Its about time

How time flys when your having fun, can't believe its been over a week since my last blog, the weather has been great here until now, today its cold and windy, might even get some snow, I hate that word, but no place has the perfect weather all the time.
                 Went to Fort Bowie the other day with some friends from here in the park, its about a hour and a half away, a nice ride thru the back roads. When you get to the National park you park your vehicle and have to walk 1.5 miles to the fort, first on the hike you see the old Butterfield stagecoach  station, next is the grave yard then Apache well, where they got their water from for the fort and the stage stop and finely the fort itself. Lots of history there, the old Butterfield stagecoach line ran rite past the Fort on its way to Tucson, all told it covered 2500 hundred miles from St Louis Mo, to San Diago, Ca. and took 28 days, what a ride that must have been, can you imagine being on a stagecoach for 28 strait days, holy cow. there's a stagecoach stop rite by the Fort where they changed horses and the passengers got a chance to stretch their legs and get a bite to eat, you have to be there to see how isolated this place is, the Fort was there to keep the Apache Indian's in check and to protect the stage line. It's hard to believe you can still see the tracks of the stagecoaches in a few places.

              The grave yard was next, lots of the soldiers died fighting the Apaches and another 1/4 mile or so was Apache wells where they got the water from, just standing there at the well you go back in time and imagine all the Indian's for hundreds of years coming to this one spot for water and water still coming up out of the ground like it has for God knows how long. Another 1/2 mile of walking and your at the fort, its in the middle of nowhere and no place, but when you think of it, that's the only place where's there's water for God knows how many miles, not much choice on where to build it. The stage line actually went out of its way to get the water at Apache wells, how times have changed. If you ever watched the 1939 movie Stagecoach with John Wayne, there really is a place called Lordsburg, its in New Mexico and the stage did go thru it on its way to Tucson, AZ. One thing that struck me funny was a big sign at the well saying ( don't drink the water) what's up with that??

           Next was the fort, and at one time it was big, lots of wooden and adobe buildings, all the wood ones are gone now but there are still ruins of the adobe ones. Where did they all go??
   

What a great morning

Hi all, woke up to a beautiful sunrise this morning and have to try and share it with you, pictures do not do it justis, it was absultily a 360 degree light show, all blues and pinks, now you have to remember this is sunrise, what a way to start the day!!!

                         Did some work to my new trailer bedroom, added a false wall to the rear as the floor ran up hill the last foot, so now I can put a piece of furniture there and it woun't look out of place and now I have a small shelf under the rear windows to put some junkie nicknacks on, haha, also removed the rear door in the bedroom, kinda felt unsafe with a outsiden door next to my bed.

Bisbee AZ

Hi all, took a ride to Bisbee to check it out, pretty cool place, main St looks like something out of the fiftys, there's a huge old copper mine rite smack in the middle of town. Its a very artsie place, lots of cool shops and plenty of places to eat. I spotted this cool old Grayhound bus in a alley in town, those were the days, the bus's had some class to um. There's alot more of town on the other side of the copper mine but my Isuzu is acting up so I better not take the chance and head home, lucky I did because I just made it and she died just as I pulled in the park, got some bad fuel in Mexico, its cheaper there but not worth the less money, better off just biteing the bullit and getting it here in the states.

Day before happy day

 Hi all, not much going on here, I want to go to the Home Depot in Sierra Vista but my Isuzu has been acting up, the electric fuel pump keeps dieing on me and I don't want to get stranded, I ordered a new one on EBay and I'm waiting for it to come, so my work on the trailer has slowed down a bit, Roxanne sent me some photos of the funny things I used to make and sell at markets and craft shows, thought you all might like to see them. Believe it or not they are bird house's made from old tea and coffee pots and then attached to garden forks and shovels so you can place them in your yard, crazy HUH?? The ones sitting on box's are my (I called them creatchers) made from old tea pots, kitchen utensil's, forks , knives and spoons, they serve no perpous at all but then to just look funny.

Lets try again

OK its Tuesday and the kitchen ceiling is almost done, a few coats of paint and it'll look as good as new, had beautiful sunset and sunrise and I missed getting the camera on both, but take my word for it they were gorgeous, maybe tonight I'll be luckier, its hard to beat a Arizona sunset. Now lets see if it lets me upload some photos?? HOORAY, finialy got there,ceiling is still not done but looks a lot better than it did, there's a grate that covers the hole you see that deflects air from the swamp cooler that sits above it. Not bad for a farmer, HUH. Now it on to the kitchen counter for a little rehab there.

