RV Boondocking the Good Life

Is 20 degrees colder than it used to be? Heck I chased cows at 10 below... now the sun goes behind a cloud in the middle of the summer and I start shiverin'.... even last winter I was ridin' Slick at 28 or so.... this winter.... I've been whimpin out for the past week... and it's been 30 or so when I would have rode... Been sharin' the run in with Heidi, in Big Red... pitiful.

Yesterday decided it for us....

We made a Denver run to do pick up a 'thing' for my daughter... only place we knew that had it for sure... made the obligatory stop at Bass Pro Shop and rolled home just about 5:30

The propane bottle we've been running on expired while we were gone (my auto valve ain't... and neither have been the two it replaced!) and the two electric 'support' heaters we run failed to keep it quite warm enough... and the Ol' Eagle froze up it's intake water line... the pump can't pick up anything.... more bad words and dirty names.... from a grumpy fella that thought he'd be lollin' about in the Arizona sunshine this winter...

So... don't tell Heidi... I had to use one of her fancy, Wal Mart bottles of water to you know what, the you know what, when I got up at 'Oh damn it's dark' O'clock!... and I ain't runnin' across thirty feet of cold, into the house... to 'you know what' ... in my sleepin' britches and bathrobe! :-O

Without a FHU here at the house it's awful awkward, in the cold, to run between the rig and the house... we've been mostly using the bathroom/kitchen/laundry in the house... so we've decided to quit screwin' around and pick up some fairly cheap, used, pieces of furniture and move back into the house. It'll save a mite of heartburn.

No matter what they say, outside of a few of the real 'Top End' rigs.... these fivers aren't made for winter. As much as I like our Eagle... he ain't a winter rig... unless that winter is spent down on the southern desert! :-) .... I just close my eyes and I can feel the warm....

Must be a sad sight... A puss gutted old man... standin' in the middle of a parking lot, at 25 degrees... head tilted back... eyes closed.... big grin on his face.... softly sayin' : "The sun is... warmmmmm..... so warmmmmmm" .... :-)

Folks probably figure the early signs of 'Old Timers' disease, huh?

Anyway, we're only gonna get a bed, and a dresser or two, only what we need to function... took too much work to get out of the house the last time... don't want any more than we're willing to walk away from in the spring... 'cause we all know, this place is going to sell in the spring!

... maybe even late winter!

Stay warm you lucky southern Boondockers!

See you down the road
Brian

December 2, 2007 06:25 - Oh Joy! Slip slidin' around!

Pulled Red onto the pavement yesterday morning and zzzzzzzzzzzzz! His tires was a spinnin'!

Imagine that.... 22 degrees and raining! and the road was slippery! Huh!

So it was a slow run into town... turned onto the interstate to make the 17 mile run, and there was the wrong side of three cars lookin' at the sky, and layin' in the median in the first three miles. Oh children, can I say it was slippery :-)

No real problem for a fine older 'redneck' gentleman like myself... but those 'New' country folks don't seem to have learned about 4 wheel drive yet... not real sure they ever will.

You could almost hear them telling the troopers: " But I don't have to slow down when the road is icy... I have 4 WHEEL DRIVE! "

Like I keep sayin' ... all that does is get you stuck 50 feet farther in!.... and you still ain't got any better brakes! Which ain't gonna do you any good on the glazed ice anyway....

Funny thing... here are all those fancy Denali's and such... supposed to be such capable 4X4 rigs, upside down littering the median... and that Big Red dually.... noted for their poor handling in icy, bad traction situations ( at least when they're empty ) just rollin' down the road ... in 2WD!... without a problem..... Hmmmm.... think it could be 'cause I'm so purty? :-)

The predicted couple of inches of snow.... supposed to drop on the west slope, turned out to be more like three feet.... weatherman is right there with his usual 'accuracy' :-)

Yup... looks like winter is here.... yuck. Oh Joy.... I may just have to find a way for a stove up grinch to learn how to play in the snow..... that just sounds wrong... kind of like playin' marbles on the freeway... I mean, I just don't get it....

You pay $75 an more for a daily pass.... to have them haul you to the top of the mountain.... and then what do they do? Yup.... slide back down to the bottom as fast as they can get there.... bouncin' off trees and each other on the way... then... they turn around, and do it all over again!

Huh? If they want to be down there at the bottom of the mountain so bad... why don't they just stay there! :-) Me, I engage in much more reasonable, sensible, and productive entertainments... like climbing on top of Buckin' Horses :-)

Sure wish that 'Global Warming' would kick in... so I can climb back on Slick.

Hope you lucky buggers down in Bowie, and Cochise county, and over along the Colorado river appreciate your good fortune!... Try to not get ... too... sunburned :-)

Take Good Care
Brian

December 3, 2007 07:08 - The Sun comes up and it's another day.... and they promise a warmer one

Sitting here this morning trying to decide how ambitious I am today.

It was 30 degrees when I got up... 29 now.... and I'm trying to screw up the ambition to climb on Slick this morning for the 'commute' to the ranch store... hmmmm... no hesitation last winter.... I must be aging fast :-( ... I guess you'll find out tomorrow how much ambition I scraped together.

Tomorrow I'll haul some furniture to set up our winter living quarters and get the Eagle winterized... for hopefully the last time! It had been my plan to winterize by moving it several hundred miles south :-) ... but you know about those things... they often get run over by the life that comes along when you're not lookin'!

Hoping to see a machine arrive by the end of this week or the first of next. I've got a 'punch' ordered to allow me to do my own binding of the lil' books I'm setting up to publish... got derailed a few weeks ago with my computer 'experience'... so now trying to make more ....... plans...... ( and looking carefully left and right... trying to not get run over by 'life' again :-) )

SO.... what are you betting on? Did he ride in Big Red... or... ON.... Slick?

Tune in tomorrow to find out.... exciting huh?

Have a Good One
Brian

December 4, 2007 06:44 - A Hurricane in Colorado?

The weatherman just said that Hurricane force winds start at 74 mph.... and that the gusts a ways west of here are over 80 so... does that make it a Hurricane :-)

Either way, it's blowin' so hard again and the rig is rockin' so much I'm gettin' seasick!

Go inside that good house we built and you can just barely hear the wind. That's maybe a little picture of the pullin' and tuggin' I get from this place. A well built place, you put together yourself, gives a person a sense of stability and security. It's not a bad feeling walkin' in the door, on a stormy day, to the peace and calm inside those walls... Then I go back out to the rig... and think of the freedom and adventure I know, wandering around all over the country.... It's a real tug-of-war.

Yep this havin' to come back for a while is less than prime... Kind of like tearin' the bandaid off.... r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y !
Boo Hoo! Poor me huh? .... them folks up in Washington have got real problems, so I should just can that whine I guess.

One nice thing.... as I sit here each morning, the fiver is set so the sunrise is straight out my desk window. Watchin' the night sky gettin' cracked with grey streaks.... with the streaks turning yellow and red, shinin' on the clouds as I look out across the high plains... just might be my favorite time of day. Everythig is fresh and new... everything is possible.

Then.... I get up to pour another cup of coffee... and can't hardly get straightened up.... and I think... "ya goofy Ol' geezer... you were dreamin' again!" :-)

So... looks like a bunch of folks were makin' book on whether I'd ride or not.... well I did.... NOT! It's sad. I wimped out. Made the excuse I needed to pick up a couple of jugs of anti-freeze to set up the Eagle for the winter, "so I better just ride in with you Heidi."... really made me feel foolish when we got back home last night and it was better than 50....

What can I say? Guess I've really gone all the way from: "If it ain't snowin' I'm riding" ..to.. " If it ain't fun you won't see me." ... and I've decided puttin' on that tough act for the girls at the store and tellin' that "Naw, it ain't cold!" lie just ain't enough fun any more. :-) and besides.... havin' been married for near thirty years, there don't seem to be much purpose in impressin' the girls any more... hmmm... unless a fella wants to see how good a shot his wife is.

