The weekend was too short

I went and got my shopping done early yesterday. I actually had to wait for the post office to open to get my packages, and I had done all my other shopping except Sal’s by then. 

I paid all my bills yesterday including the electric bill for this last month. That was down to $37 because I haven’t fired up the AC yet and haven’t had to use the heater other than the one in the bathroom when I take my shower in the morning. That will all change tho. I still need to get the clear vinyl for the living room windows, didn’t have enough money in the account to buy anything but food yesterday. Next week I will get the curtains and the velcro and get them put up. I got a bunch of canned veggies and some fresh veggies and fruit for my lunches this week. DG’s shelves are still pretty empty.

I got a few tops at Sal’s yesterday, a couple of pillow cases, red of course, and a cotton shower curtain. Got everything washed, hung the curtain and took down the vinyl one I had inside. I will try to keep the doors clean, but if I don’t, the cotton curtain on the outside will hide the doors. I really should have ironed it, but I didn’t.

I went to the ham and bean and turkey noodle soup at the clubhouse yesterday. I had a bit of both and also brought home some of the turkey noodle for dinner. Was very good, per usual. 

Later in the day I took the golf cart and dropped of my check for the electric, took my garbage to the dumpster and delivered the whole wheat pasta to Anna and then left the cart with Keith. He is going to tinker with it some more and polish up the fiberglass. I probably wouldn’t use it until this weekend anyway. I walked to and from the soup lunch and then home from Keith’s. Getting myself geared up to walk again. I have got to loose the weight I gained over the winter. Plus get my blood sugar under control. I don’t want to go back on any meds. Time to get my iPod charged up and ready.

Back to work today. Only one more week (or so) after this one. I can’t wait. I will have to watch every penny, but I have enough craft supplies to make a lot of stuff, I get my books for free, and I don’t have any large expenses. I do still want to find a recliner if the opportunity arises, but that is about it. I will have to try to sell some stuff online for a few extra bucks if I can. I should probably start watching for good stuff at Sal’s to sell on eBay. Even if I just made enough to cover my groceries that would be helpful.

Golf Cart Project

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Purchased the golf cart. 1994 Yamaha G9

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Removed black box on back and carpeting and Betty Boop floor mats and steering wheel cover. Getting ready to get her polished up. I have a canvas and vinyl drive cover for her, parts to make the new bed in the back and seat covers and a steering wheel cover on the way. I also ordered a new carburetor and tuneup kit.

Removed the plastic front bumper pieces, need to figure out a bumper for it. Has a nice one in the back and now nothing in the front. Priced them out and they are more than I want to spend.

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Got the cart back today, all cleaned up.

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Got the drive cover put on and the box mounted on the back. The box took a lot longer than I had thought, and it isn't very secure. It isn't going to hold up. I will need to redo it in the near future. There really isn't anything to attach it to, just plastic. I put the wooden bar back on that was holding the original box on the back, but it isn't far enough back to give much support.

The bungee is just a little extra to hold it a little longer. I also added the first Sta-bil Marine gas additive. It does backfire and am hoping that will help.

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Put the reflectors on and finally got the mirror mounted. Made a quickie cover for the mirror from an old towel. I still need to get some reflector tape for the front and maybe put some lights on it.

I accomplished more than I thought

I didn’t get as much done yesterday as I had wanted, but got some of it done. I got my seeds planted and went to start on the revised irrigation but couldn’t do it because I had bought the wrong size fittings. I will exchange them tomorrow when I go back to work. I got lettuce, green onion, spinach, turnip greens, collard greens and swiss chard in the planter and in the pot I did four mammoth sunflower seeds and some marigolds.

   

This pic is the sunflower that is currently blooming. The plant itself is pretty ratty looking, they got dry one too many times, but the ones that did blossom are very pretty. This looks like a painting to me. It is an untouched photo.

I had some lunch did a little reading and then decided to spend a few minutes on the golf cart. I removed the big black box and the carpet and Betty Boop floor mats the previous owner had installed. I had already removed the Betty Boop steering wheel cover. I dislike anything cartoon. Already looks better.

 

 

I know, I should have taken a picture of the carpeting and floor mats, but I didn’t. So there isn’t a before pic like there should be. You can see them in the older pics, just not all that clearly.

I did get started on reinforcing the bin for the back of the cart. I can’t finish it, I need a couple more pieces from Herbs. And I can’t mount it anyway until Keith does his polishing job. So I will get the pieces I need and work on that later.  I got the bracing pieces cut and gooped to the bottom and will bolt them on when I get the other pieces I need. These would have been good, but I have decided to mount it in the other direction, so now I need to brace it going in both directions instead of just the one. That will be an additional $16 for the metal pieces. 

So I guess I did get quite a bit done yesterday. Who knew? Today is shopping. I cleaned out the pantry looking for that last can of corn that I knew I had for my salad and I need more canned veggies until mine get growing. I also took out all the bags of pasta that were in the cupboard and gave them to Diane for today’s soups. That freed up a lot of space. I don’t do pasta - too many carbs.

I slept until almost 5 this morning, what a treat! I did stay up until 10 last night, it was tough, but I managed. It was much cooler last night and I could use my blanket. That helped a lot.

Sneezing and more sneezing

Just after I posted yesterday I started sneezing, and sneezing, and sneezing. Couldn't seem to stop. The last time that happened, I was sick. I was very disappointed because I had been looking forward to Easter dinner at the clubhouse. Two of my neighbors (Charlene and Lois) came over to see if I was going and had saved a seat for me. They both told me to come anyway, so I took a benadryl and a shower and it seemed to help. I was very tired though. I may have mentioned that in yesterday's post.

