Tuesday, December 24, 2013

The Pumpkin Pie Nearly Fatal Disaster

 Just wanted to wish you all a very Merry Christmas! I spent this morning getting everything ready for tomorrow's Christmas feast. I went to check on the pumpkin pie in the oven and pulled out the cookie sheet the pie was sitting on. The cookie sheet tipped over and spilled pumpkin all over the oven door. I stood there horrified with my mouth open in shock, my mind going 60 MPH wondering what to do next. The pumpkin wasn't burning so I got a spatula and a spoon and scooped everything up, plopped it all back in the pie crust and baked it for another 10 minutes and called it done. The oven door was clean and I will tell my guests what happened so they can decide between pumpkin and Pa's made from scratch chocolate pie. Plus whip cream will hide a lot of the defects. I made potato salad and Mama Linda's famous baked beans and we will have a spiral ham.
I made these little Santa in the chimney thingies and filled them with candy and they will be the place setting name tags. Next is mopping the kitchen floor since I cleaned the house yesterday and made some Christmas Crack candy to go with the other goodies I baked. The radio on the TV is playing Christmas music. I'm not expecting any gifts tomorrow since Santa already bought me my high rise commode. My mom sent us a huge Figi's box filled with cheese, candy and meat sticks
 I made these floating frames for gifts for our guests tomorrow.
 I love working with vinyl. Too bad it is so expensive.
 I cut Native American symbols to put on Tom's coffee mug. If you use outdoor vinyl, it will stick when you hand wash the item.
I think he will like it. So "have your self a Merry Little Christmas" and don't forget the real reason we celebrate at this time of year.
But the angel said to them, "Do not be afraid; for behold, I bring you good news of great joy which will be for all the people; for today in the city of David there has been born for you a Savior, who is Christ the Lord. "This will be a sign for you: you will find a baby wrapped in cloths and lying in a manger."…
 Isaiah 9:6
For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.

Tuesday, December 17, 2013

For Sale by Owner

Our friend, Nick, is selling his place due to health issues. If you know of anyone who is a prepper or just wants a nice get away, please have them contact Pa and he will fill them in and make arrangements to show them the property.
Like ours, it is 40 acres at Woodland Valley Ranch,
 minus easements. It has two seasonal ponds, a 36x36 metal barn with loft,
40 ft 5th wheel with a 16x16 room addition with a wood stove.
8 solar panels and 8 batteries.
2 water storage tanks, 1100 and 1700 gallons.
2 corrals and a horse trailer.
Fruit trees
A small trailer for storage.
Very secluded with a long winding driveway.
Asking price $75,000 and it is move in ready.
He also has a 34 ft toy hauler for $6,500
We hate to see him and his family leave. They are so nice!
 34 ft Toy Hauler $6,500
 Car port frame that could be used as a green house.
 16x16 room additon
 battery, storage shed
 solar panels
 36x36 metal barn
 1100 & 1700 water storage tanks
 little trailer for storage
16x16 room addition with wood stove. Very sunny and bright!
 room addition
 Loft in barn
 View of the barn
 View of the 40 ft 5th wheel with room addition
It also has some fruit trees. Down by the ponds you will see deer and antelope wander by to get a drink. It is so quiet and peaceful. Nick said he never sees anyone. He isn't too far from Main Street but his property is on a dead end. It's really a nice set up. It's move in ready and you wouldn't have to do another thing unless you wanted to.
So spread the word !

