Selling memories

   R and I are parked at our property in Bandon.  As I sit here in the trailer writing this looking out the window at the tall grass blowing in the wind, my mind remembers many happy days spent at the beach with the boys.  I walked the beach this morning.  I went to the state park just south of the Sunset Beach Motel and took the trail down to the water.  It has changed very little in all the years we have been coming here.  The ocean is just as beautiful.  The waves continue to roll in, the rocks are still as magnificent.  The tunnel through the rocks is still there.  It still has a small puddle in it that you have to watch out for when you walk through it. 

   I tried to find the place where the boys and I found the cave in the rocks.  I think I located the formation, but I could not find the opening.  Perhaps it is filled with sand.  But the memories of the skinned knees and pinched fingers did make me smile.

   Our financial advisor has suggested that if we were to sell the property here, our retirement funds would be greatly improved.  Selling this place is easier said than done.  It was easier to say “Let’s put it up for sale” when we were sitting at home, than it is while we are parked here and can see the ocean from where I am sitting in the trailer writing this.  If people were clambering for beach property and the money would be extravagant, it might make it easier, but the market is weak, at best and the memories are strong.

   What to do.  What to do.

A Beach Affair 5.30.11

I had an affair this morning.  I walked the beach at Bandon.  It was just the beach and me.  (The dogs were a long ways away at the end of their leashes.)   The morning was early. The air was calm.  The beach was nearly deserted.  The ocean was there, singing to me, whispering to me, beckoning to me to come for a stroll.  And so I did.  I enjoyed the clouds vreating a multi-level quilt in the sky.  I enjoyed the sun playing on the wet sand where the waves had just been.  I enjoyed walking around the tall rock formations that thrust up from the beach and dare the ocean to wash them away.  The Pacific hasn’t yet, but it still tries.  I enjoyed looking for a treasure that the ocean has deposited there for me to find. 

   And so the beach and I had our moment together.  It was brief but it was good.  If I get crabs from it, I will cook them.  If the day turns to rainy and stormy I can still look out my window and say, “We had this morning.”

