Have you seen this helicopter in the trailer?

There's an interesting story behind this photo.  A few weeks ago Bill, the owner of the above Class A and trailer, pulled into the Dingbat area and joined our group for a week or so.  When I walked down to the campfire and saw his trailer with the helicopter, I told him I've seen him on the road.  And also parked in an RV park.  He said it probably wasn't him, and we talked about where exactly I saw it.

Turns out, his rig and trailer were stolen for about 8 months.  I finally remembered that I saw the RV and trailer at Distant Drums RV Resort in Camp Verde two years ago, and he said that was during the time it was stolen, and yes, it was in that area at that time.

One day in April, 2012, while I was camped at Distant Drums a woman just pulled into the resort and parked the rig near the office.  Katie and I walked by on our way to the dog park and I stopped and commented on the helicopter and asked if she was checking in.  She said no, she just stopped to have a kind of "garage sale."  I asked her what she was selling, and she said, "Just about anything you'd want."  I didn't want to take any more of her time, she was busy and I didn't want to buy anything, so Katie and I continued on with our walk.  Later they were gone.  

Turns out, according to Bill, she stole the motor home and trailer and was selling everything inside both, and then tried to sell both the trailer and the motor home.  That's when she was caught, and Bill ended up getting them back, minus quite a few things.  There was more to the story, but it's his story to tell, not mine, and I'll leave it there.

Really strange that he and I would be parked in the same place two years later having this discussion.  I think his trailer is pretty cool looking.  Of course, it's not really a helicopter inside his trailer, but it looks pretty realistic in person  - he explained how the graphic on the door was created and applied.  He was a helicopter pilot in Viet Nam, hence the helicopter on the trailer.  :)

Mello Mike is having a giveaway contest.  Click on this link to find out how to enter.  This is what Mike is giving away to the lucky winner:

Very nice - and I've entered!  If I don't win, I hope you do.  ;-)

We're still having the best weather here at Quartzsite.  I keep talking about how great the weather is, but it's by far the most enjoyable so far in my three years of camping at Quartzite.  Cold nights and mornings, but nice warm days, not hot, mostly clear skies for my solar panels and very little wind this year.  So far.  I think the clear skies and lack of wind are what make it so nice for me, even more than the temps.

I've finally re-installed my Adobe Photoshop Elements program.  In case you don't know about Elements, it's like a little sister of Adobe Photoshop.  Cheaper and far easier to learn and use, more for someone like me who is not a professional graphics person.  I would definitely need lessons to learn Photoshop.  So, yesterday I was playing around with the different options in the software, many of which are pretty neat.

I took one of my House Finch photos and added one of the options to it and this is what I ended up with.  Original photo:

"Hey, get your beak out of my seeds!"      "Sorry, baby, what was I thinking?"

This looks like it was created using colored pencils:

I haven't had this program installed in quite a while, and it's going to be fun trying to learn it. Again.

WELCOME to our newest Follower, Karen!  Her blog, Karen in the Woods, is one of the most interesting blogs I follow.  She and her husband, Steve, are camp hosts, boon dockers, have a large Sheltie, Duke, and just adopted a new rescue Sheltie pup, Finnegan.  They are doing all sorts of wonderful upgrades to their new house in Wisconsin.  Karen is also a fabric artist and Steve seems to be able to make, fix or restore ANYTHING.  I love reading about their house and grand kids, and everything else they do.  Check out her blog, trust me, you'll find something to love there, too! Welcome Karen, thanks for following along with me and Katie!

From me and Katie, have a great Saturday, everyone!  :)

Wordless Wednesday - Welcome to 2014!

From Me and Katie, Happy New Year's Day, everyone!  :)

Hmmmmm, what's up with Katie?

Last night I was visiting with the Dingbats around the campfire with Katie in my lap.  I was petting her and noticed something soft on her ankle.  Since it was dark, I carried her over to Hazel's nearby motor home and asked her to check Katie to see what it was.  Hazel has a nursing/medical background and has a lot of knowledge in the area of dogs, too. 

We laid Katie down and checked out the inside of her right ankle and this is what we saw (the black marks are permanent marker I put on the lump).

This is her other ankle, you can see how skinny and boney her ankles are:

It didn't seem to bother her, she was eating, drinking, walking fine, acting perfectly normal.  Hazel said she thought it was filled with fluid, and was not a tumor, and to keep an eye on it.  She gave me a permanent marker to mark off the four sides of the lump so I'd know if it's growing or getting smaller.

I took these photos last night when I got her home.   When she was laying on her back on our couch, I took this next photo of both her ankles.

And this morning:



It looks bigger, but it's the way she's sitting.  I think it's the same as last night.

Weird, huh?  I can't imagine what would cause something like this.  Any ideas?  At least she doesn't seem to be bothered by it.  I hope it will go down and we won't need to see a vet.

On another note...

I subscribe to a website called Living Life Fully.  Every day I get a quote in my e-mail box, and I liked this one - it kind of fits me the last few years, and probably some of you, too:

Living life fully doesn't mean having it all, going everywhere, 
doing everything, and being all things to all people.  
Many of us are beginning to see that too much is too much.
                                            --Elaine St. James

It continued with these questions to consider: 

• Is there anything that you have too much of?  What?  What do you do about that?
• Why do we tend to fill all of the spaces of our lives?  Why can't we let space be space?
• How do we go about recognizing what's essential and what isn't?

Living in our small spaces, I'm sure most full-timers have asked themselves the same questions.

Speaking of small spaces, here's our "small space" in it's new campsite - I don't think I've posted photos of our new site.

We have a nice view of the mountains to the west.

