A GOLD MINE ON TOP OF THE HILL

Yesterday I left off with us setting on top of a hill at Ham's Napa auto parts store in Roberta, GA. 
  Before dark we had a visitor. A City of Roberta Police car pulled up to Jeanie's Bottle. The first thought in my mind and most Boondockers minds when a law Enforcement officer pulls up is" I am going to be ask to move". I was prepared to tell this officer that I had ordered parts from Napa and the sales person told me I could stay as long as I like.
  Surprise, when I went out to Meet the officer he was extending his hand in friendship and Introduced himself. Captain Scott Moore officially welcomed us to Roberta and Crawford County and ask if he could help us in any way.
  That was the start of a very pleasant visit and a world of information about the area. Officer Moore told us about the origin of the Republic of Texas Flag, Crawford County Pottery,Auchumpkee Creek Covered Bridge in adjoining Upson County and tons of other information. We knew we had struck a gold mine on top of the hill.
  After a lengthy and extremely pleasant visit Officer Moore had to leave only to return some time later with two Sand Dollars that he had picked up on the beach,which he presented to Jeanie as a gift.Even though they were gently wrapped in tissue paper and stored in a wooden box, the smallest of the two has suffered some damage.

 

In my Home Town  we had an officer who was a friend to everyone first, than an officer. His name was H.L. Wilbanks. We didn't call him Officer Wilbanks, we called him H. So I guess I will just say "Thanks Scott"

 

H. WILBANKS...Thank you too

The Gold standard of what a man and Law enforcement should be.

I plan to have a great day ,I hope you will join me

Rojo

MORE CRAWFORD COUNTY GEORIGA

For those of you who might not know, you can click on the pics to enlarge them. If you click on yesterdays pic you will see the writing on the head stone says"SAMUEL A KENDRICK CO E 6 GA INF CSA 1842-1862. That means this 20 year old young man was serving in company E of the 6th Georgia infantry,  Confederate States Army when he met his demise. This lone grave site is located on the south side of the Right of way on US Highway 80 in Crawford county GA. I do not condone the use of the confederate flag for any purpose but in this case, I stop to ponder  the thought that it might be appropriate.The fact that someone cared enough to put the flag there 147 years after the demise of this young man is appropriate.We noticed that Georgia, more than anywhere we traveled, still holds tight the reminder of a sad time in American History.

 

A closer look revels that the Confederate solder's rifle was vandalized years ago.

 

  

With that I leave this subject with very mixed emotions.

A few post back I mentioned that I would revisit Merritt pottery with my readers a little later, now is about as good a time as any to do that.
  As most of you know Jeanie and I are boondockers. Nothing I hate worse than ghetto RV resorts with concrete pads, cute little lights and a club house where you are expected to bring a pot luck dish. I am not real crazy about Wal-Mart and truck stop  parking lots but they will do in a pinch. My description of hell would be to have to attend a club rally, as I have said before I consider 4 a crowd.
  On our Sea to Sea on US 80 trip we found the little town of Roberta,GA and at the top of a hill on US 80 was a Napa auto parts store. We pulled in to the napa store which had about a 2-3 acre dirt parking lot off to the side. At the bottom of the hill to the East was a creek and a town limit sign for Knoxville,GA, Origin of the first Republic of Texas Flag.


I needed new air filters and spark plugs for the generator. The store did not have them in stock but the stock man said he would have them by 8 A.M. the next day and told us to feel free to park in the dirt parking lot for as long as we liked. This stay in the Dirt parking lot proved to be one of the biggest highlights of that trip.... We were on the way to Merritt Pottery, meeting several very interesting people,  seeing some historic places and didn't even know it.


I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me.


Rojo

Full day

8:30 A.M. Gonna be a full day today... Jeanie's  first day back at Physical therapy, which is  about 4 hours from time to start getting ready until we get back home. Grill a chicken for Chicken salad, everyone except the chicken is happy about that. start writing the Crawford County GA Blog as promised in the past. As I thought about that  last night, I realized that it would take more than one posting to cover that subject.

