The new adventures of Patti and Marty

01-29-12

2012-01-29T19:08:00.001-08:00

I have been wondering about this road that I saw on a map some where. It went around the mountains east of the Eagles Eye

and connected with Vicksburg Road at the north east boundary of the Kofa refuge. I looked on all the maps that I had, even the topo one that came with my GPS but could not find it. Finally I decided that the only way I would know for sure where it went was to follow it.

We were playing cards at Becky and Dennis’s last evening and Becky asked Patti if she wanted to go to the venders today to do some shopping. Patty said she would so that left me with nothing to do. I asked Dennis if he would like to take a ride to check out this unknown road. He said he would like that as he had nothing else to do.

This morning at around 10:00 we headed east on I-10 to Highway 60, continued east to Ramsey Mine Rd, and headed south. When we got to the kiosk at the parking area on the south side of the freeway we took a left and followed the trail along I-10. The trail veered south away from I-10 toward the mountains.

We came to a cross road where there was another kiosk with a map that showed the trails in the area. Now I understood where I had seen the map with the mystery road. It was at the kiosk on Ramsey Mine Road. from there we took one of the trails that went toward the mountains.

One trail went up a steep hill and stopped at a spot that overlooked a beautiful valley.

We got out of the jeep to take a look at the scenery. I had taken a few steps when remembered that the camera was still in the jeep. Dennis, in a horse whisper said, “get mine too.” By his whisper, I figured that he had seen some sort of wildlife. When I got back to him he said that there was a Big Horn Sheep just a little way off the trail.

Dennis got some good pictures of the sheep.

Most of mine were blurred but I did get one of the sheep running off.

We wandered into the valley a little to see if we could see any more sheep but that one was apparently alone.

We left there and followed another trail to its end in another valley.

We turned back to the main trail where we continued southeast along the mountains. As we went along we took some other trails into the mountains. They all ended in cul-de-sacs. One of the trails went into a pretty valley that had some interesting rock formations.

including this really cool Hoodoo.

We took a short walk up the valley but it became too steep so we returned to the jeep and continued our exploration. Eventually we came to a fence that marked the northern boundary of the Refuge. We followed the fence eastward. It was a very bumpy track that appeared to be a maintenance road for the fence. Eventually we arrived at the intersection with Vicksburg Road where we headed back to I-10 and home.

Now I know where the mystery road ends for sure.

01-27-12

2012-01-27T08:44:00.001-08:00

Junior came back from the Wednesday ride and told us about a mine that he had visited. It sounded like a mine that we had been to earlier this year. We decided to go with him yesterday to check it out.

There were three jeeps on the trip; Junior led in his jeep with Dennis riding shotgun, Mary Ann and Randy drove their jeep

and Patti and I followed in Clifford.

I neglected to mention in previous blogs that, Mary Ann and Randy traded their Hummer H3 in and purchased a 2012 Jeep Rubicon.

They are very happy with the change and have been following us on several trips.

We drove out Plomosa Rd. to Mile 6 and turned right into the desert. We wound around through gullies and over hills until we got to the mine.

As soon as we pulled up we realized that we had in fact been there before but since Mary Ann and Randy hadn’t we went inside.

This was Mary Ann’s first mine experience and she enjoyed it.

This is one of my favorite tunnels because it is so colorful, with seams of Crisocola,

Iron Pyrite

and Quartz.

After we left that mine we went a little further around the mountain. and checked out another one. This one has a deep vertical shaft at the back with a scary looking ladder going down it.

From there we drove out to Plomosa Road and headed north toward Bouse. We turned west off Plomosa Rd and headed for the Four Peaks. We stopped to show Mary Ann and Randy the “big hole”. We have been there many times before so I neglected to take any pictures. Leaving the “big hole” we have to climb a steep bank. It was good practice for Randy as he is something of a novice at off roading.

His Rubi makes up for a lot of inexperience and after a little backing and filling he got around the tight right turn. We all had to do the same maneuvering by the way. From there we headed west and south toward Quartzsite. On the way we had to cross several sand dunes, another learning experience for Randy. The last dune in the group has a steep soft sandy incline. We went over it in Clifford with out a problem. A short time later Junior came over the top. We waited for a while and could hear the Rubicon's engine winding up on the other side of the hill. The Ruby was having trouble getting up the sandy incline.

The main problem was that Randy hadn’t lowered the tire pressure. This is something that new jeepers have trouble understanding. They are afraid that the tire will come off the rim if they lower the pressure and don’t understand that lower pressure gives them better traction in the soft stuff and a softer ride in the rocks. It also saves the tires from sharp rock ruptures.

We dropped the pressure in the Rubicon’s tires

and had Randy try the hill several times. Eventually he got the idea of keeping his speed steady and got over the sand hill.

Mary Ann wanted to try it and flew over the hill. She was very excited that she made it with no problem.

All in all it was a fun ride as well as being a good learning experience for Randy and Mary Ann.

01-24-12

2012-01-24T09:56:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we took a ride to the north end of the Kofa refuge.

The party included Becky, Dennis, Suzanne and Roy with their Rhino’s. Missy, Junior, Jo Ann, Dave, Maryann and Randy in their new jeeps. Shirley and Bill in their 1997 Jeep Cherokee and Patti and I in Clifford.

There is a constant friendly rivalry going on between the Jeep drivers and the Rhino herders. Junior made this diorama to hang on his spare tire just to bug the Rhino guys.

We mustered at the RV park entrance at 8:55 and were on the road by 9:00.

We drove east on I-10 for 26 miles to the Vicksburg Road exit where we headed south on Vicksburg Rd for 7 miles to the pipeline road. We turned west on the pipeline road and went about 1 mile to intersection 14 where Dennis and Roy unloaded the Rhino’s. While they were unloading we found that Bill’s Cherokee had a flat tire.

He changed the tire with a lot of help.

We continued east on the pipeline road to intersection 16 where we turned south. We stopped to check out the Kofa cabin.

The Kofa cabin is one of the three cabins in the refuge that one can stay in.

On this trip we will stop at all three cabins. Bill decided there, that he and Shirley would return to Quartzsite rather than take a chance of having another flat some where in the back country. In hind site it was the proper decision as the trail we traveled was very rough with lots of rocks and the tires on his jeep were likely not tough enough to survive the trip.

Bill has decided to get some good off road tires for his Cherokee.

We left the Kofa cabin and continued south toward Bighorn pass. Along the way we stopped to check out a monument that we could see on a side road.

I was hoping to stop at the Hoodoo Hilton for lunch but it took us longer that I thought to get over Big Horne Pass

so we had lunch at the Willbanks cabin.

At first we set up for lunch outside the cabin

but it began to rain so we retreated to the shelter of the cabin. There was not enough room for everyone inside the cabin

so some of us had lunch on the front porch.

Of course by the time we all got resettled the rain stopped.

After lunch we drove south west in hoodoo wash and eventually got to what we call the Hoodoo Hilton. The official name is the Hoodoo Cabin.

We spent a few minutes checking the cabin out, then got back on the trail. We went north over Red Rock pass.

By 4:15 were back at the intersection 14 where Dennis, and Roy had parked their trailers.

We passed this trailer hauling the Batmobile.

Interesting sky on the way home.

It was another great ride.

01-22-12

2012-01-22T10:23:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we took a ride to the Scull Rock canyon.

I just spent three hours working on this blog and Lost the whole thing due to my not paying attention. I aint going to do it again.

Here are some pictures for you.

01-19-12

2012-01-19T13:27:00.001-08:00

There isn’t much happening today.

Becky sent me a bunch of pictures from our trip on Tuesday so here are some of them.

The group playing cards in Becky and Dennis’s Arizona room.

Dennis decided that he should dress appropriately for driving Dave’s new Jeep.

Ramsey Mine.

a col-de-sac,

checking out a shaft along side the trail.

Mine equipment,

Wildlife watering system.

Ok that’s it for now.

Tonight we are going to Becky and Dennis’s for a spaghetti dinner that Shirley cooked.

01-18-12

2012-01-18T08:55:00.001-08:00

We took a ride yesterday with Becky, Dennis, Shirley and Bill.

Patti’s back is still hurting so Dave road with me. Becky and Dennis drove Dave’s jeep instead of their Rhino.

We drove east on I-10 and took the highway 60 exit. We continued east to Ramsey Mine road where we turned south, crossed the freeway and continued to the Ramsey mine.

The Ramsey Mine is a patented claim and is private property. We stopped there for a short time to let everyone look around.

From there we drove over the mountain to the south of the mine and followed several roads to (What else?) Col-de-sac’s. We climbed a steep rocky trail to a peak with a view.

As always the scenery was spectacular.

We continued southeast following washes and rough trails. We stopped in one wash for lunch.

From there we traveled along more washes and trails stopping to walk up an interesting side canyon.

and visited another mine with a deep vertical shaft.

From there we continued along a wash until we came to a steep rough trail on the left. We climbed the hill and came into a high valley with another mine.

We stopped there and wandered around checking out the old mining equipment.

To the right of the mining stuff is another steep rutted trail that we climbed.

At the top of this trail is an area that we have visited a few times before. There is a wall of Crisocola, a blue stone that is associated with copper ore.

We have always taken a group picture here and this time was no exception.

From there we followed a very bumpy trail back to a frontage road along I-10 where we turned west and got back to the Ramset Mine Road.

Shirley and Bill were in their Jeep Cherokee wagon. I was impressed by where the Cherokee could go. They followed us over and around some difficult places with no problem.

Go Jeep! I think Becky and Dennis enjoyed their day in Dave’s jeep and were also impressed with it.

01-16-12

2012-01-16T09:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday morning, when I went out to turn the waterfall on the sun was just coming up.

Red sky in the morning.

Patti, Becky, Debbie, Shirley and Bill went to the Blue Water Casino. The casino was giving out a free set of dishes so it was a good excuse for them to go up there and gamble. Patti was the big winner.

I took a ride to the Kofa Refuge with Dennis in my jeep, Dave and Andrew in Dave’s jeep, and Maryann, Randy and their dog Sparky in their Hummer. We decided to go to De La Osa well. It is a very scenic ride and easy enough for the hummer to negotiate without any problems.

We stopped at the MST&T tower

for the view.

From there we took the trail to to De La Osa well. On the way we stopped to take a walk up a very interesting canyon.

This is as far as us old folks can go up the canyon. We discussed bringing up some ropes or a ladder some time to continue our investigation of the canyon.

The photo below gives you an idea of how big the rocks are that have to be scaled to continue.

After leaving the canyon we drove a little farther along the trail where we stopped to check out a small natural cave. It looks like the cave was the home for some bats. There was a lot of guano on the floor of the cave and evidence of bat urine on the wall. It looks like they are living in a crack along the roof at the rear of the cave. In the photo you can see the stain of the urine on the rear wall.

After we left the cave, we drove until we came to the well where we stopped for lunch at the end of the road.

When we were setting up our chairs we noticed a few drops of rain. By the time we were finished eating lunch it started to sprinkle. The rain was very light and didn’t last long. We drove back by a different route and were home by 4:30.

01-13-12

2012-01-13T18:09:00.001-08:00

When we got back from the Wednesday ride I was telling Dennis about it. He was very keen to see the shovel and the mine so we went back there today. It was just Becky, Dennis, Dave and I in the group.

I got some better pictures of the shovel.

Dennis and I went into the tunnels and I got a couple more pictures.

This is Dennis at the end of one of the tunnels where a ore dump shoot drops down to a lower tunnel.

Dennis went into the lower tunnel

and got a picture of the bottom of ore shoot.

We climbed the hill and looked at rocks Becky found, some that looked like they might have fossils on them. It looked more like lichen to me but I am no expert.

We left that area via a narrow wash and stopped for lunch at a wide spot. From there we just wandered around the desert following some rough trails and washes. Eventually we got back on the main trail and were home by 3:30’

01-12-12

2012-01-12T10:06:00.001-08:00

Junior invited us to take a ride with the Wednesday Jeep group yesterday.

Patti’s back is still messed up so Dave and I went in my jeep. We followed Junior to the home of Dennis (not our Dennis) the usual leader of the group. Then we drove to another persons home to gather the rest of the bunch. From there we drove out the northwest end of Quartzsite past the golf course and took a right turn on a small dirt road. Eventually we came to our first destination, the old steam shovel.

Well, it isn’t exactly a steam shovel, it is actually a diesel powered shovel but it is very old. Patti and I had been there a couple of years ago but I had forgotten how we got there.

There is a deep vertical shaft on the flat where the shovel is parked.

When Patti and I visited it, we didn’t know that there was a large tunnel complex up the hill from the shovel. The tunnels go in several directions and there are several that let light into the caverns below.

We climbed higher on the hill where there were some really neat looking rocks.

And more tunneling.

From there we went out past the Marble Mine and around the mountain to the north to visit a couple of other mines. Patti and I had been there several times in the past. I got a picture of a hawk that was sitting on a rock. I had to zoom in tight to see it so the picture is a little blurred.

The trail to the first of the mines became to rough to get through so we walked the rest of the way. Unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera. The tailings from the mine were very colorful and the shaft was wide and very deep. We found a large flat and stopped there for lunch.

From there we visited the Darling Mine. When we got to the mine there were at least a dozen vehicles and people scampering all over the hillside.

From there we headed for the trail over Diablo Pass. At one spot on the trail there is an obstacle. The trail goes around it or you can attempt to cross it. Two of the jeeps in front of me crossed the rocks so I decided to give it a try. I was doing pretty good until I hit the rock with the side of the left front tire and bounced to the right. The jeep ended up with two tires off the ground so I could not go any further.

It was kind of embarrassing but I had to get pulled forward until the wheels could find purchase

and I could drive it out.

Junior followed me and did it correctly.

I guess we will have to chalk my problem up to driver error. I should have stayed further to the right.

It was only a short trip from there to Quartzsite. We got home around 4:30 and went to Silly Al’s for pizza. It was very crowded and it took us about 30 minutes to be seated. The pizza was really good so I guess it was worth the wait.

01-10-12

2012-01-10T08:22:00.001-08:00

Its cold this morning, at 9:00 it is 40 degrees F. People in the north and mid west would call this a warm morning. Of course that is why we are here in Quartzsite.

Patti is still down with her back but is improving, we hope.

Yesterday I finished writing on book two of the Saga of Virgin Prince. Now it will have to be edited. I am not sure how long that will take since my editor is down with a bad back and can’t sit for long periods. I will let you know when it is published.

I got some of Andrew’s pictures from the last rides. My favorite is the bats in flight in the Queen Mine.

Here is one of the ore shoot. I tried three shots of this but none of them came out. Andrew got it.

Okay, that’s it for now.

01-09-12

2012-01-09T08:32:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we went back out to the desert northeast of Bouse to see if we could find the Glory Hole.

Here is the Wikipedia definition of a Glory Hole as it pertains to mining;

Block Caving is used to mine massive steeply dipping orebodies (typically low grade) with high friability. An undercut with haulage access is driven under the orebody, with "drawbells" excavated between the top of the haulage level and the bottom of the undercut. The drawbells serve as a place for caving rock to fall into. The orebody is drilled and blasted above the undercut, and the ore is removed via the haulage access. Due to the friability of the orebody the ore above the first blast caves and falls into the drawbells. As ore is removed from the drawbells the orebody caves in providing a steady stream of ore.^[3] If caving stops and removal of ore from the drawbells continues, a large void may form, resulting in the potential for a sudden and massive collapse and potentially catastrophic windblast throughout the mine.^[4] Where caving does continue, the ground surface may collapse into a surface depression such as those at the Climax and Henderson molybdenum mines in Colorado. Such a configuration is one of several to which miners apply the term "glory hole”.

It was the same group as the day before. Junior was the leader again. We took a few wrong trails along the way. They were all very interesting.

With some great views

And some trails that we need to come back and try some day.

After wandering around for a while

Junior finally found the trail marker.

The weather was clear but with a cold wind blowing from the north.

We found a spot out of the wind in a wash to have lunch.

Dennis warming in the sun like a the lizard man.

After lunch, we continued the search for the glory hole.

Some times the trail became a bit bumpy.

With some narrow spots.

