Winners

A quick update. We left the house yesterday after a very busy few days at home. Lots of list of upgrades or get rid of checked off the list this weekend. Our fridge should be in Thursday. It had been delayed due to weather.

We found a decent washer and dryer that is cheap and used but under warranty still. Some clutch or bearing is going out of the washer we had. And nobody wants to work on it because it is old. My brother uses his second bedroom as his dryer with clotheslines he rigged. He is happy to take our old still in good condition dryer.

Wrangler found one of those who gets furniture every year or two. They don’t ask much for the old furniture and it is in pristine condition. So we have a new couch and loveseat. Our old furniture went to neighbors who have very little. We just now need to find a recliner that matches. It can either be black or brown leather so we have options. The couch is very comfortable and the other night we fell asleep watching a movie and woke up at one when Rex needed out. Our old couch was so uncomfortable nobody sat on it.

We also got rid of a pick-up and tractor this weekend. And have somebody interested on an old semi Wrangler took on trade. Plus our horse trailer has a new home to go to as soon as we empty the tack room out. The bale trailer has went to its new home. We are slowly getting our sell list down.

Thank you all for voting on which pictures I should enter into a photo contest. I also posted it on my photography page on Facebook. So the results I am going to post are the combined winners of the two.

I have captured a ton of pictures this weekend. I love my new padded insert that I can put in my purse. On our treks I had my camera handy. I hate taking pictures on my cell phone now unless it is something to text or something of a reminder.

Contest winner and my favorite. It will be submitted.

Second place by the vote (my 3rd choice). It will also be submitted.

Third place (my second choice). It will not be submitted this time.

I have another contest I am going to enter at the end of next month. This coming contest pictures can be taken anywhere in Kansas of anything. So I will dig up my top favorites and let you vote again.

Goodbye

This weekend we have been saying goodbye to a lot of things. Our tractor sold. Along with a pick-up that was traded for something else. We bought a new couch and loveseat. It is now time to say goodbye to the last century furniture.

Sometimes changes are needed to keep life interesting. We are slowly upgrading some of our used on a tight budget items for things of better quality quality and from this century.

We are home until tomorrow afternoon. Today is supposed to be 60. I plan to spend time outside.

At home

We arrived home at six last night for the weekend.  I am happy to be out of the truck for a few days. 

Monday is going to be our errand day.  So today I am going to try and get tax stuff done so it can go to the accountant.  I am so close to being able to turn it over.  I am hoping the last couple of documents are in the mail.

Yesterday two hours south of the house it was 50 out when we unloaded.  I was out of the truck in my short sleeve sweater and was plenty warm.  It was a nice break compared to being cold.  It is supposed to be in the sixties at home by midweek.

Our new fridge was delayed because of the weather.  So we have another weekend of roughing it.  The camper fridge is cold and keeping things fresh so that is good news.

The first four years in this house we struggled with freezing pipes.  At the end of winter 2019 after a really rough winter we had enough.   We put in an inline shut off with a drain.  And through the drain side we can hook up a garden hose if the pipes underground are froze.  Now when we leave in the winter we shut off the water and drain it.

This cold had us worried though.  We thought that the inlet pipe past the shut off and drain might be froze.   We turned the water on and had water with no issues.  This was after 14 days in the freezer with 7 of them single digit or below highs. 

The guest bathroom sewer is still froze from the weekend the cold started.   We did not know the toilet ran because it never made noise.  But we still can use the master bathroom and kitchen.  Wrangler is going to put a heater on the pipe today to see if it will thaw.

Vote

I am entering a western Kansas sunset photo contest. Please let me know your two favorites so I can help chosing which ones to enter.

Photo 1

Photo 2

Photo 3

Photo 4

Photo 5

Thank you for letting me know your favorites.

What’s next

Yesterday my meter of wanting to be in the truck hit negative much like the temperatures of late. It will be good to get home. But it will be a short weekend from the sounds of it. We may be going back to being home every weekend for the next few weeks.

I was awake before the alarm yesterday. Wrangler was still asleep when there was a knock on the door. They wanted us to unload right then. My problem with that is that they had no idea when we arrived. Was it seven at night or four in the morning. Plus they unleashed the grumpy mood that had been right under the surface for Wrangler.

We are back under a grain trailer and the change of dispatch has been a challenge. The dispatcher plans for no waits or possible issues. And when they happen the impossible is expected. The plant we have been hauling out of was shut down by the gas and electric company’s to use the resources elsewhere.

On another note there was never any rolling blackouts at home. We drain our water system in the house in the winter after shutting the water. Our biggest problems in the past since doing this is pipes underground freezing. That is our biggest fear heading home. But we also have put a bypass in with the drain set up that we can run off of a garden hose if needed.

