WEDNESDAY HUMOR

On the outskirts of a small town, there was a big, old pecan tree just inside the cemetery fence. One day, two boys filled up a bucketful of nuts and sat down by the tree, out of sight, and began dividing the nuts. "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me," said one boy. Several dropped and rolled down toward the fence.

Another boy came riding along the road on his bicycle. As he passed, he thought he heard voices from inside the cemetery. He slowed down to investigate. Sure enough, he heard, "One for you, one for me, one for you, one for me …"

He just knew what it was. He jumped back on his bike and rode off. Just around the bend he met an old man with a cane, hobbling along.

"Come here quick," said the boy, "you won't believe what I heard! Satan and the Lord are down at the cemetery dividing up the souls!"

The man said, "Beat it kid, can't you see it's hard for me to walk." When the boy insisted though, the man hobbled slowly to the cemetery.

Standing by the fence they heard, "One for you, one for me. One for you, one for me."

The old man whispered, "Boy, you've been tellin' me the truth. Let's see if we can see the Lord …" Shaking with fear, they peered through the fence, yet were still unable to see anything. The old man and the boy gripped the wrought iron bars of the fence tighter and tighter as they tried to get a glimpse of the Lord.

At last they heard, "One for you, one for me. That's all. Now let's go get those nuts by the fence and we'll be done …"

They say the old man had the lead for a good half-mile before the kid on the bike passed him.

CALM & PEACEFUL LIFE

Drink water from the spring where horses drink. The horse will never drink bad water.

Lay your bed where the cat sleeps.

Eat the fruit that has been touched by a worm.

Boldly pick the mushroom on which the insects sit.

Plant the tree where the mole digs.

Build your house where the snake sits to warm itself.

Dig your fountain where the birds hide from heat.

Go to sleep and wake up at the same time with the birds – you will reap all of the days golden grains.

Eat more green – you will have strong legs and a resistant heart, like the beings of the forest.

Swim often and you will feel on earth like the fish in the water.

Look at the sky as often as possible and your thoughts will become light and clear.

Be quiet a lot, speak little – and silence will come in your heart, and your spirit will be calm and full of peace.”

Another good one on living wisely: "Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!"

NEW CHANCES~2024

Yesterday we set up at Quartzsite-AZ, again; but for a short period of time, this time. Tomorrow morning, we'll be pulling stakes here and moving down the road a few miles, to boondock for a few days at the Imperial Dam LTVA desert land, there (we've not stayed there before).

When I let Bleu out around 7 PM, and it was already pitch black outside: the black night sky was so clear, crisp, and highlighted with bright pinpoints of stars … so beautiful.

The night sky pulls you out of yourself, and makes you feel so small in it's great vastness.

BLACK SABBATH - Planet Caravan: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EorwXDYdLF0)

I wish I could capture the night sky to share, but all that blackness confuses the laptop (so much for technology!) and the beautiful pictures won't upload :-(

We are using the Beast Generator, but we have to turn it off at 10 PM - so I worked on a new Angel Baby Blanket design, by lamplight.

New Angel Baby Blanket - last one needed to fill the box; worked by lamplight.

The coyotes were howling; I like to listen to their desert songs ;-)

I do like the desert - I like the feeling of peaceful solitude.

We'll be chasing the spotty sunshine; a 2 to 3-degree gain in warmth may not seem like much, but it is much for us. Holland needs the warmth … and he can't afford to get a chest cold. If I get a bronchitis flare-up, it will make my lungs hurt for a week or two; but if Holland gets a bronchial flare-up, it is considerably more serious.

Imperial Dam LTVA; Winterhaven-CA

Still chilly … but a bit warmer than here.

