Where's Hazel? Pet Hazel. Hazel needs her dreadlocks
trimmed.
The Lees of Last Year
Tiny houses are the in thing these days. I've not
totally given up my wheels yet but I drive less and
less. Between fuel costs and mechanical problems and a
kind of been-there-done-that attitude... All the
sister-daughters and sister-sons and grand-kids have turned
into grown-ups too busy trying to be "normal" that they have
no time to be travelling companions. Ellen
Goodman wrote: “Normal is getting dressed in clothes that
you buy for work and driving through traffic in a car that
you are still paying for, in order to get to the job you
need to pay for the clothes and the car and the house you
leave vacant all day so you can afford to live in
it.” Another option: Put The...Inn up on a
cinder block foundation and sell the wheels and
drivetrain... A camper shell for TinyTruck?
Hoover Linda brought in another live plaything. Caught
by me and defenestrated whereupon HL promptly ran out and
returned with her prize, this time dead. I'm going to
open a morgue here where ratkins of the deceased can come to
observe and reclaim the remains.
Paul and I sort of celebrated this calendrical transition
with an assault of Mount Terror to visit and play the Bell
Stone found at the location of Geocache
GCA4FE in The Palo Verde Hills. Exhausting &
exhilarating,
ARISS SSTV Experiment 25 Dec 2024- 5 Jan 2025 
12 different images from the ISS marking 2024
activities. Received at k1oiQ in Tonopah AZ during the
period 2024-12-24 - 2025-1-5. Station comprised:
two-element crossed dipole and halfwave vertical antennas,
nooelec preamp, RadioShack Scanner on 145.800mHz, using
"RX-SSTV by ON6MU" running under Win7 on a Dell E5500.
During this 12 Days of Experiment the k1oiQ receiver site
collected over 110 images. Depending on the many
variables of orbital parameters and timing of the image
transmission some images were incomplete or noisy and some
were perfectly copied start to finish. Of the first
110 images 40 were deleted in the first cut. The
remaining 70 comprised from 1 of #11 (worst case) to 5-6-7
of several others. In the end, except for #11’s
somewhat less than excellent quality, the rest of the set
are nearly perfect. Images received at K1oiQ from
previous experiments are available on the ARISS
Archive. Put K1OIQ in the "Find all submissions
callsign" search.
Twelfth Night Eve
Dump and fill done; now I'm pausing for a cup of tea and
then Hoover the floor; by then the day should be warm enough
to grease the tractor. That project went well but for
a couple of zirks that would not take the grease and one
that had to be replaced. Next!
Epiphany Plus One
Well... From yesterday's high to this morning's low, a long
slide; how low can I go. There are days I feel like Job. Or
Jonah. Except that I believe those are tales of metaphorical
value: like the Easter Bunny or the Tooth Fairy or The Side
Hill Gouger and Wamfahoofus. Diabolical decrepitude strikes
again. My domestic water pump just failed. And
as if an omen: First tagline for the day from the Automagic
Tagline Picker: “If you can't fix it with duct tape you
haven't used enough.” Several hours later, one trip to
Lowe’s, and several inches of teflon tape and the spare
water pump is installed and functional. Dandy. I
can flush and wash again.
This Time The Shortage Is Eggs
Farmer's Market at the food bank yesterday—lots of veggies;
the only meat was some ground beast. And now there is
a shortage of eggs. The egg-cooler shelves in Fry’s
were almost bare. The doz&ahalf I grabbed was the
last of that size and brand and had two shells broken.
When I got to checkout the clerk said she would call someone
to exchange them. Oh No, I grabbed for the box, These
are the last ones. So she gave me a third off the price.
250113 Hoover Linda Adds Icarus To Her Name
She brought in a wrung necked dove and proceeded relocate
most of the birds feathers. By the time I caught up
with her she looked like some urchin after a sleepover
pillowfight. But she did stand still and let me vacuum
her coat.
