Stood Up!

Don't know how many of you know or not, but I do have a real web site www.tffn.net and have been running it for almost 13 years now. Anyway I decided I'd host a get together for my members down here and had been planning it since last year. At first there was a lot of interest, but then as time went on it dropped off. This weekend was to be it, but it looks like I'll be the only one here. Oh well... Pay Backs Comming!

On the other hand there are lots of Fords down here this week end. Cobra cars and others have shown up for their get together. See pictures. This was at the Legion and I'd just left about 15 minutes earlier. :( They will be back there Saturday though and I plan to be there.

Thanks to Dave Secor for the photos!

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Skinning the Cat

Or did it skin me? I got tired of not being able to use the laptop at night to cut down on battery drain so decided to skin the cat and go back to the old technology I used back at the BBMI. In this case I used another satellite dish aimed at the legion with the laptop in front of it. That allowed me to be able to get online with the internal WiFi card rather than the WiFi key in the dish outside. This left a LOT to be desired, but it was better than nothing. Shortly after I set this up it dawned on me that there could be an IP conflict between the WiFi card and the WiFi key so I disabled the internal card and what do you know? That was the problem. Now I'm back online with the dish and WiFi key again so could get that damn dish out of here.

Got Water?

Not hooked up yet, but with the help of Bob Dawson and Dave Secor I got the water tank moved over beside the trailer. I still need to get the pump rigged up to send water in to the trailer and also need to get the tank refilled. I guess it still had 30 or 40 gallons of water in it when we moved it and it was a hand full for the three of us even using the two wheeled dolly, but we managed. It will be nice having running water in here. I'll chlorinate it as usual when I get it filled and the filter on the kitchen faucet will turn it in to drinkable water. Only discharge will be gray water to some type container for distribution to a garden at some point I guess. The facilities will remain outdoors. At some point I'll probably get one of the portable sewer tanks to use to haul the waste to the BBMI and dump it there. Or may borrow my neighbors) Not sure what the fee is, but it is legal and done by quiet a few people down here. Of course then the indoor facilities will only be for the Soft Company (as Scavenger calls women.) and of course Kids. The men folk will have to use bushes and the It'll Du. ;)

Weather here?
It was pretty darned cool here last night and a blanket felt good even with the windows and vents closed . This is (I think) the third cloudy day and the solar has only been doing some good. I've had to run the charger for the last two days since I've been using the desktop a lot because connecting to the internet with the laptop still ain't happening most of the time. :( BTW we've also had some rain for the past three days, but not a lot any of the times. Looks like it could happen again today. Fortunately the forecast says it will only be partly cloudy for the next two days and sunny for the three after that. There hasn't been enough wind except for short spells to keep the battery banks topped off because of the lack of direct sunlight. 

And a few more pictures of sunrise over 9 Points Mesa

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GOT WATER PIPED IN NOW!

 

Old Pictures

What the heck? Just decided to post some old pictures I found on a CD last night. You should see the video I found of the eX, Myself and the grand daughters dancing. Then again maybe you shouldn't see it. I was about 35 lbs heavier at the time.

I'll Third that!

Bummer about the Starlight Theatre closing. I seldome go there or eat there, but I sure hate to see it close. It is an ICON for this area to be sure. Who knows... Maybe the Terlingua Ghost Town is really going to become a ghost town? I heard it through the grapevine that the radio station has already shut down. Actually found out about the Starlight closing through DD's Blog because I hadn't checked John's yet. Supposedly Saturday is the last day. (Both blogs are listed to the right on this blog.)

Not much else to write about from here other than I'm still battling computers, but out of two defuncted computers I now have one that will play DVDs, but only during the day or on windy nights. (Unless I want to take a chance on being out of power during the night some time. Ah Heck! I'll try it the next calm night and see how it goes. I may have to run the charger the next morning for the first time in I don't know when.

