Thursday, December 30, 2010

Baby, it's cold outside!

    The entire state of Arizona is under a storm/blizzard watch. We woke up this morning to snow and wind, lots of wind so it's hard to know how much it really snowed here. The snow was blowing sideways. They closed I-40 from Kingman to Winslow which is a 200 mile stretch of road. The road to Payson was closed, as well as others. Tonight it is supposed to get to single digit temps. Pa was worried that the pipes in the motor home would freeze so he sacrificed himself and is spending the night in the motor home with the Heat Buddy going while I stay at Daisy Mae's, house sitting. It's hard to believe right now but it is supposed to clear off tomorrow. Still supposed to be in the single digits for our lows tho.
   Lil Abner came thru his surgery and is doing well. They are hoping to be able to come home tomorrow. Daisy Mae said it has rained constantly in Phoenix.
    I am furious with Fed Ex. My mom sent us a Harry and David gift box and we never got it. Fed Ex called two weeks ago and asked for a physical address and that was the last we heard from them. Mom called Harry and David and found out that Fed Ex is holding the box for us in Show Low. If they had told us that, Pa could have picked it up when he was there on Monday. So  now we have to go all the way back for our package. I think they should refund the shipping cost to my mom since they didn't deliver it. If UPS can deliver out here, there is no reason Fed Ex can't. We know they could have found us because they had our phone number. Boo Fed Ex!!!
   Can you believe it? Our permits are in the mail and the construction crew is supposed to be here on Tuesday, weather permitting. You can't trust the weather reports for our area so we shall see if they show up. We might actually be able to move into our house by the end of January. Ok, at least in February. If we can survive the worst two months of the year in the motor home, we can survive anything. 
    One of the things I was supposed to do while house sitting was to install the ceramic tile in Daisy Mae's guest bath. The tile is all down and I started to grout but didn't have enough to finish. Daisy Mae will pick up some grout on the way home from the hospital and I will finish it for them.
   That's about it for now. Hope I don't wake up tomorrow a frozen Popsicle. Pa has a better chance of that than I do. It's surprising how warm the Heat Buddy keeps the motor home.

Monday, December 27, 2010

Not much to report

   Took Lil Abner, Daisy Mae and son out to dinner last night.  They have had us over for dinner so many times! The only way we can "cook" dinner for them is to take them out to a restaurant for now. The oven doesn't work in the motor home and Lil Abner is so tall, he can't sit at the little table in our dining area. I just don't have room to cook a proper meal until we get our house set up.  My new kitchen will be so big! I can  hardly wait....but waiting I am because our ever elusive septic tank permit is still not here!
   We are house sitting for them right now. Lil Abner is having bypass surgery tomorrow so please keep him in your prayers. While I am here, I am going to put ceramic tile down in their bathroom so it will be all done when they get home. I think it is fun to do. It is supposed to climb up to 50 degrees today but I am freezing. The stove is burning wood at an alarming rate. We may have to go chop down a tree to have enough wood until they get home.
   Pa went to Show Low to get our propane bottles filled, then to Walmart and Lowe's. It is an hour drive each way so he may show up in time for dinner. One nice thing about house sitting is getting to use the oven. I am making a roast for dinner.
    Sorry there is not anything exciting to report. Things move slowly in the country...especially permits!

Friday, December 24, 2010

Merry Christmas

  Cloudy this morning with a forecast of sun! Ran into town to get the mail and on the way home the sun finally came out. I spent the day outside just enjoying the weather. The sun is supposed to shine all day tomorrow also. What a lovely Christmas gift that will be.
  Don't forget what day tomorrow is.....the day we celebrate the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ. The best Christmas gift of all. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
 Love and Hugs to you all,
Ma and Pa

