Fiddlin' With the Old and Fitting in Some New and Waiting in Chilly Phoenix

Been gettin'  back into the swing of things in the chilly Arizona desert while I wait on the arrival of my new Toshiba work laptop.

Uh huh. I said chilly! Been a LOT cooler this year than the last few. It ain't the -10 we saw coming across I-40 comin' home... but in the desert, when you're used to 70+... fifties and low 60's is cool! ;)

Anyhoo. Gettin' chores done. Finally got all the bits and pieces to complete the belly re-installation that I tore out in Zion to repair the cracked tank. Also, the water heater I put in last June or so... started having ignition "difficulties" just before I left for Denver. Somehow, that miraculously healed itself while we were gone... Works for me! ;)

Repacked a couple of compartments that have gotten discombobulated in our travels; discarding a few more bits in the process.

Tightening up a few things here and there as we wait on the delivery of goin' RV Boondocking's new super computer! Then, we'll load up and head back out to the Quartzsite area for a couple of weeks.

Come the first week of February we've got to be in Tucson for the annual gem and mineral show to try and find some shiny goods for our little store, that's managing to survive, back in Colorado... then it's only two weeks till we have to be back up to PIR in Avondale to work the Spring NASCAR race.

In amongst all that I've got to get that new computer set up; set to work on the reconstruction of something over 400 website pages, keep on punching buttons on my fourth Novel... and all the other lil' projects I got rattlin' around my brain pan that keep the dust stirred up.

A couple of the gizmos we added to the rig this christmas I think should help here and there...

Ol' Lily has been having increasing difficulty hoppin' up into the truck. at 15 or so she's not as spry as she used to be... so we got this dog ramp to make that less of a problem...

This plastic dog ramp sits on the sill of the truck and she can walk right up or down it with no problem.

When you're done it's a tri-fold setup that can squeeze in behind the seat so it's convenient for its next use.

Didn't take long to figure out when we returned to the rig that it could be used here as well. Our rig with its flipped axles sits a lot higher than most.

When the rig is on uneven ground and that first step is really high, getting into the rig is a problem for her as well... Now? Not so much. She can walk up that pet ramp and not have to jump on her achy old hips.

So then, Heidi and Keriann had got Josh one of these work tables. They asked me; "did I think he'd like it?"

I said; "I expect so... That'd be a pretty nice folding work bench to have in camp!"

So... Guess what was under the tree? ;) uh huh. My copy of this plastic and aluminum fold up work bench...

The thing is pretty slick. I'll do a complete story on it from camp... as I'm doing one of the projects I've got planned.

I want to do some hand tool "construction" of some "Camp Furniture"... right there in camp.

This work bench drops down, the legs automatically fold up into the bottom and you've got a nice compact package to pack away.

Though the thing is light it is rock solid set up... and includes two squeeze clamps that mount into those two yellow tracks on the top to hold bits you're working on.

I figure it's solid enough I can even set my tooling slab on it to do some fresh leather carving.

Well... I better get to finishing up the mid winter  "Spring Cleaning" so we're ready to roll when my Toshiba Lap top shows up!

Cleaning up the old... Packing in the new
Brian