Living Among Sasquatch: a Primer is Published

Living Among Sasquatch:  a Primer is published.  Not on purpose, but those of you who know me, know me.

In Bleecker in the summer, we live among Sasquatch.   Yep.  They're all around, and no one is more amazed and baffled as I am.  So, last year, I decided to document our findings in a book, primarily using entries in this blog, and adding to it as time passed.  Time did pass, and a book was the result.

I looked around for a publisher, not expecting much.  First time authors are impossible to publish, but I found a publisher in the UK who was considering it.  In the meantime, I started working through self publishing on Lulu.com.  I'd go to it every few days, work on it a bit, and hit the button marked "save and continue".  Fine.

Yesterday morning, while working through the web pages, I got to "save and finish".  OK.  I hit it, and the screen said something to the effect of "Congratulations!  Your book is published!".   What?  Published?  Why didn't the button say "Save and publish"!

So I am an author.  I posted a link to my book on Lulu.com and sold one.  So now I am a professional author.

I am actually pretty proud of this book.  It is all truthful, and quite honestly, to me, pretty amazing.  How would you feel if you found that leprechauns were real?  Or unicorns?  That's how I feel about Sasquatch.

Oh well, besides two blogs (this one and Drift Away) and a handful of magazine articles, I am now an author of books.  I'd have a victory beer, but it is 4:15 AM here.  Probably not a good idea.

The book is available on Lulu.com now.  Click the link below.  This is a collector's edition because I haven't read the proof yet, so things like the copyright page are missing.  Someday, it will be worth millions, no doubt.

Living Among Sasquatch: a Primer

Christmas in Florida

Christmas in Florida is... different.  Yeah, I know that the weather back in New York has been very warm, but Florida is ridiculous.

80 degrees and humid.  That means that all the females had to get in the water.  I drank victory beers.  The victory was that I didn't have to get in the water.

Merry Christmas! Good News and Bad News..

The good news is that we got our grandson to babysit on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day!

You can see how miserable Pam and I are, our Christmas totally ruined.

The bad news?  We have the grandbaby because daughter Megan is in the ER.  At first they thought it was appendicitis, but now think it is a twisted something.  Poor Megan.  Not a Merry Christmas for her.   Christmas Day in the hospital, and we're not giving her the baby back.  She can make another one.  We're keeping this one.

The Christmas Tree Is Up and Decorated

Whew.

Time for a victory beer.

Its Beginning To Look A Lot Like Christmas...

... said no one in Florida.  Ever.

Two Years Ago Today...

A nice feature that I enjoy on Facebook.

Our unabomber cabin decked out for the holidays.

20 Day Until Christmas!

It is hard to believe that 2015 is almost behind us.  Where has the time gone?

Andy Rooney has a famous quote that "Life is like a roll of toilet paper.  The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes."

You might have noticed that Bleecker Mountain Life isn't updated daily.  Well... part of that is because we aren't on Bleecker Mountain any more, but in Fort McCoy Florida for the winter.  I just can't post "Today I got up, drank coffee, saved the world on Facebook with my savvy political views, and then drank beer and shot pool.  Went to bed.  The next day I got up, drank coffee..." But so far as the last few days, I've been extremely ill.  Food poisoning from eating peas.  Yep.  My mother-in-law's refrigerator died and she bought a new one, but lost all of her food.  Somehow, a package of frozen peas didn't make it to the trash.

For you who came here from my Drift Away blog, I was perusing it tonight and found one of my favorites.  Enjoy Elmer and Myrtle.  Just click the link below.

It Doesn't Take Much To Amuse Me

The Real Wayne's World

In September, Pam and I, and Pam's mom Judi, were at Vrooman's restaurant in Caroga Lake for wings.  We were sitting at the bar and I was sitting next to a fella dressed in motorcycle gear.  We struck up a conversation.  Wayne is a free spirit,  He lived on a sailboat for a time, sold it, and bought a motorcycle to cruise around in  He was traveling from Michigan to Maine before heading to Pennsylvania to work on a farm and then on to Florida.

Wayne was tenting at night.  I offered him the use of our RV for the night, which he gratefully accepted.  We dropped him off and warned him about our Sasquatches.

I think you'll enjoy his video.  We come in at the 8:30 mark.  

What's the big deal about a screaming Sasquatch?

At My Wit's End

Just as we were sitting down to Thanksgiving dinner, a HUGE dog fight broke out outside.  Ruby guards her toys, and Olivia snagged one.  Ruby, being Ruby, snapped at Olivia, which she has done before and isn't a problem.  But the pit we just rescued, Lilly, took that as a sign to attack and did.  Lilly tore into Olivia with a vengeance.  Ruby thought the way to control the situation was to pin down Olivia, which she did.  By the time I got out there, daughter Megan and Pam had them pulled apart.  Lilly was desperately trying to kill Olivia, and Olivia was hurt badly and spurting blood out of her front left leg.

