Last Blog for 2011

Yep, this is my last Blog for this year. Man-o-Man, where did the year go? I can’t believe it's OVER!! Next Blog will be Sunday and that will be New Years Day!! We sure had a wonderful Christmas and a fine dinner at our friend and neighbor's Paul and Nancy’s place… Wow.....I mean Turkey and Ham and all the trimming's. I was so full and content that I dozed off the minute my feet went up when I hit my recliner….

Ms. Megabyte2 enjoyed all the fine compliments she received for writing the Blog on Christmas day. I enjoyed having her step in for me. Maybe I can talk her into it again sometime....ahhhh... like New Year's day maybe? Ms. Pat tells me we are going up to the Activities Center on New Years Eve to a DANCE!!  What?  Who me???  Naw.... not me.  That will be some guy that looks like me and has the same name but not me!! No Sir...not me!!

Ms. Pat with one of her Christmas Presents. A pretty new set of pots and pans. She can’t wait to use them and I can’t wait to have her use them!  She has on her Christmas shirt that says “Dear Santa, I can explain”. Now I had to think about that one for a while but then I’m kinda slow…..

We are like my friend Nick Russell author of the Gypsy Journal . We very rarely get each other any Christmas presents. Throughout the year, if we need something, we usually just buy it. So at Christmas time, we feel that anything we purchased all year that we really wanted was our Christmas present.  Just being alive and together is plenty good enough Christmas present for us!

We had a wonderful time celebrating baby Jesus's Birthday at the beautiful Candlelight Services at our Church on Christmas eve. Then Sunday on Christmas day at Church Services the Pastor and three of his adult children performed an outstanding singing service in remembrance of the Birth of our Lord and Savior. They are all outstanding, gifted singers and musicians. It was spectacular and we left there with tears in our eyes!!


Ms. Pats new Dyson Vacuum……. It’s the “animal” and she loves it..


Christmas for me started way back in July when a very good friend presented me with this Pistol as a token of our friendship. Wow...what a gift!! It sure is a neat little gun and for those of you that want to know, it’s a Walther P22…….22 Cal, in a frame like a big gun. It is a very highly rated target pistol and very popular. Ms. Pat and I both love to shoot it and it is very accurate and reliable. Since ammo has gotten so expensive, many of us have resorted to using 22’s for target practice a lot of the time. This is a beautiful little gun for that and our 40 Cal Glock’s are home in their cases. I love this Gun!! Thank you again Santa, my friend!


More recent, I got this genuine San Angelo Rifle Bench Vise.   This will be neat for setting on my workbench to work on rifles but I have a special project for it. I believe I can easily make a quick attachment for it to be able to mount on my old Surveyors Tripod that I used when I had the large Internet Satellite Dish. That will make a very heavy duty and sturdy field rifle support. However, I left it up at our place in South Dakota. That’s the story of my life. Everything I need is up there and when I get up there everything I need is down here....such is life….            

I have bored you enough about our wonderful Christmas, that lasted all year.  Soon we will start off a New Year and we can start getting Christmas presents all over again.  I’m ready...lets get started!!! By the way, what did YOU get for Christmas?

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!
 
Please make it a SAFE one!  There's a lot of bad guys out there!  Take a look at Mike & Janna's Blog.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Christmas 2011

Hello, my name is Megabyte2.  Pops says I came from Heaven……all I know is when Pops and I met way down in South Texas on the Mexican border, it was LOVE at first site. I had a pretty tough life back in those days. Pops was good to me and gave me some warm milk on those cold dark mornings when I was so hungry. So maybe our meeting was made in Heaven, it sure has been a blessing to us both.

I always sit on Pops lap every morning when he works on his computer.  This morning Pops told me that he couldn’t think of what to write……

I said to Pops, “Since it's Christmas, you just take the day off and I’ll write the Blog”.  Boy, he was happy and took me up on my offer. He and Mom are off to Church.  So, here I am writing my First Blog!!

