Monday February 5
Just a short post to let
you know we are still kicking. Have been struggling with the new computer.
Reinstalling programs and
then seeing if they work under Vista. Getting Eudora 7 email to work. It
just goes on and on late into the night.
We then had a Super Bowl
get to together with Bob and Sandy and a follow up tonight to eat the main
course which we were too full to eat last night. So it was Indian Fry Bread
Tacos with all the fixens. Fried in a Dutch Oven over campfire coals.
Some shots you get to learn
from. Like the one above.
Tuesday February 6
I had to find new screen
capture software to work with Vista,
I checked out the products
form
They have some neet stuff. and FREE. FastStone Capture has more options
than the one I had been using. It allows you to capture anything on the
screen including windows, objects, full screen, rectangle / freehand-selected
regions and scrolling windows/web pages.
And FastStone Image Viewer
IS way more than just a viewer. It has a nice array of features such as
image viewing, management, comparison, red-eye removal, emailing, resizing,
cropping, color adjustments, musical slideshow and much more.
Both of these and more are
at www.faststone.org
Note .org not .com I found the Capture one on download.com and got
to thinking about it, and remembered Bob and Linda from http://www.because-we-can.net
had told me about this line of software. So went back and checked my old
emails and sure enough there it was. Thanks Bob.
So playing around with the
new software I came up with this.
The pace of life is slowing
down here in Q Terry is off helping with building block in a new shed at
the rock club. I'm still fushing over the new computer. And it has
warmed up... Will get over 80 today. While back in the midwest...
Well let's not go there.
Found this shot from a couple
of years ago when the desert was in full green mode due to the heavy rain
we had all winter. Spiced it up a bit with the new software.
5:00 PM It's about time we
had a report on the tomato plant.
Now with the warmer weather
we might just get some to eat soon. It was looking a little sad when we
had to keep it in th 5er basement day and nitht, and only open the door
to give it light in the heat of the day. But it is making a big comback.
Lots of new green growth right under the bottom of the bucket.
When we were in Blythe,
CA. on Saturday getting stuff for the Sunday Super Bowel gathering we saw
this unit in the K-Mart parking lot. What a beauty. On closer inspection
you could see it had been been all rebuilt and was a treasured RV of the
finest vintage. AND by the looks of it used for what it was intended for.
Waiting for Lucile Ball
and Ricky Ricardo to step out of the trailer at any moment.
You might notice the changes
to the this blog layout. With the new computer system and wonderful new
photo handling software thought it was time to make a few changes.
I can do more with pictures without the dark background. And best of all,
Netscape Composer 4.79 (WYSIWYG editor, to build web pages) still works
great even with Vista. To get a link to it, and other great FREE web building
tools, see my updated article:
Posting Pictures on your
web site How
To keep the pixel size low
The links to this and more
RV fulltime Help Articles are also on the HOME
page in the lower section.
Wednesday February 7
The Big tent came down today...
Like the song goes "The party's Over... It's Time to go Home..." or somthing
like that.
and around the campgrounds
the call went out like the 1:50 AM bar announcer who yells into the sound
system
"Last Call for Alcohol"
It has been a long time since I heard that...
Now let
us not forget... there are other events yet to happen in Q this season.
Feb.
23-25, 2007 Quartzsite, Arizona
This looks like it might
just be an event to attend. It has been taken over by Tyson Wells who might
just be able to promote it and make it a premier event in Quartzsite. Last
year Rice Ranch hosted this event. Don't ask.
For Q to grow (for a longer
season for RVers) it needs to produce events that extend the season.
lt looks like Tyson Wells
is stepping up and doing just that.
Do go to the Soggy
Mountain Bluegrass Festival site for all the info on
this event.
There is a Chili Cook Off
also.
4th Annual "It's
Chili in Quartzsite" Chili Cook-Off and State Salsa Championship.
All day Feburary 24 th, 2007
Thursday February 8
Just
a normal day in Q like any sleepy burg in the southwest, except there are
still thousands of RVs
still
parked in the BLM. Now is the time many of them have been waiting for,
real nice warm weather. It was record breaking cold in January. And the
town is at their beck and call as no more lines or traffic. So they can
get out and
do
stuff or just relax at their campsite. Read a good book from the
great Quartzsite library.
Many
stay for the clubs in town.
The
things they don't get club members to volunteer for. Like building brick
walls for an addition.
Ya... that's Terry mixing
mortar for the blocks. But he loves it.