There were a few tense moments when Randy in the Hummer went a little to far to the left on a narrow spot.

Junior threw some rocks in the hole.

And eventually the Hummer got through.

We were all very relieved.

Eventually we got to the Glory Hole. It was mostly huge tailing piles.

Most of the tunnels were collapsed and fenced off.

there was one tunnel but it didn’t go very far.

Down the hill from the mine was the living quarters. The only thing left were several concrete slabs and this old vehicle frame.

We left the mine and headed for home.

It was yet another great ride.

Patti, some how put her back out while shaving her legs and the ride yesterday didn’t help things. I guess we will be staying home for a while until she heals up.

01-07-12

2012-01-07T19:27:00.001-08:00

The jeep is back in service. Yea!

As I mentioned before, Junior has been taking rides every Wednesday with a jeep group and learning some new places to go.

This morning he took us out to try and find a place called the “Glory Hole”.

With us was; Junior and a French Canadian friend named Andrew,

Dave (Jo Ann is in North Carolina on Family business), Becky, Dennis, a new couple Maryann and Randy from Michigan and their dog, Sparky

in their Hummer H3

and of course Patti and I.

We left the park a little after 10:00 and drove east on I-10 to Highway 60. We went east on 60 to Vicksburg road where we turned north to Highway 72. We crossed 72 and stopped in a wide area for Dennis to off load his Rhino.

The first stop was the Queen Mine. Junior wasn’t quite sure where the trail started so we had to turn around a few times. Patti and I decided to put the cul-de-sac tours sign on his jeep.

Eventually Junior found the trail and we headed off into the desert.

Not too far down the trail we came to the Queen Mine.

Remains of an old cabin near the mine.

Loading shoot at the Queen Mine.

There was a neat tunnel that went quite a ways into the mountain.

Of course we had to explore the mine.

There were several side tunnels and a couple of vertical shafts. The tunnel was also the home for a bunch of bats. If you look close you can see them in the next picture. They are the dark spots on the ceiling and walls.

Above the tunnel was evidence of other diggings. A few of us climbed the hill to take a look.

We found a large water tank,

some collapsed tunnels and some prospect holes and lots of tailings.

From the Queen Mine we continued on the trail and stopped for lunch in a wide wash.

While we were having lunch some people came by on horseback.

Junior was having a little trouble finding the correct trail but in looking for it we found a couple more mines.

One was called the Yellow Monkey. The mine wasn’t to interesting. Randy learned why you don’t step on Cholla cactus. He had to have a few thorns removed from his toes. Ouch!!

The Yellow Monkey mine was at the end of a wash so we had to turn around yet again.

We followed a couple more dead ends and stopped to check out the Calcite mine.

You can tell by the expressions on our faces that we weren’t having fun.

At the Calcite Mine we decided that Junior didn’t know where he was so we turned around and headed back the way we had come. We got back to the parking area around 3:50.

We never did find the Glory Hole but Junior is determined to find it so tomorrow morning at 9:00 we will head out again.

Today was fun, tomorrow should be funner. :o)

01-05-12

2012-01-05T14:51:00.001-08:00

Yesterday Dennis and I went out to the desert to shoot some clays. I took my 24 gauge trade gun. Dennis was duly impressed. He even hit a few birds with it. Un fortunately I didn’t get any pictures.

This morning I took the jeep to the shop. They said that they had all the parts so now 3:45 I am waiting for the call to come and get it. If I don’t hear anything by 5:00 I will call them.

Later in the morning I was sitting by the pond and got a picture of some quail eating from a plate of bird seed that the lady next door puts out for them.

later on I helped Dennis install some fender flairs on his Rhino.

01-04-12

2012-01-04T10:05:00.001-08:00

As every morning, I spent some time sitting by the pond listening to the water music and enjoying the sun. I got a few wildlife pictures.

Here they are for your enjoyment.

This afternoon Dennis and I are going out to shoot some clays. I am taking my 24 gauge trade gun and my smooth boar .50 caliber flint lock pistol. It should be fun.

01-03-12

2012-01-03T10:24:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was a beautiful day with afternoon temps around 75.

In the afternoon we went to the French Quarter (a spot in the desert where there is an old cabin) to have a weenie roast.

The whole gang was there and we had a lot of fun.

I don’t really like hotdogs so we decided to cook a couple of Buffalo burgers instead. Yumm!

On the way out there I noticed that my fuel gauge was approaching the red line. We haven’t been going any ware lately so I didn’t think of filling the tank. I told Patti that we might run out of gas on the way home but was hopeful that we could make it to the gas station at the east end of town. Just to be safe I made sure that we left the party in front of Dave. It was a good thing that I did because the jeep ran out of gas about two hundred yards from the gas station, on the wrong side of the freeway overpass so Dave had to tow us in.

I have an appointment on Thursday to take the jeep in. I don’t know if the parts for the exhaust system will be delivered yet but I am having them replace the water pump and thermostat. That way we can at least go some where without worrying about the water pump failing. Looking back I wish I had just bought the pump and installed it myself.

01-01-12

2012-01-01T08:56:00.001-08:00

Happy new Year!!

I was sitting by the pond yesterday morning and got these wildlife pictures.

Bathing birds.

Patti got this one while I was snoozing,

Later in the afternoon, Dennis and I took the Kayaks over to the Colorado River. Since the jeep is unreliable at the present time we put the boats in the back of Dennis’s truck

We decided to check out a slough just south of Ehrenburg, AZ.

It was Dennis’ first time in a kayak and I think he enjoyed it.

At this time of year there isn’t a lot of wildlife but I did get some pictures of these Crested Herons.

As we paddled along close to the edges we could see underwater dust trails as large fish scooted out of our way.

Sometimes we could see movement in the cattails as other creatures moved through them unseen. On a couple of occasions we could smell skunk but never saw anything of them. I am sure that later in the season the wildlife activity will increase.

We had a great day playing on the water.

I went out to turn on the waterfall this morning. Fortunately I had a camera with me. I was about half way there and noticed this hawk sitting on top of the fall.

I don’t know what kind of hawk it is. I couldn’t find any pictures on the internet that matched. If you know what kind it is let me know.

Cool eh?

12-29-11

2011-12-29T08:34:00.001-08:00

On Tuesday we got a phone call from our friend Chuck. He and his wife Cindy were en route to Scottsdale so Cindy could have Laser surgery on her back. They called us from the Loves gas station in Quartzsite. I went over there and guided them to our place.

They could only spend about an hour with us but it was nice to see them. They may stop by again on their way home.

Junior had invited Dave and Jo Ann to go on the Wednesday jeep ride. Jo Ann didn’t want to go and Dave is having trouble with his hands. Around 8:15 there was a knock on my door. It was Dave. He asked if I wanted to go on the ride and drive his Jeep for him. Of course I said yes.

We left the park around 8:45 and drove to the house of the couple that were to lead the trip.

There were eight vehicles; seven Jeeps and one Tracker. We got underway a little after 9:00 and headed north on Highway 95 to Parker where we turned east on Shea Rd. We followed Shea Rd. to the trail to the Vampire mine.

We climbed the mountain on a very narrow trail.

New Jeeps are about seven to ten inches wider than my old YJ depending on the width of the tires. There were a few places where I was wondering if the new Jeeps might be too wide to get through but Dave’s jeep squeezed through without much problem.

We crossed a few deep washes with big rocks in the bottoms and some tight turns to negotiate. Dave’s Jeep did just fine. The view from the mine was very nice.

From the Vampire Mine we continued east on Shea Rd. and drove through Slot Canyon.

From there we drove toward the Swansea Mine passing an arch rock.

We had lunch at Swansea

and spent some time wandering around looking at the shafts and old buildings.

From Swansea we took a trail that follows an old railroad route

to the Lincoln Ranch road and followed it to Bouse and then home on Plomosa Road. Even though I had been to most of these places except for the Vampire it was a good ride.

I guess I should give you some of my impressions of Dave’s new 2011 jeep.

I found the ride very comfortable even in the rough stuff. The seats are comfortable and fit around your butt and back keeping you in place when going through whoop-ti-doos and over bumps. The engine, a V6 has plenty of power. The handling is very good. We had to go through some real tight twists and turns and it did fine although I was afraid that I might tear off parts on some of the big rocks in the narrow spots. The only things that I didn’t care for was the over all width and the hood is very wide and hard to see around when going over drops where you can’t see the road ahead. Although I prefer a manual transmission the automatic in Dave’s jeep has a hold back feature that works well. When going down real steep grades you can push a button on the dash and the transmission holds you back and keeps your speed down to about two miles per hour so you don’t have to use the brakes.

It was fun to drive a new jeep. Now if only the parts for Clifford would just come in so I can get it back on the road.

12-26-11

2011-12-26T11:16:00.001-08:00

I wasn’t going to do a blog for today because there wasn’t much to say. We had a good Christmas dinner at the Blue Water Casino yesterday and had fun playing cards last night at Becky and Dennis’s place.

The real reason for this blog today is to show you a couple of pictures.

I was sitting in the back yard enjoying the waterfall sounds when a mountain quail flew over my head with a hawk in hot pursuit.

It was pretty exciting but of course it all happened to fast to get a picture of it.

After ten minutes or so the hawk came back and flew into one of the Palo Verde trees that bracket our patio.

This time he stuck around long enough for me to get these pictures.

Okay that’s it.

Oh! Still no Jeep parts.

12-25-11

2011-12-25T07:18:00.001-08:00

Merry Christmas!

Clear and cold in Quartzsite this morning. At 7:55 it is 30 degrees. It should get up into the mid 60’s today.

The Jeep is still off line, no parts yet. I hope it will be fixed by the first of the year.

We are going to Parker to day with Becky, Dennis, Debby, Mike, Jo Ann and Dave for Christmas Dinner at the Blue Water Casino buffet. We went their for Thanksgiving and it was very good. We’ll se what happens today. The plan was for us to eat around 2:00 and then let the “girls” gamble for a couple hours while the “boys” went to the adjoining theater to watch a movie. As it turns out there are no movies playing today so I don’t know what us guys will do while the women are gambling. We will Probably just sit around and swap lies.

I still have one more chapter to write in the next installment of Jacks adventures. Then it will have to be edited. Maybe it will get published by the first of the year. I’ll let you know.

Ok well, I guess that’s about it for today.

12-23-11

2011-12-23T08:47:00.001-08:00

The last couple of days it has been cold and windy.

The exhaust system on the jeep is falling apart so on Wednesday we went to Blythe, CA to do some shopping and check to see if there is a muffler shop there. The only place is the Goodyear auto repair center. I stopped to talk to them about getting it repaired. The guy there told me that I would have to make an appointment for the next day to get an estimate; then I would have to make another appointment to get the work done. Blythe is 20 miles from Quartzsite so that didn’t sound like a good plan. While we were in Blythe we did some shopping and bought some flowers to put around the pond.

Yesterday I took the jeep to Best Auto Repair in Quartzsite to see if they would fix the exhaust system. While we were checking it out with the motor running I noticed that the fan was wobbling. It turned out that the water pump bearing is shot so that has to be changed as well. While they were preparing the estimate I found out that since the jeep is registered in California they had to order the parts from a dealer in CA. It is illegal to weld the muffler and catalytic converter together so it has to be purchased as a unit and only from the dealer. The end result is that it will cost me twice as much as it would if the jeep were registered in AZ. I just Love California and their stupid environ-mental laws. The parts are on order.

We won’t be going into the desert or any where else until the jeep is fixed. I don’t want the water pump to fail far from home especially in the middle of the desert.

It is still cold but so far the wind hasn’t come up. If it stays calm we may go shoot some clays this afternoon.

12-21-11

2011-12-21T08:41:00.001-08:00

The first day of winter and at 8:45 am. under a clear blue sky, it is 39 degrees.

On Sunday we went to Yuma. I needed to get some stuff at Harbor Freight. From there we went to visit Patti’s sister Dianne and brother-in-law Wayne. They are doing better than we expected although Wayne is 77 and starting to have health issues. Dianne has lost some weight and is looking better that the last time we visited them.

Monday I unpacked the stuff that I bought and set up my new air compressor.

In the evening we played cards with Becky, Dennis, Shirley, Bill, and Jo Ann and Dave. We had a lot of laughs.

Yesterday we finally made the trip over Preachers Pass.

It is a fun trail with steep inclines

and rough boulder strewn washes.

Eventually we got to the wash where there is an abundance of desert rose, which is a type of quartz. We had lunch in there

and spent a couple hours walking along it picking up fragments of Desert rose.

From there we wandered around the desert looking for the trail back to where Dennis parked his truck.

After visiting several cul-de-sacs we finally made the loop and got back to the truck around 4:00.

It was another good day in the desert.

12-18-11

2011-12-18T08:46:00.001-08:00

Missy and Junior have bee going out every Wednesday with another group of jeepers. They have been finding new places to explore so yesterday they guided us on a ride.

In the group were; Missy, Junior, Jo Ann, Dave, Becky, Dennis, Patti and me.

We drove east on I-10, took the exit for Highway 60 and continued east to the town of Salome where we headed north into the desert. We followed a wide dirt road to a spot where Becky and Dennis could park their truck and off load their Rhino.

From there, we followed a narrow trail across the flats and into the mountains.

The first stop was a pretty cool mine.

Junior, Dennis, Dave and I

walked into the tunnel about 200 feet where we came to a bridge over a deep hole.

The tunnel continued for about another hundred feet

but we stopped at the bridge, it looked to shaky to cross safely.

On the way down the hill from that mine we discovered a second tunnel.

This one turned out to be interesting as it had the remnants of ore car tracks

and further back we found some stalactites

and drapery.

Which is a rare thing around here since there is so little water in the ground.

We left this mine

and took the trail over “Cottonwood Pass”. It’s a really cool road that was built up with stones stacked on the hillside.

I guess that is what you do when you don’t have a bulldozer.

We stopped at the top of the pass to look at the view.

Jo Ann found a small yucca that she had to have.

Unfortunately it had to be cut into three pieces to get into their jeep.

I’m not sure what she is going to do with it.

We stopped for lunch out of the wind in a wash on the other side of the pass.

After lunch we drove a short distance to this dug out house in the side of a wash. Apparently the house was built in 1913.

Central heating?

The group posed for a picture

From here we drove around the desert looking for the trail over Tank Pass. Eventually we found the right road and drove over the pass.

One spot was a bit challenging but everyone made it with out any trouble.

On the east side of the pass we came to what they called the transfer station. When Junior mentioned it I thought he was talking about a place where trash is transferred to trucks to take it to a land fill. As it turned out this was a place where back in the 1800’s they held prisoners enroot to the federal prison at Yuma.

The front of this holding cell originally had iron bars and an iron door.

It was only a short ride from here to Dennis’s truck.

We were home by 4:30. It was a super ride. Thanks Junior!

12-15-11

2011-12-15T09:09:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, we took a ride with Becky and Dennis. Everyone else was had other things to do.

We had planned to go over the south Plomosa Mountains on a narrow, steep trail that goes east over Preachers Pass. When we got to where the trail splits, the right trail going over the mountains to the east and the left trail going north on the west side of the mountains,

we noticed dark clouds hugging the peaks.

After some discussion we decided that since the Rhino is an open vehicle, if it did rain Becky and Dennis would get very wet. We elected to stay on the west side so if it rained they could make it home easier.

We took the left trail over Ibex Pass. Along the way we noticed that there were some new mining claim stakes on the Climax Mine.

While we were stopped to check the claims, the girls noticed a large bird sitting on a rock about two hundred yards off.

It looked so big that at first we thought it was an eagle. We watched it for a while and eventually it took flight and we realized that it was a large hawk.

We continued on our way over the pass enjoying the scenery.

We stopped in one of the washes on the north side for lunch.

After lunch we continued north and west stopping to visit some mines along the way.

We wandered around for a couple of hours riding the merry-go-round as I like to call it. You know, round and round and up and down. Through gullies over steep hills and along narrow washes.

It never did rain so B & D stayed dry all day. Around 3:00 we headed for home.

As always, we had a fun ride.

12-14-11

2011-12-14T07:25:00.001-08:00

The last couple of days it has been cold and raining so we haven’t been doing much.

