ALMOST TO POOPED TO POST TONIGHT

GETTING UP CLOSE & PERSONAL WITH A LARGE AGAVE PLANT THIS MORNING…ONE WRONG MOVE WITH THESE DAGGER TIPPED PLANTS & ONE IS EASILY SKEWERED…IN FACT BY THE TIME WE WERE DONE DA SARGE WAS DEFINITELY LOOKING A LITTLE SKEWERED ALRIGHT:((

It turned out to be one of the those pedal to the metal kind of days & we hit the decks a running first thing this morning.  With handyman Les showing up at 7:30 a.m. we were up & had the front gate open early.  Les works very fast & efficiently & within an hour he had our living room/dining room door frame looking good again as well as an area of ceiling repaired.  He’ll be back in a couple days to finish a final few things up.  When he pulled in he had a load of broken concrete & small sections of a brick wall in his trailer for disposal.  I unloaded the sections of brick for him because I figured we could use them for something somewhere on the property.  About 3 wheelbarrow loads I took off his hands for him.

 

NEEDED A PLACE TO STORE THESE BRICKS SO TOSSED THEM IN AROUND THIS PRICKLY PEAR CACTUS FOR NOW

After unloading the small bricks I had myself some momentum going so hooking up the utility trailer Kelly & I headed over to North Ranch stopping at Renee & Dave’s place to begin loading up a bunch of larger 7.5 x 15.5 solid heavy cement/adobe bricks.  Renee & Dave recently bought a place in North Ranch & had a small brick L-shaped wall in front of a utility shed they wanted removed.  Fortunately the bricks were not mortared in place & were easily movable.  Over the course of a few hours & 5 trips with the Jeep & utility trailer Kelly & I managed to transport about 106 bricks back to our place.  Could only take about 30 at a time because of the weight.  Renee & Dave helped load them up & I unloaded them back home in our front yard.  In over 3 months I had not been to North Ranch once & today I was in & out of there 5 times.

DAVE & I POSE WITH THE LAST LOAD OF BRICKS…I’M THE SHORT GUY WITH THE HAT TOO BIG FOR HIM….Photo by Kelly

RENEE RESTS AFTER LOADING BRICKS…Photo by Kelly

Now mixed in with moving all those big bricks Kelly & I also stopped into John & Jackie's (Sarge) place just up the highway from North Ranch a few miles & dug out nearly a dozen small Agave plants.  John, using a reciprocating saw cut the large leaves off the bottom of the Mother plant & I was able to get some of the younger Agave stocks dug out around the base.  With a heavy load of bricks in the trailer I noticed one of the trailer tires nearly flat so John hooked up his compressor & I pumped it back up.  They also needed to rid themselves of some decorative grass so on our next brick run down the road we were able to make another stop at Sarge’s place to dig some grass out.  Of course I brought clumps of that grass home & managed to get that all re-planted as well.

 

PLANTED THESE TALL GRASS CLUMPS ALONG THE NORTH SECTION OF OUR FRONT YARD FENCE

Our temperatures reached 81F today so I had myself A sweat going on but no matter, we just wanted to get those 2 jobs done.  In the morning I will begin planting the the Agave plants.  That is of course if I can even move in the morning.  With each brick weighing in the neighborhood of 35 to 40 pounds I figure we moved well over a ton of bricks today.  I am already stiffened up tonight so I imagine by morning I will be in a totally seized mode.  But no matter because it was just great to get out & get some much needed upper body exercise for a change.  We have no idea what we will do with all these bricks but I’m sure we’ll think of something before too long.  When things are free it’s pretty hard to turn things down:))

UNLOADING & STACKING THE BRICKS

OUR NEW FRONT YARD BRICK PILE

In my Tuesday night post about being 70 I’m afraid I didn’t write myself too clearly about something.  My 70th birthday was actually back in the early part of October so I had a few months to assess my 70th thoughts before writing about them.  Sorry about the confusion but thanks to you folks who wished me a happy birthday anyway.  Your hearts was in the right place:))

  

YEP I’VE GOT ME SOME CACTUS PLANTING TO DO IN THE MORNING

I knew by the 3rd load of bricks I should have stopped today but many of you know what it’s like when you start a project & just can’t stop until it’s finished regardless of how you feel.  Sitting here typing this tonight I am so tired I could easily doze off at my keyboard.  That has actually happened to me a few times.  But it’s a good tired & a good tired is always, well…………just a good tired:))

KIND OF TOOK ME A FANCY TO THE LOOKS OF THIS 2001 KAWASAKI THIS AFTERNOON

GROANER’S CORNER:(( They were looking down into the depths of the Grand Canyon. "Do you know," asked the guide, "that it took millions and millions of years for this great abyss to be carved out?"  "Well, I'll be darned," exclaimed the traveler. "I never knew this was a government job."