Good thing I don't let her have the combination to the gun safe I suppose :-) .... and have it, 100 miles away at the kids house :-) .... and you guys thought I was just a pretty face... I'm a thinker I tell you!

Plenty to do today... so I might as well get after it.

If you're up North West... be careful, take care of yourself... we're thinkin' of you.

If you're down on the Arizona desert soakin' up the sun and sippin' Tequila... you're a bum! :-)

Everybody else...

Take time to watch the sunrise.
Brian

December 6, 2007 13:37 - There's more than one way to skin this cat....

Got the Eagle all prepared for the cold winter ahead... Though I'm still usin' him for my 'office'... we've gotten set up, to a small degree, back in the house...

Got a nice bed... a couple of dressers, dining table and such to make it livable for the next couple/few months, while we work out the road ahead...

You know, a lot of folks have asked why I want to sell such a nice place as the one we built... It basically works out to dollars. We had the choice of living in the house or goin' RV Boondocking Full-Time... We didn't figure to be able to pony up the costs for both.

We were also figurin' that somewhere down the road we'd come to a fork and decide to keep on full-timing on the road, or maybe set up a home base somewhere.

The way the past year has gone... we're may be at that fork before we even got gone! :-) ... The way things stand, if we're to get goin' any time soon... it seems like we simply need to increase our income to make up for the dinero we don't have, from NOT selling the house... simple enough huh? .... well, right up to the point of raking in them dollars :-) if that weren't difficult, the world would be a whole different place huh?

I've been looking for some little while, pretty much since we started on this journey, for ways for RV Boondockers and Full-Time RVers in general (including ME!) to make some supplementary or even full-time income... while they remained wandering however they chose... not exactly a simple task...

I've been lookin' not only for the benefit of other folks... but for Heidi and me too. Since our figurin' has to be done with a pretty sharp pencil, bein' able to generate a little supplemental income wouldn't be unpleasant for us.

I'm pretty picky... I didn't want just another dungeon master job. I've been looking for something that was fun, helpful or useful, to or for other folks, and something that would give me some sort of a reasonable compensation for the work invested. That's a lot of the driving force behind carving out this website.

One last thing was, I didn't want something that tied me down to some 'place'.... didn't want to simply trade one ball and chain for another. That pretty much eliminates a lot of the resort and camp host jobs, don't it? ... Like I said... I'm bein' awful picky for a beggar :-)

I recently stumbled across what I think is a pretty good opportunity. It's something most everybody needs... It's available at a really reasonable price... (about the cost of a bottle of water a day) and a fella can do 'it' from anywhere he can hook up to the internet.... or even talking to a waitress at the local cafe... 'cause she needs it too! :-) ... of course... if the Lady of the house catches me talkin' to too many waitresses... I might find myself with other problems !

The compensation for this apparent 'Dream' of a Work Kamping opportunity seems awful darn good too.... I'm researchin' it over the next few days or so... If it really looks solid I'll be lettin' you know... most likely with a page in the Work Kamping section...

So... if you're in the market for a way to generate a few extra dollars for your RV Boondocking budget ... or even your standard, getting ready to go Boondocking as soon as you can budget... stay tuned!

I'm still waiting for the punch machine to show up so I can get to building a few of my little books.... you'd think I'd be better at waiting by now... if anything, I'm gettin' worse at it... I don't seem to have enough patience to wait for much of anything any more... just another grumpy old man I guess :-)

Hope your approach to the big shindig on the 25th is proceeding according to your plans...

Till the next time... Take Care
Brian

December 7, 2007 13:21 - Well..... DOH!

Have I proven my senility yet? :-)

Here I was... thinkin' just yesterday, that maybe what I should be doin' is calculatin' a way to go yondering for a few years... ,without, selling the house or leasing it to some meth lab junkie....

All I had to do was wait a day to get it knocked into that concrete filled, lighter than air, brain bucket of mine... why I want to get down the road... or at least ONE of the reasons...

Hmmm... now, 28 degrees and a few inches of snow probably doesn't even get the attention of some tougher-than-I-am soul, livin' up in Fairbanks.... they probably consider that a heat wave! ... but for me? Yuck!!

I want to take that Big Red truck yondering down dry roads that are warm to the touch... not this in Wellington... the little town just west of our place...

So... just ignore me whenever I ramble on about maybe findin' a way to hang on here... it's just the gibberish you get from a soft mind that's got froze up from the cold.... at least I think it's cold!

So... back to the future...

Have you ever explained something simple... really... really... carefully... only to have the person you were talking too decide on their own... to sell you something else?

Thought I had a coil binding machine on the way... Nope!... what they got in was EXACTLY what I'd told 'em I didn't want!
And, the explanation: "I know that's what you wanted... but this is just as good!".... They got sorta cranky when I told 'em ... "well, ain't that special... hope you like it, 'cause it's stayin' right here!"

They actually expected me to take what they'd got in... even if it wasn't what I'd asked for.... excuse me a minute.....
.......................................

I'm back.... had to go in the little room down the hallway... there's a mirror in there.... just had the thought that maybe the problem was, that I looked dumber than I am to them office supply fellers!

So... back to square one... waiting on a call from another 'local' fella ... I can get the machine shipped in from the west coast... was just hopin' to get one closer... without the freight cost... and somebody close, to talk to, in the event there was some snafu with the thing... just me bein' particular again! :-)

That leaves me right in the same ol' spot. Still gettin' my ducks lined up for my lil' book publishing enterprise... and I'm finding out that these dang ol' 'ducks' are a lot harder to herd than cows! Dang Quackers run all over the place. Just when you figure to have it all set up, a bunch quitter takes off again... You never know what they're gonna do next.

Keeping my frozen nose to the snow covered grindstone
.... and dreamin' of the Sunny Slopes of Far Away :-)
Take Care
Brian

December 11, 2007 06:39 - Just another winter I guess....

... So.... if you hadn't heard, it's been cold 'round here... when you open the refrigerator... and the ice cream is shiverin', you know it's cold!

Our place is up on a bit of a rise, several mile east of I-25. To the west are the 'bottoms' where there are a few ponds and such.... coming home two nights ago the thermometer in the truck dropped off to 0 degrees.... umph! That just makes me groan!

And to think, I used to get horseback and move cows in that without a thought. Maybe that's why I'm in the shape I'm in... If I'd had a 'thought' back then I'd likely be a mite more chipper now :-)

The computer and all my 'writin' stuff was out in the Eagle, parked beside the house... and to be honest... at these temperatures... I've been too whiny to go out and try and work, with the cold coming off the windows makin' my fingers stick to the key board... I like my Eagle... but he ain't made for no 0 - 8 degrees... unless maybe you're an Eskimo.

That and I've been told that it ain't good to get a computer real cold... then warm it up... then real cold yadda yadda yadda... so I have all sorts and styles of excuses!

I've pulled the laptop into the house so it could warm up... I'll bring the printer in today... and I've found a place that has a gizmo so I can hook up the wilson electronics cellular amplifier... I'm able to get on without it... but just barely... keeps dropping the connection....

There's a CB shop down the road a ways that I called yesterday... they have a gizmo that I can plug into the 110 ac in the wall of the house... to change it to 12V... like in the truck or the rig..... so I can plug the gizmo that came with the amplifier in to change to the 6 volts the amp needs.... to provide the signal the aircard needs to keep me spinnin' my yarns. whew! by the time I get it all done I'll have this house wired up and lookin' like the space shuttle!

