More road work.....

 6:59 am - Friday - March 28th - TWW  - 53° F, humidity 35%, wind 9 mph out of the south.....heavy overcast this morning with a forecast high of 64° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I were overnighting in Kinards, SC on our way to Ashville, NC....

After making that run in the Rhino out to the east/west arterial early Thursday morning to video the work I had done, I realized that TLE and I would need to take a couple of rock rakes out there to smooth out a few areas, plus fill in some holes, and remove some large rocks that the Gannon dislodged.  After finishing my latest missive TLE and I did just that.  Imagine raking 1/2 mile of dirt road...lol!  The first 200 yards needed a lot of work, but things sped up after that and soon we were back at TWW cooling down, and proclaiming we were done, workwise, the the day.  In all we spent around 2 hours raking, and smoothing.  Some of the dislodged rocks were so large it took TLE and I to move them off the road.  Well, that's a bunch of rocks I won't have to dislodge with a pry bar at a later date!

After resting in the cool confines of our Newell for a while I decided to dive into a small project I've been putting off for too long.  When we arrived at TWW back in October we found an old, neglected Coleman gas grill in the garage which was totally encrusted with grease, and seemed to be destined for the trash, but I had just ordered a steam cleaner on Amazon to use to clean the fins on our rear facing radiator from time to time, and thought it would be able to do the job, so I set the grill aside for another day.  Additionally, there was an old diesel container that was still in pretty good shape, but had been sitting outdoors with a lot of gunk inside it.  Once again I thought the steam cleaner would clean it out, and make it usable again, so I put about a 1/2 gallon of diesel in it to help loosen some of the gunk, and set it aside for another day. Well, that day finally arrived...lol!

The Coleman grill needs a little more work, but it is 1,000% better than when I began to steam clean it

All you need is a bucket of water, plug in the unit, and within seconds you've got pressurized steam....so simple to use

....once again, the land provides.  I had an extra pour spout, and vent cap, so now I've got an extra diesel can.

TLE made cornbread, and chili for our communal dinner with Charles and Phyllis.  They arrived sometime after 1 pm when I was in the middle of steam cleaning.  We ate around 3:30 pm.  They'll be here until Sunday, I think.

I spent the evening watching the 'Sweet Sixteen' round of the NCAA 'March Madness' basketball tournament.  There were no upsets, so four of the higher seeded teams have now advanced to the 'Elite Eight' to be played this weekend.  There will be four more games to complete the 'Sweet Sixteen' round on Friday.  The game between Arkansas (#10 seed in their pool) and Texas Tech (#3 seed in their pool) was the only game on Thursday with a chance of an upset.  Arkansas led by as many as 16 points at one time, but Texas Tech slowly clawed their way back into the game, tying it as regulation time expired.  Texas won in overtime by 2 points....what a comeback!  My brother-in-law, Glenn, who attended Texas Tech will be happy.

Thanks for stopping by!

Road improvement....

 7:01 am - Thursday - March 27th - TWW - 50° F, humidity 37%, wind 9 mph out of the southeast.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies this morning, with a forecast high of 76° F.  On this date in 2014 I was finally able to fix my speedometer.  It was non-functional for about 6 months due to a broken 'drive tang' in the signal generator.  I finally sourced a replacement  'drive tang' from a farm supply place in Canada.....

....needless to say, I bought all of their stock of this particular 'drive tang', so I still have three spares.

We accomplished a lot Wednesday, and frankly it was a lot more than I had expected.  One thing led to another, and before I knew it TLE and I had finished water proofing our patio and window awnings, put the white PVC 3" pipe I  recently purchased (a whole other story) into storage in the garage, charged the batteries for the Yamaha and Ford 420 loader as well as our emergency battery pack, scraped flat the driveway entrance road with said Ford 420, as well as the 1/2 mile road that connects us to the east/west arterial, then began work on the new site pad for Phyllis' Newell.  Yup, you're right....that is a lot.....

I'm driving the Yamaha Rhino one handed

Site preparation for the sister Newell has begun!

Another view of the new site from the salon window 

on the driver side of our Newell

.....I've never used a gannon scraper box attachment before, but caught on pretty quickly.

