Merry Christmas Eve!!!!

 At the time, I didn't think this year could go by fast enough.  Thankfully it's almost done, and not one with a lot of great memories ... just weird ones.  Or maybe that was still the smell of gas in my house.  Merry Christmas Eve to one and all!!

My very first job yesterday was to get the truck washed.  You just cannot imagine the extent of fumes from the bed of the truck, even though I left the garage door open all day.  The only time I could breathe was going 70 mph down the freeway to the carwash.

I was happy they didn't ask me about the smell.  The $12 was worth every penny!!

I always love the psychedelic lights that come on, followed up with soap of the same color.  I have to admit the Mister Car Washes use the right stuff, because all the sticky highway gunk always comes off.  I did have to scrub a bit on the back where the gas sat too long.  Not only is she now clean as a whistle, but she smells PURDY!!

On the way home, I stopped in at Popeyes for their spicy chicken sandwich.  I was pretty disappointed in the 1/4 cup of macaroni and cheese.  The cup is full in their advertisements!  It was delicious, but this time there was so much spicy on the chicken that I couldn't taste the Mac n cheese.  Woohoo!!!

I made a quick stop at the bank for check registers so I can keep track while my checks take a rest at home.  Lucky for me I pay for everything online.  I have to say Chase bank handled this entire mail stealing thing like a pro, unlike my other two banks who have done nothing to help me out.

Next up, I discovered a leak in the drip lines out front.  Why is it every time you cut one of these lines, it immediately shrinks up half an inch?  I measured and measured, then cut it a quarter inch too long.  It was STILL too short!!!  RATS!!  Now I have to make ANOTHER connection.  See ... this is what the MEN are good at!!

Back in the house, I was admonished by the King of the Roost for putting that yellow ball on the table.  He has a schnawz that can find those balls anywhere.  I didn't arise instantly, and was promptly barked at.  

We played race horse around the house about twice before I ran out of breath.  It was time to head off to the Chance household for cookie and crunch making.  Are these not fabulous?  I've seen them many times, but never made any.  I didn't make these either, Patty did, but I stuck them in the white chocolate while Patty did the sprinkles of peppermint candy.  

It's a good thing these were not at my house ... DELICIOUS!!  I would have eaten every one of them.

Then it was on to making ChristMoose Crunch the right way with white chocolate.  All this is being packaged up and given to the horse camp girls this weekend.

I hope your stockings are hung by the fire with care .........

and Santa comes to your house while you sleep.  

The only thing that came by my house last night was a big pack of coyotes at 3:00, singing for all they were worth.  I thought it was an ambulance next door.  If I'm really lucky, I might have caught them on my game camera.  I'll check it out this morning.  

Here's to a wonderful CHRISTMAS!!!

Queen of Boondocking!

 I heard you laugh!!!  Yeah that's not me, obviously, but I aspire to be the Queen of Boondocking.  Of course it may not happen in my lifetime, but I'll give it a shot.  I didn't have time nor the energy to get my truck washed yesterday, so I left the garage door open, along with the front door of the house.  I'm able to breathe a tad bit better.  I have to say though, it's causing some really weird dreams!!

Cooper and I were up early.  It was a three cup morning as I unpacked as much as I needed from the trailer.  My biggest lesson learned is to leave everything that I use on a daily basis, IN the trailer.  Packing and unpacking is one of the biggest complaints I hear because it's usually left up to the wife.  I did that on a cabin cruiser for a few years and it's no fun, but that's another story.

As I walked outside, I unexpectedly scared Doug who was walking up my little path.  Yuma gave me his usual warm greeting!  He's such a sweet dog ... he loves everyone!!

In no time they were packed up and ready to leave, their water leak repaired and heading off into the wild blue yonder.  I took a picture of their repair guy's business name and phone number in case I need service. Doug said they were very professional, didn't overcharge and he seemed to know exactly what he was doing.

Next up, I unloaded the chainsaw-on-a-stick I brought along for Dan and I to use on our trees.  It sure beats standing on a ladder trying to trim the branches.  I had to step up into my truck bed to get it out of the toolbox.  Whoa Nelly ... that was a tall step with those air bags full.