 The picture is just for the heck of it. ;)

Spider Attack / More computer Problems

To borrow a phrase from an old Elvis song  I'm All Shook Up yesterday evening I was when I was attacked by a very large spider. I'd taken the hose from the water tank so I could fill up a water jug when the spider rushed out the end of the hose and wound up on my thumb. Fortunately I acted in a flash and flung it off of my hand. Needless to say I didn't have time to think about fetching the camera to take a picture of it I just stomped it instead. By doing that I couldn't search online to find out what type spider it was. :( Anyway it didn't have time to bite me, but I just went out trying to find the remains and they were gone. I guess the ants or something else had already carted off the remains .

Been running in to more computer problems. :( Yesterday I went to the storage building to search for the Windows XP install disk (which I succeeded in finding) Also brought one of my other computers over here and took the hard drive out of it so I could put it in the external drive case and try to setup a dual boot system with the windows and Linux. (A test run)

I got the drive changed out in the external case, fired up the laptop and proceeded to install XP on that hard drive. The install went well through the whole process of nuking the partitions on the drive, reformatting the drive (About an hour's wasted time) and going all the way through the install, but then reporting that there had been a problem with the install and said it couldn't be used. ARG!!! I says to myself "Self, just put the drive with Linux already installed back in the hard drive case and start using that again." Which I did. Everything worked fine, BUT for some reason my external USB DVD player wouldn't play movies anymore. Major BUMMER because I like to watch movies since there isn't much else to do here at night besides listen to the Zune.

Now I guess I'll wait until the hard drive my nephew is sending me gets here, install it in the laptop and see how the windows install goes on it so I can go ahead and add Linux along with it for the dual boot. Now I remember why I quit building and repairing computers!

Hard Drive Crash!

Started having trouble with the laptop's hard drive last night so started trying to get everything backed up. Unfortunately before that could happen the hard drive did a total head crash and is right now no more than a paper weight. Not sure when or where I'll get a new drive for it so that means using this power hog of a desktop which also means running the generator while using it. It would suck the battery bank down way too fast otherwise (even with the solar panels working) Anyway what this mean is I'll be spending a lot less time online and only be checking email a couple of times a day. Posting on other blogs will be out for the most part until I get a new drive for the laptop.

If you'll don't see much from me for a while you should know why now.

Update

I now find that I can't comment on my own blog. Don't have a clue why? I had that problem on the laptop back some time ago, but it seemed to straighten its self out?  

PDGF

Or... Pretty Darned Good Food.

Had a hankering for some fried potatoes and beans, but didn't have any fresh potatoes so... I opened a box of Scalloped Potato mix and used the dehydrated potatoes out of it. I'll put back the sauce mix for something else later on. I boiled the dehydrated potatoes and some dehydrated onion flakes for 15 minutes to rehydrate them and then drained them. Heated up the skillet with olive oil and fried the rehydrated potatoes with salt, pepper and a few other seasonings. Warmed up a pan of beans to go with it, but discovered I was out of catchup so searched and found the catchup packets. Also used some of the Salsa Picante  Bigfoot left me when they were here for the brunch. Turned out to be a good filling meal with more left over for supper. Of course there will probably be a gas factor with that meal. ;)

BTW I have used canned diced potatoes the same way with good results, but didn't have any of those either.

Yeah I still miss Pepper, but not quiet as bad.

Well Dog Gone

Pepper that is.

Pepper on her last hunt here.

Taking it easy after the hunt.

She looks sad! I wonder if she knows she is leaving?

Wow! I'm surrounded! And there's another BIG guy over there to.

She is now at her new home and all was going well when I left. A lot of sniffing going on, but that was about all. Her and the smaller dog acted as if they were going to be good buds and the big dogs more or less ignored her once they got acquainted. There's a larger Dane not shown in the picture. Pepper also started exploring after that. Looks like she will fit in fine.

As  for me? Well yes I do miss her and was starting to rethink whether I wanted to take her over there or not last night. Had a long talk with her last night, but I don't think she listened so I decided it was best to take her to her new home. Now every time I walk out the door I expect to look around and seeing her trail along behind me. I'm sure I'll reach for a leash that isn't any longer here when I get ready to go somewhere. It'll take some getting used to for sure. I guess the feeling I had driving off was something like that of a parent dropping their preschooler off at kindergarten for the first time. I can go see her if I want to and will get updates on her from time to time to.

