So, whats been happening on the West Coast?

The weather has been the usual June Gloom in the mornings and sometimes that lasts all day. With the high heat the rest off the country is experiencing I guess we shouldn’t complain too much.

It does slow down our garden growth but then again we use less water. Our water bill is bad enough. The boysenberries are almost done. The first pickings saw really large berries but as time went on the rest are smaller. We won’t have as many gallon bags in the freezer as last year. Clyda makes jelly and syrup from what we do get. The blueberries are almost done also. I had one really big picking early on and froze those.

The lettuce has been great since early spring so we didn’t need to buy any. I have another crop of Romaine planted but it doesn’t look good right now so I fertilized them with Miracle grow a few days ago. Hopefully that will help.

The pole beans look good and we should have beans in a few days. The small amount of peas we planted look good and the pods are filling out.

Clyda has been picking apricots each day. The tree is over fifty years old and has termites but son Tim pruned it last fall and with all the winter rain it has a modest crop so far. To keep the birds from eating the ripe apricots we have old CD’s tied to the limbs which flash as they turn and hopefully keep the birds out of the tree. If we don’t do that the birds get all the ripe fruit. Clyda halves the apricots then freezes then and will make jam latter.

I have peppers, tomatoes, squash, beets and carrots in the garden now. Time will tell what kind of a crop I will get.

I did something last month that I have thought about for over a year. I built a Keyhole garden bed. (Google it) I basically used salvaged wood for the box and filled it with cardboard, scrap paper, and tree branches in the bottom. Then a layer of lawn clippings followed by a layer of old garden soil, a layer of potting mix then a top layer of good soil. So far I am not impressed as the plants don’t look healthy. The purpose of a Keyhole garden is to use your kitchen vegetable scraps in a compost bin in the center and water through that which reduces water usage. The concept was developed in Africa where water is scarce. Son Tim has one in Texas ans said it works very well. Time will tell I guess.

I’m working on several small projects at the present. Clyda gave me a 17 inch Blackstone grill for Christmas and I really haven’t used it. I am adding a collapsible shelf near my BBQ to put the grill on. When not in use I can collapse the shelf so it is out of the way. I Varathaned the 2x4 plywood shelf and now am gluing a piece of linoleum to the top. In use, I also have a board with a sheet of aluminum on top which keeps the shelf below from getting to hot. I’m hoping my shelf brackets will hold all this weight. I may need to add a leg for more support.

I always have multiple things going on at once which allows me to take breaks now and then. Sometimes more breaks than work. I can always say “I am doing research” when I am on the computer. Heh-heh.

Speaking of research, I actually am doing that. While in Wisconsin last month I met my Nephew Scott Seidel who I have not seen since he was 4 or 5 years old. Scott is the oldest son of my brother Richard (Dick) and his wife Germaine Seidel (Ludwig). Scott expressed an interest in family history so I sent him some documents. Prior to doing that I realized I had done very little history of Germaine’s family. Well, I still have little history of the Ludwigs. It is like they avoided all census counts, never recorded a birth and were seldom married. There is so little documentation on-line that it is hard to build up a history. Never the less, I am still working on it.

Two other things I am working on are the military record for my cousin Gerald Seidel, son of George and Myrtle. Gerald was a 30 year Navy Fire Control technician who retired as a Master Chief Fire Control Technician after serving thirty years. I want to see his name added to the Dorchester Veterans Memorial. To that end I have requested his records from Veterans archives. They accepted my request but haven’t done anything yet.

The second one is for my cousin Nyle Seidel. I did find some information on-line but no military record yet. Still looking. I did find Nyles name in a family tree on Ancestry along with photos of other relatives. I am in contact with the person who put that information out but so far, I am reluctant to give out any other information as I do not know this person. I will maintain contact and see what happens.

I also called two people who I have not been in contact with for at least 6 years. They both are most helpful with family history information.

Enough for now. Until next time. BTW, I have no control over text size in the document. Blam the incosistancies on Blogger.

Ed

So, a long time with no blog posted by me.

