Thunderstorm...

Well a nice size thunderstorm is headed our way. Lots of lightning and wind, but no rain as of yet. The dogs have all ran for cover, the goats have huddled up, and we are sitting on the porch, drink in hand enjoying the show. If the wind gets any stronger though we may have a problem. I'll let you all know if we see toto flying by!

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A full days work...

Well we took a few breaks... About one an hour, but the front of the saloon looks great! Just have to finish the trim around the window and door. Then I can install our storm door, and then the front will be 100% done. Yeah! I have to keep reminding myself that just this time last year our saloon's back wall was only 24" tall! And the rest of the walls was a pile of lumber. We've come along way in a year from concept to functioning kitchen.
Our goal is to have the outside walls chinked before our first freeze. We've been waiting for the temperatures to drop so we could chink without the mix drying before it sticks. That and we are using a new mix which is a lot smoother and should be a bit stronger for the outside. We'll see how well this works, we are just experimenting after all.

A word about the pictures... This building is the hardest to take pictures of, the front porch is 4 feet of the ground, and ten feet wide, so it makes it difficult to take a picture and get it all in the frame, so hopefully you get the jest of what the front looks like.

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Dark stormy skies...

Weather man says 20% chance of thunderstorms... Lots of booms before first light, now all we have are dark stormy skies... Lets see how much work I can get done today!

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Some early evening lessons

In high school the wife was on the flag team, not the same as a cheerleader (learned the difference the hard way years ago) and in my natural hoarding way, I wouldn't let her throw away away her old practice flags. I told her when we got married that she shouldn't throw them away until we're sure no one would need them. Fast forward twelve years, and our daughter is now interested in flag. She's only nine, but already has been practicing on and off for the past year. She's actually pretty good, and it's cool to hear the sound the flags make. I have no idea what good this skill is, but it is fun to watch...

My daughter, gun yielding, goat loving, gymnast, flag thrower... I'm sorry world.

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Watch dogs...

Yep laying there watching the quail run by... Worst hunting dogs ever!

Actually we have a few stray thunderstorms rolling through the area this morning. Our dogs just don't like the booms, especially when they are right above us! So they are laying here lined up waiting for someone to tell them its going to be ok... Silly dogs.

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Life in the sticks...

You know you live in the sticks when there is a rush to "prepare" for the evening. Inverters to shut down, check battery levels, fill oil lamps, light oil lamps... Whew its a lot of work!

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Has it really been a week?

Yep it sure has. Been real busy at work, so not much has been done around the homestead. Today continues the fall clean up, with a trip to the dump. Just taking the small trailer with a modest load.
That is our biggest challenge out here. What to do with our trash. When we had a pickup, it wasn't bad to bring in a bag every couple of days. With a small SUV though, even 30 min in a combined space with trash is too much! So we end up, piling the trash somewhere and waiting a few weeks till I get a chance to take it to the dump, which is an hour and fifteen minutes away... Always fun.
I also have to pick up a bale of alfalfa today, with luck it'll be my last one, we are attempting to sale our two goats, have an ad on Craigslist, and I'm making a flyer for the local feed stores. The daughter loves her goats, but they are just turning good money into fertilizer, and well, I could do that!

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Fire, Fire, everywhere...

Did I get your attention?

