Northern Arizona is always a windy place this time of year and this trip has been no different. Sometime late Thursday night the wind kicked up and by Friday morning it was really rocking the coach.
The canvas slide topper on our bedroom slide always rattles in the wind and it kept me awake for most of the night. We know folks who use inflatable pool toys or small PVC frames to fill in the space and keep the toppers from flapping all night long. I think I need to do that, or else get my pocketknife out and just cut the darned canvas off. Of course, knowing me, I would probably amputate a finger or two instead. 🙁
All day long the wind was blowing at over 25 mph, with gusts up over 50. I’m sure glad we weren’t out on the highway in our motorhome in that stuff! Even driving our Ford Explorer was a rocking and rolling experience a couple of times. It’s a god thing I’m no lightweight kind of guy, or I may have been blown clear out of state! And unfortunately, the wind sure didn’t help the firefighters trying to control the blazes raging across the state. The last news report of the day said all the fires had grown, urged on by the wind.
Terry and I spent the morning printing out copies of our free campground guides, fairgrounds camping guides and such to fill a bunch of orders that came in, and then took them to the post office to mail out.
While we’re here in the White Mountains, I’m also doing some location research for my Big Lake mystery book series, which are set in this region. I’m still hard at work on book three of the series, which will be titled Crazy Days In Big Lake.
Back at home I spent some time trying to correct a formatting problem for a printed edition of Big Lake Lynching, which was rather frustrating. Every time I thought I had it figured out, I was wrong. It was like taking one step forward and two steps back. I wish I was one of those computer whiz kids like Greg White, or Jim and Chris Guld from Geeks on Tour, but I’m not. To me computers are a tool, and we all know my history with tools, right? 🙂
After a little nap, we met my daughter Tiffany, her boyfriend Scott, and the grandkids for dinner. Where do youngsters get all of that energy? If we could harness that, we could stop drilling oil wells forever! We had a nice dinner and by the time we left the restaurant the wind had tapered off quite a bit. But it’s supposed to be back over the weekend, though not quite as strong.
I spent another hour or so trying to figure out the book formatting problem, but all I was doing was getting frustrated. I know it’s just some dumb little thing I’m missing with the master page setup, and sometimes the best thing to do is just walk away from a roadblock like that and come back the next day with a clear head. So that’s what I did, and today I’ll try again. Maybe a good night’s sleep is all I need.
Thought For The Day – I started out with absolutely nothing, and still have most of it left!
Nick Russell
World-Famous, New York Times Best Selling Author, and All-Around Nice Guy!
Please keep working on the printed edition of Big Lake Lynching…I’m patiently waiting…sort of… 🙂
Your problem with the page formatting and wanting Greg White reminds me of my friend Bob who was always quick with a one liner. Bob and I worked together for many years, sometimes with offices next to each other where he would call over the wall for help with the computer or half a building apart where I would get a phone call.
One day when we were half a building away, Bob called and asks how do you format this blankly blank thing. So I totted down to look at what he was doing, said I had never used that function and had he used the help screen? Bob replied, ” Help screen, H*ll, real men don’t ask directions or use help screens!”
What is a help screen? :>)
Greg???? Hey, GREG! If that isn’t a call for help to your buddy, Greg, I don’t know what is! 😉 Just teasin’..hope someone is able to respond to help you!
We, too, have the problem with the slide topper on the bedroom glide making noise when the wind hits it just right. The easiest solution is to throw a rope over the awning.