Personal day....

 8:02 am - Thursday - January 22nd - TWW - 31° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 65%, wind 5 mph out of the southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 57° F.  The view this morning.....

....and on this date in 2013 TLE and I were watching our 26th sunset in Cedar Key, FL....

....at the Tiki Bar located at Low Key Hideaway.  This was the first one with TLE in it.

I decided to take the day off work Wednesday.  Sometimes you need that, right?  Just a day of doing nothing physical.  Just a day of remaining indoors where it is warm, and hospitable.  Just taking a few naps, and reading.  It was a very cloudy day, but we did manage to get our battery banks back to 100%.

TLE and Phyllis, on the other hand, worked at permanently planting some of the cauliflower and broccoli into the raised growing beds, and the rest into larger pots.....

....ultimately we'll acquire some more raised growing beds, but this is a start, and so far the plants are thriving in spite of it being winter.

Around 4 pm we had our daily communal dinner consisting of chicken tenders, a cauliflower casserole, and broccoli.  As usual everything was delicious.  Our non-stop conversation spilled over into the living room, and by 5:30 pm we were bidding our adieus.  Charles and Phyllis will be heading back to Phoenix Thursday, and we will join them next there weekend for their wedding ceremony on Sunday.

Thanks for stopping by!

More nuptials in our future.....

 7:47 am - Wednesday - January 21st - TWW - 22° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 73%, wind 4 mph out of the south by southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 56° F.  The view this morning.....

....and on this date in 2019 TLE and I were in Amarillo, TX.....

.....watching a spectacular sunrise.  We were on our way to Flagstaff, AZ where I would undergo two surgeries to remove cysts.

Charles and Phyllis called Monday night to let us know they would be arriving Tuesday afternoon for a two day stay.  We weren't expecting them for another week as they had just returned from an unplanned 2,100 mile road trip to Dallas, TX (2,100 round trip.....22 hours of driving each way).  Personally, I would have been in a coma after that, but they are made of something tougher than I....lol.  

We essentially followed our normal morning routine staying indoors until around 11 am when we got dressed to do some work.  My task this day was to permanently install the rubber water barrier at the base of each garage door, and seal everything so there is no more water ingress during and after rain/snow storms.  Every time it rains, which is not often here, the front of the garage gets flooded, and then takes a week to dry out.  I spent time cleaning the area where the rubber gasket would be installed, then fitting and cutting two lengths, one for each garage door.  Once that was done I laid down the adhesive, then put the water barriers in place.....

.....only time will tell if this water barrier will be adequate.....I believe it will.  While I was waiting for the concrete to get warm enough to apply the adhesive I spent time straightening out the metal on the northwest corner of the garage....

....using metal dollies to take the wrinkles out of the sheet metal (see above picture) where I assume a vehicle of some sort struck the corer causing the damage.  The metal trim piece which runs from the roof line down to the ground had been lying on the ground next to the garage since we arrived last winter.  I've been meaning to fix this since then, but there was always something more pressing.....

The beige meal trim in circled in red above

....once the sheet metal was mostly straight again I reattached the beige metal trim, and now it passes the 10 foot test.

While I was dong that TLE was working in the greenhouse to get the raised growing beds ready to receive the plants we've been growing in small pots in there the past month (cabbage, broccoli and cauliflower).

Charles and Phyllis arrived between 2:30 and 3 pm, and by 4 pm we were sitting down to a dinner of waffles and scrambled eggs.  While we ate they regaled us on their trip to Texas, and all of their adventures.  After hearing everything about their I was even more sure I would have been in a near vegetative state instead of here at TWW.  By the way, Charles and Phyllis announced they are getting married again on February 1st.  It's been 3, or 4 years since they began seeing each other again after being divorced for 40 years.  We are so excited, and we'll be driving down to Phoenix for the nuptials!

Thanks for stopping by!

Change of plans.....

 7:52 am - Tuesday - January 20th - TWW  - 27° F, humidity 22%, cloud cover 2%, wind 7 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 58° F.  the view this morning.....

.....and on this date in 2025 TLE were checking into the Hotel St. Michael for an overnight stay, and had lunch at the Bistro St. Michael.....

....it was about this time I discovered we had left TWW without my overnight bag....no clothes, no toiletries....doh!  A quick run to Walmart solved that problem....lol!

Amazingly, it has been about 2 weeks since we last dumped our black tank, and refilled our fresh water tank, and it was obvious  Monday morning that needed to be done without further delay, so after posting my latest entry to to Blogger we headed outside to do just that.  Within minutes we had run our 175' of fresh water hose to the greenhouse hose bib, and began adding almost 100 gallons into our fresh water tank....in two weeks we had used just 100 of the 160 gallons of fresh water!  I think that's a new record for us.