The first posting about Crawford county is a reminder that we have forever killed our young with needless insane political or religious driven wars.
I plan to have a good day i hope you will Join me.
Rojo

THE CAT IS HAPPY

Looks like we made it again. Jeanie is back up in her wheelchair for the first time since we got home Sunday Morning. It took a little adjustment of medications,a lot of heat packs and some home physical therapy to stretch her muscles but she is a tough lady and is on the way back to professional physical therapy on Friday.
  The 4 worse things for her Dystoina is  cold, stress/drama, being tired and being startled. She had an ample dose of 3 of the 4 on the Douglas trip.
  When we are in Jeanie's bottle on the road or here at the sticks and bricks home I work my schedule around her. While we were at Douglas that kinda got all out of whack. Jeanie does an exceptional job of covering her pain. I was hopping like a frog on the freeway and by the time I realized what was happening we almost had a crisis on our hands.
  Shortly after Jeanie told me that we had to leave soon because the pain was about to get the best of her and she didn't want to go to an ER where they probably had never even heard of Dystonia,  she was hit by a moderately strong Dystonia storm.
  We both realized that we had a serious problem on our hands and started to do all the things we knew that would help. Jeanie started  controlled breathing and pain control techniques that she had been taught and I was getting microwavable heat packs and rubbing and stretching muscles in the opposing direction that they were pulling.
  After about 30 minutes we got the storm under control, Jeanie was exhausted and I was not far behind. Jeanie had a pretty good nights sleep after she took her nighttime meds.
  Saturday mourning  I had to lift her into her wheel chair and she stayed in it until we got to Tuscon. After we ate in Tucson she laid down and stayed in bed until about 7:30 A.M.Sunday, just outside of Indio.She had a somewhat comfortable ride the rest of the way to the Sticks and Bricks.
 The RV KITTY was happy to see us even though he had great care by our nephew while we are gone. He really does not like for us to be out of his sight for to long.

All is well that ends well :-)
  I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me
  Rojo

 

I JUST DON'T KNOW...

The last time I posted Jeanie and I were rushing around to get down to Douglas,Az to give a helping hand to 82 year old Belle Starr. Belle owns the 40 acre Silverado ranch. 

With this posting we are back at our sticks and bricks house in Orange county, exhausted, frustrated, disillusioned and smarter.

I must say that 3 positive things did come out of this almost 2 weeks AWOL from the blog. We met 2 very caring compassionate RVing couples, Al and Kelly and Motty and Patti, both who were also trying to help Belle. The other was we got over to New Mexico and took the Motor home out of non - op status. We had put it in non- op status when I broke my foot and we knew we were going to be down for at least 2 years.
   As for the rest of the trip as I said in the title " I Just don't know... I fricking just don't Know" The Electrical at Belle's was a nightmare and a disaster waiting to happen. I am amazed that no one has been killed.
   When AL got our attention on his blog http://thebayfieldbunch.com/    
That Belle had spent 2 cold nights without electric,Jeanie and I decided to go fix it , I had no Idea what a poop storm I was stepping into.Shortly after arriving at the ranch Belle told us her Electric bill was over $400 a month. She was trying to heat the old house with 3 electric heaters and the electric oven running wide open 24/7 plus she said the well pump was turning on about every 15 minutes.
 I started with stopping  leaky faucets scattered all over the ranch. Then I went to work on the electrical, which took about a week to sort out and repair.
   In the mean time back at the ranch, Jessie, a local good guy. and our new found RVing friends were feeding the 30-40 donkeys and horses as well as all the chicken, Peafowl, and exotic birds.I was grateful for that because I had all the horses, chicken and poop from them that I care to enjoy when I left the farm/ranch at 18. None the less I could not have let the animals suffer.The one time that I was going to have to bite the bullet, Al.Kelly, Motty and PattI drove in just as I was driving off to the hay stack. They volunteered to feed, I quickly bailed my butt off the gator and got back to electrical work.
   The rest of the story is not pretty and has many arms, no matter how you try to shake it out. Our old friend Belle who is now wheelchair bound from the broken hip and a latter fall with her walker is in need of medical attention but refuses it. Her hay bill  is 1/3 more than her income and she refuses to even try to stay focused on the present.Al,and Jeanie and I tried to get her to focus on now and not the past or on her dreams for the ranch, all were unsuccessful.
   Jeanie told me Friday night that she needed to leave for her health reasons and that she was not going down with a sinking ship, I was in full agreement.
  The local good guy who was for the most part volunteering his time, Belle did pay him a VERY small amount, did not show up to feed on Thursday or Friday because of the weather. He called both days and said he couldn't get a ride and it was to cold and wet to ride his bicycle the 8-9 miles to the Ranch. I told Belle I would be happy to go pick him up but she refused to let me do that.
  When he showed up about 8:30 A.M. Saturday, Belle fired him at the door, I told Bell she had cut her nose off to spite her face and she Blew up at me, that was the last straw, we were off the ranch by 1P.M.
Al and Kelly are about to move on.Motty and Patti have moved on and Jeanie and I are back at the sticks and bricks home in "OC"...... What now for Belle Starr and the Silverado?
  I told Al that I had really really really learned the true meaning of " And the wisdom to know the difference" which brings us back to the computer. I dropped Jeanie's mini while we were gone and it is in the shop so I gave Jeanie her desk top back and dug out my old dinosaur. It has crashed 3 times while I was trying to make this post,so far. Maybe the lesson I learned was to prepare me to deal with this old e machine.
  I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me.
Rojo