He even now wants to take
over the the web site for the club that I started last year. I got tired
of doing it and
suspended it. I have been
teaching him how to update web pages and upload them to the sever. So soon
the www.quartzsitegemandmineralclub.org site will be back online. Don't
worry we'll tell you when it is back up in all its glory. To do justice
to a site, you have to be emotionally involved. It has to be a labor of
love, so to speak. Terry does love the craft aspect of the Gem and Minearl
Club, and also an instructor. So he will put the time in it takes to keep
the web site updated and current. More power to him. The computer questions
should be interesting and I know we will get into a few shouting matches
about how dumb that question was, etc. Or you didn't listen when I told
you that before.
We shall see...
Just in case you forgot what
Q looks like... Looking east form I-10 coming down the grade from
Blythe, California 20 miles
away.
The white you see to the
upper right are the RVs out in the desert. This is just one of the many
BLM boondocking areas.
Sunday February
11
by Terry (New
Update by Ron inside Terry report)
Another day in paradise,
well maybe just what Arizona is supposed to be in the Winter, WARM,
with a slight southern Breeze, Now if it would just rain a bit and
settled the dust. Think the low temp last night was somewhere in
the lower 60's, The furnace did not run last night, and no need for
that second blanket that was required during our recent cold snap.
Have not updated the blog
for a couple of days, Ron has been busy setting up the new Dell computer,
struggling with the flaws in the new Microsoft VISTA operating system and
there has been little time for posting. I am not computer inclined,
and can not see how a company can continue to produce junk such as windows
and Vista and still stay in business. It does not work well with
other programs, is lax on security and has a tendency to snarl and
bite. If I had an employee with such a disposition he would have
been fired long ago.
Did my teaching bit at the
rock club Friday morning teaching a silver casting class for three students.
It's an hours worth of excitement crammed into a 4 hour time slot,
lots of time to wander about the club house. All of the participants
did well with their castings and will now have to spend time in the silver
shops finishing their masterpieces.
More mundane matters occupied
the afternoon, and I spent my time in the laundromat taking care of a weeks
worth of dirty clothes. Get the stuff started in the washer, run
across the street for a diet pop, back to scramble for a dryer, then
wander to the Club house and stand around. It was a good thing I
was at the club house, as Ron had two software packages from Dell
arrive while I was there to sign for them and get them back to the trailer
for him to work on.
Replacement
software replacment for Roxio CD burning software that came pre
installed on the computer and did not work. (Later note by Ron.. New software
on CDs did not load either. DO NOT get VISTA untill they get the bugs worked
out.)
I'm
on a first name basis with several customer support people at Dell. They
sent the CDs overnight and a special FedEx van drove them down from Lake
Havashu City (85 miles) overnight delivery. What does that cost!!!
But
dell support has exceeded my expatations. They are trying to deal
with the new VISTA also.
I
have called them and would you believe they answered on the second ring
with a tech. Unheard of in theis day and age.
And
I get the email address of the tech and phone number ext. to call back
if needed. Can't ask for more than that.
Problems
not fixed but not their fault....
Saturday was another busy
day working away to keep the trailers systems up and running, hauling waste
water out and fresh water back. The desert is a great place to stay,
room for a campfire, no close neighbors, but also no services, so
one has to do a bit more work. We have just about perfected the black
and gray water handling with our macerator pump and tank, but it still
needs to be done. Luckily there were no lines at the dump station
in LaPosa South unlike a few weeks back when there might be 15 or twenty
rigs waiting to dump. Things are getting back to normal after the
madness of the big travel show.
I had a nice visit with my
nephew in Iowa last night. Ron answered the phone and the first thing
discussed was the 80 deg temps we were basking in at the time. I
could hear Nephew sputtering over the phone ten ft away, as they were trudging
through the ice and snow in 5 deg weather. Learned they were expecting
below zero temps again tonight.
Today, Sunday is looking
like one of those quiet relaxed days, read the paper till noon, get caught
up on posting the blog and more relaxing after that. Will at some
time have to go into Q to get gas for the generator, and a visit to the
grocery store, will have to get something to throw on the grill tonight,
along with a potato baked in the coals of the campfire.
I am also planning on finishing
the pattern for a belt buckle to be cast in silver next week, and will
clean up around camp, just in case it does decide to rain.
Ron
reporting... 6 PM Sunday
We took a drive east out
of Q to a mine and some desert back roads (had some nice pistures, but
VISTA lost them when trying to move them from the camera. Still on a learning
curve with this new computer.)