Thursday, December 23, 2010

What not to do in bed

  A few days ago, I was all snuggy in my bed, my favorite dog on my chest, drinking a cup of coffee, fresh from being perked on the stove. The dog suddenly raised her head, causing the coffee to spill all over my chin and chest. I jerked off my pj top as I screamed and suddenly looked at Pa and said , in a tiny little voice, "I think I'm going to cry!" And then proceeded to do so. Poor little dog thought she was in big trouble. It is now day four and my burn is starting to peel. I didn't think it blistered but it did. Ok, I still drink my coffee in bed with my favorite dog on my chest but I am oh so careful now. Hopefully I won't be scarred for life.
  Pa went to Snowflake yesterday to check on solar panels and batteries, etc . Even if we could afford to get them right now, there is a 45 day wait since they are in high demand. I have no idea what we will be doing in that department. Live in a house with no power, I guess. But since the house is STILL sitting in the field with no septic tank permit, it's all a non issue at this time.
  UPS found us today and delivered two packages!! UPS won't deliver if the roads are too bad and even tho we woke up to rain and later some snow, the roads were still passable. It was damp and chilly today so I stayed in the motor home most of the day. Reading. I am going thru a book every 2 days and am running out of reading material. After Christmas, I will make the trek into town and get a library card.
   I'm kind of dreading Christmas day. It will be the first Christmas in ages that we have not spent the morning with my two Vegas grand kids watching them open their gifts. We see Pa's grand kids in the afternoon or Christmas Eve and I know he will miss that also. We haven't had time to shop for each other, altho I ordered him the last 40 years of Mother Earth News on DVD which he will get on Christmas. I'm still a kid at heart and like to have a tree with goodies under it. My dear friends Daisy Mae and Lil.Abner brought over a tiny living Christmas tree, some yummy goodies and a gift certificate to a restaurant which I thought was so wonderful of them. I hope the tree lives and we can plant it in front of our house, if it ever gets set up.(Can you tell that is a sore point with me?)
  Boy, I sure miss my Cricut cutting machine. No room for it in the motor home or for the tons of card stock I use with it. One of these days I will have my craft room back, bigger and better than before. Once I am in there, you will have to use a crowbar to get me back out. Pa will have his 40 ft container for his shop so he will have plenty to do once he gets it set up. It all takes time but I want it NOW! At least a septic tank permit! Please?

Tuesday, December 21, 2010

Sunset at Hell N Gone





  The dogs are so exhausted at the end of the day from all the running around they do. In Vegas, Jaz, pictured above slept in her Select Comfort Bed all day. No wait a minute, that was OUR Select Comfort Bed! Bottom line, the dogs slept most of the day. Now they spend the majority of the day outside, exploring and running all over the place. It's hard to keep track of them but we have to so they don't get swooped up by a hawk or owl or coyote. Maggie, our Scottie has suddenly been cursed with Wanderlust. She hears a bird and off she goes to explore. When we discover she is missing, we whistle and call and worry that she has become something's meal but eventually she trots up on her 4 in long legs. They will have a big fenced in back yard sometime after the house gets set up.
   We are so fortunate the weather is holding up and the temps have been mild. I learned how to use Lil Abner's trencher today. It has a blade on the front so I cleared off some land to set our water tank on. I had such fun moving the earth all around. Pa thought he would never get me off the darned thing. I finally let him have it back with a promise that I would get to dig a trench some day soon.
  With all the cloudiness, we have had some spectacular sunsets. When I retired, I took money out of my retirement and bought a Canon Rebel XSi with a couple of lenses. I was bound and determined to learn how to use the thing manually. Set the speed, set the whatever. Two years later, I still use the automatic feature! If I happen to get a magnificent picture , it is pure dumb luck.
   Still no permit for our septic tank! I realize that we are country folk now and things tend to move a little slower than the big city but this is ridiculous!  And get this! I was in the little IGA grocery store the other day and the lady behind me in line said "Don't you feel strange?" I said "What do you mean?" She said "You are the only one in line who is not wearing pajamas"  And sure enough, the three people in front of me were shopping in their pj's and so was the lady behind me. What's with this? Have people become so lazy they shop in the pj's? I don't care if I don't see anyone all day, I still get dressed, put on make up and curl my hair every single day! Just call me old fashioned I guess.

Sunday, December 19, 2010

Wind, wind, go away!

   We are back in the motor home after watching our friends house for a couple of days. We put a new rain bonnet on the motor home this morning to keep the rain from dripping on my head. As soon as we got started the wind came up and has been blowing ever since. Try putting a huge tarp on top of a motor home when it is windy. It ain't easy! It was like trying to hold onto a huge kite. I could just picture Pa floating away into the sky, holding onto the ropes of the tarp! Hopefully we won't be in the motor home too much longer.
   Our dear friend,  Lil.Abner has to have a double bypass a couple of days after Christmas so we offered to house sit for them while they were in Phoenix having it done. I don't wish that on anyone but sure hope it makes him feel better.

