Length does matter.....

 7:17 am - Friday - November 15th - TWW - 46° F, humidity 31%, wind 16 mph out of the south by southwest....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 51° F.  On this date in 2019 TLE and I were working at Ramona Oaks RV Resort, and I rode my new to me Haibike SDURO electric assist mountain bike for the first time....I was in love.....

.....before buying the Haibike I had to push my Intense 5.5 part of the way up to the microwave tower.  With the Haibike electric assist I was able to ride the bike the entire way.

We began Thursday with one simple goal, but as can happen in the Hockwald clan, our attention was diverted several times to other projects.  Our main goal for Thursday was to extend the 'mast' on the new wind turbine above the Newell, and the surrounding trees in order to take better advantage of the wind.  I moved the saw horses from the garage over to the trailer, and brought the 'mast' extension pole over as well.  

I would need TLE's help with this project, and she was in the middle of burning cardboard in our 'burn barrel', so I turned my attention to trying to fix the latch on the driver side water bay door on Phyllis' Newell.  What began as a 30 minute project, turned into a 2 hour project, and at the end I had improved the travel of the latch about 85%, but it would still not lock in place like the others do.  TLE moved from the burn barrel to other things while I struggled with the water bay door.  I finally decided I had gone as far as I could on the latch, deciding to leave the last 15% until another day.  Right now it does keep the water bay door closed, and the elements out, so I had that going for me.

Next TLE and I finally turned our attention to extending the 'mast' for the wind turbine.  In order to extend the 'mast' 8' I needed to add about 8' of 10 gauge stranded wire to the existing wiring.  That went pretty smoothly.  We also had to take down the wind turbine to work on that wiring, as well as prepare it to be extended.  I won't go into all the details, but the project seemed to take twice as long as it should, however, in the end we were successful in raising the full 'mast', which is now about 18' long, and putting it back into the mounting brackets on the trailer.  Trying to lift that much metal was a little daunting, but between TLE and I we figured out the best way to do it, and in the end we were successful with no small children, or animals of any size, being harmed.....

The extended 'mast' installed

The 8' extension

.....within minutes of installing the longer 'mast' the propeller began to spin as fast as I have seen it spin since we installed it.  The wind was very light, but the turbine was now tall enough to get the turbine above the trees and Newell to catch the wind!

For the rest of the afternoon busied myself with several small projects, one of which was to replace the ground wire for the new SeaFlo water pump, which went very smoothly.  It was also time to refill our onboard fresh water tank, and after that the IBC water tote.  With TLE's help both were accomplished in short order.  By the time we finished putting away the large hose we use to transfer water from the water tower to the IBC water tote the sun was setting, and another day at TWW was in the books.  Other than a short snack break, we worked continuously for about 6 hours....one of our longer work days since we arrived.

Thanks for stopping by!

I've got you pegged.....

 7:28 am - Thursday - November 14th - TWW - 37° F, humidity 27%, wind 8 mph out of the southeast....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 70° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I had our second sunset fire at Rincon Parkway (north of Ventura, CA)....

....that cement seawall in front of the portable firepit was all that separated us from the Pacific Ocean.

It had been about 10 days since we last washed clothes, and I needed a few things at the Seligman hardware store, so our plan was to leave TWW around 10 am to make the drive into town, but before that I had things which needed doing before we returned so I could begin and finish my next project by late afternoon.  As you enter the CONEX there are two 4' x 8' peg boards with a lot of random stuff attached.  My goal was to move the lower 4' x 8' peg board piece from the right side of the CONEX to the left side, and over the work bench, so tools that we use on a regular basis will be right there in front of anyone working at the work bench.  With TLE's help I was able to get it moved, and refastened to the wall by 9:40 am....

There were two 4' x 8' peg boards there, stacked one on top of the other.  The lower one was largely unusable because of things stacked on the floor in front of it

....we were in the 2004 Ford Expedition, which Charles and Phyllis brought up from Phoenix for us to use to get into and out of town, by 10:10 am.  It usually takes us 25-30 minutes in the Beetle to traverse the 7 miles of dirt roads back to US-66 (the VW is very low slung with stiff suspension), but in the Expedition (with very good SUV suspension) it takes us less than 10 minutes, and only 30 minutes total to reach the outskirts of Seligman.  Okay the secret is out, we are about 30 minutes outside of Seligman, AZ (Charles and Phyllis gave permission to reveal the general location).  Anyway, having access to the Expedition enables us to reach town way faster, but to also pick up larger items, which would not fit in the hatch of the Beetle, to bring back to TWW.

Our first destination was the Seligman Laundromat.....

....which as laundromats go is pretty nice, plus (on the left) they provide 'theater seating' for customers.  There was only one person there when we arrived to put our clothes in the large triple load washer you can see on the right, and when we came back to switch our clothes to the dryer, we were all alone....nice.  The triple load washer does its work in about 25 minutes, so we used that time to do some shopping at the local Family Dollar store.  By the time we returned it was time to move our clothes over to one of the large dryers at the rear of the laundromat, and then head over to the General/Hardware Store for some hardware.  The dryers take about 40 minutes, and by the time we returned there was only 7 minutes left on the dryer....perfect timing....we like to spend as little time as possible in laundromats....lol!