We stopped at Family Dollar
for paper towels and found a box of two solar patio lights (stainless
steel) for $9.99. The other one is on the far side of the step. Just
had to have them. Looks like a plant all potted... Takes in sun during
the day and glows at night. No I didn't say grows at night. It is so much
easer to find a coffee can or like we had this time a planter to stick
the lite into. You try to dig a hole in the hard desert or put a stake
in it! We had two pots left over from our early mum growing days
this winter, where they did not last as the desert black bugs found them
and ate them up. You would think mums would do good. Hearty and all that,
but bam, eaten alive in this desert climate. Our Geranium is doing just
great, go figure. Last year I got a Gardenia, thought that would be a fun
plant with all the white flowers. Well after the new buds one at a time
fell off I researched and found this is VERY hard plant to grow. They look
great when you buy them and then drop dead a few days in my case, or weeks
later. How do they even get them to the garden centers looking so good
is my question. Have learned it is easer to grow stainless steel glow
lights instead!
Now for a flashback.
8 PM
Looking at picture samples
and learning how to resize them etc. with the new system I ran across this
picture of Terry at Navajo State Park in NM (Blue Ribbon Trout Fishing)
and the rain soaked campground. See the brown water pools.
How we would love to get
some of that in the desert in Quartzsite, AZ this winter.
Monday February 12
Got to looking through some
old shots of great times in the Green River Lakes area north of Pinedale,
Wyoming.
The Green River just a
mile down from where it starts.
This is not a post card
Terry took this on a hike look bac a the lower lake. If you look
close you can see the foot bridge
over the river outlet from
the lake in the center.
Terry fly fishing the outlet
of Green River Lake.
A 52 mile road, the last
35 miles, one lone dirt road to get there.
For more info on this area
go to www.pinedaleonline.com
Needed some lake and river
pictures after being held up in the desert all winter.
Saturday February
18
by Terry
We've been a bit remiss in
posting this week. Things have really slowed down in Q, the
lines at the grocery store have diminished considerably, no queuing
up to use the dump facilities at La Posa South, and you can drive
right up to a slot to fill up you water tanks, no waiting!
I continued to work on the
new addition to the shop building at the Quartzsite Gem and Mineral club.
I am almost starting to get the hang of laying concrete blocks, not
a skill I want to advance any further, but we are close to getting done.
Did a bit of silversmithing this week and finished polishing a number of
WY Jade cabs that I had started earlier by doing the final polish.
Our Neighbors got their 50
gal spray tank mid week and have accumulated the parts and glue to make
their own substitute "blue boy tank". They had gotten a macerator
pump after reading our artivle, so they only had to make a tank.
Their enthusiastic embrace of the tank came after an unfortunate blue boy
incident in which the discharge hose became detached. They have since
then been borrowing our tank and liked it so much they built their own.
For
more information on replacing your blue boy tank go to this link .
Ron had to struggle with
Microsoft Vista this evening when he wanted to log in to a web cast of
a "Prairie Home Companion" from Minnesota Public Radio. It took him
twenty minutes to the the web cast to work, and entailed downloading new
software. It's great listening to Garrison Keilor's monolog
on life in the frozen wastes of Lake Woebegon while sitting outside in
shorts watching a recreational campfire. In cast you are not familiar
with a recreational campfire, it is done for aesthetics, and the heat generated
by the fire is neither wanted or desired.
Around dark we finally went
inside, and began to think about supper, Ron came up with the suggestion
of going to Blythe CA to eat at the Sizzler. We had heard that is
was a good place but had not yet been there. We remembered the name
as a cheap steak joint. WE were very pleasantly suprised, everything
was very good, including a very nice thick 8 oz steak.
You can get a 14 oz. T-bone if you want and everything in-between. Fish
and ribs. This was not your pounded tenderized cheap steak house. Between
the steak and the exceptional salad bar we ended up eating way to much
and felt stuffed but in a very fulfilling way. It was a world
of difference from any of the restaurants in Quartzsite. It was also
a very popular place, people were lined up and out the door even when we
left. It is an hour earlier in CA. so you can have a campfire here in Q
and wonder on over and still be early for dinner. And the people watching
was as good as the meal. The service was very good. You order and pay,
get your drinks, and get a ticket and give it to your server and they bring
the main course while you graze at the $3 extra salad bar. Ice cream is
brought to the table later, you don't have to get up to get it. The salad
bar, a meal in itself. We don't go out much but when we do we like to tip
heavy as the servers sure work hard to please. A few extra bucks from us
can make a smile on a hard workers face. We will go back maybe just for
the salad bar, with chicken wings, mexican food, fry bread with fixxins,
and soup, etc. A 4 out of 5 on our rating scale.
Tuesday February 20
WOW
another week in Q in the slow lane. It is nice to look out and know your
camping neighbor who was here last week and again this week. Terry goes
to the rock club and I read and work (play) on the computer. I worked
on the Hitchitch site most of the afternoon and found about 25 sites to
consider to add to it. I feel like Simon on Americam Idol when looking
at the sites to add.
