Rocky Mountain Mule Deer Rack - Freaky!

Cahuilla Honey Bee Pottery Hive

12/24/2016

Was supposed to go to the Arivaca Farmers Market today. I checked the weather to see if it would be do-able before the storm system comes in. When I went outside to start the generator at 5am it was clear but the wind was already gusting. Accuweather confirmed my suspicions and I decided to sit this market out, same thing happened last week. 

So back upstairs to that pile of books.......more posting on the website. Getting bored with it but keep plugging away. I am actually pretty happy with my idea on organizing........used some old filing system "Out" separators to at least alphabetize for easy finding when a book sells. I worry that my clientele will become bored with just books everyday - our reports say we have over 200 unique visitors a week. Not much..........trying to build that so we are cross marketing with Pinterest and building our old customers back up in an email marketing software. I am not even half way finished with posting all the archaeological publications. :(

I set that "Living without Electricity" book aside last night, though I want to read it, I found another that has my interests. This book has me taking detailed notes and is a secret - it is for a class I will be offering as soon as this place is organized. This morning, I told Dan of some of the things I learned and he found it very interesting so I think it will be a great thing! As soon as I am finished putting it all together I will let ya'll know the details. Ah, the suspense!

Had to make a run to the little store to pick up some last minute groceries for our dessert we took to a friends house for our ritual Christmas Tamale Dinner. I called the guy about the lattice and he drove out to meet me at the store......got rid of a few sheets! woo-hoo! So back to that dessert - since we have Tamales, I decided to stay with the theme and did a Pinterest search for "Mexican Deserts". Up popped a slew of them but one stuck out - it had the word "Easy" in the title. I didn't have much time to dedicate to something extravagant so this was my pick "Easy Sopapilla Cheesecake".

  Dinner was a blast. Tamales were delish! Three flavors - Green Corn, Beef, and Elk. The elk one even had a potato wedge in it - new to me. Our hostess is the best I have seen, she always puts on a remarkable spread. Sides included Anasazi Beans with Ham Hocks, Refried Beans, Yellow Rice, Green Chilies, Black Olives, Lettuce, Salsa, and I am probably leaving something out. Great conversation and wonderful company. 

12/23/16

I didn't fall asleep until 2:30 this morning.......Dan got up at 4:30 and started the generator and made a fire. Oh why? oh why? I think I was dehydrated. I don't remember drinking much of anything yesterday. At 2 am I was so thirsty I drank a whole bottle of water and that is when I was able to fall asleep. The dog thought she would help by cuddling me and snoring in my ear. Wish Dan could make me coffee. I don't think he has made a cup in his life. He is on a green tea with honey kick (and only the honey from our bees........don't even try to give him any other honey). At least he finally is doing something healthier than YooHoos and Cream Soda.

So the rain gauge was at 1"! YES! SWEET! We needed that badly. Today is only partly cloudy so I am pumping the well to fill the holding tank. I saw that we may get another storm tomorrow afternoon.  Cleaned the refrigerator. Got some pork fat rendering in the oven. Dan took off to look for shed antlers. My day is consisting of more posting of books to our www.prehstoriccollector.com site and also putting more antlers on craigslist. I will ship -  so if you want to buy antlers just let me know and I will send you the links to our prices and photos. I am also processing returns to Amazon today........three total. Check out my two latest product reviews.  I also have Dan's 10x40 Zeiss Binos getting boxed up to send in for repair.

Outside walking Hey and the bees are buzzing me........I always feel like they are reminding me to put out some protein supplement. So out it goes into my bee feeder and within 5 minutes the word is out.

I just don't have much energy.  I have someone off of craigslist wanting the lattice I posted......guess I better go get back to him. Trying to clean up the back piles of "stuff". Building materials and other things we may need, but some things that have been sitting for 2 years are now looking for new homes with other families that may finally put them to good use. Some of my "rusty gold" items for garden art, horse feeder, and faux fireplace stone, along with the lattice........all are on craigslist. IT IS SO TIME TO DECLUTTER. Maybe a cluttered apartment, warehouse, outside, everywhere and anywhere I look....... causes my lack of sleep. A cluttered mind can't shut down.