MLK Day & GTH Day
I don't care to get embroiled in the politics of the present
situation (disaster is more the case) but having an
egotistical, greedy, felon, bent on police power with which
to "govern" is not my idea of a president. Nor can I
appreciate the stupidity and gullibility of the population
who put this egotistical, greedy, felon into office. "Think
of how stupid the average person is, and realize half of
them are stupider than that." ― George Carlin
Bootes did the same disappearing act. Was in and out of
Paul's house quite often last Winter and disappeared for the
entire Summer. A few weeks ago something rattled Paul's cat
door and mine so I set up the CritterCam to keep watch. One
morning I was at table with my coffee and crossword and a
bit of motion caught my eye. Hazel-Rah was on after breky
nap-watch and Paul's Hoover Linda was asleep out back. I
glanced up and made eye contact with a grey and white feline
at Hazel-Rah's snack dish and the cat bolted for the door. Bootes
was back. Over the next few days the cat, emboldened,
came in to Hazel's bowl more often and stayed longer. From
the CritterCam at Paul's: From 24/12/29 to 25/01/06 Bootes
appears 87 times, going in or out, sometimes just time
enough to grab a quick bite, in 474 frames. And then
Saturday last Bootes cam in, again whilst I was having
coffee and puzzle, and this time stayed as I watched to
clean out Hazel's bowl and eventually departed in a
leisurely manner. See photo.
Gordon’s B’day Were He Still Around
Back from a short road trip; six days on the road. First
time the bus has been out of the yard since this time last
year. I was a bit surprised I remembered how to drive.
Now there is a great hole in the conversation that I can
fill only with scraps. Camilla arrived from Pie Town
and we convoyed west on the scenic route. i10 is in the
throes of resurfacing. Bad enough the surface is very
rough, now the road is one-lane rough as well. The
scenic route is longer-slower-smoother, rambles towards
Salome and then goes beyond Hope to rejoin i10 just a few
miles east of Quartzsite. Great drive.
Quartzsite Quartz Fest
Parked at Mile99 Roadrunner Camp, solar panels deployed,
checked in, looking for old friends, picking up all the
things that fell off shelves and out of cupboards too
quickly opened, kept me busy for the first couple
days. Then there was time to bake a banana bread and
invite a few friends in for a nice roast pork dinner.
Weather was variable. Some sunny days, some days were
cold and windy and cloudy.
Only one cat to keep me warm here so I have to roll over
often to keep both sides of me warm enough. Were you up to
see the Vandenberg launch this morning? Tough standing
outside to watch in 27f air. No wind was a good thing
especially after the 38mph the day before.
The wind was rough and cold and blough, / I kept
my hands inside my mough.
It chilled me through, my nose turned blough /
And still the squall the faster flough.
And then, although, I turned to gough, / The
weather, it was a cruel fough;
The Little Cat sat 'neath the catnip bough / And
meowed with a grough bough-wough, bough-wough;
She laughed and coughed, / Please do not
scough; / She coughed until her coat blough
ough.
Returned to Tonopah ahead of the rain. Yesterday
afternoon-evening my precipitation gauge collected 0.08" of
rain. First water from the sky in 161 days!
End of January
Still negotiating acquisition of a truck to replace my
venerable Isuzu TinyTruck. Would that I could replace parts
of me with such alacrity.
The saying is: "You're not drinking alone if the cat is
home". Does that mean if there are two cats home I can
have two glasses of wine? Uh-oh! Wait a minute, put
that back. One cat just went out.
Ground Ham Day + 2
Lots of pork in my box from the Food Bank. There are
five 23oz pork loins and two 1-pound pkgs of ground
hog. Must be stuff left over from Febter 2nd, eh?
Beware of Geeks Bearing Germs.
Yesterday I was attacked by Mr Webster. Looking up the
phrase “cat and mouse”; in def b: contrived action... For
example... and the corner of the cover of the tome bit my
left forearm and laid open a triangular swath that proceeded
to redecorate pp 193. That led me to look up “thin
skinned” on pp 1299... insult... and from there to onion....
sneeze... Do I have a cold?
Saint Valentine Weekend—Yuma Ham Fest
Stupidity abounds here, as far as I am concerned, tho some
folks like your Self are if not delighted at least
accepting. Too much reliance on connectivity. The answer to
almost every question: "Check the website!" "Everything is
online!" Except that everything is NOT online and what is
might not be accurate; so the questions and confusions
persist. At least the weather is nice. Just about no
wind. No blowing dust. Except for the first  day/night (several low
altitude flyovers and four in a row full afterburner window
rattling takeoffs) even the Air Force has been quite quiet.
