Seeking Simplicity

Dec 18 – Jan 1

Good evening everyone.

Time once again for an overdue update.

First:  I hope everyone had enjoyable Christmas and New Years.

I spent Christmas Eve with various neighbor’s at Tom and Alicia’s.  I ate a delicious dinner completely off diet.  We played night time bali ball on rocky uneven terrain that you couldn’t see, so that was fun.

Christmas Day afternoon we had a potluck at the park and I once again gorged myself on food I ought not be eating.

New Years Eve we had another potluck at the park which was a repeat gorging, followed by a bonfire for a couple of hours.  I excused myself from the bonfire  when Sasha started barking at the Coyotes which just started their cries around 9 PM local time.

That was the fun stuff for me.  Now to fill in some details on the work and miscellaneous stories since my last post.

As predicted, other than picking up the steel posts, I got nothing done in the evenings during the week of my training as it was dark when training got over.

Saturday Dec 23, I got up around 4 AM local time, drove to Sierra Vista to start my shopping day early in hopes of avoiding the crowds.  While I had planned on starting at Lowes or Home Depot, I decided I’d rather get Walmart out of the way before it got busy with last minute shoppers.  Followed by a stop at Lowes, CoOp, TSC, Fry’s, and finally The Outside Inn.   As I got back into the Portal/Rodeo area about 90 minutes before dark, I decided the groceries in the cooler since morning could wait another couple hours.  I stopped at the property and unloaded the new wheel barrel and concrete, then drove to Tom and Alicia’s to finally retrieve my tractor (I had left it at their place while I was in Michigan).  I drove the tractor to the property, dropped off the bucket, then drove back to hookup the auger so I could move it back.  I did well at hooking up the auger considering I had never hooked it up before.  That is, until it was time to connect the hydraulic lines.  I was able to connect one line, no problems.  I could not get the other connected.  I am convince the quick connect adapter is broken.  I will call tomorrow to get a replacement ordered.  As that line was not necessary to move the auger to the property, I went ahead and moved it.  As I walked back from my property to get my truck from Tom and Alicia’s, I noticed all of Tom’s cattle 50′ or so off the drive which I had not noticed as I was driving through there on the tractor 15 minutes before.  I watched them as they watched me as I was making the 20 minute walk back down the drive.  For all the acre’s of land he has, all his cattle must have been along that drive watching me watch them with no fence between us.  I am thankful cattle are not “territorial”.  🙂  Once I made it back to my truck without getting gored, Tom hollered at me to come in and visit for a bit which I gladly accepted.  Groceries have gone this long in the cooler, what is another hour?

On the way home, I noticed some pretty red and blue Christmas lights flashing behind me on the road.  Ok. So they weren’t really Christmas lights.  The nice Hidalgo County officer informed me that 67 in a 60 was not an acceptable speed in this area.  I am thankful he let me go with a warning.  I am thankful my speedometer is 2-3 MPS off as I thought I was doing 69-70 for which he very may have written me a citation for.  So, one of many lessons I have learned this holiday season.  Don’t speed in Hildalgo County, NM.  Hmmm… Seems like I forgot that same lesson previously….  oh, that previous lesson was don’t do 70 in a 55 and pass a Sheriff’s vehicle.  Same theme, but slightly different.  🙂

Christmas Eve day I worked on the property clearing land where the solar panels will be mounted before stopping and getting cleaned up for the previously mentioned Christmas party.

Christmas day I continued work clearing the land then worked on marking the locations of the posts for the solar panel mounting system before stopping to drive back to the park to make stuffed mushrooms for the potluck.  I make two different recipes of stuffed mushrooms because they both sounded good.  Both were a hit.  I came home with an empty pan.

Shortly after Christmas Day (maybe even on Christmas day), I was reflecting on how little time I have left before I was planning on moving the trailer to the land and how slowly I am progressing with preparing the land for me to move.  So, I broke it down.  What do I need to move?

• Water for dishes and cooking.
• A place to park the trailer.
• 7×24 communication (phone and internet)

Ok.  While it is a PITA, I can haul in the water I need.

In regards to a place to park the trailer,  I can clear a spot easily enough in 4 hours with the tractor.

That leaves communications.  When I have power, I have communications.  So I need power.  While I can run the generator 24 hours a day, I prefer not to.  A compromise would be to run off battery at night which is what I was planning on anyway with the solar setup, and use the generator to charge the batteries during the day until I get the panels installed.  That means I have to get the electronics installed somewhere.  I need to move construction of the temporary structure that will house the solar system electronics up on the priority list to #1.

In terms of time management, I need to make at least one leg of a shopping trip in the dark so I am not wasting daylight.  If I can make both legs of the trip in the dark and not miss any shopping stops due to stores being closed, then even better.  Daylight needs to be used as much as possible for working on projects at the property.

I’ll also be taking a week of vacation next week so I can focus on getting that structure built and the electronics installed before Jan 20.

With the shift in project priority once again comes the need to collect tools and construction materials for the new temporary shed that will house the solar system electronics.

Off to Douglas on Thursday evening to buy lumber.

As a side note, after years of driving in a car without a radio, I have become accustomed to riding in silence with my thoughts to keep me company.  On the way to Douglas I was thinking about my recent encounter with law enforcement in NM and wondering about the presence of law enforcement in Cochise county AZ.  I only ever see boarder patrol and they don’t enforce traffic laws.  How many times have I passed AZ State or Cochise county law enforcement and never new?  Don’t know.  What is their tolerance for speeding?  Don’t know.  It has been my experience everywhere I’ve been (except Hildago county NM) for areas where the speed limit is 55+, law enforcement doesn’t bother you up to 9 mph over the limit.  Wonder what the tolerance/threshold in Cochise county is?  Hope not to find out the hard way.

Get to the hardware store 15 minutes before they close.  Buy some hardware and lumber for the shed construction.  Ask the guy loading my lumber about a good place to go for getting a tire patched as I’ve had a truck tire with a leak and I’m tired of pumping it up every couple days.  Off to TSC for what I don’t recall, then to Walmart for some groceries.

On the way home while lost in thought and practicing not speeding excessively (maybe just a little 🙂 ), a truck comes up on me.  I’m thinking – finally, I’m not the fasted driver on the road.  Waiting for him to pass, but he doesn’t.  Instead, I suddenly see pretty blue and red flashing lights.  Again?  Really?  Where am I?  Did I lose track of where I was and miss the speed limit drop from 65 to 55?  I don’t think so…  As it turns out, both of my license plate lights are out.  I did not know.  Oops…  As usual, such a stop is being used as an excuse to check for illegal activities.  After asking if I had any weapons with me, I was asked to exit the vehicle and join him by his vehicle while he called in my information.  He made conversation with me presumably to assess my state of mind (might I be under the influence).  He asked about drugs, medical marijuana license, meth, in the vehicle or on my person.  “Nope.  Feel free to search.”  It seems he thought he smelled a faint smell of marijuana.  He declined my offer to search stating there were plants in the fields near us and maybe that is what he was smelling.  I don’t know.  I just know it wasn’t me unless it was the smell of camp fire smoke from Christmas night.  He sent me on my way with a warning letter to get it fixed.  I am thankful he was kind enough to not write a fix-it ticket which would then require me to follow up and provide evidence that I fixed it.  I am thankful it was not a moving violation I was being stopped for.  I find it interesting that the Hildago county officer did not mention the lack of license plate lights.  Did they go out between stops?

Friday evening on my way to Sierra Vista, I stopped at the tire repair shop to get my tire patched.  I will definitely go back to Beltrans Tire Repair if I need another tire patched.  In Sierra Vista I picked up an air compressor from a Craigslist seller, and associated pneumatic tools from Harbor Freight.  Also known as CCC – cheap Chinese crap.  As lightly as I plan to use them, I’m hoping they will do the job and won’t be a waste of money.  A stop at the CoOp,  A stop at La Casita for dinner.  A stop at Fry’s grocery to top off on groceries, then a long drive home stopping in Douglas to top off with fuel for the truck.

Saturday, I made two trips to Animas to buy used shipping pallets.  I learned I can fit 15 pallets in the bed of my truck with the cap on.

Sunday, I started construction on the floor of the shed.  I set the support blocks and leveled them.  I cut all the boards for the skids and the frame to length.  I torched the boards (shou sugi ban).  I stained the boards to make them more pest resistant.  I then headed home to make stuffed mushrooms and guacamole for the potluck.

Today, I assembled the frame and was very pleased with it.  It was square and level and looked good.  I then moved it and it completely fell apart.  I was not so pleased with that.  I sat and pondered solutions.  My thoughts ranged from completely scrapping the shed idea and build a hoop house instead to building a hybrid of a shed and hoop house, finally back to sticking with the shed concept but using screws instead of nails.  I seem to recall that nails were better suited for construction where sheer strength was important, such as what I am building.  I finally landed on the decision to continue with the shed but get better quality nails to hold it together.  With the desire to properly manage time as noted above, I opted to not run to Douglas today for better nails considering I will be going tomorrow to pickup straw for the compost bin.  So, what do I do to make use of my time?  Going to need those pallets sorted between what will be used whole in the construction of the shed and what will need to be broken down into boards for individual application into various parts of the shed.  So, I spent the majority of the day breaking down the pallets that I bought Saturday.  I got about half way through them.

