Jan 29th 2009

Today is my Moms 73rd birthday. A few months ago she completed the San Antonio Marathon! It was also her first attempt to run a marathon. My mom (Joanne) is really an incredible person. She always excels at anything she puts her mind to doing. She has taught me to always keep going, never to lay down and quit.

I've had a few inquiries about Freddy. Freddy joined my family around Christmas 2008. I spent weeks, looking for a dog to buy in the newspaper. While looking for a dog that was, easy to train, medium size, non aggressive, intelligent. Going through all the Retrievers, Schnauzers, Greyhounds, ect. , none of the hundreds of dogs really appealed to me.

Until the picture of Freddy appeared on one of the online ads.

The Ad read "Free Dog"! and described Freddy as 1/2 Australian shepherd and 1/2 Golden Retriever??? I called the number and the owner didn't have much good to say about Freddy. Apparently his teenage daughter decided to move in with him and his new family, and his spiteful ex-wife bought the girl a dog, just before she changed parents. The owners new wife forbade Freddy to live in their house, unless he stayed in the crate. And since Freddy was an expert at escaping their fence, he had to be chained during the day. The father needed to get rid of Freddy, in order to keep the peace, and was more than grateful to unload him on me.

I was in the process of moving, when the family showed up with Freddy. The first thing Freddy did was bark and growl at me as soon as he got out of the car. I immediately noticed that Freddy was indeed an Australian Shepherd cross, but the other half is obviously ROTTWEILER , not "Golden Retriever".

So as the nice country family left my apartment, I remembered what the owner told me on the phone: " The last guy to take this dog, brought him back the same DAY! Please just take him to the pound if Freddy doesn't work out." Freddy was trying to bust out my front door to escape and would snarl at me if I tried to pet him! My reservations about Freddy was at an all time low.

So picture me, in an apartment halfway moved out and BUSY, while trying to figure out how to get out my own door, since this crazy mad dog was occupying the kitchen, And to top it off I wasn't sure how to get the dog to my new house in a snow storm. The only thing I was sure off, is that I probably wouldn't survive trying to lift this beast into the cab of my truck.

My son started bribing Freddy with pieces of hot dog until he could actually grab the leash handle. I told Logan to walk the dog to our house and don't worry if he escapes on the way.
Once Logan and the psycho-mutt left, I jumped in the Hell Bitch and drove to the house.

About 20 minutes later my son and Freddy arrived and things began to change. We left Freddy in the utility room with the backyard door open. Freddy scouted around the back yard for quite some time and his mood seemed to improve. Then we let him in the main house and he checked it out for a while, until Freddy walked up to me and started licking me on the hand. It took an hour before he seemed pretty comfortable with his new setup and owners. While Freddy and I were sleeping on the ground that first night, he reached out with his paw and we shook hands. Freddy was smiling with delight. Since then he has been my best friend!

The Rottweiler half makes him heavy and strong. Look at his leg muscles in the middle picture. His biceps are ridiculously large as well. He takes pleasure in opening doors, just pushing them until they open. I think he should unload freight for a living. Freddy is between 9 and 11 months old. He weighs around 60 but seems to grow more every day. He is also well behaved, potty trained, and won't jump on the counter or get in the trash when I'm in the house. I think the girl trained the dog well. I trained him to do a few things too. He returns on command even when distracted or in action. I've never had a better dog in my life.

Jan 28th 2009

Much warmer today. Highs in the mid 20's with SNOW! Freddie and I love the snow. School is out and we are going to the gym to swim some laps.

Here is the blogsite to my friend George, who's blog is an inspiration to me and is filled with good advice about what I plan to do. George and I have different approaches to the same goal (freedom). :http://blog.vagabonders-supreme.net/

Earlier I wrote about the virtues of Indian MRE's or "Meals Ready to Eat". The food is excellent, needs no refrigeration, cheap, delicious, and uses little storage space. http://www.ishopindian.com/shop/readymade-entrees-c-33.html is the source where I get Indian MRE's. A boondocker (rv'er who doesn't use rv parks or full hook-up campgrounds), with no refrigeration, needs to learn the secrets I've learned from the blue water cruising community, many years ago. For example: If you paint your eggs with veggie oil, they will last for 2 weeks or more. Mayo doesn't really need refrigeration. Sprinkle lemon juice on your newly caught fish fillets, then let them dry on the roof in the sun before you eat it raw. It's easy to live without refrigeration, as long as your not too picky.

CAUTION: Be careful which MRE's you buy, some are definately an aquired taste. Mango Dahl and Bhindi Marsala come to mind here. The Chana Marsala, and most of the other Dahls are good stuff. MTR, Priva, and VeeTee are brands that I prefer.

Jan 27th 2009

7:00 AM: Feckin' 2 degrees below zero. Had to put "Freddy" outside while I go to work, I hope he uses the dog house! "Freddy" gets too anxious if I leave him inside alone, and tends to chew up stuff. So I have to put him outside for a couple hours. Drove the Hell Bitch three blocks to school, so I could run home and check on Freddie during my off hour.

