First, I have to apologize to all the schoolteachers out there. Apparently, I left several of them convulsing and choking on their morning coffee after they saw the use of the word 'funner' in a sentence. At least this was the reaction of my schoolteacher neighbor, Carmen, when she read it this past weekend. Sorry schoolteachers, I will try to do more better in the future.
One piece of big news I totally spaced out last week. Our son Forrest and his wife Somer sold their home, closed, moved out and are officially homeless (again)! It is bittersweet as they had a beautiful home nestled in a Klamath Falls valley. For the last 4+ years they made a lot of memories and put a lot of work into that house. Both Forrest and Somer have quit their jobs so now are officially among the ranks of the homeless and unemployed.
What are they going to do? They are hitting the road of course! They moved into their 2020 Momentum and are headed west where Somer took a 12-week stint at a hospital in Grants Pass. Forrest will continue to homeschool Lily as they have been for the past couple years. From there who knows, the world is at their hands!
They've got their place very comfortable and homey, right on the Rogue River. Parts of us envy them and parts of us are glad we fulltimed several years ago rather than starting now. We just hope they will come visit us at some point!
Speaking of neighbor Carmen, she and her husband Jim, came over last weekend where we watched a couple of football games while grinding up his venison for burger. Would you believe I forgot to take one picture?!?! But now.... (cue the dramatic music) ....they have enough meat to survive the harsh conditions of the South Dakota winter.
The other big news is that we are ready to roll! We spent the week packing the camper and getting it ready for our next adventure. My job is to get everything on the outside of the camper ready; propane, grill, lights, air bags, carrier rack, extra DEF, making sure all the fluids in the truck are good to go. Barb handles the inside; clothes, food, dog stuff. Either she has a lot more to do than me or I am really good as she has been pretty much constantly busy working on the inside throughout the week, while my tasks I took care of in a day. I am going to go with that she has a lot more to do than me.
So, we leave Saturday (tomorrow morning). First stop Scheel's in Loveland Colorado. We plan on heading south into New Mexico. Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Gila and Chiricahua National Forests...then into Arizona; Tucson, Organ Pipe, Yuma and Quartzsite. Most stops are for a day or two while others are a week or longer.
We plan on seeing the sights, do some hiking and catch up with a few RV/blogger friends. If any of you know of any "must see" or "must hike" or "must eat at" places along our route, please let us know. We have been in touch with a couple of people, but others we do not know how to get a hold of other than comments on each other's blogs. So, you are on our travel route and want to get together, send us a note in our comments with your contact information and hopefully the timing works out. Don't worry, we will not post the comment with your information to the world.
You may have noticed all that lumber in the middle of the garage. Well, I picked up my order from the local sawmill for an upcoming project. The 8x8's were just cut this week and need to dry for a couple of months so they will be ready late spring/early summer!
The girls are pacing the house following Barb around, wondering what's going on. They know something is up but are not quite sure what yet.
That's it for this week, the next post will be from the road!
Now that I have left my quinquagenarian and entered my Sexagenarian decade I think it might be time to act my age instead of my I.Q. No more late nights for me, my new bedtime time is 8pm, meaning I will be up at 4am. Time for me to get an EZ lift chair where I will sit all day watch TV and blog about all my ailments. Oh wait, apparently you do not need to hit 60 to do that. I just happen to know someone who has been doing that for years and he is still a quinquagenarian!
Screw it, I am going to act my I.Q., it is much more funner, yeah, funner is a word. For example, when used in a sentence it looks like this. "Lisa is a lot more funner than Dino cuz all he does is sit in his EZ chair all day and watch daytime soap operas". Stick with me, you will learn a lot of things.
I had a great birthday though. Barb made me strawberry crepes, delicious! Then I went over to Kevin's to help him set some floor trusses for one of his neighbors that is starting to build a house.
After that it was back home where Barb broke out the pasta attachment she got for Christmas. She had never made homemade pasta before, so it was quite the interesting process. The end result was the best pasta we have ever had. It may have been a first, but it certainly will not be the last!
This was followed up with a delicious supper of crab legs and steak. Umm, this turning 60 thing is not so bad after all!
For several months now Dan, Bonnie, Kevin, Cheryl, Barb and I have been planning a get together for New Year's Eve. We were each to bring 3 jars of Ole Smokey Moonshine for a taste testing. We added a few jars and bottles of stuff we had already as well.
Oh, what a night it was! We each had a scorecard divided into two categories. Straight alcohol and creams. We had some pretty tasty moonshine and some pretty nasty stuff. The nastiest of all was the Ole Smokey Apple Pie. It was so strong and so sour that it let this expression on Kevin's face.
