Sorting and shredding!

The volunteer position this week involved several different assignments.  One of those was involving sorting the multitudinous permits by their numbers, then by the parks they were issued in, and entering this info into the computer spreadsheet, and storing the sorted permits into the filing cabinets.  All the left over extraneous paperwork was then shredded.

Each folder had to have a label made and inserted into the folder.

The labels were center left of the photo, and I used three containers full of them!

Drawers and drawers of files needing to be sorted.

Part of the equation was that during the process of sending the permits to the parks, the dates they were sent out  had to be entered, and the ranger who received them had to sign for them.

The various papers needed to legalize the non profit status of a group was collected in folders, and there were many copies in each file, as the paperwork was revised and signed, then revised again, etc.  So, going through the papers, and sorting out the final signed papers from all the rest was paramount. After all that sorting was done, the remaining papers were filed in a certain order and placed in special folders, then refiled in the cabinets.

This is a partial stack of the volunteers who are no longer active.

Hope this description wan't too boring for you.  It was very interesting for me on this end of the story.

The shredder got a workout too!

A difference

I got up at 6:30 am as usual, took the dogs outside, and after going back inside, took a comfy nap in my recliner.  W Today hen I awoke, I saw that it was snowing...big flakes and lots of them.

The thermometer said 24 degrees!

I was so glad that I had heat and shelter!

The snow fell only for a couple of hours but was pretty while it lasted.

While waiting out the snowstorm, I was working on my quilt and of course chic, my cat wanted to help.

Chica is always a great help, one way or the other!

Dogs having fun!

During this past week, while I've been volunteering at the headquarters of the New Mexico State parks, I've been camping at the rodeo grounds.  Being a rodeo arena and grounds, I decided to see if the arena area could be made safe for the dogs to run.

I walked the perimeter and closed all the gates, then turned the dogs loose to run! It was great, because there were no goat's head stickers.

I wondered if they would try to get out of the arena between the cables and pipes.

They checked every inch of the barriers!

They never tried to get through the wires and pipes.

At some point, I noticed Hera pick up something and eat it!  I looked closer, and then decided it was fresh horse poop!  I wondered about the "fresh" part of the equation, since I had not noticed anyone using the arena.

Quilt news

I don't know if it is visible, but I wanted to show you the damage to my fingers from quilting on this antique quilt.

My skin go so sore, that I tried wrapping the fingers with scotch tape when sewing!

The below area is only partially quilted, and is difficult shapes for quilting, but will soon be done!

Since the "quilting Bee" held at Pancho Villa State Park, I've been able to get several of these areas done.

All the basting that the ladies helped me with made all the difference!

Thanks, everyone!

State Park headquarters

Today I went into the State Park headquarters  to begin my volunteering post.  The office area has a spare desk area which I am using for a time.

I had to get signed into the computer in order to do my work, and I couldn't remember my sign in information from lat Nov.  I had written it down, but of course I couldn't find the note!  I called the IT help desk, and of course they weren't in the office!

However, they did call back and tell me what to do!

The desk and computer above is the one assigned to me for this week!

This filing cabinet is the place that I used to file the multitudinous papers about the volunteers.

Each persons papers had to be organized by the alphabet and stored in a folder which then also listed the year that they worked and where.

It was very nice to be there again and be doing something helpful!

New plans

For months I've been saving the month of May for a visit from my Niece and her family, who are coming from Germany.  They originally had said that they wanted to come to a camping area which had a playground and a lake or river so that her young children would be entertained.  She said that she would like to stay in one place rather than be on the move (also due to the children).  So I was thinking that this would be the format of our visit! ( They said that they would be  bringing a big tent for their family and would have a rental car.

Superintendent Ranger Andrew Armendariz

I told my state park ranger that I was not available to volunteer till June 1 due to my niece's visit.  He was very understanding and agreeable.