Wow....I tried and tried to write a Blog but it was hard.  First thing you know I dozed off………..

Pops says I’m one "Beautiful Cat"!  However, I know I’m one "Lucky Cat".  Here I am enjoying the window in our Cabin in Custer.  I love our summer place in the Black Hills.

I love our RV and all the places it takes us.....well, sometimes.....

……and I love our house at North Ranch,in Arizona.    Here I am last Christmas with our little tree.  We have that same tree up this year.  Pops says the little tree is special cause his Mom made it years and years ago.

So here it is my 4TH Christmas with Mom and Pops. They both say how lucky they are to have me but I know I’m one lucky kitty to be with them. We all Thank God that we came together!

Merry Christmas Everyone………..and God Bless you all!!


Come on back Wednesday and maybe Pops will show you what Santa brought….


Mega2


This Blog is published  every Sunday and Wednesday..

More Old Pictures and Memories..... Plus some News!

This picture was taken back in 1983 at Mom and Dad’s 50TH Wedding Anniversary.  That is our entire family. I was the oldest and my brother Richard was the youngest, by about 8 years. Oh Boy....that sure brings back the memories. I had traveled for hundreds of miles to be there in Alliance, Nebraska for this big event that my brother and his family had put together. It was a gala affair, held at the local Elk’s club. My parents had hundreds of friends that came to celebrate the occasion.

What really sets this picture aside from others is that tomorrow, December 22ND, would be my brothers birthday. We lost Richard 14 years ago from a massive heart attack. He was only 53 years old.  Happy Birthday Richard......I love ya Man!  It was a devastating loss to our family and to his wife and 3 daughters.  I know his soul rests in peace.  He was a wonderful guy and you know the old saying “you never miss anything until it is gone”.  It is sure true.

Richard was always right there for Mom and Dad, as he lived close to them most of his life. Yes, this picture brings back many sad memories but it also brings back many happy memories.  You can’t dwell on the past sad memories but you can sure cherish the good ones!!  An interesting aspect of this picture is that I am the only one around today.  First Richard, 14 years ago, then Dad died 10 years ago and Mom 5 years ago.  Both mom and Dad were 89 when they were called home by our Father in Heaven.

I sure miss them all and can’t help but wonder why I am still around. I’m sure I would have been voted by many as the first to go.  But, we just don’t know what God's plan is and we must do our best to understand. My folks were avid campers and I always said that one day I will meet them at that great RV Park in Heaven. I pray that will happen, as it sure will be a joyous day!! Praise the Lord!

We have two new followers that I want to Welcome aboard.

Russ Krecklow
Doug and Barb Photos


Glad to have you join Mike and Pat’s Travels. Even though we aren’t doing much traveling right now, we still try to stir up some excitement now and then. Russ is someone that I have seen on most of the Blogs I read, so it's good to see him show up on mine..   Doug and Barb inform me that they are originally from Scottsbluff, Nebraska. Wow, that’s only 60 miles from my hometown of Alliance. I even lived in Scottsbluff for a while, many, many years ago. I still have several cousins there and their families. Always happy to meet a fellow Nebraskan. To check out these folks Blogs, just click on their pictures.



Well, folks the last PressurePro Tire Monitoring system was shipped out Monday.  We are totally SOLD OUT and have elected to retire. So we have officially closed the PressurePro web site. You can go there and see the formal notice. It has been a fun and interesting business that started out back when Tire Pressure monitoring systems were unheard of. I was always worrying about the tires on my big heavy Teton 5TH wheels. I wanted a tire pressure monitoring system for myself and never ever thought of selling them. I ran into PressurePro back about 7 years ago even before they were on the market. They were in the beta testing mode when I finally got ahold of them and they told me it would be at least 6 months before they would be on the market.  

Long story short, I ended up being one of the "testers" of the very first systems.   They made many changes as we gave them our opinion and finally the finished product came onto the market.. We loved it so much that, of course, we told everybody we knew and came in contact with about it.  A lot of them wanted one just like it and I  would call the Company and get them a system. Then one day the President of the Company said, “We should set you up as our first "dealer”  I wasn’t really looking for a job but it was such a neat product that I agreed to go for it. I started out ordering each system as I sold it, then I started stocking a couple systems.