I had planned to work on a project out at the garage Monday, but I noticed one of the vinyl floor planks in our coach had some damage, plus there were 5, or 6 others with dents from dropping stuff which needed attention, so our plans for the day changed.  We pulled all area rugs out of the coach, then swept the floor.  At that point we began inspecting all the planks, writing black X's on the ones needing replacement.  When we finished the total planks needed was 7.  Up until last winter we'd been carrying around two boxes of the vinyl planks left over from when we redid the floor in 2023.  Now that we can store stuff in the garage we left those two boxes here when we left last April, knowing we'd need them this winter.  We have about 50 vinyl planks left, so we can repair this floor indefinitely as the need arises.  We had the old, damaged planks removed, and the 7 new ones installed within an hour.

We also needed to restock our egg supply so I contacted Dawn and Matt, who live about 2 miles from TWW, to see what they had available.  TLE wanted 3 dozen of the unwashed, pasture raised chicken eggs, and Dawn advised she had what we needed, so after we finished refreshing our flooring, we headed over to her home in the Yamaha Rhino.  Even though we only asked, and paid for 3 dozen Dawn threw in an extra dozen for free. which she has done often in the past.  We always enjoy talking with them, and catching up on what is happening around the area.  They've been living off the grid here for 6, or 7 years, so they know a lot of people.  Dawn even runs a local Facebook group dedicated to news about our community, and that is how I met her originally.

Monday was also the day of the NCAA College Football Championship final between Indiana and Miami.  The way Indian had destroyed the opposing teams in the last two games led us to believe this might be a one sided affair, and for a while it was, but ultimately Miami was within 6 points with 1 minute 45 seconds to go in the game, and was making a drive down the field to win the game.  With about 45 seconds left their quarterback threw a beautiful pass downfield, and it appeared the receiver would catch it for an easy touchdown, but at the last second the defender swooped in front of the receiver and intercepted the ball to end the game.  It was the best college championship game in years, and even though we were rooting for Miami (TLE's home town) we still loved the game.  Miami has won 6 National Championships over the years, and Indiana zero, so it was nice to see a program which had lived most of its life in obscurity come out on top for their first National Championship....congratulations Hoosiers!

Thanks for stopping by!

Putting a lid on it....

 7:51 am - Monday - January 19th - TWW - 31° F, humidity 32%, cloud cover 21%, wind 3 mph out of the east by northeast.....partially cloudy skies today with a forecast high of 59° F.  The view this morning......

....and on this date in 2013 TLE and I were enjoying another magical sunset.....

....in Cedar Key, FL at the Tiki Bar located at Low Key Hideaway.  The way the sunsets would reflect perfectly off the lagoon is what made them so magical.

We haven't been getting dressed to do any work outside until after 11 am due to the persistently cold morning temps hovering in the mid to high 30's, so we (I) set a modest goal of getting one thing crossed off my to do list, and Sunday my choice was to cut the wooden lid for the blue barrel we use to catch water off our cedar shed.  It's only taken over 2 weeks to get this done.....lol.....

.....I have a couple of pieces of plywood left over from other projects last winter, and retrieved one of them (3/4" plywood) out of which to cut round wooden lid for the blue barrel.  The diameter of the top of the blue barrel is 14.25", so I retrieved a length of string, measured out about 8", then tied one end to a screw I put in the middle of the plywood, and the other end to a pencil to draw the 7.25" (radius) circle.  I then used my Craftsman jig saw to cut it out.  Finally, using a 2" hole saw, I cut a 2" hole in the middle of the lid for the PVC pipe to enter the barrel.  Now the barrel is sealed, which will prevent debris from getting into the water, and slow down evaporation.  By the way, the barrel is 2/3's full right now just from rain runoff from the shed roof.

By the time I finished, and cleaned up my mess it was after 12:30 pm, and time to get ready to watch two more NFL playoff games.  The first game between the Houston Texans (visitor) and the New England Patriots (home team) was at 1 pm, and it was snowing in Foxboro.  It was 'close' for a while, but the Texas quarterback (CJ Stroud) made too many mistakes by throwing 4 interceptions at the most inopportune times.  Both teams played great defense, but all of the INT's by Houston's quarterback killed their offense....final score 28-16.  

