Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Hope everyone had a nice Christmas and Wishing you the best in the coming New Year!!!!!

I can't believe the year is coming to an end.  I remember my Mother telling me the years between 65 and 75 go really fast.  And even though I haven't quite made it to 65, I can attest to the fact the years seem to be speeding up.

We are still gate guarding, but we have left our old site.  It was amazing how we got attached to it.  Ed said it felt like we had homesteaded it.  I had picked up trash and Ed had whacked down weeds.  We had our little tent up, we were there to stay.  But it wasn't to be.


We were packed up and ready to go, I wish we
could have taken our pallets with us, but so far
 we haven't had any rain, so we haven't had the mud
 

I thought this was an unusual face, but then again I
don't see very many cows
We don't have cows at the new site

 We have been at our new spot 1 month.  It is different than the other one.  We don't have the tree cover and there isn't much to see here. Ed says he saw a bob cat out by the gate yesterday morning.   One of the truckers told Ed he saw a 7 foot rattler about as big around as his arm.  Ed walked down to see if he could find it.  How smart is that?   But anyone knowing Ed, would believe it.  But he didn't find it, thank God.  He said he would liked to have had the skin.  Some people say the generator will draw them in because of the heat, so I am really cautious when I walk out there in the morning to turn off our flood lights.

This is our new site

Everything gets covered in dust

Beyond this hill is our well,  You look out over the horizon and
you will see all these fires, it's natural gas coming off the wells
 

We don't seem to have the mice here that we had at the other place, although we have had a few.  One afternoon we are watching a show and I look down and see one in the middle of the floor in front of us.  So of course I let out a scream.  Ed's like, "what, what, what."  I probably over reacted.  The thing was up on his back paws, just sitting there.  He looked sick.  At first Ed thought maybe he had eaten the d-con and was dying.  But later he figured he had been on one of those sticky things and was exhausted from getting loose.  OK here comes the disgusting part.  Ed didn't want him running off so he gets up and goes over and steps on him, and he is barefoot.  Now I am screaming even more.  I can't believe he did that.  Well as always, Ed keeps life interesting.

Well we don't seem to have the mice, but we have rats.  But at least they are outside, if they were inside I would probably be leaving right away.   Something was eating all the d-con plus it was taking the containers over and putting them under the jeep.  I had read on the forum that sometimes mice will get in your engine and chew on the wiring, so I told Ed he better make sure they hadn't made a   nest in the engine.  Well he waited a few days, but he finally checked it and we had a dead rat in the engine and he had been making a nest.  Ed found the rag he keeps in there to check his oil and some pieces of cactus.  He was really fat, so not sure if it was from all the d-con he had been eating or what.  The bad part was I had driven to town a couple of days before that, that's when we saw that the d-con was under the jeep, and he probably went with me.  Was he dead or alive, who knows.  We have been going through so much d-con here Ed went out and bought 2 rat traps.  Since then we have caught 2 more rats.  I haven't taken any pictures of our dead rats because I really didn't think you would want to see them.  lol

When we were ready to leave the other place, Ed saw what he thought was a stick up in the wheel well of the motor home.  He starts pulling on it and out comes a decomposed body of something.  I told him at that time I thought it looked like a rat.  He thought it was something else.  But now after these rats, I am pretty sure that is what it was.   We had smelled something previously for about a week and Ed thought it was just a dead mouse.  Will the mice and rat stories never end?

Ed keeps himself busy doing things.  He started making these back in Indiana.  He said he had about 80 walnuts.  The truckers see his work station and want to know what he is doing.  He had given most of them away.  I think he has about 10 left.

Ed's workshop, truckers going by are always asking
what he is making

The truckers seem to love these
 

Ed demonstrating his back scratcher

 They were fracking at our neighbors and this is how busy they were.  So far we haven't had to go through that.

Looking from our gate to the neighbors
This goes on for about 2 weeks, day and night



This is looking out our gate to the one across the road

Here they are lined up on both sides of the road
they didn't have anywhere to go



 

Of course I am up in the morning so I get to see all the sunrises.  This was one I thought was especially pretty. 

Beautiful

Wishing everyone a HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!   Ed and Lyn


May the LORD be with you in the coming year.

Micah 6:8 What does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy,
 and to walk humbly with your God?