Car Dealers

   I hate going to a car dealer.  New or used they are cut from the same cloth.  If you are dropping by to increase your knowledge, good luck.  I am convinced that if it meant the sale of a car, they would tell you that the sky is polka dot.
   This week I went to find out about some of the new vehicles out there.  I was interested in the new Chevy Volt and while at a Chevy dealer, the new Chevy Cruse.  The guys at Top Gear have tested and like the new Ford Fiesta so that was on my list.  I talked to someone at Bimart who was driving a Honda Fit.  She loved it and was getting around 40 mpg, so it went on my list.  I started looking up info on the Internet.  Of course, it pumps you for your indentity.  Finally, I gave it so I could get a price.  I was contacted by the local dealer Kendall who happens to have dealerships covering all three brands here in town.  The email said that it was a real advantage because I could "come in and with one sales person, see and drive all of the cars.  And, while I was there, they would check out my current vehicle to let me know what my trade-in value would be.  Sounded to good to be true, right?  It was.
    I arrived at the arranged time and met the sales person, A.  As we exit the showroom, he asks me what cars would I like to see.  So I told him, though he should have already known.  " Honda Fit?  We don't have any in stock.  Because of the situation in Japan, they are hard to get."  So I asked him about the bronze colored one parked out by the street.  " Oh, that is a used one.  I thought you were looking for a new one."  I informed him that I was trying to find out info on several cars so see " what and if" I wanted to buy in the future.  ( See, they only know the word, 'BUY' )
   So we take the 2010 fit for a drive and it is what I expected.  Nice, but no whistles or bells rang when I drove it.  It seems fine, but I am not "blown away" with it.  Maybe that is a unrealistic expectation with cars at this price range.  Back to the dealership.
     When we arrived back A told me that he was needed inside to sign the deliver a Honda Pilot, but he would find me someone else to help me.   Hmmmm  so much for "one sales person who can show you all of the cars".   I was passed to H who should be loits of help looking at the Chevys because he used to sell Chevys.  As we are walking over we pass the new Volt.  I show interest and H proceeds to tell me all the things that are wrong with it.  We find a new Cruse, get in and H tells me how much better the Honda Civic is than this car.  AT this point I discover that I do not have my drivers license.  'A' had taken it to make a copy so we could go for a drive in the Fit and had not given it back. 
    While we were back in the Honda area, I decided to drive the Civic.  Actually, it was pleasureable.  I'm not happy with how it has increased in sixe.  Honda seems to think bigger is better.  The Civic is a nice car, but it is no longer a small car.  I did like the "Econ" feature.  There is a Ecoc button on the dash with a green tree on it.  Pushing it does some magic things to the car, like lessening the A/C, etc and the mileage is supposed to increase by 2 or 3 mpg.  On the dash on either side of the speedo, are  lights.  When you are accelerating the lights are blue, when you are accelerating, holding the speed, coasting, etc the lights are green.   I liked it because it challenges you to drive differently.  Back to the dealership and good bye to H.
   When I got home I recieved a call from the Ford dealership asking me if I wanted to test drive a Fiesta tomorrow.  " We can look your car over and give you a trade in value while to are driving.  Here is a confirmation number to use.  Give it to any salesman when you arrive tomorrow and he can look you up in the computer and know exactly what you are here for."  Can you see what's coming?
   I arrived at the appointed time.  When I presented my confirmation number, the sales guy didn't know what to do with it.  He showed me both the 2011 Fiesta and the 2012 Focus.  I drove the Fiesta all by myself.  It drives like a small car, which  it is.  Seems very nimble. ( No bells here either, though.)  When I got back the sales guy "T" showed me some the features.  The neatest part of the new Fords is the 'Sync'.  It allows you to talk to the car,  dial phone thru your cell, ask for directions to an address (Garmin without the screen) and recieve oral instructions in return.  I think he said Sync understands over a hundred commands.  Definitely, a plus for Ford.  He also ran an invoice on the car to show me just how little the dealer makes on each car.  If I was to believe him, the dealer makes only around $200 on these small cars.  I am more than a little skeptical.  Time to leave.
   Two days to investigation.  Not a total waste, but less rewarding than I had hoped.  If I do buy a new car I will probably go thru Costco.
  
     

Loading for the next "go round"

   It is time to get the rig loaded for our next adventure.  We head out tomorrow, Saturday morning for the Oregon coast.  We will spend Memorial Day weekend at our property in Bandon and then drive down to Port Orford on Tuesday or Wednesday to start June at Cape Blanco State Park.  We will be giving tours of the lighthouse for the month of June.  I really like the duty there because it is easy, it is gorgeous, and people are very jazzed to be able to walk up the tower and be in close proximity to the actual light.  It is a Kodak moment if there ever was one.  I will be including some pictures when we get there and start our duty.
  Anyway, the prep had begun.  The loading has begun.  The dogs have sensed that something is up and they are nervous.  "Are they leaving soon?  Will they take us? "
   While we were at Quartsite this year, I was having trouble getting the generator started.  So when we returned to Eugene, I took it to a small engine repair shop to have it checked out.  Well, to make a long story short, it's ailments were fatal.  It was too old and the parts were not available.  So I started to search for a replacement.  The ultimate would be either a Honda or Yamaha 2000 or 3500 watt.  But a 2000 is about $1000.  We don't use one enough to warrent that expense.  I searched used.  ($250- $500).  In the end I went to Harbor Freight and got a 2200 watt for $299.  But if I purchased a Buyer card for $20, I could get it for $249.  Duh!!  So I got a brand new generator, of course it's probably made in China) for $269.   On the way home I stopped and opened the box and took it out so that I could get it fueled.  When I got home I filled the crankcase with 5w-30 motor oil and tried to start it.  After reading the directions,  ( can you imagine?) it started on teh second pull of the rope.  Yes !!
We will use it this weekend because out lot does not have power. 
    Cool and rainy is the forecast and the weather guys are usually right when they say it is going to rain.
 