Monday, Patti did the laundry I cleaned the bathroom and the kitchen floor.

Yesterday we went to Parker to do some shopping.

I have been doing some writing on The Boars Tooth.

Last evening we went over to Becky and Dennis’s To play cards.

Kind of boring but that’s about it for now. Every day can’t be a carnival.

12-12-11

2011-12-12T08:30:00.001-08:00

Woke up to the sound of rain on the roof.

Yesterday Dennis and I went out in the desert to fire the horse pistol. The gun worked pretty good. We fired 12 rounds from it with no serious problems. The main spring seems a bit soft. We had drop the hammer twice on a couple of the caps. I know that the non gun people out there aren’t going to know what I’m talking about. Sorry!

Unfortunately I forgot to take a camera with me. From now on, I am going to keep the camera in the jeep at all times.

The sun is trying to break through the rain clouds but I think it might be a sucker hole.

If the rain continues, I will have to spend today working on the next of Jacks adventures, “The Boars Tooth”. I won’t publish it until it is done and proof read this time.

12-10-11

2011-12-10T20:00:00.001-08:00

The last couple of days I have been puttering with a few little projects.

A couple of years ago my brother, Sonny, gave Me an old .44 caliber Cap and Ball horse pistol that he found some where. When He got it it was all rusted and not functional. He cleaned it up and got it working. I haven’t fired the pistol yet and wanted to do the first firing in a safe manner so Thursday I built a test stand for the gun so it can be fired with a lanyard.

I will probably tri it tomorrow.

Roy and Dennis’s Rhino’s (ATV’s) have been out of service lately. Roy’s had starting problems and was lade up for a couple of weeks. He got it running a couple of days ago.

Dennis had a new top and rack built for his Rhino and got it back Thursday. Yesterday I helped him install a new windshield.

The last ride we went on (last season) was an attempt to find a mercury mine on the north edge of the Yuma Proving Grounds. We tried three times but didn’t find it. On the last attempt we passed a trail that we now think is the one that goes to the mine. This afternoon we are going back out there to try it again.

We left the park around 12:30. In the party were;

Jo Ann and Dave in their brand new jeep.

Becky, Dennis in their Rhino,

Patti and I in Clifford.

We went south on the Yuma road until we got to the trail and turned right, into the proving grounds and followed that track until we came to the trail that we suspected was the one to the Cinnabar Mine. After a few miles we came to a stone structure that looked to have been a dwelling.

About a half mile further up the trail we could see the workings of the mine.

There are several structures, all made of brick.

This one looked to be a cooling tower judging by the way the inside was made.

above the tower was what looked like bases for the rock tumbler where they cool the cinnabar to extract the mercury

A little farther up the hill is what looks like a flue or chimney.

On another trail that went up the hill we found the mine it self.

The shafts were pretty scary looking.

We didn’t try exploring the shafts.

We followed a trail past the mine that ended up in a cul-de-sac.

Appropriate don’t you think?

We got home a little after 6:00.

12-08-11

2011-12-08T08:27:00.000-08:00

I went out at about 8:00 this morning to get a video of the Humming birds bathing in the waterfall. The temperature out side was about 33 degrees. I set up the camera on a tripod with a chair behind it. I turned the fountain on, sat in the chair and began reading a book. In about 5 Minutes the bather arrived.

Here is the video;

12-07-11

2011-12-07T17:15:00.001-08:00

Cold again today. This morning about 4:00 the auxiliary propane tank went empty. I woke up to go to the loo and the heater was on but was blowing cold air. Fortunately we have a small electric heater so I turned the propane heater off. When I got up around seven the out side temp was 33 degrees. I went out and turned on the main LP gas tank After breakfast I went out and sat by the pond to read; it was chilly but the sun warmed me up.

Every morning when I start the pond pump a couple of humming bird come flying in to drink and bathe.

I have been trying to get some good pictures of them and this morning I got my chance.

Here are the pictures I got this Morning.

It didn’t dawn on me that I should be taking a video until the bird flew away. Maybe next time.

Patti has not been feeling well she has the Quartzsite crud. Its a cold and Like every year it is going around the Park.

I took her out for breakfast and on the way home we stopped and got the auxiliary LP Gas tank filled.

This afternoon I took a ride over to the Colorado River to see if I could find some mosquito fish or other critters for the pond but I think this is the wrong time of year for small fish. The water is very cold right now but maybe in a couple months it will be better.

I did find some good looking places to go kayaking. Unfortunately I didn’t take a camera with me.

12-06-11

2011-12-06T09:26:00.001-08:00

Patti’s back has been giving her trouble lately. It could have something to do with collecting rocks.

Debbie came by yesterday and took Patti to the Blue Water Casino in Parker, AZ. She came home a winner and took me out to dinner. We went to a new cafe in town “The Q Cafe”. We were not impressed. I ordered chicken parmesan; it looked like they cooked it yesterday, put it in the freezer and just reheated it. The sauce was thick and dry, the spaghetti noodles were thick and gummy. I complained to the waitress and she took my meal off the bill. Patti had meat loaf and mashed potatoes. She told me that the gravy was packaged and the potatoes were instant. We probably won’t go back.

I rebuilt the waterfall and I think it looks better.

The rock that I am using for the first fall is a volcanic conglomerate. As such, is pretty pores and is leaking. It appears that the water is seeping through the rock so I will have to put a piece of the pond liner under it and slope it so that the water that seeps through will still end up in the pond.

12-05-11

2011-12-05T06:58:00.000-08:00

The weather down here has been pretty cold for this part of the world, lows in the
30's and highs in the 60's. We haven't done a much lately.
Patti bought some Christmas decorations so I had to put them up.

I have been playing with the waterfall for the pond.

We went out yesterday with Jo Ann and Dave,

to get some rock to build the waterfall.
when we got home I started stacking rocks and setting the waterfall drops. I am not happy with the result

so today I will take the mountain apart and try again.

12-02-11

2011-12-02T09:19:00.001-08:00

I have good news. Patti was mistaken about the Fantail being dead.

The weather yesterday and today is cold and windy. I finally got all the wires and pipes to the pond buried. There is a float valve in the pond to keep the water level up. I didn’t like the white plastic float so I took an other one that I had that had a hole in it. I filled the float with spray foam and then covered it with globs of foam. When the foam hardened I painted the float with a paint that looks like rock. It doesn’t look Great but it isn’t white. You can see it in the lower right corner of the above picture.

I have some good news for those of you who think that this blog is an inappropriate place for my fictional stories. I started a new blog for just The Kings Cudgel. It is finished. You can find the link at the upper right corner of this page.

Patti got this picture of a humming bird at the waterfall.

You have to look close to see it.

12-01-11

2011-12-01T10:04:00.001-08:00

Patti and I had a good trip to Havasu city yesterday. We bought six feeder gold fish and two fantails. we also got some ornaments that Patti wants me to hang in the Palo Verde tree on the patio. I got some spray foam to try and make a foam rock for the float on the water inlet to the pond. I have a float that has a hole in it so i filled it with foam. Then I wrapped it loosely in aluminum foil and squirted the foam into the foil. for some reason the foam didn’t harden. so I will have to try again today. If I can get the foam to work I will paint the thing with “Rock Paint”.

Patti told me this morning that one of the fan tails had died.

Okay, here is another couple of pages from the kings Cudgel

In his room, young prince Adrian Jackonia, of the small poor kingdom of North Morovenda, lies on his back on the lumpy straw filled mattress. Still in his traveling cloths divested only of his weapons and boots. His long slightly curved sword lay at his side and his double barreled flint lock pistol lay on the night stand. He isn’t expecting an attack but one can never know who might be prowling about these days or who might know of his quest and be out to thwart him, be it by murder or treachery or seduction. A kingdom hangs in the balance.
A kingdom gained or lost by his actions alone.
Jack groans and rolls over on his stomach dislodging the sword and sending it clattering to the floor.
Startled by the noise, he jumps from the bed and almost upsets the night stand and candle as he grabs for the pistol.
With his heart pounding in his chest he listens to the sounds of the inn. After a bit he relaxes.
As he sits back on the bed his foot touches the sword hilt on the floor. He looks down.
“Oh crap! he groans, it was my sword falling that scared me. I really need to relax. Maybe some food and a glass of wine. “No,” he thinks, remembering Blossoms dirty feet. Maybe a beer would help. I wonder if they are serving supper yet.”
Just then as if on cue a loud clanging noise penetrates the remotest corners of the tavern.
“Must be the dinner bell,” Jack muses.
On the floor next to the night stand sits a wash basin and pitcher of tepid water.
Jack picks the sword up and set it on the bed behind him. Then setting the pistol next to it, he picks up the basin and sets it on the nightstand moving the candle to one corner. So as not to over flow and snuff out his meager light source, he carefully pours water from the pitcher into the bowl.
He scrubs his hands in the basin and splashes water on his face. He looks around for a towel of some sort but finding nothing, he wipes his hands and face on the inside of his traveling cloak. He peels off his smelly damp traveling clothes and slips into soft black goat skin trousers. He puts on a fine blue linen drop sleeve shirt that is open at the throat and belts it around his waste with a wide blue sash. On a gold chain around his neck hangs a ring of some kind of light weight metal. Inside the ring are three bars. One of the bars bisects the ring while the other two bars start at the middle of the first bar and join the ring at an angle. It looks more or less like a chicken foot in a circle.

The meaning of the symbol is lost to a ancient history but such medallions show up at street fairs and village marketplaces some times. Young nobles are fascinated by them and will pay a good price for one when they can find them. The medallions have become a kind of secret identification badge between young nobles throughout the country.
He puts on a tall pair of soft moccasins with a sheath on the inside of each. In each sheath he inserts a long sharp balanced blade that is as good for throwing as it is for slicing and dicing in a bar room brawl. Under the sash, he hides a small two barreled pistol.
The cap lock Derringer is a very rare piece. Unlike most of the firearms of the time, this one is newly manufactured by a genius gunsmith in Jack’s fathers employ. The caps for the ignition are almost imposable to find any where outside of his home and if they were to get wet they would be useless. Fortunately, Jack brought with him, a supply of caps in small waxed tins. He also had flints, powder and ball for both the big flint lock pistol and the tiny Derringer.
Jack stands up and shakes each leg so that his trouser cuffs slide down over the high moccasins, hiding the knives.
He pats the Derringer at his side and running his fingers through his long hair he opens the door and steps into the gloom of the hall. He turns around and using the large rusty key that Grenzelat had given him, he locks the door and slips the key into his sash.
Feeling along the wall, Jack makes his way to the ladder and climbs down without difficulty. Soon he is standing in the doorway to the main room of the inn. After the dark of his room and the hallway, his eyes are dazzled by the light of the many candles that have been lit on the tables and fresh torches that have been added along the walls.
There are many more people in the inn now.
Several of the tables are occupied with diners. At others, one or two people sit in quiet conversation drinking and enjoying pipes.
Grenzelat is circulating around the room serving beer or wine and delivering orders of food.
Jack looks about, searching for a place out of the way to eat in obscurity.
His eyes meet with those of an old man with bright red hair, bushy red brows and fierce looking red beard. Before Jack can look away the old man beckons for Jack to join him.

11-30-11

2011-11-30T07:41:00.001-08:00

Yesterday, Patti and I went out to the sand dunes northeast of town to get some sand to spread between the rocks on our patio. I buried the waterline to the float valve for the pond and finished wiring the plugs in the shed.

I haven’t built the waterfall yet but here is a picture of the temporary one.

I found the volcanic rock last year. It has some pockets in it and a hole on the bottom of one end that is perfect for putting the hose through. This will be at the top of the waterfall.

Patti and I are going up to Lake Havasu City today. That is the closest place to “Q” that has enough stores so we might find what we need. We are looking for some feeder gold fish, water plants and other accessories for the pond and a clothes line for Patti.

11-29-11

2011-11-29T08:02:00.001-08:00

Yesterday I started wiring the shed for the Washing machine. I ran some direct burial 12-2 with ground from from the main to the shed. Today I will finish the job.

Around 3:00 a bunch of us went to the French quarter for a weenie roast.

we stayed until after dark.

It was a lot of fun and laughs.

11-28-11

2011-11-27T20:30:00.001-08:00

Patti and I went to Parker today to do some shopping at Wal-Mart.

Not to exciting, eh. Well ok, here is an other fairly long installment of

The Kings Cudgel.

The door to the inn crashes open and a blast of arctic cold swirls in through the opening bring with it a cyclone of snow that coalesces into the figure of a man covered from head to foot by a long white fir trimmed traveling cloak. Long fingers extend from the ends of the sleeves, the right hand holds a staff of light, strong, Cracle wood with the image of a Galoot’s head carved on top. The large fangs of the Galoot curving down to form a hand guard of sorts. The man raises his left hand to pull back the cowl of the cloak. The face is pale and thin with a long hawkish nose above thin lips stretched across a wide mouth. A heavy red beard covers much of the man’s face below the piercing blue eyes that now peer at the room from under great bushy red eyebrows. The man exhales a long plume of steam as he relaxes in the warmth of the inn. He shakes his shoulders and a small avalanche of snow slides from his cloak and piles on the floor around his feet. The man in white looks over the two Gorogorions and the girl picking herself up from the floor. Then he turns his attention to the fat inn keeper.
“Ha! Quintar you old reprobate! I see no one has burned the cudgel down around you yet! eh?” The man chortles in a dry reedy voice.

“It has been a while since I have been in these parts and I was very pleased to see the old place still standing.”

“Welcome, welcome, Tutorious Falis, It has been a long time indeed,” the inn keeper rumbles. “Where have you been these many years. I thought that the Usurper had captured and imprisoned you. Rumor had it that you were boiled in oil and then hanged and then drawn and quartered..”
Quintar looks aside to the girl. “Show this nice Gorogorion couple to room seven if you please Grenzelat.“
The girl curtsies and extending her hand in the direction of the doorway to the apartments. “This way please”, she says sweetly.

“Ah well” the man in white chuckles, The rumors of my demise Have been greatly exaggerated.
But now old friend, I need a room for the night and some of your famous Galitrop stew.
“I am afraid I will have to disappoint you mate.
The room I have but there will be no Galitrop stew this time of year. They have all migrated south and won’t be back until late spring.” Quintar growls.
“Alas“, sighs Tutorious. “All this long cold days travel I was sustained by the thought of a nice steaming bowl of The Cudgel’s famous Galitrop stew. Through the long cold leagues, breaking through waste high drifts of snow, crossing frozen rivers, I kept the vision of large fatty chunks of orange citrus flavored Galitrop meat floating in a thick purple gravy with those wonderful spicy red mushrooms that the Gorogorions cultivate in their forest fastness and those delicious sour, hairy, blue tubers and that strange bitter green slimy stuff, before me ” Tutorious gushes.
“And Now you tell me there will be no Galitrop stew to revive me after my toils.? I am undone” he moans.
“So now then, my deer innkeeper what meager sustenance do you offer a retched traveler on this cold and snowy night?” Tutorious queries.