As for the animals, Sasha is doing well.  Hershey, not so much.  Hershey stopped eating about a week ago.  Tonight is going to be his last night.  If he doesn’t pass tonight, I will have to put him down tomorrow.  One way or another, he won’t be alone when he goes.  Hoping he goes tonight.  I don’t relish the idea of putting him down tomorrow.

RIP Hershey.

I did take a number of photos this week but I have to work in 6 hours so I need to try to get some sleep.  I will just have to post them next time.

Night all

Cary

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Dec 5 – 17

Apologies for not getting an update last weekend.

So, what Have I been up to over the last two weeks?  Good question.

I haven’t worked on the property at all during the week.  There are only two hours of daylight after I get off work.  I’ve either worked late, didn’t have sufficient food/drink with me, or it was too cold and I didn’t feel like working in the cold.

That has just left the weekends to get things done.  Last weekend, I tried to pick up steel pipe from Animas Valley Mercantile Saturday morning to be used to mount the solar panels to but they didn’t have enough so I didn’t get any.  I then tackled making an address marker for the property.  After I was done with making the address marker, I noted Hersey (the cat) had a significantly bloated belly.  I did a bit of research on google, reached out to Pete and Judy for advice (Judy is a vet).  Advise was to get into the vet this weekend if I could arrange it.  Carolyn stopped by and gave me the names of a couple of vets in Deming NM that locals she knows like to use.  I called and made arrangements to see the Vet at 8:30 AM Sunday morning.  So, the first half of Sunday was spent on making the run to the Vet.  Verdict:  slightly bloody fluid in the abdomen.  The vet also felt an unexpected lump on the right side of the abdomen.  There was too much fluid in the abdomen to get a good feel of the lump.  Given what the vet was seeing, he felt the most likely cause is a tumor but couldn’t be sure without additional testing.  Given Hershey’s age (around 16 yrs), I declined any further testing.  I knew immediately how I was going to proceed.  Changing from commercial pet food to home cooked food worked well for Sasha’s tumor.  I feel that is Hershey’s best hope.  It may be too late, but it is worth a try.

My first batch of food I made for him, was not acceptable to the fussy old man.  After two days of him not eating what I made, it became clear I needed to try again.  This time, I went to something that had a high chance of success – 100% chicken cooked and processed into chicken pate.  I’ll be working on slowly increasing the amount of plant matter in his diet.

Back to Sunday, after getting back with Hersey, I headed over to the property.  I swung by Tom’s and picked some pallets out of his burn pile.  After a couple of attempts at installing the address marker on a T-Post, I changed gears and decided to use pallets.

I also replaced the WiFi router/firewall that came with the internet service with my own Ubiquiti firewall and outdoor WAP.  That gave me enough signal outside to be able to work from within the truck near the shed.  Much warmer in the morning hours.  🙂

Monday, I got a roadside postal box after calling the Post Master in San Simon and meeting the post woman on her route.  My first piece of mail delivered to the box was a Christmas card from my mother on Tuesday.  In the evening was a run to Douglas for groceries that I didn’t think to get Sunday when I was in Demming.

Tuesday I met with Victor, the local septic and earth works expert to discuss getting quotes on the septic system and water storage tank.

Wednesday evening I replaced the LP pressure regulator and pig tail hoses on the trailer to repair the propane leak I noticed late the previous week.  Had to wait for parts to be delivered from Amazon.  I also made a run to Valley Mercantile for propane and ordered steel pipe.  Expected delivery to Valley Mercantile:  Monday Dec 18.

Thursday evening was spent waiting at the property for solar system deliveries that didn’t come.  UPS did show up after dark with a delivery that I wasn’t expecting, so it was not a total waste of time.  I spent the time waiting getting caught up on one of my YouTube subscriptions that I was 2+ months behind on.  In hind sight, I regretted not using the time to post an update to the blog.

Solar system components were finally delivered this past Friday.

 

Friday night was spent socializing at and after the potluck.  Even Sasha joined in after dinner as a number of us gathered around a fire at the clubhouse to continue to visit after dinner.  She appreciated the attention from everyone, but not the heat from the fire.  After about 45 minutes or so she was becoming disruptively restless so we retired to the trailer for the evening.

Plan for yesterday (Saturday) was to do a quick WiFi survey at the RV to determine the best location for additional access points that were delivered Wednesday, then go to Douglas for shopping and onto the property for some work before dark.  As with most of my plans – out the window.  I spent most of the day trying to get the WiFi survey done.  This Ubiquiti mesh WiFi network does not quickly learn and adjust to change.  It was a painfully slow process testing and documenting signal strength for potential locations for new wireless access points.  By the time I was done, it was only an hour before dark.  Forecast was for rain the next day.  I decided try to make good use of the rest of the evening and proceeded with my shopping trip to Douglas.  Besides, I’d rather drive in the dark than in the rain.

Forecast was accurate for today.  It rained most of the day.  No work at the property.  I worked on a number of things around the trailer that I had been deferring such as cooking, dishes, and cleaning in the morning, then spent all afternoon and early evening at the club house doing laundry, clearing drive space on my work laptop, watching football, and writing this blog.  As I slowly drank a large coffee all day, it will be interesting to see the impact of that caffeine on me the rest of the evening.  🙂

This is what I woke up to in the morning.  It was rainy at the park but it was a bit colder at higher elevations so the mountains had snow.  Thought I would share a pic of a small bit a what I was seeing.  I can deal with viewing snow from afar.  🙂

This next week, I am taking training from 12 – 8 PM ET all week, so I don’t expect to get anything done on the property during the week other than to pickup the steel pipe and drop it at the property Tuesday morning.

I’m both hoping and looking forward to making substantial progress on getting the solar system installed next weekend.

That brings you up to date.  Next post will likely be Christmas day.

Wishing everyone safe and Happy Holidays.

Cary

 

 

 

Continuing on Day 1 (Sunday where I left off), nothing went as planned.  My cold was still draining my energy so I just got the trailer situated on the lot – leveled (ish), hooked up water, turned on electric breaker at the park’s power panel (didn’t realize it was off  so was running on propane and battery all night), got the septic hose run,  That little bit pretty much did me in.  Took a vacation day Monday with the intent on getting a lot done.  Didn’t happen.  Just a few hours of work getting putting up a shade area by the shed for Sasha and preparing the shed for the upcoming internet installation was all I had in me.  Visited with Tom and Alicia for an hour or two, then visited with Drew for an hour or two then retired for the evening.  It was funny at the dog park at Rusty’s.  There were dogs in the park that clearly wanted to play which was a first for Sasha as normally they want to intimidate her by barking at given the usual size discrepancy.  She decided she wanted to play with them.  Problem was that their idea of playing is running around chasing each other.  They were fast.  Sasha, not so much.  She has more of a lumbering trot.  She’d get about 10 steps in on direction and they would already have made their turn and be coming back at her in the other direction.  Basically they were running laps around her.  I wasn’t sure if I should laugh or feel bad for her.  She seemed to be having fun even though she couldn’t keep up so I laughed.

Ran to Douglas Tuesday evening for groceries, fuel, and dinner.  Stopped by an auto repair place that Tom recommended to ask them to get me a quote for a new tailgate for the truck and replacement spare tire holding mechanism.  You know, the mechanism that I learned was seized so I can’t get my spare tire down just before departing for Arizona in June and have since driven cross country three times plus a couple road trips here in Arizona.  Ya, figured I better quit rolling the dice and get access to my spare soon.  The hinge pin for the tailgate is rusted out, so it needs to be replaced as well.  They said they would call back with a quote.  Haven’t heard from them yet.

Wednesday morning, I got internet delivered to my new office.  Here is a pick of my office.

I didn’t want to leave Sasha at the trailer all day so I loaded her into the truck under protest.  We spent the day together on the property.  She was liking it.

 

She did not want to get back into the truck and I was too tired to argue with her so I put her water in the shed and closed her in there.  I had a nice evening in the trailer with no Sasha to trip me as I walk through the trailer.

Thursday night was more of the same.  I tried to put her in the truck and she didn’t want to go.  This time she didn’t want to go into the shed either.  Too bad.  Between the rabid animals around, packs of coyotes, and her habit of escaping I wasn’t going to leave her outside, so into the shed she went under protest.

Friday night, I loaded Sasha back into the truck under protest.  By the way, under protest means pulling hard on the leash and hoping the collar doesn’t slip off.  Back in the park, I sat and visited at the club house for a little while till the food was ready for the potluck.  That was my queue to leave given it was pizza and wings night.  There was a FOCCC (Friends of Cave Creek Canyon) meeting that night with free food.  I had vegan Chili and corn bread.  I visited a bit with some people I knew, was introduced to some people I didn’t know.  After the meeting I headed back to the trailer and crashed for the night.