We spent Thanksgiving at the veterinarian ER.  I drove.  Now, normally I drive like an old lady.  45 MPH is about my top speed.  But thinking that Olivia was going to bleed to death, despite the tourniquet applied by Pam, I was driving 85 MPH and going through red lights.

Olivia will be fine.  Lilly, not so much.  We're inclined to put her down.  What if this was a child?  We don't know about Lilly's upbringing.  Or lack of it, actually, since she has no manners.  What are we to do?  We cannot harbor a vicious dog, yet until Thanksgiving,  Lilly has been an overly friendly and wonderful dog.

I am at my wit's end.

Coral Snake!

"Red to yellow, kill a fellow; red to black, venom lack" .  That's a rhyme taught to Florida school children to help them identify coral snakes, a very deadly venomous snake.  But thankfully, your chances of being bitten by one are very small.  Their mouths are too small to grab onto much of anything, except something like the webbing between your fingers or toes.

Having dogs, I'd be very concerned about one of our dogs sniffing it and then getting bit on the lip.

I'm grateful that Bleecker doesn't have coral snakes.  I'll stick with bears, coyotes, and Sasquatches.

Pam's New Toy

Pam's new toy is a Heritage Rough Rider revolver, given to her as a birthday gift from our Florida neighbor Denny.  I was actually going to buy one for her for Christmas.  I decided to buy her the next best thing, a hand tooled holster.

Now she's all set for her 'squatchin' expedition in December.

The Difference Between an Ordeal and an Adventure is Attitude

"The Difference Between an Ordeal and an Adventure is Attitude".   Pam and I have a plaque that says that.  First it was on our boat, and later in Harvey the RV.  Depending on your attitude, we've certainly had one or the other.

This has got to be the longest snowbird migration from north to Florida at 16 days. It also has to be the most expensive at $8,000.  Granted, $4,000 of that was for hearing aids bought from the Walker center at Cabella's, but I wouldn't have bought them had we not been stranded in Pennsylvania for six  days waiting for new brake lines.

100 miles from Lexington, Virginia, the tread on one of Harvey's rear tires had had enough and decided to leave our family, and we limped along at 50 MPH the rest of the way to Lazy Acres. We love it there and sometimes chose to spend two nights, but since it took longer to get all of Harvey's old dry rotted tires replaced, we stayed six.

But we are finally in Florida, happy but $8,000 poorer.  Pam is very happy because she has decided to stop mumbling and I no longer ask her to repeat herself.  I can also now hear birds and peepers at night, which is nice.  I can also hear people eat potato chips and apples though.

But it is nice to finally be in Florida.  Adventure, or ordeal?  I'm thinking about it.

Lazy Acres Dog Play!

It rained most of yesterday and the dogs were cooped up in the RV all day.  Today the weather broke.  Pam took the dogs out in a pasture where they found a pond to swim in.  Lilly has to be the dumbest dog on the planet.  She swam out to the middle and then couldn't figure out how to get back to shore.  She was swimming around in circles.  Ruby, our dark brown pit, who fortunately is smarter than Lassie, recognized that Lilly was tiring and needed saving.  She swam out and kept nudging Lilly until she was close enough to shore for Pam to grab.

Later, we put them in the arena to play.  It was a game of "let's see if we can catch Olivia the Pointer".  It was actually pretty funny to watch.  Olivia would let them get close and then kick it into high gear, literally leaving them in her dust.

Even Leo Pard the cat wanted to run.

Birds!!

Tomorrow, I get the rest of the tires put on the RV, and we should be back on the road on Tuesday, early, since we're going to shoot for South Carolina.

"Stuck" Again, This Time in Lexington, Virginia

After spending almost a week in Bethel, PA (and dropping a couple of thousand bucks) we finally got underway to Lexington, Virginia.  I was concerned about the RV's tires after having been warned by Chad at 61 Auto that they were really old and should be replaced.  I'll do that once we get to Florida.

Well, needless to say that the treads peeled right off one.  There was some wild vibrations, a huge WHAP as the tread hit the wheel well, and a strong burning smell.  I have four tires on the back, so the RV was still driveable, but I got off at the first exit I came to, to check it out.

What you see in the pic above are the steel cords.

We decided to limp the last 100 miles to Lexington at 50 MPH, which we did without incident.

On Friday, I brought the RV to a TA truck service shop.  They could get their hands on five tires, which I had put on.  The sixth will be there on Monday, so Tuesday we head out for Charlotte.

If you break down, consider Lexington Virginia, and Lazy Acres in particular.  This hardly sucks at all.

To top it off we met Pete and Tooney who are as insane as we are.  They're traveling with two horses three dogs, a rabbit, a sheep, and a pig.

Still "Stuck" in Bethel, PA

A brake line in Harvey the RV blew out last week and we couldn't leave Windy Ridge Farm for Lexington, Virginia.  We're "stuck".  I put "stuck" in quotation marks because, quite honestly, we could have been stuck on the road, or plastered at the base of a huge tree at the bottom of a hill on interstate 81.  This is hardly "stuck".