Quintar squints his squinty eyes at Tutorious.
“Broiled Gore-rat or bloat sheep, Bugle toad stew, acorn mush, boiled tubers and redeye gravy with fresh red eyes.
Quintar intones.
“That’ll work” Tutorious replies with finality.
“You’ve grown a bit long winded in the years that have passed” Quintar observes.
“Oh yes,” Tutorious clears his throat and speaks in a low whisper. “Since my rescue from the dungeons at Dragon Roost Prison near the end of the great rebellion, I drifted for many years, cleaning stables, digging graves, doing any kind of work to stay alive. One day I found myself in the great citadel at Car-lump-dour. I had found service with a noble there. He was the bastard son of some beheaded noble I believe. I only know him as Mr. Whipet. As you know the citadel is in the center of the largest metropolis in the realm. Being a large city with thousands of people there is a need for news and communication, so this enterprising young fellow found an old partially destroyed hand operated printing press in a collapsed section of the
14

old city. He had the press and as much other related stuff that could be found, moved to an abandoned building down near the docks. He rehabilitated the press, figured out how to work the thing and after many false starts began printing of all things, a newspaper. Can you believe it? A Newspaper!” Tutorious shakes his head.
“The first ones were no more that just hand bills. Just one page printed on one side.” Eventually circulation increased to the point where Mr. Whipet could sell advertising. Soon, he had to train another printer and then a staff of writers and reporters. The paper had a circulation of thousands and growing in the city and beyond. He is building a newspaper empire in the north. Now he is having a paper mill built on the Codswallow River. Some people down stream are in an uproar but he is pushing ahead with the project despite them.” Tutorious takes a breath.
“At any rate,” he goes on, I gained employment with his household, in the kitchens to be exact. I’m a great dish washer, you know” he chuckles. “Oh yes, world class ha, ha!. Which reminds me, my old friend, what will it cost me for a nights rest in your delightful inn and some of your delectable food and refreshment, ” he looks at Quintar from under his heavy red eye brows.
“One night and two meals will be one silver chip. Cash!” the innkeeper replies flatly.
“Yes, I see. A-hmm, that will be just fine“ Tutorious murmurs disappointedly and produces a small pouch from somewhere inside the sleeves of his cloak. He shakes it and it tinkles with the sound of a very few coins. Tutorious dumps the contents into his palm, pushes the bits of metal around with his finger tip, comes up with a silver chip and drops it on the bar. He returns the remaining coins to the pouch and with a flick of his hand that could not be seen, the pouch disappears back into the recesses of the sleeve.

“As I was saying” Tutorious continues his story “I was working in the kitchen and eating the meals prepared therein. They were very good meals as this young man had the good fortune to hire as his cook, a girl from Entergoria and everyone knows that Entergorian woman are the best cooks in the realm if not the entire world.” He stops and looks at Quintar for a moment.

“By grumpin! Your wife is an Entergorian if I am not mistaken,” he cries. “By the way, where is that spirited beauty of yours? I have been here for several minutes now and she has not shown her pretty face or so much as yelled at anyone. Where is the woman? Is she ill?” he asks.
“No“, Quintar’s growl is low and full of pain. “No, she passed on in child birth many years ago” he manages with only a slight quaver in his voice. He starts to say more but the words caught in his throat.
“I am truly sorry for your loss my old friend. Grenzelia was a prize, truly a prize” Tutorious says softly.
“And what of the child?” he asks.
“Oh, she survived and thrives today“ the innkeeper says flatly. She is the young girl that was here when you appeared in our foyer.”
“Ah yes the young beauty. I should have known. She has the look of her mother. You should be proud to be the father of such a lovely and well mannered daughter” Tutorious complements Quintar.
“Pretty, yes. Well mannered? Ha!” She is a lazy retch! and will no doubt end up badly.
“Wasn’t there another girl?” Tutorious asks. “She was about knee high the last time I saw her and cute as a button, as I remember”.
“Yes that would be my Blossom” Quintar replies proudly. “She is over at the fire preparing the evening meal. She inherited her mothers knack with food but sadly she got stuck with my looks”.
“Hmmm, yes, alas,” Tutorious mumbles.

“Well, as I was saying” Tutorious picked up his story again. I was sitting in the kitchen of my masters house expounding to the cook in my most eloquent terms on the epicurean delights that emanate from her humble refectory. I was over heard by the master of the house and was asked to join him in his study. Uncertain as to what I may have done to raise the ire of my employer, I sheepishly followed him up the long stairs from the kitchens to the main body of the house. Little did I know at the time that I was never to work in that kitchen again.”

Mr. Whipet led me to a set of double doors. He pushed open the right hand door, entered and strode across the room to a large polished desk behind which he sat and folded his hands in front of him on its top.
“You have a way with words”, he said. “Do you know your letters then?”
Yes sir, I was educated at the University of Coldpalace where I earned several degrees including; a MA in literature and philosophy, a BS in alchemy, a PHD in astrophysics, a certificate in carpentry and dry wall and a WTF in divination.
“A WTF?” Whipet asked. What kind of a degree is that?
“Obviously you have never taken divination” I replied.
“In short, yes, I know how to read and write,” I continued.
“So then”, he said pulling on his right earlobe, “I take it you have had some training in creative writing?
Of course!”, I replied.

“Well my friend,” Tutorious slapps the bar, “right then and there he offers me a job as a freelance restaurant critic and food writer. Yes sir, I even have my own byline; I am known as Tooty the Foody.”
“We took a little poetic license with my name, you see” Tutorious winks conspiratorially at Quintar.
Quintar clears his throat and shakes his head.
“How the mighty have fallen,” he mumbles to himself.
“Now then, you’ll be needing a room”, the innkeeper announces. “Do you have any preference for an upper or a lower?” he asks.
“The years I spent chained to the damp walls of The Dragons Roost and the years of hard labor after that has left my muscles and bones too feeble to willingly climb ladders, so a lower if you please, kind sir.”
“Right, then! I’ll put you in number eight, next to that nice Gorogorion couple” Quintar tells him.
“Oh, I hope they don’t squeal all night” Tooty whines.
“No problem there my friend, they only rut in the spring, Tee, hee, hee, Quintar laughes.
Grenzelat? Grenzelat!! The innkeeper yells. “Where is that girl?!!”
Tutorious looks at the fat man with an expression of shock on his face.
“Grenzelat? You named her that?” Touorious Falis asks Quintar.

“Why, ah, yes, actually, I did,” Quintar admits sheepishly.
“Does she know what it means?” Tutorious asks in a low whisper.
Of course not, Quintar replies. “She will never know. No one knows the old tongue now a days. There are only a few of us left that were taught in the academy before the rebellion. You, me, maybe a few others, most of us died in the wars that followed or in prisons like The Dragons Roost.”
Just then the girl Grenzelat appears in the doorway to the back rooms.
“There you are, wench. What mischief have you been up to now.?
“Why father, I was just helping the Gorogorions get settled in.” Grenzelat replies sweetly.
“Oh, very well,” Quintar grumbles.
“This Gentleman is an old friend of mine. Show him to number eight and see that he has whatever he needs. Then get back to the cooking hearth and help your sister” he orders.
“The night coach is due in at anytime and there will be at least six hungry customers on board her.” And you stay away from that fellow, Jack,” he adds as an after thought.
“Did you say Jack?” Tutorious asks as he turns to look at the innkeeper.
“Why, yes, yes I did,” the fat man admits squinting at Tutorious. “Do you know him?
“Well no, not exactly, I only know of him. But if what I know about him is true you have no worries about your daughters virtue.” Tutorious assures him.
“My daughters virtue? Quintar laughs. “It’s the young mans virtue that concerns me with these wenches of mine around. Tee, hee, hee Quintar laughs again.
“So he doesn’t like girls eh?”
“Hear that Gren? he don’t like girls so just leave him alone and get back to your chores.”
“Not exactly Quin. I may enlighten you later but your daughter is safe or more to the point, Jack is safe for now.” The man in white bows deeply and follows the girl. The sound of his staff thudding against the floor with every other step as they disappear down the dark hallway.
“Windy old fool ” Quintar mumbles to no one in particular. Then he smiles to himself recalling ancient adventures with the quirky old scholar. Maybe wizard is a more fitting term.
“I wonder who this Jack person really is” he muses.

11-27-11

2011-11-27T09:18:00.001-08:00

Becky, Dennis, Missy, Junior, Patti and I took a ride to check out the Apache Chief Mine to see if the BLM had blown it up. The ride over to the Apache Chief Mine is a fun one. We went south of town, turned left at the first BLM long term visitors camping area and drove to the drippings trail.

This is always an interesting trail.

We climbed the waterfalls

Eventually we got out of the wash

and headed for the Apache Chief. I always have a hard time finding the mine from the Dripping Springs side but eventually we arrived there and found that the BLM had not blown the mine as we had been told but was in fact, being worked.

We took the easy way home and got home around 4:00.

JoAnne and Dave arrived at the Park while we were on the ride. They have a brand new Jeep. Very Nice!

11-26-11

2011-11-26T07:35:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we worked around the place Patti pulled weeds and I trimmed the Paloverdi trees that hang over the pond. we got the solar lights set.

Our Bogenvilla Looks much better this year.

Today we are going for a ride.

I was talking to Junior and he mentioned that someone had told him that the BLM had blown up the apache chief mine so we are going out there to see if that is true. I think we will take the dripping springs trail so maybe we will have some good pictures.

The apache chief is one of the more fun mines to explore. It has some side tunnels and it goes through the mountain and comes out the other side.

11-25-11

2011-11-25T06:48:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was Thanksgiving and all the restaurant in Quartzsite were closed so we went with Debby, Mike, Becky and Dennis to the Blue Water Casino and had a very nice turkey dinner at the buffet.

The women gambled for about an hour after dinner but I don’t think any of them won. I know that Patti didn’t.

11-24-11

2011-11-24T07:38:00.001-08:00

It was just like old times. Suzanne and Roy came by after we had gotten set up and said that they were going to Silly Al’s and would we like to join them. Of course we went with them Debby and Mike.

Its good to be back among our friends in Quartzsite.

The hydraulic levelers stopped working when we tried to level Plan “B”. I think it might be a blown fuse. I’ll have to check it out. Fortunately the lot is pretty level so it isn’t to important here.

11-23-11

2011-11-23T13:04:00.001-08:00

Left Avi Casino at 8:30 and arrived in Quartzsite at Noon.

WE ARE HOME!

Here is some more from The Kings Cudgel. This one is a little long.

“Grenzelat! Grenzelat!! A loud voice bellows from below. Where the devil is that poxie wench. GRENZELAT!!!” The walls shake from the proprietors voice.
“I better go” she whispers. Before she slips under Jacks arm and out the door she pauses to light the candle on the nightstand with her torch.

In the gloom of the candle the room is small, about seven feet by seven feet. A wooden cot with a lumpy, straw filled tick takes up one whole side of the room.. There is a rough wool blanket folded at the foot and a dirty straw filled pillow at the head. Under the small shuttered window in the wall at the head of the bunk is a crudely made nightstand atop which the half used tallow candle sputters in a shell dish. There is no other furniture in the room not even a hook to hand a cloak from.

Grenzelat!!!
“I’m coming father,” the girl replies meekly as she slides down the ladder.
“Where have you been, Wench?” Quintar yells as the girl slips by him ducking a swing from his right hand.
“We have more customers down here” he growls. “There’s no time for you to play games with that young northerner. Now, get in there and help out”. As he says this he puts his foot against her rump and propels her through the doorway.
She falls sprawling on the floor at the feet of two Gorogorions.

Gorogorions, how do I explain about Gorogorions?
The largest of this pair, a prime specimen of the breed, stands about three feet tall, with a barrel chest and thick stubby warted legs. His head is large and warty with tufts of greenish hair sticking out of each wart. The face is vaguely elephantine with short tusks protruding from the upper jaw, and a prehensile nose, small mouth with many sharp teeth and large independently rotating dark eyes on short stalks that stick out of each side of the head at the temple. The other was a female and as such, almost indistinguishable (by humans) from the male, except that they are a little smaller than the male. The females voice is deeper, their skin is a little lighter shade of gray, and they have a thin line of stiff red hairs running along the edge of their mule like ears whereas, the males ear hairs are gray.

No one really knows where Gorogorions came from and where they fit in the evolution of the planet. Of course there are many odd creatures roaming this world that some how don’t quite fit in.
I guess the best way to start is to go way back to the ancient history of what is now known as simply “The Realm.”
The oldest histories of the world, which were carved into wooden or clay tablets, refer to a great calamity or disaster occurring way back in the mists of time.
It has been learned by scholars in “modern“ times, that for centuries before the end of the original civilization there had been, famine, plague, political upheavals and wars for dwindling resources.
Eventually the endless wars exhausted the very resources that they were fighting over.
With no more oil to sell and few other resources the oil producing nations had eventually been taken over and consolidated politically by a radical religious sect bent on the cleansing of the world to prepare for the return of their deity. Feeling that they had nothing to loose and everlasting life to gain they unleashed a weapon of incredible destruction on an ancient rival.
In retaliation the allies of the attacked nation attacked the aggressors with a similar weapon. Allies of the aggressors upholding old treaties attacked that nation. The attacks and counterattacks eventually lead to a final crescendo of madness which unleashed all the arsenals on the planet in a final orgasum of nuclear, biological, chemical, and genetic destruction.
Some lucky few managed to escape the destruction of the final days by taking refuge in deep man made caves that had been provisioned for the occasion. For generations they hid like rodents in a hole. When they finally emerged, the world that they found was far different from the world that their great grandfathers had escaped . Of the other creatures that were left to crawl back from the brink of extinction, many of the species had changed completely due to the effects of radiation and the chemical, bio and genetic weapons. Other species appeared that didn’t really fit on any previous evolutionary tree. Many familiar animals like cattle, pigs, deer, geese, and many others disappeared altogether.
10

It was almost as if a great wind had stripped the branches from the tree of evolution and a bunch of suckers grew out of the stubs.

The Gorogorions are one of those strange anomalies.
They were first discovered by hunters in the ancient Gorogor Forest, that forms the eastern border of the Realm and runs unbroken for a thousand miles from the southern dessert to the foot of the ice fields of North Morovanda. On its east side it climbs the High Barrier Mountains to the timberline. No one knows how deep the forest actually is or how many or what kind of creatures live secluded in its gloomy depths.
Legends, old wives tales and superstition keep the denizens of the forest secure in their dark world.
Occasionally some intrepid and brave hunters will penetrate the forest in pursuit of some game or other. This was indeed the case for two such men, whose names are lost to time. Following the blood trail of a large gore-rat, they entered the forest and after several hours became hopelessly lost. Eventually they stumbled upon a nest of what we now call “Gorogorions”. The creatures were busily preparing the lost Gore Rat for eating when the two hunters burst upon them in a mood to do mayhem in order to wrest the rat from these strange bug eyed creatures.
When the Gorogorions detected the intruders they bowed their heads extended their mule like ears and began to hum.
Immediately the hunters relaxed, forgot their aggression and set down their weapons.
The Gorogorions, with a few gestures set the men even more at ease and invited them dine on broiled gore rat, truffles, and tubers. The hunters were happy to comply and spent several weeks living with the Gorogorions. Learning their simple language and teaching the Gorogorions to speak “Standard”, the language of the realm.
That was several hundred years ago and now, Gorogorions are a common sight and are known now as extraordinary mushroom and truffle cultivators and traders. Most importantly, with their extraordinary psychic talent for defusing stressful situations they are welcome guests anywhere.
The Monarchs of all the kingdoms have in their entourage several of the small mild mannered creatures.
Since the discovery of Gorogorions and their incorporation in the world, major wars between kingdoms have virtually stopped. In parliaments,
11

congresses, assemblies and throne rooms real work is even occasionally accomplished without rancor. It became quite fashionable for the homes of the nobility to have at least one Gorogorions in residence. Often the small grey creatures become a beloved member of the family.
Now, don’t misunderstand me, this is not a form of slavery.
The Gorigonions are invited to join a household and stay as long as they like. They are not required to do any work, although the Gorogorions are very helpful creatures at heart and delight in being productive.
Most Gorogorions are able to communicate with humans in ‘standard’. The problems occur with the inability of humans to understand Gorogrions speech. Their long prehensile nose and small toothy lower jaw make it almost impossible for them to clearly enunciate the round vowels of human standard so they speak a sort of shorthand which is made of mostly consonants.
Although Gorogorions form life long partnerships with members of the opposite sex, they have a mating season like other “lesser” animals. In the fall the males and females both experience hormonal changes which for a time severs the bond between couples. The individuals separate and mate wildly with any Gorigorions of the opposite sex that they come in contact with. Once the mating season is over the couples reform like nothing has happened and raise any offspring that are born in the spring. Unfortunately their mating frenzy seldom results in many pregnancies so the Gorogorion population stays consistently small.
I am sure that I have missed some of the other Gorogorion traits but we will no doubt discover those together.
The only article of clothing that Gorogorions wear in all weather is a kind of loin cloth made of fake “Spiny Dracon hide.“ Legend has it that the first Gorogorion captured a Spiny Dracon and trained it to let him ride; then to show the world how tough the Gorogorions are he mounted the Spiny Dracon and rode it through the world.
If you ever saw a Spiny Dracon you would know that the legend is a lie.
The Spiny Dracon is an animal about the size of a yearling calf with a wide swath of sharp spines running down its back to the tip of its flat spiked tail. The head on the Dracon is long and narrow with a large mouth filled with a double row of serrated teeth. The hide across the shoulders and along the flanks of the creature is tough and thick and covered with thick sharp spines. The hide will resist penetration by the sharpest hunting spear. Even
12

Now-a days even men with flint locks give these animals a wide berth on the rare occasion that they are encountered.
Anyway, the Gorogorions continue the tradition with the wearing of the symbolic Dracon skin loin cloth. It isn’t really Dracon skin but the hide of a porcupine with the spikes pulled out. But at least they wear something, because believe me, no one wants to see a Gorogorion’s genitalia.