Sunday, December 8, 2013

The 500 Mile Toilet Caper

    The other day, I told Pa that I wanted an old people toilet (the ones that sit higher) for Christmas. Pretty romantic gift, huh? We were in Lowe's on the 2nd of the month and lo and behold, they had some Jacuzzi brand on close out sale. Pa knew we would have to get a longer water line so the salesman found us one. (120 mile round trip). A couple days later, Pa decided to install the toilet ( does commode sound better?) Anyway, he discovered the water line was the wrong one! My feelings were "oh well, it will have to wait till we make another grocery shopping trip to Show Low. The next day, Pa said he didn't want to wait so he decided to go to Springerville to the hardware store there. I decided to go along to pick up a few things at the grocery store that were on sale. NOT that we really needed anything except milk but darn it all, when something is on sale, and we live so far away, may as well take advantage of it, right? (110 mile round trip).
Oops! wrong water line! Next day Pa goes to Show Low back to Lowe's. They don't have the right one but Home Depot did. (120 mile round trip). Back home and we proceed to take the toilet out of the box. Are you ready for this? The stupid toilet is broken!!!!!! A big chunk is broken off the base. About this time, I am ready to forget the whole thing.  The old john is already sitting in the front yard. ( Should I plant flowers in it?)I called Lowe's and explained my problem to Bernie/Sonny/(turns out his real name is Tony) Of course all the toilets are sold out and they aren't getting any more. I told him I'd be happy to take the floor display but that's not possible because they glue it together so no one will steal parts. After a bit of conversation, he said he could get the base apart and if we wanted, we could exchange it. Or he would give us a similar one for their cost. Off we go again to Show Low (120 mile round trip) . We ended up buying the other commode for cost which was $88.00 ( Ah Ha, now we know how much they mark up stuff). At check out, Pa asked if  they would take his VA discount which they did so we got an extra 10% off an already great deal. 
  Today was the day! The toilet/commode/john is now installed and works like a dream. There are two flush buttons, one for liquid and one for solids. The most it uses is 1.5 gallons of water. But it's best feature is that it is easy to get off of. The old john was only 13 inches tall plus the seat. Good grief, you felt like you were squatting behind a bush using that short thing. The new one is 16 1/2 inches tall, plus the seat. I love it!
Isn't that just a thing of beauty! I will have to admit, it is a strange Christmas present. Maybe I'll put a big red bow on it for Christmas day so our guests will know what I received from Pa.
    We've had some strange weather the last couple of weeks. We had three days of fog which is unusual for this part of the country.
 You know how I feel with out a bright sunny day! Give me a pillow and a blankie and I'll sleep till it's over. Pa said Tom was going on and on that no one told him we would get fog here. Maybe he wouldn't have bought his property if he had known.
 Then we got 1 1/2 inches of snow. At least the snow is bright and doesn't last long.
 It was gone the next day.

   We've been having issues with our instant hot water heater. For the first two years, it worked perfectly. Now we have water pressure everywhere but the showers! It takes forever to rinse shampoo out of my hair and in the guest bath where I take my shower in the winter, I have to dash all over the place to get the water to hit my body. Pa thought the impeller might have gone bad in the water pump so he installed a new one. Made no difference. The other problem is, you have to set the water heater to the temperature you want to be using. If you even think of adding cold water to the mix, the water turns icy cold. Pa has to have hot water running in the sink and shower both to keep the water from getting cold while he takes his shower. I keep suggesting he call the company and talk to the technician to see if they can figure out what's going on. So far, he hasn't done that. I guess he needs a few more cold showers.
    Every year, the Coronado Power Plant hosts a Christmas dinner for the senior citizens of Apache County. We've never heard of it but Wayne's girlfriend told us about it and invited us to join them. We only knew 4 people out of 200 but we had a great time. One of the vice presidents and his wife sat with us. The dinner was really good! They had a raffle with about 80 or so gifts to hand out. Wayne's girlfriend won some slippers and cash. I kept saying I wasn't lucky and never win anything. After coming close a couple of times it was time for the last draw. Lo and behold they called my number. I was so surprised that I whooped out loud. I won a $25.00 gift certificate to our local IGA super market. I also got to take home the poinsettia plant sitting at our table because Wayne had no place for it and the vice prez and his wife flew in for the dinner and had no room in the plane.
 
 I brought a bunch of plants inside for the winter. This had a tiny bit of green when I brought it in. After I started watering it, all the petunia seeds that the mother plants had thrown off started to come up. There used to be more babies but I drowned them when I watered them. Our neighbor Nancy said she had no idea that petunias reseeded themselves. Before the freeze, I had a huge row of them under the window. All grown from seeds from the hanging basket. Too cool!


   The blue birds are back. They seem to like cold winter baths. You should see the Robins take a bath. There is water every where! Our Red Shafted Flicker has stopped by a few times. They are so beautiful! We also have Juncos, house finches, sparrows so far this winter. The Ravens never stop by for a drink but they do stop by if they see rabbit remains.
   My poor BFF injured her knee at work. She hasn't told me the details yet but she is on crutches and wears a knee brace. Just as I decided to go to the Dr. about my knee, it stopped hurting! Mind over matter? It's still tender and I have to be sure not to let it twist. So we shall see how it goes.
   For Thanksgiving we had Tom and our neighbors Don and Nancy over for dinner. Pa was such a big help with condiment trays, slicing the turkey, mashing the potatoes. Tom stirred the gravy. We all had such a good time. We are doing it again for Christmas. I'm the only one who has a kitchen. Tom lives in a 5th wheel and Don and Nancy live in one room in a Quonset hut and cooks on one burner of a camping stove. She has done that for 7 years! They are building a house inside one of their huts. It's been slow going due to health issues. I told Nancy, I'd hook up a 5 gallon propane tank to the big stove and cook there. Pa has helped them quite a bit, putting in gas pipes and doing what he can to move them forward.
  I'm working on some Christmas gifts and am trying to think of something for Pa and my mom. My mind is coming up blank for the both of them.
  Well, I've run out of pictures to share so I've run out of stories to tell. I hope you all have a blessed Christmas season and if I don't chat with ya soon, have a safe and Happy New Year!