One thing led to another until we were selling a couple hundred systems a year and usually always had 10 to 20 systems on hand.  It was a great, fun job. Much more fun when Ms. Pat saw I was having trouble keeping up and answering everyone's questions and asked me if I needed help!!  Oh baby, did I need help!!  She jumped in with her usual enthusiasm and willingness to help and we were off and flying....attending RV Rallies all over, giving Seminars in RV Parks and we set up a website with the help of my late son Scott and later our friend Mark Bruss.  

It ended up being a full time job.  It was a fun job and we really gave it our best,…but as with all things, there has to be an end and we decided that along with all the other changes we have made in our lives recently, it was just time to kick back and retire, again!!  Remember, though, if you have any questions or need assistance, we are still available to help you.  Just give us a call.


 It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!


Thanks for stopping by and please do it again.  God Bless and those of you traveling, please be safe and...

HAVE A MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A WONDERFUL AND PROSPEROUS HAPPY NEW YEAR!

Mike


This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

Guess Who’s Coming to Town?

Yep. "You better watch out, you better not cry, Better not pout, I’m telling you why..... Santa Claus is Coming to Town!!"  Check out this video....it's an "Oldie".......Santa Claus Is Coming To Town


Here's another "Oldie" .... another of my “Old Pictures” that brings back lots of memories.  I’ll bet that is what I’m telling my boys right about now way back when this picture was taken.  I’m not sure what year it was taken, but it was back when I was a State Trooper in Nebraska. Top left is Mikel, below him is Pat and sitting on my lap is Scott. We had lots of great Christmas's when they were young.  They were always waiting for Santa Claus to come to town.  While I was up half the night putting together what ever it was that Santa was bringing them….LOL.  We all remember those times don’t we?  They were Great Times!


Remember me showing you this picture of Ms. Pat shooting her Ruger 10/22 rifle? Well, look below at how I changed her Rifle’s looks completely..


This is how I revamped her gun....doesn't look like the same rifle does it? I changed out the stock to a black synthetic one and added a black 25 capacity Magazine. I'm calling it the "Midnight Special"!



Hey, I wonder if she will let me shoot it? While I had it out of it's stock, I took the trigger assembly apart and modified it somewhat. I took out the little piece that holds the Bolt back and modified it so that it’s a lot easier to release the bolt now.   Ah, now lets go shooting!!


OK, we went shooting yesterday and this was Ms. Pat’s 6 shot pattern……… the big black circle is the "Bull's Eye"   Not bad huh?  Good shooting Gal!  It was a very enjoyable afternoon of shooting and we put a lot of lead into the hillside. I’m having a little problem sighting in one of the Scopes.  Seems I can’t raise it enough to get it on target.  Does a guy ever have to shim these mounts?   Hummmm, like I said before, I'm a "Pistol" guy.  I don’t know too much about these rifles. Sure wish my good buddy JRoger was here. I’ll have to get up with him for some advice.  



If I happen to post a picture or write something that I have already done before, remember us Seniors do sometimes have memory problems.  Please bear with me, this might happen to YOU someday!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by.. and remember, "You better watch out, You better not cry, Better not pout, I’m telling you why"............. MERRY CHRISTMAS!! 

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

We Have An Answer!!

I do believe The Happy Campers* got it right when they told us in the remarks of Sunday’s Blog that our cat "visitor" in the first two pictures was a “Marbled Bengal” cat.  They just happen to have one. Go to Rex and Mary’s Blog.   Scroll down a couple days and you will see a picture of their Kitty. Then scroll down to my last Blog and see how much they look alike. Thanks Rex and Mary for that information.