I took the golf cart up to the clubhouse, saved what little energy I had for being social. I had a couple additional offers to join some other people, but my place had been saved and I had to decline. Usually I go and have to search for someone to sit with. Anyway, it was an awesome dinner per usual. 

I took a two and a half hour nap after I got home, and then went to bed a little before nine, and only got up a couple of times in the night. Each time I went back to bed and right back to sleep until almost 5 this morning. I really needed the sleep. I had been waking up at 2 AM all week. Made for really long days. Especially work days. I was starting to have trouble functioning Saturday afternoon. Had to keep double checking my work.

After coffee this morning  I want to try and get some of the stuff done that I had wanted to do yesterday and didn’t get done. I need to measure for the irrigation and map that out, get my seeds planted, and get the box off the back of the golf cart and get it’s new bed started. I can’t actually mount it until Keith does his thing with the body, but I can get it made and ready to mount. I also want to get some manure tea started for my plants. They don’t get the nutrients they would get if they were planted in the ground.

I just ordered seat covers and a steering wheel cover for the golf cart. It has vinyl seats and in the sun with shorts it will melt the backs of my legs, and the steering wheel cover will give me a better grip and I won’t burn my hands when I use it.

Tuesday is the turkey noodle soup and ham and bean soup lunch at the club house. It is actually on a day that I can go. So basically, free lunch. Plus I will probably get to bring some home for later. I will have to make sure to bring a couple of containers with me. I didn’t bring anything home yesterday except for my salad since I needed my container.

Well, time to get myself moving. Monday morning coffee is in an hour and I need to jump in the shower.

Happy Easter

I’m not really in a holiday or even a decent mood today. Kind of cranky (tired). I have about two more weeks of work and then I will be off for the summer and I am ready. Past ready. If I behave myself financially, I should be able to enjoy my time off. I’m going to set a budget and try my hardest to stick to it so I don’t have to stress about it and enjoy the time that I have before I have to go back to work either at Herb’s or somewhere else. I am SO looking forward to the time off.

Yesterday wasn’t that busy and I thought the day would never end. I asked when I went to lunch if she wanted me to come back and she did. So I didn’t get to leave early. I really could have used the afternoon for better things…like napping. Getting up at 2AM for the last four or five days has exhausted me and I was starting to see the effects. I had to keep double checking my work. I did four or five word searches in between customers and even that got boring. It did help pass the time tho.

Got the golf cart back from Keith last night. He checked the brakes and did a general check over, says I did good. He thinks it is a G5 model, but I double checked this morning and I am correct in identifying it as a G9 which is a good thing since that is what I ordered the parts for. He wants to polish up the fiberglass and I am going to let him do that and whatever else he wants to do on it. I will have to come up with something to thank him with since he won’t take any money. The cover came for it yesterday but until Keith is done with it, no sense in putting it on. I’m also ready to make the cargo bed in the back, but can’t attach that until he is done too. But I can build it and plan on starting that this morning. 

I want to get my seeds planted today. I picked up a package of green onion seeds the other day and will be adding that to my planter too. I also got some giant sunflower seeds and want to try them. These are the ones that produce seed. Can’t plant them in the ground because it is all sand and of course bunnies, but maybe they will do well in a large pot. It might be too hot here tho. Gonna try anyway. Then I need to measure for the irrigation so I can get those materials before I stop working. I don’t know if my employee discount will continue thru the summer when I’m not working and want to get it while I can.

Granted, I have been busy, but I have seen her maybe 4 times all winter. 

Last night I threw together the corn and bean salad for the potluck today. Thankfully I didn’t have to really cook anything because I am exhausted and just don’t have the energy for that. Since other people will be eating this (hopefully) I threw in a can of diced tomatoes with chilis and dressed it with olive oil and lime. I will chop up a little green onion to dress it up a little right before I take it up. I turned down ice cream at work yesterday because I wanted to be able to have a dessert today. I have behaved all week so I am not going to feel guilty about that. I didn’t go get fish and chips either because of today’s dinner. I will next week if they are still open. That will be my last splurge for a while since I can eat for several days on what it costs for one meal.

I need to do laundry this morning since I need clean shorts for this afternoon. We’ll see how much else I get done. I still want to spend a little time on the trailer this weekend too. The goal is to get the vent cover on. That should be the last larger project, and that is considerably smaller than any of my others. The rest will be little things and I can do them here and there when the mood hits. The trailer is just about done. Just in time to be able to go away for a couple of days. That worked out pretty well. 

Pretty good haul from Sal's yesterday

I went to DG and Sal’s yesterday. DG had a few more things on the shelf, so I got a few of the things I wasn’t able to get last week. I also picked up some canned strawberries and some canned mangoes. Looking forward to trying them. At Sal’s I got a license plate holder and a mirror for the “truck” (golf cart). They had a dollar per bag sale on clothes so I filled a bag with tops and even if I only wear one or two, I think I will have gotten my money’s worth and there are several I will wear. I got a pretty red cotton rug too. I got that all washed and hung out to dry. The rug is now in the bathroom and I will be wearing one of the new tops to work today. I have to decide where the mirror is going to go, but there isn’t any rush on that. But it is really freaky driving something with no mirrors.