It's really lookin' a lot like last winter... one storm after another stacked up like airplanes in a pattern, just waiting their turn.
Lot's of folks are whinin' worse than me.... they don't like it, none at all, when I tell 'em: "This ain't unusual... what's unusual is the last fifteen years.... this is the first 'normal' couple of winters in a long time!" ... we've gotten soft with a bunch of soft winters!... and it's real unlikely this child is gonna toughen up any time soon either! :-)

Looks like maybe them clowns back in D.C. are doing things that 'might' put some firmer ground under the real estate market.... I'll keep my fingers crossed... though I hate to give them parasites much credit for anything.... they're generally the main cause, in the first place, of the 'difficulties' they 'fix'. They could save us all a lot of grief if they just took a trip... without a GPS... and got lost for a good long time!

We were going to be goin' to Arizona for a nieces wedding a couple days after Christmas.... some sort of a 'blow up' and the festivities are on ice now.... was going to be a 'truck only' 4 day run... in the middle of winter... so to be honest... I'm not too broken hearted ... though I'm sure the kids aren't in real high spirits... better up front though I'd guess... than a year or two down the road...

Probably a good thing for me Heidi didn't know you could pull the plug like that way back in '80! :-) ... of course it would be a lot worse for her... just think of all the sick calves and lambs... pups, lame horses, snowed in cars, broke 'parts' on me, and fancy, rat hole, trailer houses she would have missed! Lucky girl I'm tellin' you!

You folks up north... throw another log on the fire...
Those down in those southern deserts... from what I hear, need to make sure your rigs are water tight!

Till then
Brian

December 12, 2007 07:02 - You may want to reconsider ....

I know a whole bunch of you are workin' an' plannin' to pull out full-time just as soon as you can... and even a couple years into the future... and I know you'll make it... hopefully not before me! :-)

One thing you might just want to wait on is gettin' rid of all your "extra" vehicles. We traded Heidi's car (the one we figured we'd have the most trouble selling) back in June of '06 when we bought Big Red.... thought we were leaving that fall.... Boo Hoo!

I forget exactly how soon I sold the '98 Cummins... but it was only a couple months later... about the time we finally got the house on the market... That truck sold fast.... I never even got it advertised... just ran my mouth to somebody that I was 'going' to sell it and bang... he asked me how much I wanted.... I told him.... POW! the truck was gone...

But no big deal right? We're leaving! Sweet.... and then the house didn't go quick like we thought it would....

Now, here we are a long dang time later... livin' 20 miles out of town.... we're both still workin' in town and Big Red is runnin' his wheels off, haulin' us around. He's pushin' 50,000 miles already.

We changed trucks so we'd be able to climb the Alaskan Highway with a fresh truck... well.... we'll have a damn good truck.... but he ain't gonna be fresh no more :-)

So.... bottom line... when you're gettin' ready to pull the plug and head out... just to keep Murphys law at bay, you might just want to make selling your extra car the last thing you do before you fire up the rig and leave.

Speakin' of Murphys Law... I'm startin' to think that maybe I should tell you what I did... and hold off on jawin' about what I'd like to do... thought I had a binding machine found... turns out the old guy heard me say somethin' different than the machine I was asking for... so I'm still on the hunt for that little part of my publishing empire :-) ... a couple of you guys pointed me toward e-bay...

a good bit of advice... I'll keep an eye on it... haven't found what I'm lookin' for there yet... but thanks!

Still scopin' out the 'income / work kamping opportunity' ... little bit of Murphys Law there too! I chose to take the bait and try it... a bit of 'paper work' got done wrong and had to re-do their 'sign up' ... couple more days waiting for things to go through channels... sometimes a guy just starts to feel snake bit! :-)

At least we've got sun today... sure looks pretty out there with the blanket of pure white covering everything... and me standin' inside :-) looking out the window at the beautiful 12 degree landscape. Yep, it's real pretty... out there!

Right here is where I'm stayin' today too. First time in more than a week I'm not goin' to town... Heidi's takin' the truck into her store and I'm gonna set right here and write... pulled the stereo out of storage, have plenty of CD's and coffee... so I'm good!

Steve! you said in the 'comments' you've got a 110 to 12v gizmo? It sounds good, Would you drop me a line through the contact page? I can't find an email address... oops!

Later Folks!
Brian

December 13, 2007 06:42 - Shhhh..... I'm makin' some progress.... don't tell no one!

That fella Murphy don't know where I'm at right now.... shhhhhh

Found a place that knows what I was lookin' for with a binding machine.... I think :-) They had a real good picture on their site... and a pretty good price... best I've found... even with ebay... so I have one on the way....

They claimed 3 day... but considering the time of year... I'm not holding any high hopes on that!

Spent most of yesterday getting copies printed to take into town for cutting... to be ready to bind up as soon as the machine gets here... The brand new printer went kaflooey for a few minutes and I thought that dang Murphy fella had found me again... but I tried some of my new found 'publisher' tricks and it quit bein' spastic.... and I got reeeeeaaaaalllll small... so Ol' Murph couldn't have no chance of seein' me :-)

By early next week I'm hopin' to have my lil' book of short stories of some of my cowboyin' and an RV book ready to go! Whew! .... dang... probably shouldn't have said that! :-)

Hey? Have I ever told you folks about my pard Tony? We were in the Army together... I was cowboy and he was a full on city kid... I was about fast horses... he was fast cars. For him RV meant Racing Vehicle!

Anyway, the whole time we wore the green, he sent most all of his paycheck to the bank. His dream was to take a long trip in a brand new L-88 Corvette when we got out, and he was planning on buyin' one through the PX to do just that.

Guess what? He got it done! Bought his prized Hot Rod Corvette in the early summer of '72 and took off.

He was rollin' across the Papago Reservation in southern Arizona one afternoon when this old Indian flagged him down. The old guy was sitting in the shade under a Mesquite tree.

Tony was a sociable guy, and had a fairly curious nature so he pulled over to see what the old man wanted. When he stopped and got out the old fella asked him: "Car fast?"

"You bet old timer" Tony replied. "It's an L-88 Corvette! The fastest production car this country builds!"

"You race car?" the old fella wanted to know..... "Sure I do! But I don't race for free. You've got to put up $500" Tony told him.

That old chief pulled a roll of bills out from under his blanket, big enough to choke a horse and said: "Me pay!"

So Tony says: "Sweet! Where's your car?"

"Me no have car... me just run!" says the Old Guy....

Tony told him he thought he was crazy. No man could race an L-88 Corvette on foot! But the old man demanded his chance to race so what could he do? "Well it's your money mister... don't come cryin' to me that you didn't have a chance!"

So they got an old woman the Indian knew to flag 'em off and they lined up there on the road. She dropped the flag and Tony just mashed that throttle figurin' to end this deal right now! Taking that car to about 45 mph in first gear he looked back over his shoulder to see that Indian standing in a cloud of tire smoke... but only got his head turned as far as the right passenger window.... and there was that old man! Arms and legs crankin' like a windmill... running 45 mph!

Well, Tony was a little surprised! He'd never seen anyone run that quick! So, he thought that's fine... but this is over NOW! and slammed the stick into 2nd, running up to 80 mph.

Starting to look back again... there's that indian! Still crankin'... still right beside the right door of the fastest production Hot Rod in the United States.... running 80 mph! This was freaky for poor ol' Tony...

Now he was startin' to get a mite scared... He'd dropped more money on this car than he'd ever had before and he couldn't outrun an old man! So he sticks it in third... runs up to 110 mph... looks over.... you guessed it... There's that Old Indian.... arms and legs just a blur!.... long hair streamin' out behind him.... buckskins nearly smokin' !

Poor Tony was nearly in tears... He told me he banged that transmission into fourth so hard he nearly bent the stick. He figured... OK.... either I beat this Old Bugger or I blow up this Chevrolet piece of junk!.... and ran that Hot Rod up to 145 mph!

Now... Tony looks over to see that Indian..... GONE!

What? This time Ol' Tony was sort of surprised. The Old Guy had been looking fine... so he got on the binders... got slowed down and turned around to go see what had happened....