I just think it's so cool ... the fill valves come out the holes of your license plate.  Again, my handy dandy Ryobi mini air compressor worked like a charm, mostly because it has a pressure gauge on it.  It's even strong enough to fill up my Jeep tires, but probably not my truck tires.  Hopefully I never have to try.

With that done, it was time to tackle the leveling system.  I have the App on my phone that connects to my trailer with a special code number.  Once connected, I can sit in my truck and turn on all the lights, open the awning ... all sorts of cool stuff.  It shows the air in the tires too, as well as the leveling system.

It immediately said I had a fault (yeah, I knew that) ... and I had to click yes to acknowledge it.  I had visions of the front hitting the ground really hard when I hit the wrong button.  I contemplated it for a minute, then went over and turned on the control panel.  Yippee!!  A green light!  I hit the level button and it did it's thing with NO crash!!!  That's one rhinestone in my Queen tiara!

So here she is, all level and ready for my next foray in a few short weeks.  I imagine eventually I'll get the hang of it.  

I tried to do some menial tasks, like cleaning the house of all the accumulated dead bugs, but curiosity got the best of me.  I know you are thinking the same thing ..... I wonder if the generator will start?

I hauled it outside and gave it one pull.  HEY .... I think it tried to run!  I pulled a few more times, then choked it once and tried again.  It sprang to life!  YAHOO!!!  I didn't kill it after all.  It ran okay for about four minutes before surging.  I've no idea what that's about, so I shut it off.  At least it's still got some life left in it.  Maybe I'll run it under a load for a time or two and see if it will clear up.  It can't get any worse, right??

Do you have all your Christmas shopping done?  I made one trip to the grocery store to get Jonathan food and I was shocked at the amount of people there.  I'm very thankful I don't have to go to some place like Walmart.

Here's hoping you all have a very fun week!!

My House Smells Like Gas

 It started out as a lovely early morning in Quartzsite.  Little did I know what the day had in store for me.  It's so crazy, I'm laughing!  I had to, to keep my sanity!

I packed up, loaded up the kids and headed out for fuel at the Arco station, usually the cheapest on my entire trip.  While usually $2.30 or so, this time it was $3.99 a gallon.  Off I went, but gee, it sure took some time to stop at that light, and my rearview camera isn't working.  RATS!!  It's connected to my headlights, so I turned them on and off twelve times.  Nothing.

As I rounded the corner on the onramp, I noticed ..... hey ..... I don't have trailer lights.  Ding Ding Ding!!  You guys already figured it out.  I forgot to plug the trailer back in to the truck.  There's a learning curve here and I'm in kindergarten.

Here's the generator when it actually worked.  It's retribution towards me for apparently putting too much fuel in it was epic.

The drive itself was very nice under cloudy skies.  I arrived to my second home to find Doug and Nick still here trying to get some work done on their rig.  No problem at all ... they backed out and I backed in under the RV cover, then they pulled back in to await the repairman who had gone for a few more parts.  What could go wrong?

Everything of course!!  I got distracted, hit the wrong button on the "level it" keypad and it locked up.  No amount of cajoling would change it's mind.  Oh well .... I plugged it in and went inside my house.  Beep beep beep.  Oh yeah ..... one of those smoke detectors that's a hundred years old was scaring the daylights out of Cooper.  He was cowering in the corner.  

No worries little buddy, I'll fix it.  It took a ladder and fifteen minutes to get the battery in it, but it kept beeping.  I just LOVE duck tape.  I put a little piece over the battery door to hold it tight and it quit yelling at us.  

Back outside I retrieved a Christmas present from the front door and we partook of a petit fours or two.  That's when the REAL trouble began.  I walked back through the garage and smelled fuel ... VERY STRONG fuel.  

OH NO .... there it was, dripping from my truck.  What the heck?  I couldn't tell if it was diesel or gas, but it was really strong.  I grabbed a flashlight to look underneath and got lots of drops in my hair.  GREAT!!  Now I smell like gas.  You wouldn't think it could get worse, but it did.  

I finally decided it was coming from the bed of the truck.  Must be the little gas can I had in the tool box.  Nope ... it's just fine.  I went to the back and unlocked the generator, moving it to the floor.  HOLY COW!!!  It's leaking gas all over the truck bed, going towards the cab and running out underneath.  It's not just a little bit, it's a LOT!!!  How could that be?