I read a book, took a nap and then took the truck out for a spin. It is running pretty poorly, so this morning I ordered the tune up kit, a new carburetor and some gas additive. Plus, I ordered a drive cover which means I don’t have to take it off and put it back on every time I use it. It has vinyl windows and doors and will keep the rain out when the monsoons arrive since I can’t put it under cover. I looked at waterproof canvas for the seats this morning but couldn’t decide on a color or a print, so I am waiting on that. I did get a great idea for the back this morning and it is something I can get at Herb’s today. They have these large tubs for mixing concrete or whatever that will make a great truck bed with a little reinforcement. I am also going to get one for my veggie garden and get that going. They are less than $10 each. Good solution for now. I will reinforce the one that goes on the truck. Thinking a wooden insert for the base with some drain holes for any rain since it is a solid tray.

Keith is going to come get it tomorrow and check the brakes, clean the plug and putter and tinker with it. If I know him, he will give it a good cleaning as well. He volunteered and it will only cost me materials. He used a little rubbing compound on a spot on the front and it is going to clean up nicely. Will end up with a shine again. Fiberglass dulls in the sun if it isn’t taken care of and this is like 23 years old.

Today I go back to work. Sigh…I am so looking forward to not having to do that for a while.

Well, I need to get moving. I am running late because I was up in the wee hours and I tried to get another hour of sleep. It is going to be a really long day today. At least it is a bit cooler. Was in the 70’s yesterday and is supposed to be the same today. Nice. Wish it would stay like this longer.

New wheels

Yesterday did not play out as I had expected at all. Keith had told me about a golf cart he had seen for sale since he knew I had been looking. I told him I hadn’t gone to look at it and asked if he wanted to go with me. He did, so we did. It was an older model, electric, and was showing wear and tear. Seemed to run OK, but she was asking $900 for it. I wasn’t willing to go over $600 for an old, used cart. So we left. I came home and posted about my experience on FB, and one of my friends texted me that she had a gas model for sale. Keith and I went and looked at that one too. I didn’t buy it right away, thought about it for a little while and then asked if they had a way they could transport it. They said yes, so I said yes. I am now the proud (maybe) owner of a 1994 Yamaha G9 golf cart. It is pretty ugly and needs a tuneup, but I got it for $600 delivered. 

I’m thinking about painting it red and I want to remove the box she has on the back and build a wooden truck bed instead, or find a basket to haul stuff around with. I will also have to figure out an enclosure or windshield of some sort, or maybe even just some shade cloth. It also needs lights and a rear view mirror. I saved my dumpster run for after the cart was delivered and I did a pass around the park. I will take it out again today. I need to use up the gas that is in it because it backfires. It needs a tuneup and probably a new carburetor which actually isn’t that expensive. I may just order one to have on hand. But I want to use up the old gas in it to make sure that isn’t the problem. It has been sitting a while and could be causing the backfiring.

In amongst all of that I cleaned the house and got ready for Madelyn to come look at my jewelry. Plus, I finally found a home for a little wooden shelf I got at Sal’s a couple of months ago, so I drilled a couple of mounting holes and spray painted it black and got that hung up in the bedroom. It was plain wood, but wouldn’t fit the decor so it didn’t get hung up when I brought it home. But I just took down the clock that had been hanging there so I could put it in the trailer, and that freed up that spot for the shelf.

I had to chase some bees out of the shed. I had just been in there about a half hour before to get the spray paint and there were no bees. But it is migrating season for them and they are looking for places to nest. I sprayed the whole shed and closed it up. I can’t have bees in the shed. Plus, I have no way of knowing if they are killer bees or not. You don’t want them around and you don’t want to mess with them.

There are several things I didn’t get done yesterday that I would like to get done today. Don’t know if I am going to go to DG or the market, I can probably get by without since I just spent a buttload of money on the golf cart. I want to get the veggie garden at least started. I haven’t decided if I am going to recycle the soil or start with new. If I go with new, I will have to go buy it and I don’t want to go to Herb’s on my day off. I also need to measure for the irrigation materials, clean and add fresh juice to the hummer feeders and a bunch of other little things. Plus take a ride or two in the golf cart. 

I am going to have to come up with a name for the golf cart as I don’t like calling it that. Golf has nothing to do with it and when I think of a cart, this isn't it.

Supposed to only be in the upper 70’s today. That will be nice as it has been in the mid 90’s. It took a long time to cool down last night and I was afraid I was going to have to turn on the AC but I didn’t. I’m putting that off as long as possible

I do have to say it was nice getting out and about with someone and talking to people yesterday. And the extra half day on Saturday has made a huge difference this weekend. I actually don’t feel like I have been rushed to get everything in before having to go back to work tomorrow. I still don’t want to go, but it isn’t as stressful. Hoping to get a nap later as I haven’t slept well the last couple of nights. It has been too warm.

Solar is up and running!

I got my early start yesterday morning and got the solar hooked back up and working. I had to run the wire from the solar panel inside so I could hook it up to the digital controller. That required drilling and feeding the wire thru the outside. I’m glad I bought wire, I used all that I had bought plus some of the original wire with very little left over.

After running the wire from the solar panel inside, I then had to run wire back out thru another hole, drill holes in the box and get the panel hooked up to the battery and the wiring for the lights and 12v outlets that feed directly from the batteries hooked back up. Putting together a wood base in the bottom and figuring out how to secure the batteries took up most of the time. I didn’t end up being what I had wanted or expected, but it serves the purpose of reinforcing the bottom of the box and keeping the batteries off the metal bottom. Not that it probably matters all that much. It also keeps the batteries from moving around inside the box. Got all the wires hooked back up, the holes sealed and everything tested out.

Looks like a lot of wires. Now that I have actually hooked things up myself, I understand what goes where and what purpose they serve. Useful information.

This is the new digital controller that keeps the batteries from overcharging and allows me to monitor what is going on. 

And this shows where I drilled and ran the wires out to the batteries. You can see them between the side of the trailer and the box.