On the white PVC piping I bought to replace the black ASB sewer line we installed.....since the weather has warmed so much, and appears to be a continuing warming trend, the ASB is not shrinking as much during the night, and everything is remaining connected, so we decided to put the PVC into storage in the garage until we return next Fall.  We'll install it then, until we dig the new trench to bury the black PVC.

By the time I finished putting away the tractor, and the other equipment we used during the day it was getting close to dinner time.  With the warmer temperatures, and the extended daylight portion of the day we're starting work earlier, and able to get a lot more done.  Charles and Phyllis are returning Thursday, so we'll be getting twice as much done in the next 3 days....we hope...lol!

Thanks for stopping by!

We're farmers?

 6:45 am - Wednesday - March 26th - TWW - 50° F, humidity 35%, wind 6 mph out of the east by southeast......partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2013 TLE and I visited Augusta National where the Masters is played each April.....

....and it is almost that time again...April 10th to 13th are the dates of the 2025 Masters.  The view this morning.....

Tuesday, at 82° F, was the hottest day I can remember since we arrived at TWW back in late October when we had a few days in the low 80's.  Thankfully, the temps will cool back into the 70's and 60's for the next 2 weeks.  Nevertheless, we were out working around the property by 9 am....about an hour earlier than our norm.  And I say "why not?", when it is already in to 60's.

The main project for the day was to plant potatoes and onions in the raised growing beds we recently rehabilitated.  Phyllis had bought some 'seed' potatoes a while back, and due to the warming temperatures, had begun to sprout, so it was time to get them in the ground.....

All four rows in this bed are potatoes

The two rows on the right are potatoes, and the two rows on the left are onions

....in all we planted 6 rows of potatoes, and 2 rows of onions.  Now we need to get that new 6' fencing installed ASAP to keep the critters from pilfering what we've planted, and that should happen when Charles and Phyllis visit this week.  We've got 100' of welded fencing, but need 150', so they will bring the difference with them.  

We removed all the cardboard boxes from the CONEXT, which had been stacking up, then broke them down, and moved them to the loft in the garage to make room for shelving we're going to install in the CONEXT to hold a lot of hardware (fasteners, etc.) that is sitting on the floor in boxes right now.  We're getting tired of 'standing on our heads' to look for stuff in those boxes.  This hardware was left behind by the former owner of the property, and there is a lot of good stuff in the boxes that would cost hundreds of dollars to replace.

With just 3 weeks left before our departure date we're beginning to put stuff away in preparation for 'lift off'.  Our target date for departure is April 20th....give or take a day, or two.  Our first day of work at LPG&RVR this year is May 1st, so we'll have a nice leisurely drive back to Northern California.  We want to arrive there around the 27th, or 28th.

As you will recall, I recently removed the full doors, and rear covering on the Jeep CJ5, but had not yet installed the half doors.  I did that Tuesday afternoon, and they look pretty good.....

....I'm still amazed at how much I got for the price I paid!

By 1:30 pm TLE and I were done working outside.  I actually wore short pants and a t-shirt all day for the first time in a long time. Anyway, it was just too warm for us old fogies, so we headed back to the cool Newell interior for the afternoon.  After a cold winter we'll begin the long, drawn out task of reacclimating to warmer temps for the net few weeks, then head to Likely where we'll probably get snow a couple of times in May like we always do, then the process will begin again....lol.

Our new batteries are working better than expected.  They only get down to 85, or 90% overnight, which is amazing, and they recharge pretty quickly.  I still need to install that Victron charge/controller so I can input the correct settings for lithium batteries, and be able to monitor their status on my phone like I do the Bluetti battery bank.

Thanks for stopping by!

Cloud Energy......

 7:07 am - Tuesday - March 25th - TWW  - 48° F, humidity 30%, wind 6 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 82° F!  On this date in 2017 TLE and I hiked to the summit of Mr. Rubidoux in Riverside, CA.....

.....with Kate, Rochelle, Chris, Nick, Elijah, Charlise and Jolene.

I've been procrastinating on the install of the two 12 volt, 300 amp hour Cloud Energy batteries to replace the old technology, flooded cell, 8d batteries that have provided 12 volt power for the Newell interior for quite some time now.  In fact, I've had those new batteries since late November.  TLE has been pressing me to install them, so we set Monday aside to do just that, or should I say 'I' set Monday aside to do just that.  It's pretty much a one person job, right?