Ya we are watching American Idol right now. Why I don't know, as we were
not fans of the show in the past. But let's face it, not much else on TV.
Now I do have to say most of the time we just turn it off and I read and
Tery gets on the net. So why not tonight? Well Boston Legal
is on later...
We
have a chicken roasting in the oven for a late supper. With mashed potatoes
and peas. Now that's good eaten... When we were looking
to do Tuna and noodles dish last week we didn't find forzen peas at the
RoadRunner store. Later we found forzen peas in the General Store so that's
waht we are having tonight. Someitmes life in Q gets back to basic
and that is many times good, right next to great. I grew up many miles
from where we could hop to, to get the good stuff. I think looking back
that might have been an advantage on how I look at things now in life.
(On a farm in Iowa, in the 50's and 60's) A Wal*Mart Super
Center is over 80 miles away in Yuma. Do I want to go there YES...
Do I need to NO.
When
Dell can ship, and I get it overnight, who needs to leave the desert to
go to a big city... FedEx and UPS will find you anywhere. Order on the
net, get it in a day or two. New world new life.
(A
Flashback: When a kid on the Iowa farm
way out from town I ordered a small diode for a kit or something I was
making. Now this was back in the early 60s and up drove the UPS truck with
the $1.95 part.) Never got over that.
And
sitting in my room with a Heath Kit shortwave radio listening to the world,
(it was the internet of its time) looking out the window at the stars.
I over time in later years had to have a Commodore computer, and never
stopped upgrading. Compuserve was an early internet type thing. And who
even remembers it now. We went to the moon in my lifetime, how the
people of early earth history would have liked to be able to say that.
Now
look at us... Who could have thought at the time we would now have the
world via the Internet. WOW.
Enough
for now... Simon just cut a contestant to shreds.
Wednesday February 21
Spent
the afternoon adding travel web sites to the www.hitchitch.com
site and reducing the pixel size of the picture thumbnails. Trying for
faster downloading. Each link opens in new window so when you return to
the main listings page you don't have to reload the pictures again. Had
a problem with the html editor and had to find out why the program was
producing bogus code. It has been a fun day.
Terry
called home on the 2 way radio and is stopping at the General Store for
stuff to make hamburgers with real buns and fresh homemade potato salad
and cole slaw.
The
weather could not be any nicer... Sunny and about 70.
Thursday February 22
Breaking
news here in Quartzsite, AZ
5 PM
In the wash
next to gas pipelines in the BLM south of Quartzsite they have discovered
explosives and have called in a bomb squad team from Yuma. The police are
are at the La Posa West entrance to the BLM with lights flashing. They
moved some campers.
We hope
this turns to be a false alarm with old ordinance found or something,
but you never know and I am sure they are taking no chances. We have our
police radio turned on. Never a dull day in Quartzsite.
The flashing
lights and the blockade of the BLM entrance has been removed so let us
hope the event is over and all is well.
Now for a picture
of our favorite BLM volunteer (Sandy) on the right, at the ranger entrance
station
at La Posa
North. See Sandy's blog at http://nativewyoming.blogspot.com/
We have become
good friends with Sandy and Bob as we are all living the good life, boondocking
in the the great Arizona southwest in the BLM.
A look inside
the BLM entrance station at La Posa North.
That is not
her husband in the picture, but another volunteer.
Bob her husband
does his thing at the La Posa South station.
The volunteers
are all great people and do this not for the money, but for the love of
serving people and the camaraderie of the people they serve and their fellow
volunteers. (would you work for $1.50 an hour at a BLM entrance station?)
So the next time you get upset with a volunteer at a campground just remember
they are not doing it for the money.
Friday February 23
Update on the
explosives found yesterday. They found 12 sticks in the wash jsut
west from the main entrance to La Posa West. This is a pipeline that
angles just south of town and followes the new high power line going east
from Quartzsite. Said it looked like it was very old and unstable. Not
fresh. They were searching the washes today looking for more.
Saturday February 24
We got up early
to go to Yuma and explore the area and go to Staples to get a new computer
desk chair. We have been busy putting the chair together
and the new plastic rug guard that fits the 5er. We are tired, and will
post with pics on Sunday. We called back to IOWA and they are having
a blizzard with 1 inch of ice and now 1 foot of blowing snow and most parts
of the state are without electric power. At Terry's folks place,
out on the farm homstead, (they are both 80) his brother has a setup with
a big generator that can be switched to take over the house and water pumps
for the livsstock. So they will be ok. Terry's nephew is in college (at
Northern Iowa) and they also have lost power but you can bet the students
in the dorms will be just fine with a party. His sister in Ankeny just
north of Des Moines have also lost power and they have a little generator
we used to use but it will not power their big heat pump they have, but
can power the fridge and lights. Much of Iowa could be off line for
days or much more. We will stay in touch with them. Reg. phones are powered
from the central offices with BIG backup bats and generators. Hope
the backup batts last at the cell sites.
