Stuff and more stuff...

Well...
When last we left off...I was hoping that the brother would come pick up the mini-lathes and tools before I left.
That happened yesterday and it was good to see him one last time before I leave. One day he may show up at my door a State away and catch a boat load of little Golden's, but for now I have to expect I might never see him in my lifetime. Crap goes that way sometimes eh? If I ever see him again, it will only be a bonus for me. I loves the brother.

Today, a bench and numerous power tools are being loaded onto the truck.
Drill press, Tormek, disk sander, sewing machine, attachments for all these tools, etc. I hope to make at least two runs to the shed to drop stuff off but I don't know how that is going to play out.

After those loads are dropped off, I'll hook up the trailer again and pack the stuff around the propane tank, fill the back of the truck and get ready to make the first load up the mountain tomorrow morning. Stuff going tomorrow will be stuff that has to be there before we are. Toilet paper, etc ya know? It will also be the first time I've seen the place in almost ten years.
I really don't know what I will be in for until then. At best...it's quite an adventure.

I called my propane dealer gyrl, Janine, yesterday and asked about if they got my app and was everything OK. It wasn't.
No where on their credit app did they ask for my social. She told me I didn't exist. I gave her my social and in about five seconds she told me all deliveries to me would be COD.
I'm quite sure she thought this would be derogatory as I detected a slight smirk over the phone.
In fact it is exactly what I wanted.
There will be no routine propane delivery to the cabin unless I call and pay for what they deliver. That's just fooking perfect! NO monthly bill, propane when I want and need it. Perfect! I mean...just fooking PERFECT!

So I'm off to the dump (storage unit) and then I'll be gone for a couple days. Seven hours up, seven hours back and a little time to smell wood smoke in between...again...fooking perfect...

water, gas, phone.

Well, I'm elated and depressed. Does that make me manic/depressive? I'm not sure. Quite possibly.

Yesterday I got some long distance stuff accomplished.

First off...I reached a brother who kindly bought my mini-lathes and tools and put some cash in my pocket. He didn't show up for two appointments to pick it up. No big, but now I'm worrying he won't get here before I have to be out. I called him, let him know that either he comes and gets them soon or they get stuck in storage with me seven hours drive and $350 bucks in fuel from there to get him what he rightfully owns. Makes me worry a bit. I tried to express this to him. I don't know if it got through. If he's a smart as I know he is...he'll show up soon.

Second...I gave the go ahead to Ducor Telephone to install the phone line. Had a wonderful (as always) conversation with Melany (the customer service girl) and am getting hooked up. I like Melany. She sounds like she is on a constant caffiene high and can't wait to do something...anything. I also called Bill (the lone employee who works for Ducor and is in KM) and asked if he had word on when it could happen. Bill told me that there is currently 4" of snow on the ground and don't hold my breath. I asked if he thought it could be installed by the first of March. He sounded relieved and said he would get on it when he could. I told him that I probably wouldn't be there when he hooked it up and if he would please install it the best I could describe. Gave me a positive answer. I always get positive answers from folks employed by Ducor. Really a quite wonderful company to do biddness with so far.

Third...the last post had me elated that a water company might deliver water AND beer to my door step.
That fell through...pisser. No, really. They did recommend Sparkletts.
I called Sparkletts Water and let them make friends.
They will deliver 60 gallons of water to my porch for 75 bucks a month. Now that is still some pricey water ($1.25 a gallon) but there is going to be 30 gallons of water sitting on my porch on March 2 with a dispenser. I will be a big customer as far as they are concerned. 12-5 gallon bottles a month delivered every two weeks. A base price changeable due to requirements on my end without changing per bottle price.
I gave the customer service rep every chance to back out including calling or emailing me if the local guy doesn't want to drive up that ungodly grade to deliver water. She sounded quite positive as well.
A day later, no call or email so I'm thinking I'm good to go without having to drive to the river to fill water bottles I don't have.
I tried to explain that my zip code was based on a small town 25 mountain miles away plus and additional 25 desert miles, gave them the name of the "community" and asked them to be certain, make sure. She went through all the data base for that zip code and assured me that the water will be there. We'll see. Also since the weather report yesterday indicated the the high temp was 19 degrees (with a 47 mph wind and 83% humidity making the temp feel like -3F), hopefully I won't have 30 gallons of water frozen solid waiting for me...we'll see about that as well.