Bleu doesn't care one way or the other, as long as he can get outdoors and run free ;-)

NEW DIGS~La Posa Tyson Wash; Quartzsite-AZ

We pulled stakes at Del Pueblo RV Resort this morning - it's under new management, and we just got tired of the nonsense … yesterday was the limit: I was taking an afternoon siesta and Holland was researching something on the internet when he told me later, "I heard this knocking on the back door, and wondered who was knocking on the door; I opened the door, and this upset guy tells me, 'You're in my space - you have to move'." Holland told him, "I think you're mistaken; we have this spot until tomorrow afternoon." The guy get angry and says, "Well, I paid for this space starting now; I'm going to call the Office." Holland says, "Be my guest. I just talked to the girl the other day and she told me we have this space until January 1st, so you're just going to have to wait until tomorrow to move in." When I woke up and heard that, I wasn't surprised: no one at Del Pueblo knows what is going on 99% of the time since new ownership took possession. They double-booked our space once before, and they tried to bilk us for additional charges. One of the Park monitors stopped by while we were pulling stakes and queried us on our stay … and got an earful. He said, "I'm sorry to hear that, but we are under new management and experiencing some growing pains. I hope you decide to come back next year." We just looked at him - what we experienced at Del Pueblo was not simple growing pains, it was greedy incompetency: we won't rent space from them again, when we come back this way.

We like Yuma, and we'd like to settle there at some point - but we don't want to be engaging in a sword dance.

So we hooked up and headed out, not sure where we would be spending the night, tonight.

My earlier 'Road Gypsies On The Move' Post: https://roadgypsiesvalandholland.blogspot.com/2024/01/road-gypsies-on-move2024.html

Semi-planned route.

Tom Petty And The Heartbreakers - King's Highway: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OdqDeBzqlP0)

We ended up in Quartzsite-AZ again; a different area, but a good site to set up.

New Digs …

We are boondocking at Quartzsite-AZ, for the time being.

I like the wide-open spaces.

Bleu likes the freedom.

And Holland is learning to use me in Team Work - he comes from that kind of southern good-'ole-boy environment of rough-n-tough male testosterone, head of the family, protector of womanhood (aka; females are gentle creatures who should not be pressed to do any laborious activities) background. I admit I do like the manly Prince Valiant side of his character …

… but I also admit it can be frustrating at times; it's a different male personality than I am used to. I come from a hippy-dippy gender equality background where pitching in (even in strenuous, blood-sweating situations) is taken for granted, and kinda expected when necessary. Holland has certain ideas of what masculinity is - what's appropriate behavior for a mature, virile, male. He has equally strong opinions about femininity. And it frustrates him when the behaviors get muddled. It frustrates me that he is so behaviorally rigid.

We are both learning to bend - and today, the bending did not generate fireworks.

We had to use the Beast Generator tonight and it had to be shifted and turned -  I said, "I'm not useless; I can help." Holland said, "We need that generator lifted, shifted, and turned - do you really think you can do that?" I said, "Of course - I have super power when it's needed ;-)" And he was amazed while he watched me lift, slide/shift, and turn that Beast in the 4x bed. It did take some Sheerah strength (1 Chronicles 7:24), but it got done.

And I switched it on, too :-)

I'm glad he's utilizing my additional help. It will take some of the pressure off him, if he lets me help when, and where, I can … I need to have my strengths tapped - I'll let him know when an activity is too much for me to do ;-)

A propane heater; bought in Long Beach-WA, months ago: IT'S COLD here!

2024's kickoff is looking good, so far ;-)

Sunset~Quartzsite-AZ

ROAD GYPSIES ON THE MOVE~2024

Pulling stakes here - tearing the house down now, and ready to lock the door/hook up, and pull out :-)

This morning's sunrise; Yuma-AZ

Miranda Lambert - 'Highway Vagabond' song: (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QtPn03FUeqA)

Not sure where we'll end up tonight … Texas was The Plan … BUT Mother Nature got a wild hair this year, and temperatures "down sunny South" are chiller than "up North" :-(

Tombstone-AZ: 37-degree morning & evening; mid-50's afternoon.

