Shooting

I came across some free PVC pipe and for about five dollars, I made this crude looking target stand to practice shooting. For some reason, I thought it would be a good idea for Norm to learn how to shoot a pistol. So, we load up our machines and head out to our local desert for Norm to take her first shots and to try out my new target stand. I only had to wait for Norm's second trigger squeeze of the day to see the flaw in my design. She blew the upper right elbow apart! For some reason, I had no duct tape, but I did have my Father-in-law with me and the two of us wired the frame back together, hooked our old tea pot back up and were ready to go"hot" in no time. Norm hit the pot a lot, and filled it with holes. At one point it had a face like image made from Norm. Now the tea pot has taken up a prominent spot in our desert junk yard display. Just have to wait for it to rust up now.

COLD...

Quartzsite Arizona

The "big tent" and heavy traffic on the way to all the big doings. RV's of all types dot the landscape. The gang we spent time with.

The Big Lebowski bowling team...

Starting from the lower left, Maude, behind Maude is Donny, "The Dude," Walter, the nihilist with the missing toe, and Bunny. Always remember, "The Dude Abides!"

Quartzsite Arizona

We spend a few days in the desert near Quartzsite Arizona. This is a ride we took on the first day, about ten miles south from our camp to the foot hills

Beep Beep...

Home Improvent pt. 2

We had to get a new TV before the DTV dead line. I know, we did not really have to get one, we just wanted one. A couple of reasons we went with a new TV, first the old one weighed a ton, and second we wanted to make another place for Norm to put stuff (hopefully not shoes). Again, this is another project that I would have liked to have been my idea, but of course it is not. I first read about this in Trailer Life magazine, small article with not much detail. There is a NuWA owners web site that I frequent to check on what other RVer's have go wrong with their Hitch-Hiker model. A fellow 29.5 owner published a very nice article complete with photo's and details on up grading to a flat screen television and gaining some much needed cubbie space. After cutting three doors from a sheet of plywood and only needing one, we finally start work on this one. We have the hinge installed and my Father-in-law is doing a final sanding before applying some stain. I look like I am over seeing the operation, but I am just holding the door. The project went fairly smooth compared to most of my adventures of this type and we got a sweet deal on the TV from our number one salesman at Dell.com, our son. After some pushing and shoving, some grumbling, and someone (Norm) saying it was crooked, things turned out very well. The presentation is a huge difference from our old heavy weight model.

Walking...

Two to three times a week Norm and I take a walk in the desert. We each carry two bottles of water, some survival gear and travel around three and half miles in a little over an hour. The terrain is split between level and hilly. Every time we go for months now, we have checked to see that one of us got the camera. We have it with us to take a picture of wild life. After two and half months, this is our only shot of wild life. Our hope was for a close up a jack rabbit (way too fast to shoot), a mule deer, or maybe a javelina. We even saw this guy (we think he is the same one) in the same spot for two different times till we finally stopped to take his picture. He did not want to cooperate so Norm used a stick to stop his forward progress. This did not make him happy. So I worked quickly and this is the best I could do. He is all fuzzy with a bad disposition, especially when confronted with a stick.

Home Improvement...

Our home improvement projects got off to a great start by chucking the inside of our sofa sleeper. I had several ideas floating around in my head on how to proceed. None of which we used. I have to give all the credit to my Father-in -law for the final design and how well it works. All of my ideas were kind of crude and goofy. The best part for me, Norm is very happy with the new storage, and that is very good for me. Second best is getting half of the vacuum out of my side of the closet. The other half was in Norm's side, she's happy, now there's more room for shoes. Last, but just as good, is the weight savings of venting the insides of the sofa bed. We set it out next to the road with a free sign hoping someone would take it, but that was a no go. We decided to keep the mattress for a future home improvement, but we will have to pay to take the remains to their final resting place (the dump).

1/09/09

"Though you hear nothing, He is speaking. Though you see nothing, He is acting. With God there are no accidents. Every incident is intended to bring us closer to Him." Max Lucado

North Ranch Talent

These church doors were hand painted by our friend, Julie. She not only paints on all kinds of surfaces, among those are rocks (we have a few), but also plays keyboards, and sings in the choir at her church. Julie and her husband, Bob, always keep us entertained.

1/01/09

Our neighbor did tell us what type hawk this is, but I can't remember. The hawk has been around our house for a couple of days now and looks really tough. Thanks to Max for the photo.