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 2^nd, Thursday

Wow, December 2^nd 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.