New wheels...

Well after a lot of debate, we decided to take the plunge and get a new car. Crazy I know, especially with all the bad MOJO at work. Our daily driver, a 98' S10 Blazer, was getting long in the tooth, and not wanting to start every day. So we went down to talk numbers with the local Dodge/Kia dealer on a Kia Soul. Little cars look to have decent ground clearance and damn good mileage (27 city 35 hwy)  and not cost an arm and a leg. So after talking to the finance guy for awhile, they pulled a 2010 Soul Sport around for us to test drive, it is a used car, so the price was in our range. Another hour later, and we're cruising down the hwy in a new set of wheels... now to hit the sticks and get our Rally on!

Just need to find a Gerbil suit to drive around in! 

Ya'll know I'm gonna have to Redneck this little thing out!

 All in all the Martin Swanty Chrysler/Dodge/Jeep/Kia  Dealer was great. We haggled price, going back and forth, but in the end they took good care of us. (Oh it was fun when the asked for proof of residence they wanted two utility bills with both our names on it... they didn't get the concept of off-grid = no utility bills, they settled on a cell phone bill and our water delivery bill) We got it for a low payment, they washed it, and filled the tank for us! That really means a lot.

Spring, sprung fast this year!

Its hard to remember that just last week we had snow, today I was surprised to see everything in bloom, even our trees we planted last week. They were still dormant yesterday, but this afternoon... Bloom city!

Today also marks a mile stone in our family... Little one turns ten today... *Gasp* I'm not old enough to be the father of a double digit daughter! I refuse to be!

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Planter Garden

The wife was busy this morning putting together her planter garden.

The wife's garden experiment 

I just hope they make it... Spring has sprung, we've got 80+ degrees  today!

I feel the same way...

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Those rambling posts...

With all that said, here's the good stuff... Pictures!



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A week in the life of a modern day pioneer.

Allergy season is now in full effect here in Northern Arizona. Add to that a warning that there is a breakout of influenza running through our State. No wonder I've felt bad the last couple of days. I was down right sick on Wednesday and stayed home from work. I thought it a good idea to suck down some orange juice and sit in the sun and read, a good plan if you put on sun screen first... Bad if you don't. Luckily some work still got done this week.

The wife was able to get her grape vines planted. She also picked up a tomato plant, along with a variety of other garden plants. My biggest concern is the rabbit and rat population. I doubt anything will have a chance with them, but we'll see. Our dogs have finally found the art of rabbit hunting, now if they will only hunt them around the garden that would be great!

I crawled out of bed to work a bit on the new goat pen, and have half of the structure built, enough at least to have them moved in full time. I'm hoping that they create enough motion to keep some of the critters away form our new trees and garden.

The girls also moved everything in the yard, and ran a drag and a blade around to knock down the weeds. It does look good, now we have to put everything back to make it look right again.

I also took advantage of the snow and rain we had last week, and made a couple of passes on the main road with the tractor. The conditions were perfect, and I was able to cut a few inches off two of the bad hills. It doesn't sound like much, but working with a 1948 Ford 8N farm tractor it was a win. In a few places we have lost 8 feet of road to monsoon rains. It is my goal to recover those places this year, I have the sinking feeling that this years monsoon season will be a bad one. If I don't, we might lose the road altogether.

Now for the most entertaining news. I quickly wired up the new inverter Thursday. The one I bought at Harbor Freight a few weeks ago. The wife was called into work and wouldn't be home till after midnight. Last night was the perfect opportunity to get a good test of the batteries. I'm happy to report that the battery bank and new inverter powered our 32" flat screen perfectly with no significant lose of voltage till 12:30! That was 4.5 hours run time while dark! I started the test with 12.7 volts and turned it off when it hit 12.4 The batteries recovered to 12.6 within ten minutes, and stayed that way till sun up. The whole battery bank was recharged within a few hours of sun up. Not bad for a shoe-string Harbor Freight car battery system solar system.

That was a lot of work, while not feeling well; but it explains the sunburn, and sore muscles!

Our little one will be turning ten in two days. Double digits... OMG. We'll celebrate her B-day today with cake and presents, since we both have to work this weekend. I just don't feel old enough to have a daughter who's ten.
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Enjoying the snowy weather

Good thing I was working this weekend, we've had a couple of bad storms come through, rain on Saturday, snow on Sunday, and more on the way through Tuesday. And right after we planted our fruit trees :( Sure hope they make it.

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Welcome to new followers...

I don't get as much time in front of real computer these days, so I do apologize to my new followers for not recognizing them sooner. For those not in the know, my blog is maintained and updated via my cell phone. I do not have the latest and greatest phone on the market, so I do not get to see all the bells and whistles of Blogger. I do get a copy of comments sent to me via email, and I can get to a real 'puter to answer in a day or two, or I'll write a post if not. So a big thank you to 45er, Duke, and  DFW. I've been a reader of 45er and Duke for some time, and really enjoy their blogs, if you are not familial with their writings, take a click over and check them out. 

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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.

Back to our regular scheduled program...

Back to work on our ranch today. We were able (after a couple of set backs, fittings with holes in them, breaking fittings, clogged valves, etc) we were able to get our water heater plumber for the saloon... ***cheeres*** all around! No more cold water to rinse the dishes with!
We also got to work on our orchard. We were able to get the peach, apple, cheery, and pear trees in today. Also started on the split rail around it and the entrance arch.
On top of that, we moved out our storage trailer so we can empty our pantry and finish it off...

Whew! I'm tired.

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Fun with photos

Fun with Tilt Shift

Found something cool on the internet and thought I would share. This is a photo that I used a Tilt Shift Maker to doctor. It's a free website, so check it out.

More fun with Titlt Shift, this is a photo from our trip to Disneyland last year.

The little things...

I've been under the weather for the past few days, but I couldn't take sitting around any more this afternoon. So I decided to finally wire up our TV antenna and see if we can get any channels... Glad to report we are able to get 11 digital channels! At least now we can watch the news and not feel so out of touch with the rest of the world.

Best part... We are currently watching the news via antenna, powered by solar... It almost feels like we're breaking a law or something! I guess that comes from all those years of paying for cable TV in the city...

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As a post script. I had to run into town today to get some dog chow, and a couple of misc. supplies. I had to go by the gun shop and pick up some targets for the wife to plunk at, and saw some personal defense rounds that are rated for Zombies... Just had to pick those up, just to have them on the shelf.

Too early, and too cold.

What you looking at?

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My schedule is all messed up

Next couple of weeks, and probably all spring long, my employer has seen fit to split my days off. Makes getting into a working groove on the ranch that much harder. Today we ran a few errands in town, then came out and put some finishing touches on the goat pen.
Originally I had opted to line the pen with field fence. Great idea if the dumb animals wouldn't stick their heads through it, and forget which way is out. Seriously my goats are not the smartest.
So this afternoon we went over the field fence with cyclone fencing we had taken down in front of our house in California... Some ten years ago. Nothing like recycling. We just wrapped the pen again and hog-ringed it to the field fence. Now I think they'll get the hint. So far they seem to be adapting to the new larger space well. They are able to jump around and act like crazy goats. Now that's what I call fast food!



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My insanity on display
www.pioneeringaz.blogspot.com