The winner for the night was not an Ole Smokey product at all, it was our very own Apple Pie Moonshine from the J-B Distilling Co!
The moods got goofier throughout the evening, culminating with Barb laughing uncontrollably and arm-wrestling Kevin. She put up a good left-handed battle but did not win.
The party ended abruptly when Barb said she was not feeling well and went to the bathroom for an important meeting. When the meeting was over, she quietly slipped into the bedroom. We cleaned up, hung out for a bit and everyone quietly slipped out of the house. The next day was very quiet, we were supposed to have a few people over for the Vikings/Packers game but when Barb had not emerged from the bedroom by noon, I canceled the festivities. Just as well, the Vikings did not show up to play. We spent a quiet day on the couch watching football and a few movies.
Kevin and I did get out mountain lion hunting one morning after a fresh snowfall. It was a beautiful morning; we drove a lot of miles in some remote country but never cut a track.
The next day we had a surprise visit from Farmer Bob and DeAnne! Well, Barb knew they were coming but I did not. They spent 3 days, 4 nights with us. Bob told me to do whatever I was going to do this week, so I did and put him to work!
We burned brush piles, we cut and split firewood
We worked on putting some boards up on the outside of the workshop....
And then he....
Each day we did pretty much the same thing; burn brush piles, split wood, stack wood and nap. I did get out on a couple of adventures. Barb and DeAnne stayed inside and played accordions. DeAnne also worked on a couple of quilt tops. She brought her sewing machine and everything she needed to make the tops.
Bob and I drove through Wind Cave NP and Custer SP one morning and saw some of the park creatures. We saw elk, bison, antelope, mule deer, whitetail deer, coyotes, prairie dogs, I think that was it. Oh, and a bunny!
The four of us went for a jeep ride on some forest service roads through some remote country. I think Bob and DeAnne were questioning the wisdom of our decision as we cut fresh tracks through the forest. We also stopped by the Mammoth Site in Hot Springs. We have lived here for 5 years and had yet to stop by this popular tourist attraction. We pass it almost every week and it is always crowded during the tourist season but on this day, we were the 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th visitors for the day and had the place to ourselves! Barb and I always wanted to stop but it was not very high on our list and we had low expectations. It far, far, exceeded our expectations.
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The story of how this site was found and how the mammoths' met their demise is tragic. It also makes you realize how short a lifetime is in the scheme of things and leaves you wonder how many other similar discoveries are buried just below the surface waiting to be found. Well worth the $12 entry fee (Senior, the first time I claimed to be over 60!).
Short-nosed Bear stood about 8' at its shoulder
Overall, we had a great 3 days. Thanks, guys, for coming down and surprising me. Thank you also for the mugs and the vintage ammo boxes. They are a great addition to my collection!
If all goes as planned, we will be spending the week packing the camper and getting ready for our next great adventure. The plan is to be on the road a week from today!
And just like that, Christmas is over. No more Hallmark movies, no more Christmas songs on Pandora, no more decorations and no more tree. Decorations went up the day after Thanksgiving, they come down the day after Christmas. That is the thing about Barb. Once she is over something, she is over it. She has moved on. No second thoughts, no mercy, the tree is tossed out the front door and she moves on. I just hope she never gets over me!
Christmas arrived with mild temperatures reaching a high of 38F. Balmy compared to the previous few days. The girls enjoyed opening the gifts Santapaws left them. Well, Zoey did. Dakota is much too mature and couth to lower herself to such over-commercialized displays of excitement.
I have a video for you this morning! The first part is Zoey meticulously opening one of her presents. I think she was more interested in the wrapping paper that what was actually inside. The entire process took several minutes so I sped it up. The second part of this video is of both girls when the spirit of Christmas finally got the better of Dakota and she just had to play with Zoey.
Zoe Belle true to her bratty nature would play with a toy, but when she saw Dakota enjoying one, she had to stop what she was doing and go take that toy away from Dakota. What a fun sucker, she is going to make someone a good wife someday!
Of course, the girls had to pose for their annual Christmas pictures, they were both thrilled to do it!
Christmas eve day, we spent the day at home watching football. I worked out in the shop finishing up the electrical for the additional outlets and the heater. Yes, I finally have permanent heat out there!
That night, it was just the two of us. Barb cooked a fantastic meal and we both overstuffed ourselves.
The next day I woke up about 3am excited to see if Santa had come yet. He must have been running late. I saw that he had delivered Barb's presents but forgot to leave mine. Or perhaps I was on the naughty list?!?!? Later that morning when I was in the bedroom he came back and dropped off mine with a note that he got me confused with another Jim Nelson who was on the naughty list. Another drawback of having such a common name!
