A Little "Help" Goes a Long Way

J' got some super good shots of the "hotties" this morning...I guess I'm getting used to the sounds they make, I didn't even budge when he got up.

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Over the last couple of days we have acquired some good stuff. Our friend, Mikey, did some spring cleaning in his rig and asked us if we wanted his cooler...reflectix and all! He will be leaving us and going East for about a month and during that time will buy himself an actual fridge, he will not have room for both and rarely uses the cooler for cooling, more so for storage, so we happily accepted the offer and now have a sweet set-up for cooling. The cooler we were using and this cooler are actually the same size (50 Quart), but the new cooler is an extreme 6 day, it locks down, it's thicker and with the already fitted reflectix it's like another barrier, the ice actually does stay ice much longer. We've had to get used to the length of it just a bit: we have to use a long funnel now to put water into our water bottles and it sticks out a little bit more to use the potty in the middle of the night...but nothing we can't get used to and overcome. There are some advantages as well. The top of it is all flat, it doesn't dip in the middle so I can use it as a table now...couldn't do that before. The outside also has two handles so it's easier to get it out of its hole, PLUS, the wheels are in the back...easier for sliding it out and in (yep, that's what she said). It's made a huge difference and we are very happy with the decision. The other cooler, for now, is storage...great more stuff! haha

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Remember when J' got me those awesome clips at O'Reilly? We were there getting leaf spring helpers for Joon. In case some of you don't know what leaf spring helpers are, (I didn't), here's a little run down...**copied right out of Wikipedia:

**Leaf springs are a simple form of spring, commonly used for suspension. The leaf spring acts as a linkage for holding the axle in position and thus separate linkage are not necessary. It makes the construction of the suspension simple and strong.** The leaf spring helper attaches to the bottom of the leaf spring providing more support. Our helpers will provide 1,500+ lbs. of support to the back leaf springs.

It was great to find some wood in the cactus and bushes around here when we set-up camp because they were a great help to the jack stands, keeping them on more firm ground than the soft sand here. J' got under the van and put the leaf spring helpers on by himself...how handy is he!!?

Now we have more support in the back! Woo hoo...we've wanted and needed that for a 'minute'. Also, having the tires off and being able to see underneath Joon was a good thing due to us being able to see our muffler hanger had broken. A quick trip into a good auto body shop in town, ABC Auto Body, to weld it back together was all we needed and we were back in business. We may have a few tweaks here and there with the helpers but, so far, so good!

We've been busy little bees, haven't we?

Not as busy as this little guy though...he was partying hard in the pollen!

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PEACE

The Weekend Wedge

Here's a little wedge of our weekend for ya...

Just about every morning, especially on the weekends, we get woken up by the "ssshhhhhhhhhhhhh" of hot air balloons over the van. I think we may be part of their fly over tour now!

Savannah is finally chewing on the bone we bought for her almost a year ago! Well, she carries it around more than she chews on it but she's paying attention to it and that makes me happy. See, I found it in the depths of her crate the other day and saw it had not even one single bite mark on it, so I put it in a ziploc bag, poured a little bit of bbq sauce, some bacon molasses seasoning and a few squirts of water in and let it marinade for two days. Needless to say, she carries it everywhere with her now...silly girl...but it does make me happy!

Miss Cheri popped in for a little lunch date. It was a nice surprise...and she brought these amazing rolls from Fry's. Oh.My.Goodness...these rolls (or whatever they were). They are considered gourmet bread, J' calls them bagels, I call them rolls, Miss Cheri calls them amazing bread...and we all call them scrumpdiddlyumptious! The bread almost looks like a big croissant and has cheese and green chiles baked into it. They are to die for, we are definitely going to have to throw these into the mix!

It was nice to see her and she was able to see Mikey again as well.

Even though most of our weekends are just like any other part of the week, it's always nice to be able to take a load off, sit down, enjoy good food, good conversation, have a few laughs and bask in the ambiance of knowing how good we have it out here. Some people think we are just wandering aimlessly through the desert and for those people, I feel sad that they don't get to experience the amazing life we have made for ourselves out here or get to meet the totally awesome people that have become like family to us. If this is wandering aimlessly through, well...anywhere...We'll take it!

PEACE