I googled Marbled Bengal Cats and saw dozens of cats with all kinds of marking just like the one our night camera caught in our front yard. What beautiful cats! I had never seen one before.  Jim and Sandie said they thought the cat looked like a “Watermelon”!  Ha, I thought that was funny but it sure is true!  Elaine and Rick  commented on what a beautiful cat it was and they asked me to please not SHOOT it!…..Ha-ha don’t worry folks, I would never shoot it. NEVER!!!.....unless it posed some kind of danger situation.  I am predominantly a Target Shooter, paper or metal targets.  I have never done much hunting per se, other than hunting girls when I was much younger. :-)

Now let me say that I have nothing whatsoever against game shooting, as long as it is done legally. I have done a lot of shooting but most all of my shooting has been at artificial targets such as silhouettes, etc. All my shooting in the past has been with pistols and a lot of it was qualification shooting for my job. This is my first adventure into rifle shooting.  I've had a nice little 22 lever action saddle rifle for years but I never shot it…   never even thought about it, since I always had 10-15 pistols at my disposal all the time.

Then a few weeks ago my good friend JRoger put one if these Ruger 10/22's, with a scope and a suppressor in front of me and said “here shoot it”. Wow! I loved it.  Then I found out that Ruger makes this Rifle, which is by far the most popular 22LR in America and sells it for under $200.00. I was interested and a complete new world of shooting opened for me.  I love guns, any kind of guns and always have.  I will no doubt open a lot of controversy by saying that but to each his own.  As my son says “But that is just me”. You may be different and that’s your business, not mine. I won’t criticize you, if you won’t criticize me, OK?

It's been really rainy and nasty around here for the last couple days and it's keeping me pinned up a little too much. I'm spending way too much time shopping on the computer and Ms. Pat says it better clear up soon or I’m gonna break the Bank.  eBay knows me by first name anymore. :-)  Unusual to have so many bad days in a row down here in the Desert….

I went out yesterday evening to retrieve the SD card out of the Wildgame Camera and found that the wind had blown it way off target, so no pictures of our strange visitors today.  I did get this one the other day..

Definitely not much wildlife left in that guy!!  Who is that anyway??

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!!

We especially want to welcome the New Followers on our Blog:

BJ
Trainman
Arkie38


Welcome aboard folks, we are happy to have you stop by.... that brings us up to 213 followers now. Wow, seems just a short time ago I thought it would never get to 50. Click on these folks' pictures and if they have a Blog, you can visit them.


Well, back to eBay and Craig's List, as it doesn’t look too good outside this morning either…… Ya'll take care and be safe!

Ruth has a PressurePro question that she posted. Ruth if you or anyone else  has a question or problem with your System, give us a call at the phone # I posted in my last Blog. Ms Pat is the worlds Best troubleshooter and she will help you and if she don't know the answer, she will get you to someone that does. She is in constant contact with the PressurePro home office troubleshooters. Plus she has been to the Home Office several times for hands on training....

Folks we are about out of the PressurePro business. I think we might have ONE system left....  However, that said we will always be around to help you same as before. Plus we still have a lot of accessories for sale........Christmas is almost here! HURRY ! No better time than the present for a  safety item like a Tire Pressure Monitoring System!

God Bless everyone as we continue to thank our Father above for all his Blessings on us.


Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday,,

More Cats Caught on the "Wildgame" Camera!

There is a lot of activity out there in the Black of the night that we would never know about if we didn’t have the WildGame Camera….

What do we have here? From this angle it looks like some kind of a strange "wild" animal.


But here it looks just like a Kitty with a strange colored body. We don’t know....wish we did.  What do you think, give us your best guess?


Now this is our latest visitor. It's pretty obvious that this is a Feral cat. I had no idea there were this many cats running around at night out here. You never see a loose cat around in the daytime. I can’t imagine anyone letting their pet cat run loose at night… It has to be a dangerous life out there for them.

I haven’t checked the Camera the last few nights, so it's hard to tell what else has been around.  I’ll let you know if anything else shows up.  One thing you can tell from the pictures is that it's been rather cool at night around here. The first two pictures show 37* and the last one shows 32*.  It has since warmed up to the high 30’s and low 40’s, with daytime temps of 60+ and nice clear skies with warm sunshine.