11-23-11

2011-11-23T06:58:00.001-08:00

We got a late start from Lost hills. We had to wait until the fog thinned and didn’t get on the road until about 11:00. The ride to Avi Casino was uneventful. We arrived at about 7:00 and had a disappointing dinner at the Avi buffet. After supper, I went back to the RV while Patti tried her luck at the slots. She lost and was back at the RV after about an hour.

We will be leaving here about 9:00 to day and should be in Quartzsite by about Noon.

11-22-11

2011-11-22T07:26:00.001-08:00

We got a little bit of a late start yesterday. When I wired the plug for the tow lights on the Jeep I got the final plug wired backwards. It took me a little while to find the problem but eventually got it fixed. We got on the road about an hour late. The ride to Lost Hills was uneventful which is the way I like it. We spent a pleasant night at lost hills and will be leaving here when ever the fog lifts. I hope it is gone before 10:00 because I don’t really want to drive in the fog.

Next port, “Avi” casino near Needles.

11-21-11

2011-11-21T07:06:00.001-08:00

Look out Quartzsite here we come!

Yes, that’s right we are leaving SR today and will be in “Q” Wednesday afternoon.

11-20-11

2011-11-20T11:17:00.001-08:00

Okay its Sunday, one more day to go. It is raining right now but it is supposed to stop by tomorrow. We hope to be on the road by 10:00 tomorrow morning.

Here is another page of the Cudgel.

“Uh? What?” He stammers stupidly.
“Do you want a room up above or down here?” She asked with a slight giggle.
“Do the upper rooms have a window?” he asks not knowing what else to say.
“Some do” she replies “and bolts on the inside of the doors to” she adds coyly.
The girl precedes him a little farther down the hall, turns to the left and climbs a ladder that is set against the wall. At the top of the ladder she steps onto a catwalk that runs back the way they had come but about eight feet above. Along the catwalk are more doors to rooms.
“Which one would you like?” the girl croons. “You are our first guest tonight so you have your pick.”
“Is there any difference in the rooms?” Jack asks.
“Well“ the girl giggles, the second room from the far end has a large window, a big soft bed and is the room next to mine, she whispers running her index finger down his arm.
“Gosh” Jack stammers “that sounds, a, nice”.
“Damn!!” He thinks “what an idiot!!”
“Gosh that sounds nice”?
Crap!!
“She must think I’m a complete bumpkin.”
“Dose that mean you would like to take that room, young sir?” the girl teases.
Yes, yes that will do fine he says making his voice lower, trying desperately to sound cool and failing miserably.
“Hmm.” the girl muses. She turns and walks toward the opposite end of the catwalk. She stops at the second door from the end opens it and steps inside. Just inside the door she turns around so that Jack, who is following closely, runs right into her. He has to wrap his arms around her to keep them both from falling.
“Oooh, you do like me”, Grenzelat exhales.
Under her light clothing she feels warm and soft and pleasantly bumpy as he tries to extricate himself from what is becoming an embarrassing situation.
“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to, uh, please excuse me,” he stammers stepping back and regretfully removes his arms from around her firm young body.

11-19-11

2011-11-19T09:26:00.001-08:00

We are still in the process of getting ready to leave on Monday for Quartzsite.

Here is another page from the cudgel for you.

“I’m coming father” a lyrical voice comes from an archway in the wall to the left of the bar.
A young girl appears in the arch. She is tall and slender with long blond curls cascading down her back to her small waste. Her eyes are dark and flash with an inner fire. She smiles at Jack and his knees go weak. She has a wide mouth with ample red lips and even white teeth. Her smile causes dimples on either side of her mouth. She is wearing the standard off the shoulder white cotton blouse of girls of her station. She wears it a little lower than normal exhibiting the rise of her firm young breasts to great advantage. Her blue cotton skirt is full and reaches nearly to the floor. When she walks she exposes her small feet covered with light goat skin slippers.
“What do you want Father?” She asks sweetly, wiping her palms on a stained apron tied around her waist. “Show this young fellow to his room and no funny business now. Do you understand?”
“Yes father, as you say.” The girl replies, curtsies to Jack and indicating the doorway with a delicate hand “Right this way young Sir,” she croons and disappears through the doorway.
Jack follows in a trance.

The girl takes a torch down from its hole in a post and holding it ahead of her, beaconing Jack to follow, she starts down a dark hall. As Jack stumbles along in the gloomy shadows behind the girl, he wonders at this beauty he was following . Could she really be the daughter of the Kings Cudgel and sister to Blossom of all things? It seems unlikely.

“I wonder what her mother is like” he thinks. “Look at the mother and see the daughter was the old saw.”
Then another thought comes into his head “Who were those retched children turning the spits? “Were they Blossom’s or Grenzelat’s or even Quintar’s children.
Grenzelat’s melodic voice breaks into his thoughts. “Upper or lower? she asks.

11-17-11

2011-11-17T17:19:00.001-08:00

Yesterday we went to get some new shoes for me that would fit with the new brace. I ended up getting size 14 extra wide. We had to take the insole out of the left one, the one with the brace, and put three insoles in the right one.

I will have to go to Petaluma tomorrow to get some final adjustments made.

______________________________________________

Ok, here is another page of, The Kings Cudgel.

“You! You are the Kings Cudgel!” Jack blurts out without thinking.
“Yes, they called me that once,” Quintar replies wiping his hands on his filthy apron.
Hoping to change the subject he becomes very businesslike.
“Now then my lad, lodging’ll cost you 1 silver chip for the night. That’ll include two meals one evening and one morning” Quintar goes on. “A bath’ll be another copper, two if you want hot water and soap, three coppers if you want Blossom over there to scrub your back. He nods his head toward the fire by the end wall and some how actually winks a squinty eye at Jack.
Jack looks toward the fire and is caught looking by Blossom who smiles coyly, looks away and giggles.
“Just a room and the meals thank you” Jack mumbles.
“As you will. That will be one silver chip then” Quintar holds out his pudgy hand and Jack drops a small flat triangle of silver the size of a thumb nail into his palm.
Quintar inspects the coin then puts it between his teeth and bites down on it.
“Right, then,” he growls. “Foods not ready yet so I’ll have my other daughter show you to your room. “Grenzelat!!” he yells over his shoulder. After a moment with no response he grumbles, “Where is that worthless slattern! Grenzelat! Get your scabby bum out here!”

The kings Cudgel 4

2011-11-15T17:42:00.001-08:00

Quintar grins at Jack as if he has told a great joke and is trying not to laugh out loud.
“My business in Granite Ford is my own sir.” Jack retorts. “Do you have food and a place where a traveler can rest in safety for the night? If not I shall wish you a good day and move along” Jack says haughtily.

“And what would you do young sir, camp along the road? In this weather? Ha!!” the fat man barks a laughs. “There’s not another inn on the Kings Road until you get to the Boars Tooth at the Dweesle River ferry crossing. That’s a days travel on foot from here. This snow storm is getting worse and it’s almost dark, If you try to camp in the open in these parts your throat’ll be cut and your purse gone before you have a chance to roll into your blankets. If not that, then you would be a frozen slab of wolf chow by morning.”
The fat man laughs again, it is a high almost womanly laugh and his whole body jiggles so much that Jack thinks that he might fall over.

It is hard for Jack to believe that this is the dreaded Quintar Rogan. The man who, legend has it, almost single handedly defeated the usurper, Galidon the Dark; stopped the rebellion and saved the kingdom for old King, Grogan. Of course that was many years ago and the old king died only a year after the final battle for his kingdom.

His son, Ernest the Weak, ascended to the throne but was overthrown after a year in a bloodless coup by his cousin Ferdinand, The Horny, with support of the Generals and Ernest, himself (Ernest never wanted to be king in the first place).

Ferdinand was a disappointing ruler. His main interest being, bedding as many of the women of the court as he possibly could corner. His reign was cut short however when his Queen Isadora found him shagging her hand maiden in her tower bedroom. In a screaming fit she pushed the king out of a tower window.

The queen was named temporary regent by the Council of Nobles. As it turned out, they considered pushing Ole Ferdy from the window was a public service and deserved a reward. Regent Isadora ruled for ten years before succumbing to an unknown ailment and mysteriously passing away during the night. Queen Isadora, The Crude, (as she was known) had a son supposedly sired on her by King Ferdinand but that was never verified.
Even so, her son, Vernon of Newcastle, was invested as king without complaint from the people or the gentry. Vernon proved to be a capable king and was respected if not loved by his people. His reign, so far has been prosperous for some and not so for others, hence the robbers and cut throats that one can encounter on the Kings Highway….

“Oh no young sir” The fat man continues, bringing Jack back from his ruminations. “You have no place to go on to so you might as well relax and spend a safe night here with us at the Kings Cudgel.”
With a jolt Jack remembered where he had heard of the “Kings Cudgel”. It was the name given to the hero, Quintar Rogan.

11-14-11

2011-11-14T21:49:00.001-08:00

The other day as we were driving up the dirt road to the cabin, we hit a particularly bad stretch of washboard and I heard a loud “snap!” The left front mounting bolt for the rack broke. Fortunately the rack stayed together until we got to the cabin. I didn’t have any tools to fix the rack at the cabin but I did have some black vinyl tape, so I taped the rack together and it held until we got home.

Yesterday I took the rack off the jeep to make the repair. I had to cut the ends off both legs to keep everything even.

This is the end with the broken bolt. “duh”

I came across a couple of 3/8” x 1” grade 8 bolts in my bolt stash so I used them for replacements.

The 3/4” tubing inside the 1” tubing is the stub of my first attempt to make the mount. When I cut it off to attach the original bolt I found that the inner tubing was just what I needed for a spacer for the bolt head to fit tight.

I tacked the bolt in.

then filed it flat,

The next thing was to drill a 3/8” hole in a piece of 1/4’ flat stock and put it over the bolt and tighten it down with a nut.

Then I welded the 1/4” piece to the tubing

and grind it all down nice.

This morning I threw some paint on it and as soon as the paint dried I put the rack back on the jeep.

Today I went to see a guy that makes Prosthetics to get a brace for my left leg to help with my drop foot and hopefully help to relieve some of the pain I experience when I walk.

We’ll see.

The brace is supposed to be worn inside of a shoe. My right foot is already one size smaller than my left. To fit the brace, the left shoe will have to be at least another half size larger than the shoes that I wear now. That means that I will likely have to buy two pairs of shoes and will have one very large right shoe and a smaller left one left over. Any suggestions for what to do with a pair of shoes that are two different sizes? I have to go shoe shopping tomorrow, after we get the RV out of storage.

We have moved our departure date for Quartzsite to Monday the 21st.

Okay that‘s all for now.

11-13-11

2011-11-13T08:14:00.001-08:00

Patti and I went up to the cabin on Wednesday for one final time this season. We had a very pleasant time, The weather was good and we managed to finish cutting up all the trees that Bob and I worked on a couple of weeks ago.

We pulled the trees out of the creek and off the hill onto the road with the jeep. My new receiver rescue ”D” ring worked just perfect.

I sawed

and Patti cleared brush

and moved logs off the road.

We had a great time and came home Saturday afternoon.

Next week we will get Plan “B” out of storage and start loading it for the trip back to Quartzsite.

11-08-11

2011-11-08T22:20:00.001-08:00

Lately I have been on the horns of a dilemma so to speak.

I know that most of my readers would prefer a daily blog as opposed to my hit and miss style. Unfortunately a lot of the time in the summer especially, I am out of reach of technology and therefore I am not able to publish a daily blog. There isn’t a lot that I can do about that part.

Another thing is, as you may have noticed my life, like yours, isn’t a constant daily parade of fun and exciting events. There are a lot of days where I do nothing or just mundane daily chores that aren’t very interesting to me let alone any one else.

I have been trying to figure a way to fill in on the days when I have nothing interesting to report.

You probably have noticed if you have been following this blog for a while that among other things I am a frustrated writer of stories. I know that I‘m not very good at it but it is a compulsion with me. Often when I least expect it a scene or idea for a story will pop into my head. Most of the time I don’t do anything about it but on a rare occasion I will actually write the scene down.

I was sitting in the cabin the last time I was there, looking out the front window at the dining hall and thinking of cool names for the hall. I went through a long list.

Here are a few of them;

“The Boars Tooth”, “The stags head”, “The Drunken Patriot” (that one is not my idea it was the name of a tavern that was set up at a rendezvous we used to go to) and “The Kings Cudgel”. You may think that is an odd name for an inn and so did I but it triggered one of those mental scenes that I was telling you about. I was near my laptop and I had nothing else pressing to do so I quickly turned the computer on, brought up the word processer and started typing.

The original draft was just a quick study of the interior of the inn and an introduction to a couple of the characters. The battery on the laptop was running out so I couldn’t do more than that. When I got home, I started fleshing out the draft. Since then the story has been growing.

Then it hit me. This might be the filler that I have been looking for.

I don’t know where the story is going or what characters we might encounter along the way or if it will have a nice neat ending or just fade away but here is what I am proposing.

On days when I don’t have anything entertaining to relate, I will publish a page of whatever story I am currently writing on. That way you will have some thing to read with your morning coffee or dump or whatever.

I am going to publish a few of pages in this post. Just to give you some idea of what I’m talking about.

Read it and let me know if you would like me to continue.

There is a comment thing at the bottom of each blog, I don’t know how it works but I think if you can do face book it will work for you. Otherwise most of you have my email address so you can do that but please let me know if you are interested in me continuing to post the stories or not.

Okay, here goes, the first three pages of,

“The Kings Cudgel”

The Kings Cudgel

On a lonely stretch of the kings road a low building, squatting along the edge of the road looms out of the gloom of a bad winter storm. The snow of midwinter has piled up along the walls almost to the eves. The roof is covered with deep snow and long Ice-sickles hang from the eves reaching deep into the drifts. Smoke streams away in the wind from a large chimney at one end of the building. The snow has been cleared from the door and forms a short tunnel leading to the Inn. A sign on a tall pole in front of the Inn swings wildly back and forth in the wind. From the crossbar of the post hangs a large crudely made club shaped something like a short base ball bat with two metal bands wrapped around the business end. A sign with large painted black letters hanging below the club reads,
“The Kings Cudgel”

The “Kings Cudgel” ? “What a strange name for an inn“, Jack thinks as the cold winter wind swirls snow around him. He shrugs, pushes open the heavy door and steppes across the threshold into a long low room. The only illumination in the inn comes from the yellow flame of guttering torches set in holes bored into some of the gnarly tree trunks that are the supports for the low peaked roof
and a large fire place. Jack stops just inside the door shakes the snow off his traveling cloak and pulls back the cowl. His long dark hair hangs in curls to his shoulders. A halo of frost rings his strong face and melting ice cycles drip from the tips of his mustache, goatee and the cuffs and hem of his cloak. He waits a moment before continuing further into the room absorbing the heat from the large fire place about thirty feet away which covers one whole end of the room to his left. Three fires burn in the hearth, a couple of braziers are set to one side with kettles on them. Steam rises from the kettles and smoke rises from the fires as a small pig and a lamb drip fat onto the coals while being turned on spits by a small boy and girl dressed in tattered, dirty, greasy rags.
Stirring a large kettle with a wooden paddle over the third fire is a very large girl with fat cheeks and squinty eyes. Her straggly greasy hair is damp with sweat and sticks to the sides of her face. Her ample bosom sways under the damp, stained, cotton, of her off the shoulder blouse as she stirs the contents of the pot. Her skirt is of rough sacking that is tattered along the hem and is darkly stained with who knows what. Her feet are large flat, thorny and unwashed.
“I’ll have to remember not to drink the house wine,“ Jack thinks absently”. The girl catches him looking and winks at him. Embarrassed, Jack turns away.