Got back down the road a mile or so, and there veering off the side of the road was a bloody trail... ran through a barb wire fence... wires all broke, posts knocked over... through a spindly corn field.... stalks all ploughed up, torn up knocked over....until he got about a 1/4 mile off the road in a small mesquite thicket.

There was that poor old man, wrapped up around a mesquite sapling.... That old Indian was mangled... all tore up and bloody, one arm broke, legs all busted up... one eyeball hangin' out on his cheek.... "Oh Lordy" says Tony. "What happened Old Man? You were doin' so good!"

That Old Chief looked up at Tony with his one good eye and said: " You ever have moccasin blow out, 115 mph?"

:-) ..... It's the gospel, I swear! Just like Tony told me!

Tomorrow Folks!
Brian

December 14, 2007 07:33 - If you put off until tomorrow... what you could have easily done today.... it grows into a monster!

DOH!

I set up this blog more than a year ago! Yep! It was way back in October of '06.... Time flies when you're havin' fun. A years worth of blogs all stacked up in the archives... no big deal right? Unless somebody wanted to read the ones on a specific subject...

There was the option to set up a thing called 'Categories' when I built the blog onto the site... for some reason, known only to God.... and whatever it is that makes me do dumb things.... I opted not to.

"You can always go back and change it" the instructions I had read... easy to say... what a pain to do!

I finally screwed up the courage yesterday morning, sat down and fought my way through part of it.... The thing is, you have to get into the HTML pages in the blog 'template'... thats all those pages of computer gobledy gook that looks like a drunken epileptic was playin' on the typewriter.

I don't know if they mean anything to you... but I haven't a clue... so there I am, wading through those pages, with my 'map' of what I'm supposed to delete... and another little list of some more 'gobledy gook' to put in place of the deleted code... along with a few other changes and descriptions for all the new categories I was putting in place.

Yep.... would have been a whole lot easier if I'd just done it up front!

What makes it worse is, now I've got a whole year of stuff in there; I'm not sure at all what I'm doin' and fairly quivery about pushing a button and havin' the whole shebang go phisssssszzzzzzztttt!

Now that would hurt! :-) ... anyway I got it done... at least settin' up the categories. Now all I have to do is go back in and edit each post, assigning it a category... that might be a little tricky, as I tend to ramble around a mite... but I guess the main thing in the post should stand out.

To find the categories you scroll down to the bottom of this page... there are three days posts displayed. You'll find a navigation menu at the very bottom... The 'Archives' link is there and on the right, bottom, you'll now see the 'Categories Index'.... if you click that it will bring up the list of the various subject categories I've put in now... there are no posts in there yet.... well, except for this one!

Kind of like George and his 'today' and 'tomorrow' buttons... At least I don't have three or four years of posts to edit like he did! :-)

Ain't I gettin' good? Kind of scary... sort of a Bionic Cowboy! :-) Hmmmm.... maybe there's a story there for those guys commentin' the other day.... The Bionic Cowboy that travelled the west in his RV bustin' Evil Doers! :-)

Another little storm rollin' through... a lot like last year... one after the other... only a lot less snow in 'em. Thank You Lord! I just ain't got the energy for a bunch of blizzards this year... unless maybe a blizzard of sunshine.

You Take Good Care
Brian

December 15, 2007 05:26 - The Devils Workshop

12 degrees when I rolled out at 5am this morning... weather has me twisted up like a pretzel... Time for a pot of coffee and a hand full of Tylenol!

Have you ever heard that old sayin' about idle minds?

Most people might agree mine is 'idle' just a mite more than most... that's OK I guess... fits my lazy butt! Howsomever... it's maybe the biggest cause of the difficulties I get myself into.

If I make a plan and can just go after it, I usually get along OK. It's when I find the time to second guess, and rehash old ideas that I start carvin' out a fresh 'difficulty'. I'm one of them fellers who just can't leave well enough alone. Always got to be tinkerin' with what ain't broke... That way, I can make sure she's solid busted for sure! :-)

Right there is maybe the worst part of winter for me... too much time cabin bound. Stereo goin' and all cranked up on hot, black, coffee... I can dig myself into pits my stove up behind ain't got no hope of ever climbin' out of!

At least, back on the ranch, there were critters to feed and wood to split... so the coffee wouldn't freeze! Stuck here, all I can do it seems is dream, and plan and hope.... not bad things... The dreamin' and the hopin' can even be pretty fun.... but that plannin'.... Oh Lordy.... can I stir up some giant, green, gooey, gobblins doin' that! :-)

I have to guard against those 'DOH!s' real careful these days.... advancing 'Old Timers' disease is makin' it harder to recognize 'em!

The second worst part of winter is... I miss Slick. Poor Ol' guy. Sittin' over there in that cold shop, he probably figures I abandoned him! Ya think ridin' that scooter is one of those mid-life things?... :-) .... hmmm.... never thought I'd make it this far.... be pretty cool I guess if I'm only half way! :-).... though, as stove up as I am... it'll be pretty comical to see me tryin' to climb on that scooter in another 25 years or so! ... and if I can't... just whack me in the head and throw dirt in my face! :-)

And there's another thing about Slick... when I'm astraddle him... rolling through the twisties, up in the high country... I ain't a stove up Ol' hand any more... I'm free, whole and alive!... with a big Ol' grin.... catchin' bugs! .... thhhhhhppppppT! Yech! I really got to remember to grin with my lips together!

I hope you guys down south, and you up north for that matter are doin' - something - to keep out of trouble.... I hate the word retirement... I'd suggest you not do that... It's too much like quitting. Don't think of it that way... Kind of like back in the army... when that general said: "We're not retreating! We're just advancing in a different direction!"

Change your life... don't quit it.... if you have more time 'cause you finally got loose from that 9 to 5 ball and chain... start off on a run... chasin' all that there is to do... to please YOU.... Hey! You Earned it! Be plumb wore out, grinnin' like a fool (with your lips together!) at the end of the day.... and if you are still bangin' away at that J-O-B ? Don't quit lookin' for a better way...

I'm part way there... confident I'll make it... and ONLY regrettin' not having seen the 'light' a long dang time ago! But, like somebody said a long time ago... "Youth is wasted on the wrong people!"

Well... it's about time to head on down to the ranch store... spend some more time bein' jealous of them kids!

Take Care 'till next time
Brian

December 16, 2007 06:49 - Looks like there are a few 'Dreamers' in the same boat

From the comments and the emails I've gotten I'm guessin' a few folks are watchin' us to see if we 'get loose'... I'm not plannin' on lettin' ya down :-)

I'm pretty sure and certain that this part I'm in right now is the most difficult part of the deal. Not the divestin' of 'stuff'... not the original decision to go Full-Time or to leave the comfort of this house... or leaving behind the stability of knowin' what's gonna happen tomorrow.

The most difficult part of changing our lives like we want to do is the imposed 'wait' when we run into 'unexpected circumstances."

We made the decsion to get out of Dodge .... (NOT the truck!) nigh on to two years ago... it took a bunch of work to get to this point. We're ready to be gone... but just haven't found a way around our current road block. (the house) The last and only thing standing in our way.... I think!

Eventually we will... that's a given... I ain't quittin'... not even a little... 'cause I want our 'New Life' to dad blamed much!

But... knowin' that don't make it any easier... Each day I just try to find a few small things to do that keep me focused on the brass ring...

That ring bein': Me an herself... free in the Eagle... Yondering where ever our noses lead us. As long as we keep that vision clearly in sight... we'll get there... an jawin' with you folks about it goes a long way toward keepin' that focus sharp.

I know, for sure and for certain, as long as I keep a steady pressure on that 'Road Block'... eventually that sucker will crumble! and then the only thing they'll see of me around here, is Tail lights! :-)

... and if a broke Ol' cowboy can get there... you can too... just keep your focus... and a steady pressure... one step at a time... See you there... in some High Mountain, RV Boondocking Meadow... "How Sweet It Is!"

