sailbad

For once the weather folks didn't miss it. Wind is blowing hard. Have the 5er playing turtle. Received a call from the pastor of the local church. The roof blew off the sanctuary. Looks like it will be a real short service tomorrow.

Let me see, snow in Coarsegold, tornadoes in Oklahoma, looks like spring has finally sprung. Here the breezy weather has changed to down right windy. Today steady at 40mph or so with gust around 60. It's supposed to stay this way for the next 3 days. Sort of traps you. If it blows much harder, I'll be bringing the slide in and watching TV through the blinds of the window. This place makes Quartzsite look like a rain forest. I'm finding dust in the linen closet. There's a reason the folks that know better don't come into New Mexico until at least the middle of April.

MY GOODNESS!!!!!!!! OUT OF THE HAZE AND BLOWING DUST.........A LITTLE BROWN TRUCK!!!!!!! It never crossed my mind that the order from PPL, shipped through UPS, would actually make it out here. It's 30 miles from the nearest mail office that handles UPS. I thought for sure they would drop it off in Belen. I even told them I'd come into town to get it. But here my pump is. I have just become the biggest fan of UPS that they have.

My guess involves the railroad round house..... We are supposed to get more of that wind for the next 4 days. But today was calm and the crew installed the septic system. I've hired many contractors over the years and never have seen a more professional crew. So now I've placed the "casita", the propane is in, the septic is done, and my 500 gal water tank is on the property. I found an Extreme sureflow 5.7 gal pump on sale at PPL(saved over $100), and all I have left is to sanitize the tank, plumb it in and find a washer and dryer. Things have gone very well on the Llano.

A wake up bark would be welcome around here. Millie is tall enough that she can reach across the bed and stick her tongue in my ear when she decides it's time to get up.

YE OL' 4PM UPDATE Still seeing hazy gray smoke from down near the river. It would appear that they have knocked it down. My "Casita" has held up very well as an imported wind break. The trailer still has some movement with these winds but has been in no danger. Millie does look funny with her hair wrapped around her ears. I'll go down where the fire was in the next couple of days and take a look to see what happened. But right now, I doubt they need another lookie lou. There's a news crawler on the TV saying that they have a large fire burning in RUIDOSO and are evacuating folks from the casino, the race track, and some neighborhoods. That's bad news as most of the fire crews have been in our area.

Well, the news this morning isn't any better. The fire is still out of control. But for me personally, it's not a threat. It is still about 6 miles west of me and burning north and south near the river. I'm planning to stay parked right beside the container and ride out the afternoon winds.

IYQ, stay put a day or two. They are predicting really high wind from the WSW starting in the morning. AND there is a large grass fire burning on the east side of the river between KIVA and me. Looks like I might be up all night. It's about 6 miles from here right now and if it gets much closer I may have to move in a hurry. update: Just watched the news. They say 1000 acres burned and they are trying to gain control with back fires. I don't understand that because the wind is from the SW and they are setting these back fires on the east side. But if it works.....I'm all for it. Highway60 is closed east of I-25. My understanding is the fire is burning north of 60 but maybe they have it closed to give the fire units a staging area.

Lee, according to Google Earth, it's 5046 at my lot. I know coming from Quartzsite it takes me a day or two to become acclimated. As far as the heat. Be patient, one more day of hot then it is predicted to drop 20*. Of course there will also be wind!

Hey Steve, pay attention when they do the tear off. Even though my roofing company used a magnet to pick up stray nails, I was still finding nails almost 6 months later. Bessie would not be a happy bus!

I found my way back. I don't have a clue how I got lost in the forums the other day. Today completed the 3rd day of installing a propane tank. One of those days was pretty much lost due to a malfunctioning Ditch Witch. But we're done now. I'm sort of tired from all that supervising. I did manage to learn not to stand down wind from a Ditch Witch. Now all I'm waiting for is the permit for the septic.

Ok, it's a nice blue. But how did I get here? If I hadn't stumbled across Steve's post, I still be wandering around lost! They don't call me "Sailbad" for nothing!

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOKLAHOMA WHERE THE WIND SWEEPS ACROSS THE PLAINS!!!!!! I always wondered where that wind came from. Now I know. It lives in New Mexico.

Steve, that's really good news. I'm crossin everything I got except one little toe that keeps cramping!

The neighborhood just got an upgrade. Today I received my "instant Casita". It's a beautiful burnt orange, or for you nautical folks, faded red lead. It has huge white letters on the side that spell "K-LINES" plus various groupings of numbers. I'm sure the neighbors will love the addition to the neighborhood. It's made of a special 14 ga. steel that is made to withstand salt water. It's rust proof and the lock box is made of 1/4 plate. Bottom line is that it is secure. Tomorrow the propane and septic guys will be here to get started. It won't be long and I'll have a home base. Lee it didn't take me long to get the trailer spotted along side. It does make a great wind break.

Windy? Did I say Windy? I turned the rig around yesterday facing south and really anchored it down. The antennas came down and the slide in about 8:30 this morning. It's taking both hands to force the door open enough to let Millie out. She doesn't care for this wind event either. The rig is handling it really well. Solid as a rock. The solar panels didn't seem to notice they are pointed north. They had made up 100amps by 2:30 this afternoon. Not bad for March. But I am suffering. The slide covers the TV. So I'm having to live with the radio and a couple of books. I do have a TV in the bedroom but I'm not willing to risk the batwing. Did I say windy? I'm really glad you folks are not here. It is really blowing hard!

I always get a chuckle of the weather folks in this area. Yesterday they said it would be "breezy". Of course the towns in this area are built along the river valley which is at a lower altitude. There it might have been breezy. BUT up here on the plateau it was blowing. What really gets my attention is Monday they are forecasting "windy". Winds in excess of 40 with gust up to 60. To us that means a major wind storm. We may well see winds steady at 50 or 60 and gust that will be off the charts. In the past folks up here have lost trailers and mobile homes with that type of event. I have some running around to do today. But before the day is over, I'll hook up, turn around, and head the rig toward the southwest. It's built to take heavy wind on or near the nose and with a 7000lb anchor (truck) tied to the nose, it won't go anywhere.

Well it looks like I picked the right days to travel. The wind was calm and the sun was bright. However someone forgot to tell me about the Salt River gorge on 60. But Millie and I made it through that without breaking a sweat. Did have to put on my truck drivin hat though. I would not recommend that road to any overload or no "Jake" brake. The Duramax has a transmission retarder and it worked like a charm. Since I've been here I have experienced what the local weather man calls breezy. 15 to 20 with gusts to 35. Just enough to blow my hat off if I'm not paying attention. I'm looking forward to getting that 40' container next week. It will make a good wind break. I guess if I'm going to keep up with the Joneses I should paint "CASITA" on the side.

My hat is in the ring.