Hard Wired.....

 7:55 am - Wednesday - November 12th - TWW - 49° F, humidity 22%, wind 7 mph out of the southeast....partly cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and and I were boondocking on the shores of the Pacific Ocean.....

Looking south at sunset

Looking west

....at Rincon Parkway just north of Ventura, CA.  It is not possible that this was 10 years ago today!  We haven't been there since, and now I'm wondering why.

As is becoming our custom here at TWW we began Tuesday with a 1 mile out and back walk in our fastest time yet.....19 minutes and 34 seconds....

....my knee, thank you Jesus, is not hurting me at all....a little stiff, maybe, but NO pain!

As you may, or may not recall, we had issues with keeping the water bay warm enough on nights when the temp dipped below 30° F last winter.  We have an electric heater down there, but it draws 10 amps, and drains our Bluetti battery bank overnight to ZERO, so that was a no go.  We have a propane heater which has one vent in the water bay, as well as the kitchen, and salon, but it is to noisy to run at night.  We tried two 100 watt light bulbs, but they were not adequate on the nights when it got really cold.  Then one day my brother-in-law, Glenn, sent me a text about a blog he had read where the guy used ceramic electric bulbs to keep their water bay warm, and it worked, so I read the blog, purchased the items he recommended, installed them (one on each side of the water bay) and it worked!  The temp never got below 35 ° F, which is cold, but not below freezing.  The setup I used to provide power to those two ceramic heaters (used for reptile cages) was temporary, using short extension cords.  I  meant to hardwire everything, but never got around to it last winter.

Fast forward to this winter....it hasn't really gotten below 40° F at night yet, but that time is fast approaching; in fact we'll have temps down around freezing, and below this weekend, so I needed to get that done.  Some of the items I purchased at Home Depot Monday were for this project.  I already had some of the things I needed.  At any rate I spent a number of hours permanently installing those ceramic bulb heaters Tuesday....

Driver side

.....I used ceramic light bulb sockets (well they used to be ceramic, but are now plastic like everything else) to hold the ceramic heater bulbs.....

.....I installed an electrical outlet on the forward wall in the water bay into which I plugged the 'Thermo Cube', which turns on the power when the temp gets down to 35° F, and shuts off when the temp gets back to 45° F. I then plugged the two light bulb sockets into the 'Thermo Cube'....

Passenger side 

.....to provide a permanent electric connection I attached a grounded male plug to one end of a length of ROMEX, and plugged it into an outlet under the kitchen sink, and ran it through a hole I drilled in the floor under the stove last winter, then connected it to the electrical outlet box I've had for years.  I've got a piece of flexible electrical conduit through which I'll run those wires from the electrical outlet up through the floor under the stove.

I also wired up the second Victron charge controller I purchased to connect to those portable solar panels I've got on the roof of the trailer to provide an extra source of solar power for the house batteries, and will install that Wednesday.  In all I spent around 5 hours on those two projects.  While I was thus occupied TLE was ironing those gray dress slacks I bought at Savers Monday.  They were quite wrinkled, so she first ran them through Phyllis' gas dryer for about 15 minutes to get out the really bad wrinkles, then ironed them.  They look great, so now I'm ready for the wedding.  By the way, the wedding involves one of our son Tim's friends whom we've known for about 25 years.  Since Tim is flying in from Georgia to attend the wedding (as a groomsman), we decided to drive to SoCal to see him...we haven't seen him since April of 2022.

Clouds began to roll into the Seligman area early afternoon, and for the next 5, or 6 days it will be cloudy, with possible rain Saturday and Sunday.  TLE had me grill two steaks (Top Sirloin, and New York Strip) on the Sea-B-Que around 5 pm for dinner.  She added a salad, and a baked potato for sides.  We split the New York, and will use the Top Sirloin for afternoon snacks.

Thanks for stopping by!

Shopping spree....

 8:13 am - Tuesday - November 11th - TWW - 48° F, humidity 16%, wind 3 mph out of the southeast.....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2023 I was fueling RZR's as the sun set....

.....at Glamis North Hot Springs....in all we rented 7 RZRs that day.

