WE HAVE BABIES

 Last night around 6 PM I went out to water the garden and found we have Gambrel's Quail chicks!  I only saw three but all but one egg (out of 12) hatched.  I was able to get a pic of one baby and a rather nothing video but you can hear the chicks peeping and mama calling them. This morning they are all gone, somehow getting out of the raised garden in spite of the fact they had to jump up a good six inches.  I am so grateful they finally hatched as mama was so faithful to sit on the nest almost a month now. 

                                                 One baby chick

         

Early on in April I started doing the taxes and got so stressed I made myself sick and my immune system went down and I had allergies like I never have before!  Dawn then told me about FreeTaxUSA.com and I went to that and filled everything in (and ended up with what I had figured) and after filing electronically on Sat. had the refund from AZ in the bank by the following Wed!    Guess I will use that website from now on!

Larry started working on the frame for the new solar panels and ws able to get it finished for three of the panels and they are working well.  He now is working on a frame for the other two panels but hasn't figured out just yet where he will put them. 

          Hooking up the cable to the back of the solar panels

  

   The solar panels on the modified frame with an old panel on the       right

                                     The modified solar panel frame

One day when I was walking I saw these picky pear cactus in full bloom like nothing I've ever seen before!  I am awestruck by how beautiful they are!  

Our TV has been acting up since we updated it several months ago so we ended up buying a new bigger one which meant Larry had to modify the cabinet in the front of the MH.  It also meant he needed a table saw.  I found one at half price at Lowe's and he had to put it together but he is happy with it and the TV looks great!

    

                                                    New TV on place

                                             Using the new table saw     

  

                                    Putting the new table saw together

I had trouble with my computer and had to re-install everything and now I cannot get into my blog so this is in a 'new' blog.  Hopefully I will be able to put the two together in the future!

 

WHEN IT RAINS, IT POURS!

 March started out with a bang as we awoke to find our refrigerator hot. It

seems the defrost mode went on sometime after we went to bed at midnight (I

had ice then) and the compressor never came on so everything was defrosted!

What a mess!! I felt like we were living in the 1800's. Dawn has a small

refrigerator from her work days which we set just outside the front door and

we put some of the “frozen” food in her extra freezer in the laundry room.

We had to wait a week to get someone to come out and the big problem was

either we had to cut the side of the MH out to get the old one out or repair the

old one (now 20 years old) from the access door (24” x 18”) from outside the

MH. In 2008 we had a problem with it and the repair man stood on the

picnic table to repair it as it was still in warranty by one month! PTL!

We were in Cheney, WA when that happened. Thankfully it wasn't summer here

as much of the food was left outside in bins for the week we were without a

regular frig as it was going down into the high 30's at night. We now have a

thermometer for both the frig and the freezer with an alarm and an outside

visual screen so we can see what the temperature is in both. 

Larry working in the access hole behind the refrigerator

We've had an inch and a half of rain this month so the nearby fields are

beautiful with yellow and purple! Of course that means we will have lots of

fuel for summertime fires as well as we are suffering from allergies. 

On my walk showing the beautiful yellow flowers

Next we were without hot water again so Larry ordered another pump from

Rixen in OR and after he put it in (again working in a very limited space) it

was so quiet we didn't even know it was working! It is nice to have hot water

knowing this time it should work for a long time. Larry is planning on

replacing the brushes every two years so we won't have problems down the road. 

Larry again in the small bay fixing the hot water/furnace

On March 22 Larry set out the replace our 10 year old Induction cooktop

which I discovered had several long cracks in it. It was the same model and

brand but in 10 years they changed the size a bit so he had to cut more of the

countertop. Then one week later, after I had used it only once, Larry

discovered a crack in the new cooktop so we have ordered another one. We

also bought a large wood cutting board to put over the cooktop to protect it

when not in use. In seems when it rains, it pours! 

               We have lost two good friends this month, one March 1 and one March 13

but both were good Christians so they are with Jesus and have no more pain

or suffering and we will see them again.

Recently I went out to take everything out of my garden to prepare for the

spring planting (which I did on March 29) but to my surprise I found a

Gambrel quail's nest under the huge Brussel sprouts leaves with 7 eggs in it. 

   Beets from the garden

        Carrots from the garden

                Seven quail eggs

Of course I couldn't remove the sprout leaves and now there are 10 eggs.   