Last night after dinner, the wife and daughter went to the local truck stop with the neighbors for ice cream. Once they made it to the top of the driveway, they could see the smoke billowing from the brush fire Southeast of town. What started as a small 3-4 acre brush fire on a remote mountain side, has spread, and is quickly becoming a monster brush fire. A couple of nights ago, on my way from work I could see the glow from what could only be a good size fire, I would guess it has burned at least a hundred acres now.
As they were traveling down the highway, discussing the BLM's lack of concern for small brush fires until they grow into monsters, they come across a garage fire on the frontage road to the highway. The wife promptly calls 911 to report it, was the first to do so, then heads to their destination. On the way back home they discover the fire truck sitting on the side of the road. They stop to ask how they were able to put the fire out so quickly. In which they respond they could not find it...
So being the great citizen she is, she led them down the 3 miles of road to the now fully engulfed garage.
This is not a rant against firefighters or the local, all volunteer fire station. Just an observation of effectiveness of public servants. Just because public services are available, does not guarantee that they will be successful in protecting life or property. Either by decision, or mistake, these public programs, that we all pay for are not 100% effective. Sometimes we are not getting what I would call a suitable return on our investment of tax dollars. The BLM should have attacked that small brush fire on the first day. The 911 operator should have relayed the information correctly to the local fire department, and the volunteers should have driven down the frontage road to at least attempt to find the fire they were responding to.
All this is a mute point for us. We live were there is little to no services available to us. When our property was burglarized a few years ago, we could not get the sheriff out here to file a report. (The road was too rough according to the sheriffs department) Our county maintained road from our private maintain road to the highway, was down to one lane this summer for 35 days, due to the county's lack of action to fix it. In fact the road is quickly becoming nothing more than a goat trail due to the county's lack of spending on gravel and oil to maintain a solid roadbed. Opting instead to spend money on a grader and operator every time we get a dozen drops of rain, to come out and move sand and mud of the road.
Well, ok I guess this is a rant. I just wished that the money our local government receives from us, was spent better and that the services they provide worked better. Is that too much to ask?

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Redneck dinner

We had some family over this afternoon for a quick visit. They brought with them all the fixings for a great dinner, stakes, potatoes, corn, onions and mushroom for grilling... If was the best, and when we started cooking we realized that there was enough food for a couple more, so we called up the neighbors, and had a redneck feast on the porch of the saloon under the oil lamps... Now that's county!

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Time for some fall clean up.

It's time to re-level the yard, fill in the ruts from what little summer storms we had, and the dog pits that they like to put in any shady spot to keep cool. Not to mention a time to pick up all the little crap that comes up to the surface here in the desert, with the wind and rain, in no time at all you get a nice gravel top to any open area, it keeps the dust down, but the rocks can cast enough shadow in the fall to miss a 2' snake... Or a scorpion! Which I came across this morning on my walk to check propane levels. First live one I've seen outside. So with the tractor in town being serviced, and me and my stubborn mind made up, decided to level and rake the entire inside of the compound... By hand. With nothing more than a rake and a shovel... Three hrs later (yep the dust was a flying, and yep it's a warm one today) and a case of water later, here's how it turned out...

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Now if this isn't a well stocked saloon...

A couple of weeks ago, I posted a review of our local distillery, D3, and their three flavors of rum, and their premium vodka. At that time we only purchased a sampler to get to know their products better. Well yesterday I took the time to stop by and pick up a bottle of their Agave Rum in honors of out of state visitors who are making their way to the ranch this week. It's a sweet rum, that makes a great sipper, it is locally produced and sold, which means it will get top shelf treatment in my saloon, and will be proudly served to visitors... If there is any left when they get here!

Want to try some for yourself? If you are in the Kingman area, stop by their place at the Kingman airport on Olympia for a tour and a taste, they also have a retail outlet to purchase. If you are going to visit Laughlin, run across the river and buy it at Sam's Club. There are more outlets in Phoenix and Vegas, for details check out their website listed on my blog.

And no I do not receive anything for their mention. Just love their product, and would like to see a local producer flourish.

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It's official...

Well this morning I read that Friday is the official start of Fall. Yet our day time temperatures are still creeping into triple digits, although at night we are seeing a real cool down. I'm glad to, with the beginning of Fall, we lose our wind for a few weeks, which can make it unbearable in the house without artificial air movement. With all that said, I'm glad that the bulk of summer is behind us!

Now time to get to work!

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Life on a Southern Farm: HenPals Chicken Nesting Box Giveaway

Life on a Southern Farm: HenPals Chicken Nesting Box Giveaway:

HenPals Chicken Nesting Box Giveaway

I'm on a posting spree...

I've been posting up a storm today!

Couple of days back, my Twitter account was all consumed with the local county fair. I also posted a few things to the blog concerning fair also... But glad to announce that fair is over now. We had a bit of a fair melt down on the last day, and I'm glad it's over. Don't get me wrong, it was a great time, it just was to over consuming this year. With work and spending all our time at the fairgrounds cheering on friends, we wore ourselves out. Yesterday all three of us were fair-drunk and in need of detox.
If you would have told me last year that, I would spend a week at the Mohave County Fair, and not be board out of my mind, I would have called you crazy. But after doing it, I'm surprised it was possible and tiring. If this was a large fair, like the Farmers Fair back home, or the Orange County Fair, or heaven forbid the L.A. County Fair, I think I wouldn't be able to survive it!
But survive it we did, and I'm glad to announce that this is the last post for at least 11 more months about fairs!