I guess I didn’t get a picture of the inverter and it’s location. It is over the window on the shelving side of the trailer. That is the section where I have the cutting board and will be my kitchen and work area inside the trailer. Not sure if it will stay there, but was a good spot for it for now.  I tried to use the shop vac on the inverter, but it uses too much power. I do have a 1500 W inverter, but it is only as good as the power that feeds it. I had to get out an extension cord so I could get the trailer vacuumed. There were metal bits, sawdust and tiny wire pieces that needed to be cleaned up. I guess I need to get a rechargeable vac for the trailer. The inverter should be able to handle that.

I still have work to do on the trailer, but it is all small, detail stuff. I need to the vent cover installed on the roof, insulate the ceiling, get the D-rings up on the outside corners for the shade cloth, and figure out what I am going to do about the door. I really would like to have a smaller door or a wall inside so I can leave the big door open for air flow, etc. I might have to cough up a few bucks and have someone install a door within the door. That is beyond my experience and skill level. The least expensive route would be to build the wall and put a door on that. That will probably be the option that I will do. Still need to do some research since I am not a carpenter. I also need to keep the cost down as much as possible. Then I get to pretty it up. Make curtains, bed skirt, etc.

I finished that up and got my mess cleaned up around 2, had some lunch and read a book. It was about 93 degrees by then and it was time to slow down. I made it thru day three without eating my way thru it, and am now shooting for day four. 

Today is coffee, then a bit of house cleaning, and then get out my jewelry and saleable stuff for two of the ladies here in the park that want to see my stuff. I need to find out about the Easter pot luck too. I need to get the measuring done so I can buy what I need for the new irrigation system before I stop working and loose my discount. Plus I need to get that done before it gets too hot to work outside. I also want to get the planter box setup and some seed planted for my greens garden. I would like to do the jewelry thing out on the patio, but it will be too warm by this afternoon, so I guess I will have to do it indoors. That means I need to do a quick vacuum and dust before then.

I think I am going to call about satellite internet today. See what my options are. It will either be Dish or DirectTV.  At the moment I am leaning towards DirectTV. 

Well, I guess that is about it for this morning. I am pleased with what I got accomplished yesterday. I need to go to the market and DG at some point, but it would be a waste of time today since there were so many people in town over the weekend. The shelves will be empty. Not sure waiting a day will make a difference either.

Happy Spring!

Happy Spring! I bet you are thinking “finally!”. And today is Mike’s birthday. Happy Birthday Mike!

I had an unexpected afternoon off yesterday. It was slow enough at work so that when I went to lunch they told me not to come back. Whatever. Mixed feelings. I lost about $20, but I also wasn’t bored out of my skull. So I came home, ate lunch, did laundry and read a book out on the patio. It was warm, we hit about 94 degrees. 

I finally got the fan moved out of the west window so I don’t have to mess with the curtain every day. Took a while to get the front (north) window open. I don’t think it had been opened in years and years. Now that the laundry is done, I shouldn’t have any excuse not to get an early start on the trailer batteries and solar. It has been several weeks and I think I have all the parts I need to get that up and running again. It should only take a couple of hours - hopefully.

I have managed two days where I haven’t eaten anything I am not supposed to, or snacked at all. That is pretty good. Shooting for three.

I could hear the music coming from the Rock Fiesta last night. I didn’t hear it much the night before because I crashed early and was already asleep when it got really loud. I feel bad for the people that live right beside it, but it is only a two day festival and last night was the last night. Hopefully it brought a fair amount of money into the town. Q is used to the large influx of people, but not the noise this brought.

I think I am going to take one of my storage bins and drill some holes, fill it with soil and plant up some veggie seeds. Or I might build a short planter box. Haven’t decided yet. Takes too much soil to fill the large pots and I don’t need the depth that the large pots have. I only need about eight or ten inches of depth, give or take. And if I can grow my own greens that would save quite a bit of money and they would be fresh. I hate buying stuff and not using it and having to throw it out. Lettuce especially. I have some in the fridge right now that will have to go to the bunnies. The bunnies are quite picky. They don’t like cabbage and they didn’t touch the mustard green tops I tossed over there yesterday. They like lettuce and carrots. They won’t touch watermelon rinds either. I will have to keep the planter box on the plant bench as they do like seedlings and plants.

28 h (1,934.5 mi) via I-40 E and I-44 E  Q to Mukwanago WI

15 h 46 min (1,067.8 mi) via ON-401 E Mukwanago to IP VT

3 h 8 min (145.3 mi) via ME-219 E  IP to Augusta

54 min (45.0 mi) via US-202 E and ME-3 E  Augusta to Belfast

1 h 42 min (100.0 mi) via ME-3 W and I-295 S Belfast to Falmouth

10 h 58 min (681.6 mi) via US-13 S  Falmouth to Virginia Beach

36 h (2,480.3 mi) via I-40 W  Virginia Beach to Quartzsite

6455 miles….I don’t think I am up to that, it isn’t going to happen. As much as I would like to, and I really would like to, finances are saying no, and that is a lot of miles to drive alone and a lot of big cities to drive thru (big city driving freaks me out). That is more than double the miles I drove to get here.  :(  I am, however, considering a much shorter trip. I still have property here in northern AZ and NM that I still haven’t seen. I would be willing to haul the trailer that far. Plus, It would be such a waste to get the trailer done and not use it. I could do that trip for the cost of gas. I don’t think my stomach could handle the stress of another long trip. I would stress out every morning before I started driving. Thankfully I made it here without incident. Had a couple of close calls tho. Flying is out of the question due to the expense and I don’t want to be without my car. I hated not having a car to do the things I wanted to do while I was traveling. There were places I wanted to see, but Ody was too cumbersome to sightsee in. Roswell being one of them. I wanted to revisit the UFO museum and see a couple of other places that Jake and I had gone to together. But it didn’t happen.

