Offgrid

What a descriptive word,offgrid. When used in this context, "we'll be off of the grid for one third of a year", it begins to make more sence.
Now, that's a wild concept for a mountain boy that has fond memorys of watching as the Rural Electric Cooperative crews brought the new fangled electric lines closer and closer to the house.
We had a pull chain light placed in two of the rooms of the house. Right in the center of the room. We had no electric appliances, but put a wall outlet in the kitchen any ways. Finally, months later, we got our first electric appliance, a clothes iron. We still kept those heavy old cast irons that was heated up on the stove though. Electricity was a on again, off again kind of thing back then.
I guess you might say that we moved into the electric age kind of slow. Five or so years later, we were still trying to find batterys for the large console radio in the living room, the center of entertainment for us. The Grand ol' Oprey was often shared with the neighbors in our living room. They would walk home to the light of a carbide light.
From May to September of this year (2009)we will be living off of the grid. Nearly one third of a year. We have been getting ready for that in a slow kind of a way. In late 2007, we bought a Oliver Travel Trailer that is self contained and have been slowly getting the various systems ready to stay off of the grid for extended periods of time.
We are avid boondockers, and this has been a fun thing for us to this point. We'll see how we feel about it after one third of a year offgrid at ten thousand feet of elevation !

Accumilation

It snowed at Cumbres Pass Colorado overnight. 3.8" inches of snow, bring the depth ( accumilation ) of snow on the ground back up to 87" deep. It's saturday here at home and 70*. I am wearing cut off bib overalls while getting Harm's Weigh ready for the lake. It is getting close to the April 8th time when we will go to Lake Greeson. The temperature gauge is acting funny, sending hot then cold signals at random times. I will try replacing the sending unit first. The extended warranty of ten years ran out last January 24th.

Seven Days

In the olden days, you know, before there were automatic pin setting machines in bowling alleys, pins were set by hand. Usualy this was done by teenage boys. At twelve years old I started my life in America's work force. Many years have passed and I am now seven work days away from being unimployed. At sixty six years and a few months, I am going to be semi retired. Betty and I will be hosting a campground this Summer. So, I guess that makes us semi retired.
For a few months now our activities have been focused towards getting ready to go to the campground in Colorado.
Travel Trailer and Jeep projects are mostly completed. Animal care arranged. Bills set up to pay online, ect..
The end of a almost thirty five year Law enforcement career is drawing to a close.

Official !

Well, finaly, it's official. I will be retiring the last day of March 2009. After thirty plus years of being on someone else's agenda and solving other peoples problems, I will have no one except Betty, telling me what to do.
I expect that a few of those late at night emergency calls will still come in, but, they will taper off and eventually stop.
After thirty plus years of adrenalyn hits while waving a gun and hearing sirenes wail, I wonder if I will miss it.
I know I won't miss the petty politics.
I also know that I will miss being to be able to help people.
The remedy for that, we think, is that we will be hosting a campground in Colorado for the Summer.
We will be at the Trujillo Meadows campground located at the South side of the South San Juan wilderness Area.
Highway 17 runs from Chama new Mexico to Antonito Colorado. About half way it goes through Cumbres Pass, elevation 10,022 feet above Sea Level. At the pass, take the US Forest Service road North for about four miles to the campground.
At ten thousand feet, this fat old hillbilly will be sucking for air at every step he takes !