Seminars, commercial vendors, tailgaters, all having a good
time. A few campers even found power pedestals. I even won a
prize: A pink Yaesu ball cap I promptly regifted to someone
who looks pretty in pink. Beth wore the hat to dinner.
In all the tail gating I did not find anything on my
shopping list but I did find a few things I didn't know I
wanted or didn't know existed. I sat in on one seminar about
Contest Logging and learnt I do not want to do
contests. In fact I don't want to even play at contesting
since if one does not submit a valid log then any contact
with my station claimed by another is deemed incomplete and
discounted since the logs cannot be cross checked and
verified. No trust. No fun. At the Closing Dinner the NU7DE
members sat around our centerpiece of David The Rebus
The Decline and Fall of The Roaming Empire
America has become a Third World country. Who will come to
the aid of these dis-United States? I hardly ever lock
my door. Last night an intruder came in at
oh-dark-thirty. I put the red laser-pointer cat-toy
dot on their chest and Hurricane Hazel-Rah took over from
there.
Had a good weekend at the Yuma Ham Fest except for the
outrageous cost of fun. Post cards at the Dateland Date
Emporium are $1.29! That's ONE DOLLAR-TWENTY-NINE!
OFR! The 80 hours of fun, camaraderie, meals and fuel
cost $5.52/Hour so I did NOT buy any post cards.
 
My favourite brand of spices "Spice Islands" has begun to
replace their nice decorated dated (1941) metal screw cap
with a cheap plain black plastic flip cap. Another
degradation in the quality of life. I wrote them
saying the only reason I have been buying their product all
these 30 years was for that dated cap. 1941 is a very
important year for me and them.
26th Febter
Ten degrees warmer here this morning than this time just a
few days ago. We have leapt from Winter right into the early
Summer with no stopping for Spring showers. 88f here
yesterday afternoon.
The Beginning of March Hup Two Three...
We here in Maricopa County are under a Red Flag Warning due
to high winds and temperatures with low humidity. Prime fire
danger conditions for the next day or three. Not too much
ground cover to burn in this particular area so I'm not too
concerned about having to evacuate. Just about every
direction from here would be worse anyhow.
Ash Yesterwenzday
No fires here. No ashes. We had a "half inch" rain this
morning. Not 0.5" of rain, not even 0.05" of rain. Only that
the drops were a half inch apart. Not hardly even sufficient
to call a Trace. And a trace does not reset the present
count of 35 days without measurable rain.
 2024March8 End & Beginning
Well, not quite. There will be a month or three of
overlap. New/Old NotSoTinyTruck (for want of a better
name) arrived to the back yard here last night in the dark
and cold of Winter’s Only Real Rain after a 745 mile 15 hour
round trip to Captain Hook's abode in Deming New
Mexico. Paul’s big RAM did the haulage, we took turns
driving, through rain-snow-sleet and several pit stops for
fuel and pee.
We actually had a good time. Conversing, napping, train
spotting, accident oogling. One that hadn't been cleaned up
yet where a flatbed trailer carrying a
too tall excavator hit a bridge over westbound i10 near
Lordsburg. The excavator
was on its side in the travel-lane beyond the bridge,
the flatbed was on its side in the verge, the bridge was broken-sagging-bleeding
rebar-chunks of concrete on the road below. That
crossroad was needless to say closed. Westbound traffic was
routed up the exit ramp to the closed road where the stop
sign at the top of the ramp had been covered. Then across
and down the get-on ramp to rejoin i10 beyond the wreck.
Westbound traffic was backed up most of a mile--we'd have to
deal with that on our return trip.
The New/Old NotSoTinyTruck is a 1997 Ford Ranger,
white, 2WD standard 2.3L gas with several things that need
fixing and of course modification and addition. Thanks
to JB Capt Hook for his intervention and largess …
 MAR10 Day
Good excuse for Pizza for Lunch
Pi Day
I made a Pie in my Pi dish but donuts would have been around
less time.
Reporting From Tucson
Driving from Tonopah to Eloy was windy and windier.
Mostly a cross wind blowing dust across i10.
Visibility reduced to less than a mile in short gusts.
Once parked at Eloy the Gust-O-Meter registered 62mph on the
port fore-quarter. You could feel the grit in your
teeth from the dust blowing in past the window seals.