Tucson-AZ: 40-degree morning & evening; 60-degree afternoon.

Phoenix-AZ: mid-40's morning & evening; mid-60's afternoon.

Rachel-NV: 30-degree morning & 50-degree afternoon.

Mesquite-NV: mid-30's morning & mid-60's afternoon.

The morning chill is bitter COLD & the warmer afternoons still carry the chill factor; so, we sunseekers are going to be chasing the sun, hoping for some warmth to ease the bone ache of foolish youth escapades ;-)

We'll slowly be working our way northward, planning to be in WA near the end of February - first week of March at the latest. Holland has a standing medical appt. every 6 months.

All I know right now, is that we will be boondocking for a week or so … internet will be spotty, so I'll update everyone when I can. Love you all ~ hang loose and start your New Year off funtastically :-)

WELCOME 2024 ~ Please Be Better To Us, Than 2023

TAKING STOCK & GETTING THINGS DONE

December 30th: We spent the day sorting through stuff. Holland spent the afternoon outside making the truck ready, sorting/tidying the basement stuff, and straightening the backend storage; I sorted, rearranged, and tidied the in-house stuff. We'll be on the road, Monday morning.

Both of us have lived in RV's for extended periods of time, before (Holland, when he was going from job site to job site as a contractor - and me, when Bob was going from job to job as a logger, and later on, after the kids graduated); so this is nothing new to either of us.

Space is limited when traveling in an RV - an RV (home on wheels; constantly in motion) is NOT he same as a stationary "tiny house". While it is true that both have limited space … space in an RV is a bit trickier - things will not stay put unless you make sure they stay put. Also, there are pushouts to consider, and this poses an entirely different scenario when considering {space} modifications. Everything inside the home needs to be easy to transfer and store when the push outs are pulled in - and everything has to securely stay in place enroute, so nothing gets jammed under the slide outs, throwing a monkey wrench into the works.

That's what I was doing this morning: the back bunkroom has, until today, been the catch-all room resembling a bachelor's quarters … but since it will now become my hideaway room (aka: Babe Cave), it needed tidied ;-)

It took a couple hours to pull everything down - go through it, rearrange some of it - and put it back up there. Some stuff was ditched … some stuff was stored elsewhere. But, it's not a chaotic mess, anymore ;-)

Sorting through this mess & straightening it up …

Bought these bins a few days ago - they will work perfectly ;-)

Tidied up.

And the birthday gifts Holland gave me came in handy :-)

Cargo net clamped tight with my BD clamps …

When Holland came in for a break between his tasks - I nabbed him before he went back outside, and asked him to store the oscillating tower fan atop another bunkroom bunk (I would have had to climb that short bunk ladder, and wasn't comfortable with that): he just wrapped the cord around the base, grabbed it with one big hand … and set it secured in place, up there.

It cracks him up how enthusiastically thankful I am for his extra 11-inches in height over my my 5 ft. 3-inch height: "Thank YOU Yeshua, for my tall man!!!"

It makes a difference!

He laughed, wrapped me in a big bear hug (I like that: I can kiss and hug his generous loving heart ;-)), and went happily back outside to wrap things up out there.

It's not as messy as it appears to be, up there; bulky things are secure.

And I thank Elohim every day for my tall man :-)

Maren Morris - Tall Guys/Official Audio: 

(https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ngeAMlj5ouU)

Afterwards, I hung my birthday LED Lantern, and took stock of my flip-flips stash. I hadn't realized I had so many … but, that's okay: this way, I have a pair to match with every outfit, and every State we'll be visiting before they wear out and need replacing ;-)

My bright BD LED lamp works real fine under the upper bunk; & a quick ct. of my current Dollar Store Thong Stash ;-)

Then, all our moving-day-tasks completed, Holland juiced up a tasty power drink to enjoy before Supper. It was delish :-)

Holland's tasty power juice - carrot, tangerine, pineapple, lemon, & ginger: YUM!