October, November 2016: Time to change those plans.

You know when you have those plans and you can see them of in the future, they feel good and you are ready for them. And them bam it all changes in a matter of minutes. But first it’s all about a road trip.

Off to Idaho Falls and our first snow of the season!!! It was a great visit and on the way home a stop off at the Suski Ranch!!!

But first Shaggy Bill had to get a haircut!!!

 

 
 
 
 

 

 

 

The drive to Idaho Falls is always fun, so many sights to see.

 

 

We even got to see our first snow fall of the season!!!

 

 

 

 

 

The Suski Ranch!!!

 

Allen and I testing my rocket stove….

 

 

 

We had a good time and toured the area and looked at some properties for sale. One stood out for Lisa!!!

 

It was then off to Portland for work and on the way home we stopped at Suquamish Casino to see our friends Home Free.

 

Meanwhile back in Washington our friends had asked a realtor about a property Lisa was interested in.

 

Got home and with in days Lisa wanted to go back to the Suski ranch to see the property and house with the agent.

 

Back we went for the weekend plus at our place it was nothing but rain for the last few weeks.

 

 

And when you have solar as you power source you don't have power.

So we drove Maggie (Motor Home) back to the Suski Ranch and the toured this lovely property.

 

 

Lis in the back 40.

 

 

The garage/pole barn.

 

The house!!!

 

We met the agent on a Friday and toured and toured and toured.

Lisa asked me my thoughts and I said "Hell No!!!" and "This is to much work for me it is a dump" and "I don't want to live here in the woods, were is my view"

We stayed and walk the property many times over the next two days and on Sunday I called the agent and made an offer.

 

Then we drove home!!!

 

And all HELL hit us as we pulled into the driveway!!!

Mud Hell

 

All 12,000 pounds of Maggie decide to sink in to our gravel driveway.

 

That first night I just tried to get her level and stop the sinking.

 

Morning was bad and it took many hours to get he on wood to keep her stable.

 

 

What a mess....

 

Weeks later with dealing with real-estate agents, mortgage brokers and home inspectors, and trips to home depot for plywood, we finally got Maggie were she was suppose to be.

 

 

Slow and Steady moving, so that wood was always under the tires.

 

Our plywood road.

 

Almost to the upper pad and then we have to turn her around to back in.

 

And than hours to slowly back her into her spot.

 

Finally we made it!!!

 

Well because it took us so long to get Maggie out of the mud and back up on the upper pad we had decided we had to fly home. We had a cruise books for the week of Thanksgiving and this is now the first week of November. But could we drive Maggie out or do we leave her here.

All this time it is raining every day, they had more rain in one month than the normal for the year so the ground was mush.

 

In the end we decided to drive Maggie to the Suski Ranch and leave her for the winter with our friends, because by now it was becoming clear to me that I was moving sometime soon.

 

Packing the barn for our departure.

 

Jeeps all snuggled for its winters nap.

 

 

Last night at Rim Rock!!!

 

 

The slow drive out our plywood road.

 

We had about 60 feet of plywood that we had to place, drive forward than pick up from the rear and move forward, this took hours to do. We have a long drive way.

 

But we made it out and back to the Suski Ranch.

 

 

 

 

Fire!!!

So, I'm cooking outside, preparing a wonderful Cuban picadillo and I smell smoke.  So I thought, damn, I bet that Millennial kid up the street who just leased or bought a lot, has a camp fire going. (We are under a complete burn ban.) And this kid lives out of his car and it’s a long story but they are trying to have him removed. Well, I was half right. It was that damn kid but it was worse than a camp fire. He was burning trash!!! The next thing you know, the whole side of the road is burning and more!

 

 

 

Well before you know it, a couple of acres are now burning!!! Yikes! Time for total panic because it is just down our drive and we don’t think we can get out!!! Lucky for us, our neighbor, Curly, is a sheriff form Arizona and he drove to the club house while his wife, Tanya, called 911. Curly sounded the alarm and the Rimrock volunteer fire department came to the rescue!!!

 

 

Jose putting the water down

(Jose is one of the staff here at Rimrock, and a friend of ours. He is the best!)

 

 

I ran down to the road with my trusty rake and asked how I could help. Before I knew it, Curly gave me a hose and told me what to do!!! (Of course I got the limp leaky hose).

 

 

 

 

Pretty soon, with good directions, I got the hang of it and became a firefighter!!! Well, the mop up guy anyway!!! It took us about 55 to 60 minutes of work with shovels, hoses, and rakes, but we got it beat down!!!

 

 

Fireman Bill!!!

 

 

And of course, when we had it almost out, who shows up?

 

 

Grant County Fire Department!!!

Just kidding, I was sure glad to see them! They have a long drive to reach us and

 got here very quickly. Sure glad the are around!

 

 

 

They made it look easy!!!

 

I was glad they came and finished with those trucks. They had made quick work of it

and they dumped plenty of water to make sure it was out. Then they stayed for a couple of hours to make sure it was completely out. We were so lucky with this one. The wind had dropped from 14 mph, an hour earlier, to almost no wind at all. If he had started his fire earlier, we would have all been in trouble.

 

It's all good in the end. I'm so thankful for my neighbors and all the folks in the volunteer fire dept.

 

 

 

Wonderful September and Life on the Ranch

September is here!!!!

While our trip to Maui was absolutely magical, it was nice to be back at the ranch. Our first stop was to drop by Costco and pick up our new Champion Generator.

 

 

 Then we ran down to Home Depot and picked up our new Honeywell Evaporative cooler.

 

 

 Both have been great additions for us. We also rented a truck just before Labor Day weekend and picked up paneling, insulation, cabinets and flooring for our barn/workshop.

 

 

Lisa in the loft putting up insulation on the ceiling

 

 

 

Putting down the vinyl flooring

 

 

Adding a window

 

Finished for now (Lisa's office)

 

Bill's Office

 

 

We got everything done but the trim, which we will finish another day. Overall, a pretty good job. This should help us keep comfortable on hot and cold days and keep our stuff secure and safe over the winter.

The temps start dropping from the low 80s and upper 50s at labor day, to the upper 60s and upper 30s by months end. We can mark the passing of summer by how far south the sunset moves and by how early it occurs. In July it is 9:30 pm and the sunset is due west of us, and by end of September it is 6:30- 7:00PM time frame, and it is now setting southwest. I can get full solar on my moveable panels in mid summer until sunset, now, since it has moved so far south, the motor home blocks the panels.

The mornings are nice and crisp. Soon they will be freezing and that will mark the time for us to go. We depart on October 26th this year.

New toys:

For my birthday Lisa got me some fun stuff:

 

A nice survival knife: (For when SHTF, I can cut me up some goat or something, and cook me some dinner.)

 

 

A Weather Station:

 

 

And an Emergency Radio/Solar Charger:

 

Love the emergency radio which has hand cranks and has solar. This is the second one I have, and the flashlights are great and don't need batteries. Just crank it a few times and you got 15-30 mins or so of power.


One thing we didn't know but just figured out, is our little rice cooker runs off of our solar battery bank and uses very little power.

Aroma 6 cup rice cooker.

 



We cook oatmeal and other things in this as well. It's a great little gadget. This time of year electric usage is very important as we tend to have more cloudy days and less sunlight, so anything that can help us reduce is great.

 

 

 

We love this time of year and are completely enjoying life at the ranch!!! I Hate to even think about leaving, but we know it is only a month away.

Until Next time!!! Cheers from the Ranch!!!