Happy Sunday everyone

As you all know Sunday is my favorate day, Why I have no idea, but it is, I love Sundays. Its a great day here in Arizona, suns shineing and its 75, sorry about that you guys up north but I had to through that in there. I did some work on my new trailer,HAHA, well its new to me anyway, it has what is known here in the south west as a swamp cooler, its kinda like air conditioning only instead of taking mosture out of the air it puts some in because the air is so dry out here, well they mount them on the roof and they blow cooled air through out the whole trailer, actually there pretty nice, unless of coarse if they devolipe a leak, as mine did, OH BOY. The roof is still solid but the ceiling in the kitchen sufferd the most damage from the constant leak. it is bowed a little but its still plenty strong, I'm going to drop the ceiling just in the kitchen about 1" and that will make it look alot better, should take the slite bow out. I know you are all looking at this and saying is it worth the trouble, my answer is YES IT IS, it gives me something constructive to do rather than sitting on my butt doing nothing, besides too me its fun and keeps my pea brain working. I rebuilt the swamp cooler to stop the water leak and I sealed the roof. The trailer is a Roy Craft, built in the mid fiftys, all alumium and solid as a rock, just needs some TLC, well a lot of TLC. I'll post photos as I go along so you can see the progress and please stop laughing. For some unknone reason it won't let me upload any photos, after muiltable times trying I finialy give up, maybe tomorrow. Bye for now

the trip back home

you don;t want to break down out hereAdd caption



BACK HOME IN AZ<Add caption



Well folks it was quite an adventure, the trip back to AZ I mean, it all started off pretty good until I got as far as a little west of San Antonio, Texas, then the fun began, the old Dodge started running hot pulling the hills, and it just got progressively worse, now what??she kept over heating and loosing water, this is no good, I had used all my extra water and the motor was as hot as a pistol, so I seen a spot off interstate 10 that I could get off the hyway and on to the service road, this is much safer, so I coasted down the service road with the engine off and finially came to a stop, now what, hyway 10 is about 100 yards away up a steep hill and I see no house's or anything, I'm in the middle of noware, great I say, just then I hear a MOO and I look off to my right and there's a cow looking at me, he or she I don't know which is calling me over, saying there's a water trough right here if you need some water, and so there was, just how much luck is there, I climed over the fence, keeping an eye on the cow but she just stood there watching me, over to the trough I go and sure enough its full of nice clean water, HOORAY. I go back get my water jugs and fill them, thank the cow and go back and fill the radiator and I'm off and running again, but not for long, by the time I get to the next exit she's hot again, so I called my ever faithfull daughter and told her my delemia, I had pulled off in Comfort, Texas, is their any hope for me!! Rox tells me there's a Comfort truck repair just south of town, its 4 in the afternoon on a Sunday and not much hope of getting anything done now, so I head over there and low and behold it looks like my kinda place, junk trucks and all kinds of old crap laying around, I pull in thinking I'll stay the night and when they open in the morning maybe they can help figure out what's wrong. Well I didn't have to wait till morning as he was open, he lives there and came out when he herd me pull in, and what a great guy Mitch is, loved the Dodge, we tilted the hood and got right at it, the prognoces was not to good tho, maybe head gasket gone and leaking water into a cylinder, not good at all, my heart sank and here I sit with 750 miles to go, BUMMER!!! What do I do now?? Mitch is possitive tho, says Cummins are tough engines and there's still hope for me but I have to wait till morning till NAPA opens up so I can get a jar of miricale engine block fix, what's that I say, he says its pretty new space age stuff that the people in Holland are using on their dikes, just kidding, It'll plug a hole the size of a quarter it 15 minites, he doesn't think the leak is all that bad and is sure it can be fixed with this stuff. He thinks the thermostat stuck closed and caused all the problems in the first place. better to remove the thermostat and drill some holes in it to let the water pass thru and leave it like that. He says I can take a shower there and by now its like 6PM and I'm starving, no problem he says, take my pickup into town and get some chow and that's what I do, a nice cold beer and and good Texas burger does the trick. The next morning I take out the thermostat, drill holes in it, put it back, use his truck again, go to NAPA get the good stuff, pour it in, let it idle 15 minutes like the bottle says and thank Mitch for everything, which by the way he refused to take any money, he bid me a safe trip and wished me luck and off I went, by Mitch and many thanks. I went about 30 miles and checked the water and it was about a gallon low, now I'm a little worried again, I add the gallon and off I go again, the tempiture is staying OK tho so there's still hope, another 50 miles and I stop at a truck stop and check the water again, its full, DOUBLE HOORAY, I'm a happy camper. While I hd the hood tilted at the truck stop a guy in a cooks uniform comes over say's what's wrong, I tell him the story and he says I'm a lucky guy and we start talking about other things and I happen to mention I burn vevatable oil in the Dodge, he say's do I need any? of coarse I do, I can always use some, he says there's about 30 or 40 gallons in the tank out back and its mine if I want it, TRIPLE HOORAY Out back I go and sure enough it great stuff and I take it all, now I know I have more than enough to make it all the way back to AZ, As it turns out the rest of the trip was uneventful, thank god and I'm back home and safe, The whole trip from here to Florida and back to Arizona cost me a mere $95 in fuel, QUADRUIPLE HOORAY, not bad at all. I want to thank my daughter Roxanne for all her help and her comforting talks while I was feeling mighty low there for awhile, thanks Rox your the best daughter a guy could have, I love you.