9:30 AM: 0 degrees. Hell Bitch's door lock was frozen shut, so I had to walk home to check on Freddy. Freddy is now enjoying the warmth of the house until I have to send him back outside again. He doesn't seem bothered by being outside this morning. It is supposed to warm up to 15 degrees this afternoon!

11:40: Lunch Time! Wow, it is 4 degrees now! I can't make it home to Freddy until 1:00. At least the sun is shining.

Ok, Made it home at 2:30 PM . Freddy is doing fine as usual. Logan and I took a siesta for a couple hours then took the "Hell Bitch" to the laundrymat to do some laundry. One advantage of having a truck camper is that while doing laundry you have a place to hang out. Although it is very cold outside, the camper stays quite warm thanks to the excellent insulation and catalytic heater. As much as I love the laundrymat crowd, I'd rather sit in the camper and surf the internet with the radio on.

After dinner, Freddy and I hung out in the camper and talked to my friend "Chuck" , who is currently stuck in El Paso, but is heading up here to do some snowboarding with Logan and I.

Freddy and I like to hang in the cave-like camper.

Oh Yeah.... Anyone up in freezing weather, while locked out of their vehicle due to the cold, should spray some WD40, thru the little straw, for a few seconds to de-ice the works. Thanks to my compadre "Lee Burningham", I managed to get the Hell Bitch home.....

Jan 26th 2009

Monday, Monday....



Students finishing off reports, lots of grading done. Taught 4 students how to play chess!! They seem to be hooked on the game now.



Freddie the wonder dog and I took the Hell Bitch out for a spin in a snow storm. Some Utah citizens need to have their license revolked. We played "dodge the idiot" while going to the indian convenience store, by the college, up the hill; in order to buy some MRE "meals ready to eat".

We bought the Alu Mutter, which is an excellent blend of peas, potatoes, and tomatos in a fire'y Indian sauce. Goes well with rice, or eat it by scoooping it up with a toasted tortilla over the skillet.



At one point we had to slam on the brakes of this 7000 pound beast and the dog found out where the windshield was. We went home in order to avoid the Logan rush hour.







After that Freddy and I hung out in the camper for a couple hours, listening to the oldies on my ETON AM/FM Shortwave radio. The radio is about 11" x 8" and thick enough to produce a decent sound. Much better sounding than my smaller Am/Fm Shortwave set. "Eton" builds the German "Grundig" radios. This radio will be my only contact with the outside world when staying up in the mountains or deserts. I still plan to blog each day, but I might not always be able to post everyday.



Low tech living is my choice. The K.I.S.S. principal is the way I chose to go as far as technology goes. Of course, I will have a wifi antenna, and a gps on the laptop. Probably will go with a small 50 watt solar panel, to keep the computer in power. All inside lights are battery powered, and we won't be using a frig or much else electric.



I really like the simplicity of Indian MRE's for dinner. They have a long shelf life, store in a small space, require no refrigeration, costs about $2.00 per meal (minus rice or tortilla costs), and are vegetarian, which probably can't hurt me too much. All you do is boil the bag in water for a few minutes and serve.

I will probably eat some fish and buy a steak on occasion. For breakfast I'll focus on oatmeal, pancakes, eggs, beans, and picante sauce. Lunch will consist of GORP, PBJ or Ramen.



These are all basic plans and ideas that I have researched well, and practice quite often. Soon I'll start spending the weekends in the local mountains for practice. I hope some of you will come along on my trips.

1/25/09

Surfed the net most of the day, researching everything from internet satellite systems to gps systems for laptops. I decide against the high tech satellite system in favor of using wardriving and hotspots for my internet needs. This means that when out of internet range, I'll have to post the daily blog in chunks rather than on the exact day.

Spent a half hour in my future home at 25 degrees F, with a light jacket and a 3.2 beer. I would have hooked up the heater but it seemed warm enough not to go through the hassle of hooking the heater to the propane (little tank was empty), since I was planning on leaving once the beer was gone.

Spent two hours reading "The adventures of Tioga and George" which is an excellent blog about boondocking and life on the road. Check out his excellent site!

Jan 24th 2009

Today was rainy and tropical. Usually the day/night temps are 4/20 F. Today it is 30 F to 40 F!!!! Today is downright tropical.

I hung out inside my freedom wagon "Hell Bitch" which consists of a 96' Ford f-250 and a small, old, well-preserved, truck camper. The camper is quite comfortable and warm with plenty of storage space. I paid $150 for the "bitch" and it is in fine shape. My dog "Freddy" and I plan to spend this upcoming summer living in her.

We plan to add much more equipment to the rig in the next few months. We will need a reciever hitch motorcycle carrier for my little Chinese dirt bike, and some sort of small boat to carry on the roof of the camper.

"Freddy" already loves the camper and we have spent many a swell evening chillin' out in the Hell Bitch. We can hardly wait to be out on the road for extended periods of time.