One day it will be organized, I swear it!

I break out the bee hive frames and put in some wax foundation, saving the slightly waxy sheets in between each piece for woodstove starter. I love that wax foundation smell, reminds me of my childhood. So very tired. I think I will call it quits early. Maybe I will even feed all the animals now, then snuggle into a blanket for a movie.

1byone Amplified Indoor HDTV Antenna

We don't get any local channels. Dan watches his television either through our Amazon Prime account or Youtube videos. Other than that its DVD's to the rescue. We have been wanting local channels to at least get the news. So I read about an indoor antenna  that is supposed to pick up channels within 50 miles. 

It received excellent reviews on Amazon.........so I decided to try it.

Sitting next to the TV it picked up nothing.

Pulled as far as the cable would let me and holding it so it pointed out a window - it picked up three channels.........they were either fuzzy or extremely weak. So I think it is our metal building? I did go on Amazon and start to type a question under the product to see if anyone had any better ideas on making this work. Another person had the exact same problem with only three channels and spent the day on the phone with 1byone customer support only to return it in the end. Well, I am not waisting my day so......... this is going back too. 

I think we will have to drill a hole in the wall, run a cable up and out the middle of the loft floor to the outside of the building and put up a regular antenna. No quick fix. Another project, but we have other priorities so TV gets put on the back burner.

Lily's Home LED Taper Candles

The bathroom gets extremely dark as there is no window........really we should add one. However that is behind a long list of "to do's" around here. So in the mean time we use a solor outdoor light. We have two. While one is inside the bathroom being used, another is outside being charged. One drains of power, we swap it out with the charged one. The only issue is trying to find it in the dark to flip the switch to turn it on. Plus it lays on the small sink countertop, taking up valueable space. I ran into this cute candle wall sconce at a thrift store and thought about using it with an LED candle so there would be enough light to visit the bathroom without fumbling around. Sadly, they don't provide much light at all. I bought the pack of 4 off Amazon, and processed the return today. If you are looking for "ambiance" maybe.........but definately not a light source by any means.

The LED 11" "candle" opperates with two AA batteries.

My thrift store sconce.

The sconce with LED sitting ontop of the toilet.........so disappointed that we can't see the seat.

Zeiss Optics

I can't say enough great things about Zeiss products and their customer service. We have two pairs of 10x40 Zeiss Binoculars. One is over 20  years old. It got to the point where we could barely use them, then it came down to just leaving them at home because I couldn't stand using them. Couldn't get them to focus at all so looking through them gave me a headache.  I google searched "Zeiss Repairs" and almost at the top of the search was the Zeiss repair page..........https://www.zeiss.com/sports-optics/en_us/hunting/service---support/customer-service.html   - so very simple........fill out a form and submit it. Within the hour an email with your information confirms your inquiry and you print the email and mail it with your binos. I was so afraid I would get this call "what are you thinking lady? buy a new pair!" but I decided to spend the shipping to send them in (they didn't even require a serial number on the form).

Nothing for three weeks. Hadn't heard from them.........but then I just picked up my mail and I have no clue how long the box was sitting there, but there was my binos  -  returned to me. They hadn't called for a credit card number for repair or return shipping. Oh jeeze, I started thinking, they didn't even want to tell my over the phone that my optics were too old and worn out to repair. I opened the box, expecting the "Dear Mrs. King, we regret to inform you......" but instead I found, carefully packaged, my binoculars - all polished up. Of course a few small scratches in the lenses were still there but they actually worked on them and cleaned them and shipped them back at NO CHARGE!

 A letter included stated the work completed:

REPLACED WORN DRIVER

CLEANED OPTICS

LUBRICATED SEALS

RESET FOCUS AND SEALS

My binos work fantastic! I can't wait to go out shed hunting with them. Although.........now Dan wants his sent in as they won't focus within 150 yards and so I have a feeling he will be stealing (borrowing) mine until his return.

We highly recommend Zeiss. Spend the extra money - they are worth every penny.