February 19 -- A Day Of Steve-Do's

The day was supposed to be partly-cloudy, but that forecast was from Weather.com, and their prognostications have been spotty at best. (So why don't I change my source? Lazy, I guess.) But the predawn hours did start out with a nice cloud cover that was clear to the east -- good conditions for a spectacular sunrise. And it WAS, in fact probably the best predawn and sunrise that I've seen here, and if you've been following my posts here that's saying a lot. Here's a shot of the colors using my 100-400 lens, with the silhouette of the Peloncillos, the next mountain range to the east in New Mexico --

It just kept getting better and better. And there was even another instance of "cloud streets", caused by the direction of the wind -- 

And then the display spread out all over the east -- 

A friend living on the east side of the San Simon Valley said these cloudy conditions aren't the norm for here; it's usually cloudless skies as it's been for the past week. I'll take these non-norm weather conditions... :o) 

One of the first things I did, since it was a day of Steve-Do's, was go to the post office to pick up accumulated mail for both me and my friends Mark and Lori, whose house I'm taking care of while they're gallivanting around India. I ran into some other Portalites who have an Australian Shepherd named Willie. As I'm considering getting a dog (eventually) I was asking the Willie's owners about that particular breed of dog. I turns out they're "herd dogs", and I read on the Web that they're actually not Australian dogs, but rather developed on ranches in the western US, where they've been around as early as the 1800's. The owners told me they're affectionate, active, and good hiking dogs, all qualities I'd want in a Faranuf Dog. There don't seem to be too many down sides, except they shed a lot as they have long hair, and I'm a stickler for cleanliness when it comes to the inside of my house. And how would it deal with the outside critters? Apparently there are classes given locally where you can teach a dog how to approach snakes, which would be my main concern. I don't want something to happen where I'm stuck with a humongous medical bill for someone other than me!  And there is also the matter of the birds, deer, foxes, skunks, etc that are on Faranuf's grounds. If it's a choice between having a dog or having wildlife, then wildlife wins in a landslide. And I certainly wouldn't want it to become a house dog, especially an Aussie Shepherd as they're active and outside dogs. And I will NOT get a poodle, even one of those supersize mutant ones. I don't want a dog that badly. So I got my mail from Joan, our postmistress, and gave her a plate of brownies that I'd whipped up during my early-morning waking hours. (I make them for her and her husband Chuck on an occasional basis.) I picked up my packages, a new pair of Merrill lightweight hiking shoes -- I've gone through 2 pairs but really like them enough to get a third -- and parts for my Kenmore vacuum cleaner, an essential component of keeping Faranuf clean; no "Kissing Bugs" in my house if I can help it! Then it was back to Faranuf to start on Discovery II's "rehabilitation". She hasn't been washed and waxed ever since I purchased her back in January 2015 and had been sitting in the Overton RV park all that time, exposed to the torrid desert heat of the summer (sometimes more than 110 degrees) and hot, dry winds that blow dirt everywhere. So she was mighty dirty on the outside to say the least, with the main issue being the sealants around the windows, doors and such; they had for the most part turned brown from the blowing dirt and were cracking. The seals on the roof had also turned brown, too but besides that were still in good condition, and I'd had Desert Coach RV in St. George re-seal the small holes and tears that I'd noticed. So it was time to go up top and give the TPO (a type of rubber) roof a good cleaning. I used Murphy's Oil Soap, which was recommended by the Lance trailer manual. along with a long-handled push brush with soft bristles. It took nearly 2 hours, but I did have good views from the top to break the monotony. And when I checked things a few hours later, the roof looked brand spanking new. So tomorrow I'll do the rest of the trailer, as it's forecast to be another cloudy day which of course are the best conditions to wash any vehicle. I just wish I had that RV canopy that I'd ordered nearly 3 months ago... If you've been following my adventures, you'll know that I've had, er, "issues" with Discovery's awning. They've been resolved now, so I can concentrate on its neat features. It comes out and retracts with the flip of a switch; awnings on other makes of RVs are hand-cranked. And you don't have to keep your finger on the switch; just press it once, and it will do its thing. And it has another neat feature that I forgot about. I leave the awning out to keep the  intense Arizona sun off the exposed side, but the wind sometimes picks up while it's out. One day I put out the awning, went out to run errands, came back -- and the awning had retracted. I was thinking "am I going nuts, or did I extend it earlier?"  Then I remembered that the awning automatically retracts if the wind velocity gets to a certain speed; that way it won't be bouncing up and down, and possibly break one of the arms. It was the first time I've seen that feature in action. Neat-o !  Of course, that's just something else that can go wrong, but let's not go there...

I hate to say this as it may make me sound like Felix Ungar from "The Odd Couple" , but I spent the rest of the afternoon vacuuming Faranuf. I have a Kenmore canister vacuum from Sears but some of the parts you're supposed to replace after a certain time, well, haven't been since I'd been on the road and not near any Sears store. And I certainly can't find one out here. Then I had the bright idea (doh) of checking online at the Sears website and seeing if I could order them that way. And after chatting with a "Sears chat specialist", I could and did. It took less than a week for the parts to get here. It's another instance of how computers and the Internet have made life much easier when you live away from the conveniences you take for granted when you live in a town or city. So I popped the needed parts in, and Presto!  -- Faranuf is clean once again. And woe betide any bug or insect that gets inside, as it will end up in the vacuum cleaner bag -- or worse. 

I also attempted to change the water filter in the pump house. (Sorry, but Life At Faranuf ain't always glamorous, especially when it's just me.) I'd purchased a filter on Amazon (again!) and attempted to replace the old one. I couldn't; it was cranked on tight, and I really needed an O-wrench to help me unscrew it. So that will have to wait for another day. But while I was in the well house I noticed more mouse droppings, and a half-gnawed box of Irish Spring. (Boxes with bars inside even go missing; the mice must be the cleanest rodents in Portal.) I'd heard that you're supposed to give the Irish Spring bar method a rest for a few days, otherwise the mice will get used to it, and boldly come back in. And that's exactly what they did. Fabian, the water softener guy who came by the other day to check out my water softener system, recommended mothballs in a cloth bag and hung wherever it looked like the mice entered from outside. But I didn't have any mothballs, so I checked online (again!) and found that one of the uses of peppermint oil is to keep mice out of buildings. And I had some for keeping bugs out of the hummingbird feeders, which I decided afterwards not to use. So I soaked cotton balls with the peppermint oil, put them in jar tops, and placed them on areas inside the well house where it seemed like the mice came in. I'll be checking today to see if it worked, and let you know -- if you're interested, that is. (And if you're not, tough, as this is my blog.) 

The sunset here didn't pan out, but a friend living on the east side of the valley had spectacular colors looking to the north. I tried reading a book about Phoebe Snetsinger, who had a diagnosis of melanoma, the doctors gave her a year to live, went out and saw over 8,398 bird species lived for years after her diagnosis -- and ironically was killed on the road when her van overturned during a trip to Madagascar. I tried reading some of the book -- and conked out. I guess it was another long day...