We told them
they were now off the grid like we are. Not sure they caught the
humor of that statment. We are boondocking in the BLM for the winter, if
you are a new reader.
So as I sit
in my wonderful new computer chair with three way seat controls I leave
you now.
Notice the
three adjustment levers under the seat... And on sale for $119 from
the reg. price of $149
Highly
breathable mesh fabric
Height
and width adjustable padded arms
Contoured
back for lumbar support
Molded
back with adjustable back height
Tilt
tension and knee tilt adjustment
Pneumatic
seat height adjustment
Variable
position back lock
Sunday February 25
On
our way back from Yuma on Saturday we took a road to the right to explore
a road that said Martinez Lake 13 miles.
Off we go to find it. One
of the things we found was many, many very run down RV parks. Looked like
colonias and right next them were multi million dollar homes. How do they
determine property values is any guess.
How would you like to see
this air ship coming at you. It is on the Yuma Proving Grounds.
More later... The Academy
Awards are coming on.
Monday February 26
by your roving
reporter Terry
Hard to believe
that we are rapidly approaching the end of February, seems like we just
got here a few days ago. Now its time to think about preparing taxes
and getting everything in readiness to hit the road.
Have been volunteering
for a small project at the Quartzsite Gem and mineral club, and with a
little luck we will be done in a few days. We finished the framing
of the roof last week and over the weekend we stopped at Lowe's in Yuma
to get a few items of building materials that are not available locally.
Will now be able to apply the metal fascia covers, gutters, roofing tin,
gutters and such. Then hopefully will be done with the free labor
to the rock club for a while. Have hammer will travel--
Here is a picture
of me finishing up the roof framing last week.
Spent the afternoon
at the rock club working on odds and ends, some maintenance for the club,
and some work in the casting room where i am getting ready to pour a belt
buckle on Tuesday. The pour is turning into a teaching event,
as I will be vacuum casting the buckle, which entails putting the mold
into which I will be pouring the molten silver on a metal table rigged
to a vacuum pump, then when the silver is poured the vacuum will suck the
molten metal into the mold. This is only the second thing vacuum
cast in the club and there are a number of interested people. guess
I get an audience tomorrow.
Haven't heard
from any of the relatives still in Iowa today, Over the weekend they
got hit with a late winter ice storm which turned into a blizzard.
My nephew called a number of time over the weekend with updates on who
had power and who did not. My Brother, and Parents were expecting
power by tonight if they were lucky. We had also heard that the big
cross country transmission lines were in trouble and starting to buckle
under the weight of all the ice, but temperatures have since warmed
a bit and hopefully the ice would have melted off of the wires.
Time do to
dishes, and think of something light airy and delicious for summer.
Then again there are lots of leftovers that need to be eaten, we
will debate our dinner plans in a few minutes.
Watch this "RV
Park: the Movie"
This is fun from
better than Robin Williams...
Get laid off and retire and go to the
RGV in an RV for the winter... Very Funny!
RV
Park: The Movie Chapter 1 Chapter
2 Chapter
3 Chapter
4
Chapter
5 Chapter
6 Chapter
7 Chapter
8
Tuesday February 27
by your roving
reporter Terry
The belt buckle
I have been working on for the last several months, carving the wax pattern,
then adjusting, tinkering with, polishing, admiring, showing off the same
wax pattern came to an end today when I was able to finally Vacuum cast
the pattern, and most suprising of all after of the worrying and
fiddling it came out of the mold as a very nice silver casting. There
are a few small flaws which will have to be cleaned up, then it can
be filed and sanded, then polished to perfection. I am very very
happy with the results. The sound you hear is me knocking on wood
so I do not jinx future works.
The rough casting with spru
still attached.
Here is a Elk
Ivory pendant that I did earlier in the year.
Ron was not
particuralry impressed with the buckle, but its hard to impress him with
something thats not digital. Have one more pendant to cast and then
I will be our of wax carvings. As long as it takes to create one
of the wax models my personal casting time at the club is probably done
till next fall.
The wind came
up later in the day and there is quite a bit of dust blowing about.
We were going to grill , and do baked potatos in the camp-fire coals, but
opted to bake the potato in the oven and pan fry the steak-, one of my
single ingredient meal-- according to Ron.
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