The bus was rocking to and fro. I took a Dramamine and
went to bed. Herewith is a photo of the fines that
blew in through the window seals during the dust storm when
the wind was gutsing 40-60mph.
When the APRS GPS to Radio little blue box (TinyTrak3) is
working correctly and the APRS
server is responsive, the two calls report alternately.
So the track appears as if there were two vehicles
leapfrogging. Not a quirk, a feature. My drive from
Eloy to Tucson went unreported. Tracking was not working.
When Mike called my attention to the failure--said APRS.fi
was reporting I was still in Eloy--I set to work
troubleshooting. Forced transmission several times to no
avail. GPS data was good. TinyTrak3 and radio appeared to be
functional. Tested radio RF power out and frequency, antenna
SWR, all good. Then I had to really get serious and
resurrect a WIN7 machine with COM1 and DB9 connector and the
TinyTrak3 Config EXE. That took a while. Before I had
everything together Mike reported and APRS.fi had finally
located me at the fairground. Phew! After all that
hunting and gathering I went ahead and checked the config
anyhow. Everything was in order so no explanation for the
gap in tracking.
Mechanically and emotionally the drive from Eloy to Tucson
was all good. Bus went well. i10 mostly smooth with moderate
traffic, check-in at the Pima County Fairground ok except I
am parked in the wrong place. My oversight apparently. I'm
in Boondocking and I wanted to be in Solar. Maybe I will
move over to Solar Monday, maybe I will stay here.
Snow On The Hills—Winter Wind On Main Street
20-30mph northwest wind with temperatures in low 50s.
Broke out my Mount Washington parka and gloves to do my
shuttle shift for three hours Tuesday morning. The
affair here is the Escapees RV Club Annual Escapade.
Donuts & Coffee every morning. Golfcart Shuttle
Service to facilitate getting around campus. Seminars
on all sorts of subjects related to Living On The Road.
 Springquinox
Getting ready for last day here. By mid morning I should be
on the road again. To Deming NM for a short visit and
a couple meals with Capt Hook before turning back to Tonopah
via the scenic route. On this leg I'm doubling as a
driver for the Friends and Family Pony Express
Deming
mmmm... Yum... Lunch at The Senior Center. My
package was promptly handed off to the intended
addressee. Dinner with JB, dump, fill, shower, two
nights later on the road again.
Sunday
Landed in Globe AridZona late Saturday afternoon. Sun in my
eyes. Nagrivator overheating. Shoulders aching. Time to stop
for the night. Found some spacious tho rather noisy parking
in the local WallyWorld Caranvansary. Good enough.
Road closure warnings were part of my reason for stopping.
The large blinking animated signs were hard to see with the
sun behind them as they flashed through three messages
whilst the traffic behind me made slowing or stopping out of
the question. In the morning I could easily read
that the closures were for “Tue-W-Th” of next week.
Additionally there was a detour in AridZona where us60 meets
i10. That detour involved going north and then west on
L202 to a point where L202 meets i10. The Nagrivators
had all that figured out faster than I could read those
signs. But first I had to descend about ten miles of
7% grade from Globe in the hills to the flatlands
below. I’ve done that route before and each time is
scarier than the previous. The smoothest roads were in
the Rez land. Some of the White Man's roads were so bad I
had to stop every too often to return books to their shelf
and console my spider plant that we would soon be home.
29 March – Moving Roadblock?
Tonopah hosted a moving roadblock today. Paul and I
were returning from a FoSM Roadside Cleanup Operation when
we got in behind this Wide Load. Two lanes wide; no
getting around that and the entourage of State Troopers,
Follow Me trucks and a bucket truck that was lifting
overhead wires out of the way. Paul took this
photo. I counted 32 axles for 194 wheels and estimate
245 feet over all length. Here is a YouTube video of a similar
load in El Paso TeXas.
On the occasion of my 84th...
Today is my late sister Susan's birthday. Did I ever tell
you about the day my mother came home from hospital with a
swaddled sister Susan and put her in my arms? Here's your
birthday present, big brother, sorry she's late. I
must have been nine then.
|
2025 Spring Equinox (only a fortnight
late, eh)
— Greetings Virtual Travellers and Pen Friends: 