To his right several low rough tables are set against the wall with equally rough hewn benches. On each of the tables, are the large flat shells of some sort of mollusk with several unlit candle stubs set on them.
There are other tables randomly set about the room, with stools, stumps and small benches placed around each.
Jack notices the bar across from him. It is no more than two split planks laid across a couple of tree trunks and leveled with rocks. Behind the bar is a very fat man that Jack supposes is the proprietor.

He swings the small pack off his back knocks the snow off it and makes his way to the bar. The roof beams are so low that Jack, a tall man, has to duck to keep from bashing his head as he crosses the room.
Behind the bar, the fat man with a very large head and a very receding hairline, watches jack through slit eyes as jack approaches. What is left of the man’s hair is tied back in a cue that sticks straight out from the back of his head for couple of inches and then blooms into a little tuft. The man had full jowls that waggled when he moves his head and a little rosebud mouth that looks out of place on the other wise hard face. His almond shaped eyes are tiny slits in his cheeks on ether side of a wide flat nose.
Behind the fat man, on a rough shelf are several brown misshapen hand thrown jugs. On each end of the shelf is a wooden keg with a tap stuck in the bung. On a high short shelf are two, what appear to be actual glass bottles. The bottles are covered with a thick layer of dust but they are clean enough to see the level of the amber liquid they contain. Glass bottles are a very rare thing these days and very precious. If the liquid inside is actual commercial “Whiskey” they are even more precious. Jack was puzzled that the bottles were being displayed in such an open fashion.
The fat man spoke and Jack had to control the impulse to jump back and draw a weapon.
The mans voice seamed to come from every where. It was deep and rumbling like boulders rolling down a mountain. The voice was felt as much as heard.
“You seam to have an interest in my back bar” The fat man rumbled and if possible squinted his eyes even more as he peered at Jack.
“I am relatively well traveled at least in the north and I have only seen two other glass bottles in my life.” Jack exclaimed. “They belonged to the Earl of Stone Bridge and were kept in a safe box. They were only brought out on special occasions. The liquor in bottles had long since been consumed but the bottles were venerated as if they were some sort of religious relic. Aren’t you afraid some one will steal yours?“
“Ha-ha. No one would have the balls to steal from Quintar Rogan! The hero of the battle of Black’s Ford. Sacker of the white city of Contenell and General of old King Grogan’s Black Guard. Have no fear bucko, woe unto he who tries.”
“I take it that you are this Quintar Rogan person of witch you speak? Jack asks sheepishly.
“Yes, that I am. And who might you be my curious young sprout?
“I am called Jack.
“Jack? Jack! The proprietor ruminated a moment. “Jack, An odd name, I don’t believe I have ever heard that name in these parts before. Do you have a second name, you know like a last name? Like maybe your fathers name?” Quintar asks.
“Well, no, actually, my father’s name was also, Jack. In fact my grand father and his father and all their fathers before them were named simply “Jack”.
“This is very odd indeed. How do people where you live tell you and your father apart?” Quintar asks, rubbing his chin.
“Well that’s simple” Jack replies. “We look different”
“No, no, no, I mean when they are talking about you and your dad, how do they differentiate between the two of you.” Quintar urges.
“Oh yes, I see now what you mean,” Jack replies. “They just call my dad old Jack and me they call young Jack.
Now, what about your grand-dad, is he still alive? Quintar asks.
“Oh yes indeed he is sir very much so“ Jack replies enthusiastically with a shake of his head and a small chuckle.
So, now, when people want to differentiate between your grand-dad and the rest of the Jacks, what do they call him. Quintar realized as soon as he asked the question what the answer was and he spoke in unison with Jack.
“Grandpa Jack”!
“Oh!” The fat man mumbles as he slaps both hands to the sides of his face and sighs deeply.
“What brings you south then young Jack?” Quintar asks resignedly shaking his head. “And how may we help you” he adds.
I am on my way to “Granite Ford”.
“I seek food and a nights shelter.” Jack replied.
“Granite Ford eh!” growled the fat man. “Off to see the king then, eh ?”

Okay, that’s the first three Pages of The kings Cudgel. Let me know if you want me to continue.

Patti and I are going up to the cabin for one final time this week. We are leaving in the morning tomorrow and won’t be home until Saturday unless we run out of firewood before then. Who knows maybe we will have a bear sighting.

11-07-11

2011-11-07T18:52:00.001-08:00

The last couple of days have been a bit slow.

Saturday we went to a birthday party for our friend, Peter. It was fun and we got to visit with a lot of folks that we don’t see very often.

Matt and Elisa went up to the camp for the weekend to take down their tent and stay in the cabin.

I got a call from Elisa last evening saying that they saw a two to three hundred pound Black bear walking through the camp. Matt fired a shot and scared it off. I hope it doesn’t decide to get into the cabin.

I have appointments today and tomorrow but on Wednesday Patti and I are going to the cabin for the last time this season. We are planning to come home Friday or Saturday depending on how long our firewood supply lasts.

Talk to you later

11-04-11

2011-11-04T18:59:00.001-07:00

It has been a while since I cleaned up my shop so after the destruction and kayos caused by the last several projects, I figured it was time. I spent most of yesterday cleaning, putting and throwing things away. The shop is still small and crammed with tools and parts, but I always feel better when it gets cleaned up. Kind of like taking a good dump.

Of course, the first thing this morning I was out there welding and grinding and generally making a mess again.

If you’ll recall, when I took the new bird thrower up to the cabin to try it out I mentioned that there were a few adjustments that had to be made.

One of the things that needed attention was the part where the front legs slide onto the short feet of the cross bar. These are the factory feet and are nothing more than angle iron that was notched and bent at 90 degrees. Originally I just slid the legs onto the feet, drilled a hole through both parts, put a bolt through the hole with large flat washer on each side and tightened up the nut. I thought that would be sufficient but in field I noticed that the bolt didn’t tighten fully because there was nothing to back up the thin wall of the square tubing that I was using for the leg. To remedy the problem I welded (after doing some creative metal carving) a piece of 1” square tubing to each foot.

Now there will be something for the bolt to tighten on.

The next project was a little more involved and consequently a bit more fun.

While we were testing the thrower the height adjustment locking wing nut kept getting loose. I decided to make something that can be tightened sufficiently to hold the setting even with my arthritic old hands.

The first thing I did was take a piece of 1” steel rod and cut off a 1” piece. This will be the nut. Next I put it in the lathe and faced off both ends to make it flat and even.

Then I drilled a pilot hole in on end.

After that I used progressively larger drills until I had a 5/16” hole all the way through the nut.

Now it is time to tap the hole for a 3/8 x16 bolt. Drilling and tapping something like this that is kind of long you almost need a lathe or a mill to get a strait hole and the tap started straight. If it isn’t straight it won’t make it all the way through the hole before it gouges into the side and jams. I put the tap in the drill chuck in the tail stock of the lathe and got it started by turning the lathe head stock back and forth by hand until the tap was in the nut about 1/4”

then I locked the headstock, put a tap handle on the tap and continued turning the tap back and forth advancing a little more each time until after a long time I had a 3/8” tapped hole through the entire 1” nut.

The next thing to do was to make the “wings” on the nut. I decided to go with spindles instead of wings. I cut two 1 1/2” pieces of 1/2” hot rolled rod, prettied them up a little on the lathe

and welded them to the nut.

That aught to work!!

In the midst of all this productive work Patti and I took the Jeep and her car to get them smogged. They both passed so now we are that much closer to leaving for Arizona. If everything goes according to plan we should be leaving here on the 18th or 19th of November.

11-02-11

2011-11-02T18:40:00.001-07:00

Sunday 10-30

I have been trying to figure out what to do with the axe and shovel that I carry in the jeep. They are always in the way.

After looking at all the possibilities, I decided that the best place for them is on the inside of the back door.

I cut up some of those flat rubber bungee's,

modified a couple of tie down hooks, screwed them to the door

and strapped the shovel and axe down.

It looks like it will work just fine.

Monday, 10-31;

I have been wanting to put a receiver hitch on my jeep for a while now but the add on ones that I see in the jeep catalogues look kind of wimpy and the ones that come with a bumper attached are kind of pricey, so I felt that the best way to get a good bumper with a receiver at reasonable price was to build it myself.

The plan is to base the whole thing on a piece of 2” X 3” X 56” thick wall rectangular steel tubing for the bumper. I’m not sure how the receiver is going to be attached or what I am going to use for the hitch but the bumper is the starting place.

I went to the local salvage yard to see if they had what I needed but I was disappointed. I only needed a piece 56” long. The salvage place had only 20’ lengths and a minimum sale of 10’. I didn’t have my saw with me and I didn’t really want to buy 10 ft piece any way. I left the salvage place and went to our local retail metal dealer. I new that the cost would be high but I figured that it wouldn’t be as much as a 10 ft piece at the salvage yard. That 56 inch piece of tubing was just under $60. Maybe I should have gone home and got my saw after all.

The first thing that had to be done was to remove the bumperetts from the back of the jeep.

Then the bumper tube had to be lined up to mark the holes.

I took a break for lunch and while I was at it I decided to go over to Harbor Freight to see what they had in the way of hitch stuff. I got lucky and found just the thing that was needed for the receiver. It is called of all things a “Standard receiver tube”. Now how about them oranges. One end of the tube has the receiver socket (the female end) which will be welded to the bumper. The other end is the male end and will be used to make a “D” ring rescue hitch. The best part is it only cost me $17.

After lunch I clamped the bumper to the frame to get the holes marked. Then clamped the bumper in my drill press and started drilling.

Once the holes were done I cut the section of the receiver tube that is to be welded to the bumper. I set it in place to see what it will look like.

As well as welding the tube to the bumper I will weld a flat triangular plate under the receiver and to the bumper to strengthen the whole thing.

That’s as far as I went with the project today.

Tuesday, 11-01

This morning I welded the receiver and plate to the bumper

Then I went in search of 7/16” X 3” grade 8 bolts. I ended up going to 3 stores to get 8 bolts. While I was out I bought a socket and plug for the tow lights.

The next job was to make a 1” hole in the bumper for the tow light socket.

The next thing was to drill and tap a couple of holes for the screws that hold the socket.

Next I welded on and ground down the end caps.

The last thing I did on the project today was to put a bracket on the bumper to mount the CB antenna. I put the bumper on temporarily to line things up.

The antenna is going to be on the right end of the bumper and will go up through the rear door open stop. It is a tight fit. I eyeballed everything and thought I had this made. I removed the bumper and welded the bracket in place;

then put the bumper back on and attempted to hook up the antenna. Oops! The bracket is off by about 1/4 inch so the antenna won’t clear the sides of the door stop. Okay, so I guess my first job tomorrow will be to grind the bracket off of the bumper and try again.

My youngest daughter, Felice came by for a visit this evening.

Unfortunately her Cancer has returned. She is undergoing bio-chemo therapy at Kaiser in Riverside, CA.

Wednesday, 11-02

The first thing I did on the bumper project this morning, was to remove and reposition the CB antenna bracket. It turned out that the best place for the bracket was turned 90 degrees on the end of the bumper.

While looking the whole thing over I noticed that I didn’t provide for safety chains. I really didn’t plan to tow anything on the highway with this rig but I guess it better have some kind of safety chain connection, so I welded a 1/2” rod on each side of the receiver.

Next comes the paint job. I set up three jack stands and put the bumper across them. I primed it and painted it with some “epoxy” appliance paint.

While the paint was drying I started making the rescue “D” ring mount. First I cut 2” off of a piece of 1” X 1-1/2” steel scrap. The next was to drill a 7/8” hole in the block,

then cut a piece of 1/4” X 2” steel to fit the end of the receiver tube,

then weld it up and paint it.

After the paint dried I mounted the bumper and connected the CB antenna.

The last thing I did was to wire the plug for the tow lights.

Here is the finished product.

Now I am ready go to drag trees out of the woods.

I probably should have published this project as a daily post. Maybe next time I have a project that lasts this long I’ll do that.

Well It looks like Harvey is benched for the season. I hope he learns something from this experience.

10-30-11

2011-10-30T10:17:00.001-07:00

Saturday;10-23

Sonny got to my place around 9:00 Saturday morning. We loaded up and headed for IC. Got to the cabin around 11:00. I got my stuff out of his rig and moved in. We loaded Sonny’s gear into his SUV. I decided that it was still to damp to take down the wedge tent so I put that off until later in the week. The weather is supposed to be warm and dry this week. We’ll See!

Just about the time Sonny was fix’n to leave, Joanne and Dave showed up. They came up to take their camp down also but weren’t leaving until late Sunday afternoon. We visited for a while until Sonny left then Joanne and Dave got settled in.

The rest of the day we just puttered with individual projects. I personally did little, which is what I had planned for this week.

Sunday; 10-24

After breakfast, Joanne and Dave began in earnest to dismantle their camp. About the time they had all the interior cleared out, I climbed onto the roof of the cabin and swept all the redwood droppings off. The roof has a very low pitch and will likely have to be swept periodically.

When we got to a point where we could take a break from the projects, I suggested that we take the new bird thrower down the the “old home site” and see if it will hold together through a clay shooting session. We all climbed into pigpen with guns, ammunition, Joanne had the camera we were all set. When we got to the shooting area I realized that we had forgotten the birds. I let Joanne and Dave out and went back to the cabin and got the birds. After I got back it only took about ten minutes to assemble the rig. If I put wing nuts on the seat connection it will assemble much faster.

The thrower performed well. There are a few adjustments that need to be made but it gave no indication of failing after about 50 rounds.

When we returned from testing the thrower, Joanne and Dave continued to take apart their camp.

They left around 4:30.

I sat back and used what sunlight was left to read.

Ahhh! the Good Life!

Monday; 10-25

Got up around 8:00. It was cold in the cabin. I threw a couple pieces of wood in the stove and headed for the loo. By the time I got back the wood had caught so I added a couple of larger peaces. I lingered over breakfast, which is to say I had a second cup of cocoa and sat in front of the open door of the wood stove enjoying the radiant heat from the fire. Around 10:30 I decided that I would start taking down the wedge tent that Sonny had used. That is today’s project and I have all day to accomplish it.

It took all day to deal with the tent. The sod cloths (bottom edge of the tent) were soaking wet so I had to let them dry before folding it up. I propped the edges up off the ground and waited. By about 4:00 I decided that things weren’t drying fast enough and the moisture in the air was going up so I took the tent into the dining hall and laid it out on the tables. I left it there until Wednesday when it was finally dry enough the fold up.

Tuesday: 10-26

Pretty much goofed off all day.

I did take a walk up the road past the old crapper to the crossing that Bob has been working on. It still needs some work.

Wednesday; 10-27

Another cold morning.

I sat around the cabin in front of the fire enjoying a second and third cup of cocoa until around 10:00.

Later I grabbed the loppers and took a walk up the road to the mill flat to do some brush cutting along the road. Joanne and Dave have been doing road maintenance during the winter and there wasn’t much for me to cut. Good job guys!!

Bob showed up Around 5:30. He was intending to get here earlier but had trouble with his car. He ended up bringing his van. Which is basically a copy of Pigpen.

Over 20 years ago, Bob helped me build my van, Pigpen. After taking a few trips in it he decided that he needed to build one for himself. I call it “Pigpen 2”.

Thursday;

Bob and I were sitting around the cabin deciding what to do today. I mentioned a clump of oak trees up the hill not far from the cabin that I would like to convert into firewood. We decided to take care of them so I filled the chain saw with fuel and we headed up the hill to the oaks.

Bob cut them down

and I cut them up

while Bob went up to do some more work on the crossing.

That should give me enough firewood for next season.

