Bears Not Rattlesnakes

On my way to work early the other morning, I found this damaged, disabled, abandoned truck on the side of the road. A mystery. The answer is the little black blob on the shoulder across the road by the front of the truck..........

....up closer, it looked like this...........

.......and this............

....the number of legally killed bear in Wisconsin doubled to over 4,000 last year.....

....hard to see from here, but his paw is larger than my hand............

.....as if to prove my point about too many bears in Wisconsin, this brute just ambled (or limped?) across the highway in front of me a few miles later, IN a little town.

By Uncle Hans

HOUSE SITTING

WE'VE SPENT A FEW DAYS HOUSE SITTING, AND DOG SITTING FOR THE SAME PEOPLE AS LAST SUMMER.

IT'S LIKE A VACATION FOR MARY AND I.  A THREE BEDROOM HOUSE, TWO BATHROOMS, TWO CAR GARAGE, AND A SWIMMING POOL IN THE  BACK YARD.

FUN TO VISIT, BUT I WOULDN'T WANT TO LIVE HERE.  IT'S JUST TOO MUCH ROOM, AND TOO MUCH STUFF.  I'LL STAY IN MY LITTLE RV.

LAST YEAR'S LITTLE YELLOW LAB PUP IS NOW A FULL GROWN LAZY TOWN DOG, ALTHOUGH I'LL GIVE THIS DOG CREDIT, HE'S NOT FAT LIKE OTHER TOWN DOGS.  HE MAY SPEND A LOT OF TIME WATCHING HIS 50+ INCH HD TV, BUT HE SPENDS AN EQUAL AMOUNT OF TIME STAYING IN EXCELLENT SHAPE SWIMMING IN HIS POOL.  LOOKS MORE LIKE A FARM DOG THAN A CITY DOG.

REMEMBER MARY AND I ARE AVAILABLE FOR HOUSE SITTING, BUT PLEASE INCLUDE A PICTURE OF YOUR POOL WHEN YOU E-MAIL US YOUR REQUEST.

SNAKE OIL

WE 'VE DECIDED THE SNAKE INSIDE THE CAMPER WAS A RED RACER.

Coluber constrictor


This is the most commonly viewed snake within Mojave Desert. It can be seen on many of the roads sunning itself in the early to late morning hours. It is the fastest snake in the desert moving at up to 7mph and can reach up to 6 feet long with a slender, whiplike body. Coloration may vary from gray and tan to pink with black crossbars always present on the neck. A the snake gets older it begins to take on a more distinct reddish appearance. It’s diet consist of lizards, small snakes, mice and birds. It is very mean tempered and should not be handled. Although not poisonous its bite can tear the flesh and should be avoided.

CO-WORKERS SUGGESTED WE USE GARLIC OIL TO REPEL THE SNAKES, BUT THE SNAKE EXPERT MARY TALKED TO, WHILE DEALING BLACKJACK, SAID THAT GARLIC OIL WOULD TURN THE DIAMONDBACK AWAY, BUT NOT THE RED RACER.
 
I FELT LIKE A CHARACTER IN ONE OF THE WESTERN COWBOY BOOKS I ENJOY, BUYING SNAKE OIL FROM A CROOKED MEDICINE MAN AS I STOOD IN WAL MART AND BOUGHT SNAKE REPELLENT.
 
 

I'M PRETTY SURE I WAS SCAMMED OUT OF MY $15 BY WAL MART, BUT WE HAD TO TRY SOMETHING.

I WISH THERE WAS A VIDEO OF SUSIE CHASING AND CORNERING THE SNAKE BEHIND STEVE'S CHAIR FROM ONE SIDE WHILE REX HOOKED THE SNAKE WITH A BACK SCRATCHER AND TRIED TO FLIP IT OUTSIDE FROM BEHIND THE CHAIR. 

I KNOW WHERE THE SNAKE GOT IT'S NAME.  IN THE BLINK OF AN EYE THAT SNAKE WAS A GOOD 25 YARDS AWAY FROM THE CAMPER.  QUICK, VERY VERY QUICK!

REX!! WAKE UP!! NOW!!

I got up first this morning which is unusual this summer.  I have gotten in the habit of reading in bed in the morning.  No internet—but I finished my book yesterday morning and didn’t have another one to start.

I got up, sat at my desk chair and turned on the TV to watch Dr. Oz.  Susie was wandering around what we call “Steve’s” chair.  ALL  of a sudden a SNAKE slithered out from under Steve’s chair.  WHAT?? A SNAKE INSIDE??

 

 

REX…WAKE UP NOW!!!!  But I did manage to grab the camera and take it’s picture so I had proof it was in here.

Here it is zoomed….I know the quality stinks but under the circumstances you are lucky there is a picture at all.  Look at the size of that thing…I am guessing at least 4 feet long.  Good thing I don’t need coffee to wake up.