As I wrote in yesterday's missive we were on the road around 8:30 am heading to Flagstaff for the day.  I hadn't had a haircut for 5 weeks, and there were a number of things I needed from Home Depot for a couple of projects I need to finish in the next couple of days, plus I needed to buy two more 20" chains for the Stihl chainsaw, so I can rotate them as they get dull, and need sharpening.  

We arrived at the local Sports Clips around 10:30 am without incident.  Monday was a perfect day for driving.  I had to wait about 20 minutes for my haircut, but my name was finally called by Erica who did a wonderful job getting my coif back under control.  As luck would have it there is a local Stihl dealer right across the street from Sports Clips, so by 11:30 we had two things crossed off our 'to do list'.

Our next stop was at the Walmart Supercenter to do a big shopping (over $300!), then over to Home Depot to buy the items I need for the aforementioned projects, then over to Savers (our favorite thrift store ever) to see if they had anything without which life would not continue, and they did.  I was looking for a pair of grey slacks for a wedding we'll be attending next Saturday, and I found a perfect pair, plus a nice paisley tie to go with a long sleeve dress shirt I already have.  TLE found that for which she was looking, and when we got to the checkout counter we found out it was 50% off day....life is good!  So what we already thought were great prices were suddenly cut in half right before our very eyes....doesn't get much better than that.

By the time we exited Savers it was after 1:15 pm, and time to head back to TWW, but not before a stop at the local Starbucks to secure a couple of Frappuccinos for TLE and I (vanilla bean for TLE and mocha for moi) to enjoy on the 2 hour drive home, where we arrived, once again, without incident, at 3:25 pm.  That was a long day away from home!

I might mention we drove the VW Beetle instead of the Explorer.  Why?  Well, when I repaired the right rear flat tire I noticed the tread on both rear tires is getting pretty thin, so we did not want to risk another flat tire driving to and from Flagstaff.  On Tuesday we'll jack up the Explorer, and remove both rear tires for Charles and Phyllis to take back home with them when the return home after their visit this week to have the tires replaced.  The drive out to US-66 took about 25 minutes, as usual, in the VW since we can't go more than 10-15 mph on that dirt arterial road.  We're able to drive about 30+ mph in the Explorer on that same road.

On another side note, we stopped at the Seligman Post Office going and coming to pick up packages which had been delivered (one on Saturday), and another one which was delivered to our PO Box around 11 am while we were in Flagstaff.  That item wasn't supposed to be here until Friday, so how great to get it 5 days early!

Thanks for stopping by!

Better late, than never.....

 6:46 pm - Monday - November 10th - TWW - 58° F, humidity 33%, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.....clear, blue skies today, but it is now dark....forecast high today was 74° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were walking to work at the General Store....

....at the Grand Canyon Watchtower when we rounded a corner in the trail to come face to face with a large bull Elk.

Let me, first, apologize for not posting a missive this morning about Sunday, but we needed to go to Flagstaff today, and left around 8:30 am, less than one hour after we woke up, so no time to compose anything meaningful.  The trip was uneventful, and we got everything done we had planned, including a haircut for moi...the first in 5 weeks.  As 'they' say, "better late than never".

We began Sunday with another 1 mile out and back walk at TWW, and for the first time broke 20 minutes....

.....I didn't do much else Sunday except for painting the wood box for the Predator 5000 dual fuel generator/inverter....

.....I managed to get one coat on the entire exterior, and 2 coats on the top before I called it quits for the day.  I'll get a 2nd coat on the rest another day.  I spent the balance of the day watching NFL football, and fiddling around in the trailer.  My L.A. Rams won handily over the San Fran 49ers 42-26, and it wasn't that close.

Thanks for stopping by!

A day in the life.....

 8:07 am - Sunday - November 9th - TWW - 51° F, humidity 19%, wind 11 mph out of the east by northeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE and I were at the east entrance of the Grand Canyon preparing to go to work at the General Store.....

....the sun was just rising, around 7 am, so we are, obviously, facing eastward in our site.

Saturday was a mixed bag of sorts workwise, but before we did any work we took another out and back walk of the 1 mile variety, covering that distance in 20 minutes, so a 3 mph average.  We'll probably extend that 1 mile walk to a 2 mile walk in the near future; when is strictly up to TLE.