I also need to get down to Yuma and spend some time with Howard and Barbara before they head out for the summer. They have had a rough winter, both being treated for one form of cancer or another. And I haven’t been to Yuma in over a year. It’s only an hour and a half away. Could even be a day trip. I wish I knew when I will be stopping work or if I will have any hours during the summer. I can’t make any plans because I haven’t a clue.

Well, it is time for me to get moving if I am going to get any work done on the trailer today. 

I took yesterday off

I ended up just taking yesterday off. By the time I got done coffee, raking up the leaves yet again and getting my recycling over to the dumpsters, it was too late to start a project. I did fiddle with the fountain for a bit. At some point I am going to create something new, but for now I put a little faucet on it so the water falls down instead of shooting in the air and out of the dish. The birds keep hitting it and knocking it askew, which makes the water fall on the ground which drains the fountain. 

I raked up the leaves yet again and swept the patio again. I don’t know where the leaves come from, I only have the one tree and it only drops a few at a time. There are a couple of spots where they gather and pile up, the patio being one of them. Drives me nuts.

I loaded up all my recycling and the bag of leaves on the scooter and took them to the dumpster. I discovered all the glass jars and cans that I have been saving and recycling was a waste of energy. They just get tossed out. So I no longer have to save them. And I thought I was being so good. Less work for me and less clutter.

I really should do something on the trailer today. I should get the plywood cut for under the batteries and put together some sort of holder for them. I have plenty of scrap lumber to work with. Then I will be ready to hook the solar back up. I could also install the vent cover on the roof, vacuum, etc. Plenty to do. Oh, and I have all the linens for the trailer sitting on the bed, they can go out too. I should also hit DG and Sal’s. But we’ll see how ambitious I am. I got a good nap yesterday and slept pretty well last night. 

I got another book read. I am going to have to bring one of my comfy chairs back out from the living room. These chairs are good, but not for long term reading. It is very hard on my knee. So I guess I really should look for a couple of chairs for the living room. That means I need to go to Yuma soon. 

Productive day

I had a productive day yesterday and still managed to get in some reading and a nap. I cleaned the bathroom, vacuumed and dusted. Took the red quilt off the bed and am back to the orange, green and yellow quilt. I also basted in a hem on the new bedroom curtains as they were dragging on the floor and I didn’t want to suck them up in the vacuum. I hope I remember to take them down and actually hem them the next time I have the sewing machine out.

After finishing up the house cleaning, trimming my bangs and taking a shower I went outside. Oh, I also did three loads of laundry. The third load was the blankets for the trailer, so they are clean and ready to put put in the trailer when I get the final cleaning done. I hung the new shade sail. It is smaller than the original one. I thought it was the same size. But it should be enough shade for the plants. If not, I have another that I can add to it.

I fixed the leak in the line that the hummers were using to take a shower, and setup an irrigation system on the plant bench. It is on a manual timer. It has a lot of leaks, but should work for those days that I don’t have time to water. Just turn it on and walk away.

This is on the east side so it is in the shade in the afternoon. I only had to cut some of the  morning sun. Between the two sails, it should be good. The sails take quite a beating between the wind and the sun. The big one is several years old. It is the one I used on Alder Street for a couple of summers and has been up for a year here. They hold up quite well.

Didn’t see anyone or talk to anyone yesterday. I did have to go next door and turn off their grill. Chad apparently forgot to turn it off and I smelled it when I was taking my clothes off the line. They had gone out. That could have been nasty. Glad I noticed it. I will have to tell him about that.

I need to rake the leaves yet again. For someone that doesn’t have any trees I have to do a lot of leaf sweeping and raking. I swept the patio again yesterday and have to do it again. This time I will gather them up and take them to the dumpster. I’m hesitant to do a compost pile because of the nasty critters - snakes and scorpions. 

I have another cactus in bloom. 

I grilled a piece of steak and some veggies on my mutant grill. The steak wasn’t very good, it was a poor cut and tough. I don’t like the marinade I had it in either. But it was dinner and the veggies were good. Having the little electric grill inside the housing for the gas grill makes a huge difference. Things cook much faster since I can hold the heat in. The lid makes all the difference.

Today I am going to coffee, and I haven’t decided if I am working on the trailer or doing my weekly shopping. Which ever one I choose to do today, I will do the other tomorrow. My parts haven’t made it to the post office yet, but there are other things I can do. I haven’t been to Sal’s for a couple of weeks. I would like to see if I could find another pair or two of shorts since I have gained so much weight. I have a pair I really like and it would be nice if I could find at least one other pair like them. I don’t have high hopes tho.

Grapefruit blossoms!

Was kind of a long day at work yesterday. For the most part, it was slow. We did have moments of crazy, but they were few and far between. By the time I got home I was beat. Yesterday was Kenny's last day, he is heading home Tuesday or Wednesday. 

Not much to write about today. I have plenty of things on my To Do list, the irrigation projects and shade sail just to name a couple of them. I also want to get something accomplished on the trailer this weekend. I would also like to do something fun, but I don’t have much hope for that.

I had considered getting fish and chips for dinner again last night, but even tho they are only $11, I decided not to spend the money. I sliced up some potatoes and baked them, but it wasn’t the same. I only have a couple more paychecks before I don’t have any more, so I need to be careful about what I spend. 

I need to slice and hang my lemons to dry before they go bad. Thought about juicing them, but then I would have to freeze them and I am not sure I would use the juice.

