.  Spliced the connection, wrapped things up with electrical tape & I was back in business.

A BUSY WORKBENCH THIS MORNING

Managed to screw the antennae mount to the small block of wood & to make a long story short I abandoned the idea of putting the antenna on the secondary peak & decided to just go ahead & put it on the highest peak which as it turned out was an easier install anyway than the secondary peak.  Of course that meant another climb up on the roof but I’ve got that down pat now so no problem.  Half an hour later I had everything in place & we hooked up the coaxial cable & ran it down the roof over the edge & into Kelly’s bedroom window.  So, did we immediately get on-line with lightning speed coverage??  No we did not!!

 

YES I KNOW THE INSTALLATION ISN’T PRETTY BUT IT WORKS

I have been around too long & know better than to allow myself any of those silly optimistic thoughts when it comes to technical things like this working & my knowing better stood me in good steed this morning.  I always figure it’s better to aim low & if you hit high it’s always a double good feeling rather than aim high only to hit low & suffer a double disappointment.  Yes I was really hoping this antenna was going to solve our problems but in reality I of course had my doubts.  We quickly fired up our computers only to be greeted with white screens saying something to the effect, ‘This page cannot be displayed’.  Now what!!!!  Ok, one thing at a time.  Our Verizon Jet Pack showed the antenna sending a good signal to it but that signal was not reaching our computers.  Next we plugged in our Wilson Sleek & the signal improved even more but our internet still had a sporadic signal.  Pages were definitely opening faster when we were connected but we still have a connection problem of some kind.  So when it works it works great & when it doesn’t work it doesn’t work worth a darn.  Wrote this at 11:30 a.m. Saturday morning.

OUR VERIZON JET PACK CRADLED IN THE WILSON SLEEK & HOOKED UP TO THE NEW OMNI

Just noticed our Friend Connect box on the sidebar shows we have a new Blog Follower.  Welcome aboard to Jerry Criswell.  Clicked on your name Jerry but Google came back with a 404 error saying your URL couldn’t be found.  Thanks for dropping in……………

6 p.m. Saturday night…….Whatever little bugs & gremlins were in the Omni/Jet Pack/Wilson Sleek system this morning seem to have resolved their differences & our internet worked great for the rest of the day.  What I first thought was a big bust has turned out be be a big success as I write this tonight:))

SHE THINKS SHE IS A LAP DOG & I AM HAPPY SHE THINKS LIKE THAT:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((     Three boys were heading home from school one day when one started the time-honored game of paternal one-upmanship. He said, "My dad's way faster than any of yours, he can throw a 90-mph fastball from the pitcher's mound and run and catch it just after it crosses the plate!" One of the other boys said, "Oh yeah? Well my dad can shoot an arrow from his bow and run to the target and hold it up to make sure the arrow hits the bullseye!" The last boy said, "Your dads don't even come close to being faster than mine. My dad works for the government, and even though he works every day until 4:00 he gets home at 3:30!"

A BETTER DAY & SOME MORE FULL MOONINESS

ALL OF MY MOON SHOTS IN TONIGHT’S POST WERE TAKEN THIS MORNING FROM OUR BACK YARD AS THE FULL MOON SETTLED DOWN BEHIND A ROCKY RIDGE ABOUT A QUARTER MILE BEHIND OUR HOUSE

My bedroom faces east & with Thursday night’s full moon spilling in through my open window & across my bed I crawled in between warm flannel sheets.  It’s not that it was cold out I just like the feel of flannel sheets.

RATHER THAN SELECT A COUPLE OF THE BETTER MOON PHOTOS I HAVE DECIDED TO INCLUDE ALL OF THEM SIMPLY BECAUSE EACH ONE IS DIFFERENT

Standing in our front yard Thursday night about 5:45 Arizona time we watched the big moon lumber up & over the southern end of Arizona’s Weaver Mountains.  My camera remained in the house hanging on the wall.  Just wasn’t in a photo mood & with so many moon photos I decided to just use 3 from my files for Thursday night’s post.  They were taken of November’s full moon from our front yard one year ago about the same time as last night’s full moon.  First photo showed the setting sun’s last rays lighting up the top portion of a cloud bank from which the moon had just risen.  The lower portion of the cloud bank was in shadow & that’s why it appeared darker.  The overall lighting was such that the exposure allowed detail both in the highlighted cloud & moon as well as in the darker clouds below.  Sometimes things come together just right for photos like that.  In other words, a lucky shot.

TONIGHT’S PHOTOS WERE TAKEN WITH MY NIKON D3100 (DSLR) USING A 70-300mm NIKKOR LENS AT ISO 800 & HAND HELD

BLACK & WHITE

I still think in the grand scheme of RV living it is the 5th wheels which due to their design are able to offer the best in innovative floor plans.  The upstairs bedroom & washroom are uniquely separated from the kitchen & living room giving them a nice split level feeling.  They don’t have that long bowling alley look to them.  Our first Snow Birding RV was a Rockwood 5th wheel.  A nice one of course but I won’t go into all the reasons why we switched to a Motorhome but can say one of the many things we like about Class A’s is the large windshield which when parked is like a big bay window at one end of the living room.  Both reclining Captain’s chairs swivel around giving us two extra comfortable seats.  It’s a stand up area also giving us an additional 2 side windows for extra viewing & ventilation.  We don’t think of this area as wasted living space.  Both in dash A/C & heat can be utilized as an option if necessary plus the in-dash radio, cd player, etc provides easy access to it’s own entertainment center.  CB radio is also easily accessible if needed.  And the large flat dash area provides a nice greenhouse area for people who we sometimes see with their treasured houseplants, teddy bears, or family pets.  Just a few extra thoughts on why we prefer a Motorhome Donna:))   If interested I have a whole bunch more………