 

A LITTLE CLOSER EVERY DAY

I need to be setting here at the keyboard this morning like I need to be repeatedly slamming my fingers in a car door.

Jeanie and I went like a rocket all day yesterday and still didnt get it all done. But we got a lot done and have more to do today..... SOOOOO here is the final plan, in the morning after Coffee, we pack the last of the stuff in the van and head for Belle's. I suspect we will make it to a boondocking area just outside of Tucson tomorrow and then on to Belle's the next day.

This is a fast trip for us because we usually only travel 30-50 miles a day.We have been known to travel 100 miles in a day and our all time record low was 2 1/2 MILES .

Belle is a very special lady and well worth the the extra rush so we are really looking forward to the trip.

 I plan to have a good day, I hope you will join me.

Rojo

GONNA BE LEAN

The next 2-3 days are gonna be pretty lean for this blog. We are getting all the stuff done that we need to get done to get down to Douglas and give Belle a hand. When I get back to it full force I want to continue with more on Crawford county Georgia.

The origin of the first Republic of Texas flag is only one of the things that Crawford County is known for. Jeanie and I had the pleasure of meeting and visiting with the 5th and 6th generation pottery whiskey jug makers  from Crawford county, The Merritt's, Bill and Mark. 

I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me 
Rojo

THE ANSWER IS.......

The answer to the question I have been asking my Texas friends  in the blog for the last 2 days is ... This is the original house where the first Republic of Texas Flag was designed and made by 18 year old Joanna ( Johanna) TROUTMAN in Knoxville,Crawford county,Ga. Originally the house was across the street on the site where the courthouse now stands.

 

.
                           Original site of the Troutman    home .                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Old Crawford County Court House.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                    

In 1835, the Texan's fight for independence attracted attention throughout the United States. Public meetings were held in many towns, and representatives of the new Texas government were welcomed in cities from New Orleans to New York. Although the official policy of the United States was one of neutrality, hundreds of individuals headed west to respond to the call for help and to seek their fortune in Texas.

In addition, organized groups of volunteers were sent from communities in Kentucky, Ohio, Georgia, Louisiana and Alabama.

For one such group from Macon, Georgia, this flag was made by an 18 year old girl, Joanna Troutman. When the Georgians arrived at Velasco on the Texas coast, the flag was raised. It was one of the most inspirational symbols in the dark months between the defeat at the Alamo and the victory at San Jacinto.