Saturday was put stuff a way in the trailer day.  After a week of only having the bed, the bathroom, and the path in between clear of clutter, I decided for my sanity sake to take the time to put stuff away that I had brought from back from Michigan, moved out of the truck and stacked anywhere I could find an open space.  I also reviewed/tuned the floor plans and solar system in preparation to order on Monday.  Late Saturday I got a brunch invitation for Sunday to a gourmet restaurant in Sierra Vista with Tom, Alicia, and their friend Christine.  I accepted.  There went the plans to mark the structure locations on Sunday.

Sunday brunch was delicious.  The socialization was enjoyable.  The work on the property accomplished Sunday was minimal.  Sunday night I made potato soup and tried a first time recipe of my own creation  Both came out good.

Monday afternoon (today) I ordered the solar system.  In the evening I started working on marking locations of structures on the property.  I suspect I will be working on marking structure locations every evening the rest of the week.  Much of the solar system will likely arrive before this weekend.  I need to source the pipe and concrete required for mounting the panels.  I’ll need to figure out where I am putting the electronics until I get the house built.  This next weekend will be all about getting the solar system installed.  I expect it to take me 2 – 3 weeks to get it all done.  Although, I did buy a nice worklight before I left Michigan and I do have the generator…  I might work  on it a few nights after dark in an effort to speed it’s completion.

That brings you up to date.

One thing I wanted to share was before and after photo’s of the tumor on Sasha’s eyelid.  I happen to find a before photo of Sasha’s eye on my phone so I went ahead and took an after photo to go with it.

The vet’s solution was to give her the medicine which he didn’t seem to have any confidence in and if that didn’t work, then cut it out.  “Forks Over Knives”  I’ll take the fork over a surgery knife.  Thanks anyway.

Night all.

Cary

Yep.  That right.  I’m back at the RV park.  WHOO HOO!!

So much to share, so poor memory to remember things that I thought at the time:  “that’s funny, I should include that in my next blog post”.

Please bear with me as I suspect this post will be pretty random and I’m not even going to attempt doing it chronologically.

Well, since this is the Thanksgiving holiday weekend, let me start by giving thanks.

• First and foremost I am thankful for the support of my family and friends.
• I am thankful for the help of Rachel (my eldest daughter) to get me packed up and ready to leave
• I am thankful for the light traffic all the way here – not a single traffic jam if you can believe it.
• I am thankful for the beautiful weather I had all the way here.
• I am thankful for for the clouds that defused the sun as it set Friday night so I was not completely blinded by it.
• I am thankful I didn’t wreck on the few occasions I was blinded by the setting sun Saturday night.
• I am thankful for that border patrol checkpoint which gave me cause to slow down and pause while the sun finished setting behind the mountains (beautiful when you are not being blinded by it).
• I am thankful that the road debris I couldn’t avoid in Chicago didn’t cause any damage to the truck.
• I am thankful I had zero mechanical problems with the truck on this trip.
• I am thankful for cruise control
• I am thankful that nice officer who turned on his lights next to me wanted the driver that passed me a few minutes before by  whopping 1-2 MPH and not me.
• I am thankful that none of the many law enforcement officers I passed wanted to make my acquaintance.
• I am thankful that although I was not able to get a room at the Super 8 in El Reno OK because I waited too late to call, the booking agent was able to get me a room in Oklahoma City.
• I am thankful that the desk clerk at the Super 8 in Oklahoma City that was not able to find my reservation was kind enough to look up the address I was given and point me toward the Days Inn.
• I am thankful I did not cross paths with the man around the hotel in Oklahoma City that the police were searching for around the hotel and surrounding area – REALLY searching for – multiple cruisers and a chopper, all while I merrily unloaded what I needed from the truck to the hotel room.
• I am thankful that Sasha readily walked up and down the stairs to our second floor hotel room (she has never walked up or down a flight of stairs that I can recall)
• I am thankful Hershey didn’t puke on anything this trip.
• I am thankful Hershey used the litter box and not my truck seat this trip.
• I am thankful Sasha only decided to come through the ropes into the front seats once and it was while I was stopped at a gas station.
• I am thankful Sasha did not slip the collar as I was trying to get her back into the truck at the a fore mentioned gas station.
• I am thankful that I figured out how to get her into the truck without me having to crawl through the back seat from the drivers side to the passengers side as I have done in the past.

I could go on and on with that list but I’ll call it good for know and throw in a few more here and there in the rest of the body of the blog.

Before I go on, let me share a bit on my feelings of self deprecation to give a bit of context of how I may use it going forward in my blogs.  First, I generally think it is counter productive and is a very bad habit to have for reasons I won’t go into.  That said, sometimes you need to look at things objectively and call it what it is, then move on and not dwell on it.  If you are able to laugh at yourself and then move on, then bravo.  That said, while I like to consider myself an intelligent person, sometimes I do things that aren’t too smart.  Cheryl has kindly given me a label that we both use with a smile when discussing such moments/decisions – “dumb ass”.  For example, when I got out of my truck to get closer to a rattle snake so I could get better video on my phone – “dumb ass”.

Looking back it looks like it has been a little over 2 weeks since I wrote a blog entry.  Clearly a lot has happened in that two weeks.  Hmmm…  How to organize these discussion points.  Lets go by subject, starting with the house.

Ugh.  The house.  Background:  I had it one the market a couple summers ago as a owner seller trying to sell it AS-IS for cheap because it had a lot of deferred maintenance for numerous reasons I won’t delve into here.  I had a guy talk me into renting it to him for 3 months until he could get his finances straightened out to get a loan (something about friend of the court causing issues with his credit). Fast forward a year and he still hasn’t bought it, he has lost his job, he is getting rent $$ from ?? Fast forward a few months more, he is 2 months behind in rent payments and it is time to evict.  Here is a summary of what I found when I returned.  Missing:  refrigerator, large chest freezer, washer, dryer, 2 dehumidifiers, wall mounted heater for the breezeway, ceiling light fixture in the breezeway, burner for the water heater, blinds for all three bedrooms.

Misc damage: two  broken windows.

I called the police to file a report.  The local officer told me to call the renter and tell him to bring the stuff back and didn’t take the report.  I tried.  Phone was disconnected.  I did not manage my time to call the police back before it was time to leave.  So much to work on at the house.  I pretty much chose 3 projects.    I noted water penetration in the basement when it was raining heavy.  I had foolishly removed some gutters years before without replacing them.  Dumb ass.   To compound things the renter had dug a couple holes up close to the house (inches away) to hold water for some water feature landscape.  Dumb ass.  So, project 1 was to fill those holes and put up gutters.  For project 2, I decided to replace the water heater rather than deal with trying to find a replacement burner and get it installed.  For project three, there were a number of broken electrical outlets through the house, a few of them the original 2 prong outlet when the house was built, so I wanted to replace all the outlets.  For all three projects, I am SO thankful that I have been practicing positive thinking habits for months now, otherwise I would have been in such a foul mood I would have been unsuitable to be around for weeks as each one of them presented interesting challenges.

Filling the holes in the front of the house was easy enough.  The landscaping supply yard I went to originally was closed for the season – no such note on their website as I sat there 15 minutes waiting for them to open that Saturday morning.  So, off to Menards to buy bagged topsoil.  Not the cheapest solution, but easy.  Two trips to Menards for the top soil as I underestimated how much I would need by about 50%  The gutter project itself was not all that difficult.  I chose to use plastic gutters from Menards for the project.  This was the only project of the three I did not have to run back to Menards for more materials for.  The challenge with this project was the weather.  I was limited to working weekends as it was dark after work and I didn’t want to burn a vacation day.  With winter quickly approaching, I didn’t feel that I could be too particular about the weather I would be willing to work in.  So, I chose to install the gutter hangers, one 10 ft length of gutter, and a downspout in 40 degree light rainy weather.  I did so happily.  I was humming and singing the tune/phrase “Singing in the Rain” on multiple occasions.  Many times over and over.  Although conditions were miserable (for someone not accustomed to working outdoors and certainly not appropriately attired for the rain), I managed to stay  positive through out the project.  I had to stop there as the next step in the project was to cement the gutter pieces together and for that I needed them to be dry.  I was just wrapping up my 3-4 hours of working in the rain when Jacob arrived at the agreed upon time to help me move the new water heater to the basement and then go out and spend some time together.  We ate at Los Amigos then headed over to Cheryl’s apartment and hang out to visit.  By the time we got to Cheryl’s apartment, the rain from the morning/afternoon had finally soaked through all my layers and I was very chilled.  I took a long hot shower to warm up and Rachel threw all my clothes in the washer for me.  I am thankful that their apartment has a washer and dryer in it.  I am thankful for the wonderful 1×1 time I had with Jacob then the crude and very enjoyable game of Cards Against Humanity that we played as a family.  I corrupted Cheryl, and our kids, well, they are our kids.  Apples didn’t fall far from the tree.