   Here is a picture of my new kitchen. I won't have the goodies sitting on the counter tops since those were just props for the model. Just looking makes me want to start cooking and baking. Can you believe that since I hate to cook?
    I just have to share this little story. The other day Pa was doing some work around the motor home while I was house sitting. He took Harley, our male Mini Schnauzer with him. He decided to give Harley a Rachel Ray Booscotti biscuit and without thinking, popped one into his own mouth and ate it. He thought he had popped a Famous Amos chocolate chip cookie in his mouth. He couldn't figure out why the Famous Amos cookie tasted so weird until he checked. He said it didn't taste all that bad but he definitely preferred the Famous over the Booscooti!  If you knew how picky Pa is about his food, you would really appreciate this little story.


  

Thursday, December 16, 2010

Drip, drip, drip

   It was windy all day yesterday, blowing sand around. Pa went to Show Low with our friend and the dogs and I stayed home. It wasn't the least bit pleasant to be outside so the pups and I stayed in the motor home all day with the exception of a short walk. I read an entire book of 377 pages!
   Rained all night last night and was still raining this morning. My pillow was wet and so was the corner of my mattress! We will never get that leak fixed and why is it always over my bed? Why not Pa's? He refuses to change sides with me. There is a good side to all this tho. Our friends have to be gone over night and I am house sitting. They have a very large house so I can stretch my arms out as far as I want! They have four dogs, two huge ones, a puppy and a tiny Yorkie and with my four over here, that makes 8 dogs in the house. It doesn't feel crowded tho. Everyone seems to be getting along. Maggie, my Scottie is fascinated with the resident ferret but she is leaving it alone. My other three dogs haven't noticed it yet. Later today I have to feed the horses and burro.
   We still haven't heard anything about the septic tank permit. Please, Lord, don't make me live in the motor home all winter!!!! Please? We should FINALLY be closing on our Vegas house tomorrow. I was beginning to think this day would never come and I would be stuck with two house payments. Our buyer had the same problem as we did. Her house didn't appraise for the asking price. Bless her heart, she went with the appraisal price and closed on her home yesterday. Praise the Lord!!!!
   Since I have lots of electricity today and don't have to run the generator in the motor home, I am going to play on my computer all day!

Sunday, December 12, 2010

To Gallup

We went to Gallup, New Mexico yesterday to check out wood stoves. It's about 97 miles away and we heard we could get one cheaper there. NOT!!!!! Turns out they were more expensive. The price of steel has gone way up and of course the prices are passed on to the customer. Tomorrow we are heading back to Show Low, and buy one there which my gut feeling was to do so all along. So anyway the trip was pretty much a wasted effort. We really couldn't do any shopping with the dogs along but did stop at Golden Corral and filled up on salad and pot roast. They have the best pot roast! Gallup has a lot of brand name restaurants plus other places to shop but you know men, if it doesn't have tools, forget it. I will have to go by myself one of these days. As it is now, I don't miss shopping, don't miss town, don't miss much of anything, not even TV!

Living off the grid, what does that mean? We will have to generate our own electricity, as of this moment, I am constructing a large wheel cage and connecting it to a thingamagig and will force Pa to run in circles to generate our power. Ok, so I am joking. For the time being, we will buy 8 batteries and an inverter and will use our propane generator to keep them charged up. We will eventually buy solar panels so the sun can do most of the work. We are on a strict budget at the moment which is why solar panels will have to wait. We will wait till the house is set up before ordering our propane tank. Water will be hauled in from town. We have a 1600 gallon water truck to do this in. We could put in a well but they are so expensive and there is no guarantee that you will even hit water or that the water will be drinkable. At one cent a gallon, we can haul a lot of water for the price of a well. As mentioned before, we will be using a septic tank. I don't know if outhouses are legal anymore but we heard of someone out here that was digging one  a few years ago and died right there in the hole he was digging. 

We have also had people ask how we could live so far from emergency or medical services since we are both 60 plus. We refuse to live in fear or let our lives be ruled by "What if". We believe that no matter what, once God calls us home, there is no stopping Him. If I am going to die, this is where I want to travel to Heaven from. I always said I hoped God would wait for the Rapture until we moved out here because this is where I wanted to be raptured from. I told Pa that if I am dying, to park me under one of our trees, facing the sun, and let me go in peace. I have no fear of dying because I believe in Jesus Christ and have faith that he will keep his promises to me. It is amazing to go to a funeral of a non believer and see that they have no hope of a here after and then go to a funeral of someone who is a Christian and see the difference in the memorial service. Give that some thought today.