After the Georgia battalion reported at San Felipe, Colonel William A. Ward, in command of the Georgians, led his men to the aid of Colonel Fannin at Goliad. This flag was saluted again on March 8th, 1836, when Fannin's men received word of the official declaration of independence of Texas. In the weeks that followed, virtually the entire Georgia command, the "Red Rovers" of Alabama and the Texans including Fannin, a total of almost 390 men, were taken prisoner and massacred at Goliad after they lost the battles of Refugio and Coleto.

            

BACK TO THE BILL CLINTON/ JOHN MC CAIN FACTOR

 You know that Theory dont you?..... The best laid plans of Bill and John Blah Blah Blah.... Well It happen again yesterday TWICE.

Because of the weather in the Midwest and East my UPS shipment was delayed. It was suppose to be here on the 6th and we were gonna be out of here like Seabiscuit out the starting gate.  My Monica and Sarah was a frigid.stinking Blizzard. But the second time it occurred  Monica and Sarah were hotter than a $2 pistol.

We were some what sure when we called the shipper for the Honda generator propane conversion kit, to get a tracking  number, that the kit would not arrive yesterday. UPS tracking system showed that the package was in
HODGKINS, ILLINOIS,  which is basically Chicago. we assumed right , when we got back from Jeanie's Physical Therapy , guess what No package. that means Monday before it will be here which means we will only be 5 days late getting to Douglas.

No use fuming, ranting and raving just makes RV KITTY mad and then I have another problem to deal with.

 I decided to  to fix Supper for Jeanie. Her taste buds were set on scrambled eggs with onion, Jalapeno and maple sausage links.  I decided to surprise her and bake a cherry Twist bread loaf...... Well maybe that one was for me but I knew she would go for it too.  I did my best calculations and figured I could have the Cherry twist bread cooling about the time she finished her supper.

 All was on schedule and working like a fine Swiss watch. I was in the kitchen in my best Betty Crocker apron and Chef hat  with a big grin on my face. This Cherry twist bread was smelling fine and just about ready to come out of the oven when Jeanie came around the corner into the kitchen, closely followed by our Nephew Kevin and a friend Tom. Ima tellin ya this stuff smelled good. I took the Cherry twist,  in my best PYREX baking dish, out of the oven and put it on the front burner of the stove to put the icing on and let it cool.


We were all standing around in the kitchen  salivating  waiting for the Cherry twist to cool....... NUMBER 2 C&M,(short for Clinton and McCain) Factor happened...... I had cooked Jeanie's supper on the front burner of the electric stove, set on medium high, and forgot to turn it off. I set the glass baking dish containing the Cherry twist bread on the same burner, not remembering I had not turned it off.  As we were all Jacking our jaws,KABOOOOOOM, glass, icing, and Cherry twist bread is flying everywhere.


I think Jeanie's wheelchair even cleared the floor by at least 3-4 inches and the other 3 of us a heck of a lot more.No one was hurt ,which is a miracle in it's self......  BUT... we now have glass, icing, and Cherry twist on the ceiling ,on the floor, on the counter, on the side of the fridge and slowly oozing down between the crack of the electric burner, and me standing there in my Best Betty Crocker apron and Chef Hat.  My friends, that picture is front page stuff and NO you aint gonna get to see it because I could not hold the camara still enough to take a picture of that mess.


As for the picture of the little white house in yesterday's blog, I am going to give my Texas friends one more day to come up with an answer. Do you proud Texans really know your Texas History?


I plan on having a great day, I hope you will join me.


Rojo

WHAT A DAY

If you read yesterdays Blog you know I got a lot of work done. After we had a supper of posole I set down to post in My Boondocking with solar Group     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BOONDOCKING-WITH-SOLAR/
  Then I went over to check on Al and Kelly  http://thebayfieldbunch.com/  While I was reading Al"s Blog I heard a knock  on the back door, when I went to answer the door it was my Butt finally catching up with me wanting to come in the house.

