Thursday, December 11, 2014

Gate Guarding, again

We are back to gate guarding in Texas.  We are planning on doing this until April.  But our plans are always subject to change.  Last year, because of electrical problems we quit on Christmas day.  Our goal is to save for solar, pay off Jeep repairs, pay down the motor home and put some in savings.  That is a long list, thus the reason for staying so long.  This will be the longest period we have worked. 

We came back to the same company we worked for last year.  I called them on Friday, Oct. 3rd  and they had a gate for us on Monday, Oct 6th.  That was fast.  We were planning on taking it easy for a week and doing some shuffleboard.  Well, that didn't happen.  But you can't turn down a job when it's available, because you don't know how soon another one will be offered.  So here we are doing our thing.

We have been on 3 gates since than.  The first one lasted 3 weeks, second one lasted 3 weeks, and here we are at our third one, which has been about 3 weeks.  We did have 1 1/2 weeks off between the last 2 gates.  It was nice to have the break.  Before we have always thought, we are here to make money and we don't want any time off.  But, the break makes the time on site easier.  Especially since we plan on working all winter.  So now we are looking forward to another break.


Our 1st site didn't have very much room to pull off,  Ed got over
a little too far and we sank in the mud.  After much praying, and some worrying,
we hooked up to the Jeep and I pulled while he backed up and we were
able to get the motor home out.  Some of these sites don't give
you much room.

At our 2nd site we had a little more room, but than we had about 3 days of
rain, and we had a mess.  We had about 5 days of dry weather before
we left so things were dry when we pulled out.

We hate the rain, but I know Texas needs it, so I try not to
complain about it.


This is the entry into the site now.

This is looking at it from our side.
So not much happens out here in the "pucker brush".  That's what some of the gate guards call this stuff all around us.  And sometimes when the trucks come rolling in or out, all you see is dust.  When we get done, the motor home will need a good cleaning.  I don't even try now because tomorrow everything will be covered in dust again.  I do sweep the floor, which Ed says he doesn't know why I even do that.  That's a man for you.  He also doesn't know why I make the bed. 

These are the animals we have encountered while here.

A bird we saw in Walmart.  I guess he was shopping

Some of the biggest grasshoppers we have ever seen.  Ed even sent
some to friends he was so impressed with them.  Their comments
were:  His sister said hers smelled, his nephew said the legs fell
off, and a friend said he thought it was a chicken and ate it.  If you didn't
get one, don't feel bad, maybe next time.

This guy decided to adopt us.  We didn't encourage him
we just wanted him to go home.

He hung out for a few days.

There is a few houses down the road.  We were hoping that's where he
was from.  After a few days, he left.


My first coyote,  I thought it was a dog.  He looks pretty well fed.

He was hanging out one morning, messing with our sensor.  I
wasn't sure what to do and Ed was sleeping.  The sensor kept
going off.  When Ed got up the sensor was gone the wire was
chewed in 3 pieces.  The bottom of the sensor is about 8 inches
long and metal.  Can't believe he took off with it.

2 buzzards hanging out.  Ed says "are we getting that old".  lol

When they flew away, Ed caught them in flight.  I thought it was a
neat picture.
This picture is for our friends Pam and Lacy.  Especially Pam, because she thinks Ed should eat healthier.  Ed said look at all the fruit I am eating.  haha,  I know, I know but he doesn't listen to me. 


I can't believe "I ate the whole thing"

Ed says, "but look at all the fruit it contained"


During our break we met up with Lacy and Pam at
Golden Coral

Here are my Christmas decorations.  I bought this tree 3 years ago and never used it.  It was really easy to put up.  It was my Walmart special for $3. 

This was my first attempt, I just hung up the stocking.

Than I got a little more creative.  This is about as creative as I get. 

Than I dug out the Christmas tree and put it up.  Looks a little better.

From outside

Merry Christmas to everyone and wishing you a very good New Year.


Happy Trails  Love Ed and Lyn

Remember the reason for the season is JESUS. 



Sunday, September 28, 2014

Pipestone, Mn

Before I tell you about pipestone, thought I would let you know what we are doing.

We are sitting at Bay Landing, a Thousand Trails park west of Fort Worth Texas.  Before we left Sioux Falls our Jeep broke down on a Wednesday, had it towed to a garage which said they couldn't look at it until Friday and rented a car from Enterprise for the week.  They had it fixed the following Wednesday and we left on Friday morning.  We had only drove it 2 days before we left and everything seemed fine.  We get to Fort Worth and are driving into Fort Worth and it does the same thing it had done before.  The skid light comes on and we start losing power.  We were able to make it into a church parking lot and called Coachnet our towing service.  It was like Da ju vu all over.  They couldn't get it in until Friday to even look at it.  So we had it towed to a Jeep center and rented a car from Enterprise for the week.   So here it is Sunday and still not sure about the Jeep.  I told Ed when it gets fixed this time we need to drive it on the highway before we head to San Antonio.  I am hoping since it's  a Jeep place maybe they will find the problem.  So here we are just waiting for news.

We visited Pipestone, Minnesota  before we left Sioux Falls.  Never had heard of it but we had some friends visit us that were staying there and told us it was worth the visit.

It was really nice place to spend the day. 
 

This is the Pipestone County Museum,
Beautiful building, made with the Sioux
quartzite.
 

Another building and it was trimmed with the pipestone

This was in front of a museum
The donkey is made out of metal

This is what  pipestone is know for, Indian pipes, this was huge
Ed bought one like this, only a lot smaller.  haha

This was in the fort, a huge trap, looked
like it was a real one

Fort Pipestone, an authentic replica of a Minnesota for,
which had a gift shop inside

Ed asked the gift shop sales person if they had a restroom.
She said yes and they had heat and running water.  It was very rustic
but someone had taken the time to paint the walls.
This was the handle

Water fountain inside the fort, do you
suppose that was original.
 
Than we visited the National Park of Pipestone.   Pipestone is a stone that the Indians mined and made their  pipes out of.       Only American Indians are allowed to quarry pipestone.                                                                 
 
From the Fort we went over to the Pipestone Monument

This is all quartz and they have to dig below this to get the pipestone.

They had path through the rocks.  We thought this was the pipestone, but
a ranger told us the pipestone is below this.

They  consider this place holy because of the Oracle. You would look
through here to see it.

Here is the face of the Oracle

Another face made by nature

Tree growing into the rock

They even had a small water fall

A frog trying to get comfortable

Such a pretty walk 

 
The Indians would hang these in the trees
as a memorial and their prayers.

 I thought these were hung by the Indians but Ed
thought it was the tourist. 


These were from the early explorers, they asked that
you didn't do it now.

Not sure how this guy make such neet lettering
This once formed one large bolder which was deposited here
by glaciers, now know as the "Three Maidens."

There is nothing in the area that matches their substance so
they say they were brought down by the glaciers and deposited here.

 
Nice day for a walk

 
 
So if you are ever in the area of Pipestone, Minnesota I would recommend it.  It's not a big tourist's area but we did enjoy it.       
 
 
Happy Trails    Ed and Lyn