ABOUT BEING 70

ANOTHER SETTING MOON THIS MORNING
Bit of a lack luster morning here I’m afraid.  Headed for Wickenburg to pick up my new glasses & was happy the blurriness problem with the left lens has been corrected.  Well as best as it can be corrected that is.  I do have an Astigmatism in my left eye which no lens can correct so I always do have a slight blurring problem especially with light points.  If I look at the Moon with only my right eye I see the Moon clearly.  If I look at it with only my left eye I see the Moon & a reflected quarter Moon right beside it.  If I look at a single point of light with my problem eye I will see 2 or three blurry points of light.  It’s just the way it is & it’s called an astigmatism.

THIS IS WHAT OUR BAYFIELD ONTARIO AREA LOOKED LIKE THIS MORNING…IS IT ANY WONDER WE PULL OUT ALL THE STOPS & HEAD SOUTH EVERY WINTER…73F TODAY
A quick stop at TSC (Tractor Supply Company) for dog food & bird seed then our last stop of the morning landed us at Safeway for a boat load of groceries.  Home before noon & that was it for us guys.  Very seldom we head out anywhere after high noon.  It’s almost like we’ll turn into big round Pumpkins if were not home by 12 every day.  Handyman Les will be here at 7:30 in the morning to finish up a couple small repair jobs & I’ll see if I can get anything accomplished after he’s finished up & left.  I’m thinking bricks & Agave plants but I gotta git er done before noon because……..well you know.

A WEE GAME OF FRISBEE IN THE BACK YARD TODAY
    
The tech savvy folks over at Technomadia have just posted a must read for boondockers.  Entitled, BACK TO BOONDOCKING: EXTENDING THE HOLDING TANKS.   They have shared tips & ideas of their own experiences while camped out in the wilds for weeks at a time.  And they do it in a big old groovy bus too:))

THIS HANDSOME GAMBLE’S QUAIL IS STRUTTING HIS STUFF
For a humorous but factual look at things learned sometimes the hard way by RV’ers on the road be sure to read this latest post from Just Wanderin: Things I Learned RVing.

So how do I feel about being 70?  Well I’m not sure as it only recently snuck up from behind & tapped me on the shoulder.  I know it’s only a number but we humans have been measuring our time here on earth with numbers for centuries.  It is an easily referenced marker point.  But aside from the number how do I really feel about it now that I’ve reached an age I once thought of when I was a teen-ager as old, feeble, & definitely elderly?

Physically, not too bad as I look around & see so many debilitating things that can & do begin to afflict people my age.  So far I have been reasonably fortunate but I am not naïve about that good fortune.  Time eventually comes for us all & I have just been lucky so far.  I have no respiratory or heart problems I am aware of.  No major illness or disease.  Arthritis in my legs causes me problems on occasion but it’s not all the time & it’s not crippling.  A couple kidney stones a few years ago, no severe back pain now for about half a dozen years & some worrisome knee & hip problems a couple years ago finally cleared up on their own.  Broke a wrist & toe in a motorcycle accident 20 years ago & that’s been as far as breaking stuff.  I am still able to run for a short distance if I had too but I’m not going to try any more headstands or cartwheels any time soon.   Gave that up when I quite drinking over 35 years ago.  Getting down then back up off the floor or ground isn’t a pretty site but at least with some swearing & grunting I’m still able to do it.  At least if I fall down I know I can still get myself back up again.  I don’t seem to walk or hike as far as I once did but I think that has more to do with laziness than any kind of physical problem.  Blood pressures always good & I think my cholesterol levels are finally closer to acceptable levels.   Haven’t lost any of my driving skills, sense of balance is intact & I can keep my motorcycle upright.  And I bet I could still do a little hot dogging on my bicycle, cross country ski, or even strap on a pair of downhill skis again & tumble myself all the way to the bottom of the nearest bunny hill. 