  If that propane conversion for the Honda 1000 http://cgi.ebay.com/Tri-Fuel-Kit-for-Honda-EU2000i-Generator-Engine_W0QQitemZ230420163509QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a61cabb5

will just come in we can be on the way to Belle's. UPS picked it up on Dec. 30 and it should have been here on the 6th but not yet.. The Igloo kool A tron is plugged in and cooling so we can fill it up and hook em as soon as we get the carb,

Here is a question for my Texas friends. Do you know what this house has to do with Texas history and where it is?

I plan to have a great day, I hope you will join me

Rojo

ARE WE HAVING FUN YET???

You can bet your Granny's best China on it. Getting all the stuff gathered up for this quick little trip down to Douglas AZ.

Here was the original plan. Install the Battery bank on the right side at the very back of the van .Have a custom bed frame frame made for Jeanie so that the porta pota would set inside a handy dandy Home depot cement mixing tub and slide under the bed.Install Cool white Led Rope Lights along the inside of the van just above the windows. !2/120 volt IGLOO  Kool-Tron cooler in the passenger seat, Coleman grill/ single burner camp stove on the floor board passenger side, Air/ water protective cooler( for summer) cause we aint gonna be where there is humidity. and a 3000 BTU Coleman catalytic heater for cool days. a Coleman fold up  cot for me. on the back is a hitch mounted 20x60 cargo rack holding a 7.5 gal propane bottle, a 1000 watt Honda generator and a 30 gallon water barrel. A 12 volt water pump and a tank-less hot water heater and 2 roll up camp tables.and one folding chair.

Well most of it is going to get done, the weather back east has delayed UPS ,so we are running up against the clock... but you know me.. If not today tomorrow will be OK.  Better get started the temp was above the minimum 50 degrees for my short pants when I got up at 7 so there went my excuse to lounge around and drink coffee catch ya latter in the day  maybe with some pics this time.

THE REST OF THE STORY FOR TODAY.



130 Amp Isolater

Battery bank and Inverter

Porta potty                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                     Anti Jeanie projectile securing device ( bed seatbelt)                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                              Porta potty in shower pan where it will normally be stored under the bed when the permanent bed frame is installed                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                   shower pan  AKA Home depot cement mixing tub                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                       Temporary bed in place with show pan stored under it.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                               

Van with wheelchair lift deployed

THE RE-DANG-TIRED ROCKING CHAIR

I don't know who the dang fool was that said they never wanted to retire and set around in a rocking chair, that don't fit us for sure. Today we are hopping like a Frog in the freeway. I have just started to make our 15 passager van into a day camper, the key word here is just. All of the parts came in to do the 4 battery storage bank, so that we have electric for Jeanie's- cpap, lights,and our portable fridge.


Here is how the rocking chair day goes to day and most days. 7 A.M. alarm for Jeanie's meds, make coffee, feed and water RV Kitty, he gets fresh food and fresh spring water twice a day, spoiled rotten cat. Get Jeanie dressed and setting on the edge of the bed and her rolling computer desk in front of her. Slug down some coffee and make breakfast, waiting for the temperature to get up a little, 51 at 7A.M.. 50 is my cut off for shorts, and I hate long pants. Start measuring cutting and crimping end on the battery cables to hook up the inverter. 12 noon Jeanie's meds and time for showers, get us dressed and off to physical therapy from 2 until 3:30. Back to the shop for work on the van until the 5:00 alarm for Jeanie's meds and start supper.


We will just have to see how it goes from there for the rest of the day. We had our Honda 1000 generator ,carburetor converted to propane and it should be in today, so I need to get that put on.


We have a dear friend in AZ. who is in need of some help and 2 couples of our internet friends are already there doing a great job of getting things in order but there is an eletrical problem and they don't feel comfortable dealing with that so We have a rush on, to get to van "livable " so we can get on down there and work on the Electrical problem.


