Set up at smokin' at the Beaver

Early stages of set up, what I unloaded last night

Got a late start to leave for the Smoker, as I had to take Cody to the Vet and have a lump checked out on this neck.

It turned out that he has an infection probably caused by chewing on sticks. He is on antibiotics and anti-inflammatory medicine now





Many chem-trails in Kansas (thought we had a-lot)









A daylight pic of the Tiki Bar I build for the Goats

Folks here at the Smoker love it, pictures are being taken and sent to friends

Solar powered rope lights on palm tree forms, and pink flamingo's

New Season is upon us ..

We will be preparing for our next adventure to Smokin' on the Beaver

We plan leaving on thursday to travel to Atwood Ks. to cook in the BBQ Contest

We have 2 teams this year :

Butts R Us
Legal Smoking

We will start cooking beef brisket on Friday, on Saturday we will cook Ribs, and pork butt.

more updates coming...

Fishing in the mountains

Yup,
tomorrow, we (the camper and I ) are going on an excersion to the Steamboat Colorado area for a rare summer trip, to fish with our buddies from Rusty's Upholstery ( he has the boat) hoping to catch northern pike..
I have not fished for northern pike since we left Iowa (very excited)

Will keep you posted with pictures and video

Updating the Camper

I have started to build a few assemblies for updating some of the things on the camper for the upcoming season.

In the next few weeks I will start posting some of the projects , which include new lighting, a new power chord for grid power, machining parts for the sat antenna crank, additional power form the inverter, adding a trailer hitch to the back of the camper, to be able to use the small trailer to carry more stuff.. Stay tuned..

So far, the earliest trip planned will be sighting in at Steamboat Springs in August ..

Currently we are in gardening mode with water.

Started another blog

I have started a new blog for Aquaponics, and water aeration.
We are growing vegetables and fruits in fish water filters, or bogs, now known as Aquaponics

the link to the new blog

A good dog story from Japan

The dog protecting her partner is a Brittany


Here‘s an English translation of the camera crew’s words upon discovering the pair (h/t Yahoo):

We are in Arahama area. Looks like there is a dog. There is a dog. He looks tired and dirty. He must have been caught in the tsunami. He looks very dirty.

He has a collar. He must be someone’s pet. He has a silver collar. He is shaking. He seems very afraid.

Oh, there is another dog. I wonder if he is dead.

Where?

Right there. There is another dog right next to the one sitting down. He is not moving. I wonder. I wonder if he is alright.

The dog is protecting him.

Yes. He is protecting the dog. That is why he did not want us to approach them. He was trying to keep us at bay.

I can’t watch this. This is a very difficult to watch.

Oh. Look. He is moving. He is alive. I am so happy to see that he is alive.

Yes! Yes! He is alive.

He looks to be weakened. We need to them to be rescued soon. We really want them rescued soon.

Oh good. He’s getting up.


Comment on site: I understand from a posting earlier on Facebook the injured dog is being treated and his friend the hero dog is being taken care of also ….

End of snowbird season

I have finally caught up with chores, now to post some pictures of fun in the sun, and r&r

This photo is of friends from Canada (Vancouver Island)Toasting Jim & Donna

Except for the guy in the middle he is from Kalifornia :)
Left to right Willie, Dave, Tom, Pat, Irma,



This is the 3rd year of the Pheasant feed.

Since, I have quite a few birds after the hunting season closes and I share them with others.

Most western Canadians have grouse, they say do not taste as good as corn raised pheasants...


Willie, with his favorite California raisin figure on his hat.

Willie, is quite a guy, bakes bread in a stone oven, (that he built), raises grapes, makes their own wine, raises bees, and harvests honey.

Willy and Irma are originally from Germany, and had relatives in east Germany ...Really fun to converse with,

Tequila

I have had several; requests for the "good " tequila from Mexico to be used for the Goats in Sept for barter and other uses :)

So, Dave and Pat and I went to Mexico today.

We had lunch from a street vendor (very good tacos) they bought bread, and blankets.
and we purchased the Tequila that has been requested..

Brrrrrr Cold

It is Brrrr Cold even in Yuma AZ

I was up at 5 am this morning and checked the outside temperature and it was 29*F

For this area, that is very cold, at 7 pm this evening it is 47*F

Last year high temp 73* low of 53*F

Made a short trip to Mexico today, the poor Mexicans were wearing their very heavy winter coats and scarfs. I do not think any of the stores and shops have heaters..

What did I buy in Mexico? Blankets !!
the line to get back into the US was pretty short :)

Did not take any pictures, the border folks have signs warning about taking pictures....

Yuma Army Proving Grounds

I went on a little trip to check out a local lake (Lake Mittry) that is used for local irrigation for the agriculture here. ( They grow strawberries, lettuce, grapefruit, dates, oranges, etc).

There are free boondocking camping sites around the lake with a 10 day limit. (I went to check them out)

After driving around the lake, heading back to Yuma, I saw static displays of US Army artillery

So, I stopped and took some pictures
To enlarge the pictures..... Click on them












Sherman Tank

You can see where bullets hit the tank

























































I know many who follow the blog are having severe winter weather.

The weather in Yuma is not as cold or snowy But we are having pretty strong winds, they predict the winds to last 'till Thursday.. So far this evening my wind indicator shows a max. of 50.5mph.
The wind charger is working pretty good :)

Stay warm everybody