No excuse really, just not a lot going on that’s worth writing about.

We did do a few short RV trips during the Spring and Summer with friends and you may have noticed the photo on the header has changed. Yes, I have a new to me 2018 GMC Sierra pickup pulling that trailer. The old Ford truck was 24 years old and still ran fine but it was OLD and Clyda complained about the seat.

So I put out the word that I might be interested in a new truck. My friend Budd emailed me a photo a few days later entitled “Your new truck” which he had found in Arroyo Grande North of us. I called the owner and said I would be up in a few days to purchase the truck. He wanted to know how I found out about it as he had just parked it beside the road a few hours before with a For Sale sign in it. Anyway, I bought the truck and then began the work.

The first thing I did was have a Linex bed liner sprayed into it. Then I needed to purchase a 5^th wheel hitch. A friend at Elks had one for sale which was perfect for my truck as it was made for a short bed pickup and was an automatic slider. The hitch slides back as the truck turns thereby keeping the trailer from hitting the back of the cab.

Next I needed a rail kit to mount in the bed of the truck to mount the hitch on. Thank goodness for Amazon. The kit I purchased bolts to the pre-threaded holes on the truck frame. After watching numerous YouTube videos and with the help of my neighbor Paul, the hitch was installed.

The truck comes with a 7 pin plug to connect the trailer for lights and brakes but it was mounted on the rear bumper which meant the trailer cable was hanging over the tailgate. I wanted a connector inside the truck bed, GM made provisions for that by putting the wires to do that in a bundle in front of the rear bumper. I just had to install the plug and wire it up. Well, that didn’t go too well as the right turn signal remained on instead of blinking. A trip to the local GM dealer and a quick check with the Scan tool showed a short in the main fuse block. How that could have happened as all lines to the plug are fused still remains a mystery.

A new fuse block was installed and I was good to go. As we prepared to leave on the first trip with the new truck pulling the trailer, I noticed the trailer lights were very dim. Neighbor Paul came out to help and he suggested turning on the running lights. Some of the running lights were brightly lite while others were dim suggesting that a ground wire was missing. I had opened a junction box under the hitch and obviously didn’t get a ground wire connected to the rest of the bundle when I did it. So temporarily we ran a wire from the battery ground to one of the running lights and all then worked. Later I redid the junction box and all was good.

A common theme of RV trailers is that it is like going through an earthquake every time you take it down the road and things happen. Constant maintenance is required.

In August we made a quick trip to Oregon via Hwy 395 in the Eastern Serra to see friends. We spent a couple of days camped at Mammoth Lakes with neighbors on the way North, a couple of days in Reno to see a friend then on to Eugene, OR where we visited long time friends from Boy Scouting, Dick and Barbara. We then moved South to Creswell, OR for 4 days of good food, and games with Thomas and Debbie and Rose, Debbie’s mother. It was a very quick trip but good to see everyone.

I made my usual fall trip with Son Tim again this year in October and November. We spent a week camping in a BLM area outside of Tecopa, CA. Because of the rains in September in the desert many roads were closed. To get to Tecopa we had to travel to Las Vegas, cross the mountains to Pahrump, NV then drive South to Shoshone, CA and then to Tecopa. The road into Death Valley finally opened so we moved on to camp in our usual spots. We hiked, found more Mylar balloons and enjoyed meeting all of our desert friends. Our balloon count last year was 129 which did not seem close to achievable this year. However, never say never, as were were tied with last years total with one day to beat the record. By then only 3 of us remained in camp so we were determined to find one more balloon. We searched an area South of Furnace Creek wash where we had been successful before and after a couple of hours found two more balloons to make our total 131 for the year.

Ballons as our camp backdrop.

 

Enjoying a Date Shake

Mystery on a hill near Tecopa, CA

Tim recording a Geo-Cache.

For Thanksgiving we again took the RV to Boulder City, NV Elks Club with 4 other couples as we did 2 years ago. We had a great time and good food as usual.

In January we are going on a cruise with 20 or so other people from the Elks Club for 7 days. We are doing the Mexican Riviera on the Discovery Princess, their newest ship.