I finally got my new AR 15 that I bought at Cabelas “Black Friday” sale fixed up so I could take it out and shoot it. It’s a beautiful little rifle and I was anxious to put some lead through it..



Wow, I really like the way it shoots.  Set up with the Red Dot scope, it's nice and light and easy to handle.


Ms. Pat enjoyed shooting it as well. It was easy for her to handle and she was extremely accurate with it..


She also enjoyed getting familiar with her new Ruger 10/22 after I got the Leupold scope mounted on it. It was a great, enjoyable afternoon out in the desert behind our house all by ourselves shooting our new toys!  We enjoy this place immensely!


Yesterday morning just before sun up I did manage to slip out in our yard and get a picture of the Lunar Eclipse.. This won’t, as I understand it, happen again until June 15, 2014. Neat!  Take a look at the Bayfield Bunch Blog for more of Al's shots of the Eclipse.

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

But don’t forget the BIG SALE we have going on with our PressurePro Tire Monitoring Systems. Take a look at the website and then give us a call for our special sale pricing.  Here is the Notice:

PressurePro "END OF THE YEAR SPECIAL"!! If you've ever wanted a PressurePro Tire Pressure Monitoring System, now is the time to get it. These PressurePro Systems are "NEW STOCK" with the latest technology and updates and the supply is limited and going quickly. Some Dealers are selling "outdated" and "used" systems for less but you won't find a NEW PressurePro system anywhere for this price and w...hen we sell all of these, the "sale" is over. We offer excellent customer service and are well known in the RV Community. We are presently located at North Ranch Escapee Park in Congress, AZ. For more information stop by to see us or contact us at 850-294-0281

The discount is unbelievable and they are going fast. At this moment we only have 2 Motorhome Systems and 2 5TH Wheel Systems in our inventory. Then, that will be it……..  Ms Pat and I are seriously considering retiring. So if you want a system, get it NOW!! Don't worry, we will still be around to answer questions and assist our "loyal" customers with technical support.

Thank You all for stopping by.

Merry Christmas……..and don’t worry about Santa, remember this is Jesus's Birthday. Remember him!

 Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..

Memories.............Pearl Harbor..........And More!

Today marks the 70th anniversary of the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the day in 1941 that brought the United States into World War II.

That was a long time ago. I was only 6 years old.  I can’t say I really remember the day it happened but I can recall the years following. Communications sure weren’t that good back in those days. We lived way out in the Sandhill country of Western Nebraska and of course, didn’t have TV and maybe not even a radio.   It was 45 miles of dirt roads to town and the mail only came twice a week. So, we weren’t well informed but then, just as now, news traveled remarkably fast and I’m sure my folks knew about it. The thing I do remember is how all my uncles started  going away to war.   Memories……..More memories..


I started looking back through some of my old pictures to see if I could find any pictures taken around that time. I don’t have many pictures anymore but I ran into this picture of my Dad holding me.  It was taken in 1935…..not too many months after I was born.  Little did we know that the Japanese would bomb Pearl Harbor in just 6 years!!


I was a few months older when this picture was taken of Mom and I sitting on the "teeter totter" at the old Country School… Mom was a beautiful Lady.  Notice the "windmill" in the background.  I love windmills!!!


Fast forward a few years to this picture of our family taken in about 1950 or 51.  It is the only family portrait I can remember taken by a "professional" photographer. The little guy there is my only sibling, my little brother Richard. This picture brings back lots of Memories.  What makes me sad is I’m the only one still around.   We lost my brother over 14 years ago when he was just 53 years old.  Mom and Dad both lived until they were 89.