NOW, I have received a copy of their itinerary and it is all totally different from what they had said.  They are renting a motorhome and driving all over from San Francisco, Utah, Nevada, Arizona, and Northern New Mexico, on their way to Denver (they will fly back to Germany from Denver).

Itinerary from my niece!

The itinerary looks to me that it will be a breathless time on the road, and in order to spend a bit of time with them, I will try to catch up with them in Gallup NM or at Meteor Crater , AZ, and travel around with them for about 5 days while they are in the general area.  They want to go the Meteor crater, petrified forest, Mesa Verde, Aztec ruins, Santa Fe, Orilla Verde and Taos, and then on to Denver!  I believe it's going to be exhausting for us all, but of course they are going to be a lot younger and more energy filled than I am.

I am feeling a bit unsettled by the change in plans, so I contacted the ranger at Bluewater state park, and he said that I was welcome to come the first part of may and then leave when my niece comes and return after they leave.  I liked that and so I will go to Bluewater lake state park in early May.

After thinking about it for another few hours, I decided to contact my "boss" in Santa Fe to see if she needed some volunteer help in her office for a couple of weeks before May.  She said"Yes, Yes, Yes!"  So I am going to Santa Fe this weekend and will volunteer at the office in Santa Fe till early May.

Visitors!

This lovely Pyrruloxia was coming to my bird seed yesterday.

He/she had a wonderful voice to listen to!

Below is a house vince which was liking the bird seed also.

I was outside for hours and the birds did their thing while I was sawing, painting, hammering, screwing on the projects!

Second project!

After finishing with the fire extinguisher holders, I decided to make a small shelf with the leftovers from the first project.

I had two "L" brackets, and scraps of wood, and spray paint.  I looked in my scrap pile and found some screen door molding.  I got out my electric brad nailer to fasten the screen door molding to the edge of the shelf. That brad nailer outwitted me several times, making it hard for me to put the nails where I wanted them!

When all was done, the result is a handy small shelf just next to my recliner.

I placed these vitamin bottles on it to photograph for the blog.  They won't be there permanently.
I'm quite relieved to have the project finished and usable.  Now I can put away all my tools!

Elephant Butte

A couple of days ago I moved upriver to Elephant Butte State Park in New Mexico.  I hope that they will be having flowers blooming here also!  Upon arrival I found that the empty sites were few.  I was able to take a site that had just enough room for my motorhome and car to park.  It was level and paved!  I removed the dog's fencing from storage and placed it all across the front of the site, so now the dogs and I have a lovely yard to enjoy while we are here.

Note the fence in this photo, and see Hera sunbathing.

This shows a project I am working on, using an old jig saw that my dad gave me many years ago.  It was old when he gave it to me!  Works well, regardless.  I am cutting wood to make several items for my motorhome.

I had my two usual supervisors helping me with all this work!

This can is painted and will be installed to hold my fire extinguisher in the motorhome.

See how the fire extinguisher fits into the can.

See the L bracket screwed to the piece of wood?  That bracket will support the weight of the extinguisher.  I made two of them, one for the living room, and one for the hallway.

This is the extinguisher for the hallway.  Karen and Steve gave me these ideas of the wood plate and the L bracket.  I would not have thought of this on my own.  Thanks, Karen and Steve!

Spring changes

This post is about the changes that occur as we go along on our way!  I've been cleaning out the extra quilting fabrics that I had collected during the last year.  Some of it is being saved for a while to make sure I don't need it as I go on finishing this antique quilt.  The saved portions I placed under the sofa.
I've also been cleaning out my old tax papers!  I didn't want to put them in a dumpster, and did not have a shredder, so I burned them.  It was great to thin them out!

I took a cabinet into consideration, and realized that all this "stuff" in the cabinet was not being used but was taking up valuable real-estate!  Most of this stuff was donated to a thrift store, but some was donated to a dumpster!  When I sold my house and moved into the motorhome, I did not know which items I would end up using and which I would just carry around!  As time has passed, I am learning.