As I slipped into my work togs I had an idea of what I hoped to accomplish Saturday, but I am easily distracted.  I wanted to paint the little wood box which sits over the Predator 5000 dual fuel generator to seal the still raw wood against the elements, but when I entered the trailer I saw the chain from our 20" Stihl chainsaw lying on the work bench.   The other day I was cutting a dead fall out of the tree that sits at the left rear corner of the coach.  I should have been cutting it from a ladder, but instead I was standing on the ground cutting it above my head.  The piece I was cutting fell towards me causing me to back up, but it still hit the 20" bar on the chainsaw causing the chain to derail, which resulted in tiny burs along the guides that run in a groove of the bar.  The metal burs prevented the guides from slipping easily into the groove, and bound up the chain.  To save the chain, and remedy the problem I used a small flat file I've had for years to remove those burs, which took the better part of two hours.  In the end I was successful, and was able to reinstall the chain, and run the chainsaw without the chain binding.  Those chains are expensive, and I had just bought it up in Alturas with the new chain bar about 6 weeks ago, so I really wanted to avoid having to replace it after only using a few times this winter so far.

Anyway, the result was a good outcome, but I never got around to painting the generator box, so that will have to wait for another day.  Instead I spent about an hour organizing my small hand tools I keep on the workbench for quick access.  Tools like the small 6" flat hand file, needle nose plyers, small screw drivers, etcetera. Now all of them are easily found, and used, whereas before it would take me a few minutes virtually every time to find what I needed. 

While I was thus occupied I was watching NCAA College Football on the trailer TV.  There were a number of great games, including the Texas Tech vs. BYU game.  BYU was undefeated coming into the game, and Texas Tech had one loss.  Texas Tech won the game handily 29-7.  I mention that game because Texas Tech is my brother-in-law's (Glenn) alma mater.  We always exchange text messages when they are playing.  According to Glenn this is the best team Texas Tech has fielded in 100 years.

By 12 pm I was done working for the day, so TLE and I sat outside reading, and enjoying the Fall like weather for a couple hours before it became too chilly to be on the 'lido deck'.  That trend will continue to come earlier and earlier each day as we head into much cooler weather later in the week.  According to the 'weather guessers' we will have rain here Friday and Saturday, with a small chance of the rain turning to snow on Saturday, and from that point forward the daytime highs will only reach into the 50's through the 23rd.

Around 2:30 pm TLE remembered we were supposed to water the fruit and nut trees, so we jumped in the Yamaha Rhino and headed out to the pasture area to do just that.  We run the gravity fed water system for about 20 minutes every three days to fill the dirt bowls around each tree.  Each bowl has its own hose, so we just turn on the water, and they are all filled at the same time.

And there you have it, another 'day in the life' at TWW....thanks for stopping by!

New business....

 7:44 am - Saturday - November 8th - TWW  - 47° F, humidity 26%, wind 5 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 72° F.  On this date in 2024 'we' reunited the sister Newells.....

....let me add a little context to the phrase 'sister Newells'. In March of 1982 two new Newells, one serial number apart, were delivered to the 'Law' brothers who were from Colorado.  Over the next 3+ decades the two Newells were eventually sold by the brothers.  One was bought by a man named Fred Hornbacker, and is the one we bought in March of 2008, and still own.  The other was bought by a man in Yuma, AZ (name unknown), and eventually was sold to Steve Ward from California.  Steve and I became acquainted through a Newell users forum, and became friends.  Eventually we discovered the history of the two coaches, and that they were just one serial number apart, and had been owned by the brothers Law.  We began referring to them as the 'brother coaches'.  Ultimately, Steve decided to sell his Newell last Spring, and my sister-in-law, Phyllis, bought it.  So after 42 years these two Newell coaches, owned by brothers, were once again reunited, and brought to Seligman, AZ where they are now owned by sisters Phyllis and Elaine, and henceforth are referred to as the 'sister coaches'.  Kind of a cool story, right?