Before I could install the new batteries we needed to head into Seligman to pick up our mail/packages, which, as it turns out, occupied not only our PO Box, but two additional parcel lockers.  While I retrieved the mail/packages TLE walked over to Family Dollar to buy a few things.  Next we headed to Seligman Market where TLE bought some produce, after which we headed to the General Store to fill three 5 gallon gas cans, and one 5 gallon diesel can.  Next we headed inside to buy an 8' x 4' piece of plywood (3/4") which I would need to make a new shelf in the battery bay for the new batteries.  It cost $70....ouch!  I wanted 1/2", but they only had 3/4".....very, very expensive!  We were back home by 11:15 am, without incident.

I began to pull everything together I had purchased for the installation around 10 am, and finally began to remove the 8d batteries around 11:30 am.  Often I underestimate the time needed for jobs such as this, but my uneducated guess was it would take 4-5 hours beginning to end, and it took just over 4.5 hours.  

First I pulled out the old batteries (with TLE's assistance) from the two sliding trays, then cut a piece of the 3/4" plywood to size (20.5" by 24.75") to place over the two extended trays.  I next affixed them to the plywood already in the trays using 12 w00d screws.  The Cloud Energy batteries are each 13" wide, so there is a little overlap on each side of the two trays.  TLE then helped me to move the new batteries from the shed to the battery trays (now operating as one tray), after which I began to connect all the cables.  I had to cut off the old battery clamps, and replace them with new copper 1/2" lugs so they could be attached by screws to the new batteries.  It came out pretty well....

....I finished around 4:10 pm, and was I ever tired.  We're going to have to reacclimate to warmer temperatures now that the daytime temps are back into the 70's.  Even though the high was only 78° F Monday, it felt more like 90 to me, which really drained the energy out of me.  I'm going to need to clean up the wiring a little to make it look more organized, but everything works!  I'm still using the old Blue Sky charger controller for now, but will install the new Victron charge controller in the next few days.  The batteries have their own BMS (battery management system), so they will not be damaged by the old charge controller.  The new Victron has Bluetooth, so I'll be able to check the battery status on my phone once it is installed.

Thanks for stopping by!

Gravity....

 7:50 am - Monday - March 24th - TWW - 49° F (almost 50° at 7:50 am!?), humidity 34%, wind 4 mph out of the east.....crystal clear, blue, sunny skies today with a forecast high of 77° F.  On this date in 2012 TLE and I were in Baton Rouge, LA.....

Vintage Coca-Cola sign in Baton Rouge near the old Capitol building

The rotunda in the old Capitol building

We bid adieu to Charles and Phyllis around 10 am Sunday, and we were once again alone for another 5 days.  We got a lot done on the greenhouse during their 4 day stay.  It also time to dump our black tank, refill our fresh water tank, and refill our 275 gallon IBC water tote.  All of that takes time, especially refilling the IBC water using just gravity, but what else have we got to do, right?  Well, there are always five other things to do, and Charles had asked us to empty the old water heater tank in preparation for the installation of the new one next weekend (we hope), which we've had for a while.  No point in wasting water, so we ran our 100' contractors hose over to one of the raised growing beds next to the greenhouse, and did that just that, once again using gravity.....

From the water heater....

....around the two 2,500 gallon water storage tanks.....

....to the raised growing bed

.....while the water heater was draining we finished refilling our IBC water tote, so we drug the 4 connected 2" suction hoses over to the second raised growing bed (very heavy with water still in them), and TLE began to water it just using gravity generated water pressure.....

.....in between all of that activity I watched portions of this year's installment of 'March Madness', and there were some good games which came right down to the last few possessions before the winner was determined.  Sadly, my UCLA Bruins did not make it past the round of 32, losing handily to Tennessee by 15, or 16 points.