Anyway, back to the projects.  As weather was not cooperative to finish the gutters, the water heater was next.  Usually, it takes me 3 trips to the hardware store for project like that.  That would have been about right for this one, however…  a couple of leaks at the threaded connections connecting the water heater and ruining a set or two of chimey adapters and vent elbows, I think the total trips to Menard’s was closer to 6 or 7 for this project.  To keep this project in positive light, I had to look at it from the perspective of how much I was learning – both what to do and what not to do although more of what not to do.  Historically, I have always used TFE tape for my plumbing projects.  This time, I thought I would try TFE paste.  I learned I do not like to use TFE paste and I will be using TFE tape for all my future plumbing projects.  I learned that I would much rather spend the extra few bucks on steel venting than aluminum.  I am thankful for the leak on the cold inlet that I failed to sufficiently tighten as it forced me to reach out to Justin, the plumber in the family, via Brian and Stacey the night before I was to depart for AZ again.  I learned that my plumbing job was in code violation because on a gas water heater, code requires 18 inches of copper before converting to PEX.  UGH.  Dumb ass.  Oh… And one last 1/2 turn of the PEX to threaded adapter stopped the leak.  No more leaks, just plumbing code violations.  I’ll be having him out to rip out all my plumbing work and replace it (there is only about 18 inches vertically of PEX that I put in).

Project three, replacing electrical outlets.  Pretty simple.  I woke up at 3AM one morning, couldn’t go back to sleep, so had the three bedrooms done, the hallway done, and one in the living room done before I had to stop for work.  There was just one thing that wasn’t sitting right with me.  Did I reverse hot and neutral?  After work, I buy a circuit tester.  Open ground.  Expected given the wiring in the walls. Nothing about reversing neutral and hot.  Next morning, I wake up at 4AM.  May as well continue working on the electrical.  Finish the living room and kitchen.  That was easy.  Two days, few hours before work each day.  Still nagging feeling about hot and neutral.  Ok. Time for google.  check the breaker box to see which color wire is wired in common with ground.  I noted that it was white in all but one instance.  UGH.  Dumb ass.  I wired them all backwards.  Does it matter given there is no ground?  I don’t know, but my compulsive tendency to want to do it right and fix it was too much to resist.  Starting in the kitchen, working back through the living room and bedrooms, I went through and swapped the hot and neutral wires.  I got to the master bedroom which was an addition after the house was build and had grounds at all the outlets.  I started flipping hot and neutral (black and white) in there, but it occurred to me that the tester had shown that all but one of the outlets was wired properly with the seemingly reversed wiring and I remembered the one exception I saw in the breaker box where the colors were reversed on the circuit breaker.  Hmmm.. Guessing that one is the master bedroom (breakers are not well labeled).  I rewired outlets in the master bedroom for the third time to get hot and neutral right per the tester and called the project a wrap.  Sadly I missed an outlet by the mantel in the living room and I didn’t get to replacing any in the basement before I wanted to leave for AZ.

I ended up taking a working vacation day Wednesday before Thanksgiving so I would finish the gutter project and work on the various other projects to get them done before my departure on Friday.  At one point on Wednesday I noted that the battery in the furnace thermostat needed to be replaced.  I forgot.  Dumb ass.  I woke up Thursday morning chilled to the bone and congested.  The thermometer said 52 degrees.  That was the second time I was chilled to the core in a week.  I was now both frozen and sick on Thanksgiving morning.  I am thankful I had hot water by this time.  I climbed into the bath tub (no shower curtain) and drew the hottest bath water I could manage and soaked an hour (periodically refilling with fresh hot water).  I then mustered the energy to go to the gas station and buy batteries for the thermostat.

Years ago, when I would get a cold it would last for weeks.  In most cases it would completely put me in bed for a few days.  Since I changed my diet a few years back.  I rarely get a cold and when I do, it is generally mild and short lived.  I have observed that when I don’t drink enough water on a regular bases, I start to get a cold.  Crank up the water intake and it helps my body flush out what it doesn’t want in it.  If I allow myself to become too cold for too long, I get a cold.  My theory there is my body diverts it’s energy from fighting off never ending onslaught of viruses to keeping my body’s core temperature up giving the viruses an opportunity to get a food hold in my body.  Lastly, sleep.  Get enough sleep as that is when my body spends energy restoring its systems.  Well, I had the trifecta of bodily neglect and abuse between not taking the time to drink enough water, allowing myself to become chilled to the bone on multiple occasions, and not getting enough sleep over the last week so now I have a cold.  Dumb ass.  It had been my plan to finish the projects Wednesday and stage everything in the garage so I would just have to load the truck Thursday and that would be it.  That didn’t happen, but I did get a couple batches of food for Sasha made for the road trip and the first couple days here in AZ.  It had been my plan to pickup and vacuum Thursday morning before heading off to Thanksgiving with the family.   That didn’t happen.  I decided that I better give my body rest so after replacing the thermostat batteries, I crawled back under the covers with my winter coat on and tried to sleep for a couple more hours.  After Thanksgiving with the family, I had planned on loading the truck then spending the evening relaxing with Cheryl and Rachel before starting the long road trip Friday.  That didn’t happen.  I was feeling  weak and lethargic after Thanksgiving dinner (in restrospect symptoms of a fever).  No it wasn’t the usual after Thanksgiving dinner snoozer that I am so well acquainted with.  Instead I laid down for a couple hour nap.  Took a couple of sudephed when I got up and headed to the house with Rachel.  Not sure if it was the nap, the sudephed, or a combination, but I was feeling much better as Rachel and I worked our way through the house packing and cleaning.  It was cold loading the truck, but at least it was not raining.  We somehow managed to get everything that I planned on taking back to AZ crammed into the truck.  It was definitely fuller then my trip back to Michigan.  Back to the apartment by around 11PM and to bed after sorting out keys, laptops, charging cables, etc.

Continuing the theme of no continuity for this blog post, onto the subject of friends and family.  I got to not just see but visit with by parents, brother, and kids.   Sadly, I didn’t make it to visit with my sister.  See you in July Sis.  I got to go out with my friends Pete and Judy and Aaron and Laura.  All of whom played a role of socially pulling me out of my shell before I headed to Arizona this last June.  That socialization gave me the drive and desire to not become a hermit here in Arizona as I felt I had become there in Michigan and instead establish a network of friends.  Life is so much more enjoyable with friends.  I am very thankful for my friends both in Michigan and in the Arizona/New Mexico area.

I drove all the way from Michigan to Arizona in silence.  Just my thoughts to keep me company.  I remember when I was in school riding in my dad’s car without a working radio.  I couldn’t understand how he could drive around with just his thoughts for company.  I understand now.  I spent the trip thinking about what I needed to get done this weekend (this blog wasn’t part of it but is personally satisfying so I don’t care), thinking about what I need to get done in the coming weeks and months.  Thinking about how I spent my time the last couple of weeks.  Should I have done things differently?  Any regrets?  I certainly have mixed feelings on many of those.  Could I have paid someone to do most of the projects I did.  Very easily.  Would I have rather been doing other things like socializing with friends and family?  Absolutely.  Was it wasted time?  I don’t think so.  I learned a lot in two weeks from the school of aw-f*ck.  I also continued to develop and put into practice positive thinking and attitude during challenging moments.  There are clearly lessons that I have been taught time and time again that are just slow to sink in.  Namely, ask for help when you need it.  My fierce desire for independence and to do things myself has really suppressed my willingness to ask for help.  Even when I clearly need it.  I think another aspect of that has been that for so long I have been socially isolated even from family that it felt wrong to call and ask for favors when I haven’t bothered to call or visit them in far to long.  All a part of this middle age make over I am working on.  :-).  Make friends.  Visit friends.  Visit family.  Help friends.  Help family.  Ask for help from family and friends as needed.  Stop and smell the roses… err… desert flowers.

On the drive I also reflected on my feelings and emotions about the drive itself comparing it to the previous trip I made it June.  In June, I was leaving home, friends and family, and embarking on a grand adventure and at one point briefly thinking:  “Oh shit!  What have I just done?”.   This trip, I was leaving friends, family, and a shelter that I’ve owned for years and I was heading home to my RV and new friends in the Arizona/New Mexico border area.

Lastly, I feel compelled to write a bit about work.  I believe that the combination of three factors are why I am currently being permitted work remotely:

1. I have worked very hard to add value to the company over the years and that has been recognized by my peers and leadership at the company.
2. Previous leadership authorized me to make this move and continue to work for the company
3. I have time sensitive building permits that have already been issued

I believe if you remove any one of these three factors, the decision to permit me to work remotely for now would not have happened.  Even long term is currently undecided.

To my friends and colleagues at work reading this, make no mistake, management is very much conflicted with this decision and I completely understand why.  It is a very unenviable position to be in given the policies regarding no long term remote workers just put forth.  It is a precedence for policy exception that others may try to leverage or otherwise question why I am an exception.  Me blogging about my adventure makes it even more difficult.  So, I must ask a favor of you (please note above how difficult it generally is for me to ask for favors).  Support me in this.  I generally don’t know how you could/would do that.  One thing I do know is one point of contention is this blog so if you could simply not discuss my blog entries at work, that alone would be helpful.  Not sure if that is a reasonable ask or not, but I am asking none the less.  As for my part, I commit to you that as long as I’m permitted to work remotely I will continue to give 110% as I have been for the last 2 years + that I have been working remotely.