Doug lifted it off, we put it in the wheelbarrow to catch the fuel and took it outside.  Oh my gosh!  No amount of wiping would clean up that mess nor lessen the smell.  Thanks to Doug, we figured out the problem.

Yes ... it got even worse!!  In the meantime, I had a little difficulty getting the inside heater to work.  I should have given up there, because when it did finally come on, my air return is right next to the garage door.  You guessed it!  Unknowingly, every time I went out the door, it sucked the lovely smell of gas into my house and spread it all around.  

About that time I went back out and noticed I left my trailer door open.  I closed it of course.  Then we heard it .... Doug's precious Yuma gave a yowl.  It's dark and we think it came from down the hill.  Coyote?  Javelina?  I ran to the house for my big flashlight and we searched the entire area calling for him.  No Yuma.  

At last Doug said maybe my trailer.  Nah ... he wouldn't go in there!  I opened the door, and sure enough, there he was, tail wagging.  Okay, I'm cooked ... tired ... stressed and ready to go hide.

I go inside to plug in my phone and watch a little TV.  The phone won't charge.  Gee, what else can go wrong.  It appears not one, but TWO of my kitchen outlets have decided to give up the ghost.  Of course I thought it was the phone.  It took almost 30 minutes to figure out that problem.  

That was the straw that broke the camels back.  I went to bed ... at least I have a nice soft bed.  HOWEVER, the fuel smell is so bad in here now that I couldn't sleep.  Today my truck will go to the car wash, I'll open all the windows and turn on the fan, and I will try to find out how to reset my leveling system without dropping the front of the rig to the ground.  Maybe, just maybe, I'll graduate to first grade on the learning curve.

No Power Is Not My Thing .. I'm Spoiled!

Very early morning in Bakersfield saw Cooper and I playing on the floor.  It was our last hurrah.  The long 7-1/2 hour drive was ahead of us.  I really need to find some place to stay that's in between.

  Not helping matters was the really bad fog.  The higher we got, the worse it got until I was going about 40 mph.  Luckily there were no slow trucks going up Tehachapi Pass on this day.

Cooper slept most of the way while I stewed about fuel.  I haven't gone this way pulling the trailer, so I really had no idea just how far I could go.  I stopped at Flying J in Tehachapi, only to find the truck lane pumps pump too much fuel too fast for my truck.  It foams up terribly and quits pumping.  It was a long slow drizzle before I finally gave up.  

The further I got, the more I was sure I would end up getting fuel in Needles.  Not my fav!!  So I ended up stopping AGAIN in Barstow, to the tune of $4.69 a gallon, to fill it to the brim.  Finally unstressed, we cruised along Highway 40 like a champ.  It was a totally unexpected nice smooth ride.  I'm going to be singing the praises of these air bags.  

Finally all the fog left and we had sunny weather the entire trip, even if it was 30 degrees until we went over the hill towards Parker.

My plan was to stop on Plamosa Road and dry camp for the night.   The nice BLM lady let me in free since it was late and I was leaving early.  I only went about a quarter mile before turning in and finding a place to park.  

Let me just say that what LOOKS level, is NOT level.  It took some time to find a spot where I didn't have to unhook.  Cooper was thrilled to finally get out of the truck and smell the smells.

Dinner was less than desired.  I didn't plan well, although there's lots of stuff in the freezer.  So a little leftover salad and an English muffin was it.  See the pretty red on the gas knob?  That means (hopefully) I won't be leaving it on when not in use.  

I tried several of the USB outlets to charge my phone, which died about 50 miles back,  but couldn't get them to work.  How disappointing!  I didn't even turn on any lights because I was afraid of using up too much battery.  I probably could have started the generator, but was totally distracted by the discovery that I did not bring one single chair to sit in outside.  

So I ate my dinner while scouring the rig for just ONE plug for my phone.  AHA!!  It's underneath the counter in a back dark corner.  

So here I am, parked way too close to the road because I can hear all the traffic noise.  Hopefully I get better at this quickly.  No power is not my thing ..... I'm spoiled!!  Rotten!!

