Some Updated pics of the Saloon

It's taunting us....

This damn storm has been here since yesterday afternoon, just sitting there, promising rain. A little cooler today because of it, but the humidity is out of control.

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Hot day, cool night...

I posted earlier that it just was too hot. So we spent the afternoon in the camper under the air conditioner. A few hrs later we come out to 85 degrees, wind, and a monsoon storm building behind us!

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How do you beat the heat in the sticks?

This is our first attempt of some comfort this summer. It is 105 and climbing here, with the humidity around 35% so in an attempt to keep our sanity, we have taken refuge in the small overnight camper my dad built last year. It measures roughly 9x5 and has a 5k btu a/c unit, that runs on a 2k watt generator. It is built more like a refrigerator than a camper, which is what we need. So the three of us have scurried in and around the a/c reading, napping, and doing school work... Life in the sticks!

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Last nights storm...

It stayed to the east of us, so we didn't get any rain substantial rain out of it. The best part was the nice cool breeze and the distant sound of thunder. It cooled of nicely last night. In fact it was so cool that before sunset, I ended up falling asleep, and I didn't wake up till after sunrise, which really through me for loop. Took me a minute to realize were I was and what had happened. I guess I was really tires yesterday.

Summer storm on the horizon...

I think this one is going to miss us. We are under a flashflood advisory, but I think it is going to stay East of us, as it moves North. It did cool off though, nice 78 degrees right now with a slight breeze. Big difference from when I got home! I sure hope I'm wrong, we need the rain.

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Been a hot one today...

The wife said it was hot at the ranch today, wouldn't have believed it based on the weather in town. I left work it was 84 with a drizzle... Get home and it's 101! WTH?

Fast forward a couple of hours, and a monsoon blew in. Thank goodness, it was hot last night, and I have to get some good sleep tonight! Just hope it cools it off enough. Wouldn't mind getting a nice storm too. We could use a lot more rain.

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Something I have to share!

Ok folks I ran across this post from a fellow blogger and fell in love with it. So I did the best thing I could think of... and stole it! Nope, just had to repost it. To read his blog visit http://www.moderndayredneck.blogspot.com

I've been following his blog for close to two years now, and this is by far the best post he's done. So I hope everyone enjoys it as much as I did...

"When I put gas in my truck, the little computer shows a message on the dash how many miles I can drive until I hit empty. If I run out of gas then I guess I can not blame anyone but myself because a continually watch the miles roll off until I get uncomfortable enough and stop for gas. Then the whole process starts all over again."

"This morning I did the same thing, but instead of filling my truck up with gas, I filled my soul up with the Holy Spirit. My gauge read 1 1/2 days to E and I was getting uncomfortable with my thoughts, actions and words. Some weeks my soul tank can run and never fall below half a tank and other weeks I am flirting with empty by Tuesday night. It would not hurt me one bit to top off my tank three times a week and some of the times I need to."
"Daily devotion by reading the good book is one way I try and keep the gauge sitting above the half mark during the week and often a quick prayer is like one of those 5 hour energy drinks. This week I got into the flesh a little bit and didn't like it. If it was not for the 5 hour energy boosts my tank would have ran out a lot sooner. "
"I tell you right now, the spirit was moving in Church this morning. If you did not get on fire then your wood was wet."
"Come on in fellers, the waters fine. "

Again I do not want to take credit for the above post. Any comments send over to www.moderndayredneck.blogspot.com!

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Feeling a little country...

Trying to contemplate vehicle and life changes that need to be made... Which is real hard to think about when you have two goats running wild around you. Just saying!

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My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com
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On another note, life is good here at the ranch, or so I hear. Been really busy at work with a crazy schedule to deal with, so I've been spending more time in town then I really want to. Not that I'm complaining about the TV and a/c we've been enjoying, but home is home and I really miss it when we're not here.

Now back to the wild crazy goats...

A dogs life for me...

Lucky dogs... I'm at work all day, and this is how they repay my hardwork! Lazy's....

-------------------------------------------------My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

For those interested...

Over at FirearmsTalk they are running a contest for a free Ruger 10/22, For rules and more info click here. If you haven't ever been to the forum, check it out. If you have any questions about firearms, this is the place to ask them. Very knowledgeable people, they post reviews, suggestions, just an all around good forum dealing with firearms. 

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I will not be tolerant. I will not be politically correct. I will not be silent. I will speak the truth. I will do all that is in my power to oppose the Marxist subversion and destruction of this Country and I will not go quietly.