Daisy Mae has invited us to dinner tonight. She is a fabulous cook and a good friend. I'm so glad she is part of my life!

Friday, December 10, 2010

It's Here!

Yippee Skippee! Our house arrived. Half yesterday and the other half today. Unfortunately, we can't move in yet. We did get a nice surprise and the perk engineer showed up today and examined our soil. Without even digging he said we would have no problem what soever but of course holes had to be dug and soil checked just to make sure. A backhoe dug 3 ten foot deep holes for the inspector to check. He gave the ground an A+ and will send in the report to the county. The county will issue the permit and then and only then can the contractor start putting in the septic tank. After getting to a certain stage, a county health inspector comes out and gives the go ahead and just before they finish, he comes out again and gives his blessing. Let's hope he has the Christmas spirit! After that, the construction crew can start putting in the footers for the house. Ohhhhh, our poor house, you should see the inside.....cracks everywhere. It made me wonder if the house would ever be habitable. The salesman said we would never know they were there after the crew is done. Pa said "you can be sure of that!" Unfortunately we won't be in for Christmas....or New Years.

I'm trying not to let being confined in a small space bother me too much. Our motor home is 25 feet long with the first five feet or so being the motor and driver's and passenger's seat. That leaves us about 20 feet of living space. The bathroom is the size of a bread box which made it really difficult to use before I lost weight. We have twin beds which we share with two dogs each. When we eat a meal, the dogs surround our tiny table hoping for a scrap to fall. We are the ones in danger of falling with all those little bodies under our feet. When we go to bed, I have to transfer my computer, my over night case, my camera case, my computer case, and my purse to the kitchen table and maybe a jacket or two. In the morning, it all goes back to my bed so we can eat. That gets old pretty fast. Dirty clothes go in an upper cubby until it gets too full and then it's off to town to the laundromat. We take a shower every night so every morning, Pa has to refill the motor home water tank. He hooks up a 12 volt pump to the truck and uses that to transfer water from one of our 50 gallon barrels. I have to be in the motor home standing almost on my head to watch the water flow into the tank to make sure it doesn't over fill. We were getting a lot of back blow until we drilled a tiny hole in the water tank to let the air out of it so of course we don't want to over fill and have water under Pa's bed. Then I fix breakfast of some sort , pile the dishes in the sink until after dinner and then wash all of them. So there....doesn't that sound like fun? Do you think you could live this way for a month or so?

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

I'm Back!

Got Verizon Wireless Broadband yesterday and am giving it a try to see if we like it. We have to check and see if it will work on a regular PC which is what Pa uses. I have been keeping notes for the past few days so will update with that and then will continue with our regular programing.

Monday, November 22
We picked up the rental truck at 9 am sharp. While Pa drove the truck home, I ran a few errands before returning home for the “big Pack”.  Son in law Mike was already there to help pack the truck. What can I say about Mike? With out him we would still be packing the darned thing. He worked like a horse all day long. He packed that truck like a big jig saw puzzle, a little box just right here, a big box there, a pillow here. He was amazing! Pa’s daughter and son in law came over to help also. We stopped packing at 5pm because we had promised our neighbor, Betty an all you can eat crab dinner at the Hush Puppy. It was our good bye gift to her. Mike and daughter and son in law didn’t like crab so didn’t want to go. We ate crab legs like they were going to become extinct the next day which for Pa and I was somewhat true. They are hard to come by out in the sticks. Daughter and son- in-law spent the night so they would be there the next morning to help us drive the vehicles to Arizona, Unfortunately, that wasn’t to be because the truck wasn’t packed yet. We still had boxes to go!!!.