Ok.  It has taken way longer than anticipated to write this rambling blog entry and I have a long day of to-do’s ahead of me.

Hope everyone had a safe and fulfilling holiday weekend.

Cary

 

 

Boy, am I ever delinquent in getting a blog post put up.

It has been a little over two weeks since my last post, so let me try to fill in that gap of time for you with what I can remember.

Sun Oct 22 was a nice relaxing day.  After breakfast I walked Sasha through the park across the street and down to the Blue Hole which is what I’m guessing is the only scuba diving attraction for hundreds of miles around and it was definitely busy that day.  There must have been at least 50 divers there.

It is basically a large spring fed hole that then feeds a few surrounding lakes (what we in Michigan would call ponds) and a creek.

After our relaxing 2 – 3 mile walk, I relaxed in the hotel room watching a bit of football then switched over to watching some movies.

Monday was working from the hotel room.  At the end of the work day, I called the repair shop as I had not heard from them.  I then learned that there was a Transmission in line in front of me and they hadn’t gotten to mine yet.  They should be able to look at it sometime Tuesday.  More relaxing and killing time watching movies.

Tuesday was essentially a repeat of Monday.  This time when I called the repair shop, they offered to check with the mechanic across the street and to take it to him if he had time.

Wash, rinse, repeat for Wednesday.  The difference being that this time the mechanic from across the street (of where the truck was previously dropped off for repair) called me toward the end of the day.  He had diagnosed the issue as being an EGR valve that had stuck open.  He got it unstuck but could make no assurances that it would not stick open again a few miles down the road.  I asked about time to get the part and repair and he indicated he could get the part Thursday morning and have it repaired by around noon Thursday.  He also provided an estimate of the cost.  I gave him the go ahead to get the part and make the repair as I did not want to worry about it getting stuck again and staying one more day at that point wasn’t going to make that much of a difference.

Thursday, checkout was for 11AM local, but I asked very nicely to stay until 1PM.  They agreed.  I attended meetings and worked on some time sensitive tasks until he finally called me at 1:45PM local.  He picked me up in the truck, I drove him back to his shop and paid the bill.  Leaving the shop I noted that at some point that week one of my two driver side mirrors got shattered.  I’m thankful it was the small lower one and not the upper one which I depend on more.  To the hotel to load and vacate the room so they could finally clean it, then onto the local restaurant from which I have been buying quarts of Mexican rice for Sasha to eat and bought 3 quarts for the road.  Prior to leaving, I did the math to see how far I expected to be able to drive that night and I called and booked a room at another pet friendly Super 8.  I got on the road round 6 PM eastern time.  I drove without incident and around 11:30 PM eastern time I rolled into the hotel in Claremore OK which is just NE of Tulsa.

Friday, I got on the road around 8AM ET and was on the road during meetings for which I could be mobile and pulled off and tethered my laptop for meetings I needed to be online for.  As I was stopped for my afternoon meeting, I estimated that I would hit Chicago at rush hour.  Having lived in the Chicago suburbs for 6 years, I’ve been on the Chicago highways trying to head east at rush hour on a Friday afternoon before.  Not a pleasant experience.  I’ve had it literally double my drive time to Michigan before.  Something I wanted to avoid, so I programmed google maps to take me home via Indiana/Indianapolis instead, then I studied the map in case I needed to make some impromptu changes.  As I was on the north side of St Louis google maps said it found a faster route and asked if I wanted to accept the change.  I did.  I then realized it was sending me through Chicago.  ETA to hit Chicago was still rush hour.  Ugh… I checked the map and found a freeway that I wanted to take to Indiana.  I let the app do it’s thing and I did my thing, knowing that it would recalculate a route based on the path I had selected.  I ended up taking some US and state highways through much of Indiana.  They were lightly traveled with very few stops so that was fine by me.  I caught 65 to 94.  That was still closer to Chicago than I wanted but in all, traffic on 65 was not that painful and there was only about 4 miles of stop and go traffic once I got to 94 before it was clear sailing the rest of the way home.  I rolled in to the house around 11PM, got Sasha and Hershey settled at the old house, then went to the apartment to crash with Cheryl and Rachel.  I will have to try to remember that route should I want to miss Chicago during the business day.

Saturday was spent shopping for washer, dryer, and refrigerator for the house to replace those that the tenant stole, then waiting for them to be delivered.  Dinner with family, and relaxing at the apartment in the evening.

Sunday was spend working for work for the most part.

We closed on the Augusta drive house on Oct 31.  Whoo Hoo!!

The rest of the week was generally spent working, visiting, and contemplating work to do on the old W Michigan house.

Pete invited me to put some holes in paper Friday afternoon/evening which I gladly accepted.  He helped me adjust the sights so I’m close to center mass with my aim and I’m satisfied with my consistency.

I spent Saturday Nov 4 removing wall paper from the kitchen walls at the old house.

I spent an excessive amount of time at Menard’s Sunday shopping for gutters for the front of the house and looking at what it would take to replace the water heater that the tenant stole the burner from, as well as replacement steel door for the kitchen to garage and evaluating options for replacing interior doors, and acquiring various light fixtures to replace those that were either stolen or broken.  I replaced the missing light fixture in the breezeway, the broken fixture in the garage, and a fixture that I had removed and not replaced in the basement.  I reconnected wires to the garage light switch that he removed and left sticking out of the fixture – bare.  Sadly, he removed the switch I had in the garage to turn on the breezeway light.  That wiring is very complicated (a switch at each entry way to the breezeway (4) to control the operation of that breezeway light).  At this point, I’m not sure I would be able to figure out how to reconnect a switch there.

Meetings with HR show a willingness to explore options are promising and give me hope.

I hear that the big boss wants to meet with me and HR has not shared with me what they have found yet but I am hopeful.

We are struggling with our decision on where to live.  The apartment we are staying in does not allow dogs so we have been driving back and forth to the house twice a day to tend to Sasha who is understandably very lonely.  Cheryl and Rachel had picked out an apartment that met our criteria (first floor, 2 BR, allows large dog).  I learned during a nice visit with Brian that that was not a good place to live, so back to the drawing board.  The lease here ends at the end of November and Cheryl goes back in for knee surgery this week  Not a lot of time to sort things out.  We’ve agreed that if they can’t find an acceptable apartment that meets our needs, then we will move back to the House.  They can continue to apartment shop from there… Just another move in short succession if they find something.  Ugh.  Why not stay at the house?  The idea is to be out of the house so that it can be worked on more aggressively to be put onto the market for sale.  It is unlikely that I will do much of the work myself.  That would take too long and would not make financial sense given owning the house costs me about a $1k a month.

Ok.  That brings you up to date.

Not sure when my next post will be.  Maybe around Thanksgiving unless I’m moved to post due to big news before then.  🙂

Cary

 

 

 

Ok.  As usual with me, plans are very fluid.

I was able to get a bit more sleep after completing the last post, so that was good.

I got up, packed up my belongings and loaded everything including the animals and myself into the truck around 8:30 AM.  Around 9AM I called and left a message for Daniel regarding towing me to Tomas’s.  It took a while for him to call me back and a while more for him to show up.  In the mean time I talked to Brian (my Brother) on the phone and watched various youtube videos on what might be wrong and how to fix it.  When Daniel got there, he pulled a bit of bait and switch on me.  Instead of hooking up with a tow bar, for that short distance he suggested we simply use a tow strap.  Nervous as hell, I accepted.  He pulled me two-three miles down the road to Tomas’s.  Tomas spent some time looking over the truck.  Pulled the fuel filter finding water in it, and did what he could to clean it out, then put it back.  Still no go.  He said he didn’t realize it was a diesel when he agreed to look at it.  Although his thought is that it is a clogged catalytic converter, he wasn’t confident, and he didn’t have parts.  We agreed that the best course of action would be to tow it to Ortega’s Towing and Auto Repair in Santa Rosa, the same place All State insurance suggested I have tow it Friday afternoon.  I called All State to save myself $50 on the tow.  Tomas hooked up, but I think we could have used a bigger tow truck.  🙂

Leaving Sasha and Hershey in the truck, I hopped in the tow truck and we headed to Santa Rosa, about 40 miles down the road.

At Ortega’s, I left my truck keys and got advice on a good place to stay in town with the pets – Super 8.  They offered to take me, the pets, and my luggage to the hotel where I could stay until Monday when their mechanic returns to work.  I unloaded everything I thought I would need for the next few days from the truck – Laptop bag,  phone charging cable, suit case with my one change of clothes, Sasha’s food and water dish, Hersey’s food and dish, litter box and scoop, bag of snacks for the road, and food cooler.  The guy that was voluntold to take me to the hotel was allergic to cats, has asthma, and drove a 4×4 that was jacked up at least a foot higher than my truck.  I agreed to ride in the back of the truck with the animals the couple miles down the road to the hotel.  Please note that it is a challenge getting Sasha into my truck much less into a truck even higher.  I loaded all the belongings except the cat box and cooler into back seat of the truck, I put the cat with empty food and water dishes in the back of the truck, set the cooler in front of the open tailgate for Sasha to  use as a big step into the back of the truck, then went and got Sasha.  I climbed into the truck first, then started forcefully pulling and verbally encouraging her to get up on the cooler then into the truck.  While it was not easy, it didn’t take as long to get her to get into the truck as I thought it would.  I’m guessing the familiarity of stepping up onto the tote to get into my truck combined with the force I was pulling on the leash may have had something to do with that.  I was thankful her collar didn’t slip off as it has in the past when I’ve pulled on the leash like that.  Once up, she was rewarded with praise and lovin’s.  I secured her leash to the fifth wheel hitch that was in the back of the truck, put the cooler in the back of the truck, closed the tailgate and went and got Hershey.  I dropped him in the back with Sasha – thankfully he is no longer afraid of her or this would have been an even more interesting adventure.  I then climbed in and sat down with them to keep them calm and safe for the ride down the road.  Selfie time.

