Get in, Get out, get on with it

We always say, "Okay, this is going to be a quick trip 'in' (meaning into Fresno). We are just going to do these three things and be home, bada-bing, bada-boom!" As you can imagine, this is much easier said than done, but we still go for it! We had to go into Fresno to get rid of this damn Thermo-electric cooler that is sucking all of our power and we have decided we will be going with a nice Navy Blue 5-day cooler instead...at least we know what we're getting!

[caption id="attachment_849" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Out with the old...[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_850" align="aligncenter" width="225"] ...in with Big Blue[/caption]

After our very short (thank goodness) trip to Wal-mart, we headed off to Home Depot where J' got some parts to hinge up the solar and I downloaded pics to snapfish...gotta love their free wifi! Good thing I stayed and did this too, first it was 94 degrees outside and didn't want the bug staying in the van by her lonesome (I can always turn the van on) and J' was in Home Depot for an hour and if I have to stay in that store that long you might just find me at the end of one of their ropes...so I stay in the van and get stuff done!

[caption id="attachment_851" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Helloooooo free wi-fi![/caption]

[caption id="attachment_852" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Such a daddy's girl...patiently waiting[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_853" align="aligncenter" width="300"] I had to get some pic. action, too[/caption]

After our "quick stop" at T.H.D., we drove on over to Winco to stock up on a few more items since some of our meat went bad. Last time we were here, we just wanted to get in and out, this time we took the time and walked all the way to the back for their meat selection and let me tell you, it's like a meat warehouse back there. Their meat section is humungoid, they have all fresh meats on one wall and in the middle area of this section and then all bagged meats on the other side of this section. If you are a meat lover, you would never want to leave this place. J' and I talked about moving in, but we didn't want to deal with the all of the people in our 'house'! haha

[caption id="attachment_854" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Only half of the meat section![/caption]

We got meat, sodas, some veggies, and even some lunch; a nice rotisserie chicken that only cost $3.98 and this baby was big! Scrumptious in our bellies! Oh and some ice, only .98 cents for a 10 lb. bag, can't beat that. We were smart this time and re-bagged all of our meat there in the parking lot so we didn't have to go through the same mess with that again and then we were on our way home. You might think that this was a quick trip, in and out...but it was about 3:00 already. How does that happen? On our way back up, we had to pull over and fix some things in the back and pulled over to a field, I asked J' to pull up a little more than he wanted so I could talk to the cows... I LOVE Cows! I talked to them and they just looked at me like, Yeah man, totally and then loud mouth (Savannah) had to come to the rescue and scare them away, they were like, "F* this man we're outtie!" Thanks butt-head!

[caption id="attachment_855" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Holy Cow[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_856" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Gettin' dissed by the moo's[/caption]

 Then...we drove. Don't know if I've ever showed you what we get to look at when we go up and down the mountain but I think it's pretty... so here are some photos of what you've been missing. It's pretty much all dead, but I think you can find beauty in anything, so here ya go...

[caption id="attachment_859" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Going into Fresno[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_857" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Heading back up the mountain[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_858" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Going up[/caption]

When we got back up the mountain we had to stop (again) at the hardware store due to a miscommunication about a package of ours. After many phone calls for many hours and many people having no idea what I was talking about, we found our package and picked it up at the first place we went to this morning...the hardware store! There was our package all taped up and ready to be opened!

[caption id="attachment_860" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Like Christmas, except we already know what it is![/caption]

My dad & Syd sent us our comforter, that we thought we weren't going to need out here, but it's getting a little chilly so it's nice to have it back...and she even washed it for us, thanks 'rents!

[caption id="attachment_861" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Some good snugglin' is about to happen![/caption]

It does need some fixin' though and I so wish I had brought my machine, my fabric, my thread, etc... but we just don't have the room...booooo. I think we might go to the thrift store next time we go into town and get some fabric or old sheets or something so I can fix it and maybe even make Nana a toy or something...feeling domestic these days! The rest of the night, since we got back pretty close to dark, was spent lounging around. J' looked at all of his goodies he got at Home Depot and I was able to put the bed down with the door open (my fave) and snuggle with the bug while watching the boob tube.

[caption id="attachment_862" align="aligncenter" width="225"] 2 bugs in a rug![/caption]

Pretty good day, we accomplished a lot in a pretty short amount of time and things are good. We have (good) cold food and drinks, got some parts for hinging up the solar and got to get out of camp for a bit. Awesome Blossom.

Have a restful night and we'll catch ya on the flip side yo

PEACE

 

 

Mocked by an Iceless Cooler

 Even with the days being different most of them usually just intertwine into each other and make for one really long day instead of 7 separate days! This week some very chilly showers have been taken, the weather is changing a little bit at a time each day but the winds that come through here can be a bit extreme...especially when you're 'nekkid' and wet!