After folding our clothing we drove a couple of blocks over to Delgadillo's Snow Cap Drive-In where you can get burgers, malts, sodas and shakes.  For such a small town there are a lot of eateries....at least 7, or 8 by our count.  I'm sure by the time we finish our 6 months stint here we will have sampled them all....

....I had their Green Chili Burger (1/4 pounder) with onion rings, and a chocolate malt, while TLE had their OINK burger (bacon cheeseburger) with onion rings, and a Diet Coke......

.....we each cut our burgers in half to share with the other.  Yelp gives them 4.5 stars on 217 reviews, but we could be closer to 3.5 stars.....good basic burgers, but nothing to write home about, however, the chocolate malt was heavenly!

We were home by 1:30 pm, at which time I began to finish my work of setting up the tools on the freshly moved peg board.....

.....I've been carrying around a lot of tools which I do not use, but might come in handy some day.  I decided to donate them to TWW where I am sure they will get some use, and my trailer will become several hundred pounds lighter in the process.....there a more tools which I'll transfer in the very near future.....

The 5 Stihl chains which came with the 17" bar Stihl...the chainsaws, of course, will remain at TWW in our absence this summer

The new air tools I bought off Facebook Marketplace

A complete set of metric open/closed end ratcheting wrenches

My extremely large open/closed end wrenches (1" up to 1.5"), and a bunch of extra screw drivers of the flathead and Phillips head variety

Some of my hand saws, which have seen very infrequent use over 13 years

The band saw which the land provided (left by prior owner)

The 4 new hand tools (all with yellow handles) I bought at the hardware store....a new rock rake, hoe, hula hoe, and tiller

....it took me until after 4 pm to get as far as I did.  I still have work to do on the peg board on the right side of the CONEX interior, but things are looking much more useable!

Around 5 pm we headed out to the sunset fire 'deck' to watch another sunset....

The almost FULL moon last night

Two contrails lit up by the setting sun.....they look like they're on fire!  That Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra camera is amazing!

Nice afterglow around 6 pm

.....we watched the latest 'Survivor' episode, and were in bed around 10:30 pm.  A very nice, productive day at TWW!

Thanks for stopping by!

Woodsmen are we.....

7:18 am - Wednesday - November 13th - 33° F, humidity 54%, wind 9 mph out of the east....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 65° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I awoke to see the ocean just outside our windows at Rincon Parkway.....

....that two week stint at Rincon was 9 years ago, and we have not been back since.  It seems like yesterday.  My heart is telling me we need to return.

TLE and I got a lot of stuff done Tuesday, but the actual highlight of Tuesday was my brother, and sister-in-law (Philip and Jeannie) stopping by for a visit on their way back to SoCal from Williams, AZ where they rode the Grand Canyon Railroad up to the Grand Canyon and back on Monday....

....Tuesday was a cold, blustery day in the low 50's, so we lit the wood stove in the house, and spent time inside its (the house) warm confines catching up on the last 10 months.  We didn't even know they were in the area, but on Sunday evening I saw a Facebook post by my brother indicating he and Jeannie were in Williams, so I called them and told them how close they were to us.  They immediately agreed to stop by on their way home on Tuesday.  What a delightful surprise!  They hung around for a couple of hours, and we gave them a tour of the property, but soon it was time for them to head to their next destination.  We exchanged 'until next times' and watched their car disappear over the hill....a little bittersweet, but such wonderful serendipity.

After their departure TLE and I got out the smaller of the two Stihl chainsaws (17" bar), which we had not used yet, and cut up enough wood to almost fill the new wood box Charles and Phyllis brought with them on Monday....got to keep that full for the wood stove in the house!  TLE even took a turn with the chainsaw and did pretty well.  We're becoming 'woodsmen'....

....to cap off our day I finally installed the vice on the work bench in the CONEX, which Charles brought up from Phoenix a few weeks ago....

....while I was in the CONEX I also cleaned out the insides of the two Stihl chainsaw cases, and got them out of the way after 10 days.....as one might expect each case had chainsaw oil residue coating the insides, and looked pretty nasty....

....now that we've got two working chainsaws we can really get busy cutting more fire wood against the coming winter.  On the wind turbine front we finally got enough wind to make that six bladed propeller spin....

....however, the Bluetti battery bank was already fully charged, so I didn't get a chance to see how much power it was producing, but things are looking good.  I think I need to raise it another 10 feet, or so as there are large juniper trees to the south, and east of its location, plus the new Newell is blocking wind from the west.  The house is just to its north, so all four points of the compass are somewhat blocking the full force of the wind.  The only solution, in my mind, is to get the turbine above all of those obstructions to be more effective.

Thanks for stopping by The Wilson Wilderness!

Ginormous.....

6:53 am - Tuesday - November 12th - TWW - 38° F, humidity 54%, wind 9 mph out of the southwest......crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 54° F.  On this date in 2015 TLE and I had arrived at our all time favorite boondock site....Rincon Parkway, just north of Ventura, CA.....first sunset.....