  Me and the mutts ready to head to the hotel in Santa Rosa NM.  Hershey is hiding out of view slightly behind me on my left.

I had another learning moment when riding down the road in the back of the truck with Sasha.  If you sit behind Sasha’s head when riding down the road in an open air vehicle, you will catch a face full of dog drool.  I am thankful my mouth was closed.  🙂

At the hotel, I checked in with Hersey in my arms (no cat carrier) and Sasha still in the back of the truck.  Once checked in, I dropped Hersey in the room, went and got Sasha, my laptops, and a bag, put her and belongings in the room, then went for the rest.  The driver from the  garaged helped unload the truck and bring stuff back to the room as well.    Once settled, I realized I was hungry.  I was going to head to Comet II which is .3 miles down the road based on Tomas’s recommendation, but the lady at the hotel desk recommended  the Sun and Sand Restaurant which is right across the street from the hotel.  Works for me.  Food was good.  I ordered a double order of rice for Sasha.  When I left, I had enough prepared food for her through Sunday.  She didn’t eat Friday night, so that extended prepared food to Monday.  Feeding her local food on Saturday, will extend her on hand food supply until Tuesday.  I’m guessing she won’t eat much if at all the next day we are on the road (when ever that day comes).  I walked over to the nearby gas station to get a bag of ice for the cooler wishing I had grabbed my tennis shoes from the truck for walking longer distances more comfortably.  As the afternoon wore on, I realized lunch was bothering my stomach and that I forgot to grab meds from the medicine cabinet in the trailer and I forgot to grab from the truck the anti acid.  After watching MSU beat Indiana in a good competative game, I walked over to Family Dollar across the street and bought antiacid and then headed back to the Sun and Sand for dinner and another order of rice for Sasha.

I spent the rest of the evening vegetating in front of the idiot box.

On the home front,  based on Rachel’s description, the water heater has been damaged and the steel door between the kitchen and the breezeway is MIA.  On the bright side, the idiot left behind documentation with his SSN and a copy of his drivers license.  I see a lawyer and some court dates in my future.

Plans for today are to:

1. Eat Breakfast
2. Take Sasha and walk over to the Blue Hole – a scuba diving attraction here in NM.
3. Relax and watch some football while trying to learn some video editing software so I can start editing my videos in prep for uploading it to you tube.

Given I don’t expect my truck to be fixed before 3 PM local time Monday (if at all Monday), I will plan to be online working Monday as previously planned (just a slightly different location).  I can’t make plans for Tuesday and Wednesday until I find out what is going on with my Truck.

Unless I make substantial progress with video editing, I doubt I will post another update until Monday evening when I know more about what is going on with the truck and my plans for the rest of the trip home.

Cary

 

 

What an adventure I am having.

Monday evening after work I think I spent planning my departure and starting to sort through stuff.

Tuesday evening I was working on packing and had a great visit with Carolyn.

Wednesday evening evaluated remote support options for Rusty’s WiFi network and had a great visit once again with Tom, Alicia, and two of their guests (Tom and Alicia run a B&B).  I learned that the deadbeat renter took my refrigerator and washer and dryer when he moved out and the water was shut off for non-payment.  I also learned that the house was overrun by fleas.

Thursday was a vacation day dedicated to packing and preparing to go.  Woke at 3AM local time and got up around 3:30.  Made a trip to Douglas for an oil change and lube, as well as to pick up some RV antifreeze, and a large frappachino.  Took some time to call, and pay the delinquent water bill so I would have water when I got home.  Worked like crazy to pack the truck and pack stuff I was leaving behind and wanted to protect from mice into totes and garbage cans with lids.  Removed the couch from over the fresh water pump to tap into the line to pump antifreeze into the system only to realize that I didn’t have the necessary tools and hose with me to do that.  After I was done cursing, I made the decision to dump the antifreeze into the fresh water holding tank which was empty for the most part and simply pump it from there (this is against the advice I’ve seen on the internet but I didn’t have any choice at this point). Dumped the water from the hot water heater and bypassed the hot water heater before running the antifreeze through the water lines (hot and cold).  I am thankful I had enough antifreeze to get to the taps.  I am hopeful it was not too diluted by pouring it into the nearly empty fresh water tank…  Come to think of it, I’m hopeful the fresh water tank is nearly empty.  Something I didn’t think to check until this very moment – a bit late…  Ugh.  Anyway…  I didn’t meet my goal of moving the trailer before dark.  I didn’t even get hooked up until nearly dark.  Thankfully, when I asked, a couple fellow park guests were willing to help guide me back to hook up the trailer to the truck.  By the time I was ready to move the trailer to the storage space in the park, it was dark.  Using a lantern to first mark the corner of the trailer I was to park to the right of then to mark the right side marker I needed to line the driver side of the trailer up with, I was able to park the trailer in the dark by myself.  It took patience and a few back and forths creeping along to get it right but I got it done.  After I got the trailer parked and the back end supported with jacks (remember the I-beams supporting the back end are rusting out so the back end of the trailer sags without added support), made multiple trips back and forth between the old campsite and the trailer storage site to move stuff – the steps I made, empty totes, stuff I set outside the trailer but wasn’t ready to pack into the truck yet, my tools, etc.  Once I felt confident I was done with my tools I packed them in the truck where they would not be easily accessible.  Once I had the old site all packed up, I took Sasha for her evening walk and took her to the storage site.  I then continued working with the aid of a lantern for light on the inside of the trailer to try to finish up.  I worked until about sometime between 11 and midnight local time at which point I was exhausted and wasn’t able to really think clearly enough to work efficiently so I called it a night deciding I was not going to set an alarm as I needed a full nights sleep in preparation for the long drive on Friday.

Friday morning, woke around 7AM (two hours after I wanted to depart).  I finished packing the truck.  Once again, I was thankful for all those hours I spent playing the game of Tetris.

I turned the electrical breakers and the propane off.  I borrowed a cresent wrench from Bob to disconnect the negative battery terminal from the trailer so as not to kill the battery while in storage.  Made sure all the windows and vents were closed, prayed there was nothing left in that disaster of a trailer that I wanted or needed to take to Michigan, and locked up (not that there was any room left in the truck to take anything else).  I settled up with Rusty, and sat and had breakfast outside the club house while visiting with Bob before hitting the road at 9AM local time – 4 hours later than planned.

From that point forward, I was blessed with numerous opportunities to exercise my stress management practice of being thankful.  So let me demonstrate.

I am thankful I put a sheet down on the front leather seat of the truck where Hershey (my cat) spent most of his time during the ride from MI to AZ because it worked wonderfully to catch his urine when he decided to pee on the seat which was not more than 18 inches from the litter box.

I am thankful that Hershey finally stopped crying (after 3 hours).

I am thankful it only took a handful of rejections for Hershey to stop trying to join me in the drivers seat.

I am thankful Hershey no longer thinks that Sasha is going to eat him so he was content laying down on the tote in the backseat by Sasha (my dog) rather than insisting to be in my lap.

I am thankful that when Hershey puked on the tote on which both my flannel and sweatshirt were on, he only got puke on one of the two.

I am thankful that not all the puke went into the tote when Sasha put her weight on the tote and collapsed the lid inwards.

I am thankful that when my truck started acting up in Alamogordo NM, I was able to get it out of the road and get it to move normally again.

I am thankful that once working, my truck seems to run fine so it did not strand me roadside in the middle of nowhere.

I am thankful I had a second pair of shoes easily accessible when I stepped in dog poo on the sidewall at the gas station that someone felt was fine to leave there in Vaughn NM.

I am thankful that Sasha is a good dog and took care of her business in the grass at the gas station in Vaughn (which I picked up and properly disposed of).

I am thankful for the Tamales which was the purpose of stopping at the gas station in Vaughn (I remember them from our trip out last year).

I am thankful I was once again able to get the truck off the road and into a dirt lot after it didn’t want to accelerate when I pulled out of the gas station there in Vaughn.