Friday;

Spent most of the morning loading the van for the trip back to Santa Rosa and cleared out the cabin.

It is a little sad.

I guess Camp Run-A-muck is closed for another season. Hopefully I will be able to get back here a few more times before we head for Arizona.

I got home in time to go to Harvey’s football game. Unfortunately Harvey was benched.

That’s what happens when you don’t keep your grades up.

Harvey’s team lost 40-13. They’re 6-2.

10-22-11

2011-10-22T07:41:00.001-07:00

Well, it has been a rather boring week just went to doctor appointments and hung out at home.

I did find a bag in my stuff that will hold some of the loose parts for the bird thrower. It makes the whole thing a smaller package.

I just hope it works with out tarring it self apart. I will test it this week.

I am going up to the cabin this morning with Sonny and staying until Friday. I will bring the van home then since I am through with all the projects for this year and won’t need the tool box up there..

Its almost time to shift gears and start getting ready to head for Quartzsite. I am starting to get anxious.

Okay that’s it for now. Talk to you next week.

10-16-11

2011-10-16T15:23:00.001-07:00

This week hasn’t been very exciting.

We went to a meeting on Friday about the retiree health insurance changes.

Friday evening, we went to watch the Santa Rosa High School football game. The JV’s won again 35 to 18. Harvey #7 made his first touch down in a game.

Saturday was the Home Coming dance and Harvey took his girl friend. Its amazing how fast kids grown up.

Meanwhile, I have been working on a little project in my shop.

Sonny gave me an old clay pigeon thrower.

I have been planning to take it to Arizona this year for another toy to play with in the desert. These things are hard to hold down when they are triggered. I have seen them bolted to a tire and trim or bolted to a palette either way they tend to jump around when they are triggered. I made the one we use up at the cabin. You sit on it when in use so that the operators weight holds the thing in place. I decided to build the same thing only I wanted to make it so that it could be easily dismantled for travel and as light weight as possible.

For the main beam of the device I used a 1” X 2”x 1/4” channel. I had a piece in my scrap metal pile that was 38” long. “Just right!” I cut the channel in half and welded a tongue on one half and a slot on the other.

I slipped them together and drilled a hole for a pin through the whole thing.

Then I welded a short piece of 3/4” square tubing to the underside of the rear piece of channel to accept the rear support.

I made the front legs out of some 1” thin wall square tubing That I slipped over the original stubby legs of the thrower and bolted. The whole thing was a little wiggly so I put a couple of braces from the legs to the to the main beam. The whole thing comes apart easily

and will be small enough to take to Arizona in the back of the jeep.

Now, I will have to take the rig to IC and run a box of birds through it to see if it can take the punishment.

Tomorrow, Patti and I are going to take the Kayaks to the river. It will be Patti’s maiden voyage in her new Kayak. I haven’t received the new waterproof camera yet so there won’t be any pictures.

10-13-11

2011-10-13T10:30:00.001-07:00

Patti and I got home from the cabin yesterday afternoon.

We went up to Ukiah on Friday and watched Harvey’s team (The Santa Rosa High School Panthers) play the Ukiah High School team. The panther JV’s were victorious again, 13-6. They are now 4&1, not bad.

After the game we headed over Highway 253 from Ukiah to the cabin. As I said last time I didn’t plan on doing much work while we were there.

I did however, add a work surface in the cooking area of the tool shed.

Monday morning around 5:00 it started to rain and kept it up all day. It came down rather heavy at times.

Some time in the afternoon I decided that it would be a good day to do some road work so I threw some tools in the jeep and started up the road. I drained a lot puddles and made some ditches to get the water off the road. By the time I got to the gate I was soaked through but the road was draining much better.

We cut some firewood Tuesday morning. I finally got around to finishing the clean up of the tree that fell across the road when Bob was up here earlier this summer.

Some of the pieces were bigger than the door on the stove so I had to do a little splitting.

Patti stacked the wood.

We ended up with about four days supply of firewood. I have a lot more work to do!

While we were staking the wood I noticed this little toad in the pile.

The rest of the time we just hung out and enjoyed the cabin. Patti sat in the sun when possible and read her book.

Okay that’s it for now.

This week is going to be kind of boring. We have a health insurance meeting tomorrow and I have more doctor appointments next week. I am ok, it is just routine.

10-07-11

2011-10-07T08:09:00.001-07:00

This week has been one of appointments. Doctor’s and vehicles. Today we are going to take Plan “B” to get serviced. When it is done we are going to Ukiah to watch Harvey Play against Ukiah High School. From there we are going to the cabin. We will be there until Wednesday. I don’t have any plans for a lot of work this time. We are just going up to enjoy the cabin and relax. Of course I want to cut some firewood and I will probably make some improvements around the place. I cant help it.

Talk to you next week some time.

10-04-11

2011-10-04T11:53:00.001-07:00

We had a little get together last weekend for my 70th birthday.

I went up to the cabin on Wednesday morning. Bob arrived a couple of hours later. Our friend James came up Thursday morning just as I was starting a project. Bob and James went up the hill to sanitize the camp spring and another spring that is further up the hill.

While they were gone I took care of the few projects that I was working on. When they returned to the cabin we got to discussing the upper spring and the fact that we need a lot of pipe to bring the water down. I happened to remember a large coil of plastic irrigation pipe down in the barn so we went down there and drug the pipe back to the cabin. There was about 300ft of pipe so we drug it all the way up the road to just above the spring. Bob and James pulled the pipe down through the woods and connected it to the spring. Now we only need about 300ft more to get the water down to camp.

Chuck (AKA Swamp), showed up around 9:00 Friday morning.

Bob left on Friday around 1:00. James stayed until late that evening.

L to R: James, Bob, Sonny, Swamp and me.

In the mean time, Joanne and Dave showed up around 10:00.

Patti got there with my brother, Sonny an hour later.

Our old friends Jerry and Lorraine arrived around 1:00.

Around 4:00, Kathi and Bob, (Patti’s sister and Brother-in-law from Oregon) pulled in with there youngest daughter Anna-lee and her one year old son, Lucas.

Becky, Kathi, Bob C, Bruce, me.

Connie, Anna-lee and Lucas.

Lucas was the hit of the party. He was very well behaved and charmed everyone.

Doug and Paulette arrived late afternoon.

Matt, Elisa, Mike,Renee, their son Cody and Ray (Mike and Elisa’s dad) showed up around 7:00.

Renee, Elisa, Mike and Cody.

Ray and Matt

Saturday:

First thing Saturday morning even before I had a chance to have breakfast some unknown person must have put a huge load of toilet paper in the toilet and plugged it solid. I worked on it for about an hour and after getting S%^T all over me I finally had to go to town to buy a plunger.

I took Chuck along for company.

We went to the Boonville hardware first. They were closed so we went across the street to the Boonville market. They didn’t have what we needed so we had to drive to Philo, a small town 5 miles west of Boonville, where we went to Jacks Market and Building Supply and got a toilet plunger and headed back to camp. When I got back to camp I gave the plunger to Dave and he and Sonny got the toilet cleared. Joanne cleaned the bath house from top to bottom. Thank You, Joanne!!!!!

Josie came up Saturday around noon.

Josie and Matt

Becky and Dennis from Myers Flat showed up Saturday. I was very pleased that they made it.

Becky, Dennis, me and Gaby.

My niece, Connie and her husband, Bruce showed up.

Around 12:00 we went down to the old home site and shot clays for about an hour.

When we got back to camp it was time to start cooking. I was planning on making a big batch of Nopalito’s and grilling four Tri-tips.

When I got to looking for the stewed tomatoes for the Nopatito’s I realized that we had forgotten to bring them. So, its off to Boonville again. The store didn’t have the Mexican style stewed tomatoes that I normally use in the dish so I got the “Italian Recipe” and raced back to the camp.

When I got back to camp both of my daughters were there.

Gabriella with her husband, Morgan

and my youngest, Felice and her friend, Marcy.

Felice is on the left.

Needless to say I was very pleased to see them.

Peter, the property owner, came up Saturday afternoon, late.

Doug and Peter.

Everything turned out fine in the end. While I worked on the Nopalito’s,

Morgan grilled the Tri-tip’s.

Every one brought something to share so we had ton’s of food.

The most interesting setup was Loraine’s Dutch oven tree where she baked 34 potatoes.

They were done just right. Loraine has been known to cook an entire Thanksgiving dinner in this way.

By noon on Sunday the only ones left were the hard core group. Patti, Joanne, Dave, Sonny and Me.

We spent Sunday afternoon cleaning up and Monday morning packing. We came home Monday afternoon.

It was a fun weekend and I want to thank everyone who attended.

09-26-11

2011-09-26T10:25:00.001-07:00

We got to the ranch around 11:30 on Wednesday.

We moved into the cabin and had lunch. After lunch I set up the big two burner cooker at the dining hall. Then I made another sconce for the cabin. The weather was very hot but we didn’t go to the creek this time.

Thursday and Friday;

I worked on trimming the bathroom. I couldn’t find any wiggle molding that would fit the profile of the PVC roofing that I used in the shower. First I tried cutting the lumps off of the original wiggle molding and sticking that to a piece of cedar strip.

That didn’t work so I decided to make my own wiggle molding. I found a piece of corrugated plastic roofing to use for a pattern, scribed the pattern on a 2X4 and cut it out with a jig saw.

Its not perfect but it fits better than everything else I tried.

I had some cedar closet liner left over from another project so I cut it into strips

and used it for bats on the wall behind the toilet.

I also lined a couple of shelves with the cedar and used a piece of cedar for the threshold. The cedar looks and smells good.

I made a toilet paper dispenser out of a scrap sheet of beryllium copper, some screw hooks, a bent piece of 1/4” copper wire. and a short piece of dowel.

Matt and Mike came up around 6:00. Joanne and Dave showed up around 8:30.

Saturday;

Joanne spent most of her time Saturday cleaning the dining hall. She climbed into the rafters and cleaned her way down to the floor.

Dave worked around his camp making a box for his cooler.

Matt worked on his camp and installed a wood stove in his tent.

Mike set up his tent in Matt’s old camp spot.

Later the guys did a bunch of weed eating. They cleaned up the area around their camps

and then went down to the old home site and cleared a big area for parking and cleaned up where we shoot clays. They did a really great job.

Patti and I removed the canvas from the front gable of the cabin and replaced it with the plastic that we had removed from the original front window. The job started with ripping several strips from the good edge of a scrap piece of 1x4.

This will be the trim for the gable.

The next thing we had to do was remove the old canvas.

then I built a frame.

We measured everything and went over to to the dining hall/shop, to cut out the plastic then we stapled the plastic film to the frame.

We installed the trim over the staples with a brad nailer and a generous number of brads.

The end result is great! Looks kind of like an “Ichler designed home”.

Later in the day I made two new sconces for the cabin. I had intended to make only one but I broke the one that I was using for a pattern and had to replace it. I think I finally have enough sconces.

The cabin looks nice all lit up at night

Sunday;

Sunday morning I finished installing the vent for the toilet.

Patti and I extended the drain from the cabin sink and buried the end.

We left to come home around 4:30

I will be going back up on Wednesday and will stay until Monday.

09-12-11

2011-09-21T08:37:00.001-07:00

Patti and I are going to the cabin this morning.

Patti had more surgery on her hand yesterday. We hope this it the last.

I went kayaking on the river with bob yesterday. I did not take a camera. I am going to order a waterproof camera and am thinking about the “Pentax Optio WG1”. It looks pretty rugged and is shock, dust, water, cold and crush proof. Yeah, I think that might stand up to me.

Of course, since I didn’t have a camera we had some national geographic moments. One was a small Heron eating a fish. Another was a king fisher that I saw flying toward us carrying a fish across the river. I pointed it out to Bob but it must have thought that I was going to shoot at it because the bird dropped the fish it was carrying, did an about face and sped away back across the river.

We will be home on Monday so I will try to get a blog out then.

09-10-11

2011-09-17T09:22:00.001-07:00

Yeah, Okay, I know, I was supposed to publish this blog last Saturday. Well, I decided to stay up at the cabin for another week and since there is no internet or cell service up there so I couldn’t publish it so here it is now. Enjoy!

When Patti & I got to the cabin about 1:00 on Saturday it was very hot so we ate a quick lunch and headed for the creek. It was much cooler down there with our feet in the water.

Patti got some nice reflection pictures.

Sunday morning, I tried to take a shower but the the flow was very low. Upon investigating, I found that the tank for the camp spring was empty. I think it is because the line from the spring has to go up hill for a short distance and the water is backing up into the spring. I will have to dig a short ditch to bring the line down a bit. I hope that works.

Later in the day I used the left over linoleum to cover the work bench next to the dining hall sink

and the food table in the dining hall.

Sunday was a very pleasant day, not to hot.

Our new Camera has a neat feature. It does Panoramic’s. Here Is the first picture of the whole camp that I have ever been able to get.

Monday, I went up to the camp spring and dug a short ditch to lay the input line in. Later I realized that the problem was not the input line. It was the leaks in the dining hall line. Need to fix that!

Peter and Leon stopped by around 3:00. They had spent the night at the grove.

Tuesday morning, I went up the hill to turn the camp spring on. Coming back down the hill I stopped to take a look at the cherry tree It looks like it has some kind of disease. While I was checking it out I noticed a small Rattlesnake coiled up near a hole by a stump a few feet away. I couldn’t find anything handy to kill it with so a called down to Patti to bring me an ax or shovel or something to kill the snake. While I was waiting the rattler slowly slid into the hole so I couldn’t get to it. I asked Patti to bring me the pistol. I aimed down the hole and blasted away I don’t know how far the snake went into the hole but I figured it was worth a try. After I was done shooting I poured Gasoline all over what was left of the hole so if the bullets didn’t get him maybe the gas would suffocate him.

Patti and I left around 2:30. Patti for Santa Rosa and I for Ukiah to re supply. It was very hot in Ukiah and I had to go to several places to get what I needed. Finally I was able to get back to camp by around 5:00.

Wednesday;

Dave showed up around 10:30.

After he got moved in we went down to the creek to get some rocks. I needed some flat rocks for the steps to the wash house and Dave needed some road rock for the front of his camp. We came back to camp and worked on our separate projects.

Thursday;

Dave worked on his camp and I worked on finishing the stairs to the wash house.

It was vary hot so in the afternoon we headed for the creek to cool off and get another load of rock for Dave. We had just set our chairs in the water when I noticed a small red frog or toad sitting very still on the bottom of the creek.

It sat so still for so long that at first we thought it might be dead but Dave poked at it with a small branch and the frog/toad swam off.

Friday;

Very Hot again today. In the morning Dave and I took a ride.

I had been telling him about a spot on the ranch that Peter calls the Edward’s place. It is a small apple orchard, maybe 4 trees near a broken down shack

on top of a high hill surrounded by massive Oak trees.

There are a couple of springs in the area and it is a great place to ambush a deer or a pig.

On our way to the Edward’s place we had to cross the creek. As we began to cross, I noticed something started to swim in front of us. I recognized it and stopped the jeep just in time.

I don’t know what kind of turtle it is but it is a good indication of how healthy this creek is.

On the way back to camp we stopped for another load of rock for Dave. Dave has been filling five, five gallon buckets with rock each load and spreading them around the front of his camp. It will make a big difference when the rains start.

It took a total of 20 buckets full before he was done.

After we got back, Dave continued working on improving his camp.

He covered his wash stand with some of the linoleum that was left over from the bathhouse.

I took the rest of day off and just puttered around.

Saturday:

Matt and his brother-in-law, Mike, showed up around 11:00. Dave and the guys did some work on Matt’s camp. I put up a screen on the front window of the cabin. It was very hot again so later in the afternoon we went to the creek to cool.

Sometimes it’s hard to believe the beauty and tranquility of this place.

Not all the beauty is just in the views of the creek.

Sunday;

Matt and Mike left around 11:00 and Dave pulled out about an hour later.

I worked on finally putting the ends on the metal surround for the wood stove. Now, I can taken that one off the list.

Just as I was putting away my tools Patti and Dina showed up. They only came up for the day however as Patti had to go to the dentist tomorrow (Monday) morning to get a painful tooth worked on. Patti said that she may be back on Tuesday. I hope so.

