Is the weather man ever right?

Yesterday we had a 20% chance of rain by 11pm, it didn't even sprinkle! This morning, wake up to a light dusting of snow! Gotta love the accuracy of our weather reports...

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New goat pen

Well the goats have outgrown their pen so it's time to build a new one. We've picked an area farthest from the village but still inside the fence, it's be 20 x 35 with a 10x10 enclosure and a dry place to store the hay. We built it five feet from fence so we can keep it clear of brush and with luck keep the snakes away. We put them in there for a few hours and let them get used to it, they ran and jumped till they couldn't move.

Project total... So far $0 I will have to purchase some gate hardware, so all in all it'll cost a few dollars when we're done. So with all the room I guess I could get more hay burners... 

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My insanity on display
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A good way to kill a Sunday evening...

Ok, not related to our ranch life at all, but it really made an impression with little one, so I will tell everyone about it. In town this weekend a group by the name of The Power Team gave a show at the local high school. I had the pleasure of seeing one of their shows in Palm Springs... 22 years ago, and had the pleasure of sharing them with little one tonight. In our small one horse town. Boy, did it ever make an impression! She got everyone's autograph, said hi, and has been flying on cloud nine ever sense. Yep, a good night, and she thought all they were was a bunch of muscle bound men showing off. Her favorite part, (and the part I love the most) she was more impressed with the preaching and the testimonies than anything else. Yep that melts this rednecks heart.

For more info on who they are...

Mission Statement

"To reach people of all ages, who would typically not ever attend an event in a church setting, with the gospel of Jesus Christ. Drawing people from all walks of life together into one setting, through the use of performing visually explosive feats of strength, by incredible athletes, who share the life-changing message of the cross."













--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.

The finished door.

In all the cold excitement yesterday I forgot to post a picture of the finished door. This does finish off the boardwalk, making the buildings solid all the way around. It really makes a difference with the north wind, and I am hoping that it will force what little breeze we get during the hot months through the buildings as opposed to around them. Only time will tell.
Next on the agenda is shelves, shelves, shelves... Time to get organized!

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My insanity on display
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Holy frozen desert batman!

We spent the night in town last night due to the rain in town and the late shift I had to work (our car doesn't have a working windshield wiper motor either!) but this morning we ran out to work on the shop. That's when we found out they had closed the freeway due to snow and ice on the pass! Big bummer... We had to sit in traffic for 40 min just waiting till we could get to our turn off and head out to the ranch. By the time we got here it was already 10:30 and we still had several inches of the frozen white stuff.
It quickly warmed and the snow stated melting, making it a great day indeed. We were able to get the man door hung, but we didn't have everything we needed for the water heater... Gonna have to wait on that one for awhile.


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My insanity on display
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Almost done...

We were able to get the slab poured today. Looks fantastic! We still need to get the man door hung, plumb the water heater, finish the crawl space lid, and put in shelves... I feel organization in my future... (p.s. The wife is so gonna help with the last one! I have to admit she is the organized one in this family.)

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

I am sooo tired.

Ready to hit the sack and get some rest, I'm beat!

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Progress on the mini-vaca...

We took yesterday off to go into town, do a few errands and have a family dinner down in Laughlin. It was nice to have a great steak dinner, gamble a bit, walk along the river, all those great things that are available in this area. Which leads me to today...

Since the weather has been so nice, we started pouring the slab for the floor of the shop. I started out making six runs for fill dirt and sand in my Samurai dump truck. It worked flawless. We were able to pour the ramp in the hallway, and a strip along the back wall. Then this afternoon, with the help of my little one, we were able to run over an additional 5 loads of sand (after the half dozen loads in the morning, I have a big enough hole that I can back the Samurai in and bring the height of the dump bed low enough that little one can help fill it up) for tomorrows work. If the weather holds out, we will be able to finish the pour. Running total for the shop is $70 with an additional $30 for the rest of the Portland cement we'll need.

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Arizona's centennial...

From our local paper

Arizona became a state on Valentine's Day, Feb. 14, and the article described how that came to be. "At precisely the hour of ten o'clock, Wednesday morning, Feb. 14, 1912, President Taft affixed his signature to the proclamation making Arizona the 48th state of the union. The news was received in Mohave County by the firing of 48 heavy charges of dynamite in Kingman. There were demonstrations of joy throughout town. In the afternoon services in commemoration of the joyful event were held in the Elks Opera House, that edifice being crowded by the school children and residents of the community."