The return to arizona

WOW  2 weeks sure can go fast when your having fun, sorry for the delay, but time just slipped by. well I'm all loaded up and ready for the trip back to Arizona. Had a long talk with the old Dodge and she said she's up to the task of towing the Isuzu back to AZ. I have about 140 gallons of veggie oil and that should make it the whole way back, if I start to run low I found Sands resturant in Van Horn Texas that has oil that I can have, I got some there on the way over here. Had a great time here with my daughter, she is the best. We had Thanksgiving at my cousin vinnie's and it was really good, lots to eat, they are sad I am leaving, but I told them its not forever, I'll be back in April for a visit. Tomorrow the adventure starts, actually I can't wait to get started, its going to be fun driving the Dodge again, people wave and honk their horns as they go by, I love it.

Back home

                                This is the road heading out of Douglas AZ and somewhere on the other side of those mountians is Florida, but its a long ways away,  I stop for a moment just outside of Douglas to see the monument that is erected there where Geronimo surrendered in 1886, funny I end up living in two different parts of the country where he was, here in Florida he was imprisoned with his famaily at Fort Pickins  in Pensacola from 1886-1889.  The Indians were here thousands of years before us but we just came in and took there home land away from them, who gave us the right to do that?? Of coarse they were going to fight to hold on to it, so would you or I.
                                  I was just about out of veggie oil when I reached Van Horn Texas about 100 miles east of El Paso, it was 4 in the afternoon and I was hungry. I stop at a resturant called Sands and I'm glad that I did, the meal was excellent and under $10, after I payed I asked the lady behind the counter if she had any used vegtable oil, she comes back with WHY? you burn it in your car, suprised I say yes, she says there's a big black tank out back, take all you want, YIPEE, so out back I go and its great stuff, I can tell right away they change there oil often, its a nice gold color, so in my tank goes at least 35 gallons, then its across the road to the gas station and I add 10 GAL of diesel ($3.09 GL) to my new aquired stash of veggie and now I good with fuel all the way home to FL, THANKYOU SANDS RESTURANT you made my day. 

                                  I made it home with fuel to spare, the 1551 mile trip cost me $65 in fuel, not bad I'd say. Well I can tell its FL as the first day home and I'm sweating already, you can feel the humitity right away. Everything is just the way that I left it, the grass was even mowed thanks to the great neighbors I have, Barb and her friend Doug stayed here while I was away for a week or so and they left the place spotless, I may sweep and wipe things off but she cleans like no other, thanks Barb. Its happy Sunday and my daughter is arriving this afternoon, can't wait to see her, she's staying for awhile so we can hang out together. Gotta get the old Dodge ready for the trip back to AZ, I bought a new battery for it yesterday and put it in, hit the start button and she fired right off, YIPEE again. That truck is so much me, I love her.                        

divine intervention

                                    Like I said earlier I' m leaving for Florida tomorrow morning, as you all know I burn waste veggie oil in my diesel Rodeo and it saves me tons of doe, as a matter of fact I couldn't do all the traveling I do without doing so, well here in Arizona I haven't been able to find a good sorce and I've used up all I had so for the trip back to Fl. I was going to have to buy diesel and at $3.19 a gal it was going to put a dent in the ole pocket book, 6:30 this evening I get a call from a fellow which I happened to meet last week that is a cook at Cochise collage, a local school rite down the road from here, I told him that I'm looking for used veggie oil and if he ever has any to let me know, he said a local guy is doing the same thing as me and takes all he has, but the fellow that usually picks up his waste veggie oil has plenty and wanted to know if I wanted any, if I can stop by at the school tomorrow morning early I can have about 50 gallons if I want it, yippie ki yeah, of coarse I do, what timing, there is truly a God in heaven, thank you lord, thank you!! This makes me a very happy camper and a lot cheaper trip back to Florida, WHOOPEE.