But it’s mentally where I see greater changes in myself.  I definitely still have a young boy, teen-age, & young adult mind-set at times but it has been toned down over the years.  The wonderment of youth is gone as is the excitable boyhood years.  It’s not often I get really over the top excited about anything anymore & I do miss that.  I’ve always had a keen sense of humor but it doesn’t seem to flow out of me as freely as it once did years ago.  And I don’t hear myself laughing as much anymore either.  I think I could laugh alright if I saw or heard something I thought truly funny but where has all the funny gone.  Guess it’s just me.   Don’t know where all my patience has disappeared to but it certainly has got up & vanished alright.  Failure of short term memory is my most antagonizing & pressing foe though.  And that’s where lack of patience with myself really becomes a hindrance.  I don’t take kindly to forgetting things & not being able to retain needed information in my memory just riles me up something fierce at times.  But of course my poor short term memory is nothing new.  I’ve had that problem all my life but now at 70 it is of course a much bigger problem.  It is one of the reasons all this new techno stuff has left me in the dust these last number of years.  My brain just will not cooperate with me in patiently figuring things out.  And if it does remember to cooperate it doesn’t seem to remember it just cooperated.  It’s the darndest thing.  But in other areas I’m happy that my mind seeks information & asks questions every day.  It’s always thinking, always trying to figure things out, always attempting to make sense where there seems to be little or no sense in the first place, always trying to tie up loose ends & find logical solutions to illogical situations, & forever looking for answers where answers are not always readily forthcoming. All & all I guess 70’s not too bad…….if you take into consideration all the Senior Discounts that is.  So in conclusion I guess I really don’t have too much to complain about in the grand scheme of things.  I’m not aware of any bad stuff going on within my body yet so maybe I’ll be good for another year or six…………Ya’figure:))

GROANER’S CORNER:(( The barn at Larry and Susan's farm burned down, and Susan called the insurance company.  Susan: "We had that barn insured for fifty thousand and I want my money."  Agent: "Whoa there just a minute, Susan, it doesn't work quite like that. We will ascertain the value of the old barn and provide you with a new one of comparable worth."  Susan, after a pause: "I'd like to cancel the policy on my husband."

RAN MYSELF OUT OF ENERGY BY EARLY AFTERNOON

OUR MORNING’S SETTING MOON & IT’S THE ONLY PHOTO I TOOK TODAY

We had no choice but to fire up our two big $baseboard heaters$ this morning.  Just too darn cold in the house without them.  Fixed up myself a piece of toast just so’s I could warm my hands over the toaster.  Soon as old Sol popped over yonder Weaver Mountains we flung open our curtains to let his warming rays flood through our frigid windows bringing much appreciated warmth into our cold house.  Nice full Moon in our backyard slowly settled behind a tall rocky desert ridge making for a scenic start to our day.  First Monday of a brand new year.

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Couple loads of laundry right off, move the rig into it’s parking area, lawn chairs & gardening tools back out, porch furniture out, etc. etc.  It’s good to be busy & that’s what I like about our Congress sticks & bricks.  Offers me a welcome alternative & is one of my main defenses against boredom.  A nice mixture of home & travel.  In about 3 weeks I’ll be chomping at the bit to head off down the road somewhere again:))

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Handyman Les came over this morning to fix a couple kitchen faucets but we’re thinking we just may need a whole new faucet assembly.  Les is also repairing a door arch that was damaged by a roof leak years ago & never repaired correctly.  He will be back early Wednesday morning with a few more pieces of lumber.  He is also bringing some cactus plants from his gardens for our gardens.  Said he’s thinning out some of his flower beds & needs to get rid of some stuff.  Bonus:))  I also have some bricks & Agave plants to pick up with my utility trailer this week as well. 

ONE OF MY FILE COLLAGES FROM YEARS AGO

My new glasses are in again so it’s off to Wickenburg in the morning to see if they have successfully corrected the blurry problem in the left lens.  And we’ll be needing some groceries of course plus a couple other stops.  Saw 3 Javelina’s on the other side of our fence this morning.  First one’s we’ve seen here in 2 years.  They were gone again before I could grab my camera.  If they hadn’t snorted I wouldn’t have seen them.

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Our day warmed up nicely to around 70F & how great to feel warmth back in the air.  Wasn’t quite enough to re-energize my tired batteries though & by 2 o’clock I was done for the day.  My legs petered out & when that happens I have no choice but to climb into my recliner & give them a rest.  My legs are my Achilles Heel & if anything is going to cause me any problems it usually is my legs.