Take Care
Brian

December 17, 2007 06:33 - I'm gettin' dizzy

Another one of those times... when little is 'happening' on the road to our 'plans' so it gives me time to think... always a dangerous situtation! Gets me goin' in so many circles my head starts spinnin'.

I was talkin' to a fella the other day who had taken the Alaskan Trip 4 or 5 years ago... He thought it was to far to drive both ways so they spun the tires goin' up and rode the Alaskan Marine Highway (the Ferry) coming back...

He thought that with diesel bein' $5 a gallon in Canada... He heard that, not me, (I'll have to check on that!) it might even be cost effective to do that now... He'd had a 27' fiver... a fairly small rig...

Our outfit is somewhere around 45 feet long... I checked ferry fares last night... depends on where you go... but Bellingham, Washington to Skagway I believe, was $67.... per foot! The way I do math that comes to $3015... then you have to add 'People' fares X two... unless the boss lady says ... "Heck, I ain't gettin' on no boat with you!" , at around $350+ a piece...

... and then... unless you're gonna sleep on the deck.... pay the price of a cabin... another $400+- depending on how many 'facilities' they provide in the cabin.... So it comes to something around $4,000 for a one way ride for two people, a rig the size of ours (Dodge dually and a 30 foot fiver) and sleepin' in a cabin and not deck chairs in the rain!

Hmmm.... sounds like a fun deal.... but for me... it would be a once in a lifetime sort of thing... At around 2500 miles +- one way, at the 12 mpg Red gets draggin' the Eagle along... better if I put my foot a little lighter on the lever on the floor.... and diesel at $5 in Canada... The diesel bill still only (did I say ONLY?) gets to a mite over $2000 for the run...

Hmmm.... Somewhere around $2,000 difference if this mickey mouse calculator and the bozo bangin' it's buttons are anywhere near right... actually not that awful bad for a 'Once in a Lifetime' adventure.... maybe I will have to give this a little more cogitation... I could go back to robbin' trains....

Found out my thermometer was tellin' tales too! We've got one of those electronic weather station setups.... a small one.... I put the outside sensor in the window... betweent he glass and the screen... thought it would be a safe place.... and outside...

Well. It was outside, but apparently, not outside enough. I got up and it told me it was 12 degrees... cold enough... but Big Red... who has never been known to exaggerate... :-) ... was sayin' "That weatherstation is a lyin' cur dog! It's 4 degrees!"

Finally figured out what was happening... That weatherstation sensor was lettin' us know just how much $$$ was floatin' right through the glass!.... OUCH! It was close enogh to the glass that it was feeling the heatloss out the window! Bummer!

I've been hearin' and seein' different little things around here, and from the talking heads on the idiot box, that's increasing my optomism regarding our soon to be back on the market abode. (Mid February) ... can you hear me whistlin' past the graveyard! :-) All we need is a few months of relative stability... to let folks catch their breath a little and it will be OK! Keepin' my fingers crossed... and diggin' that whole for the 'saint' some folks say will sell your house if you bury it!

Leavin' no stone unturned this time :-)

Supposed to be an awful nice day along the Front Range... 50 and windy!

Take Care
Brian

December 19, 2007 07:34 - Another day... and more SMOKE!

OK... First... How long have I had this blog runnin' now?

How about a year last October.... You'd think I (or somebody else!) would have spotted the Boondocking spelled without the n in the navigation button on my homepage wouldn't you :-) ... just saw it and fixed it this morning!

So... does that mean my brain is gettin' better?... or worse?

Another three steps forward... two steps back yesterday...

The Correct binding machine arrived Monday afternoon... Hauled it home Monday night... and Tuesday Morning went to Binding... very... very... slowly! Another dang learnin' curve... I've been getting myself into so many learnin' curves the last year or so it's makin' me dizzy.... or at least dizzier then I stay as a regular way of goin'!

But... as is my S.O.P. they did send me some wrong stuff....

You need certain sized coils for the different thicknesses of books to bind... and of course.... when I told the outfit what I had... they made a recomendation... and... you guessed it, knowin' they were dealing with me... recommended one size to small :-)

I got two of the three, epic, volumes bound... the third is going to have to wait for another supply shipment... seeing as how nobody apparently stocks the stuff in the state of Colorado...

If you looked real careful, I'm pretty sure you could have seen smoke driftin' out of my ears... probably heard some bad words and dirty names too :-)

Snow still covers the ground here. The dirt has been out of sight for something like two weeks now. I do believe it's the longest stretch of time since we've been here... Usually it blows away in a day or so!... a smarter fella wouldn't complain!

My only issue with it is that the snow cover keeps things pretty Kool... something about the low angle of the solar ray impact deflecting the UV energy input back into the ionosphere perplexing the digital widget gizmo, causing a loss of british thermal units exacerbating the imbalance in the double rectified, triple distilled whizbanger...

The final result being that the lack of heat makes my creaky bones ache! :-)

That and it's the excuse I've used to not go out... clear the snow off the roof of the Eagle... and dig out the antenna for the air card... Steve (a reader of the blog) sent me a power supply that he had sitting around... that will convert 110V to 12volt so I can hook up my aircard amplifier... and get better service while we are here at the house... Thanks Steve!... been procrasinating climbing up there because of the snow and ice on the roof...

Was hoping it would just melt off... no such luck... so I guess I'll have to go out and do some work to get to the antenna.

Work... such an ugly word!... if you don't hear from me again... you're all invited to the funeral... but ... BYOB!

Today is also supposed to be another attempt at getting some paypal issues worked out so I can get my little Bookstore rebuilt and open... we shall see... three steps one way.... you know the drill :-)

Hope you are all doin' fine on this final approach to the big day... and hopin' you're keepin' a little of it in proper perspective too! :-) ... and that's all the Grinch will say about that :-)

Merry Christmas!
Brian

December 20, 2007 07:24 - Have you ever?

...Tried to walk across buttered marbles on a hard wood floor?

Do you know what 3" of melting snow and ice on a rubber roof is?... can you spell slippery! :-)

I finally went after the antenna for the wilson electonics amplifier... so I could hook it up in the house.... yesterday. Of course, it was set all the way on the front end of the roof... and... of course... the ladder to get up there was all the way at the tail end... Had no choice but to go up the built in ladder, since my extension ladder left my possession last summer when I thought I'd been paroled.

Then I thought I could just take a broom and push the stuff out of the way as I worked my way forward... without damaging the roof... Do you think I could find the broom? I've no idea where it went... you'd think something five feet long would be hard to lose in a thirty foot fiver, wouldn't you?

So... all I could do is be carefull and hike to the front, across the frozen waste..... whooooeeee...... uh oh...... whups.... eeeeeiiiii...... huh...... whop!

Made it... but it would have been profitable, I think' to have a video of it :-)... nearly became profitable for some sawbones too.... another few inches and I would have found out if I still bounce as high as I used to when I was Rodeoin'.

But it's here now... hooked into the amplifier which is hooked into the power supply that reader Steven sent me (Thanks!) and sending amplified signal to the laptop so now it's fast and steady! Sweet!... with all the wires runnn' this way and that... I may have to go get an electricians licesense to maintain it all!

Got a call last night from the computer hospital... the old Toshiba is all healed up... it was indeed a burned up power supply... fixed for about a 5th of the cost of a new machine... so I guess Heidi has a laptop? or I have a backup? Still to be negotiated.

Got the Bookstore mostly re-built... I've heard too many complaints about paypal and the way they do things... so I kept looking and there, right in front of me all along was google... hadn't ever realized they have a system. One thing I know, from my personal dealings with them is that they have always dealt with me straight up. Never have had a minutes worry about them... and that's what I want when I'm doin' business with someone.... some trust.... so I'm getting it set up with them to handle the 'dealing' for my little book collection... should be working in a couple days.... but you know me.... I'll find some way to drag it out :-)

But, anyway, you can go to that page... it's there on the nav bar... if you're interested at all and would like to see what I've been workin' on... Billy Shakespear watch out!... and J.K. Rowling too!