Gotta go, catch you later in the day.. I plan on having a great day ,I hope you will join me


Rojo


Part 2 
I got all the Batteries wired in and the inverter hooked up and the isolator hooked up. What all that means is the 4 battery bank is now charging off the alternator when we are driving and the 120 volt Led rope lights the we use for interior lighting in the van come on when I flip the switch.... How in the heck do you reckon that all worked like it was suppose to on the first try?... The only thing that would make it better is if I had the solar panels mounted on top of the van so the batteries would be charging when we are setting still in the warm California, Az, or NM sun..I do love that solar.


All in all it has been a graet day for us... We certainly hope yours was too


Rojo

THEY WON'T LET ME DRIVE THE TRAIN

They won't let me drive the train. They won't let me blow the train horn. They won't let me decide where the train goes. They won't let me decide when the train leaves. Just let this dang train be late and see who they blame.  Now that is STRESS

We have just finished the most stressful season of the year for most folks. Hurry here, hurry there, buy this and buy that. Hurry make it to choir practice or the tree lighting or to the airport.  Where did that speed cop come from ? outta my trunk as soon as I hit that school zone. Just what I need a $100 fine or go to court and I don't have time for that. Soccer, basketball ,football, tennis, Dance class. drop off and pick up or was it pick up and drop off? . Hello... why is he in ER this time is he gonna be OK?  Hello...   NO, it's not, I paid the bill a week before it was due and my online bank statement shows  you cashed the check 2 days before the payment was due.The  retirement plan I have faithfully invested in  for 20 plus years is crumbling  and on and on and on, Do you feel like you are living in a 24/7 Tornado that you can't escape from and are spinning round and round?

Any of that sound familiar? Jeanie and I live an almost stress free life. It has not always been that way. At one time we were caught up in the, I have to please people no matter the cost to my sanity or well being and above all don't just keep up with the Joneses ,BE THE JONESES. We didn't even know each other then. Ima thinking that is a good thing because we probably would not be together now and we would be missing what life is all about.

I have read in other Blogs that people were so relived that the Christmas/ New Year season is over and that they survived another stressful season  I am so grateful that I dont have to live like that anymore. Maybe I better splain a little about why we live the way we do and what brought it about.

Jeanie and I are not of the Christian faith ,or any organized religion for that matter,We have no problem with those who are, you know what they say, Well you do know don't you?, about a guys gotta do what a guys gotta do. Jeanie says that is written in the wrong gender :-).

 We believe in random acts of kindness and giving year round. We don't exchange Christmas gifts or get involved in the Christmas shopping , except for a dab of Christmas candy a  a few Claxton fruit cakes http://www.claxtonfruitcake.com/ for our personal use. We love our friends but we aint nuts, we are not going to give our claxtons away.

It just kinda warms the heart to give that homeless guy some groceries or give someone a gift just because or take a container of posole to a guy who missed his New Years posole or or give someone in a tight spot $20 and I said give not loan. No stress involved.

While I am on the subject of giving I want to express how much I appreciate what Al and Kelly and Dave and Cindy have done for Our Dear friend Belle Starr. You may not know Al,Kelly,Dave and Cindy but I'll bet you know Betty or Kris or Sue or Bob or Allen or John and today might be a real good time to tell them what they mean to you and how much you appreciate them.

Then you might want to step back and take a look see at the stress in your life and ask yourself if it is honestly worth what it is bringing you..Is that car payment worth the  stress it takes to get the $ to pay it and the high dollar insurance premium. or that beautiful leather living room sofa and matching chairs or that $3,000 propane stainless steel grill that you use 3 times a year  If it takes material things to make you feel good about yourself then you might outta  back off and take another look at what is missing in your life.

I did that a good many years ago  and Jeanie says she got her backbone back. just a couple of years ago, with a tad of coaching, It is a mighty good feeling..
I plan to have a great stress free day and I sure hope you will join me.
Rojo

BUSIER THAN A 3 LEGGED CAT WITH DIARRHEA

Our online friend and member of our Yahoo group Boondocking with Solar http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BOONDOCKING-WITH-SOLAR/  Mar, came by today for me to do a small repair job on her motor home "Bella".