Mid July...

It is/was a hot one today. Well into the triple digits, the humidity has been out of control. Last night the cloud cover kept the heat in and it never dropped below 85. Today the humidity stayed around the 25-30% range, making it very hot and sticky. Even under a fan it's hot! I expect this in August, but not in July, I really hope this isn't a trend!

On another note, I had a chance to talk to an old-timer about the ostrich that was spotted on our road. I found out that a couple of years ago down the road someone was raising ostriches. The county ran them off for not having an approved septic system. When they left, they turned the ones they could not sell loose. So from time to time they are spotted around our area. Who knew they could survive in Mohave County?

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A long warm Sunday!

I do use warm as an understatement. It is well over 100 at the ranch today, and with the new position at work I have three early days back to back on Sat-Mon. So on top of the heat I'm exhausted. Get home, I know the generator is going to come out and the Evap-cooler is getting turned on. After an hour of cooling clouds roll in, the humidity starts to climb, and now even though we were able to cool the house down ten degrees, you can't tell cause the humidity climb from 5-25% in the same time period!
Needless to say, not going to get very much sleep tonight. Have to be up by 3:30 in the morning to make it to work. Damn!
On another note, hope these clouds do more than just trap all the heat, and dump some more moisture on us. Be even better if they drop some moisture and give us a light show tonight!

-------------------------------------------------My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

You never know what You'll see in the sticks!

I talked about it yesterday, today here are the photo's! Taking bets on what we'll see next....

--
I will not be tolerant. I will not be politically correct. I will not be silent. I will speak the truth. I will do all that is in my power to oppose the Marxist subversion and destruction of this Country and I will not go quietly.

We knew it would work!

Made our first cake in the BBQ! And it smells wonderful!

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Another country photo...

Trying to keep this car running is a full-time hobby, at least I have moral support!

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Clear skies once again...

All that wonderful monsoon moisture has been blown out of the State. Leaving behind clear skies and temperatures in the high 80's. Not that I'm complaining, can't believe this is mid July, been a wild summer as far as weather is concerned.

On another note, or as I like to call critter watch, or this could also be put into the "you never know what you'll see in the sticks" note. On my fathers return trip into town this morning in the middle of the road was a 7 foot tall ostrich! Funny thing is, I haven't seen any in the neighbors yards. Now people have been known to drop off animals out here all the time, so it may be ferrule. Now, anyone want to go on an ostrich hunt? I hear they taste like chicken. Just image the size of the nuggets!

Don't believe me? He was able to get of a couple of cell phone pics, I'll try and get a copy to show y'all.

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One last stormy pic from Friday...

Here's one I forgot I wanted to post. We are still enjoying our late afternoon Thunderstorms in Northwest Arizona. Although during the day, the humidity has skyrocketed. Not bad if there's a breeze, but when that stops, it gets miserable...
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What a great morning to wake up too, now if only we were able to sleep. Our dogs decided last night was the perfect time to cause trouble, and bark into an empty soundless night! Oh well, at least I'm tired enough I'll sleep good tonight.

On another note, I haven't checked traffic on the blog for awhile, but I was surprised today, only need 51 more views to hit an even 4k visitors! Now what's so cool about that? It doesn't count the FaceBook, or RSSFeeds!

What a great day...

Had an awesome day today, started out clear and warm, close to 90 by 9am, then a monsoon moved in, dropped the temp down to 70, gave us some much needed rain, and some great thunder!
So off to sleep, have an early morning, and I know it is going to be an exciting drive into town!

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Doesn't this scream country!

Our summer thunderstorm has turned into a nice relaxing drizzle...

About time!

Had a nice summer thunderstorm this afternoon. Although we are still surrounded by storms, it is currently not raining here. The temperature did drop down to 70 after the rain! Just what we ordered up. A lot more people around here received more rain, and I know the drive into work tomorrow is going to be challenging, but this is the best part of summer and the one thing we look forward too.

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So close...

Been a great day, not too warm, never reached 100 degrees. Been surrounded by thunderstorms all day, listening to the thunder. The storms this morning have all gone northeast missing us completely, and causing a lot of trouble for people in those areas. With luck now we may have a shower ourselves!


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The finishing touches...

Had a chance to do some finishing touches to the saloon...

With the drapes up it seems to keep it a bit cooler inside, that and the fact that it hasn't been so hot! Other than that, we haven't done much. Enjoying the summer days, Iced Tea in hand, chips and salsa, reading a good book, who could ask for more?