The ground is still snow covered. Even after a couple days up into the 40's.... and another storm is supposed to be here in the next day or two.... we just may not see the ground again until spring! Sounds like global warming to me!

Can you believe how fast time is flashin' by? Just a little while ago I was wonderin' how I was going to wait out the winter. Now, here it is, dang near Christmas already... It'll be February in no time, with the end of winter in sight... and Alaska on the horizon! Oh Yeah!

It's back to my chores for today for me.

Take Care...
Brian

December 21, 2007 07:34 - Big Wheels Rollin' can stir up trouble!

It's getting tougher all the time to live here.

The road running past the house is used by a few farms to haul their production to market. I'm not sure where they're located, as a huge part of the 'real' agriculture in Larimer County has been buried under subdivisions and mini farms... kind of like mine :-( ... but somewhere west and a bit north of here are still some pretty large operations.

I know that because every year, right about this time the trucks start. Great big rigs hauling load after load of sugar beets to a processing/shipping point somewhere over east. Their tires whine by ever few minutes, 24/7 for days.

Now, most people I think would get irritated by the noise... and lots of times... like in a highway roadside rest where I'm tryin' to sleep... it would irritate me too... but for some reason, this particular 'road whine' only irritates me in the form of Hitch Itch!

The sound of those Big Wheels rollin' just puts me to wishin' we were in Big Red, draggin' the Eagle down some two lane somewhere. Makes it that much harder to tolerate this enforced wait... Boo Hoo... guess I know a bit how a cow feels standin' in a corral, huh?... 'course, the end of my wait don't leave me sittin' between a couple pieces of bread :-)

This ain't the time of year for whinin' ... but if I don't do my daily dose... I start to swell up and then it can get ugly quick! Hope you folks Full-Timing down on the desert, over on the gulf, or even the tougher ones, winterin' up north somewhere are properly greatful for the blessing you have... and are aware of how green you're makin' the rest of us... still diggin' our way out... jealousy is an ugly companion :-)

Apparently... a few folks are a mite critical of my little trip up on the roof to retrieve my antenna the other day. ONE (who works in the field of electricity... but shall remain nameless) even stated he wasn't concerned with the damage that bouncing would do to me... his concern was for the poor, poor, wiring I would tear out on the way down...

sniff...sniff... not to worry... the wiring is all fine and functioning well.... I checked it out once the smoke cleared, and it looked fine :-)

Fresh storm supposed to blow in around noon... covering up the already covered ground a mite more... better than mud though... right?

Now.... to be totally Politically Incorrect...

I hope you all have a Joyful Christmas

Take Care
Brian

December 22, 2007 07:27 - Gotta stop the swellin'... so here's some more whinin'!

The storm that was supposed to blow in yesterday and put somewhere around 2 or 3 inches... huffed and puffed and left... nothin' !

Hmmph! If the buggers can't get it right day to day... how am I supposed to have any feelings that their credibility is going to be any better in the stuff they're predicting 30 and 40 years from now? arrrrgggh!

Google on the other hand is doin' what they promised... my account with them is ready to go... all I got to do is figure out how to plug all those little dots, dashes, squiggles and doo dads of their special code into my site so I can turn my 'bookstore' on.

That... unfortunately is going to have to wait until my next 'free days' ... the next three, as always, BOO HOO!, will be down at the ranch store sellin' corral panels, electric fencing, and nuts and bolts... there's a big run on those things at christmas time you know....

Wouldn't you be excited to run out christmas morning and find a pipe corral under the tree? :-) ... I expect you'd have to be a redneck!

The beet trucks seem to be done with their job this morning.... they'd been hauling 24/7 for more than a week.... lots of beets!... for lots of sugar.

The kids are dropping off their dogs tonight... They're heading out for Missouri first thing in the morning. So we get to babysit their dogs... or at least two of 'em.... so we'll have 4 Austrailian Shepherds runnin' around here for a week.... two of ours and two of theirs.... keep us busy at least.

Christmas day is going to be a mite wierd here. First time in 27 years without the kid....

We're going to do it up in high style.... Since we don't have much furniture... and don't want any... we're going to lay on the bed all day - no couch or chairs :-) - drink hot choclate, and do a Harry Potter Marathon! ....

Maybe I can learn a spell for selling houses in a lousy market from the 'Wizards'! :-) ...

Maybe... make a short drive to get out and DO.... something... maybe get some pictures? all in all it will be a pretty quiet day around here... except of course for 4 wild aussies runnin' loose!

enough rambling for one morning... hitch itchy as ever... arggghhhh! ..... but winter will soon be over.... winter will soon be over.... I just keep sayin' that to myself :-)

Take Care
Merry Christmas
Brian

December 23, 2007 06:31 - Another reality check for an aging 'buster'

Some times a guy has to stop and ask... what are you whinin' about ya fool?!

Here I sit, grousin' about my predicament. How lame is that?

Outside, sits the best truck I've ever been able to own.... right behind the sort of a house I never thought I'd be able to live in. Across the drive is a shop many would consider a 'dream' shop.

It all sits on twenty acres with a gorgeous view of the high country off to the west. Pretty fancy digs for a broken down hand.

In spite of all my worn parts, I'm in pretty fair health. I've got a wife and daughter to make a man proud. A pair of Aussies that shine like new pennies.

No one has taken any shots at me in years! I've got folks all over the globe tunin' in here to read my gas.... and I can still groan about how the real estate market is bein' mean to me? Geez! What a whiner!

Time to Cowboy Up and quit that crap.... all I got to do is turn on that idiot tube to see how many folks are stuck in Iraq... or Afganistan... away from their families... possibly even forever... see all the folks losing their homes.... or hurt in some other way, to shine a bright light on my pitiful whimpering.... hopefully nobody was lookin'!

My yondering will come. All it will cost me to get there at this point is a little patience... and plenty to keep me busy until that happens...

Maybe that is the true worth of this time of year? To stop and take a quick inventory of all we DO have... and say thank you... rather than continuing that pitiful whinin' about what hasn't been delivered yet? ... now... if I can just figure out how to nail that list to my forehead without attracting a lot of attention....

Thanks for stoppin' by!
May the Boss shine on you and yours this Christmas Season
Take Care
Brian

December 24, 2007 05:49 - Now this is Boondocking!

A couple readers put me on to theUncovering America blog. Bill Inman is doing something much like I have wanted to do as long as I can remember...

No excuses, just the usual - life is what happens when you're makin' plans... maybe I should just wait on it for a few more years so then I could be the oldest buzzard wandering clear across the country horseback!....

Or... do it with a sheepherders wagon... the original RV! :-) Hmmmm..... there I go schemin' again... but I can see a pretty interesting journey in there too. Think I'll get my Alaskan Highway dream under my belt first... not exactly gonna be the first one up that road... but the first time for us! and that's what really counts I think... not what somebody else did for the first time... but what new adventures of your own you managed to capture.

Another little blow comin' in tonight. They're claimin' we might get a white Christmas this year... Truth is, it rarely happens here on the plains... only about 1 in 10 years the bean counters claim... would be nice I guess... to have a soft snow fallin' and me INSIDE sayin': "My, ain't that purty!" ... with a cup of hot coffee in my hand... and me all nice and warm! :-)

I need to be careful how I grouse about the cold... Lee.... one of our neighbors... and probably nigh on to 10 years older was gigglin' yesterday tellin' me about his new 150 Horsepower snow mobile.... whew... talk about cold... nothin' like crankin' across the snow at 90 mph (he claims he got there!... and then lost his nerve!) when it's maybe 10 degrees at 8000 feet up in the snow range in Wyoming! Whew!

I guess if we can't get the house sold I'll have to get one of those toys and learn to 'embrace' the cold :-)

Only... how am I gonna hang a snow mobile on the back of the Eagle?... and where am I gonna put Heidi's? :-) .... dang! More schemin'!