Interesting

The last few days have been interesting to say the least. Valentines night we met up with a good friend for supper. It was a nice time catching up.

Yesterday we were chasing down number 1 diesel to haul. We finally arrived at a location with some and corporate was closed due to power outages President day. Now we are set up in the system and they are out. We are on standby.

We tried eating lunch in a truck stop. We had ordered our food when a rolling blackout came through. Rolling blackouts for those who are not dealing with them are where they start shutting down power to different areas for a half hour to an hour to take some of the toll of the power grids in this extreme cold.

When we went to leave we could not get out of the truck stop. They had the doors locked to cut down on theft.

For supper we used door dash. At least we were not sitting in a cold restaurant waiting on the food with no power.

This morning we are on standby waiting on a plan.

Cold Sunday

We are having a brutally cold Sunday. We are stopped for the day and we are getting ready to go out to eat.

We have been hauling fuel. We are on short runs.

Yesterday was the first day in 8 days we saw sun. I took pictures even braving the cold.

Round 19

Since our week off the first week of January we are on round number 19 or the same run. Others in the company are getting to go to different locations but not us.

As the weekend arrives so does the threat of snow. I see in our future time cooling our heals in a truck stop due to bad roads.

So far on our runs we have only had issues with our windows constantly fogging up. But that is it so far once we got the truck thawed out that is.

I finished the main part of the teddy bear blanket. The ears I need mom to double check the pattern on. Something does not seem to be right with it. I have been working on towel toppers and dish rags part of a wedding gift.

Thawing out

If your not aware of it the Midwest is a freezer right now. Back home they are calling for ten to fifteen days below freezing for the highs. Some of the highs are barely above zero. It all started Saturday and has become colder every day.

Where Elmo was parked all weekend it had lows of negative fifteen instead of the negative five back home. The warmest temperature we saw yesterday was five degrees.

Monday I worked in the office the majority of the day before giving the house a good cleaning. I still need to mop but there is snow on the ground and because the boys dry on the tile I decided to wait.

It snowed pretty much the whole time we were home with no more than an hour or two of breaks. But out of that we have about two inches of snow.

Our guest bathroom is out of commission until the thaw happens. The sewar pipe is froze. Guess the toilet runs and we did not know about it until now. Oh well Wrangler can use the other bathroom. He just says there is to much activity around it. Since it is not a necessity we decided to just let it be instead of fighting to unthaw it.

We shut off the water to the house and drained the system when we left. This is the normal routine during winter.

Yesterday was interesting. When Wrangler woke up he had a message from the company owner wanting us back as soon as we could be. So I had to put a wiggle on packing.

When I was in the shower right before we left Wrangler slipped and fell. He ended up hurting himself some where he is limping but he stubbornly turned down a trip to the doctor or chiropractor to get checked out. So when his complaining gets bad I am pointing that out.

As we were leaving the house Wrangler did not think the blower motor was working right. He stopped at our part store and picked one up but did not have the tools needed to change it. Halfway through the trip it would work for around twenty minutes and slowly stop working. If you banged on it the motor would work again. So that was the last two hours of our trip. Thirty minutes out from the company yard a deer took out the grill of the Suburban. It is still driveable but looks awful.

We get to the company yard where Elmo was parked and Elmo would not start even being plugged in. The fuel filter ended up being froze. So Elmo was pushed and pulled into the company shop where it thawed out all night. We slept inside. It was 23 inside Elmo when we pulled it inside. An hour and a half later it was 66. So we were warm to sleep.

This morning Elmo fired right up. And our trailer showed up at six so we are rolling down the road. We are hoping things go easier as the week goes on. But with the cold you have more issues.

The pictures are of a dove in the tree a little bit outside of the kitchen window. I feel bad for the birds right now. All we can do is feed them.

Hibernation

We were not successful acquiring a fridge yesterday. They had to order one in. Everything on stock they would not sell because it is a display model or they are the wrong size for our space. One place could not get one in before April. Who can wait that long for a fridge. We will have a fridge our next weekend home. In the meantime our freezer is not working and the fridge is iffy so it only has drinks. The camper fridge is full.

We had a very busy errand day yesterday. My energy was better but by seven I was wiped out.

We now have a more offical schedule now. Home four days. Gone a week and a half.

Today has been filled with paperwork while Wrangler slept. Then we had a lazy day. I quilted and read a book. We have been watching Western’s. The temperature is cold and dropping. The next seven to ten days is below freezing in the forecast.

We woke up to an inch of snow yesterday. Today has been foggy. Ans tonight it has snowed some more.