We will go to Arizona with the RV shortly after that as we usually do each winter.

This update was thanks to Cousin Marlene who said she missed my postings. Thanks Cous.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.

 

Another fall trip in the books, This was a really fun year as we accomplished several items on our “bucket” list.

Each year we put together a list of things we would like to do in the future. It might be a new museum we haven’t visited or an old town site someone heard about. We are open to just about any adventure which can be reached by 4x4 vehicle or even, dare I say the word, “walking”.

Jeff, one of the Desert Balloon Recovery Crew (DBRC) was contacted by a British film crew who is filming episodes in National Parks for British Television. They found our DBRC Facebook page, contacted Jeff, and to make a long story short, filmed our group in camp with all our balloons hanging up and also spent one afternoon chasing down balloons in Greenwater in Death Valley.

Now, before we all get swelled heads, let me tell you, filming is HARD work. Its a lot of waiting for everyone to be ready, many, many retakes to get it right, and just plain hanging around.. For instance, the wind is blowing,(wait), there’s a loud truck going by, (wait), a jet is flying over, (wait), someone stumbled over their lines, mispronounced words, etc, etc. Do it over, Do it over.

Do I expect we will all be video stars after this? Doubtful. It may all end up on the cutting room floor when all is said and done. The finished product will air in Britain in the Spring and be available on US TV sometime by July. It is a two part series on Death Valley and will probably be on one of the streaming channels here. We are to be notified when it will be available.

And who says the desert is dull!!

I mentioned in my last blog a YouTuber named Wonderhussy (Sarah Jane) who also picks up Mylar balloons just as our Desert Balloon Recovery Crew does. We have used her videos to visit some interesting places in the desert.

My son Tim has been in contact with a fellow who purchased 4 Gold mines in the Tecopa, CA area. We drove to the road off which one of the mines is located and while looking for a GeoCache, Chris came down to see what we were doing. Tim introduced himself so it was all good. In the conversation Chris mentioned he had a Uhaul truck to unload. With nothing else important to do we offered to help. He also mentioned that Wonderhussy was supposed to come by and help him.

About the time we finished unloading, she did drive up, so we spent some time introducing ourselves. We complimented her on her YouTube channel and explained what the DBRC was all about. After a few photos, we all left and as we drove down the road we found a balloon. Sarah Jane had looked us up on FaceBook so she knew we were legitimate and was impressed by our finding that balloon. She invited us to a potluck that night in Tecopa for the new Fire Chief. We had other plans however.

We later visited the Shoshone Museum and the person there said we should have come to the potluck as there was lots of food left over. We decided that next year we will go to the potluck as we now know lots of people in Tecopa.

We spent a week dry camping on BLM property outside of Tecopa which allows us to drive to the hot pools for a soak at night. Heavenly!

Rocket contrail above the moon from a Space X launch from Vandenberg, CA.

After Tecopa we drove to the Longstreet Casino which is North of Death Valley Junction for one night so we could go to Beatty the next day for Beatty Days. They have a parade, car show, chili cook off, and food vendors. We have been going for years.

Coming back from Beatty we drove the rigs to Furnace Creek in Death Valley for our 2 week stay.

We did one killer hike which has been on our list for many years. Seven of us hiked 10.8 miles round trip to a rock alignment site which is actually 3 separate rock alignments. It was an uphill walk in a rocky desert wash. I had been to it years ago, when I was much younger. The trip took its toll on me as I stumbled my way back with Tim’s help and my legs and hips all wobbly. But I made it!

By the way, last year we collected 119 balloons. We thought this number might be hard to beat this year as we had a slow start to our collecting, however, by the time we left for home we had collected 129 balloons. Most of our finds are as we drive down a dirt road, not the highway. All of those finds are within 100 to 200 feet of the road on either side. Just imagine how many more balloons there are out there.

Our Balloon Wall in camp.

We had one evening of a really spectacular sunset which lasted forever and covered the sky in all directions.

 Another trip around the sun for me! Another year older.