So, what went on Friday at The Wilson Wilderness?  We had plans to head into town to pickup two packages at the Post Office, however, when I went out to the garage where we park the 1998 Ford Explorer I noticed the right rear tire of the Explorer was FLAT!  That's the 3rd flat tire we've had driving to and from The Wilson Wilderness on the main north/south arterial non-paved road.  Oh well, it is what it is.  I headed over to the CONEX to retrieve the floor jacks, and then back to the trailer to get the tire plugs.  It took about 30 minutes to pull the wheel off the SUV, plug it, inflate it, and then reinstall it....

....after that TLE and I got out the three 100 watt portable Bluetti solar panels and laid them flat on the roof of the trailer to see how they would fit, and they did.  Our intent is to add that 300 watts of extra charging power to the 620 watts on the roof of the Newell to aid in charging the two Cloud Energy lithium house batteries we installed last winter.  Once I get the new, additional Victron charge controller I will wire them into the battery bank, and see how much the charging speed increases.

After that we took a short break, and by 12:45 pm we were heading into town.  After picking up the two packages at the Post Office we headed east on Main Street (also US-66) to a new eatery called Highway Hot Dog, which opened this past summer....

.....I ordered their Sonoran Hot Dog, and TLE their Pastrami Hot Dog....OMG!  We ordered some wedge fries as a side.....

.....the ambience is definitely 50's motif complete with vintage vehicles out front, a jukebox, and a lot of 50's memorabilia on the walls.  We were able to meet Dean, the owner and tell him how much we like what he has done with this building erected in 1904 (121 years old).  We initially took a table in their alfresco dining area, however it was a little chilly in the shade, so we headed indoors at TLE's request to eat our meals.

After our late lunch we headed over to the Seligman Market so TLE could buy some produce, and while she was doing that I walked next door to The Commodore House to get a cup of coffee and say 'HI!' to Bryan and Jenalyn (owners).....

.....The Commodore House was opened last Winter while we were still here.  I first met Bryan when I hired him to weld a receiver hitch to our 1969 Chevrolet C-50 tilt bed truck, and we became friends.  At the time they were just finishing building out the space for the coffee shop, so as soon as they opened TLE and I checked it out.  It has that funky, low key vibe we like.  Along with great coffee (Jenalyn roasts her own coffee beans) they offer a variety of pastries, and specialty coffee drinks. It was great to see how well their business is doing!

We were home around 3 pm.  It was already getting chilly outdoors, and that trend will only speed up as we get deep into November.  I just finished a book a few days ago, so it was time to dive into a new one.  Around 7 pm we turned on the TV to watch the USC vs. Northwestern game played in L.A.  The first half ended in a 14-14 tie, but in the second half the Trojans opened up the game, winning 38-17....three touchdowns.  Last week USC finally broke inside the top 20 NCAA college footballs teams in the nation, and with the latest win should move up again.

Thanks for stopping by!

Getting stuff done....

 8:23 am - Friday - November 7th - TWW - 45° F, humidity 24%, wind 2 mph out of the east....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2014 TLE and I were taking a walk around Sparks Marina Lake in Sparks, NV.....

....we were working at Amazon in Fernley, NV, about 30 miles to the east, but living at Sparks Marine RV Park in Sparks.  The entire development used to be a giant rock quarry.

Our daily goal here at TWW is to accomplish something every day, and after 8 days I can say we have been true to that desire, including Thursday.  Right after posting my latest missive, I headed over to the garage to retrieve my Honda 2000eu generator, and a battery charger to hookup to the Ford tractor battery.  After sitting for 6 months the battery, surprisingly, was not too low, but needed about an hour of charge to get it where it would turn the diesel engine over quickly enough to start.  My goal was to move it over to the CONEX so I could air up the tires, and have it close to tools when we work on the coolant leak.  After less than an hour the battery had enough voltage to spin the diesel, and it started right up on the first attempt.  As I always say, "those old diesel engines are quite resilient", and they are.  Within minutes I had parked the Ford tractor near the CONEX.  Later in the afternoon I fired up our 150 PSI air compressor (bought it last winter off Facebook Market Place), and aired up three of the four tires.....

....while I was thus occupied, TLE was watering her potatoes and onions at the greenhouse.  I moved both side by sides (Yamaha and Cushman) over near the greenhouse so she could spray 6 months of environmental grime off the windshields and bodies after she was done watering.