[caption id="attachment_832" align="aligncenter" width="225"] Clean and pristine jellybean[/caption]

I cleaned our grill...didn't know it was that nasty. We actually had an interesting night the other night, okay... You know how we were trying out that new iceless cooler (Thermoelectric)? Well we bought it last Saturday, we plugged it into our system and it did really good the first 36 hours, it got down to 34 degrees...not too shabby! We did our other errands in Fresno (with sun hitting the solar the entire day) and headed back up the mountain. We kept it plugged in the first night into the next day and woke up to a mostly cloudy day, our solar was on a yellow light just about the entire day...not good. We unplugged the cooler during the night due to the temperatures being much cooler when the sun's not out. The next day was cloudy too and the solar barely caught up to a green light. We went through this for the next few days, plugging this thing in and unplugging that thing, until finally we were at a loss with yellow lights on the solar and having no cold food...we were going to have to return it. I think about the last night or so we were going to cook all of the chicken so it wouldn't go bad and actually J' was going to cook ME dinner! What a treat!! When he went to get the chicken (that we forgot to bag-out into different bags) out of the cooler, I guess it took him a minute to process what was going on. There was chicken juice all over the bottom of the cooler, like 2 inches thick. Thank goodness we just had sodas in there at that point. So he took the bag and rushed it over to the "kitchen" all the while it's pouring out of the bag everywhere...in the van, in front of where we open our side door, all the way to the grill, on top of the table, the grill, the garbage...it was a HUGE mess. He ended up making dinner very quickly due to all of our hundred thousand new yellow jacket friends that wanted to partake in our juice party! We ended up being prisoners in the van for the rest of the night due to the volume of the little buggers. The next morning I woke up and looked straight at the grill to see if they were still around...there were still loads of them, great! I got up, unhooked the grill from the propane and went to the other side of the rocks to clean it. I didn't have anything to really scrub it with, so I just got some of our Simple Green and some aluminum foil (for a scrubbie) and went to town (the foil actually worked). Boy, did she need it too! I figured this would be a good pre-cleanse before we take off in the next month or so anyway.

[caption id="attachment_834" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Pretty darn clean![/caption]

 So after our whole grill-chicken-yellow jacket thing and a lot of cleaning everywhere, we decided that the "cooler" has to go back, it's just sucking way too much power and it's just not for us. We would take it back in a couple of days, all of our meat is already cooked and we were waiting for a package to be delivered to Shaver Lake in the next couple of days so we could wait. The following day was pretty much full of boredom, there are just those days that nothing you do is fun or motivating and you just want it to be a new day or you want to be somewhere or do something different. We went down into the brush and walked around, probably a bit too comfortable with nothing but shorts and flops on. I mean, if there were snakes and goblins anywhere it would definitely be where we were walking, but being up here so long and not seeing anything you get a little too lax I think. We walked around, in bushes, through rocks and their crevices...I was actually pretty proud of myself for not freaking out. I was more scared of spiders than anything because those things are so small you can't even see them half the time then, you look over your shoulder and there they are sitting there, along for the ride....creepy!

[caption id="attachment_838" align="aligncenter" width="225"] In the brush[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_839" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Bug in the brush[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_840" align="aligncenter" width="300"] A different view of our camp site! From down unda'[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_841" align="aligncenter" width="225"] She's so cute![/caption]

After our hike through the woods, we sat for a little while longer and then J' wanted to go for another round of walking...probably the most "exercise" he's gotten in one day in a while (all he does is work!). We were just going to walk up to say hi to SoulRaven but when we got there, he wasn't there so we kept walking down to The Passion Post where "the town" was a buzzing! Everyone was there sitting around, chit-chatting.

They had all gone down to Shaver Lake for the day...our invitation was lost in the mail I think! It's all good, they invited us to go with them this coming Tuesday which I'm super super duper stoked about, I've been wanting to go to the lake this whole time but it's kind of hard with one vehicle which, even if I could have it for the day, would not be driving out of here myself...not on these rocks! J' always wants to work and I tell him he needs a mental break sometimes but he never wants to take it, so I'm stoked to go play with the other kids in the neighborhood, get some good sun and just take it all in from a different perspective! Oh and Miss Trish got us some awesome seasonings, what a sweetheart thinking of us like that! Thanks Miss Trish...love ya doll!

[caption id="attachment_844" align="aligncenter" width="300"] Our food even gets yummy stuff![/caption]

 We are planning on Fresno tomorrow to return that cooler so wish us luck and I'll let you know how it goes and what we get to put in its place. Tata for now my peeps.

PEACE