Monday;

I was going to go to Ukiah today for gas for the generator and other supplies but changed my mind. I started the generator this morning and charged the laptop so I could catch up on the blog. The generator is still running and charging the battery for the fridge controls and the XM Radio. When I get done here I will plug the laptop back into the geny.

I started working on the trim for the floor in the bath house but the “wiggle molding “ that I got has a different pattern than the corrugated roofing that I used in the shower area.

I will have to take a piece of the roofing with me to the store to see if I can get matching molding. I sure hope so other wise it won’t look or seal as good.

Okay, its time to turn this computer off and see if I can get it charged before the gas in the generator runs out.

Tuesday;

I drove over hwy 253 to Ukiah this morning to do some shopping. It was cool at the camp when I left but by the time I got to Ukiah it was already getting hot. I couldn’t find the molding that I was looking for in Ukiah so I will look for it in Santa Rosa next week.

I got back to camp around lunch time. After lunch I started taking apart an old table that we built about 20 years ago. It had been sitting outside for years and looked pretty dilapidated but I was surprised how hard it was to take it apart. The table was put together with 20 penny galvanized nails and they still held tight. Un fortunately the lumber on the top is pretty rotten and not as useful as I thought it would be. I am hoping to use some of it for the enclosure for the refrigerator. We’ll see if I can salvage enough sound wood.

It got so hot while I was working on the table that I stopped work and went to the creek to cool off and spent the rest of the day there.

Wednesday;

Today was a pretty productive day. This morning after breakfast I finished the job of taking apart that old table. I pulled all the nails and stacked the wood on the lumber stack behind the dining hall. After that I tackled the leaks in the water line to the dining hall. This time I used galvanized nipples and painted them with “Rector Seal”. I ran out of fittings at the sink but that leak is small and I will fix it later.

After lunch, I put some shelves up in the cabin

and moved the showerhead in the shower.

All in all it was a good day and I was able to cross some items off “The List”.

I was taking a break in the cabin and noticed a small mob of turkeys wandering through the woods just up the hill.

Later on I checked the waterline for leaks and the only one I found was at the sink. Its just a sweat but I’ll have to get one more fitting,

Thursday;

It was cold and foggy when I got up this morning. I even started a fire in the stove. Once the fog burned off around 10:00, it was a beautiful fall day.

I built a night stand to put between the beds. I used a 12 ft piece of 1X12 that I had forgotten about. It had been part of a scaffold that was used when building the roof on the dining hall and was left up in the beams. There was just enough material to make the small nightstand.

Later on while I was sitting at the table, looking around the cabin I decided that what was needed was someway to put a lantern up on a post so I came up with this.

It looks pretty cool at night too.

I may have to make another one for the back wall.

I got back to Santa Rosa around 1:30. we went to watch Harvey’s team play at Winsor high school. They lost 34 to 21 but the JV’s did better than the varsity team did. At half time the varsity team was down 41 to nothing. I don’t know what the final score was though.

Here are a couple pictures of the boy in action. He is Number 7 in the white jersey and orange sleeves.

Okay that’s it for now.

09-03-11

2011-09-03T09:56:00.001-07:00

I arrived at the cabin around 11:30. Got moved in and was just finishing lunch when Bob showed up.

We visited for a while and then headed down to the creek for a load of rock for the septic system. We lined the bottom with some of the stones so that the barrels won’t be setting right on the dirt.

After that it was time to poke holes in the barrels so I pulled out my trusty “.45 cal. Red Neck Hole Punch” and started punching holes.

As you can see in the following video, I started rather slowly, Standing off a ways and shooting at the drums. I had the two barrels lined up so I could try to make four holes with each shot but the bullets would only penetrate one barrel and dent the next one. I was a little concerned with ricochets.

Finally, I got warmed up and just walked around the drums blasting holes in them as I did so.

I got about two holes for every shot (in and out) I fired about 100 rounds so I figure that I put about 100 holes in each barrel.

These barrels will go in the hole to form a space for the sump.

Tuesday morning, we started plumbing the plastic digester barrel and set it in the hole.

Then the metal barrels went in.

About the time we got the barrels in the hole Dave and Sonny showed up. They were just in time join the bucket brigade and throw rocks in the hole.

After we used up the first load of rocks we decided that Dave and Sonny would install the toilette flange

and get things ready for the toilet.

Bob and I went down to the creek for another small load of rocks

and filled in around the barrels in the hole.

Wednesday morning Bob, Dave and I drove over to the coast to Kayak the Navaro River. It was a pleasant day and we had a good time paddling on the river for about three hours.

We found a nice gravely beach to have lunch on.

Everything was going great until we were getting off the river. As I was getting out of the boat

I slipped and went about chest deep into the river.

Unfortunately our wonderful little Cannon Power-shot camera was hung around my neck and was drowned. The chip with all the pictures I had taken was not harmed though and I was able to down load them.

From there Bob headed up the coast to find some more places to Kayak. Dave and I headed back to the cabin. We stopped at a hardware store and picked up some pipe and parts to finish the toilet job.

Sonny spent the day just puttering around the camp. He made a work table for his camp and just enjoyed the day.

Thursday, I put some tar paper over the hole to keep dirt from filling in between the rocks while we worked. We connected the waste line to the Digester tank

Dave hooked up the water supply for the toilet.

Then we cut and laid the linoleum on the floor

Then installed the toilet.

Dave and Sonny took off around 4:00 and I spent the rest of the day resting.

Friday morning, I began back filling the hole. I spread a couple layers of tar paper over the hole, then I laid in some metal and plastic roofing to add support, then I shoveled in the dirt. Un- fortunately I didn’t have a camera now so I don’t have a picture of the finished project. I’ll get some for you next week.

I left the cabin for Santa Rosa around 1:30.

Patti and I went to Costco and bought a new camera. We got a pretty good deal on a Fuji SLR digital camera. It looks like a good one but is some what larger than our little Cannon.

Patti and I are going up to the cabin today. She will stay until Tuesday. I will stay up there until Friday when I will come home to go to Harvey’s game if he plays. Harvey sprained his ankle in practice and is on crutches, could not play in his first game yesterday. But the end results was Harv’s JV team won 24 to 6; go Panthers!!

Okay, I guess that’s it for now. I’ll try and send you another post next Saturday.

08-28-11

2011-08-28T11:48:00.001-07:00

It has been a quiet week .

I spent some time and money at the hardware store buying fittings for the septic system at the camp. The jeep is loaded with barrels, pipe, pipe fittings, a screen for the front window of the cabin and my kayak.

(More about the Kayak later).

On Wednesday, I went Kayaking with Bob and his brother Mike.

We put in at Guerneville and went up stream

to Korbel hole where we had lunch and paddled back to Guerneville. About 5 miles round trip. As usual it was a fine day on the river.

Yesterday, my daughter, Gabriella and Morgan, her husband came up to get our old Fol-Boat (a fabric covered two person kayak, that you can sail)

We loved that old boat but it was time to pass it on to a new home and besides, we needed the space to store the new kayaks.

I’m heading back to IC tomorrow (Monday) and I won’t come home until Friday.

Bob is also going up tomorrow. We will likely work on the septic system tomorrow and Tuesday.

Dave will be up on Tuesday and stay until Thursday.

Wednesday, Bob and I are going Kayaking on ether the Noyo or the Navaro Rivers. It will probably depend on how much water is in the Navaro. Dave is nursing a sore back and declined the invite to go with us. I will call him again tonight to see if he might be feeling better and has maybe changed his mind. If so, I can throw the other boat on the jeep in the morning. Bob will be heading north after the kayak trip and I will go back to IC.

Anyway, that’s why the Kayak is on the jeep.

The rest of the week will probably be spent working on getting the toilette and septic system finished. Maybe I will get time to put the screen on the front window of the cabin.

Of course, I will have all the details and pictures in the next episode..

08-23-11

2011-08-23T14:09:00.001-07:00

We got back from Indian Creek last evening around 7:00.

It was a productive trip.

We got up there around noon last Wednesday. We moved in and just enjoyed the day.

I installed the final valve in the water system and soldered up the mixing valve for the shower. I tried making a mixing valve for the shower but it doesn’t work. I think that the pressure in our system is so low that the water heater is operating at near the low pressure shutoff threshold. There is also a significant pressure drop across the unit. I thought that I could run the tank-less water heater on high temp, plug it into one side of the mixing valve and just mix cold water with it but when I tried it, the heater turned off as soon as the cold water valve was opened. The pressure on the cold water side is higher than the pressure of the water coming out of the heater and apparently stops the flow of the hot water. Oh well, the shower still works so I did no harm with the mixing valve and it allows the shower to be used with or with out the heater. It will be cold of course but on some days that is just what you want.

Sonny came up Thursday morning and I helped him put up my wedge tent so he would have his own camp.

Now he can come up when ever he wants.

I finished the plumbing for the shower and the sink in the bathhouse and put up the rest of the walls in the shower area. Patti scrubbed the walls down after I was done.

Sonny left Friday morning.

I worked on the sink at the dining hall, finishing the ditch,

hooking up the drain line and covering the ditch.

About an hour after Sonny left our friend Jane showed up.

Jane and Patti spent a lot of time chatting.

I did a couple hour turn in the hole.

Patti, Jane and I went down to the grove for a while in the afternoon and hung out by the creek. Joanne and Dave showed up Saturday evening and brought with them the toilette and linoleum for the washhouse.

On Sunday Dave put a sink in and set up a wash station in his camp.

Patti and I repaired the front window to the cabin.

Monday, Dave took a turn in the hole

and finished it up.

(The barrel in the hole is just a depth gauge)

Now I have to get the barrels and plumbing together. We should soon have an operating flush toilette.

08-17-11

2011-08-17T08:19:00.001-07:00

Patti and I are going up to the cabin today and won’t be home until next Monday. Joanne and Dave are coming up on Sunday.

The next post will be Tuesday or Wednesday.

08-13-11

2011-08-13T16:58:00.001-07:00

HI,

Well, it’s Saturday and I am back from IC. I went up Tuesday afternoon and had planned to come home on Sunday but ran out of parts; and I had forgotten to bring up a propane canister for my torch so I couldn’t do any soldering.

I got to the cabin around 4:30 on Tuesday and spent the rest of the day getting settled in and planning what I was going to work on for the next couple of days.

We have always used 1/2” plastic nipples to connect the black 3/4” poly-pipe waterlines together and as connections to valves, etc. We never needed any clamps in the past so I was unprepared when we turned the water on last week and had leaks at many of the joints. As it turns out the last batch of pipe I bought is just slightly larger than the older stuff. I only had a few clamps with me at that time so we tried stopping the leaks as best we could.

I brought a bunch of clamps with me this time so Tuesday evening after it cooled down a bit I tried fixing all the leaks in the water system. Well, the standard hose clamps that I had aren’t up to the job. Buy the time I could get them tight enough to slow the leaks down the clamps strip or just won’t get tight enough.

Wednesday morning I carried the new drum for the camp spring up the hill to a spot just below the spring.

I dug a trench and lade the barrel in the trench. Then I made all the connections to the barrel and when I was done I camouflaged it.

After setting the “tank”, I consolidated the valves on the system into two groups; one down at the camp

that takes care of the Main (top), the dining hall (left), Dave’s camp and the wash house and central hose bib (bottom).

And one group about halfway up the hill.

This set covers the cabin spring on the right with a valve and a check valve because the camp spring tank is a little higher up the hill than the cabin spring tank. The line to the cabin is on the bottom. To the left is a valve to separate the two tanks. I still need a valve to shut down the line coming from the camp spring.

I also worked on the overflow for the cabin spring tank.

Thursday, I started assembling the mixing valve for the shower. That is when I realized that I didn’t have any propane for the torch. I went ahead and cut all the pipe I needed and assembled everything that I could without soldering.

Next, I set about installing the new Farmer style sink in front of the Bath house.

I had the same problem doing the plumbing for the sink as the mixing valve (no torch) so I did what I could.

Friday was pretty warm so I took it easy for most of the day. In the evening when it cooled down I started digging the ditch for the drain to the sink at the dining hall. The ground here has been bull-dosed so many times that it is almost down to bed rock so digging a ditch can be pretty rough. I scratched the ditch for its full length but couldn’t get it very deep. I ran water through the ditch for a while to soften the dirt a little and let it set all night.

This morning I took another stab at the ditch but was only able to get it dug about half way across the flat. I’ll get it dug eventually Maybe next week.

Okay that’s it for now…

08-08-11

2011-08-08T09:22:00.001-07:00

Sonny and I got to IC around 11:00 on Wednesday.

Dave was up there when we arrived. He was picking up some of his camping gear as he was going hunting with Mat in the Mendocino forest next weekend. We unloaded the van and I moved into the cabin while Sonny took his stuff down to Dave’s tent. We visited with Dave until about 3:00 when he left for home. About an hour later Bob showed up. He was on his way to the coast to do some kayaking and stopped by to spend a couple of days and start on the hole for the septic tank.

On Thursday morning Bob started digging the hole.

Sonny and I cleaned out the ditch that Harvey dug last week

and lade the dining hall water line in it. We connected the system to the main water line but unfortunately we didn’t have enough clamps so there are some leaks that I will have to fix next time.

Bob dug.

We buried the water line to to the dining hall.

Bob dug in the pit.

On Friday, Patti came up but Harvey had a chance to go water skiing with one of his football buddies and decided that water skiing was much more fun that digging ditches so he didn’t come. Go figure!

Bob continued digging in the hole

Sonny and I moved the central sink to the end of the Dining hall

Bob dug,

Sonny and I took apart an old table that I had built years ago and used the lumber to build a work counter connected to the sink.

Bob continued to dig.

Around 1:00 Friday afternoon Bob had had enough digging and headed for the coast. He did a great job on the septic tank hole.

He said he was going to just get the hole started but in the end he dug it over half way. Thanks a lot Bob!

The plan is to use two 55 gallon drums for our septic tank. The system will be connected to the toilette only so it should last for a long ,long time.

Saturday morning Sonny and I installed a hose bib where the central sink used to be.

We took the rest of the day off.

We came home on Sunday.

Harvey and I were supposed to go kayaking this week and then go up to the cabin but it looks like he is going to be tied up with football practice for the week. I may just go buy food, a barrel and the parts I need and head back up to the mountain tomorrow or Wednesday.

Stay tuned.

08-03-11

2011-08-03T07:53:00.001-07:00

Okay, I got the rack done and It is on the jeep. I still have to paint the blue cushiony stuff but I am waiting for the glue to set good first.

Sonny and I are going up to Indian Creek this morning. Bob is coming up to day also. Patti and Harvey are coming up on Friday and we will come home on Sunday so that Harvey and I can go Kayaking on Monday.

I’ll talk to you again on Tuesday.

07-30-11

2011-07-30T10:01:00.001-07:00

Boy, time sure flies when you don’t know what you’re doing.

Harvey, Dina, Patti and I went to the movies last Sunday to see the last Harry Potter movie. It was excellent!

Well, here it is Saturday again. I have been working on the kayak rack on the jeep. I had to redesign the whole thing. As it turned out, the square pegs in the square sockets worked ok until I welded the cross pieces on. Everything had to be aligned just perfectly for it to work. The tolerances were just too close and things just jammed up when I tried to install or remove the rack.

I finally settled on using a 3/8 bolt on the end of the uprights. The bolt fits through a hole in a piece of angle iron and then is tightened down with a nut.

The angle iron is welded to the bracket in place of the square socket.

Once I got that fixed and installed the front and rear racks, I realized that I would have to tie the front and rear together to stiffen up the whole thing. I still wanted to keep the ability of one person to be able install and remove the rack so I welded a plate to both ends of two pieces of 3/4” square tubing and bolted that to the side of the front and rear racks.

The plate acts like a gusset and stiffened things up but is still removable. Only time will tell how well it will hold up.

Now I have to take the whole thing apart and weld up all the places where I just tacked it together. Then I have to clean the metal and paint it. After that I will glue some padding on the crossbars to protect the kayaks. Then its just a matter of throwing the boats on, tying them down and heading for the river.