My hero, otherwise known as Rex, took a back scratcher, stuck it in a loop and got it close enough to the open door that it slithered out.  Are you awake now dear??

Thank you Susie and Rex…my heroes of the day!!

Who knew land sitting could be so exciting??

KINGMAN, ARIZONA

WE TOOK OLD ROUTE 66 THROUGH THE BLACK MOUNTAINS EAST TO KINGMAN.  IT’S A NARROW, TWISTING, HAIR PIN, STEEP OLD HIGHWAY. BESIDES THE BEAUTIFUL DESERT MOUNTAIN SCENERY, YOU CAN’T HELP BUT THINK OF TRAFFIC BACK IN THE 1950’S BEFORE INTERSTATE 40.

THERE IS NO WAY THAT TODAY’S SEMI TRUCKS COULD NAVIGATE THESE TURNS.  IN FACT TODAY’S RV’S CAN’T MAKE THE TURNS AND STAY IN THEIR OWN LANE. 

 

AT THE TOP YOU LEAVE THE MOHAVE VALLEY AND HEAD DOWN INTO THE GOLDEN VALLEY AND KINGMAN.

ALONG THE WAY WE PASS COLD SPRINGS, A 1950’S ERA GAS STATION THAT HAS BEEN PRESERVED AND SERVES AS A GIFT SHOP TODAY.

OUR PURPOSE IN HEADING OVER TO KINGMAN WAS TO VISIT OUR GOOD NEIGHBORS FROM BLACKSTONE RV PARK, STEVE AND MERYL.  THEY HAVE BEEN OUR WINTER NEIGHBORS FOR 10 OF THE LAST 11 YEARS.  THE GLOOM AND DOOM OF THE ECONOMY TRAPPED THEM ON THE LOWER DESERT THIS SUMMER AND THEY MOVED FROM BLACKSTONE OVER TO FORT BEALE RV PARK IN KINGMAN.

THE SUMMER WEATHER IN KINGMAN IS 10 TO 15 DEGREES COOLER, AND QUITE PLEASANT COMPARED TO THE HARSH HEAT IN OUR MOHAVE VALLEY.  STEVE AND MERYL HAVE A BEAUTIFUL CAMPSITE COMPLETE WITH A WONDERFUL SHADE TREE.

HOW DO YOU LIKE OUR NEW “HAPPY CAMPER” T-SHIRTS?

Summer Spooner Flowers

.....blog readers are probably sick of sunrise pictures out of the hot tub. Sorry, they just get more and more beautiful. And at our age, there are a limited number of sunrises left........

....this morning we had a little extra bonus.........

....I won't blaspheme by trying to describe this scene.

for poems are made by fools like me
but only God can make a tree.......


Spring of the year means flowers need to be put out............

.....Renee loves this work, she would spend all day fiddling with these things if she had the time.........

.....so many flowers, so little time.........

.....all the stores had an abundance of flowers starting April first. We all know you can't plant before Memorial day in the arctic circle of northern Wisconsin. still, many of us lose our patience and plant in warm sunshine only to lose everything to a frost. The stores feel so bad for us when we come back to buy new flowers..............

....it's gonna be a great summer!!.........

By Uncle Hans

Mouse In The House

By Susie-Q

I was nearly excommunicated from the camper last week when Mary came face to face with a MOUSE, and it wasn’t my fault!!!

The Mouse entered the trailer by squeezing in along the kitchen plumbing pipes in the bottom of the trailer.  Rex says there is a false bottom on the outside of the trailer which prevents him from stuffing steel wool along these pipes to keep the mice out.

The Mouse arrived inside the lower kitchen cupboards.  I laid on the kitchen floor all day and could hear it moving around exploring.  The Mouse made it’s way up into the stove top and I changed my sentry position to the counter by the stove top.  I saw it !! Wow, Wow, a  nice big juicy one !!!

That evening I couldn’t contain myself and whispered in Rex’s ear that there was a big juicy Mouse under the stove top.  That Asshole Rex couldn’t keep a secret and blabbed to Mary about a Mouse …..

Mary freaks out, walks across the kitchen and lifts the stove top to look…..
It was mayhem. Mary was face to face with the  big, juicy, beady eyed mouse. I was cursed, yelled at, blamed, and I thought for a minute she was going to sock me.  Mary screamed, “I want it out !!!”, and I wasn’t sure if she was yelling about me, the mouse, Rex or all three of us being kicked out.

I crawled on my knees, over to the laughing Asshole Rex to plead for mercy and help. Rex got out the mouse traps and peanut butter, and the Mouse went out with the morning garbage.

It could be a long summer Mouse season, and I hope that Mary and I both survive.