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Yet another summer day...

We had a great day yesterday, 97 degrees, thunderstorms all around, we had the smell of rain, the cool breeze, the sound of thunder in the distance, then at nine last night it all stopped. No breeze, hot, humid, it was a miserable night, didn't cool off till 3 am! I know, I was awake.
This morning it looks like more of the same. Surrounded by thunderheads not real hot, forecasted for 99 today, it would be nice to have a good thunderstorm this afternoon, I would like get some moisture in the ground so I can go out and work on our road a little.

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Listening to the distant sound of thunder...

And enjoying an ice cold Coors Light... Now that is a day off!

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Life in the sticks... During monsoon season... Repost

Repost!

Well, things are getting back to normal here, vacations are over for awhile, house guest are gone, we are in the middle of summer so no more major construction. Just enjoying the long days, trying to keep as cool as we can. The past three days has been a mini-vacation for us. With the holiday weekend, we decided to stay in town watch the fireworks and enjoy some A/C. The past few days, we have seen some major thunderstorm activity throughout the State. We haven't seen much in the direction of the ranch, and the people we know who live out here also said they haven't seen any activity out there. Now on the way home we had to cross three sections of the road that was washed away! So it seems that even though we haven't had any thunderstorms in our area, that we are at least seeing some run off from the local mountains. With that said, I might have some fun going to work this week!

I had a bit of excitement in the workplace last week, I didn't mention it, I try not to blog about anything other than the ranch life. With that said, it does effect our life out here, so I will discuss it. Last week the manager of the big Orange had decided that I would be a better fit in operations than merchandising. Taking me from my comfort zone of shuffling crap from one place to another, and placing me front and center over the POS.

All that to say, my schedule of late starts, late nights is now changed to early mornings. Not bad if I didn't live a lifestyle that keeps my house 107 during the summer till 10 at night. Going to be hard to get enough sleep to show up at work with a perma-smile on my face! Not that I am complaining, doing something different is fun in a way, and I am certainly not complaining that I have a job!



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Finally

We were treated to an awesome thunderstorm last night. Lots of wind, lightning, thunder, and yes even a bit of rain! Nice kick off to the monsoon season... Even this morning we have a nice drizzle and cooler temperatures.

With all that said, let me extend to my American readers a great independence day. Please take a minute and reflect on our nations history. Remember all those brave souls who risked everything so that we may have our own nation. Governed as we see fit... At least that was the goal!

So have a great 4th of July, enjoy the BBQ's, the fireworks, and the day off.

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An angry sky...

Well it was a hot one today! The moisture from the storms to the east of us stuck around all day. In fact there was so much moisture in the air that you couldn't see the local mountains at all. I just checked out weather station, and we went from 100.1 @ 4pm to 88.4 @ 5! Add to that the 30 mph wind we have, and the cloud cover, and dang it just turned out to be a good evening!

-------------------------------------------------My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Latest Mojave Green...

One of three killed in the past 30 days and the smallest! We knew after all the rain and snow last year, we would have an abundant amount of snakes!

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Well I called it...

While having dinner, I look over to the window and spotted a small 24" Mojave Green Rattler slinking down the hill behind the house, so jumped up, grabbed our trusty Remington 870 12 gauge, which is always loaded, and gave that menace flying lessons! A single shot dispatched him and sent his head flying a good 30 feet. Now that's dinner and a show.

So earlier I posted that the monsoons flow would be here soon, and after I shot the rattler I looked up and saw the tell tale sign of phantom rain in the eastern sky. The temperature this evening is holding steady at 99 degrees, as the clouds slowly creep our way... I doubt we'll get any weather this evening, but I am confident that we will see the thunderstorms soon.
As my early readers may remember, July 3rd 2009 we witnessed the worse storm either of us has ever seen. So bad, that the county had declared it a storm of the century, by going over the stream flow meters on the big sandy. That storm dropped 1.5 inches in a single 15 minute period, and did that for over an hour! Historically on the first week of July we see the biggest storms of the summer. That is especially true out at the ranch.
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The summer is on!

The heat has been turned on... Deep into the triple digits here in Northern Arizona. The temp today is 107 and thunder storms are on the way. In fact we have a large thunderhead just to the east of us, with luck it'll drop a little needed moisture our way. We've been very lucky with the night time temperatures being in the mid 60's all week. I fear that with the thunderstorms rolling in that the heat will stay with us at night, not that I would complain about a storm at night...

-------------------------------------------------My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com