After 3 days of working on the greenhouse it was nice not to be involved in any big projects, and by 2 pm we were pretty much done with work.  We decided to have our first sunset fire in quite a long time.  As you know, the sunset in these parts is now occurring close to 7 pm, so we don't have to rush dinner, which is nice, to get out for sunsets like we did two months ago.   We convened at our portable, stainless steel fire pit (we've had it since 2005....20 years!!!), which is now in front of our trailer, around 6:15 pm, and enjoyed the early evening as darkness once again enveloped TWW.  By 7:30 pm we were heading back inside for the night....

.....thanks for stopping by!

It always takes longer than you think....

7:21 am - Sunday - March 23rd - TWW -  46° F, humidity 44%, wind 5 mph out of the east....partly cloudy today with a forecast high of 72° F. On this date in 2021 TLE and I were watching another beautiful sunset from our elevated site at Seal Rock RV Cove south of Newport, OR....

Charles and I hoped to finish priming all of the wood structure that is the framework for the greenhouse, and we did finish, but it took way longer than I expected.  I thought we would be done in a couple of hours, but we didn't finish until almost 2 pm......

North and west sides....no more raw wood!

South and east sides

South side

North and east sides....you can still see some of the old green paint bleeding through the primer on the eves.

.....it is now a 'white' house, not a greenhouse....lol.  These four pictures are provided courtesy of Charles Wilson.  

TLE and I made a trip over to Matt and Dawn's homestead to buy 5 dozen ($17.50 total!!!) unwashed, cage free, fertilized eggs around 9:45 am, and were back by 10:20 am.  Charles and Phyllis had begun to work on the greenhouse around 9, or 9:30 am, so when we returned a lot of work had already been done.  Around noon time the girls called us over to the new picnic table for water and snacks....

....I can see us having dinner out here in the near future as the weather continues to warm.  We should see a couple of days in the 80's this week.  The low was only 47° F last night!

Anyway, we finally finished priming the greenhouse, and are now getting ready to apply the second coast, which will come next Friday.  Charles is going to bring an airless paint gun up from Phoenix, which will allow us to apply the second coat in a couple of hours, or less, enabling us to begin the installation of the new roof.

We convened to the house around 3:40 pm for our fourth communal dinner in as many nights. I grilled hamburgers on the Sea-B-Que, and Phyllis provided sides of spinach and cauliflower salads, while Charles provided the vino...

.....near the end of dinner we called Glenn and Laureen (TLE and Phyllis' sister and brother-in-law, and also the owners of the 1984 Newell Classic) to see how they were doing as we hadn't heard from them in a while.  They are doing well, and we are hoping to see them during the coming 12 months!

Thanks for stopping by!

That is a lot of raw wood to prime!

 7:28 am - Saturday - March 22nd - TWW - 48° F, humidity 30%, wind 6 mph out of the south....partially cloudy today with a forecast high of 68° F.  On this date in 2023 TLE and I were in La Quinta having lunch at La Quinta Brewing Company.....

We pretty much had one goal in mind Friday, and least Charles and I did.....finish priming all the raw wood on the greenhouse structure.  We worked from 10 am to 2 pm, with a couple of short breaks, and still had not finished priming all the wood.....

Still a lot of raw wood to paint

Half the roof complex is now primed

.....I would say we're around 75% done, and should be able to finish the first coat sometime Saturday morning, and then begin to apply the second coat to the roof complex.

Meanwhile, the ladies were gathering wood from around TWW to restock the firewood box on the wood deck of the house, and that took them the better part of 3 hours.  A couple of things I forgot to write about a couple of days ago was that Charles and Phyllis brought a patio set up from Phoenix, and it is really pretty nice....

....the table and umbrella came out of Charles' storage CONEX down there, and Phyllis acquired the very nice chairs from a local thrift shop for around $12 each....score!  Additionally, they purchased a couple of raised, cedar planters for the greenhouse interior.....

.....they will probably buy a couple more in the near future, but it is a start!

Of course, we had dinner in the house with Charles and Phyllis around 3:15 pm, but did not tarry too long afterwards as I was bone tired, and needed a nap, plus, as you must know, 'March Madness 2025' has begun this week, and there were a few games I wanted to watch before bed time.  We were in bed by 10 pm, and I slept 'like a log' until just after 5 pm, when I got up to go to the bathroom.  I'm enjoying being back to work after a long layoff, and I always sleep better when I've put in a good day of labor.

Thanks for stopping by!