Have a great Christmas Eve!

Take Good Care
Brian

December 25, 2007 08:09 - Have you ever seen a bunch of Aussies in Bed?

Shame on you... I know what you were thinkin'...!

'Round our house it's a little bit of a 'thing'....

Both Heidi and Keriann (the kid) think it's just fine to have critters up on the furniture... I guess Josh (son in law) has given in to the powers that be... and has the dog hair on the couch and other furniture to prove it!

But not me! I continue the honorable fight to ban critters from the furniture! .... So you can imagine the noise when I walked in to the bedroom on Christmas morning to see this! ....

That's Lily on the left... Buck on the far right and Sky and Gus in the center... Gus is the bigger one... son of Lily and Buck... Good dogs all.... BUT!

Sometimes a fella just has to lick his wounds and slink off to the shop for a few hours to heal! :-) ... Good thing only two of 'em are ours! I don't mind tellin' ya... four Aussies runnin' around is just a mite too much energy for one guy to deal with... about the same as a PAIR of Border Collies! :-)

Hope you are all enjoying as fine a Christmas... May your world be blessed with good health, your family around you and a growing gathering of friends, through the coming year.

Take Good Care
Brian

December 26, 2007 08:06 - And We Keep on Rollin'

Sunrise in the Rockies... another snapshot of a small section of the Front Range view from the west deck. Just as the sun was crackin' over the eastern horizon.

Can't you just hear those mountains callin'?

So... Heidi gave me one of those IPOD gizmos yesterday... a great big one.... 80gb.... so I'm bettin' I can squeeze most all of my music onto the thing... except for one.... small... little glitch.... apparently Apple thinks we're all born understandin' how to run the dang things....

For what they get for 'em at the store, wouldn't you think they could afford to include some sort of a little manual? Geez! There's not one word about how to take the music from the computer.... which I ain't got put on there yet either.... and move it onto the IPOD...

I know my daughter will roll her eyes and say somethin' like: "Daaaaaaad.... stop it.... you're embarrassing me!"....

I'm a mite discombobulated my own self... built the whole site here... and I'm fiddling around with this little thing without a clue! :-)

It should be great for in the rig though.... she also got this other little gizmo that when you plug the IPOD into it... it will transmit to any fm radio... So.... if it works.... we should be able to run it through the stereo in the truck and in the fiver without having to carry 7 bushel baskets of CD's around!

Talk about bein' perfect for a boondocker... no more storage problems for all those discs... they can stay back in that big pile in our friends basement! :-) ..... Hmmmm.... I wonder how many of those GB's it would take to store my DVD movie collection? I'll bet it would take a lot more $$$ for an external hard drive than I'm willin' to spend right now... but, it would be pretty cool to have a hundred or so of the best movies stuffed into a box 1/2 the size of a cereal box wouldn't it? :-)

Then... when it's rainin' or the wind is blowin' or your bones are achin' and you just don't feel like bein' outside.... you could fire up the Ol' 'puter and watch 'Monte Walsh' win the west all over again!

I wonder if that fella that runs that "Apple" fruit company RV's ? He sure seems to have built his little bit of wizardry with us in mind!... and what's a fruit company got to do with building electronic stuff anyway?

Remember... one foot in front of the other... ain't a bad thing... it gets you up the mountain.... as long as you keep your eyes open.... it can also take you right off a cliff... if you're not lookin' where you're goin'!

Take Care
Brian

December 27, 2007 08:05 - Hmmmm........

It would seem... from the number of comments... that those IPOD's and MP3 gizmos are fairly popular :-)

... maybe it's just me... but it would also seem that the makers of 'em seem to be pretty much behind the curve if so many folks that are buyin' their stuff have to go searchin' for information about how to work 'em! The buggers just might want to send a couple sheets of directions along... sort of like a "Quick Start" instruction? DOH!

It ain't rocket science...

Now... on to other whining! :-) ... I got a lot of the bookstore 'Stuff' up yesterday... maybe... :-O

I THINK the google buttons are working... if you'd like to order just one book... (let me know by way of the comments on the blog if you have trouble....) to order multiples is proving an issue.

The form I am trying to set up so you can fill it out for multiple books... won't communicate with me! ARRRGGHH! I've rebuilt that electronic gremlin a half dozen times... redone and redone again several other parts.... changed addresses.... poured coffee on the keyboard.... whacked the monitor with my boot.... threatened to hook up jumper cables to the USB port .... but nothing!

I can send mail in from my 'escapees' server and receive it at the 'website' ... but anything originating 'at' the website is goin' nowhere....including the 'Contact Us' Page that has always worked! ARRRRGGGGHHH!

Got me a gremlin on the loose! .... tricky lil' bugger... eventually I'll get him... of course... shotgun shells are kinda tough on this brand new laptop! :-)

Just now I'm waiting for a reply from the support folks from my webhost.... they've always pulled me out of the holes I've dug in the past so I'm confident! :-)

The weather here on the High Plains remains the same.... fine if you're a Snowshoe Hare! Another little blow came in this morning. A bit of an upslope. Fine snow now but they're claiming it should be getting heavier.... Oh Goody! Don't know how many this makes now... 3? 4? just about one a week....

The good part is... if this keeps up all winter... we'll have fine grass in the spring! Make this place shine... and that will be a good thing with a pretty lil' For Sale sign tucked there into all that green grass!

Well... if I can't work on the 'gremlin'... guess I'll go bind some books!

Keep on Keepin' on Folks!
Tune in later to find out how the Gremlin met his end!

Take Care
Brian

December 28, 2007 07:58 - That Murphy fella is workin' Overtime!

Geez!

First... the weatherman... who said 2 or 3 inches apparently didn't see the 6 or 8 coming! :-) must be as tough to be a weatherman as it is a mail man!

Now... the big 'Deals' ... something is snafu'd on the site... the contact page and any other 'forms' I use on the site are not working... so the only way to contact me at this point is to use the comments link.... here on the blog... the programmer fellas are busily working on it... but it could take them a day or two, to find where that lil' gremlin has concealed himself...

The other deal is with google.... apparently they've put a little too much security into their system... can you do that? :-)

Bottom line is... there is a way I can send an invoice that allows people to go to google to complete the transaction. Problem is... their system cannot be read by a large part of the email systems people use... so... big hassle.

Don't know about you... but more hassles is not something I have much need for.... so....

I just may have to eat crow and go back to the original plan to use pay pal.... just tough it out and get it done I guess!

In the mean time... I think I'm going to do a little redo on the Bookstore page later today. I'll post my mailing address for anyone who would like a book or two. You can just send a check and I'll ship the goods! ... until I work my way though this 'puter programmin' maze.

I've found that the three regular books can all fit pretty nicely into one flat rate package at the post office so that minimizes shipping. The Checklist Portfolio requires a larger box... so that is the only time, at least until I write more :-) that the shipping will be anything other than the minimum flat rate.

On the good side... I made a bigger deal out of workin' that IPOD than called for.... :-) what's new?

Went to the Apple site yesterday afternoon and downloaded their itunes software... and started in putting my CD collection onto the 'puter. :-) ... A whole lot easier than my whinin' made it sound like! The really good thing is that now I'll be able to take all the CD's out of the rig. Scratch one RV Storage issue.

Just in time! I was about to get to building a new 'bookshelf' for CD's and DVD's ... I do believe Digital is the way to go!
A good sized external hard drive is about the size of a book! Don't know how many it will take to put my movie collection on... but I think I may have to save up my pennies for one of those Terrabyte sized ones.... about $400 I think...

But first... saving all my music onto the hard drive...

At least ONE thing is working exactly right!