I was up around 4 this morning, but I went back to sleep for an hour or so. I just wasn’t ready to start my day. Still not, but will have to at some point soon.

The grapefruit tree is blooming! Patches of multiple blossoms. Not the whole tree, but a definite improvement over last year's two blossoms.

The tree when I moved in last year.... It hadn't been getting any water.

This is what it looks like now. Seems to be very happy.

Plus, one of the four lilac cuttings has green buds on it! Yay! Was hoping I would get at least one cutting to do something. It is way at the bottom by the soil. Once that gets a little further along, I will get a large pot and some soil and get it planted in it's own container.

So far so good....

I picked up my parts that I had been waiting for at the post office, they were exactly what I wanted, but too small. This morning I ordered two different sizes, I should be able to use one of them and they look like handy little buggers and I had wished for some in the past, so I’m sure I will find a use for them at some point. Although waiting for the new order to come will put off hooking up the solar yet another week. But there are other things I can work on in the meantime.

My two new plants seem to be fine so far. No bunny nibbles, and they got watered automatically yesterday morning. Tomato plant is doing well so far. I have formulated a plan to water the plants on the bench all at the same time. Will probably set that up this weekend. I will use my manual timer, but at least I won’t have to stand there and water each plant individually. They will get more water this way. And I am also putting together a plan for a new irrigation system. That will require some digging and PVC. Will be time consuming, but worth it when it is done. Planning on several access points that I can hook into in various locations. 

The neighbors pulled out yesterday morning. It is going to take some getting used to having their huge trailer gone. More sunshine, more visibility. Just very different. I can see the sunrise again. I did miss that.

Not much new and exciting this morning. Mid 80’s yesterday. Haven’t looked at today’s weather yet. Upper 80’s today. 

My insulated curtains are supposed to be delivered today along with the jacks for the trailer. I will need to get four pieces of pressure treated lumber to put under the jacks, but I can get those at work. I also ordered some window tinting for the trailer windows and the back windows of the car. Keep some of the sun and heat out. 

I have another blossom on my cactus and it looks like there may be more. Considering I picked them up off the ground at the landfill, they have done very well.

New plants in the ground and irrigated

Well, I didn’t work on the trailer yesterday. But the weekend wasn’t a total loss, I did get it registered and got the jacks ordered. Instead, I puttered around in the yard and planted up my new plants. I put the geraniums in the pots with the older ones, planted the tomato plant and figured out spots for the two new shrubs. In order to plant one, I had to move the wood pile for the chiminea. This is something I had been pondering for a while. I didn’t want to spend the money for a wood rack, but I did need to find something to hold it and get it off the ground. It was looking pretty messy. While I was sitting there pondering the situation, my eyes fell on the two leftover shelves from the trailer. I had three legs left which meant six half legs and the shelves only needed four. I used the two shelves and two legs and put together a wood bin. Moved it to the back corner by the clothes line and it looks a lot neater, the wood is off the ground, and made a spot for one of the shrubs. It also got the shelves out of the shed. 

One of the shrubs went between the chiminea and the bird patio. I hopefully have them both bunny proofed. This one is a cape honeysuckle. The hummers should like that, it will have pretty orange blossoms.

The other one went where the wood pile was originally. It too is hopefully bunny proofed. This one is a natal plum, toxic, but white blossoms and edible fruit. Both are evergreen and supposedly like full sun. We’ll see.

Once I got them planted and enclosed I had to make sure they would get watered on a regular basis so I extended the line from the fountain so that whenever the grapefruit gets watered, so do both the new plants. Eventually I will have to put in a new irrigation system with options to expand it without having to jury rig it. But for now, it works. There is actually potting soil under the sand. I didn’t have a lot as it was leftovers from dead plants from the bench, but I can add more later. I wanted to get them planted and protected yesterday. I would still like to get an orange tree at some point. 

I was going to put up the second shade sail, but ran out of steam. It will go up soon tho to protect the plants on the plant bench. I don’t have a photo of that right now.

I pulled up one of the lilac cuttings and it looked like it had started a couple of roots, so I stuck it back in the soil. The tomato plant is in the same pot along with the tomato plants that finally germinated. They will need shade soon. My sunflowers are budding and one was showing a bit of color yesterday, and I have a cactus blooming by the fountain. Such a pretty color! It was opened more yesterday. There will probably be more blossoms. My cactus are all doing well including the argentine giant which seems much happier over by the fountain than where I put it originally. It gets run off from the fountain.

My neighbors on my yard side are leaving today. That lot will be empty again. They were good neighbors and I will miss them. Probably won’t see them again, they aren’t planning on coming back. It will be nice to have that lot empty again tho. Less noise, more morning sun.

I didn’t go out at all yesterday. No post office, no Sal’s. I will have to go to the post office and get my parts for the trailer so I can work on that this weekend. Get the solar hooked back up and working again. I’m hoping I bought enough wire. If not, I can reuse some of the old stuff.

Back to work today. Only a few more weeks of work, then I will be back to zero income. We’ll see how long I can last with that. I won’t miss having to go to work in the least and am looking forward to having some time off, but will definitely miss the paycheck. Of course, all the good stuff will be over, and I will have spent another winter not being able to do anything fun. I don’t know how I managed all those years of working full time and having a life. The two just aren’t compatible.

