Just Me, My Horses and a Bat Shit Crazy Dog...

I've no sliver of an idea what's gonna happen come the spring or what the hell I'm a gonna be doing, so I just keep working here... I just keep on working like spring is some far off time that will never come.

For now... these are my reasons for being...

*Cody Jack and Cora*

When every time you step outside they call to you... when they watch every time you are moving around... when they follow you around inside a pen... it touches a rider's soul. Those who know not the soul of a horse can't have any idea what I'm talking about... But those that do live with the spirit of a horse touching their own understand that "Thing" that cannot be put into words.

Lately the work has been going such that I'm sore and weary at the end of day...

*Finished Round Pen and relocated the corrals/pens*

The round pen got finished up a few days ago... at least to where it's functional. The ponies were greatly pleased to be able to move around some. They'd been cooped up for too long in their constricted pens...

The pens got moved as soon as the round pen got done. With the ponies being able to move around so much more with the big pen available I figured them to get along better. When I moved their pens I hooked them back together which allowed a bigger pen for Cora... I'd separated the pens so they wouldn't fight through the panels.

I also managed to apply some tweak to the panel CJ had busted up a few weeks back. Got it to where I could actually use it again, which stretches his pen back out a bit... so they've got bigger night pens and with the Round Pen in action they've got work to do each day which TOTALLY changes the atmosphere between my ears! __ and theirs.

The old saying that; There's Nothing better for the inside of a man than the outside of a horse is absolute Truth!

That carries over into a lot of other places... You get a lot more done when your vision isn't so dark...

One thing was, that NW corner of the patio I'm currently still working at was discovered to be a mite low... So, I added another course of stones wove in together... The fill to level that up went in today.

Then... the local range cows tore down my hay pen a couple of weeks back. Forced me to load the hay back into the trailer in the dark of night. I was NOT a pleasant cowboy... and it disrupted my "working space" in the back of the trailer... due to the fact that there was more hay so No Room for my work tables.

So... on a sliver thin budget I managed to squeeze out a few wood posts to set deeper and stiffer. Hopefully it'll make a pen good enough to hold those dang cows out... put it over by the new pens location by the round pen as well.

*New 'temporary' hay pen started*

With the hay able to be took out of the trailer again... I got to work at sunset tonight re-establishing my work space in the back of my Lakota LQ...

This time, I did things a lil' different... using the Braiding stand as my writing desk, leaves the bigger table open to allow me to do some leather work and maybe turn out a leather book/journal/album or two...

*Mr. Heater__It Works!*

Sitting there just now in the dark of morning with that lil' heater roastin' me.

Picked up my second try with a Mr. Heater just the other day. The first try ended in a mite of excitement when it kinda literally blew up. Flame was goin' ever'where.

Fairly exciting when it's parked three feet from you!

So now, with this heater I don't hardly run the main furnace at all. I blanket up at night and leave it turned almost off. The batteries in this rig aren't up to the task. They die before the night is done if I leave it turned up.

Come the morning I fire up Mr. Heater... and only start the generator to crank up my Mr. Coffee...

A Bigger Battery bank and a solar system are on the list... but... that's gonna be a bit.

Just had a thought... Why is it always Mr.? How come we can't warm up with a HOT LADY heater? or take a sip from a Sizzling Suzie coffee maker? How come it's always got to be this damned polite MR baloney?

Well, for now, this lil' Mr. Heater has cut my generator run time by 75%. Made no sense to burn propane AND gasoline to keep warm.

A routine around here in the morning is to wander out into the desert with my Mexican Dump truck... and gather rock for the two main projects on my radar.

Those two being that patio that is creeping along, and, some sort of a combination leather studio/writing shed...

I feel like that pile of stone should be a lot bigger. The way my legs were quiverin' pushin' that dumper across the desert filled up with rock the half dozen times it took for that pile...

... it SHOULD be bigger!

... If I can manage it... I've got and idea for maybe a small... as in really small__size of my current living quarters small__ stone cabin. Maybe even a small bathhouse?