Now this weekend brings us Andy Devine days, and will be kicked off with the Kingsmen Rodeo. Not sure if I'll be attending, but I may run by for a couple of quick pics... In typical Kingman fasion, September brings all the activites to town, Fair, Rodeo, Street drags... All family entertainment! Not sure what, or how much, I'll be able to see and do, but like always, I'll post something here when I can... Now I need more post-fair rest.

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Exclusive content, and the limitations of mobile blogging.

I've been writing and maintaining this blog for over two years now, and over 90% of the content has come from my mobile device. Living as we do, the only way for me to view websites, blogs, or get news is through my cell phone. It makes it a little challenging to post things of interest to the blog. Those great links on most articles that allows users to post links through FB, Twitter, or even directly to another blog, do not always work on cell phones. The alternative? Cutting and pasting into an email client to post. Not as fun as it sounds on a cell phone.
Since starting my blog, I've had an application running on the lower right hand side, that allows me to share things I read on my Google Reader. Here you can find five things that I have read, and think may be interesting to my readers. They compose of blog posts from others, newspaper articles from the local daily paper, and other tidbits from websites that have an RSS feed. Also on the right side of the blog body, is my Twitter feed. All tweets that I post are found here. The little snippets of information that do not make it into a post, I upload through Twitter. Now for those whole read my blog through Facebook will recognize these, they are the same as my profile status, since Twitter updates my Facebook account.
So if you read my blog through an RSS reader, I just wanted to let you know that you are missing out on some great content. For those following through Facebook, I'm sorry for the dual postings, and redundant info... But hey I'm lazy and only like posting something once and having it broadcasts over several channels. Yep several. My Twitter updates are uploading to other social networking sites also. Linked In, Yahoo, Myspace... They all receive my Twitter posts, which also receives updates from Blogger on my new content. So here we have the ultimate lazy mans social networking, post to Twitter and let them do all the hard lifting.
The purpose of this post? Just wanted to let everyone know that regardless on how you read my blog, or were you receive the updates. If you want to see everything please visit the original source... My insanity on display www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

The smoke Southeast of town

Yesterday I noticed the smoke on the mou.ntain range SE of town, and today they have a write up in the paper about it. What I do not understand is they are saying this is a hold over from a lightning strike... The last lightning I've seen was over a week ago!


From the local paper...
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9/20/2011 6:00:00 AM
BLM monitors fire SE of town



KINGMAN - The Bureau of Land Management reports that a small wildfire is burning in the Wabayuma Wilderness about 15 miles southeast of Kingman.

The fire is a holdover from a lighting strike several days ago. It is about three to four acres in size and is not threatening any structures.

The BLM is monitoring the fire from the air because fire crews have not been able to reach it due to the rough terrain.


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My baby is getting to grown up

It just hit us, as our daughter is running around the midway with a friend, that she is growing up too fast!

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Some sights from the midway...

While walking around with little one and her friend, I decided to take a few random pictures... Enjoy.

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Midway night!

Nothing like a night with the teenagers, rides, and screams. Ok where's the beer vendor?

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Had a hell of time at the county fair!

Yep, we just got home from the county fair. Now this fair is nothing like what we are used to from Riverside's Farmer Fair. And a far cry from Orange County's Fair... And we can't even compare it to the L.A. County Fair. So why were we there for 12hrs today? Because we were supporting the local kids in 4H and the FFA! Not to mention those who were there showing their animals in the open categories...

So today we watched them show dogs (took most of the day) Best of Show lambs, and Best of Show pigs, and market pigs... A real buffet parade. And afterwards we walked the midway, then headed off for some dinner.

One day down, three to go! It may be small, but it is our county fair. Can I get a thumbs up from those who support their local fairs? And to those who don't, please attend your next county fair, and cheer on the local 4H & FFA!