After a short snack break TLE and I tackled the main task of the day....the installation of a new sail shade awning Phyllis bought for the wood deck on the house.  It is a 12' x 12' sail....much larger than the 6' x 8' sail we installed last winter.  We had to moved the two 10' long 4" x 4" posts closer together, and using TLE's great suggestions, we were able to install it without using any ropes....

.....I'm finding, quite often lately, that TLE has really great ideas for outdoor stuff like this.  I get stuck with a certain solution in my mind which isn't working, but she thinks outside the box more than I do, and can see it from a different perspective. At first I was skeptical, but in the end it was the perfect solution, and now we don't have to worry about adjusting the ropes as they stretch over time.  This 12' x 12' sail provides much more shade, obviously.  Oh, and I almost forgot, while we were installing the new sail TLE was running a load of wash through the washer and dryer in the house (NO more laundromats for us).

By the time we finished installing the sail, and putting our tools away it was around 2 pm, and since we had accomplished what we set out to do called a day, workwise.  I spent a couple of hour outside on the 'lido deck' reading, and napping before it got too chilly in the shade.

TLE prepared Beef Barley soup for dinner....she makes the best Beef Barley soup!  We watched recordings of 'Survivor' and 'Amazing Race', and then the end of the Thursday Night Football matchup between the hapless Raiders (2-7) and the now 8-2 Broncos.  With the latest come from behind win the Broncos now have the best record in the NFL after 10 games.....I never saw that coming.

Thanks for stopping by!

Much smaller bites, better result....

 7:52 am - Thursday - November 6th - TWW - 51° F, humidity 25%, wind 6 mph out of the southeast....partially cloudy this morning with a forecast high of 71° F.  On this date in 2017 TLE were just arriving at the east gate at the Grand Canyon for a 4+ month stay.....

.....and had parked in our employee site a few minutes later.  The elevation at the east gate is 7,400', so you can imagine what an interesting winter it was.  You can begin reading about that winter here, if you wish.

After biting off way more than I could chew Tuesday, I scaled back my work load significantly Wednesday, but seemingly got way more done....go figure.  The first order of the day was for Charles and I to begin troubleshooting the Ford loader we used a lot last winter.  Sometime in early April the coolant system for the tractor developed a leak, but we never had time to diagnose the problem, and fix it.  We have a lot of things to be done this winter for which we need the tractor, so we took off the front of the tractor to examine the coolant hoses, but nothing seemed obvious....like a blown hose, and when we filled the radiator with water none of the hoses showed and leaks, however, there was a slow drip, drip, drip at the rear of the engine.  Without taking off the entire engine cowling it will be difficult to find that leak, so that will be a job for another day.....

....after that Charles and I set about fixing the gate on the north side of the greenhouse, which we installed last March, or April.  The 4" x 4" post to which the gate is mounted  (left post) had sagged to the right a tad, making the gate rub against the other post, so we cut another piece of 4" x 4" post to spread the two posts apart about 1/4", and that did the trick.....now the gate no longer rubs on the right post.....

Now the gate does not catch on the 

post when you try to close it

.....next up was a task in preparation for attaching the visqueen (clear plastic membrane - 10m thickness) to the frame of the greenhouse (which is coming very soon now).  We needed about 200' of firring strips, which Charles purchased a few day sago, and before we use them we wanted to paint them white to seal them, and match the wood frame of the greenhouse, so Charles and I began painting them early afternoon, and by 3 pm we were done (had to give them time to dry in between coats).....

....in between all of that we wanted to figure out why the Yamaha Rhino would not start.  It has a mechanical fuel pump, which we suspected was not pumping fuel, and might have gotten clogged over the winter due to the awful ethanol fuel we are forced to purchase.  I was kind of sure that wasn't the issue, but we had to rule it out.  While we were detaching the fuel lines from the fuel pump (in order to blow pressurized air through it to clear any possible clogs) I discovered the line which carries fuel from the fuel tank to the pump had a 1.5" tear in it, and that explained why no fuel was getting to the pump....all it was able to do was suck air.  Once we replaced that 10" section of fuel line the Rhino fired right up.....I love it when problems are easily solved....