It's interesting how even very local weather forecasts can be so inaccurate.  The forecast wind speeds for Monday varied between 11 mph and 17 mph, so I was hoping to see my new wind generator produce some power, but it was not to be.  I'm pretty sure the wind, on rare occasions hit 11-12 mph, but for only short durations of 1 minute here and there, so the wind generator, while it began to turn, did not spin fast enough to produce any measurable power.  On a positive note the little green LED light on the controller box did light up for brief moments indicating some power was being generated.

A week, or so ago we ordered a new SeaFlo house water pump (6 GPM, 60 PSI) to replace our old, worn out SHURflo water pump which was rated, 14 years ago, at 5.5 GPM (40 PSI), but it was no longer capable of those numbers.  Our Gerard tankless water heater did not like the lower pressure, whatever it was, and would keep shutting down when it would barely hit 102° F, which, while mildly warm/hot, was not hot enough for a shower of any duration.  At any rate, Charles and Phyllis brought the new pump with them from Phoenix Monday morning, so my goal was to have it installed before days end....

The old, tired SHURflo water pump....RIP

....and I succeeded!  The removal and replacement was actually easier than I thought it would be, and nothing had to be done more than once.  I had to make a few adjustments to the fittings for the water inlet, and outflow, but in the end it all came out well, and we love the massive increase in water pressure!

On the home front, the new water pump I wrote about yesterday was installed, however, after several attempts to prime the pump, it was discovered there is a leak somewhere under the house, and that leak will have to be found, and fixed on another day.  Phyllis and Charles were only up for the day with their handyman, Matt, and had to leave by 2 pm, so still no water pressure in the house, and the proverbial dominos have not yet begun to tumble....oh well.  

They did, however, bring up a new refrigerator, which is so big we had to take the front door of the house off its hinges to get it through... 

.....it is ginormous!  It took Charles, Matt and I to get it off the trailer, up the stairs to the deck, and through the front door.  How we got it through the front door without damaging it I cannot say.  The clearances were about 1/2" in each side.  The space where it now sits is just barely wide enough for it to slide in....about 1/16" on each side.

By the time I finished helping with fridge, and installing the water pump it was around 2 pm, so we said our 'until next times to Charles, Phyllis and Matt, and I went inside to take a shower, and a long nap!  It was breezy at 5 pm, so we opted out of a sunset fire.

Thanks for stopping by!

'Lido deck' action......

7:44 am - Monday - November 11th - TWW - 36° F, humidity 48%, wind 6 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 68° F.  It actually got to 70° F yesterday!  On this date in 2013 TLE and I took our usual bi-annual driving break at the Mono Lake Vista Point at the top of Conway Summit on US-395.....

Every day we are here at TWW we have a couple of goals.  Sunday's goals were to erect the new metal shelving we bought for the garage to better organize the stuff we will be leaving here when we head back to LPG&RVR in late April of 2025.  We bought this shelving unit off Amazon, and hoped it would be somewhat intuitive to put together, and our hopes paid off.  It took us about an hour to put it together.....

....and then it was time to use it for its intended purpose....

....we may need one more, we'll see, but for now we are much more organized, and there is nothing left cluttering the floor giving us more space to park vehicles, etc.

Next up, and I cannot believe we have not done this in the past three weeks, was to put out our rope lights around the coach, and 'lido deck'.  That job really fell to me to complete as it is really a one person job.  It took me another hour to get everything laid out, and connected to an electrical outlet, but I believe it turned out well (fast forward to nighttime).....

.....you may wonder why we haven 't rolled out the large artificial turf piece for our 'lido deck' yet.  Well, our current location on the property is only temporary, as we are waiting for the Ford loader to have one of its large rear tires refilled with water, so we can level the site where we want to spend the next 5 months....it seems there is a slow leak, and the one tire is a little squishy right now, but the time is near when it will be ready to use it again.  This Monday the new water pump for the property will be installed giving us water pressure once again.  That water pressure will enable us to refill the tractor tire.  You have to have a certain amount of water pressure (PSI) to properly fill it.  Additionally, that new water pump will enable us to fill the water heater in the house, which will then enable the propane guy to come and certify the gas appliances, so the propane may begin to flow into the house once again.  The pump will be the first of several dominos which will begin to be toppled.  With the installation of the new water pump the house will become fully functional once again.

Around 3 pm I lit the Sea-B-Que for only the second time here at TWW, and grilled a beautiful filet mignon, to which TLE added fried potatoes, and a tossed side salad.....

....around 5 pm we headed outside for our first sunset fire in a week, or so.  The temp had gotten to 70° F, and there was no wind, so a perfect night for another fire.....

.....the moon has begin to 'wax' again.....

....so I took a closeup with my Samsung S35 Ultra.....I think the closeup came out quite well, how about you?.....

.....Sunday was an idyllic day weatherwise, but no wind meant we still haven't been able to test out the new wind generator, but let not your hearts be weary.....there will be wind today (Tuesday) in the 11-14 mph range for the afternoon, so we are close to 'proof of concept'....finally!

Thanks for stopping by!