A trip to Parker

Went to Monday morning coffee and then off to Parker. First stop, MVD. I got there around 9:45, had a about a half hour wait and another 20 minutes to get the actual transaction done. It cost me $24 for a permanent registration, I won’t ever have to renew it or do it again. That was a hundred or so dollars less than I had anticipated even with the penalty for not registering it within 15 days of purchase. I can live with it. From there I went to Auto Zone to have them do a readout on my engine light. I had had that done last year, but couldn’t find the printout. Apparently, it is the catalytic converter. A $50 part that would cost me between $700 and 1K to have replaced. Not going to happen. I have lived with the light this long, I can live with it a while longer.

Next stop, Walmart. That WM is a real disappointment. They call it a super store, but it doesn’t even have an auto repair/tire section. Their garden center is also quite small. But I did find two more of my pink and red geraniums and I also got another baby tomato plant and two shrubs for the yard. I got something called a natal plum that has edible fruit and a cape honeysuckle. Both are supposed to tolerate full sun and drought conditions. The tomato plant is supposed to be sun tolerant too. We’ll see. I did NOT find any plant pots for my xmas cactus. I will just have to keep looking. Why is it so hard to buy a plant pot in Arizona in the winter? You would think the stuff would be out year round here. Yes, I am going to try yet another tomato plant. And now, I also have to figure out where I want these two shrubs in my very tiny yard. Unfortunately, neither are bunny resistant, so I will also have to put up some chicken wire to protect them until they get established.

I did not find any insulated curtain panels, no easter linens, and so much more that was on my list. I did pick up some paintable fake easter eggs that look like real eggs, a fuzzy bunny and some plastic eggs and grass. I will see if I can find something suitable as place mats or napkins at Sal’s. 

This morning I ordered two sets of thermal curtains from Amazon. One pair for the bedroom and one for the living room. I want to see if I can reduce my cooling electric bill at least a hair. I also ordered the jacks for the trailer. Best price I could find except for the single one that was at WM yesterday. But I needed more than one. Two minimum, four was better. I also struck out on the battery boxes yesterday. I didn’t get half the stuff that was on my list. I tell ya, that WM is a disgrace. Hopefully that will be the last of the things I need for the trailer.

I did splurge and buy two tank tops at $5 each and two lightweight ladies t shirts for $5 each that I can wear to work . They had lots of colors, but nothing exciting except for the one bright red tank top that I did buy. The others are black and gray. I stay away from light colors as the water here turns everything light or white, brown.

Again, as far as groceries go, I got about half of what was on my list. I could have gone to Safeway across the street, but I had had enough shopping for one day. It was time to come home and have lunch. I did get a rotisserie chicken and some potato salad, so that is what I had for lunch. Then I kind of picked at stuff all afternoon, so I didn’t bother with dinner. 

I knew I should have gone to the post office on my way back yesterday. My parts were delivered yesterday afternoon. It would have saved me a trip this morning. Oh well. 

I am hoping to find a curtain for the sliding doors at Sal’s. A thermal one. I want to put it directly over the door behind the vertical blinds for the summer to help keep the heat out. If that fails, I will just hang a blanket or something. I don’t like curtains much, but again, hoping to reduce my cooling bill a little. 

It is very cold this morning, 38 degrees. I finally gave up and turned on the fireplace heater. It was 57 ish in here and I was cold. Will probably be the last cold night until winter.

I guess that is about all I have this morning. I will have to go to the post office and I might as well stop at DG and Sal’s while I am out. But I think I might try to get another hour or sleep first. Was up around 3 and I am still tired.

Going shopping

It wasn’t quite as windy yesterday as they had predicted, but was still quite blustery. I got a couple loads of laundry done, sprayed for bugs (no rain), finally got the Valentines stuff put away and got out what little easter stuff I have. I had a pastel tablecloth and my felted easter eggs. Half of the eggs are now hanging on the horseshoe tree, the other half are in an egg carton for now. I want to look at Easter stuff at WM. I never saw or spoke to anyone yesterday.

I read a book and basically took the day off. Watched the rest of the Doc Martin season on DVD since TV is so horrible right now. I really miss being able to stream TV. Gotta find another unlimited internet provider. I seem to be using about a gig a day and that is getting very expensive at $10 per gig. There just don’t seem to be any out there. There is a demand for it, but they have us over a barrel.

Today I am going to Parker and get the trailer registered if I can, and am planning on hitting Walmart. I have a huge list of things to look at and I also need my groceries for the week. I want to check out their garden shop too. I need a couple of loose tops for work, maybe a new pair of shorts, and a bunch of other stuff that I have been adding to the list. I should also have the engine light test done again since I can’t seem to find the slip from the first time. Mike can get that translated for me once I get the code. That will probably take up most of the day and wear me out.

I am planning on going to Monday morning coffee. I haven’t been for a while since I have been sick. I don’t know if I have been missed or not. My parts aren’t at the post office, so I can’t work on the solar. Although I could build the battery box if I have the energy. But I will probably wait until tomorrow for that. I think I have enough on my agenda for today.

Well, time for me to get in the shower and get to coffee.