Bella has a gray water leak. For you non RV readers gray water is the water from your shower and sinks . Black water is what goes down the toilet, they are held in separate holding tanks. They both dump through a central dump connection. You always dump the Black water first and the rinse the line and hose with the Gray water. If you don't have any gray water to dump you end up with a messy situation that we don't even want to discuss.

The Glue on the fitting between the gray water tank and the gray water dump valve had given up the ghost.and would let the fitting separate and leak the gray water out of the tank
  I separated the fitting from the tank and cleaned the old glue and "STUFF" off  both the tank and fitting with a wire Brush and re- glued the fitting to the tank. I dont want to say Bella's dump line is as good as new because I certainly hope my work is better than the shoddy construction that is done on a new RV, with few exceptions

Rojo,Jeanie and Mar

You can catch Mar's Blog at http://lifeat55mph.blogspot.com/ She is a very interesting lady with a very interesting profession as well, plus a beautiful smile too boot. Jeanie and I very much enjoyed her company for Tamales and Spanish rice  supper. I later baked Mar and Jeanie a fresh batch of Ginger cookies.

ENGLISH LANUAGE AND OTHER STUFF

When it comes to writing, spelling, sentence composition, verbs, adverbs,nouns, pronouns, punctuation and the such this may well be the worse Blog out there. If My English 1 and 2 teacher had not been my Football  line coach's wife I would have not made it. I am still of the opinion that a Dangling participle is a blotched circumcision job. If you are looking for precision like a well oiled machine, I suggest you might want to check out my friend Lavetta's blog "THE CHERRY BOWL"  http://lkbscherrybowl.blogspot.com/  . We went to school together. She was in the 4th grade when I graduated.LOL She didn't play football but I think she was a Cheerleader and the Cheerleader coach or what ever she was called didn't teach English, so Lavetta knows all the correct stuff..

Yesterday was an absolutely gorgeous day here in the "OC', 76 degrees at 4:15 PM.  The doors and windows were all open and RV Kitty was sitting at one of his favorite spots, the front screen door watching the world go by. I used the time to trim back the Hollyhocks and watered all the plants including my Milo crop that came up from the bird seed that we throw out in the back for the Doves and Finches. That Milo makes we think I am back on the Farm at Pringle,TX


We are redoing our flower beds to use succulents since California has a mandatory water reduction law in effect . Our Bougainvillea on either side of the fountain look a little scraggly( is that a word Mrs. M?) this time of year due to the lack of long hours of sunlight. We are planting a lot of kalanchoes  because they are low maintenance succulents and bloom year round.We also have a large Jade plant and our 32 year old Spider plant.

Today we have a friend we met in our Boondocking with solar Yahoo group http://groups.yahoo.com/group/BOONDOCKING-WITH-SOLAR/ coming by for me to do a small repair job on her Motor Home " Bella". Bella has developed  a leak at the connection of the dump valve and the gray water holding tank.

This brings to mind a story from Many years ago when I was still on the road working. I was living in Port Saint Luci,FL and had just worked a shoot in Tampa and was headed back to P.S.L. with my ole Winnie pulling my shop trailer. Somewhere  not to far East of Tampa were two sets of rougher than heck railroad tracks. I had crossed them many times at a very slow speed. This time I was still thinking about a job I had done at the shoot and hit those suckers at about 60. When I recovered from the bounce I looked back and saw a nasty looking mist in the air, on the side of "Winnie"and my shop trailer, the car behind me had it's wipers going full speed. I pulled over to the shoulder to see what damage was done to Winnie but first I had to deal with a very angry girlfriend that was following me. Her pride and joy Chrysler had taken a direct hit of  about 30 gallons of black water, for you non campers that is what goes down your toilet. She never let me forget that I really pooped on her.
  I do remember from Mrs. Malone's English class that she said "If you have to write a paper and don't know what to write about just  pick a letter, write it on the paper and go from there". It works, thank you Mrs Malone
Winnie and my shop trailer

THE BAYFIELD BUNCH

I want to thank  The Bayfield bunch  http://thebayfieldbunch.com/ for the jump start that they gave  Belle Starr. http://thebayfieldbunch.com/2009/12/appeal-for-help.html I have been trying to get folks interested in Belle's Silverado Ranch  since April 2007, with limited success. They have " Been there done that" and moved on. I tip my hat to you two, what you did for Belle means so much to me.