So what prompted me to do a blog? Lots on my mind I guess.

From previous blog entries I think you know that while in the desert in the fall we collect Mylar balloons. There is some speculation that most of the balloons come from Los Angeles and end up in the desert due to wind patterns. At any rate, lots of them do end up in the Mohave Desert.

What prompted me to write about this today was two things: I occasionally look at a YouTube channel put out by Sarah Jane Woodall, aka Wonder Hussy who moved from Las Vegas to the desert near Death Valley. She makes her living by traveling to destinations and making a video of her travels and adventures. She hates Mylar balloons and in her videos she makes no bones about it.

Second, I received an email from the City saying they are banning all plastic articles including Mylar balloons. I think it is about time and I support their efforts.

In the mean time us intrepid desert explorers will continue to collect Mylar balloons and post the results on our Facebook page at the Desert Balloon Recovery Crew or DBRC.

Last year in our almost 4 weeks in the desert for our fall trip we collected 119 balloons. I found number 120 along side the highway on my way home but could not stop as I had the trailer behind me and no place to pull off. It was a shiny red one which made it worse.

In other news, we did spend last week camping at a friends invitation, at a private RV park in Pismo Beach, CA. They had bought a new trailer and we have a tradition of celebrating with champagne whenever someone gets a new rig. We properly toasted the new rig.

It is getting to that time of year when I start thinking about the fall trip, so today I sent out the first pass at food assignments to the crew. We have a smaller crew this year which means we each need to cook one more meal for the time we are gone.

Yard work

 It has been some time since the last post but no apologies. Just lazy I guess, and not much to write about.

I have been working in the yard but find that heavy yard work is beyond what I can do anymore. After we had the Ficus tree removed from the back yard we had a water leak. We hired a local gardener to fix it just prior to us leaving for Arizona in January. The root from the Ficus caused the leak. The large hole to repair the pipe remained until recently when we had the gardener come back to remove some roots and fill in the hole. He also pulled up a bed of Agapanthas which had been there for years. What he took out filled 6 garbage cans. I had to borrow all the neighbors green barrels to get rid of it on garbage day. He replanted the bed so in time it will fill in and look as good as new.

I want to add some taller plants in the area of the defunct Ficus to block our view of the garden shed from the living room. To that end I have been repositioning some rocks and cement pavers we use as stepping stones. I also planted a couple of Clyda’s Asparagus ferns nearby which had outgrown their pots. It’s beginning to shape up.

I have lettuce in the garden which I got from the nursery but the crows ate off a lot of the leaves. I have managed to rescue some of it but as with any garden crop, it all is ready to pick at the same time. I put wire around one of the beds and tried netting around the others but we have had so much wind that it blows the netting everywhere which doesn’t do much good.

Speaking of netting, I also have tried it around my blueberry tubs to keep the birds from eating my ripe berries but again the wind blows it all over. So, today I ordered some heavier netting and am building a framework to tie it to. Maybe that will work. All this for a few bowls of blueberries.

Right now the garden is covered with California poppies but soon they will die back and I can pull them to clear my garden paths. They reseed so they will be back again next year.

I have some kind of squash plants given to me by a friend, planted in one of the raised boxes. The squash are long and thin when mature. Free food!

The boyenberries at the back of the garden are blossoming. It will be a while before they are ready to pick. 

We had a little rain last night but then the wind comes up and dries everything out so don’t know if we gain much.

Until next time.

Winter trip finally

 So, does anyone still read this stuff?

It seems most people have stopped blogging. I think some folks started to blog while they were traveling about the country as a way to keep family and friends up to date or as a record of their travels and adventures. However, with the pandemic, many people hunkered down and lost the desire to post anything. After all, what was there to write about when you don’t do much for days on end.

I admit there was a tendency on my part to do that as evidenced by my not posting since December. But we still have been doing something, not just pulling into our shell and watching the world go by.

I still spend way too much time on my computer, and we have been gone for 6 weeks to Arizona this winter. We left on January 18^th for several days in Quartzsite and a trip to the Big Tent for the RV show with several friends. We all meet in a BLM area and circle the wagons so to speak. Good food, good company and a few campfires while we are there.