It's going to be windy today

My work week is finally over. Yay. Today is going to be a loss tho because we have a wind storm coming in. Not a good day to be outside - or anywhere. I don’t like the wind, it makes me very nervous. It can be very damaging here. They are saying sustained gusts up to 58 mph. Ugh! I will need to zip down the front door on the patio to reduce the wind on the patio and protect the shade cloth. Anyway, I guess it is a good day to finally take down the Valentines stuff and hang my felted easter eggs on the horseshoe tree. I did splurge and buy new wire for the solar on the trailer. If my grommets arrive, I might get that done this weekend. They weren’t at the post office yesterday. I will check again tomorrow. According to the tracking info, they are in Phoenix, but aren’t scheduled for delivery until Wednesday. The wire and the contact cleaner ended up costing $81. I went to Bob’s Fish Fry and got fish and chips for dinner. Was very good. Again. I guess maybe tomorrow I will finally go and get the trailer registered. That will also allow me to go to Walmart. I have several things on my list to get including three pots for my xmas cactus’. DG still hasn’t gotten their pots out. That will also give me a chance to see what else is available for blooming plants. I’m due for a little shopping. I think I am going to hang another shade sail overlapping the one that is there. That will shade my grow bench and add additional cover to the patio. Although when it gets hot, not much helps. I could move the mister to the outside of the patio and use it out there.  haven’t used it much since I installed it because it makes everything wet and I don’t want my stuff on the patio wet. Hmmm….will have to think about that. It would also help whatever plants are out there. A new project… I could get out the sewing machine and do some stuff with that. I need to make the curtains for the trailer, have a body pillow case to shorten and a few other smaller projects I could do. We’ll see how ambitious I feel later when it actually gets light out. I also want to make the bedskirt for the trailer from the same material. I don’t really think I am close enough to being finished to do that yet tho.  I picked up some stew beef at the store the other day. Should be a good day for a beef stew. I even have potatoes I can put in. And carrots and onions, and it would be a good way to use up the mushrooms before they go bad.  I will wait to spray for the ants until after it rains. There is a chance of rain later today and it has sprinkled off and on during the night.  Guess that is about all I have this morning.

Successful yard sale

People were coming by before I even finished putting stuff out. I got rid of most everything except two big ticket items, the grill and the RV surge protector. I will post those on FB and see if I can get them sold. I marked all my jewelry half price and actually sold some. Last year I didn’t mark any down and didn’t sell any. I think I did about $150 total. Better than I would have if I had gone to work. Plus it was nice having the morning off. Lois, across the street, offered to take the leftovers to the thrift shop, so it is all gone except for the grill and the surge protector. I even sold the water tank. Sold most of my flatware bracelets too. And I think one walked off. 

I almost bought a golf cart. Guy across the street had one, I made an offer, but he didn’t counter offer and sold it to someone else. People out here don’t negotiate. At all. I’m used to bargaining, and I find it very frustrating. The big question here is what is the lowest you will take for it. Um, I set a price, that is the lowest I will take for it unless you make a reasonable offer…There is supposedly another for sale on the next street over. I will check that out this weekend. I really wanted that golf cart yesterday and I am kind of pissed about it. If he had just countered, I probably would have bought it. Apparently, that is a New England thing.

I discovered ants on the patio yesterday, so I guess it is that season. I need to start spraying. I brought home a garden sprayer a week or so ago so I don’t have to use the squeeze handle. That gets really old. Just need to get the insecticide into the pump sprayer and get the place sprayed both indoors and out.

I have baby tomato plants. The seed that I planted back in January or so finally sprouted. Although it is probably way too late and they won’t fruit because of the heat. I will keep them going as long as I can tho. Just in case. I had uncovered the desert willow for a day or two, but it is too dry for it and it started to dry up. Hoping I haven’t lost it. This is the longest I have been able to keep one of those alive so far. Gardening is so difficult here.

I think I am going to take some of the yard sale money and buy new wire for the trailer. Wire isn’t cheap, but if I am going to do the job, might as well use new wire. My project this weekend is to get the box fitted out and ready for the wiring. Plus, I would like to get the vent cover on the roof, and relocate the light fixture that I keep running in to. It is right in the middle where I walk and the ceiling is so low, I keep hitting my head. I will probably have to swap it out anyway because I don’t think it is an LED fixture and I do have a new one that is to replace it. Just have to figure out where I want it. There is a 12v outlet there that will need to be moved too. Once I get all the wiring and electrical work done I can finish the ceiling. Get it insulated and figure out what I am going to do to close it in. Haven’t quite figured that out yet. 

I guess it was pretty busy yesterday morning at work. I’m not sorry I missed it, but I guess they could have used me. It was busy in the afternoon too and it went pretty fast.

Well, time to get moving. I need to make my lunch this morning. I usually make two lunches at a time and since I was here for lunch yesterday, I didn’t get today’s made yet. Today is a long day, hopefully it will go fast. 

Finally got the battery box changed

Well, I got the old box off the front of the trailer and the new one installed. Of course, nothing is every easy. Wasn’t as simple as it sounds. The new box didn’t fit on the tongue the way it was supposed to and I had to create a support for it. I took the metal edging off the old one, cut it and made that the bracket for the new box. We should be good now.

I still need to get everything wired back up, but that can wait until I get some sort of container built, bought or created for the batteries inside the box.

Can’t just have them bouncing around in there. Plus all that metal and the possibility of a stray wire.. I have some sheets of foam, maybe I will line the box with that. I did loose some storage, but did get several things in there that were in the old box including the boot for the trailer tire and the orange cones. 

I finished that up around 2 and spent the rest of the day reading and relaxing. It was in the upper 80’s and I didn’t want to move around a whole lot. Changing the boxes did wear me out.

Today I need to do what little shopping needs to be done. I also have to go to the post office. And want to stop at Sal’s. I need to prep for the yard sale on Friday. I won’t have a lot of time to get things ready or cleaned up after.  Tomorrow is back to work. The weekends go so very fast. I need to sort some stuff in the cupboards and pull a few things I’m not using. Try to make more than I would if I had worked.

I took the last of the Z-pack last night. Happy to have that finished. I am feeling better, but still have a ways to go. Hopefully I will start feeling like myself again very soon. The Z-pack is messing with my stomach.

Oh, I saw my first lizard of the season in the yard yesterday. And I had both window fans going all night. First time of the season.