Guess what this is

   This is my latest find.  I found it at a place in Eugene called MECCA.  It stands for Material Exchange Center for Community Arts.  It is an offshoot of BRING which is the local recyling center.  You go to bring if you are looking for recyled building supplies like doors, fixtures, windows, etc.  Mecca came about because they saw the same need for art/craft supplies.
    So while wandering around there this past week I saw this up on top of a shelf.  I have needed one for some time.  I had tried to make one using pegboard but it was not strong enough.  Now that I have a bigger loom and will possibly be winding longer warps, I will need a stronger warping board.  And this should fill the bill.
   For those of you that are not familiar with weaving equipment, a warping board is used to wind the right amount of yard needed for the warp of a weaving project.  The warp is the yarn that runs length-wise on a scarf or towel, etc.  The weft is the yarn that is "weaved" back and forth to create the pattern.
   Setting up the loom is by far the most work in weaving.  Figuring out how much yarn will be needed, deciding on colors, and then warping the loom takes time and patience.  Once the loom is warped then the fun happens as you watch your project develop.



   Here you can see my loom and my current project.  The colors go nicely togather but it is a little darker than I like.  I tend to favor brighter colors.  I should be doing spring colors instead of fall.  This is the first item I have done on my new 8 shaft Ashford table loom.  The beauty of having lots of shafts is that you can do lots of interesting patterns.   I am only using four shafts on this project and the pattern is pretty cool.  Experimenting will be fun.

"Hoppy"

There is a crow that has been hopping around our backyard lately.  For several days he was by himself and then a couple of days ago I saw him with another that I am assuming is his mate.  I have named him Hoppy because his right leg has been injured and he does not use it much.  When he is on the ground he holds the right one up under his belly and hops around on the left.  It doesn't seem to hamper him too much because he is still able to use his good leg and strong wings to take off when he needs too.  So for now while he is strong his life goes on.

Being Home

Being home is expensive.  We have been home a week and already we have had to buy two new TVs, a dishwasher, and a retainer for R's mouth.  I should have stayed in Arizona.  Soon we will go to the dentist and then it will get Expensive!  We each have a crown that is loose.  Should have fixed them in Mexico.

Posting

You probably noticed that I didn't post for quite a few days.  Actually, I tried to post and the system just won't let me.  All I could do was save them.  So finally I went into the settings and updated them and bango, presto, shazamm;  it worked again.  It just needed some TLC I guess.

Today, on our way home we traveled in hostile territory. Well, dangerous territory.

Well, interesting territory.

Area 51 !!! Do you know where it is? It is in the state of Nevada, near the village of Rachel. Its not even a village. Just a few buildings and a bar called the "Ale Inn ". There's nothing else. Or, at least, nothings else that you can see. Is there a cloaking device at work? Maybe there's more there than meets the eye.

At great risk I am including pictures shot at the scene. Two of these dramatic pictures were shot from my research vehicle as it drove rapidly through the possibly alien area. As you can see from these priceless photos, all is calm at the location right now. Or, at least, it "seemed" calm. What was going on in some secret underground facility nearby, is only for speculation.

Possibly the bunkers in Hawthorne, Nv like this last picture are used for similar operations. Click on the pic to enlarge it. I bet you didn't know that Hawthorne is also home to the Naval Underwater Warefare School. do you think it is just a front? Think about it.

4.22.11 Spring
in the desert.

It is spring in the Sonoran Desert.
Any place else and it would be summer-like weather. It is the perfect time to be here with the
day temps are in the 80’s and 90’s and night-time temps in the 50’s 60’s. To make
it even better the flowers are starting to show in the desert. The several of Saguaro Cacti are getting
blooms. It started several weeks ago
with one or two Saguaro getting buds on them.
And then, one or two of the buds started blooming. The blooms, which appear at the top of the
cacti and at the end of the arms, come out only at night and last until
mid-morning of the next day. As you travel through the desert right now you
will notice that many Saguaros have buds appearing on them. In a few weeks the desert will be covered
with blooms.

In addition, the
Organ Pipe Cactus is also starting to bud and bloom too. Their blooms are a few weeks behind the Saguaros. They also are night bloomers. Their blooms are even shorter-lived, with the
blooms lasting only until the early hours of the morning. R and I
got up at 6am to drive into Tucson
on Thursday. On the way out we stopped
at the Visitor Center to see a blooming Organ Pipe
Cactus.