Four of the couples moved on to Yuma where we visited a car museum called Clouds. The guys name is Cloud and he has 400 Model T’s from 1926/1927 plus lots of other rusty stuff. It’s easy to waste several hours here looking at everything. Of course us old timers remember lots of the “Rusty Stuff “ from our childhood.

We later visited a date farm and had a date shake which turned out to be our lunch for the day. A very good date shake I might add. I bought an 11 pound box of dates for a pittance compared to the normal price and shared it between 3 of us.

We visited Los Algodones Mexico one day. It is just across the border from Yuma and is the place to go for drugs at a cheap price. The line to return in the late morning can be hours long so we came back early to avoid that. We had lunch at Linn’s a Chinese buffet in Yuma one day. Well worth it and we will go back if we are ever in the area again.

We moved on to Ajo, Arizona a small town once owned by a copper company. While there we made a day trip to Organ Pipe National Monument.

From there we camped on the West side of Tucson for 6 days and spent 2 days visiting the Gem and Mineral show which was spread over 71 venues this year. It is something to see. We visited Tubac, an artists community South of Tucson and the Titan Missile silo in Green Valley. This is always of interest to me as Delco Electronics built the Inertial Measurement Unit for the Titan and the cabinets in the Launch Control Center have a plaque with that on it. Side note: I worked on the last ground support upgrade for the Titan way back when. It was decommissioned shortly after the upgrade was completed.

From Tucson we moved on to Casa Grande and the Gourd Festival for 5 days. I don’t do gourds, at least not recently but we do enjoy being there.

While everyone moved on separately from there, Clyda and I drove South of Tucson to Sierra Vista to visit our Niece Dawn and her family. We spent a week with them, parked in their yard. We had a very enjoyable visit.

We headed towards home with a stop in Gila Bend at the Elks club one night then Quartzsite again to have the brakes on the trailer checked at RV Lifestyles. While the brakes were being checked we visited our neighbors Paul and Kathy for lunch. They were camped with a friend on his lot in Quartzsite.

The trailer was done early enough in the day so we decided to drive to Indio for the night and stay at Spotlight 29 Casino in their parking lot. Not ideal but free. The next day we drove home through the desert which I haven’t done that route since the kids were little and we would go to Joshua Tree National Park.

While we are home our days consist of weeding the garden and yard, and I still work Saturdays at the Elks club splitting and selling firewood. Keeps me off the streets. As to this summer, well who knows. We would like to visit family and friends in Oregon and Washington but fuel prices being what they are, it may not be feasible. We also would like to make a trip to Wisconsin at some point as it has been 3 or 4 years since I have done that. We’ll see.

So, we are still here!

 I just haven’t posted since April as not too much was happening.

We did do a few RV trips but only locally and with a select few of our friends. I did do my usual desert trip this fall with my son Tim. That is always a special time for us. We again collected Mylar balloons we find our in the desert. Last year we collected 78 balloons and this year we exceeded that by a large number as we collected 119 total.

Balloon, balloons, balloons!

Firewood for campfires.

Tortoise Intaglio near Barstow, CA

When I came home from Death Valley I dropped the trailer at the Lancaster, CA Elks club and left it in dry storage. A week later we picked it up and went to Boulder City, NV for Thanksgiving with 3 other couples. That really worked out well as I didn’t need to bring it all the way home, park it, and then drag it all the way back the same route a week later.

We had a great time in Boulder City. We stayed at the Elks Club. The weather was nice enough that we could eat outside most of the time and have a campfire at night.

Bighorn sheep at "Bighorn" park in Boulder city, NV

The club hospitality was excellent and we really enjoyed ourselves. Clyda and I extended our trip by 2 days so we could visit friends in Henderson, NV. On the way home we spent one night at Arabian RV Park in Boron, CA our go to spot on the way home from the desert.

We plan to do our usual winter trip to Arizona starting about the middle of January.

I want to wish all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. 

Please keep in touch.