MY PHOTO EDITING PROGRAM IS GOOGLE’S FREE PICASA 3.9

Still keeping a close eye on the weather over in Niland/Slab City.  Mid 80’s this coming week but looks like temps may soon be dropping into the 70’s a week later.  That could very well be the time we head over to Solar Mikes for him to troubleshoot our inverter problem.  I’ll just be a happy guy to be on the road going somewhere again.

For a change of pace we drove to the end of Ghost Town Road this morning about a mile from our place, parked the Jeep at the Pioneer Cemetery & walked ourselves around on the original town site where Congress once stood in it’s earliest days.  Reason for the town here at one time was the big Congress Gold Mine right next to it.  Nothing much left of the old town anymore except a couple old cemeteries, broken glass & pottery plus a a few pieces of rusting tin found here & there overgrown with cactus.  Tailings from the large mine just up the road are still visible plus a few old shacks but there are no trespassing signs up because there are still some people there working the mine tailings. (Tailings, also called mine dumps, culm dumps, slimes, tails, refuse, leach residue or slickens, are the materials left over after the process of separating the valuable fraction from the uneconomic fraction (gangue) of an ore) A neighbor told us our cowboy house was built by a miner working at that mine back in the 50’s & our house has a lot of wood in it from some of the old mine shacks which were torn down at that time.  We can see those old weathered pieces of wood up in our attic.  And they sure are old & they sure a weathered.

ONE OF TWO OLD CEMETERIES AT THE OLD CONGRESS TOWN SITE

 

STILL MEMORIES OF THE ONCE BUSY MINING TOWN TO BE FOUND HERE WHERE THE BUSTLING STORES & STREETS ONCE WERE

 

JUST A FEW MINING SHACKS LEFT OF A ONCE LARGE & PROSPEROUS GOLD MINE

A HILLSIDE WATER TANK PARTIALLY OBSCURES VULTURE PEAK & OUR HOUSE IS JUST SOMEWHERE TO THE LEFT OF DEAD CENTER

Rather than sliding into the doldrums again today I was fortunately overpowered by a sense of cleaning.  Hauled out the vacuum & started in my bedroom which carried on to the living room.  Wiped down furniture & mopped floors.  I always like whenever I shift into cleaning mode because it always gives me a sense of well being & accomplishment when I’m done.  Took 2 of us though to ride shotgun & rustle out a whole herd of dust Elephants we found under the furniture………

And a word of thanks to readers once again for their kind comments & emails.  I have a choice each night when I sit down to write my post & as long time readers may agree I chose to write how I feel.  I don’t try to gloss things over giving the impression everything is wondrously awesome when it is not.  If I’m feeling depressed it’s going to show up in my writing just as my feelings of happy or anger do.  If I write about sadness or depression sometimes it is not to elicit sympathy or garner attention.  And it is certainly not ‘self serving’ as someone eluded to in a Shout Box comment awhile back.  It’s just me writing about how I feel & I thank readers for being patient & understanding of that…………And a big Happy Birthday to Suzy way down there in that Benson town:))

GROANER’S CORNER:((     Grandpa was celebrating his 100th birthday and everybody complimented him on how athletic and well-preserved he appeared. "Gentlemen, I will tell you the secret of my success," he cackled. "I have been in the open air day after day for some 75 years now." The celebrants were impressed and asked how he managed to keep up his rigorous fitness regime. "Well, you see my wife and I were married 75 years ago. On our wedding night, we made a solemn pledge. Whenever we had a fight, the one who was proved wrong would go outside and take a walk."

JUST A SHORT POST TONIGHT

Feeling a little under the weather today I had not intended to write a post tonight but it was an email from an RV friend a few weeks ago that had me write this return to him tonight…. ‘Thanks for all your kind words regarding my blog.  It's folks like you who give folks like me the inspiration & confidence to write & take photos every day.  It is me who in the end have the readers to thank for giving me a purpose & a reason for getting up in the morning.  Something to look forward to & something to creatively occupy my time.  It's a big help for a restless personality like mine’. 

So it’s just a short post tonight once again thanking readers for all their support & encouraging words over the years.  If it wasn’t for you folks I sure would have missed a lot of enjoyable writing hours & photography moments over these past 9 years.

GROANER’S CORNER:(( I was lying in my hospital bed on the third day after an accident when my eight-year-old granddaughter arrived with her mom.
She looked in awe at the wrist-to-shoulder cast on left arm, then asked to see the rest of the damage. I showed her my broken right ankle, which wasn't in a cast yet; my left leg, bruised knee to thigh; and, pushing back my bangs a raw bump the size of an egg above my eyebrow.
Her blue eyes wide, she asked earnestly, "Grandma, can I take you to school tomorrow for show and tell?"