As for Abby's request all the toys and stuff she sent went with her over there.

Busy Yesterday / Rescue Mission

When they were putting in the new septic system at the legion a lot of old steel pipe was found that had been overgrown. I was offered it and figure it will make a new BIG project of some kind. Yesterday with the help of Dave I made several trips between here and the legion dragging the pipe back here. It was too long to fit on the trailer so that was about the only way to get it here.

After that was done a group of Rockhounds were having a meeting at the legion and one older woman shower up for it, but said she had gotten stuck going out to her land and wanted to use the phone to call AAA for a tow out. After an hour or so she found out that they would not come down here and Dave tried to call several people he thought might do it, but they were not at home.

I still had the chain from dragging the pipe in the car so decided we would go out and see if I could help her out. When we walked out to get in the falcon I noticed a group of the rockhound guys standing around some 4x4 pickups that would do the job real easy and since the woman was there for the same meeting I wondered WHY none of them had offered. I made the statement to them that I saw several new pickups that could pull the woman out of the mud, but since they hadn't offered my 42 year old car would do it After several excuses why they wouldn't one man said he would. Him and his wife had just driven in from Weatherford Texas (over 500 miles). He said you'll lead and we will follow so taking the woman's directions we set out to find her car. She kept getting us lost and couldn't remember how to get there, but from some of the stuff she described Dave was able to figure out about where it was. We finally found it and she said she had had to walk about 3 miles from there before she ran across someone that she flagged down and they dropped her off at the legion. Turns out that she wouldn't have gotten stuck if she would have just had a little speed up, but she tried to creep through it. Wasn't stuck bad at all and most people would have been able to get on through it at that. The couple following us pulled her out no problem at all. They were really great people! Unfortunately they don't plan to buy around here.

BTW we were actually north of Black hill and 9 points Mesa was looming VERY large. Had to have been at least 5 or more miles out that way. Of course with all the extra driving out that way before we found the car I'd figures we drove more like 10 or more miles.

I hate to imagine that woman staying out that way by herself. Hopefully she can meet some neighbors out that way!

Too Pooped to Post / Shot at Pepper

Ok... here's the deal. Evening before last I heard the sound of Pepper jumping from the trunk or hood of the falcon to the roof. Not sure which because when I looked out she was standing on the roof. The trunk and hood both have dusty Pepper paw prints all over them.

I went out with the leash and whipped her with it and she didn't move a muscle so I picked up a hand full of sand and gravel and threw it at her which she hates and usually runs. Took a couple of times of dong that before she did though. She was in one of her stubborn moods.

When she did run she got behind some bushes far enough away to be out of throwing range and kept popping her head up looking back at me. I was determined to make enough of an impact on her to make her decide that getting on the falcon shouldn't be done so I went in and got the 380 and started to shoot around where she was. She took off north toward the legion and I didn't see her for a while until Dave at the legion brought her back down here. I think I'll write him off as an X-Friend!

Anyway she did go to the legion and Dave's nieces opened the door and she ran in. Took them a while to get her out because she was in one of her STUBBORN moods

Now you would think after going through all the trauma of what had happened she would have wised up and figured out that being on the falcon could be hazardous to her health, but guess where she was again yesterday morning. If you guessed on the roof of the falcon you would be right. More throwing dirt and gravel (without the shooting) put her on the run again, but not far away.

I guess something good came out of this because Dave's sister said she would take Pepper in and the three girls like her so with them and four other dogs maybe she will have a good home. I'll probably take her over there today. I guess if I ever get the hankering to see her again (NOT LIKELY) I can go over there to visit her.

About the too pooped to post part that will be the next thread.

Abby & Jim

We had storms in the area and I ran in to Abby and Jim at the legion. I figured it might be safer for them to hang around here rather than going back to their tent until the storms were over so invited them over. They were here until late and we got to do some shooting before it got dark. Had a good time doing that and then visited after that. Had a good time doing that to. Abby had mentioned in a comment in the last thread that she wished she had tried one of the biscuits with some of Just Me's prickly pear apple jelly on it because she missed doing that at the brunch so I fixed them both up with that. The storm threat passed later on last night so they headed back to the land. They pulled out early this morning to make the long trip back home. Sure enjoyed having a couple more good people down here!