Jeanie and I met The Shinning Belle Starr in December of 2006. We fell in love with her and her work. We had planned to go back to Belle's for an extended time when we returned from Alaska in 2007.Our plans changed in a split second on April 14th 2007, that story is another Blog in it's self.

We have felt so helpless in regards to Belle since that time. We  visited with Belle many many times on the phone and was very concerned when we could not contact her and her web site went down.

We were so relieved on that Sunday morning when Belle did answer the phone. Belle had bad news for us about a fall and a broken hip but you would have never know the pain  she was in and the trials and tribulations she was encountering at the Silverado. Belle sounded so up and so positive, that is just how Belle is.

We felt even more helpless and there was nothing we could do. A short time latter Belle emailed Jeanie saying that a couple was on the way to help her get her website back up and running. We knew that this was a wonderful thing but we just didnt know how wonderful, We were also afraid it was just more Scammers trying to take belle for a ride.We couldn't have been more wrong and we are so Grateful to Kelly and Al for the help they gave Belle. Thanks again Al And Kelly.

Belle and Jeanie at the Silverado
http://bellestarraz.blogspot.com/2009/04/morning-call-at-silverado.html#comment-form

A LIFETIME AGO

HAPPY NEW YEAR!! 
 JANUARY 1,1950.... 7 years old , living in our new home that Dad and Mom had just built on our farm/ranch near Pringle,Tx. Looking out that huge "Picture window" at the cold Texas panhandle and playing with my new Road grader I had just gotten for Christmas. That Road grader along with many other family heirlooms was taken in a burglary in 1992.

JANUARY1,1960.....Millard Harrison, Wayne Ferguson and I were celebrating  the new year at Wayne's Family home above the Ferguson Hardware store in Stinnett,TX.

JANUARY 1,1970..... My first day in Roswell NM. I had spent the night in the Drivers Bunkhouse at Woody's Truck Stop waiting to meet my new Boss the next day.I was hired as "First seat driver" on a team operation hauling bulk Whiskey from Kentucky to California and Brandy from California to New York.

JANUARY 1, 1980..... Capitan,NM  My best bud and I were guiding a Mountain lion hunt for some Texas "Oil Men"

JANUARY 1,1990....El Paso,TX  painting and remodeling a house that I owned.

JANUARY 1,2000.... Red Mountain Trap and skeet club Mesa AZ, waiting for Y2K to end  life as we knew it.

JANUARY 1,2010  Yorba Linda,CA  looking out the huge window at the beautiful green grass  flowers blooming everywhere and playing with my 1950 model Road Grader, just like the one I got for Christmas in 1950. I spotted it on ebay. Jeanie , the love of my life, bought it for me.Remolding the house, upgrading the solar on the motor home and making the van into a day tripper conversion.Making the first post on my new Blog, I must be nuts.

What a time to start a blog. It was planned for 2007, on the way to spend the summer in Alaska, but as they say." The best laid plans of  Bill Clinton and John McCain sometimes go astray". Medical stuff has kept us tied to the sticks and bricks home, when we want to be in our real home "JEANIE'S BOTTLE" the motor home.

WELCOME, I hope you will come back often. Some days I may post several times and some days I may post only once. Between January1,1950 and January 1, 2010 is a life time of stories, I am going to share some of them with you, I am going to introduce you to some interesting people and places.I will try my best to inform and entertain you.With all that I have going on in my life right now, my expectations may be a tad to high but I will do my dead level best to not disappoint you by not posting. If you care enough to come here I owe it to you to give you something to come here for EVERYDAY.