Lots of ideas... the problem is... There is Always a problem hangin' somewhere around me; It cranks on me, it really really does, that these damned rats I've been battling can dig their homes out where ever they please. The Hawks flyin' around can build their nests where ever they choose and lord help you if you molest THEM!

The coyotes and cougars bunk where they want... and hunt when they want. The javelina come and go. The quail, the deer... ALL of them without requiring the permission of any others of their kind.

Only MAN requires those around him to PAY for permission to breathe and be alive on this earth.

ONLY MAN requires another man to seek permission to build himself a shelter.

ONLY MAN believes he owns and controls the earth. ONLY MAN.

All the rest just go on about the business of life...

You know what? That's me... I'm just one of those critters.

I don't seek the permissions of human soh-sigh-uh-tee... Humanity has proven that it doesn't deserve the respect I give a rat... I go about my life seeking only a couple of things Gus said;

"There's nuthin' better than riding a fine horse into new country." 

and

"My God you just don't get it!__ It ain't dyin' I'm talkin' about... It's LIVIN!"

Just me, my horses and a bat shit crazy dog... Free on the Earth.

- Brian

Storm clouds, Thieving Cattle and Rat Wars

Been making progress... sort of. Three steps forward, two sometimes four back.

*Arizona - Storm brewing over the Chiricahuas at sunset*

 All a guy like me can do is curse... kick a rock, threaten the Devil... and after a bit, go back to work.

The round pen is progressing Slowly. Too slowly. I Really want to get to work IN it not ON it!

I have but seven more posts to set, as soon as some dinero shows up. Five line posts and the two gate posts. I've been scheming how to finish the "infill" of the sides. Was hoping to do that with barky poles cut on national forest. Their timber guy lead me to believe I'd be able, but then, that was last week and I've not heard a peep. Likely I'll just use some horse fence and call it good.

The Deck/Patio is taking shape. Takes a lot longer when you've got to go haul rock from two hundred yards away and more in a mexican dump truck! ... after you use that Mexican Dump truck to haul in the fill from gopher/rat mounds that lay in the opposite direction.

But, I set some big rocks to be the step down from the patio area to the path that leads out to the fire pit...

Then I started laying natural stone behind that. That'll be what will surface the patio. A lot cheaper than store bought pavers, and it'll look nice I believe. It's just gonna take some little while to gather enough up... hoping to do all that out to and around the fire pit as well.

Making some progress. I just knock 'em in with a rubber mallet to where they're as level as natural stone could be...

*Natural Stone winter camp Patio*

Another thing I've been working on is... The Rat Wars... and till today I've been in a bit of a stand off. Bait blocks, rat bombs... flooding... The rats, or whatever ya'll wanna call 'em persevered.

But then I seen a gizmo in the hardware store. It's a rubber deal that clamps onto your vee-hickle's exhaust pipe and you gas the buggers for a bit. Only problem was it was too small to fit the truck. And then, I had an epiphany!

I been spending too many dollars running the generator to keep the piddly pair of batteries the maker put on this rig juiced up for the cold nights we've been having. I tried a Mr. Heater "Buddy" to supplement - But it blew up... Kinda literally - which is fairly exciting when you're sitting maybe three feet away working on the laptop! ...so I'm working on that problem still.

But, with a few minutes in the plumbing aisle I invented my own connection that clamps onto the GENERATORS pipe!

 Since I have to run that a few hours a day and they say twenty or thirty minutes should turn the trick...

I spent a lil' gas today and played evil cowboy on several rat tunnels!

Soooo... as I juice the batteries I'll reduce the snake bait around here... and the damage the diggin' little chewers do to other things!

Then... I've been battling with the cows round abouts... Arizona is a "Free Range" state so you have to "fence out" what you don't want coming in... and I'm OK with that... I just don't have the dinero to get to that fencing... even just a couple strands of electric... so I built a little "hay yard" to protect my hay and get it out of the trailer - so  I can work back there (If I ever solve the early morning/night heating difficulty)

Well... Arlo has been finding use running the buggers off... I was hoping (but not really expecting) them to learn to just stay away... last night, 'bout ten O'clock I heard something, put the flashlight out the door and three or four of the wannabe Burger Kings were ripping down my hay yard... Pulled the T posts right out of the ground! grrrrrrrrr...