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Enjoying the pig show...

Been watching a parade of livestock for the past several hrs. Lambs, rams, pigs, and goats... Only one thing comes to mind... I'm hungry!

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Our group project...

My Little One's Pages

Our Family page on the left, and a Tribute to our Military Family Members (Theme to this years fair, Something old, something new, celebrate the Red, White, and Blue)

And the Cover to the Groups page, made by my darling wife.

The wife and daughter helped put together this group project for fair... It is a scrapbook of 4-H in the past 100 yrs. They also included a couple of pages of family and a couple of pages of what interested little one. They are donating the book to the local 4H office for their archives...



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Cedar Hills 4H

Some shots of our booth in the small stock barn... The noise and smell is indescribable!

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Mohave County Fair

Been helping with the set up for the Cedar Hills 4-H group. Although our little one is not old enough to show her own animals, she is helping, and showing fowls for another in our group. We brought down the little overnight trailer we have, and set up next to the livestock pens... Now I may be wrong, but that's country right there!

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Crazy end of summer weather?

We are enjoying our second day of rain today, after a very long, hot, dry summer. That is until yesterday, when at 6pm, we had snow flurries!

Yes in the middle of September we had snow falling from the sky... A glimpse of what there is to come? Might be an interesting winter this year.



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For 9-11

First thing for me to do this morning... I get to climb up on the roof of work to lower the flag to half mast... And with thunderstorms all night last night, with clouds still all around, made me think twice about hanging around too long!

I read on Facebook that one person said they couldn't tell you what they had for lunch yesterday, but could tell you exactly what they were doing on that Tuesday, September 11th 2001...

Personally I was still at work after working a late shift in City of Industry California, a route driver came in excited about some news that the US was under attack. I called the wife who was watching as it happened on TV, where they were warning of possible attacks in Los Angeles. That drive home, down the 60 fwy, was the strangest drive I've ever been on. There wasn't but a couple of cars on what should have been a busy drive home. That night while looking into the sky, was surreal, as we could not see a plane anywhere. It was one of the strangest days I can remember. We didn't lose anyone we knew, but it was still hard to watch knowing that that day we lost 3k people...

Anyone else have any thoughts they would like to share on this 10th anniversary of September 11th?

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Waited all summer...

...For thunderstorms, and they have all tracked to the east and west around our little piece of earth. Tonight we are enjoying mid 70 degrees, wind, a light show to the east, and the smell of rain... But I doubt we are going to get any measurable water here.
Maybe that means it will be a wet winter...

On the home front, we started to do some clean up today, moving a pile of 2x12-16 lumber from the buildings out to the far side of the compound. We also took our tractor into town, for a bit of work, and so that we can get some things done on the parents property. Going to move some vehicles around also, switching some things up. Going to be putting some cars up for sale in the near future, so look out for our Craiglist's post, gonna offer up a great bug-out vehicle.


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Answer to the quiz of the week.

This is such a cool story, I just have to share...

A French man named Darrel Dupper, who later was called Du Perre. Rose to his feet during a town meeting and offered the name. He explained the Phoenix was a bird of beautiful plumage and exceptional voice, which lived for five hundred years and then, after chanting its death-song, prepared a charnel-house for itself and was cremated, after which a new and glorified bird arose from the ashes to live a magnificent existence forever. When Dupper finished his suggestion and explanation the meeting voted on the names and the Frenchman's choice was decided upon.

The story above is from an eyewitness account given by, John Cady in the book Arizona's Yesterday written in 1916 some more info about Dupper. He was originally Count Du Perre, and came of a noted aristocratic French family. His family was prominent in the court of Louis XIV, and in his youth had committed some foolhardy act in France and was banished by his people, who sent him a monthly remittance on condition that he get as far away from home as he could... And stay there. He learned English and Americanized his name to Dupper, once moving to Arizona to pioneer the territory.

Other names considered that day, Salt City and Aricopolis... Never thought I would thank a French man for his suggestion.



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Aren't kids sweet...

My daughter made me breakfast this morning... Awesome!

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Arizona Trivia...

Any takers on a trivial question on the naming of our State's capital?

Who came up with the name for Arizona's Capital?

Name or nick name...