Speaking with the insurance company for road side assistance and being told that I would cost about $250 to get it towed to Santa Rosa NM and the earliest they would work on it would be Monday.  I googled a couple of roadside mechanics in the area, same thing – Monday (I think it is hunting season for dear here).  I am SOOOO VERY thankful for Jesus who not only stopped to check on me but then drove me around to talk to a local mechanic Tomas who was out of town but said he would be willing to look at it Saturday morning around 10-11AM when he got back into town.  Jesus then took me to meet Daniel who was also incredibly nice and offered to let me stay with him although he had a dog that was a bit particular about his space.  Daniel also offered to pull me to Santa Rosa with some chains.  I declined that offer as I am very inexperienced in being pulled with chains and was concerned about rear-ending him and I couldn’t find anyone to work on the truck in Santa Rosa until Monday when Tomas had agreed to work on it Saturday for me.  Jesus then took me back to my truck and hooked up with chains to tow it to Bel Aire, a motel just down the road that he works part time at.  I was nervous as hell that I was going to rear end him, but we got it moved and parked without incident.  Jesus  then went into the office with me and explained to the office manager (in spanish) my situation.  I checked-in.  Daniel stopped by on his way to check out a tow bar that may work to pull my truck.  I’m to call him at 9AM Saturday morning to arrange having the truck pulled to Tomas’s place.  I took Sasha to do her business again before putting her into the motel room, moved Hershey and his litter box in along with my laptop bag and suitcase into the room.  I’m thankful for the carry out burrito joint across the street.

I’m thankful I have a place to stay the night with the animals with a comfortable bed.

I’m thankful  it is a vehicle failure that has delayed my travels rather than an accident or health issues.

I’m thankful for the support of my kids and wife who are working to get the house ready for my return – flea bombing.  Carpet cleaning.  Other cleaning.  Buying a mattress for me to sleep on.  Getting the water turned on and verifying no leaks.

I’m thankful for the four hours of sleep I got before waking up and not being able to go back to sleep, so started writing this blog entry.

I’m thankful for the epiphany as to what is most likely wrong with the truck – my best guess is that a pack rat as chewed the power line to the fuel pump.  I am hoping that Tomas can find where it is chewed and implement a quick fix that will get me home where I can then have all the damage done by the pack rats assessed – fuel line power, firewall insulation,  ABS sensor or line, idiot dinger, other.

I’m thankful for the tip Carolyn gave me on dealing with missed hotel/motel reservations as I called Motel 6 in El Reno OK and rescheduled my reservation for Saturday night.  Assuming Tomas can find and repair the truck by 3-4PM, I should be able to make it to El Reno OK today, and home Sunday night.

Well, time to try to get some more sleep.  Another big / stressful day today.  Will need to be well rested to deal with what is coming my way.

Night all.  Or should I say good morning all?

Cary

 

Oct 9 – 15

Alrighty then!

Big news but little daily status so I will keep this brief.

I got a call Monday from work informing me that I cannot continue to work for my company from New Mexico or Arizona.  Needless to say this news really took the wind out of my sails.  Struggling to stay positive, I started evaluating alternatives and spent the week developing a “Plan B”.  During a follow up call on Friday I was informed that my new plan was also unacceptable.  I basically have two choices.  Move back to Michigan or find alternative employment.  Given my personal situation at this moment in time, I do not feel that finding alternative employment is a viable option for me.

With the mental acceptance that I would need to temporarily put on hold the execution of my plans to fulfill my dreams that have been years in the developing, I immediately started planning my return to Michigan Friday evening and started executing on that plan Saturday.

Saturday I spent moving the tractor to my neighbors Tom and Alicia with Tom’s permission and removing from the shed anything I didn’t want stolen or wanted to take back to Michigan with me.  I then relaxed and visited with Drew, a fellow guest at the park that I have befriended.

Sunday was more detail planning, doing a bit more at property that I wasn’t equipped to do Saturday, and storing my generator in Drew’s massive garage/workshop.  In the afternoon I lost my motivation to work, so I sat and watched the Arizona vs Tampa Bay football game with Rusty and Tim in the clubhouse followed by a bit of boxing.

This upcoming week is fully booked with working, saying my goodbyes to friends I’ve made down here, and preparing to leave.  I’ve scheduled vacation Thursday and Friday.  Plan is to spend the day Thursday packing up the truck and trailer, moving the trailer into storage, run to Douglas to get an oil change, and pick up whatever I need for the trip, and depart early Friday morning.  I’ve already booked a pet friendly hotel in Oklahoma for Friday night.  I expect to be home late Saturday evening.  Sunday will be recovering from the long drive and making the rounds to see family and making sure I’m ready for work Monday.  I will be staying at the W. Michigan house as we are supposed to close on the Augusta house this week.  Hope it is not Thursday or Friday…

As far as next steps, once I’m situated in Michigan again, I will talk with HR to find out the exact limitations that I am facing.  From there I will figure out if I can make that work or if I will need to start seeking new career opportunities next year.  Regardless, I have in my mind that I would like to come back down for the month of January or February and put up fencing and a gate and do what ever other smaller construction projects time permits.  The following trip, I’m thinking July 2018, I would then be able to install solar and move an RV onto the property.  Cheryl and Rachel would likely be moving down with me at that point and we will be putting the house on Michigan up for sale at that time.

I have a 3 year building permit and I’m losing 1 year with this delay.  I’m going to have to bust my butt do get it all done in the two remaining years.  I can extend it 1 year.  After that, I have to wait 5 years before I can apply for a similar permit.  Not an acceptable option to me, so get it done is Plan A thru Z.

My time in Michigan between now and July 2018 will be focused on preparing W. Michigan house for sale and making what ever employment arrangements necessary to meet those goals.  As always, plans are fluid and can change, but those are the plans I have in mind.

Regarding this blog, I expect to make a few more posts before I let it go dormant pending my next trip to the valley.  If you haven’t already, there is an option to follow this blog that appears as a small pop-up in the lower right corner of the screen.  By following the blog, you will get emails when I post updates rather than having to periodically check the blog.  I will also work to get some of the video I’ve taken posted to my youtube channel.

Thinking about it, as this blog is a record of my journey to reach my goals, and the time spent in Michigan is part of that journey, I will likely post periodic updates while in Michigan.  It will most likely be family centric and maybe progress on preparing the house to be sold, but I will certainly post about any activity of note in moving toward the goals and dates outlined above.

That’s it for me tonight.

Night all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 2 – 8

Good evening every one.  I’m well rested at the moment for reasons to be disclosed later.

Ok, what happened this past week…  Seemingly not much.  Ok.  so my memory is failing and I can’t remember so it must not have been too important.  As I start writing I’m sure the memories will resurface.

Monday afternoon after work I reconfigured some of the parks wireless access points.  It seems that by default, they all select the same 2.5GHz channel even when on auto.  With more guests coming into the park, not surprisingly, the system was logging interference alerts.  So I strategically changed the channels certain access points were using and I reduced the power each was transmitting at.

The rest of Monday and Tuesday evenings besides cooking and doing dishes, I was googling and reading about various Lithium battery technologies, BMS (battery management systems) for lithium batteries, searching ebay for used batteries to see what is generally available that I might want to incorporate into my solar system, reading up on the specifications for various solar battery bank charge controllers.

Wednesday afternoon after work I met up with Drew, a fellow park resident I’ve become friends with who is also building on land down here.  We went out in his 1960’s Jeep.  It doesn’t have doors, but he did have the cover on it to keep the dirt/dust from blowing on us while we travel the dirt roads.  It was fun to ride in.  We stopped by his property first so he could show me where it was and what he had done so far.  Being a car and construction guy, he built a huge garage first so he has a place to store stuff.  His septic system was mostly in.  There was a well on the property when he bought it and he has an elevated water tank plus a pressure tank.  From there we went to our property so  I could show him where we are going to be living and talked about the plans for the property.   We returned to the park so he could take a call from his wife who is still living in Phoenix.  I swapped my snake boots for tennis shoes and headed to the tavern for dinner – plain steamed broccoli, baked potato with bbq sauce, and a couple glasses of my usual poison.

Thursday night was my usual run to Douglas.  I got a late start as I was once again working on the park’s wireless.  I checked the status of the system after finishing my day job and saw that two access points were out of service.  Once I got that resolved, stopped and asked Bob, Carolyn, and Betina who were chatting by the pool/hottub if they needed anything from Douglas.  Carolyn just got back from a trip, moved into the park this week, and has been busy with volunteer work.  As such she hasn’t had time to go to the store and took me up on my offer.  She provided a list of what she needed and I headed out to Douglas.  Dinner at El Chef again followed by the usual stops at the gas station, TSC, and Walmart.  Skipped the tavern on the way home as it was late and I was tired.  Dropped off Carolyn’s groceries and headed home to take care of mine and walk Sasha.