If that isn’t
enough the Chollas are starting to bloom.
The Staghorn Cholla are getting redish brown blooms and Buckhorn Cholla blooms
are yellow. The Prickley Pear are
covered with new pads and blooms.

The bottom line is
that the desert is at it’s best right now and there is no one to enjoy it. The visitors have stopped coming. With the coming of the month of April,
visitation dropped off dramatically. The
campground, which has 120 sites, is down to a dozen or so occupied sites. And those are being used by Europeans. It seems that about 75% of the people that
come into the visitor center are from Europe.

If you are thinking
of a beautiful warm place to visit, during the month of April, this might be it.

Sells, AZ

March 31,2011

Just got home from a trip east on Hwy 86 to Sells, AZ It is the “capitol” of the Tohono O’odham Nation (pronounced - ta Ho no a’Autumn ). I am not sure how a nation is different from a reservation, but it has to do with how their officials and law makers are selected. The T O nation covers a large portion of land in southern Arizona from Why on the west almost to Tucson on the east and from Casa Grande on the north to the Mexican border. The area is well over 2 million acres. Actually the original O’odham homeland was twice as large encompassing areas north to the Gila River and west to the Colorado River and south 100 miles into the Mexican state of Sonora. Then there were five member groups of the O’odham nation living and prospering in this harsh land. The white man, early Spaniards and later miners and settlers, both Mexican and American, pushed them off.

Sells is a little over sixty miles east of Why on Hwy 86 which is the route I would take to get from here to Tucson. Several times I have recommended to our visitors at Organ Pipe that if they are heading east, there is an interesting place to stop on the way. We have a small map that we give out to people that show interest. It was time to take our advice and check the place out.

The name of the place is Himdag Ki. ( I don’t know the pronunciation.) But it is the Tohono O’odham Nation Cultural Center and Museum. Finding it takes a map for it is not located on the main highway (Hwy 85). Instead, its home is ten miles south of Sells on BIA Hwy 19. Hwy 19 is not signed so you need to know where to turn south and then know to go that far south for you are a loooonngg way out of town before you come to a small sign that shows you that it is a ¼ mile to the left. The map helps because it points out several landmarks ( i.e. water towers, school) along the way.

The actual museum is worth the hunt. The building is less than ten years old and is a unique design of steel, wood, and stone with lots of curves and windows. The story of the O’odham people is told in English, Spanish, and in the O’odham language. The latter is quite a fete because the O’odham language was not written language for a long time and like many verbal languages as was in danger of disappearing. An effort was started on 1970 to preserve the language by writing it down and teaching it in the schools and using it. The language is surviving, although the elders are more likely to use it then the younger ones. There is a local radio station that broadcasts bilingual messages.

After our visit to Himdag Ki was finished, it was time for lunch. The Desert Rain Restaurant is in the Sells Plaza. The menu uses a blend of local foods such as Agave, cholla buds, mesquite buds in it wraps and soups and salads for a unique twist. The T O people have a unique physical makeup. Their bodies were designed to use the seeds, buds, and flowers of the local plants such as cholla, saguaro, organ pipe, and senita. Nutrition required hard work to get it and slow digestion to absorb the food value. It worked well for them and they were fit and healthy. Flash forward to fast food and packaged food have changed all of that. The diabetes rate among the T O people is almost 80% not to mention the other health problems that accompany it. This restaurant is proof that prepared food can be tasty, locally unique, and healthy.

Home Again

We are back in Oregon. Arrived home on Tuesday afternoon. The trip was happily uneventful. We did spend two days at Valley fo Fire State Park about 60 northeast of Las Vegas. A very beautiful place. Great campground nestled among the red sandstone formations. Lots of places to explore and scramble on the rocks. Great "Kodak Moment" places.

We are back in our regular routine which means water exercises in the morning, and working around the house in the afternoon. The yard needs lots of weeding ( which I hate) and the house has some needs as well. The dishwasher is not performing properly, the TV in the family room died so we have some shopping to do. It seems that there is always something to spend money on.