Leaving tomorrow

                                    Well its on the road again tomorrow morning, heading to Florida, 1500 miles and I'll be there, weather looks good for the whole trip, thank you lord!! It will be good to see all my friends at Mc Donalds, when I was living in Mary Esther I would go to mickey's every morning and see the gang, there are about 7 of us, sometimes less, sometimes more, that meet there in the morning, we all would stay about a hour chewing the fat, there's a old expression, my dad used to say it all the time. My mom would say where were you John and he would say, just chewing the fat with the guys.
                                     It was chilly here today, only got up to 67, plus it was windy so it felt cooler and tonight its supposed to get down to 32, burrrr. No more posts now till I get to FL, talk to you then, BYE   

I missed bloging on Happy Sunday

            Holy cow how time flys when your having fun, I can't believe its Monday already, day after tomorrow I leave for Florida, just me and the Isuzu this time, I'm leaving the Cygnet here cause I'm bring the OLD DODGE back with me when I return, so I'll tow the Isuzu behind, been doing alot around here for Belle as I'll be away for a while, her cousin is coming to live here from Kentucky, she's 72 and is going to live in a small 3 room cabin here on the property, its was in pretty sad shape and I did a lot of remodeling to it to make it liveable, O'BOY, OH well, Belle says what I've done so far is good enough so that's fine with me. Tomorrow I must change my oil and get the ol'e ZU ready for the 1500 mile trip to FL.
            Had a email from my nephew Chris today and it was a nice surprise, first time I got a email from him, yippee ki yeah. He sent me some photos of a 1973 Jeep PU truck that I sold to my brother Rich, in I think around 1978 or 9, WOW that's along time ago, seams like 100 years ago!! I miss my brother and think of him all the time, he is 10 years older the me, so I'm the baby. Its funny he's in my dreams all the time, just about every night, I wonder what's up with that?? He always looks the same,  in his twenties, young and hansom as ever. Sorry but I get all teary eyed just thinking of him, wish we could be closer!!
             Suns going down and its time to eat, I've had along day and I'm hungry. NITE ALL

Its here

                                      Well yesterday my new home arrived at the Silverado, and a fine home its going to be, my daughter has given me all kinds of ideas, good going Rox. This is going to be a fun project for me. I got the fellow that owns Twin Buttes RV park which is only a mile and a half down the road to move it for me, Roger is his name and a better guy you couldn't ask for, I was expecting to pay at least $100 to get it moved, I mean its 35' long by 8' wide, no lights,brakes and tires that are at least 50 years old and cracked all to hell, he looks at it and says no problem, I say how much, he comes back with $25, OMG, no way I said, he's got to jack it up, hook up to it, and tow it 11 miles with no plates or lights, that's got to be worth more than $25, he says that's all he wants, well OK lets do it and that's what we did, what a guy, we had no problems at all, everything went as smooth as silk, raggedy tires held up and all, after all was said and done, I tried to make him take at least $50, he finely gave in and took $40.
                                       Now the fun begins

Sunday already

Well this has been a exciting week, for me anyway, I've decided to stay on here at the Silverado, the weather is far much better than Fl., also less bugs and most of all no mosquitos, Belle is excited too. I spotted a old camper from the fifties in the back of a trucking co. in Douglas and it turned out to be 4 sale, a steal at $300, well its mine now, all I have to do is get it moved here, its a little to big to move it with my Isuzu, 30' long, tomorrow I'm going to see If I can get someone to bring it here. Its very solid but needs work, the fun kind tho, new floor covering and lots of painting on the inside, it should be a fun project, the kind I like, must keep busy you know.

                         I know this kind of living isn't for everyone but it fits me to a tee, I love this old stuff, always have, my daughter Roxanne has given me some great ideas on how to do the interior, the stove is going and a countertop one will replace it also a breakfast bar with stools is going on the blank wall across from the kitchen counter, great idea Rox, thanks. I know it doesn't look like much now but wait till its done, OH BOY I can't wait.

               Well the sun just went down and I guess it ends another day here on the ranch, tomorrow a new one starts all over again, nite all.

What used to be

Boy in its day this was a place was jumpin, this is a poster Belle gave to me on how it was here 20 years ago, as you can see there was alot going on, I would have liked to have seen it then, but sad to say all good things must end, their just memorys now, too bad, but its still a great place and I love it here.