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So while Harvey the RV is getting his brake lines replaced, we're staying in a motel with a strict "no pets" policy.  This is the dog bed they gave us for Ruby.

Sadly, the other three dogs spend nights in a stall in the barn at Windy Ridge Farms.  Hopefully, we'll all be a family and together again tonight.

Bleecker NY to Bethel PA

The pump house was done for this year.  The last task was to make the Dutch door.  Well, it is a single door now, but next year I'll cut it in half, in place.

Our last evening in Bleecker was beautiful, with a gorgeous full moon.

The next morning was cold and frosty, a sign of what is coming.  

We loaded up the four dogs, two cats, horse, and two goats and headed off the mountain to Florida.  I couldn't find the adapter to plug the trailer lights into the RV, so I lead, and Pam followed towing the horse trailer.

I could tell that the trailer I was towing for Judi was much heavier than the last few times I hauled it, but I didn't realize how heavy until I hit hills.  Going downhill, Harvey the RV was being pushed and I was riding the brakes.  Going uphill, Harvey struggled.  In Pennsylvania it was especially bad.  I'd slow to 40 MPH on the uphills and ride my brakes going down.  But on the back roads to Windy Ridge Farms was stunningly bad.  At one hill, the best Harvey could manage was 5 MPH, and even then I thought the engine was going to blow.  Harvey's engine shuddered and shook and the temperature gauge was soaring, but then I finally crested the hill.  I then had to stand on the brakes to slow Harvey on the downhill side.

Finally  we arrived at Windy Ridge, one of our favorite stops.  Judy treated us to dinner and then it was off to bed, exhausted from the drive.  The next morning we were ready to head to Lexington, Virginia at 9:30.  It was a gorgeous foggy morning.

Unfortunately, I started the RV, put my foot on the brake, and the pedal went right to the floor.  Standing on the brakes on the final hill was the final straw, and I blew out a brake line.

Thankfully, I was smart enough to sign up for AAA premier RV towing.  A Peterbilt tow truck arrived to tow us to an RV repair facility.

Pam told AAA that we were traveling with many animals and it was important for us to get this fixed ASAP.  But when we arrived at Tom Schaeffer RV, we were told they couldn't look at it until December.  Fortunately, the tow truck driver took pity on us and called in a favor from a buddy.  Harvey is at his shop and should be done by Monday at the latest.

So what of the animals?  The horse and goats are in stalls in the barn at Windy Ridge.  Sadly, so too are three of our four dogs.  They must feel abandoned, again.  We have Ruby, the smart one, who wouldn't understand being left in a stall, so we paid extra to have her in our no-pets motel.  

The cats are locked in the RV.

We have a sign in the RV that we also had in our trawler, Drift Away.  The difference between an ordeal and an adventure is attitude.

Pump House Walls Done

Today was a productive day.  I worked on the pump house for five hours, the limit of my endurance.  I finished the gable ends of the walls and built shutters for the windows, which we'll put up tomorrow after it stops raining.

I'll make the door tomorrow as well.

Left to right below is a kerosene heater, the 65 gallon water tank that I'll build a floor in the peak for, and a shallow well pump.

It is getting close.

Putting the Ridge Cap on the Pump House

YAY!   The pump house roof is finished!  The last thing to do was to put the ridge cap on, but I didn't want to do it without someone there.  I crawled up on the roof to screw the roof on and it made me nervous.  Enameled metal roofing is as slippery as a waxed playground slide.

Pam started it, but she's afraid of heights and lost her nerve despite that would award her six bravery points for doing so.  So up I went.  It all went fine with me straddling the ridge, screwing in the screws to hold it down.  And then I got charlie horses in both legs!  OWWWWWW!   I stretched out as best I could until they eased up.

The only things left for this year are shutters for the two windows and the door, put plexiglass in the eaves, and it is done.  Next year, I'll insulate the roof and walls and cover with 1x10s, build a cover over the well, build a support for the water tank going up by the roof, and plumb in the shallow pump well.  Then it is done done.

Lilly Versus the Goats.

I took all four dogs over to our property today to work on the pump house.  It was the first time for Lilly, and apparently the first time she'd ever seen goats.  It was also the first time the goats had met Lilly and they were wary.

Lilly decided the goats needed gittin'.  This is going to be good, I thought.  Andy lowered his horns as a warning.

Ruby decided Lilly was being over the top and pushed her away.  Ruby runs... well, everything.

Sadly, I didn't photograph the best part.  I decided I couldn't work on the shed and watch Lilly and the goats too, so I sat in the screen house with a beer.  Lilly kept circling the goats, nipping at them.  Finally, Andy had enough and rammed Lilly so hard that she flew through the air, knocking over a metal table, and metal chair, and landing six feet off the deck.  That was the end of the problem.   Time to work on the shed.

It is getting very close now.  Another afternoon or two of uninterrupted time and it should be done for the winter.