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And ‘Oh Dear’ it looks like the long running re-runs of Corner Gas may have finally come to an end.  When I checked our afternoon TV schedule the time slots for Corner Gas have all been filled with different shows.  Guess it was bound to run out of favor sooner or later.  I was just hoping it would have been later…..much later:((

THIS IS A MOON COLLAGE INTERSPERSED WITH MOONLIT CLOUDS I PHOTOGRAPHED & PUT TOGETHER USING PICASA A NUMBER OF YEARS AGO NEAR ELFRIDA ARIZONA

GROANER’S CORNER:((  A lawyer purchased a box of very rare and expensive cigars, then insured them against fire among other things. Within a month having smoked his entire stockpile of these great cigars and without yet having made even his first premium payment on the policy, the lawyer filed a claim against the insurance company.
In his claim, the lawyer stated the cigars were lost "in a series of small fires." The insurance company refused to pay, citing the obvious reason: that the man had consumed the cigars in the normal fashion. The lawyer sued ... and won!
In delivering the ruling the judge agreed with the insurance company that the claim was frivolous. The judge stated nevertheless, that the lawyer held a policy from the company in which it had warranted that the cigars were insurable and also guaranteed that it would insure them against fire, without defining what is considered to be unacceptable fire, and was obligated to pay the claim. Rather than endure a lengthy and costly appeal process, the insurance company accepted the ruling and paid $15,000.00 to the lawyer for his loss of the rare cigars lost in the "fires."
NOW FOR THE BEST PART....
After the lawyer cashed the check, the insurance company had him arrested on 24 counts of ARSON!!!! With his own insurance claim and testimony from the previous case being used against him, the lawyer was convicted of intentionally burning his insured property and was sentenced to 24 months in jail and a $24,000.00 fine.

WE ARE BACK SAFELY AT OUR CONGRESS HOME BASE BUT NOT WITHOUT LOSING SOMETHING ALONG THE WAY:((

SUNRISE AT OUR HOUSE THIS MORNING

 

SUNRISE THROUGH A WINDOW FROM OUR KITCHEN TABLE

Checking today’s weather we noticed Congress’s cold below average temperatures are finally on the rise & expected to be in the low 70’s by Tuesday.  A predicted sixty two degrees today was good enough for us so we made the decision early this morning to pull up stakes & head ourselves back to Congress.   We have company coming in a couple weeks & Kelly wanted enough time to relax & prepare for that.

WE SAID GOODBYE TO OGILBY ROAD THIS MORNING

 

SAID GOODBYE TO SKIP & JEAN TOO AS WELL AS THIS OLD RETIRED BUS JUST EAST OF US

Jean & Skip were camped just a few hundred yards from us so we stopped to say good-bye.  Didn’t get over to see our new TDHOMESTEAD friends while here on Ogilbe road but I’m sure we’ll meet these good people again somewhere.  Rather than roll through Yuma we just hung a right on Ogilbe Road & headed ourselves north on an old familiar route.  Could have slipped south & picked up I-8 through Yuma then north on 95 to Quartzsite but it was a nice quiet sunny Sunday morning & I just preferred a slower paced relaxing drive through the desert taking in all the picturesque mountain scenery along the way.  Lots of curves & gullies on this road so it’s more funner to drive:))

  

Found us a great spot in Blyth to dump our tanks.  Nice clean facility all paved & cemented with 3 dumping bays.  No potable water here for filling tanks though & there is an honor box asking for $7 a dump.  It’s the Blyth Transfer Station at 4000 South Broadway on the west side.  If nobody’s there it can be a little hard to see but it’s close to the road.  Open 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. seven days a week.  Kelly found this location by using the site SANIDUMPS.

NICE CLEAN & LEVEL DUMP FACILITY HERE AT THE BLYTH TRANSFER STATION

Just a short hop, skip, & jump to Quartzsite.  A little surprised there were not more RV’s around the Dome Rock area.  Off I-10 & headed for McDonald’s & yes, a big difference in Quartzsite traffic from just a couple weeks ago.  It’s revving up with more traffic & people wandering about willy-nilly everywhere.  We were lucky to find a parking spot between McDonald’s & the Pilot gas station.  Gas line-ups were so long we had to cut around behind the gas station through the diesel pumps when we left.  But it was while at McDonalds I noticed something missing on the rig:((