                                          I

am excited to see the babies in a couple of weeks.

Extremes

Ever since I started this blog in June 2007, I've posted on the 1st of the month but not this month!  I totally forgot as when I got up March 1 I found our freezer at 52º and the refrigerator at 62º so everything was thawed and I spent the day trying to get everything fixed!  We are learning what it was like to live in the 1800's!!

 February 4 as I was getting ready for bed, discovered we had no hot water or furnace as they work together.  Thankfully we had already had our hot showers.  We had to wait until Monday to call OR to get brushes for the motor and I did remember that we also have a heat pump that works above 35º so we did have heat, just no hot water.  Larry had to get into the skinny bay next to the Espar to work on it and after the brushes arrived on Wednesday the 8th, we again had hot water.  I'm so thankful Larry is still able to get in and out of that bay!  While he was in there he moved things around so it will be easier in the future to work on it if the need arises.

                      

                           Larry in the bay

            

                     showing the bay he has to work in

Larry is still working on organizing his Man Cave but doing a nice job.

We have had some product out of my garden.

           

                      tomatoes protected from the rat

                carrot and green onion

I did manage to bake a lemon cake for Larry, actually three of them as he liked them so well!

              

                       Lemon glazed cake

Back to our refrigerator problem;  the repair man we contacted doesn't service our area but God is good all the time and he is also an RVer so knows the problems we are facing.  We basically are not able to replace the refrigerator and he advised us not to saying they are not made for RV's and the newer ones do not last very long in them so he is going to service us after all.  PTL!  (our refrigerator is 20 years old)  However, the part (compressor) will not be in until Monday or Tuesday so we have to wait until then.  Our challenge now is getting dry ice to keep things cold until then.  Dawn has a small refrigerator that we have some things in so now we have to go outside to get anything but that is a small inconvenience.

It seems it is always something but God is good in all circumstances and we just keeping looking up.

 

NICE CELEBRATIONS!

 We started the New Year off with rain so hopefully it will continue throughout the year so our drought is diminished.

I had MOHS surgery on my nose on Jan 4 and that night we celebrated Dawn’s birthday by going to Texas Roadhouse.  I baked a Lemon Cheesecake especially for Dawn (Keto) and since Vince doesn’t like lemon, she basically had the whole cake.

With the rain we had a problem with the electricity going out on the east side of the pad.  Larry put it in five years ago and when he checked several of the “waterproof” boxes he found water in them!   (We had a lot of rain.)  He ended up digging up the buried wire and found the short so replaced the wire and the boxes so we are good to go again.

The cover Larry put over one of the boxes

            The junction box that had water in it   

               The break that caused the outage

                     The new junction box in the ground

Since it was cold and rainy much of the month, Larry found a project inside to keep him busy.  He took the two doors over my washer/dryer and made them bi-fold doors.  Now I can see the light when the cycle is finished since there is no buzzer to tell me the cycle is done.

          Showing the bi-fold door

  All the way open so I can see the washer

Door closed over the washer/dryer

I had a semi- surprise birthday party at Texas Roadhouse with family and friends I hadn’t seen in several years.  We then went to Dawn and Vince’s for cake and ice cream.  It was a great time!

           

2023 Welcome!

 Larry was able to sell the 600 lb torque wrench and breaker bar that he used on the MH many of the years we were traveling.  Because it weighed nearly 80 lbs he built a wooden box to ship it to CO where a fellow Monacoer bought it.  The FED-EX fellow was impressed with Larry's work and said if everybody shipped heavy items in boxes like that, they would never have a problem!

  The wooden box Larry built for the torque wrench

   Box closed up and ready to ship

Larry continues to rearrange the Man Cave so he can get better use out of it now we are not traveling. 

Shelves with bins for the many different parts, nails, screws etc

My garden continues to produce however a bit slower due to the cooler weather.  There are many green tomatoes on my one plant so hopefully we will have tomatoes in the near future.

        The latest yellow squash from the garden

  

The tomato plant in my garden

 

We have a wonderful Christmas celebration and spent nine hours together with family, laughing, playing a funny game and talking over the past as well as having delicious food.

      Milli trying on her new bathrobe

The fruit cake that 'mouse Larry' nibbled on!

We started the new year with a wonderful church service and then had a Chinese lunch amid a big downpour of rain!  We are not going to let that dampen our spirits for a good 2023.  Happy New Year 2023!