Tuesday Nov 23
    I woke up at 4 and got up at 5 and started packing up the fridge.  That took up 4 or 5 coolers and I knew it wouldn’t fit in the tiny fridge in the motor home. I figured out it would be pretty cold at the ranch and could leave them outside. Everyone else got up and we proceeded to pack the rest of the truck. Turns out we would not have room for all the huge flower pots I had accumulated to use at the ranch. Ma Kettle was not happy. Some of those pots would cost close to $200 to replace and I knew that would never happen. Daughter volunteered to go get their truck and lo and behold, the pots are now sitting at the ranch! Thank you dear daughter.
We left Vegas around noon thinking we would take the short cut thru Lake Mead National  Park. I made it thru just fine but they couldn’t let the rental truck go thru because it was a commercial vehicle. The other three vehicles had to turn around and go thru Vegas which set us back an hour at least. By the time we got to Kingman, Az, we were all hungry so stopped at Golden Corral for lunch/dinner or whatever. On the road again. After a few stops for gas for four vehicles, we finally arrived at the ranch at midnight. Daughter and SIL headed into town to spend the night. It was so darned cold, I made the beds and slept in my clothes including my hat and coat.
Wednesday Nov 24.
Daughter and SIL came back out to the ranch and helped unload a few things and had to head back to Vegas so Daughter could get ready to work on Thanksgiving. We unloaded stuff all day after emptying a storage container. Unloading went faster than loading, for sure. I have never been so exhausted in my life. Bone weary exhaustion.  . We completely filled up a 20 foot storage container with our belongings. Went to bed and slept like the dead
Thursday Nov 25
Woke up to snow. How lovely for Thanksgiving. Went to Daisy Mae and Lil Abner.s for dinner. It was delicious! The turkey was so moist and every thing was yummy. I fixed green beans and onions with cranberries and Pa cooked them on the grill. That was our part of the meal. Daisy Mae made three kinds of pie for dessert. I drank almost a complete bottle of wine. We didn’t stay too late because the dogs had been left behind in the motor home and we were worried they would freeze. It was supposed to get cold tonight.
Friday Nov 26.
  Did I say it was supposed to get cold last night? Our pipes froze and we had no water to wash our face.  We got some heaters and opened up the cabinets to defrost the pipes. By noon, they still weren’t defrosted. Lil Abner and Big Tom came over and helped to unload the last of the  stuff, too big for just two people. We couldn’t have done it without them. The truck had to be delivered back to Flagstaff by 9 am Saturday morning. After our helpers left, we decided to drive three hours to Flag  to return the rental truck. I am so sick and tired of driving! Because of course we had to drive 3 hours back home. We took the dogs with us so they wouldn’t be cooped up for 6 hours in the motor home. We had dinner at Sizzler. Got home around 9:30 , discovered our pipes had defrosted and had hot showers and went to bed. We left the water heater on and a small propane heater on so the pipes wouldn’t freeze.
Saturday Nov 27
Woke up this morning to discover all the veggies in the fridge had frozen solid. I hadn’t put anything in the freezer so I’m thinking that had something to do with it. The dogs and I took all my frozen produce and heaved it over the fence for the wild life to enjoy. Maggie found one of the carrots in the field and proudly carried it back to the motor home and proceeded to eat it.
We went to town to get water, mail, and produce. Fixed my first real dinner tonight of BBQ chicken, fried potatoes and broccoli. Rearranged some of the things in the yard and slept like a baby.
Sunday Nov 28.
Woke up to a bright sunny day only to have it immediately cloud over and get windy. It is very cold outside. It is snowing. I must say, we are having an early indoctrination to our new life at the ranch. Cold, wind and snow. I have spent much of the day on the bed, reading a great book and crying at the end. It was very touching. But of course, I cry when a leaf leaves a tree and hits the ground. The snow is quite beautiful for a change of scenery. I was hating the brown of the Nevada desert after spending 30 years there. I am more than ready for a change. But am I ready for the cold? I think so because it means the summers don’t get so hot and I will be able to be outside. The dogs are questioning what they are getting into. They each have their own coat or sweater which they wear if they start shivering. They don’t mind being stuck in the motor home during this weather, only going out to do their duty. They were shocked the first time they ventured out and found their feet touching snow. Even more shocked when the snow stuck to their furry feet and had to be pulled off by loving humans. What will tomorrow bring?  We were told by the old timers out here that we live in a vortex and most of the bad weather goes around our ranches. I can only assume that the town is being hit harder than we are.
Monday Nov 29
Frozen Poo
Woke up to another morning of snow, only about a half inch.It was so cold tho. Around 16 at 8:30 this morning. Another windy day. Like yesterday, the dogs and I stayed inside most of the day. Pa did some errands around the place, like add water to our water tank so we could take showers. We use less than 50 gallons a day even on wash my hair day. Pa decided we had better empty the dirty water tank only to discover it was frozen solid. A new meaning to solid waste! I used the removable shower head and poured  hot water down the toilet. That sure smelled nice……NOT!  But at least the crap defrosted enough to make its run into the septic tank. I am having trouble getting a copy of my title for my truck so spent some time on the phone getting that straightened out. Now I have to wait for the lein release to get here to send it to Carson City to get a copy of my title.  I guess I will be driving on expired plates for a day or two while I wait. I already have my Arizona driver’s license but want my plates so I can become a full fledged Arizonian. I really hope the weather is better tomorrow. Being cooped up in the tiny motor home isn’t fun although I spend my time reading. I should have kept out my counted cross stitch and could have been working on that. Pa doesn’t have any room in his workshop/storage container to do any work. He usually sorts nuts and bolts or makes shelves to put those nuts and bolts on. If the sun is out, the storage containers warm up enough so he can work in there without freezing. Even tho it is freezing out, when the sun is out you can pretty much go without a coat.
   The dogs and I went for a short walk this morning so we could all get some exercise. I have never seen the dogs so frisky or run so much. It looks like Maggie might be losing some weight. They love it here at the ranch.  So do I. After living in our house for 15 years, I don’t miss it one bit which kind of surprises me. I don’t miss Vegas at all. It is so peaceful and quiet here. Not to many birds out at this time of the year. Some crows and a couple of juniper nuthatch birds. I did see a cotton tail rabbit out for a stroll. Too bad he hasn’t found the carrots on the other side of the road.
Dec 2nd, Thursday