IN ANOTHER COUPLE WEEKS TRAFFIC WILL BE BUMPER TO BUMPER HERE WITH SKADS OF PEOPLE EVERYWHERE

While Kelly’s inside getting us some Yummy wraps & coffee I always take Pheebs for a walk around behind McDonalds.  Heading back to the rig I noticed our water heater door panel was totally missing.  Gone, vamoosed!!  We have no idea how, why, or where it flew off.  Somewhere between our boondocking spot on Ogilbe Road & McDonald’s in Quartzsite I guess.  Of course I assumed the worse & figured we’d have a real deuce of time ever finding the right door panel to fit a 2003 Triple E Commander.  However Kelly was on the phone right away to Quartzsite’s RV Lifestyles Sales & Service.  Lady on the other end of the phone just needed our water heaters name & size.  With that info she checked & sure enough they had a door panel to fit.  Well fancy that I thought to myself but then figured most RV water heater panels would probably be a standard size anyway.  We were only a few blocks from the RV place & minutes later we were in their parking lot & minutes after that we had a brand spanking new water heater panel on our coach.  We were told it’s not uncommon for people to lose these things.  It’s white of course & doesn’t match our coaches color or a brown detail stripe running through there but that’s Okay for now, at least it fits & covers up our water heater.  But what a stroke of luck to notice the panel missing in the first place & then having an RV facility only a few blocks away with one in stock.  Some days ya just can’t lose for winning.  A classic bad news/good news story.

While at RV Lifestyles we did have us a wee look around at a few things comparing prices.  For example a 50 amp step down to 30 amp plug device was $15 cheaper at RV Lifestyles than it was at Yuma’s Arizona Market Place & we noticed a same-same shower head was also cheaper by $4.  Pays to shop around for sure.

 

MISSING PANEL & IT’S REPLACEMENT

INSIDE RV LIFESTYLES SALES & SERVICE

Line ups at all the gas stations but we managed to slip into the newer Chevron station just off I-10 at Quartzsite’s east end.  Like this place.  Neat & clean with an attendant walking around with a broom & scoop picking up litter.  This station is also a Food Mart although we’ve never been inside.

LINE UP AT ALL THE GAS STATIONS WE SAW TODAY & THIS IS WHERE WE LIKE TO GAS UP NOW IN QUARTZSITE

Back on I-10 heading east & 15 minutes later we are already exiting the Interstate onto our quiet desert highway heading for Congress.  Just a nice easy relaxing drive all the way back just enjoying the never ending & never tiring scenery all the way. 

BYE BYE I-10 SEE YA NEXT TIME

It was just a few minutes after 2 Arizona time when we pulled into our front yard through our south gate.  Everything looked just as we had left it & I was relieved to see no waterline breaks with our 2 outside taps after the areas chilling cold temperatures a few days ago.  Everything was A-OK in the house as well except the place felt like an ice box.  Always nice to reach one’s destination each day & when it’s coming home from one of our southwestern trips it’s always extra special nice.  I was impressed with how neat our yard looked now that I’ve been able to cut in some nice flowerbeds.  Just makes the place look so much neater:))

Although we were both tired we just got right to work emptying the rig & getting things organized.  Satellite dish set up back in place, bird feeders up in the trees, hitch off the Jeep, all food into the house, etc. etc.  It was about 3 hours before I finally got into my long endless hot water supply shower.  When showering in the rig while boondocking with a limited tank of water one has get the job done very fast to conserve that water.  Ya have to kinda get yourself really speeded up like a Charlie Chaplin movie.

Looking back on our nearly 2 weeks away we have to put the stamp of success on the trip.  No problems with the rig other than loosing a panel today.  Weather could have been warmer but it was what it was & we did Okay.  Happy with the places we went & the things we saw.  And I feel a little better inside for having made the conscious effort to get out & meet a few folks for a change.  Not our normal way of doing things anymore but we did enjoy our time with the folks we did meet.  Didn’t quite get around to see all the people I had hoped but the winter isn’t over yet:))

 

KELLY OPENS THE GATE & IT’S NICE TO BE BACK AT OUR ARIZONA HOME BASE AGAIN

GROANER’S CORNER:((  In my day, we couldn't afford shoes, so we went barefoot. In the winter we had to wrap our feet with barbed wire for traction.

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I think I have found the secret to inner peace.
I read an article that said the way to achieve inner peace is to finish things I had started. Today I finished two bags of potato chips, a chocolate pie, a bottle of wine and a small box of candy. I feel better already.