Fourth...I sent in my "credit" app for propane. Not happy about doing that, not that my credit is horrible. I just hate making aggreements like the one I had to sign. Not much was working in my favor in that aggreement but they are the only game in town and I need the fuel.

I am considering making a trip up quite soon. I need to see what shape the cabin is actually in, drop off my 'new' propane tank and get ready for the propane guy to drive up and fill the tank ( $270.00 ) and run a system check, fill the tank (at a slightly discounted rate) so when I get there I can light a couple of pilots and lamps and make soup for dinner, coffee for the morning and not eat in the dark. Then beat it back to Congress and continue moving on with getting the fuck out.

Still...the most important thing for me right now is to get my gotam truck fixed. I gotta come up with a chunk of change for that to happen...I'm stymied and yet have no choice. I need my truck to make this move and I need 500 bucks more than I have and even after getting the truck fixed I will still need dollars to buy fuel. I might well be camping in the middle of the sonoran desert for a while until I can manage this but all the critters here are not going to be able to deal with this. I NEED to make the move happen and it has to happen now.

So...this is the latest update...still wordy as all hell, but I'm not Hemingway and I can't spend a month trying to come up with a four word sentence that conveys all this crap ya know?

Maybe I can...let's see.."I'm broke, I'm fucked." That sums it up pretty much in four words. Yes, two of the words are contractions so I 'spose that might be considered six words...I don't know. I shoud spend another week and see if I can get that down to a true four word sentence.
Oh wait I can!
Me broke, me fucked.

Water and stuff made from it...

OK..still moving forward with stuff.
Yesterday, I went to the PO and got a "change of address/forward my mail please" forms.

This morning I filled it out.
When I opened the thing, coupons galor poured out.
Among those was a coupon to have water delivered to your door. I don't and won't have a well for sometime so I gave it a call. I mean, hell, it might beat driving to the river and filling up water bottles ya know?

So I called the number and got a number for the local guy who delivers.

It turns out the number and "company" is the same as the Indian Wells Brewing Company.

Now when I was a kid, Indian Wells was mostly just a truck stop on hwy 14/395 that was NEVER open. EVER!
Some time back (15-20 or so years ago) someone opened a brewery there. I mean afterall, how many places in the desert have a constant source of water? Damn few.

So I am waiting for a call back to see if they are willing to drive up the hill and bring me clean water.
In the meantime...the wheels spin...if they will deliver water, maybe they would deliver other refreshments?

I mean...bring me 15 gallons of bottled water and two cases of your best bock per week...ya know?

These and hopefully other questions will soon be answered...I hope.

You can read some sort of review here...I want some.  Amnesia IPA, Mojave Red...Lobotomy Bock (10.8%)!
Other reviews were not so kind. Go fish. Imagine a place in the middle of the high desert that dares to make and sell varieties of beers, AND a place to sit down and have a steak and someone would complain about that.
This is what is wrong with Amerika.
Most floks (mispelling intened) just don't get how hard it is to actually get by in the middle of the desert...I'm telling you. We are a spoiled people.

I would simply love to provide some support for a brewery in the desert. It would be much like what I'm living here in AZ. Providing a craft in a place with no water or fish could be considered an abomination, a boil on humanities ass, getting what one deserves, etc... Like making trout bamboo flyrods in the middle of the desert, these guys have the guts to open a micro-brew. I gotta admire them for that. I'll try and support them if I can. How stupid can you be? Making flyrods in the middle of the desert? Making crafted beer in the middle of the desert?
If they bring it...I will drink it...otherwise, I'll just get some when I can.

I like the idea of my beer and water bill being one and the same.

It's goin'

OK!
Things are goin'.
I mean...I guess they are.
Two days ago I offered up stuff for sale to a couple of brothers. Stuff I really had no intention of ever selling but as my deadline to move grows closer, must sell. I need to get my friggin' truck repaired. And, it has to happen lickidy-split.
I have sold my spare planing forms, almost all my personal use flyrods and reels. Those just kept me eating for a while. What I have left were considered things I would never sell. I seem to be selling a lot of things I thought I would never sell lately. Crap.