The late afternoon game (4:30 pm) pitted the L.A. Rams (visitor) at the Chicago Bears (home).  The game time temp at Soldier Field was 17° F, with a wind chill factor making it feel more like 5° F, plus it was snowing.  The Rams scored a TD on their first possession, and then the Bears scored a TD on their second possession.  The Bears added a field goal with a few minutes left in the first half, and the Rams added a field goal with seconds left to go making it 10-10 half time.  In the fourth quarter the Rams added another TD in the fourth quarter to go up 17-10, and it appeared they would win by that score when with about 16 seconds to go in regulation, on a 4th and 5 yards to go for a first down Chicago scored a touchdown on a most improbable 45 yard pass by Caleb Williams into the end zone to tie the game, and send it to  overtime.  The Rams went 'three and out' on their first possession of overtime, and had to punt to Chicago who began a long drive from their own 8 yard line, and were within one play of being in field goal range to win the game when their quarterback threw a most unfortunate interception that gave the Rams the ball on their 20 yard line.  They drove down to the 26 yard line of Chicago with just over 3 minutes to play in the first overtime, and successfully kicked the winning field goal to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat advancing to the NFC Championship game against the Seattle Seahawks in Seattle next Sunday....one game away from the Super Bowl.  Ultimately the 3 INT's by Caleb Williams (a former USC quarterback) doomed the Bears.

It was a great weekend for NFL football with three out of the four being competitive games, and we have no complaints.  My two teams (Broncos and Rams) have made it to their respective AFC and NFC Championship games next Sunday.  Life here at TWW continues to be delightful.  We've acclimated to the winter temps, and are slowly getting things done, most notably the completion of the year long greenhouse rehabilitation.  TLE and I have spent more time this winter with just each other than last winter, and we are enjoying the seclusion, however, we always look forward to seeing Charles and Phyllis.

Thanks for stopping by!

DONE!

 7:29 am - Sunday - January 18th - TWW - 28° F, humidity 27%, cloud cover 29%, wind 4 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 62° F.  The view this morning....

.....and on this date in 2016 Steven Dempsey (world class photographer) whom we met at Cape Blanco along with his wife, Linda, back in 2014, took this picture of our Newell at Quartzite.....

.....which has been seen as the masthead of my daily blog since then.

Back during the rain and snow, a couple of weeks ago now, TLE and I painted the last furring strips so we could finish securing the Visqueen on the north side of the greenhouse.  Now that the snow has melted, and the ground has firmed up again we decided to finally finish the northside of the greenhouse, which would also signal the end of the greenhouse rehab we began a year ago.  We were pretty sure we had enough feet of furring strips to finish, but you never know, right?  TLE an I measured several times before giving Charles the final number of feet we needed, and as it turns out we were correct, and even had a few feet left over.....just a few.....

....we didn't begin work until after 11 am, and finished around 1 pm.  The greenhouse is the centerpiece of our attempt to live a sustainable life here at TWW.  Now that we can grow food year round, and also collect water to irrigate our 'crops' we are finally ready to begin growing our own food on a larger scale.  Once we get the water catchment system installed on the house our ability to catch, and store rainwater/snow will double.

There were two NFL playoff games Saturday, the first of which pitted the Buffalo Bills against the Denver Broncos at Denver.  The Broncos came into the game having won 10 consecutive one score games (a one score game being defined as winning by 8 points, or less).  Last season they won just a single one score game.  Once again we were treated to another nail biter game which went to overtime with Buffalo tying the game at 30-30 with seconds left in regulation.  The Broncos possessed the ball first, and went 'three and out', then Buffalo began a slow march down the field, and appeared to have competed a long pass to within field goal range, but when the play finished it was the Bronco defender who caught the ball.  From there Denver marched down the field and kicked the winning field goal to win their 11th consecutive one score game.  Regretfully though, shortly after the completion of the game it was announced that the Broncos quarterback, Bo Nix, had suffered a season ending broken ankle on the second to last play of the game.  The night cap between the 49ers and the Seahawks in Seattle was a blowout of epic proportions.  The Seahawks completely obliterated the 49ers 41-6, and it wasn't even that close.  The 49ers managed just two field goals in the first half, and no points in the second half.  The Broncos will face the winner of Sunday's game between the Patriots and Texans for the AFC championship.  The Seahawks will face the winner of the Rams vs. Bears game to be played Sunday.

Now that the ground is firm once again it is time to get back to more projects, which will include cutting more firewood....thanks for stopping by!

End of the Prescott interlude.....

 7:51 am - Saturday - January 17th - TWW - 30° F, humidity 24%, cloud cover 0%, wind 5 mph out of the northeast.....clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 59° F. The view this morning.....

.....and on this date in 2015 I was giving away my daughter, Sharon, in marriage.....

Our five kids...left to right: Meredith, Kate, Sharon, Chris and Tim

.....to Rod Garcia, a good man whom I am proud to call 'son'.  It is difficult to believe it has now been 11 years.