The story of the generator began about here.  I finally decided I should get it out of the truck, even though I was exhausted, just to see if it would work.  I lugged it around to the side, drug out the big heavy electrical cord and said a little prayer.  

Believe it or not, that thing started up in TWO pulls.  I was so excited!  I let it run a bit and plugged in.  It jumped to life .... POWER!!!  It worked for all of 20 minutes before making funny sounds and quitting.  Hmmm must be out of gas.  I crawled in the truck and got the gas, filling the tank way too full.  I mean really, how do you know how much to put in?  I'm now covered in gas. 

I unplugged the rig and began the big pull ... and pull ... and pull about thirty times, with the choke and without.  Nothing.  I was so exhausted I could barely stand up.  I put the cord away and barely lifted the generator back into the truck.  I'll just buy new batteries when I kill them because this is WAY TOO MUCH TROUBLE!!!!!

With no TV, no radio and no lights, we went to bed at 7:00, trying to conserve the batteries for Jonathan's heat.  It's only 48 degrees this morning, enough to make that heater run every 30 minutes or so, waking me  up every single time, even with two pillows on my head.  

I know, I'm a wimp, but I don't care what it costs, I'm getting a big inverter and solar.  This has NOT been fun.  It might have been a tad bit better if I had remembered to stick a chair in so I could sit outside and listen to the traffic, or maybe a stick or two of wood for a nice fire.  NOPE ... I got nothing!!

So this morning, after stashing everything I pulled out trying to cook breakfast, we will be off for Vail.  It's about a five hour drive.  I checked the batteries just for laughs, and it's interesting to note there are five lights.  They start at LOW, then 11.2 all the way up to 12.3.  The 12.3 light is still on, so apparently my two batteries are still in somewhat good shape.  Hopefully they last until I leave this perfect camping spot!

Fog Advisory

Try as I might, I still had beaucoup stuff to pack yesterday morning.  It truly brings out the organizer in me to try and fit all that stuff in the freezer, small as it is.  How do you fifth wheel people do it??

At long last, I thought I had everything and proceeded to do the hookup.  I should have read the directions to remind me what to do.  No amount of finagling could get the panel to turn on and retract the jacks.  I tried to be patient, but the old brain refused to remember.  I finally went looking for the instruction book.

As I pulled out of the driveway, my mind went crazy thinking about every step ... and did I get everything!  The foggy weather didn't help much, although as you can see, within 20 miles, it wasn't too bad.

By the time I hit Fresno, the sun had come out just in time to see the bullet train bridge finally completed.  You can now go completely across Fresno, or at least you could if there was actually a train, which they think they now cannot afford.  I'll be dead before they finish THAT project!!

The kids did fine .... Jonathan kitty kittied most of the way and Cooper just slept.  That was a miracle, I think maybe due to the air bags.  It really was a better ride than previously.  Although I feel like this trailer is small, it sure looks huge in pictures.  

Time flew by as I snacked most of the way.  In no time I was parked at the Orange Grove RV Park.  The amount of oranges on the trees is epic.  Although most are small, I was able to find some big juicy ones to take along.  

OH BOY are they ever good!!  I couldn't find a grocery bag, so I filled up two small boxes.  I have maybe ten, plenty to share when I arrive in Tucson. 

That's when I made the big discovery.  I completely forgot ALL of my checkbooks and passwords.  I'm going to have to come up with another way of doing things I suppose. 

Poor Cooper ... Mom doesn't speak DOG very well, and once we were situated, he began barking.  Good grief!  It took me ten minutes to figure out I forgot to give him some water.  Poor baby!!

So we were all settled in for the night with two heaters going, since the prediction for 32 degrees sounded way too cold for this crew!!  As it turned out, it only got down to 38 but that was low enough to run the big jet engine heater.  It woke me up every time it turned on in spite of the closed door.  Oh well .. that will get me used to Quartzsite.

And we are off again early this morning heading for Needles, then south.

Merry Christmas To Our Veterans

What a day!!  Things haven't been going so smoothly around here, so I was loaded for bear when I got up yesterday.  One checking account is protected, only three more to go, all of which were closed.  There's not much else the burglars got except my retirement papers which thankfully have no social security number listed.  I guess we'll just wait and see.