SUMMER ARRIVES

THE DAILY TEMPERATURES ARE NOW IN THE TRIPLE DIGITS.  GONE ARE THOSE WONDERFUL COOL SPRING DAYS OF MAY.  WE SURE MISS THEM.

BOTH AIR CONDITIONERS ARE DOING THEIR THING. WE ZONE OFF THE TRAILER AND USE THE ROOF TOP FOR THE FRONT AND THE PORTABLE FOR THE BEDROOM.

IN MOVING THE TRAILER TO THE MOUNTAINS OF OATMAN THE PLASTIC PARTS IN THE BEDROOM DOORS SLIDES BROKE.  SO INSTEAD OF SLIDING BEDROOM DOORS WE HAVE A QUILT HUNG TO KEEP THE COOL AIR IN THE BEDROOM WHILE SLEEPING.

WOULDN’T YOU KNOW IT, THE BATHROOM DOOR LATCH EXPLODED THE SAME DAY WITH SPRING AND PARTS ALL OVER THE FLOOR……

OH WELL, THAT MAKES IT EASIER FOR SUSIE TO OPEN THE DOOR, SINCE SHE CAN NO LONGER EASILY SLIDE UNDER IT.

GONE ARE THE RATTLESNAKES.  PHOENIX TV NEWS REPORTED THAT THE VETERINARIANS IN THE AREA TREATED FOUR TIMES MORE DOGS FOR RATTLESNAKE BITES THIS SPRING.  THE EXPERTS SEEM TO THINK THAT THE WETTER THAN USUAL WINTER HAD SOMETHING TO DO WITH THIS ODD RATTLESNAKE BEHAVIOR.

OF COURSE WITH THE DISAPPEARANCE OF THE RATTLESNAKES COMES A MOUSE BLOG…..

I SEE SUSIE-Q PAWING AWAY FURIOUSLY AT MARY’S LAPTOP. STAY TUNED.

 

Finishing The Dock

The old carpeting was shot after 10 years or so in the brutal Wisconsin climate. New carpeting was in order. Here the first two pieces are laid, the old connecting ramp and the new extension........

....here the carpeting is all on, but the edging trim is not finished...........

....here it is all finished and the boats are in place waiting for the weather to turn to summer (which it has)...........

.....two major do-it-yourself accomplishments:

1. The total cost of the project was $375 (plus a case of beer for the "straightening" crew.)


2. We did not disturb Steve (in the picture). He is a five pound bass that lives under the dock.


The OD would say "I love it when a plan comes together"

By Uncle Hans

Boat Ramp Building

Now, I am like Rex when it comes to tools. But what has to be done, well, it just gets done. (not very well or attractively). We started on the connecting ramp extension a few days later.......

.....I drafted Spencer, Renee's youngest, for some help..........

....we measured, and sawed, and moved around concrete support blocks, just like we knew what we were doing.......

....but nothing worked. A ramp did not appear. So we got Renee to help us. Then. Presto! It started to look like a ramp........

 

I think there is a blog yet to come on the finishing of the project..........

By Uncle Hans

Boat Dock Repairs

You may remember that when the ice went out (on a previous blog) on Cable Lake, it pushed my dock/boatlift. This was a first in 10 years. Today is the day we try to straighten it.............

....we had to move the connecting ramp...........

.....then we brought in the muscle, Jason's Bobcat............

 
 
....we took the planking of it to make it lighter, and put some boards under the wheels on the far or lake end.............

....then Jason did his magic and properly straightened the thing........

....then we replaced the connecting ramp. The pile of debris in the foreground is the old carpeting...........

....because the lake has dropped 24 inches in the last three years, the "straightening" also included moving it out farther in the lake. The dock was just barely usable it was so shallow and the boatlift has ceased to be of any use. That move left a 10 foot gap in the connecting ramp.

And that is the subject of the next blog!............

By Uncle Hans

GOLD MINE

THE AREA AROUND OATMAN IS PEPPERED WITH GOLD MINE SHAFTS.  THERE ARE SEVERAL WITHIN HIKING DISTANCE OF THE CAMPER.  THEY WERE ABANDONED A COUPLE OF GENERATIONS AGO.

 

TODAY THEY ARE JUST DEEP DANGEROUS HOLES IN THE GROUND.

 

BESIDES NOT FALLING IN, YOU JUST HAVE TO DROP A ROCK DOWN THE SHAFT AND LISTEN TO HEAR IT CLANK IT’S WAY DOWN.

ON THE LEFT ARE THE MINE TAILINGS FROM THIS MINE SHAFT AND YOU CAN SEE THE CAMPER ACROSS THE VALLY.

 

HERE I’LL ZOOM IN, FROM THE SAME SPOT.

 

AS YOU CAN SEE WE HAVE NO NEIGHBORS IN SIGHT.  WE BOTH ENJOY THE QUIET AND BEAUTIFUL SURROUNDINGS.