Left me with no choice but to hustle around in the moonless dark and shove what I'd spread out in the back of the Lakota LQ so I could work back into the front stall. Then pile that hay back in the trailer so I could sleep not worryin' 'bout if the hay I can't afford to replace would still be there come dawn... arrrrrggggghhhhh.

Seems like sunset and sunrise is when the light shows this place off the best... Here's some more of those Arizona sunset times...

And a couple views of the Chiricahaus off to the east a little ways...

Like I said, here at 4400 feet or so it's been getting cold at night, down into the mid to high twenties, the last week or so. Supposed to do that for at least another week.

The simple truth is, like what they put in most "RVs" the batteries in this Horse Trailer rig aren't up to the task... considering the furnace they put in is barely up to the task... so... I'll be working on a more efficient, non electric heat source to stretch those batteries... until such time as I can put in the solar power and battery bank I am wishful of... but that'll wait on a few other priorities... and I'll just pile up more blankets at night.

Time to go work a pony...

- Brian

Slowin' Down? What was I thinkin'?

You might could remember I thought I might be able to start easin' up and slowin' down a bit... 

Since I done that "Slowin' down" in the past few days I've;

Hauled Cora to the vet 50 miles away to get the sutures out (She's 100% OK) which is a good thing.

I've hauled water and hay.

Picked up three fresh corral panels...

And... toted a heck of a collection of rock in a Mexican Dump truck...

Also cut out some sage brush and mesquite to make room, flagged out the road and corral locations...

...and even worked the ponies very lightly... working to get them truly halter broke... which they weren't.

So now... all slowed down and chillaxin'... I'm sore an' achin' and wonderin' if I can survive all this easin' up! You wouldn't think living in a Horse Trailer would be so athletic!

The rock is to make this winter camp of mine a mite more livable. Thought I needed two things; A fire pit and a leveled out spot to put down pavers for a deck next to my Lakota LQ, to make the camp less dusty... or muddy when it rains...

*RV Boondocking with Horses??? :-) *

 The ground slopes away from where I wanted the Lakota parked... so, lacking any dinero to buy block, I opted to invest sweat and collect up more of the rock that is found right on the place to arrange a low "retaining wall" so that I can fill behind it to mostly level the ground to set down pavers for an all weather deck surface.

 The drop is less than a foot, so only a simple, low retaining wall of native stone is needed to let me level it back to the Horse Trailer... once I get that leveled and packed... I can spend a few dollars for concrete pavers to set me a proper RV deck.

*Lakota LQ with fire pit and deck coming along*

The fill came from around a mesquite. The dang gophers had piled up dirt around the base of the tree building their own quarters and it was being choked out. There's still green shoots on it, so I think with a lil' nurturing that tree will come back and thrive...

Sorry gophers... ya'll just got evicted by an un-sympathetic cowboy!

In the pic above I just started diggin' it out. You can see how deep they'd buried it...

All dug out and ready to shine... maybe...

Now shhhhhh... this is a "secret"... but I can't think of a better use for... ahem... "Shower" water... than...

Nurturing a gopher abused Mesquite tree back to good health!

That's one of the plans... an efficient "re-use" of some of my "resources".... but shhhhh... don't tell no one...

Efficient and responsible Re-use of precious resources is something govie frowns on... even here in the desert where water is more scarce with each passing year.

Starting to feel a mite more like a place to call "home". If even it is a part time winter camp or home base...

The mesquite fired biscuits and fire cooked beans is gonna have to wait for the fixin's to be bought on the next supply run... after some more dinero shows up in the bank account... and that supply run is a hundred and fifty mile+ round trip...

*Deck in progress for a Lakota Charger LQ in my Winter Camp*

'Till then I'll keep hauling rock and dirt from gopher mounds that's scattered all over this lil patch of cowboy heaven... I'll tell you what; LQ Horse Trailer Living ain't half bad.

Maybe I'll take a day off and go walkin' around over in the Chiricahua's... it's not like they're a long ways off...

*The Chiricahua Mountains off to the east*

Or__maybe the Dragoons, which lay the other way...