Take Good Care
Brian

December 29, 2007 05:47 - Winter Doldrums

This is the part of winter that gets to me.... when the storms and cold keep me fairly cabin bound... I start gettin' a mite stir crazy... the weather makes my broke parts ache... my head gets tied in knots with too much time to think... my hitch itch becomes pretty much unendurable... pretty much a rough time ;-)

And did I say cold? You guys down south thinkin' that Arizona was havin' a cold winter, what with it bein' down in the sixties and all? ... it was 0 comin' across the bottom on the way home early last night... got all the way back to 8 as we climbed back up on this bit of a ridge we're living on....

That means, down in there this morning... it's probably at least -4 or -5.... I DREAM of 60! ... with a big ol' grin on my face! :-)

I've been findin' this computerin' trail (you may have noticed) to be a tougher than pushin' some nasty ol' bunch quittin' sows out of the rocks and brush in some deep, dark, canyon.

But... true to form... and bein' as stubborn as I am... I'm figurin' my way around the obstacles... in my own 'unique' ways... I suppose that my 'ways' are often a mite quizzical to other folks.... I'm used to it... even if you aren't! :-)

I've always done things juuuuust a mite different than other folks... :-) ... some few call that 'personality' .... though some few others have been know to call it S_ _ _ _ D (?) :-) Oh well... with out my 'ways', I might not have as much to talk about!

Hey, Hey, Hey! I made my first mailing of Books yesterday! Sweet! A couple gals, apparently as stubborn as me, figured out how to get around the difficulty I'm having with the 'system' and contacted me through email.... MANY THANKS!

***The First Publishing Order Ready to GO!***

Speaking of that... I put a, hopefully temporary order setup on the bookstore page last night.... there is shipping costs, an address to send any order/checks... and an e-mail address to make contact.... (though SBI! seems to have my contact form repaired)... I have the e-mail address 'Hidden' ... so just follow the simple instructions to take out/change the parts that need it to make the thing work .... I have it 'Hidden' from the 'spam bots' to keep me from gettin' buried in junk email!

Looks like I'm going to have to eat crow.... yech! I hate feathers! .... Pay Pal looks like the way I'll be going... probably Tuesday... I'm back to my three day stint at the Ranch Store till then...

The problem with google is... they're a mite too careful... their encoding to protect their payment link can't get through a good number of email services... so, for me, it's a little too much hassle... and you know how I am about hassles :-) geez!
what a grief all the thieves in this world create!

IPOD Rules! Been loading up the Dell with my music! So simple and easy... I really have to watch my whinin'.... 'fore long I'll have my whole collection on a little electronic gizmo that fits in my pocket... and with another gizmo can transmit to the stereo in the truck... the stereo in the fiver... or directly to the ears hangin' on my hollow head :-) Awsome!

I don't know how many CD's I have... but it's a box my Ol' back can barely pick up! To have it all packed into one, little, sliver of an IPOD gizmo is AWSOME! :-) ... It is the perfect piece of equipment for RVers. Not storage issues for the CD's... no having to pick out what CD's you're going to put in the cab today... all you have to do is shuffle through the menu on the IPOD, with your thumb, to hear one of the thousands of songs recorded in it.... SWEET!

Only a little over a month maybe two? and we put this abode back on the market... so I can get BACK to RV Boondocking... SWEETER! ... then I can use the wheels on that truck to control the temperature :-)

Take Good Care...
Brian

December 30, 2007 05:58 - How do you carry your critters?

I heard there's a discussion goin' on over on the Escapees forum that involves traveling with your critters. A couple stories told of cats that dissappeared inside a couple of rigs.... some got found in good shape .... others ended sadly...

Too bad too, 'cause with just a mite of that good Ol' seven P's (Proper Prior Preparation Prevents Pathetically Poor Performance) there would have been no difficulty at all.

I occassionally get asked how we travel with two pups and our mini lion in a 30 foot fiver and keep everyone happy.

Some folks I'm told think 'crating' a dog or cat is somehow mean or cruel.... to those folks I say: "It just ain't so!"

All our animals are crate trained.... and that there, is the key.... If you do it as some form of punishment, yeah it ain't gonna work out very well... but here's how you do it right.

At home... before you ever leave... start training Ol' Yeller or Tessy the Demon furball to enjoy their crate. Put a favorite bed in there... coax 'em in and give 'em some treats... and let 'em out... let 'em come and go as they please.

Put their food bowl in there... with the door open... They can come and go as they choose. Our dogs are trained as pups. The crate quickly becomes their 'den'... a safe refuge... Buck will go in on his own to relax and escape from the world for a bit.

The thing is... it becomes a trusted, safe haven. On the road, when the rig is shakin' and you're rockin' an' rollin' to the next great adventure... the pups or the cats aren't gettin' scared by all the noises the rig makes and all the rockin'... they're safe and secure in their familiar 'den'...

Now... most of the time Buck and Lily are up in the cab with us...on their deck in the back seat (NOT allowed in the front!)... but Bonnie... that demon feline is safe and sound in her crate, back in the rig. Hale and hearty when we get to our next camp... On occassion... if one of the dogs has to stay in the fiver on the road - he/she - is in their crate with all the necessities for comfort... bed, water, chew bone...

So... if you're plannin' your escape... and been wonderin' what to do with the lil' guys on the road... think real hard about crate training 'em... you won't regret it.... 'cause one of the things I really hate to see is some fella... trying to drive a 30,000 pound rig... or more... down the road with some 15 pound wiggle butt dancin' all over in his lap! ... it just gives me the jiggly quivers... all I can see is the catastrophe just hauntin' that rig.

.... can you hear that? That low mournful wail? Nope that ain't a coyote... it's Slick! He's so lonesome, settin' over there in the shop he's started howlin' out his torment!... I know just how he feels... I just may have to take him out and ride in the snow if it gets warm enough this week... they're sayin' there's a chance of beatin' 30 degrees... maybe Tuesday... keepin' my fingers crossed.

Just settin' here dreamin' of catchin' up on the Boondockin' road some of you lucky buggers have already got to rollin' on... wait for us! :-)

Take Care
Brian

December 31, 2007 05:56 - Can you hear that wooshin' sound?

It get's louder the older you get... that's the sound your life makes as it goes racin' by! Don't waste no time on the junk that 'Don't mean nothin' '... focus on just the stuff that makes a difference... let that other crap just slide on by!

2007 done come and is nearly gone... not the year I was expectin'... but a better one than it coulda been, for sure and for certain.

Around here it ain't goin' out with a whimper neither!

Yesterday, Heidi stayed home to Bead, and play with the dogs... I had to go sell some nuts and bolts... long about noontime she thought it would be good to get out and take the dogs for a good walk, walkin' our property line... it's a redneck thing :-)

After the pups, and her, got pretty worn down sloggin' through the snow, she took 'em to the barn where she hoped to set up some of her agility jumps,inside, to practice with Buck a little. Of course, she had to dig 'em out of the snow on her agility field first.

Practice would be a good thing, since they haven't had any in a few weeks, due to the weather, and they have a competition comin' up in a week.

She'd barely started that effort when a genuine, unadulterated, double rectified, Colorado Ground blizzard come a stormin' in with a rush and a squeal. Her words were: "The wind was just Howling!"

Made for a bit of a problem... that being that the barn is nigh on to 300 feet from the house... Stepping out of the barn to struggle back to the house... she couldn't see it! or... leastways... just barely.

It's a little scary to step off into a whiteout like that... hopin' you get there before your 'view' closes off and you don't know which way is what... in the old days... maybe when folks were brighter? ... they used to tie ropes from their cabins to their barns... so they could follow along and not get lost... many a story of 'pioneers' freezing solid... lost... 100 feet from their cabins.

They got back to the house OK... but pretty near by way of Kansas... the way that wind was crankin'... It's a good thing... Life here keeps us from gettin' too soft! :-)

Be careful with your celebrations tonight... no need to start the next year off with a self inflicted tribulation!

Wishing all of you a great 'ought 8!
Take Good Care
Brian