Santa brought me several Sitka hunting clothes items, some Kenetrek boots and a slew of ice fishing items! Jessica and Shane sent a vintage shotgun shell box and lures for my collection!
Forrest and Somer sent me a 1000 lumen flashlight for my apocalypse zombie killer. Watch out zombies, I am ready for you! They got Barb this precious ornament with photos of several of our past and present furbabies on it. Barb absolutely loved it!
Santa brought Barb a set of Wuesthoff steak knives and a pasta attachment for her KitchenAid mixer. Gotta love it when everything your wife asks for are kitchen related. Win/win!
We received these photos from the kids. We love getting photos from the kids. This first one is from Forrest's family.
Jessica sent us these photos of their kids (Apparently, she and Shane are camera shy). The first picture is of Kendall with a cookbook that she wanted. The next picture needs a little explanation. Dylan, like many 13 year olds, wanted money. When he opened our gift and saw a $100 bill, he thought it was a fake. He had never gotten a $100 bill before and was beyond excited. Next to him is his sister who looks like someone just stole her favorite toy. Even though we spent just as much on her, apparently getting $100 bill trumps $100 in gifts!
That evening we went over to Kevin and Cheryl's. Cheryl made an incredible ham supper with corn pudding, cheesy potatoes and green bean casserole. They had gotten us some awesome engraved bar glasses!
Neighbors Jim and Carmen made me this awesome hat with our brand on it.
Jim is does incredible leatherwork making custom holsters, bottle and glass wraps, coasters and other leather items. Carmen has a laser engraver and is able to laser some incredible things with glass, leather, wood and other items. Jim sells some of his work at a local shop in Hot Springs which you can see here.
Last but not least on the Christmas parade is this visual evidence that I have paid off my debt to Dino. 2 cases on beer. I only owed him a case (plus 15 cans in interest). I sent Lisa money to buy 2 cases just in case the interest rate went up overnight!
You would think all that beer on the lap of a guy who just had hip replacement would hurt. Maybe he didn't have surgery after all and is just trying to get our sympathy!
We had a scary moment with Zoey this past week. I let her out to go to the bathroom. We usually go out the door and to the left, down the sidewalk where she steps off, does her thing and walks right back in. This time she turned right, rounded the corner and saw all the deer. The chase was on! The deer took off and she was hot on their tails. Up and over the hill and into the forest. She was out of my sight in seconds. I ran after her but could not catch up. If this was not bad enough, this was last Thursday. Yes, that last Thursday when the high for the day was still well below 0F. As I crested the hill, I saw a deer bolting to the left back out into the field and caught a glimpse of Zoey behind her. I yelled and ran that way. Luckily Zoey stopped. She just stood there exhausted, out of breath lifting one foot and then another. She was froze up. We have had this happen with two of our other old dogs; Daisy and Mario. They would just get too cold and freeze up, could not move. I picked poor Zoey up and started walking back to the house, she was shaking uncontrollably, huffing and puffing from her run. Barb held her in a blanket in front of the fireplace for about 15 minutes before she stopped shaking. We were a glimpse or a random turn away from her freezing to death out there. The entire incident took less than 2 minutes, and she was freezing up. She would not have lasted 5 minutes. Lesson learned!
Later in the week the weather was incredible with highs in the 30's and 40's! The snow is melting pretty quick and will probably be all gone in a few days. I got out ice fishing with Doug and his son Sam, it was nice having a 17-year-old along to pull the sled!
We fished for both perch and trout. The perch were a little on the small side, but Sam managed to catch a few bigger ones to make a meal.
The trout on the other hand were much nicer averaging in that 16-18" range. We came home with 6 eaters, I think I am going to smoke them this time.
The next day was in the 40's again so I hit the forest to cut some firewood!
In a first for us, we saw this buck show up on 12/27 who had just lost his antlers. Generally, they lose their antlers in February and March. I am wondering if the extreme cold weather had something to do with it. Nature has a way of adapting when energy/nutrients are needed elsewhere. It looks painful but it really isn't, the energy to maintain the antlers is just diverted so the joint between the antlers and the skull dries up and the antlers just fall off. I went out and looked for them but no luck so far.
As I said at the beginning, just like that, Christmas was over. Fear not, we have a lot planned for the week. A certain someone has a birthday tomorrow. A BIG milestone birthday. I won't tell you who it is, but he is a quite talented and dashy person! Then comes New Years, we are planning on having a get together on both Saturday and Sunday. Next week will probably be a much-needed recovery week, but then again, probably not!