After a friend had a fire in her rv several years ago, I realized that I needed new fire extinguishers.  I purchased 2 at Walmart, and they are supposed to stay in good working order without the need to shake them every month or so.  The main disadvantage I've noticed with them is that they don't fit the old wall mounting system, and they don't come with a mounting system.  They have been riding on the window shelf above and behind the sofa, but I've been thinking of other means to fasten them to a wall or other surface.  Karen's husband, Steve gave me the idea of gluing a piece of wood to the wall with epoxy glue, and then screwing the fire extinguisher holder to the board!  So, That is my plan!

Note the two red fire extinguishers on the window shelf.

Sofa dogs

For a long while I've been contemplating the situation with the sofa and the dogs.  I really don't like the sofa being full of dog and cat fur, because I cannot really get it out again.  I've tried sheets, blankets, and silky sleeping bags covering the sofa.

The sheets collected dog fur as badly as the sofa fabric, so I tried fleece blanket, but they were bad too. The sleeping bag was better but it was impossible for me to keep the bag on the sofa.  I tried pinning it to the sofa, but it came loose after a short while.

Last week I used faux leather to cover the cushions, and sewed it onto the sofa!

While I had the sofa lifted up, I had the two greyhounds standing on the floor, waiting.  I had my head and arms under the sofa placing the bags of fabric, when I heard a "whumpf" sound, and pulled my head out to see what had happened.  The two greyhounds had levitated themselves up onto the back half of the sofa (thinking that the sofa was theirs).  As they landed onto the back half of the sofa, the back of the sofa laid down in a level position, and thankfully left the front half of the sofa in the raised position!

So now comes the testing time, to see if the "leather" will hold up to the wear and tear of the dogs, and still be easy to clean and comfortable for guests to sit on!  I hope it works out well!

I can't walk!

Today I moved sites from Leasburg Dam to Caballo state park.  After setting up camp, I walked with the dogs to make the payment at the self pay station.  On the way back, Hera informed me that she couldn't walk.  I thought that she must have a goat head sticker in her foot.  She held her hind foot up in the air, and when I tried to look at it, she screeched and pulled as if it was painful.  I tried again to look, and to feel it but she was uncooperative.  After getting us back into the motorhome, I tried again.  She just kept messing with it herself, but wouldn't allow me to really look at it.  

I have to lick and chew!

 I decided to give her a couple baby aspirin, mixed in tuna, and after a while she settled down. 

I'm calming down a bit!

Relief!

In retrospect, I believe that she got bit by an ant.  The ants here are HUGE!  I'm thinking that they are biters as well.  My past experience with biting ants is that they hurt a lot and itch terribly!

Bicycles again!

I don't know if you can see the rotted area on the bike tire.  I found it while out riding a couple days ago.  I knew not to wait for it to burst, because I would be having to struggle to get the bike home if I had waited.  I carried an extra in my motorhome basement, so I decided to get to work on it. I

 am very rusty on doing tire changes! My skills are minimal to begin with but rusty on top of that!

The little yellow tool in this photo is for forcing the edge of the tire into the correct position.
Notice that Power is really helping me (in the background).

Now the tire is replaced and ready to ride!

Quilting notions

There is a Bernina Quilting store in the nearest town from this park.  Yesterday, I went there with Patti, and we had a very good time shopping.

I bought this thimble!

And this needle grabber!

I think the needle grabber is going to be a best buy for me, since I have some difficulty pulling the needle through the many layers of fabric.

Since we ladies basted the quilt while camping at Pancho Villa State Park, I've been making progress on the actual quilting.  I ran out of red thread a few days ago, so I got two more spools this week.

Progress!

Blue is beautiful

This lovely bug was running around in my neighbor's yard yesterday!

It was moving very rapidly

The blue color is so dramatic!

I searched tirelessly for and identification, but with no results...Do any of you know it's ID?