So, I'm left with my puny handful of rods and reels and most of my tools. I'll make some new rods when I get to the cabin...I hope.
Selling tools for me is a milestone. Something I worked my ass off for, for a reason, only to turn around and sell...well, it makes me ill. I bought these tools to make a living. Selling these tools isn't a good thing in my mind.

The bright side is I'm moving to a place with no "on-demand" electricity. Parting with power tools isn't quite as painful as it could be. This would be QUITE painful otherwise.

I have 4 lathes. One wood lathe (reel seats and bowls), three metal lathes (ferrules, grips, lapping ferrules, etc) , one of which doesn't run. I can spare a lathe or two in the big scheme of things. I want the lathe I drove 2000 miles for, looked for five years for, paid a grand for, bought a brand new trailer to haul it with and spent a couple nights in a motel room for, not counting fuel to get there and haul it back. That was a pricey little lathe. Right now that 4 grand would make every single thing I need to make happen...happen...I don't have it. I don't care, I want that machine.

So I offer up a pristine,dialed in, 7X10 mini-lathe and a twelve or fifteen something year old dead twin. The current mini has damn few hours on it. Zip. New. The dead mini isn't much good other than spare parts, but those parts are worth more than a new lathe...ask me how I know?
Since the lathe I thought I would be keeping can't use any of the tooling, I threw them into the package as well. Two lathes, a bunch of tooling, 200 bucks. Now I need 500 more to get my truck fixed.

What else can I part with and live another day?

Staring me dead in the face is my roughing beveler. Shit...

It's worth some money, has some history, and it's powered by (gasp) electricity. This machine and bench are easily worth 500 bucks. That and the mini would get my truck fixed. I offer it up as well.
Another brother tells me he'll try and see what he can do.

A brother backs out. No hard feelings whatsoever. The other decides against the investment.

OK.

I consider the next step and the time I have left to make this happen. I also look at what I can part with in time to make this happen. I'm pretty screwed.
I now consider selling the mother lathe for a grand. Hauling it to you extra.
It will fix my truck by itself. This is more than painful...I mean I'm just a pitiful mess at this point.
I rationalize. I only need one functional metal lathe. Sell either one, but do not sell them both.

A brother writes back and tells me he won a golf game and can buy the mini after all! Fooking right on!
The day is looking better after all.

Now, yesterday I called the Amerigas guy and asked him how much lead time he had to have to fix up an old propane tank between the time I said "do it" and when I could pick it up in Glendale AZ.
He didn't call back until this morning.
When he did, he told me my tank was on the way to the mighty metropolis of Congress, AZ.

WTF?

I just wanted to know how much notice he needed, ya know?

The guy tells me, the tank is on the way to the Congress yard...I fumble and recover. I'm thinking that I need $187.50 today. So I throw crap back at him. "How much do you need today"? "Will you take a check"? "What size tank are you actually selling me"? "Can you set it on my trailer rather than just sticking it in your yard"?

The answers to all my questions are positive. That's why he's the manager. He tells me he can't think of whether it's a 120 or 150 ga tank. No big I says to meself. He tells me a check is fine. Perfect. He says he'll text the driver and have him call me.
The driver calls me 15 minutes later and tells me he's sitting about a mile away and would be happy to set the tank on my trailer.

Perfect.

He gets here...we start yakking, turns out he is from my old home town.
I ask him if he ever fished the canyon I fished almost everyday. He did. Often.

And now a major hurdle is once again jumped...

That is a 120 ga tank that can be filled to hold 90 actual gallons of highly flammable propane that will fire a stove, some wall mounted lamps, and hopefully a 'fridge.
Once I get settled up there and a little free time, I'll repaint it to look like a yellow submarine.

Life is suddenly good once again...now if I can just get the rest of the cash I need to get the gotam truck runnin'.

You know...a good brother was once going to give me a lesson on brevity. He didn't do it and so you are stuck with this instead.
Blame it all on him.