A modern day Hero. (Ours at least)

Don is my nephew by marriage and we are all very proud of him. Unfortunately he wasn't able to reach the rank of General before retiring, but that's OK with us, but a disappointment to him and my niece Mona. Never the less its the Air Force's loss and our gain because no more of the many deployments into harm's way. Unlike when I was in the army now days some of the Air Force is actually fighting shoulder to shoulder with Army Special forces as Don has done. (Army Rangers) I think that was unheard of back in my Army days, but there's a new wind blowing and things have changed for the better. No more can one branch of the service claim  to be the best which is good because in war they all put their lives on the line (Which has always really been the case).

Don and Mona had hoped to be able to relocate back to Texas, but as of yet he hasn't been able to find the right job here so some other state may be lucky enough to have them. Hopefully where ever they do wind up he will eventually be able to transfer back to Texas. He is interested in Off Grid living, but I think he would rather do it in a different area than Terlingua. I don't think Mona is as interested in the Off Grid life as he is though. ;) I can always hope they will eventually wind up close enough to visit me often though!

This was bought by my niece Mona for him on retirement and will make a great addition to one of the walls in their home. Any x-military person would probably be very proud to have achieved what Don has.

My great Niece Tristan and great Nephew Cooper posing with Don.

More Solar

My niece's hubby came up with a bunch more 20 watt panels and one what I think is a 40 watt. He says more are to come. My problem will be to get all of them back in the falcon. I could probably pull it off if Pepper didn't have to ride back in the back seat. She may have to run the 220 miles back to the dungeon land. Out of 24 more panels only two were bad so this was actually better than the first batch back at the ranch which came out to 4 good and one bad. Even without the others yet to come that should put me up to about 540 Watts of solar. Figure in the wind genny that would be 1040 Watts. Maybe I'll start TFFNGUY lighting and power. ;)

Under Fire Again!

Once Again American Legion Post 653  is in the cross hairs! This time it was an inspection of the antiquated sewer system connected to it. Once Again it looks like someone that would like to see the Legion go under may have filed yet another complaint. This is more than a coincident! There have been too many things like this come up lately.

They have 60 days to get a new septic system installed or close the doors (more than likely for good) There is not enough $$$ to have one installed. Right now they are exploring all options on how to get this done, but it may take donations from interested parties to get this done and save the Legion. If you are interested let me know and I'll post the address to send donations to.



MAJOR UPDATE A new septic system has just been installed at the legion so HOPEFULLY that will be the final problem. Not much else it could be turned in for I HOPE! Photos by David Secor

===

Oh No!

Saw a neighbor to be at the legion yesterday afternoon and he brought up that he had bought 5 acres of land a half mile west of me. Problem he has is that he don't like to see the top of the trailer because he says it messes up his view of 9 Points Mesa? See the red arrow in the first picture pointing to what he sees from there. He hasn't even build yet.

Believe it or not he actually wants me to put military camouflage on the top or paint it the same color as the mountain behind it so he can't see it. Of course he also doesn't like the view from the other side either. see below picture) Not sure what he wants them to do???

Now.... What DO You say to someone like that?

Pepper the Chew Dog / Supper & More

Despite my attempts to get Pepper to play with the toys Abby sent her she doesn't want anything to do with them. I've repeatedly played with her with them and then gave her some of the treats Abby also sent her and still she doesn't want to have anything to do with the toys.

What you see above is some of her latest handy work. The spigot came from the same type jug as seen in the second photo, but was from the jug I use for the shower. That jug has always doubled as a shower tank and in between showers as a source of water for dish washing, hand cleaning and any water that I don't use for drinking or cooking with. This latest act of sabotage pretty well dedicates that jug to showers only. :(

Anyway... My neighbor stopped by with some groceries yesterday to make Stuffed Bell peppers out of. He didn't know how to make them and neither did his wife, but he said he had had a hankering for some for weeks. He asked if I knew how and I told him yes so he asked if I would make them and then go to their place for supper and he'd have other grub made. Sounded good to me so I said yes.

Needless to say I decided it was time for another shower since I'd be around other humans besides myself so after the shower I forgot to remove the pump from the jug and put the spigot back in the jug. I left it laying on the battery that now runs the shower pump. Pepper must have watched me lay that spigot on the battery and between the time I got dressed and ready to leave she had to have done the damage because she was chained up from that time until I got back from the neighbors. That would have given her about 45 minutes to do her thing because when I got back it was that way and she hadn't had access to it before then.