This is a 5 Generation picture on my Mother's side.  I don’t remember the exact date it was taken but that’s my oldest son Mikel sitting on his Great-Great Grandmothers lap and he was born in in April of 1955. So I would say the picture was taken in the Fall of 1955. I do remember it was taken in Alliance, Nebraska. That’s my Grandmother sitting next to me, then Great Grandma Rochford with Mikel sitting on her lap and my Mom on the end.  Again, I’m the only one still around in this picture.  Lots of times I ask myself WHY me but I have discovered that you just don’t know the answers to some things.  God seems to have a plan and none of us know the real answers.

Still we all have lots of Memories…………some bad but most are good. One thing for sure, we must all go on! Our loved ones would want us to!


I picked this up from my good friend Art F. and I think it pretty well sums it up……….Life Goes On.

That’s all the old photos I will show you today………. more again another time. Old pictures are fun.   They do make me sad sometimes but I wouldn’t take anything in the world for them!

It is a GREAT WEEK!!!! As we remember Pearl Harbor and the men and women who died fighting for our country.

Thanks for stopping by……..Come on back Sunday.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Wednesday and Sunday..

We Have A New CAT!!!

This is our latest middle of the night visitor. We think it is a Bob Cat but it could be a small Cougar.  Both have been spotted roaming in the Park. What do you think? The picture isn’t very clear as the Cat must have been moving pretty fast as it ran across the camera’s path. This was taken at 11:10 pm, just a few feet from our bedroom where we were fast asleep.



This is a picture of Gina’s Rock garden she set up at the front of the house, right outside the screened porch. The other night at about 7:00 pm when it was black dark, we heard the most awful cat screeching and yelping we have ever heard coming from the porch.  Ms. Megabyte2 was out there and saw something that really shook her up! Ms. Pat and I both jumped up and ran out there. We, of course, didn’t see a thing but Ms. Megabytes2’s hair was standing on end and she was looking toward the bushes.  You could tell she had encountered something very unusual.

Needless to say, she was UPSET….I’ll bet the guy from the picture above paid her a little visit.   The next morning we saw large paw prints in the rock garden and noticed where "something cat like" had been using the sand in the rock garden for a "litter box".  HMMMM....… See the pile of "droppings" we dug out of the sand...looks like it's been here a time or two before.  I moved the camera up to this spot for a while and we will see if he comes back.  You just never know what's going on around you in the black of the night.  Meanwhile, Ms Megabyte2 is still sniffing and looking around everytime she goes out on the porch.


I was working in my shop yesterday and heard thunder rumbling and something hitting the roof.  This is what I saw.....small "pea" size sleet! In fact, some of them got almost as big as "moth balls". If we were in South Dakota, we would call this stuff "hail".  Then, shortly after that, it started snowing.  Geez......are we really in Arizona??



It wasn’t long until it covered the ground……



This is looking to the North towards Yarnell Mountain where we see snow a few times every winter. However, every so often one of these desert storms will get low enough to give us a sampling of the cold stuff but it's enough for me!! The storm has moved on out of the area.


This is looking back towards the South. You can see the clouds are breaking and the sunshine is beginning to come back out.. 


Uh oh, Ms. Pats Golf Cart is getting pelleted…. we need some more cover around here..  Oh No!  Not another “project”!  Lets see, I’m going to have to think about this a little.  I’m tired of building stuff.  Is there ever an end to it?

The next couple of months will be our “Winter” here in Arizona. It will be like this off and on and cool off for a spell. It was 32* when we got up this morning and it may get down in the 20’s a time or two but we enjoy the simple Winters here.


Meanwhile, I was as “snug as a bug in a rug” with my little heater going in my shop while I was playing with one of my new “Black Friday” toys!  I just love my shop. It's definitely my “Man Cave”!! I even have my XM/Sirius radio hooked up, so I can listen to "Willie's Roadhouse" !! Hot Dog!

It was a GREAT WEEK!!!!

Thanks for stopping by. We hope you are all safe and sound and "hunkered" in for the Winter. God Bless you all and don’t forget to stop and give thanks to our Father in Heaven for all his many Blessings.

Mike

This Blog is Published every Sunday and Wednesday..