Maybe I'll throw in a prize for the right answer...
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Short post

Just a quick note on the weather, Sunday we had a high of 105. Then Monday on Labor day, we had some cloud cover blow in. We still had a high in triple digits, and it was humid! Yesterday, never was hotter than 85! And last night, it started to get down right cold... Hit 65 when I woke up this morning... Just have to love this crazy Arizona weather.
I'd hate to say that this is the start of fall, I've seen it do this before, and bounce back up to triple digits, as late as mid October. Not to say that I'm not praying that it'll stay this way, it's been a hot humid summer, with very little rain, fall would be welcomed with open arms.

On another note, Yesterdays quiz has gone unanswered, anyone want to take a stab at it... What was the persons name, who was responsible for naming our State's capital?

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Quiz of the day

Anyone know the name of the person responsible for naming our State capital Phoenix?

Either answer his full name or nick name...
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Labor day... Day after.

It seems like Labor day brought with it the hope of an end of the summer heat. At least I hope it does.
It has been a very hot, dry summer this year, bringing a definite non-soon flow this year. Not to say that all of Mohave county was as dry as us. Just look back a couple of posts and see the flash flood we had from rain in the local mountains.
Last night brought a steady rain that started @ 8pm, and lasted till around 4 this morning. I know due to my little one having a series of bad bloody noses, and being awake most of the night. With the wife and I up alternating keeping her calm. Anyone with home remedies for bad bloody noses, I would love to hear them.
So this morning is the second one this week that we saw temperatures below 70. I love it. Now if only we can see as many days not in triple digits, I'll really be happy.
With that said, I also have to say, that I am not ready for the temps to be in the teens either. Would just like to see a little bit of the nice fall weather that I know is capable for the area. Last year we went from hundred degree days to days in the low forties over night. I don't want that drastic of a change.

This time of year, we are also planning out our winter building and improvement plan for the ranch. On the agenda, is building a small garage to house the quads, generators, and misc. outdoor tools. Install a hot water heater for the kitchen. Clean all the crap from the compound, and move it to a new bone yard across the way. We have another storage trailer to bring out and park in line with the buildings, going to continue the boardwalk, and porch.
This spring, we would like to be able to finish the pantry and add another solar panel and a couple of batteries to the mix.
On top of all of this, I need to sale three cars, fix my damn jeep, and buy a reliable truck. On the later, we were set to buy our old truck back, until the current owner was involved in a real bad three car accident last week. Now that deal is on hold pending what the insurance company is willing to pay to fix it. At the moment, it is severely damaged in the front end, with the front driver side suspension totaled, not sure how badly damaged the cab is. We'll see what can be done, and if the deal is a good one in a week or two.

So that's the plan, lets see how much we can get done.

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Life in the sticks... Summer edition.

It has been a hot, dry summer here at the ranch. That's not to say anything for the local mountains who have had their fair share of monsoon rains this summer. Unfortunately here on our small piece of heaven, it's been more like hell. Hot. It never really cooled off at night either... Just plain hot. Have I mentioned it's been hot?
Well not tonight! It is a fantastic 72 degrees right now! We're just kicked back by the open windows enjoying this evenings cool breeze. If only we had a small rain shower, it would make this evening perfect.
Hey, I can always ask for more.


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A true discovery

Well the wife came back from her California vacation today, and we had to take her rental car back to the airport. While there we decided to check out our home town distillery, that I've been told about. They produce "Quality craft distilled spirits" in the form of Rum, Vodka, Dark Rum (my personal favorite) and Agave Rum.
So glad we did too!
Never met nicer people, they gave us a quick tour of the facility, and a taste test of their three rums and vodka that they produce on site. They also showed us their 'barrel room' where they are aging some dark rum, and just allowed us to hang out and chit-chat for awhile. I'm going to be adding a few bottles of each of their flavors to our saloon stock. Their product is going to fit perfect with our theme! Their product is in a western style, naming it 'Gold Miner Sprits' With a 49' on the label.

If anyone wants to check them out their web address is www.desertdiamonddistillery.com They are sold at the local Sams Club, and also at thier onsite showroom located @ 4875 Olympic Drive Kingman Az 86401 (Kingman Airport Industrial Complex)

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