For more centennial news

KINGMAN - It's Arizona's 100th birthday weekend, with a number of events in Kingman marking the occasion.

--
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.

Mini-Vacation 2012

First on the agenda, build a dump truck... Using a Samurai! Yep, not sure if this is a Redneck wheelbarrow, or a white-trash dump truck... Either way it works great! Tomorrow we have to go into town for feed, propane, and groceries... Then Saturday and Sunday we will haul sand and mix some concrete for the shop floor.

In MDR fashion, total price for the dump truck build $0, total price thus far for the shop $35 (had to buy gas for the generator, an OSB panel, and some misc. dimensional lumber.
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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Liebster Award

The Liebster Award Blog award is being passed around and my friend Modern Day Redneck nominated me for it.




Here are the rules:
1. Copy and paste the award on your blog.

2. Link back to the blogger who gave you the award.

3. Pick your favorite blogs with less than 200 followers, and leave a comment on their blog to let them know they have received the award.

4. Hope that the five blogs chosen will keep spreading the love and pass it on to five more blogs.


“Apparently, this award originated in Germany: ”Liebster” is the German word for friend or love (I’ve seen both definitions). The Liebster award is meant to bring more attention to blogs with fewer than 200 followers.”








I'll have to post my blog links later running out of time today... (to be continued)





Standing Outside Looking In




Down Range Report




5 Acres & A Dream




The Marshian Chronicles




Rural Revolution




Honorable Mentions....

Life on a Southern Farm




Survival Blog

Childcare redneck style...

My daughter was trying to give me a ration today, not wanting to clean up the yard like we had asked... So I had to hog tie her and teach her a lesson. That's A-1 child rearing right there! Gotta love it, and she did... We laughed for hours after...

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Day six, and the end of the work... For now.

Well we were able to get the hallway done and and the man door framed, but we just couldn't muster the energy to finish this one. There's always next week, in fact next week is a short work week for me, only three days (have some vacation time to burn before 2/14) with luck, we'll be able to finish my Samurai dump truck mod! Then we'll polish off the plumbing and hang the man door... Maybe able to start pouring some cement... That is if the weather cooperates...

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com

Day 5 already?

Well the vacation is almost done... And so is our little project. Had to do a bit of engineering of the roof line to get it to match the existing roof of the board walk. That and the big door gave us a little trouble getting it in and working right. Unlike most of our projects cutting in the water heater was a snap, and just slid in... Although we still have to plumb it in. (as a side note, MDR asked what kind of a water heater, well true to our recycling habits, we are using a propane model from an RV we dismantled a couple of years ago. They are fairly efficient, and since it is just for the one sink in the saloon it should be big enough. Later on I would love to make up and install a couple of solar units to preheat the water.)

All in all the day was a success. With just a bit of luck tomorrow will be the final day and we can put this project to bed. I will have to wait till it starts to warm up at night so I can pour a cement floor. (another side note, before I start to pour the floor, we are building a dump bed to slide into the back of my little Samurai to move the sand we'll need. That is also going to make caring for the road that much easier.) Then I can move all my tools into it and start to finish off the inside of the conex.

Well time for a beer, dinner, then some rest...
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My insanity on display
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Forgot the day 3 vacation account...

We had some friends come over for dinner and pie last night, so I forgot to post a few pics of day three's work. Today we finished paneling the roof, and the two walls. Tomorrow we'll get the hallway done, and the large door. We are also installing a water heater in the one wall and plumbing it into the saloon... That's gonna be huge for the wife!

I'm gonna take up a great practice from one of the bloggers I follow (MDR... AKA Modern Day Redneck you can find a link on the right) and give a total dollar spent on this project... Drum roll please... $0! Yep I kid you not. This entire garage is being built with reclaimed materials. The frame and panels are concrete form's from a highway bridge project from a few years ago. One of my dad's last construction jobs was redoing the bridges on Interstate 40 west of Needles California. When the job was done, they were transporting the unused panels to the dump... A couple of stacks found there way East and are being put to better use than landfill!

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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com