Behind us are the Dingbats.  We're close enough to easily walk to the campfire and visit, but still far enough away from the wash that we get TV channels.  We couldn't get any channels in the first space by the wash.

Below is is the wash that's behind our first campsite in La Posa West.  The parking lot that will be the location of the Big Tent is on the other side of the wash from the camping sites.

Every day more and more RVs arrive.  I wake up in the morning to more and more campsites filling. 

This is my last post for the year; 2013 will be history in 12 hours.  I've had a really good year, 2013 has been good to me - and I'm looking forward to 2014.  I'm expecting it to be even better!

Thank you to all our readers who have ordered items through our links this year.  We've generally had a tiny amount of income from our links, and we appreciate every penny, but this month has been different.  I'm sure on-line Christmas presents are the bulk of the purchases, but as far as normal on-line buying, whatever you're all doing, please keep doing it.  :)

Here's to better health and more wealth and tons of happiness for all of us full-timers, part-timers, friends, families and followers.  And a more peaceful world for everyone.

From me and Katie, have a great Tuesday, everybody, and a fun and safe New Year's Eve tonight! :)

Wordless Wednesday - Merry Christmas 2013

Happy Birthday, Jesus.  From me and Katie, have a Blessed Christmas everybody!  :)

The worthless LOT has sold!

In May of 1968, my parents traded a small apartment building they owned in Redwood City, CA for three pieces of property in Boulder Creek, CA.   One had a small A-frame cabin on it, and the other two were bare land.  The trade was uneven, so on the deed of the third, smaller piece of property, my parents took ownership of  60 percent of the parcel and the two Realtors split the remaining percentage.  At the time it was worth something, not much, but something.

Then, to slow building in the area, the local County Board of Supervisors passed an ordinance that lots had to be a certain size for a septic tank, and this third parcel was smaller than the required square footage.  It immediately became worthless - "unbuildable."   Since there is no sewer in that area, and a septic system can't be installed on the lot, it wasn't worth anything to anyone, except possibly to owners of adjoining parcels.

My parents and others with similar "now unbuildable lots" tried to fight City Hall, but were unable to overturn the ordinance.  After a while they got tired of paying taxes on it, and just stopped paying.  They were "letting it go for taxes."

My lot is on the left side of the street in the photo below, a pretty, forested piece of land.

When I heard they were letting it go, I told them I wanted it, and would pay the back taxes to own it.  So, I paid up the taxes, we did a "gift deed" and title transferred from my parents to me.  I paid around $1,000 total to get the taxes up to date and the parcel in my name.  That was 22 years ago.

I hoped in the future the local sewer system would come out to that area, but in the 45 years the lot has been in the family, it hasn't happened.  From time to time I've worried about personal liability if something happened on the lot.  It's forest land, and right on a main highway.  There are houses on three sides.  A tree could fall on a nearby house, or into the main highway and hit a car going by, something like that.

It's a long story, but briefly, when I took over my parent's percentage I only owned part of the lot.  Many years ago I found one owner and he Quit Claimed his portion to me, so then I owned 85 percent.  No one has ever heard from the other man on the deed, and he is presumed dead.  I've wanted to sell the parcel over the years, but it's hard to sell property with so little value if you don't own it all.  Getting an attorney and filing a Quiet Title to get the other owner off the deed would cost more than the lot was worth.  And there are still Realtor fees and Escrow and Title fees. 

I've had three offers on the lot over the years, one from each of the homeowners on three adjoining properties.  All for nominal amounts but I was still hoping the city sewer would be built out to that area and I turned them down.

Last month I decided to get a Realtor in the area and have her contact the last potential buyer. He agreed to purchase my percentage of the lot and pay ALL fees, leaving me a little profit.  The area my lot has, added to his small lot, gives him a decent sized parcel with frontage on the main road. 

On Saturday, December 7, I signed the documents in front of a Notary Public in Blythe and escrow closed on December 10th.   It's a small amount of money, but will fluff up my emergency fund and the liability of owning the land is gone. 

I am now truly a turtle.  Everything I own comes with me, wherever I go.

And that's how I feel as a full-timer.  :)

In case you were wondering, when I started full-timing, I called the county office in Santa Cruz to see if I could park The Palms on the lot.  Unfortunately, that's not allowed unless I have a "structure" there, and according to my Realtor, I'd have to get permits to build or put down a small structure, and without a septic system, they wouldn't give me the permits needed.  It's cold there in the winter, gets some snow, but it would have been a nice place to spend the summers.

This is what I was thinking of - below - for a "structure" on the lot.  I might still get something similar if I ever buy a piece of land I can use as a part time home base.

I saw it and a bunch of other styles for sale right near the Grants, NM Wal-Mart.  Katie and I walked all around them all, looking in the windows.  The office was never open when I was there.  I think they come in a kit and have to be assembled, but you can pay to have the manufacturer of the kits do it for you when they deliver it.  It wouldn't take much to make the shed above look "homey."

This one is a Tuff Shed - all done up like a little house:

Isn't it darling?  A little, tiny house with water, electricity, heat and sewer (or not - maybe a composting toilet), maybe a stacking washer and dryer on a back porch.  It could also be used for storage and have a little bed and tiny efficiency kitchen - and a pad behind it for The Palms.  Flower garden, some vegetables, a few fruit trees, and a chicken coop. 

Maybe some day, if it still sounds good.  Right now it sounds like heaven!  I guess I'm going to have to start seriously saving my pennies, but I have a few more years on the road, at least.  :)

Sometimes I think about what my life will be like next year, or the year after that.  Five years?  It's constantly changing, but right now, a little house like one of the above sheds sounds really nice.  And of course with The Palms parked in the rear always ready to go at a moment's notice.

From me and Katie, have a great day, everyone!  :)