I finished work at a reasonable time Friday so I had time to cook the corn on the cob and make the guacamole I bought for the potluck.  Naturally, the guac was a last minute addition to my shopping list because the avocados were marked way down as they were VERY ripe and needed to be sold ASAP – perfect for guac the next day.  The point here, was the guac was not planned so I forgot to buy chips to go with it.  Ugh!  I checked with Rusty to see if they carried big bags of chips in the park store – nope.  I called Drew to see if he could bail me out.  He had a bag he was willing to part with for the cause.  I owe him now.  🙂  I bought enough avocados for two batches but only made one.  It was a hit and when it was gone we still had about half the bag of chips left so I went back to the trailer to throw together another batch.  It got eaten too.  This was the first potluck that a few of us stayed to visit after the potluck was over.  After a while I offered to make margaritas for everyone left.  Better to share than drink it all myself.  🙂  I confirmed that I was not the only one hung over last Sunday.  I guess Bob and Rusty spent last Sunday recovering as well.  During the visit the conversation turned to food.  Carolyn shared that her doctor put her on a special diet  (reference Dr Dean Ornish) due to medical issues.  I suggested for her issue I thought Dr Caldwell Esselstyn’s diet would be better.  It is very similar to Ornish’s diet but it is a bit more strict.  I started to share what I’ve learned on the subject over the last few years.  She indicated that she would like me to teach/tell her what I’ve learned and share the resources that I’ve found on the subject.  She was telling me a story about a line in the Disney movie “Ice Age” and how it resonates with her and her situation.  Upon coming up to a dangerous obstacle, the sloth says:  “I chose life” and turns away from it and takes a different path.

Saturday I got up, did my usual Saturday morning chores then put together food and water and headed to the property.  Using the chainsaw, I started clearing brush out of the path of the eastern fence line.  There were only threes mesquite shrubs left to cut down when the chain on the chainsaw came off.  I didn’t have the bar tool with me so I took the saw back to the shed.  I was tired and the chain was dull now so I didn’t bother putting it back on the bar.  I just put the saw in the shed, and put everything away.  While I was there I also identified the location of the northern fence line east of the driveway so that I can start clearing that of brush when I return with sharp chains.  Once back to the RV Park, I got cleaned up, collected my computer gear, and headed over to the club house to watch some college football while I worked on the computer.  I watched Michigan lose to Michigan State.  I worked unsuccessfully to get a USB stick setup to be a bootable Linux distro with video editing software.  After the game I headed back to the trailer.  I knew I should go to bed, but I wasn’t ready to sleep so I watched a movie – The Accountant.

Sunday was online shopping, laundry, cleaning, and cooking day.  I also continued working on getting a working bootable persistent USB Linux system.  I ordered 3 chains for the chainsaw, and bulk ingredients to make food for Sasha and I.  Speaking of food for Sasha, I am happy to report that the tumor on her eye lid has shrunk considerably since I started cooking for her.  I’m hoping it will be gone in another month or so.  I was ready for a nap by noon, but wanted to not nap and just go to bed early.  I got tired of cleaning and laid down with the computer, started downloading a different Linux distro to see if I could get further with it.  Estimated download time 2 hours.  Next thing I know, I woke up and the download only had 15 minutes left.  Oops.  So much for not napping.  I worked a bit on it before getting up to take Sasha for her evening walk.  The work on the Linux system has paused while I write this blog entry.  If I recall where I left off with it, it is ready to test.  With luck, I will have a system that I  can edit video’s so I can share them as I make them.  Of course, I will have to learn how to use the video editing software as well.

No new pics this week.  Sorry.

I think that brings you up to date.

Night all.

 

 

 

 

Sept 25 – Oct 1

Mon – Wed evenings was all about work for work eating, and sleeping if memory serves.

Although I worked a bit late Thursday, I decided to get cleaned up and go to Douglas none-the-less.  I tried a new Mexican restaurant called “El Chef”.  Food was good.

Made my usual stops at the gas station, TSC, and Walmart.  This time I remembered to stop at the credit union to get some cash as well.  I was hoping to avoid the ATM fee being a CU to CU transaction.  No such luck.  On the way home I stopped into the tavern.  I stopped to checkout a bit of commotion outside by the front door.  It seems the some young adult gal stood in one place too long and a baby tarantula about the size of an old silver dollar climbed up onto her ankle (she was wearing sandals if I recall).  To her and her friends credit, she remained very calm while her friend carefully used a twig to remove the spider from her without injuring it.

I once again worked a bit late Friday so I was rushing to get my dish prepared in time for the potluck.  The potluck was nice.  There were a number of new guests that have recently arrived at the park that came to the potluck.  What looked like an incoming storm caused us to hurriedly scatter after the potluck was over rather than lingering longer to visit.  I planned on working for work to troubleshoot data loss for an application anyway.  It was a after midnight EST before we called it quits troubleshooting not really any closer to the root cause than when we started.

Saturday morning I took my time getting around to go to the property, I did a few chores around the trailer and started researching and revisiting my solar system plans.  Finally, I had to force myself to getup and get moving so as not to spend the entire day on the computer.  As I was getting ready to leave, I saw that Tim, Rusty’s husband, had just returned from a mail run to the post office so I stopped to check for my building permit.  Finally, it was here.  We now have our own address in Arizona and I can start working on building projects.  If I had money.  🙂  No status update on the sale of the house or the cleanup of the rental to put it on the market to sell.  That is okay.  I have enough savings left to put in a fence which I need to do first to keep the cattle out. so they don’t damage my building materials and solar panels when I start getting them delivered.  I may hold off until January to get my drivers license and change the vehicle plates to AZ when I can do all the vehicles at once and not be paying for both Michigan and AZ auto insurance policies.  On the way into the property, I had my mobile camera setup recording video of the drive up the dirt road to the laptop.  At the property I carried my 10′ folding ladder to the NE corner of the property.  Then I painted about a foot or so of the end of a 2x8x16′ with bright orange marking paint and carried it to the NE corner.  I then situated the board with the ladder so the ladder was holding the pained end of the board in the air.  I then hiked to the SE corner by the road and confirmed I could see it from there.  I also confirmed using a compass heading that it is due north.  I also reassessed where I would be putting the north fence line.  Instead of putting it on the north side of the shed, I am going to put it on the south edge of the clearing which is just south of the shed.  I will move the shed at some point so it will be within the fence line.  The result of that change is that the existing piled rock structures will be outside the fence line so people can still walk/ride up to them without entering our fenced area.  In the future I may chose to fence the more rugged northern half of the property and will deal with entry for visitors to look at the rock structures at that point.  I then dug out the drone and started flying it around the property to get the “before” video and photos I’ve been so anxious to get.  In the process, I clipped some dead branches at the top of a tree.  The drone seem to get stuck and it was out of sight but within earshot.  So I started hiking double time to find it before the battery ran out (it only has about 20 minutes of flight time and I had already been flying for 5-10 minutes).  I came to the road at the western boundary of the property and realized I had passed it and not realized it when I was flying the drone and I had flown the drone into the neighbors air space.  Crawling through a section of barb wire fence that had enough slack to let me get through without issue, I once again headed for the sound of the drone while also getting closer and closer to the neighbors house.  I finally got close and thought I heard it in the tree to the left so looked there.  Didn’t see it but it sounded like it was coming from the right at that point, so I looked right.  Didn’t see it.  Where the hell is it.  How about straight up about 100 feet or more.  It would seem that I had lost video and possibly control signal from the drone and hadn’t realized it.  I’m sure there was an indicator on the display that I simply didn’t notice.  Something I will have to check out instructional videos on.  I know I’ve seen it.  Anyway…  As predicted, just as I located it, the controller started beeping at me telling me to land ASAP due to low battery.  Naturally, I was around trees with no good place to land so once again I start hiking double time back toward the road between our properties  controlling the drone as I did so.  I found a clearing before reaching the road and safely landed the drone there.  I then carried it back to the truck replaced the battery, grabbed the third battery which still had a charge, and headed to the building site.  From there, I flew around a bit more getting some still photos of the land from various angles and took a bit more video.  Once all three batteries were drained, I packed up and headed back to the trailer with plans to return Sunday morning to start clearing a path along the eastern property line to start installing fencing.  At the trailer I started cooking food for Sasha and relaxed a bit before departing for another live music show at the Portal Cafe.  I rode with Rusty, Tim, Bob, and Betina (Betina being the designated driver for the evening).  Music was good and the bottles of Mikes Hard Lemonade kept coming and disappearing down my throat.  As the empties kept getting carried away and we were taking turns buying rounds, I completely lost track of how many I had, but I’m guessing I had about 3 too many.  It has been years since I have been that intoxicated.  I even got up to dance (by which point I was focused on not tipping over while trying to dance).  Needless to say, we all had a good time and thanks to Betina, we all made it home safely.  Taking Sasha to the dog run after getting back was another interesting test in putting one foot in front of the other (or near enough so as to move forward and not fall down).  I learned not too try to look straight up at the stars in that condition else risk falling over backwards.  Naturally Sasha wanted to walk the park after doing her business and I was like – ya whatever.

Needless to say, I was in no condition to go wield a chainsaw to clear brush this morning.  so I have spent the day sleeping and working on getting a laptop setup with suitable software to edit the video I took Saturday.  Sad to say, I had many obstacles and did not manage to complete that task.  The best I can offer tonight is one video that I can share without editing and a number of still photos.  In addition to the previously mentioned video’s my outdoor camera at the trailer caught some wild life but again, I want to edit that one before sharing so you are going to have to wait for it.

So, without further ado, here are some photos.

 

The experimental video taken from the drone can be found here in the morning when I publish it.  It is in the process of uploading which at this rate (with my slow internet upload speeds) will hopefully be before I wake up to work in the morning.

Night all!