We loved our room at Hotel St. Michael (Best Western), and the bed was so comfortable I forgot I wasn't in my own bed in the Newell, which is the most comfortable bed ever in history.  We slept with the window open both nights, and in spite of it being in the low 30's outdoors each night, was quite comfortable, even with the window open.

We were awake around 7 am, at which time I walked down to the Lobby Bar to get our morning coffees (no coffee service in the room).  The round trip takes about 5 minutes, so its not a big deal, and the coffee is better than the average hotel coffee.  After posting my most recent missive we began to pack our clothes for the trip home, which didn't take long.  By the time I had brought the car around from the parking structure, and we loaded our luggage it was 9 am....perfect!  We headed directly over to Parlor Doughnuts for two Americanos, and some doughnuts (French Toast for moi and TLE).  We sat at the bar near the entrance to enjoy our coffees, and were back in the VW headed for Fry's Grocery Store by 9:30 am, our last stop before beginning the two hour drive home.

Our goal was to be on the road home from Fry's between 10 and 10:30 am, and we made it by 10 am.  The drive home was beautiful, without incident, and we arrived there just after 12 pm, even with a stop to top off our fuel tank in Ash Fork.  The condition of the main north/south arterial dirt road was still excellent, even though it has been almost 2 weeks since it was scraped, and we covered the 7 miles to TWW in less than 15 minutes....a new record for the VW.  Even though Prescott is not what I would call a large metropolis, it is a busy town, with lots of background noise, so as we slowly made our way along the arterial we both remarked how nice it was to be back in the land of 'QUIET'.

By the time we had unloaded the car, put everything away, and I had unlocked everything (shed, trailer, garage, house, Phyllis' Newell, CONEX) it was going on 2 pm, and time to sit down for a break.  While we were gone all the the batteries being charged by our solar panels were fully charged and ready for use.  Nothing froze, and the plants in the greenhouse did great.

Time to get back to work.....thanks for stopping by!

Thursday in Prescott.....

 7:21 am - Friday - January 16th - Hotel St. Michael - Prescott, AZ - 31° F, humidity 31%, cloud cover 0%, wind 3 mph out of the south.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 63° F.  On this date in 2021 TLE and I were boondocking at Quartzite, AZ....

.....with Steven and Linda (met while working at Cape Blanco Lighthouse), and Michael and Liz (met at Amazon).....Steven took this drone shot of our encampment.

We've been to Prescott many times during our nomadic travels, and have even had lunch a few times, but have never walked around the Courthouse Square, so Thursday that is what we did....

.....there are a number of coffee places up and down Montezuma, and Gurley, and we wanted to find one at which to have a good cup of coffee, and maybe a pastry, so we set out walking to find one such place that resonated with us, and we found it after about 20 minutes......

Parlor Doughnuts

.....we enjoyed the ambiance of their sitting room for about half an hour enjoying our American coffees, and a doughnut for each....I had their 'Cookies and Cream' doughnut, and TLE had their 'Sandy Beach' doughnut.  The doughnuts, by the way, were exceptional.  We cut them in half so we could share.  I ordered their 'LARGE' coffee, of which I still had half left when we continued our walk....

.....down Montezuma stopping occasionally to browse a store,  read signs, and take pictures.....

These two guys had the right idea!

The Courthouse is the center piece of Old Town Prescott

....my large coffee lasted about half way around the Courthouse Square....I had my spokesmodel wife hold it so I could take a picture before disposing of it in a trash bin....

.....as walked along Gurley back to the Hotel St. Michael we spied an ice cream parlor....

.....where we each ordered scoops of their sea salt caramel.  We sat outside for about 20 minutes  before continuing on our way back to the hotel, where we sat in the hotel lounge finishing our ice creams.....

....around 4:15 pm we headed back down stairs to the Bistro St. Michael for dinner.  We were able to get a table with a view of the intersection of Montezuma and Gurley....

....we both ordered their Grilled Wild Salmon, and I a side salad.....

.....I ordered a glass of their Malbec (Terrazas - Mendoza, ARG)....

....the salmon was 'melt in your mouth' good, and the wine, for me, was a perfect pairing.  After dinner we walked down stairs to the Sword & Fire Speakeasy where they had live entertainment.  The live entertainment was a husband and wife duo, whose playlist consisted of songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's.  We sang along as we consumed our adult beverages.  By the time we had finished those beverages it was getting close to 7 pm, so we paid our tab, and walked back upstairs to hotel, and our room.  We we finished our climb to the 2nd floor I noticed the beautiful ceiling for the first time.....

.....this hotel has been restored with obvious tender loving care, and is in wonderful condition considering it was built in 1864.

Thanks for stopping by!