*The Dragoon Mountains off to the west*

At least... when I'm not with my ponies...

*Cody Jack and Cora*

 I feel like I've got a lot done. There's much much more to do... as well as a LOT of writing that needs to be whittled on.

So... I best quit palaverin' and get to it.

Brian

I Just Keep on Keepin' On... Making Adjustments Along the Way.

The worst thing a buster can do__is sit. Stagnation is pure death to dreams and ambitions. The longer you stay static the deeper your feet sink into the dust and the more effort it takes to pull 'em out and get moving again.

It's better to keep moving and find out you made a choice a bit off target than to sit waiting for "things to get better" or for that perfect opportunity to fall on you. If something is moving, it's far easier to redirect it to a better trail once you see you're off course a bit... than it is to get a stuck in the mud, stagnant, frozen piece of Anything moving out of its STUCK position.

As always... I set out thinking I know where I'm going and when... only to find out the world has some of it's own modifications to throw into the mix.

Thought I was going to be coming to Denver to help get the kids house ready to go on the market at the best price. Welllll... it's hard to get a house "ready" when it sells "as is" before it ever even gets listed!

So that blew an un-occupied hole in my schedule of about a month. They'll be leaving the third week of June or so... which leaves me at a bit of loose ends till then.

The old jayco is going to them to use for housing while they build... Only they've not got a truck to drag it to the Ozarks__so that's my task... but not until June I guess... Though I'd thought it would be moving Now... they need to use it the last week or so here... so that waits as well...

... buuuuut... I'm unwilling to get "Stuck"...

Sooooo... I'm occupying my close up time rigging out this new Lakota. First task was/is outfitting it with fresh dishes and such. Putting up hooks for such as I need to hang, figuring out what goes where and how to divide up cabinets for the best use...

... then... there's power...

It's not yet been decided what is going to happen with the solar power system on the old Jayco... and honestly, I've not conjured a good location for a bigger battery bank and inverter location on this Lakota LQ... so in the short term I'm going with a Generator.

Now I could (if the budget allowed which it doesn't) just trot on down and pick up a new Honda or even pricier Onan/Kohler rig... that'd only be $3500 or so for the sort of powerhouse I want. Dollars I don't have...

Yeah... I've got what dollars I do have stretched so tight they is damn near transparent! ;) 

Buuuut... there are other real acceptable options.

In pursuit of those options I'm running to Sheridan down in the Denver area to look at a Motorhome takeout this morning. It's a 4K Onan "Emerald" and would be just about the perfect gen set for this rig.

Those Onans and Kohlers that are installed in Motorhomes and such are the 1800 rpm models that run a hell of a lot quieter than the 3600 rpm "lawn mower" noise boxes. Like the Champion bolted on the tail of the Jayco I've offended a few gentle souls with!

They're quieter__and__they're "American" (who knows where the castings are made) Cast Iron that lasts dang near forever if you give 'em some reasonable care.

One thing I'm going to do "different" than those that mount such an outfit in/on their LQ's is that I'm going to mount mine on the truck.

My thinking is; #1. wherever the LQ is, the truck will be close by. #2. The truck has open space on the bed while I want to conserve space in the LQ. #3. Having the gen set mounted on the truck would be even quieter in the rig. #4. In the building of my winter camp I'm going to have a need for power at the far reaches of my little patch of dirt... to run welder, tools et al... so having it mounted real mobile on the truck would be a great advantage

So... assuming this generator I'm looking at today checks out acceptable__the appearance I've seen in a photo is good and the price is attractive ;) __ the next task will be to buy/build a generator "Box" to house it on the bed along with locating a fuel tank to equip it with and then get it all put together and operational.

I've also got a HEAVY need to get back into the current writing project... Novel #6... so I'm planning... toward the middle of the week to hitch up and go hide in the mountains somewhere and write for a few weeks until my trailer hauling services are required to roll on another circle to Missouri.

There's something that needs doing every day... so I'm keeping the dust flying and tryin' as hard as I can to not make too many off target choices__but then__it's from those; "What the hell were you thinking?" choices that the best stories come! bwahahahahaha.

Duckn' an' Runnin'
Brian