Now... this gets me to thinking and now that I think about it about every time she has chewed up something I'd either moved it or handled it shortly prior to that. I assume she must watch what I do and then decide to chew on what I handle? I usually can't be outside without her being real close by. (outside the It'll Du and shower when I use both or just trailing along behind me.) I guess I'm going to have to start chaining her out of sight from me every time I do something?

And now back to the Supper. The stuffed peppers turned out great according to the neighbors. I thought they were very good to. (patting myself on the back) ;) He made some KILLER home fries with a number of different seasonings and had a fresh bottle of Black Jack to go along with it. After that he fired up the generator and we watched a movie called Cool World on their big screen TV / DVD. I have to admit that it was NOT my kind of movie and I'd never watch it again, but I did enjoy the company food and booze.


Update

One of the guys that goes to the Legion just brought this back to Terlingua. Talk about an idea vehicle for down here! I'm going to have to add one of these to my wish list! Last photo is the proud owner. (Pictures by Dave Secor)

Sage / This & That

Color enhanced to show Sage. All other colors got enhanced to.

Same picture unedited
Ever heard of the Purple Sage? That's what the purple stuff is. (same stuff that goes in sage dressing around Christmas)

Prickly Pear apples are probably ready for picking, but I'll let someone else do that. Both times I tried I spent for ever trying to get microscopic thorns out of my finger tips.

Strawberry cactus fruit getting real close to being ripe. Much easier to get without paying a heavy price. Also very good tasting!

Abby had sent a care package for pepper to John Wells to give to me. He brought it over yesterday and presented me with a pocket for the Field Lab t-shirt. I think this is a conspiracy between him and Nick because he said Nick suggester attaching it with duct tape. I'll do that one better though and attach it with Velcro so I can have costume malfunctions.

The toys Abby sent to Pepper. At first Pepper seemed to be a little afraid of them. She still won't have anything to do with the ball or rope, but I did play with her with the stuffed toy last night and she seemed to warm up to it some. I guess we'll have to see how that goes.

Abby didn't leave me out of the gifts though. She sent me the small espresso maker and some coffee filters. I'll have to try it out, but making 8 cups of espresso in the morning instead of a pot of coffee may take a while. I wonder how that would work using the super Starbucks coffee Dennis sent me???

Pepper seen at the bottom of the door after hanging out in the bushes and getting covered with the damn gnats! Can't walk out the door without them swarming me to. Bug spray doesn't effect them at all and the flea collar I put on her is totally useless for them to.

And... For the last thread and the pictures there.

(#1) Empty plate. That was what was left of some Porcupine meatballs my sister sent me by RN. You really didn't think they would last long did you? Man I LOVE those things!

(#2) Water cooler and beer carton. Nick made me a gift of the water cooler and RN dropped off the 12 pack of beer while he was here. Unfortunately he wasn't able to stay over and made the return trip the same day. Probably good for him because it has been VERY HOT and VERY HUMID!

(#3) Starbucks Caffe Verona. Dennis Walker sent that to me saying I needed to have some good coffee for a change. It is very good, but I need to cut down on the amount I use to make it. I had to run around the block 4 times to stop fidgeting! This block happens to be 120 acres to!

 Ran in to John Wells at the GS yesterday and he turned me on to a loaf of his solar oven Beer Batter bread. I know he said it had cheese and green olives in it, but can't remember if he said something else to? Pretty good stuff! I may take the remaining half to the legion in small slices to share with members. Then again I might eat it to. ;)

The Coopers have left the building. Errr... Dungeon.

Nick and Mariah, pulled out yesterday afternoon so things are back to about normal around here. (Including the heat!) got up to 94 in here yesterday so I'd say they left at the right time because it probably got to at least 107 in the dungeon.

Nick snapping a shot of me as I was snapping a shot of him. You can probably see the other photo on his blog as soon as he has a chance to update it. We had a good time and great visit. I think he made sure that Mariah saw everything that could be seen around here.

Had an unwanted visitor show up just before they left. The dreaded Cone Nosed beetle. I saw it on the outside of the screen and went to kill it, but when I got out there it was gone. A little while later I saw it hung up in my pet spider Pete's web so went out to kill it again. Instead I decided to let Pete handle it because I didn't want to spray down his web and kill him to. Big mistake because the beetle managed to escape later and its on the loose again looking to get at me.



Update Coming Over the next couple of days I'll be explaining some of the new pictures and adding to this. Stay Tuned.

Thanks Sis.

Thanks Nick & RN

Thanks Dennis Walker

Neighbor's find.


Pepper Update

What?

Where's the pocket?

The Parade

Last three photos Sunny and her Dad on top of the hill with the flags. TOO COOL!
OGT/Nick
Mariah (Nicks daughter)