Come & Gone

First picture is Frann and Robert (Bob) lining up for the grub. Second picture Left to Right is RN, Abby,  Jim, Fran, Caren (Littlefoot) Bill (Bigfoot), Julianne (Just Me), Dave (Legion Bar manager), Bob (My neighbor) James (the resident surveyor), and Misty (My niece)

I think everyone had a good time and there was plenty of grub to go around. A few of  us headed for the legion around noon and then several more showed back up that evening for a party on the other side of the trailer where we once again had shade. Had another guest show up as well (Lee) for that party. Julianne brought the groceries in from Midland when she came down and did most of the cooking other than the eggs. Frann brought some cooked Chilies and warned that they were HOT! She was right, but they were good.  I think Misty helped some and did most of the roundup of trash and dishes after the feed. I cooked the eggs (two 10 inch skillet fulls). We'll have to do this again some times!

Bigfoot dropped me off a solar shower bag so that gives me another option for showers. However, the last shower wasn't too bad coming directly from the water tank. I may try connecting the solar shower to the input line to get the water temp back up to a comfortable level again. When the weather cools off more that will probably be a must.

Oh Deer! / State Troopers

Haven't seen many of these alive lately, but have seen three dead ones on 118 and they were all in the same area I've seen the 5 live ones several months ago. I'd say with the dead ones by 118 that three people have really screwed up front ends on their vehicles! Anyone traveling down here now sure needs to keep an eye out for them. Its Mule Deer down here so that can do a lot more damage to a vehicle than their smaller cousins the White Tail Deer.

Besides the danger of hitting a deer down here you also now have a danger of getting pulled over by one of these. Its now confirmed that the DPS does have an office down here (although from what I hear a one man office) according to sources the trooper lives in Alpine and makes daily trips from there to the office down here and back. Right now there are several down here and once again according to sources there are two unmarked black cars with small light racks on top which would make them hard to spot as trooper cars. The trooper that my neighbor talked to said the reason there are so many down here is that they are having conferences to discuss handling the Chili Cook off. Now its well over a month until then so they may be even worse than in years past during the chili cook off. Seems last year that half the troopers in Texas were down here. Supposedly they are planning a new strategy to deal with people coming to the cook off and committing crimes. Hate to think what that strategy is??? I plan to stock up with everything I need and stay on the ranch the whole time and just before and after the cook off! Of course during the cook off the Sheriff's deputies will also be patrolling the area heavily. Don't know about the border patrol, but there are always lots of them and maybe they will be ramping up to?

BRUNCH

It appears that someone posting on Frann's blog was feeling left out about not being invited to the Brunch Sunday. Now since they posted as Anonymous I'd say that isn't anyway to get added to the guest list! Needless to say this isn't Denny's though and resources and food will be limited so it isn't likely more people will be added to the list unless they are from this immediate area and follow my blog. Just not room or food to put on anything bigger and for more people.

How this all got started is that Bigfoot and Littlefoot generally invite me over for brunch when they are down here. I told Just Me that I'd like to invite them over for brunch for a change and she said she would like to come also. She also said she would pick up the groceries in Midland before coming down here. James the surveyor has been there to so when I contacted Bigfoot about it and got the OK then I told him he could invite James to. Now that made 5 people, but knowing that Frann had just moved down here and Abby would be here the morning of the brunch I invited them. Add 4 more because both Frann and Abby have friends with them. That made it 9 people.

My brother in law RN will be down here to bring tires for the falcon and is bringing a co worker along so add 2 more making that 11. My neighbor expressed interest in coming so at first that would have been him, his wife and daughter, but the wife and daughter will have to work so scratch those two making the total now at 12. More than likely we may go to the Legion at some point and the bar manager Dave will be off so I also invited him making a total of 13 invited.

Who knows... If this is ever done again maybe it will be a pot luck where each person brings something +their own chairs, drinks and so on and then more people could show. I'm not looking for that to happen though.