Next I charged up my little drill to help get my fence fixed.  My good friend Mark who was helping lay wreaths, not only said he would help, but he brought the big nails I didn't have.  But first, we drove out to the San Joaquin National Cemetery.

Wreaths Across America sells these real tree branch wreaths to any organization who puts in an order.  In our area, most are delivered to the San Joaquin National Cemetery, but lucky for us, they actually deliver ours to the Elks Lodge in Merced.

Our thirty volunteers picked them up and drove all over the county to lay the wreaths on graves of our Elks Veterans.  This year we had 218.

Mark and I gathered up ours and headed off to the cemetery with a map and list of numbers and names where we would place the wreaths.  It takes some walking and it's all uphill.  It's also always very cold and very wet ... thus my rubber boots and heavy pea coat.  I got ribbed for it, but I was warm!!!

This cemetery is absolutely beautiful, built on land donated by a cattle rancher.  

We had one name that eluded us until Mark jumped in front of a workers truck.  Good thing it had brakes.  They were nice enough to call in and ask for the plot number.  Watch where you step or you will take a good fall.  It took us no time to finish up our four sections.

I always take a picture of this one for my friends.  I was very happy to see at least fifty cars out there this year, filled with people (including lots of children) doing the same thing we do.  Last year I think maybe there was five.  Word seems to be getting out about honoring our veterans.

Back home, Mark was kind enough to help me repair the fence.  This entire corner section fell over and I've no idea why.  Really, I only needed help nailing one 2 x 4 back up, but he nailed up the entire thing.  YAY!!  My fence is again intact.  

The sad part was the battery on my drill died a horrible death before I even took one screw out.  No problem, we just reused all the old nails that were falling out of every other board.  I'm sure glad to have that off my back.  Oh ... and why the hay bale?  It's covering up a big skunk hole dug under the side fence.

And .... good news, I finally got the prescription after pleading with the Doctor.  The blond gig wasn't working this time.  Of course I just got notification that a SECOND prescription is ready now!!  I think I need a new pharmacy.

So now I'm back to packing, checking tire pressure and adding pounds to the air bags.  Figuring out where to put everything is another fun job, all the while trying not to be overloaded.  I'm sure I'll get better at it after a few trips.

It's a chilly 34 degrees this morning, so packing will be slow.  Good thing I'll be plugged in the first night. Pray for no snow!!!!!  And I'm OFF!!

Wreaths Across America

Sometimes you lose, and sometimes you REALLY lose.  All I need is more stress to complicate my days before driving off into the wild blue yonder.  I called in a prescription two weeks ago.  They told me to pick it up Monday, but I was late.  Today it suddenly disappeared and they refused to fill it without a Doctor's note.  Kind of like when you missed a day at school and had to bring a note to the teacher!!

The Doctor said they called it in, putting it back on the pharmacy.  This went on for eight hours today until finally I got 30 pills.  It's okay though, all I needed was twenty to get me to Mexico where I'll buy it over the counter.  You know the place!!

Add to that the 5 feet of back fence that fell down yesterday.  Please .... nothing else ..... PLEASE!!

Well, no one listened because when I went to gather my mail from the Post Office, you know, the important stuff like bank statements, I discovered my box had been broken in to and the contents gone.  I could hear people in the back, so I knocked on the door.  No one answered.

At last, I took my cue from the homeless guy and kicked the door as hard as I could.  Well for heavens sake ... someone opened the little hatch.  I explained the problem.  At last, a Supervisor came out ... very nice guy ... and explained that it happened two weeks ago.  Apparently they didn't notify anyone.

When it happened the second time last week, they decided to lock the place up at night.  No kidding Sherlock!!  What little mail I had was in a cardboard box in back.  They would hold it for me for ten days. 

BUT  BUT ..... I'm going to be preoccupied.  He had me fill out a hold notice for the entire time and stamped it APPROVED.  No idea of when the mailbox will be repaired.  So now the big FIX begins.  I have to contact every bank ... in person ... and have the account numbers changed.  BIG SIGH!

Truly I have no time for this since this morning is Wreaths Across America Day.  About 20 volunteers from the Elks Lodge will be placing wreaths on our Veteran Member's headstones at cemeteries all over the County.  