....by the time we finished putting everything back together, and I took a shower it was 4 pm and time for dinner in the house....

.....I haven't taken an 'usie' of us eating this winter yet, so here you are....proof of life.  Phyllis and TLE made bean soup, with sides of garlic bread, and coleslaw...what a great winter meal!  Naturally, there was some vino for those of us who partake, and a great time was had by all.  After a day of small tasks being accomplished I was refreshed and feeling myself once again.  As we bid our hosts adieu we noticed there was a beautiful sunset happening, so I had to memorialize it....

....thanks for stopping by!

Biting off more than one can chew......

 8:07 am - Wednesday - November 5th - TWW - 48° F, humidity 19%, wind 8 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 74° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were having dinner at Pomona Valley Mining Company.....

.....with my brother Philip, and his wife Jeannie.  One of our favorite SoCal restaurants, located high on a hill overlooking the Pomona Valley.

I think I bit off too much Tuesday, at least that's how it feels Wednesday morning as I attempt to memorialize the events of Tuesday in this latest missive.  We began our day with a 1 mile out and back walk, then got ready to work.

First up, TLE wanted me to cut up some large branches I had cut off the tree located hear the left rear corner of our coach so she could haul away the small stuff to our future burn pile, and reduce the larger pieces to a size upon which we can utilize the hydraulic wood splitter.....

....once that was done we turned our attention to installing the white PVC sewer line as we needed to dump our black tank.  You may recall that we originally installed a temporary sewer line using the preferred black pipe with glued joints, but that is meant to be buried.  What we discovered was the black pipe would expand during the day, and shrink at night pulling the pipe apart causing it to leak, but we lived with it.  Ultimately I bought the heavier duty, white PVC pipe which will not expand and contract with temperature to the degree the black pipe did, but we never installed it. Fast forward to Tuesday, it was time to install the white PVC, and was it ever easy.  We used rubber couplings to splice the sections together.....

The new white PVC above ground sewer line....you can see the former black pipe sewer line to the right.  It will be used, eventually, when we bury the line permanently.

Everything went together so easily!

The black rubber couplers

....this method was way less messy with no black glue being employed, plus if there is any minor expansion, or contraction it will not pull the pipe apart breaking the glue seal.

As we were finishing the installation Charles and Phyllis arrived for a two day stay, so while they unpacked the truck TLE and I hooked the 175' of hose together to flush the tank with pressurized water coming from the water tower.  Eventually, we will dig the trench between the Newell and the sewer line, and bury the black sewer line to make it permanent, but that will be a task for another day.  Charles will rent a trencher to bring up here so we don't have to break our collective backs digging through the caliche rock.

Now, if I had called it a day right then I would have been wise, but I am not known for being wise in that regard.  The battery on our 1969 Chevrolet C-50 tilt bed truck had gone dead during the summer.  I should have removed it and left it on a trickle charger like I did the battery for the Jeep CJ5.  Anyway I gave the dead battery to Charles when they left to return to Phoenix last Thursday, and he returned with a new Interstate battery.  Naturally, at least for me, I wanted to install that new battery, and get the truck running again, and was successful in that endeavor.  I had treated the fuel in the tank with Stabil before we left last April, and ran the truck long enough to circulate the treated gasoline through the fuel system, so it fired right up.

Again, if I had been wise, I would have gone home right then, taken a shower, and taken a nap before dinner, but I decided I wanted to start up Phyllis' 1982 Newell, which hadn't been started since the last time we were here back in April.  Of course, the chassis batteries used to turn over the big Detroit Diesel 6v92 were low, so I had to retrieve my two battery chargers, and get them charging, which took another 45 minutes, by which time I was exhausted...."A Bridge Too Far" as one might opine.

Dinner was set to be served around 4 pm, and it was 3:20 pm, which meant I would barely have enough time to take a shower, and 'rest' for a few minutes before heading into the house for dinner.  By the time we had dinner, which was delicious (some kind of egg casserole TLE made), I was ready for a long nap, so after bidding our hosts adieu we headed home where I quickly fell asleep in my recliner for about an hour.  Had I been wise enough earlier I could have had that hour nap before dinner....doh!

Thanks for stopping by!