Wow, December 2nd already. It doesn’t seem like the Christmas season because we don’t have a radio or a tv so don’t hear any of the advertisements. There’s not many places to shop in our little town, a couple of dollar stores that charge a lot more than a dollar and an Alco which is like a mini Wal Mart. I think this year we will consider getting our new home as our Christmas gift.
We have had some extremes with the weather. It has been as low as 8 at night, we’ve had some snow, wind and sun. Once the sun comes out, it warms the motor home nicely and we can turn off the propane heater. We’ve been leaving the water heater on at night so the pipes won’t freeze. It uses up a lot more propane but we have no choice.
Yesterday, Lil Abner came over with his trencher and pulled out three trees that were in the way for our house. He trenched around all four sides of them and cut the roots and was able to pull them out. Now we are waiting for a phone call from the guy who is going to prep the land and put in the septic tank  and the runners for our home. I wish he would hurry up and call.
We are running out of clothes so I am going into town and find a laundry mat tomorrow. I was told not to leave because someone would steal our clothes in the blink of an eye. I have some clothes that I can’t dry because they would shrink and I would be wandering around in high water pants. I wouldn’t look near as good as John Wayne did when he wore them like that in some of his movies. Pa will have to rig me up some sort of clothes line so I can freeze dry my jeans.
I feel so at peace here! When we were shopping for property, we were shown 3 different pieces of property. The instant I set foot on this piece, I knew I was home. It was almost like a religious experience and brought me to tears. For months after, every
time I spoke of our property, I would get all teary eyed. It was rather embarrassing!
The sun is up and the motor home is warming up, I need to vaccuume all the sand up which is a constant in our lives now. Sand in the bed, sand in our shoes, sand on the floor, sand in the dogs paws. I took the dogs out bushwacking yesterday and they all came back full of stickers. I need to keep them on the road in the future. They are all so short, they are a magnet for everything on ground level. They haven’t seen a cow close up yet. That should be a hoot!

Dec 8
   I found the laundry mat the other day. Was that something! The washing machines are the type you use at home, only with slots to put your quarters. I used 4 machines to wash at $2.00 a load and drying was 25cents for 10 minutes. Cost $12.00 to do clothes! I may have to start using Pa's homemade washing machine in the future. It's a bucket with a hole in the lid and a toilet plunger. I'd take a picture of it but the batteries in my camera died so I am waiting for another to arrive.
  The guy came out who is going to install our home. He can't do anything until the septic tank inspector comes out. He has to stand there while 4-14 foot holes are dug, water poured down them and then everything is timed to see how fast the water leaches out. Ok, Apache county is the poorest and smallest county in Arizona. Wouldn't you think, the septic tank inspector would be able to call back with an appointment time so Apache county could make some money? I mean, how busy could the guy be? Who else besides us would move in the winter time and put in a septic tank?
  Due to upcoming bad weather, our home is being delivered tomorrow and Friday while the weather is good. It is going to sit in our field until the septic tank inspector gets his butt out here. Then the construction guys can get busy and put in the runners for the home. Maybe I can use that time to paint the walls and such. 
  So that's it for now. Hope all my friends and family are doing well. When I can figure out how to import my e-mail addresses into my ymail account, I will send you a note.