 It's going to be wet and very cold, but at least the promised donuts will help.  We have about 250 to lay.  They are all made of real pine (?) boughs from somewhere up North, like Vermont.  

Once that is done, if I'm really lucky, I'm going to talk two of the guys into helping me with the fence.  I'm going to use my very best Blond-Sad-Little-Girl Face.   Then I'll be off to every banking institution in our little town except one.  Sometimes it does NOT pay to be diversified.

I'm OFF!  Not off crazy, just off to the cemetery!!  Cheers!!

Running The Great Wall

 This trip to China, sponsored by their government, was all about the "business" people buying gifts to take back home.  There was only one business meeting, and only two people in our group attended.  They sold almonds and were trying to set up a foreign market.

If you live in China, you work for the government.  We tried to ask questions, like how much do you get paid, but guards were always standing close by, so no one answered.  It's pittance, I'm sure, since even the Palace Guards were severely underfed.  There were no overweight people in China.

I wish we had some kind of itinerary, but alas, we didn't know from one minute to the next where we were going.  On occasion we had a big bus, but for the most part, we were in small groups of 25, traveling on roads that strictly controlled what we would see.  After all, China was wanting to make a statement with the Olympics about how modern they were.  That meant they were tearing down everything else.

When told we were going to the Great Wall, we were excited.  Here's a line of Terracotta Soldiers made out of concrete for your picture taking pleasure.  Let me just say most of the wall is in various stages of disintegration.  This section has been rebuilt just for the tourist industry.

The wall is 13,171 miles long, but only a couple of miles have been rebuilt.  It's a hard, steep climb on rock steps that are all different heights.  

Although they tried to tell us that no one was buried inside the wall, meaning the original workers who died on the spot, I didn't believe them.  This is crazy steep country and the wall follows the contours of the mountains.  The square buildings are where the guards stayed in the freezing weather, trying to survive.  If there was an attack on the wall, those guards would build fires to warn everyone down the line to come help.

I don't know who said what, but the next thing I knew, I was in a footrace to that top guard station.  I ran lots of marathons back then, so it wasn't as hard as it looks, but believe me, it's STEEP.

Yay!  I won!!  But then we had to walk all the way back down and up the other side, which was even steeper.  It was interesting to see and hear bagpipes being played on the opposite side.  Very eerie considering the history here.  At the bottom were two government-approved ladies selling "I climbed the wall" chatchkeys.  

For $50 we could have ridden the camel here, but I passed.  I did pet him on the nose though.

Next up was a quick stop at the Imperial Tombs of the Ming Dynasty.  The actual tombs were found quite by accident and turned into a tourist destination.  The buildings were magnificent, but the thought of those 100 concubines killed one by one and dumped in two pits at the bottom, was rather off-putting.  I think we stopped here because it had one of maybe three bathrooms on the entire trip with American toilets.  

Here's another weird thing about China.  The houses do not have bathrooms.  Each little section of town has a communal bathroom, most with no doors, which everyone uses.  Don't bother looking for the "women" or "men" signs, because there aren't any.  The government pays two or three people to keep it clean, relatively speaking.  They can do nothing for the smell.

We stopped at a Pearl Factory somewhere along the way, but purchasing homemade pearls wasn't on my list of important things.  Next up, another factory tour of how their fabulous vases are made.  

As we walked through, hand picked girls and boys (mostly very young) were painting their Ming vases.  Some vases are five feet tall, and some two inches tall.  I'm not sure of the chemicals used, but most had on masks.  We did not and it smelled terrible.

I'm pretty sure this painting section was set up just for sales.  I imagine most of the vases came from sweat shops, but at least these eight people had somewhat decent working conditions.  Here's the vase I came home with.  The picture does not do it justice.  The painting is magnificent!!

The good news is I remembered to take along a bag with nothing in it, in order to get all this stuff back home.  In case you didn't do that, they took us to a market where we could buy luggage ... very cheap luggage, made in where else, China!!

On a side note, no one told me about the duty fees I would pay upon arrival back in the U.S.

Back at my little house which would probably house 30 people in China, I'm off to bookkeeping duties for most of the day, then more packing.  Time is short and I have lots to do.