Willie, the Jeep, and his Mojo - got it back.

 This is a blog about Willie, the Jeep and his Mojo! This is the way Willie looked just before we hooked him up to head home.  ( I know some of the pictures I've posted before, but bare with me...)

This is the way he looked about 25 miles south of the US border. The whole part of the towing package that was attached to the Jeep broke off. (metal fatigue and many miles of horrid Mexican roads and topes took their toll.) It and the lights are under the Jeep. Still hooked up to the tow bar. Luckily Willie ran over the mess instead of taking off in a different direction. 

We were really lucky. A very nice man driving by stopped and helped take the mess out from under Willie and unattached it from the tow bar. If not for him we would probably still be there standing there staring at it.  He was a mechanic and had tools that made the job easier. 

So I drove the Jeep and Bill the RV across the border to Amado AZ. While there we asked a mechanic we knew if he had a welder who could weld or replace the part that went on the Jeep. Yes, he did. He did and he also gave Bill Covid. When it was time to leave Amado Bill was sick with Covid so our son came down to pick us up and drive the RV towing the Jeep home. Bill hooked up the Jeep to the RV. All the way home our son complained about the way Jeep felt being towed. 

Well after we were home a while and Bill was feeling a little better he went to look at the welding job...no wonder it felt terrible to tow it. One side of the thingies the bar hooked into were over an inch offset.

The Jeep crabbed all the way home. Tires were worn also. The badly welded side.

The good side.

For years we have known a great welder here in Vegas. Luckily I found his phone number and he isn't far from where we live. So over we went to see if he could fix it. Bill and Rick looking at what had to be done. They were taking a picture of what needed to be done. 

Rick cutting off all the bad stuff. 

Measuring to make sure all he did was lined up the way it should have been. 

He worked his magic and all was well. 

Back at Rick's shop another day to have the bar put on that the lights were attached to. 

No idea what we are looking at here.

Building the bar. 

And there it is. Perfect. Did I mention Rick is a great welder. And he can figure anything out. 

TA DA!

The trip home from AZ really messed with Willie. He was really out of alignment! So here he is getting that fixed. While up on rack the worker noticed a huge piece of metal in one of the tires. So all tires replaced that day too. The front ones had been somewhat damaged in the drag home any way. 

Bill has been feeling somewhat better the last week or so - more about that another time, keep fingers crossed for him.) So here he is painting the new hitch part and light bar and bumper. 

Sure looks better painted. 

One more coat. 

After a few trips to Lowes and Walmart to buy tools and washers and nuts etc. he started to put the lights on. One a day. 

So Willie has his Mojo back. And Bill is so much happier. 

The red on the front of the grill is a reflection of Bill's shirt. Gasoline here is now well over $5.20 a gallon.

More goings on around here.

It is a beautiful day today, didn't walk because it was raining this morning and now everything is muddy. Bill's vision keeps improving. Last time at retina doctor he could read all but the last smallest line of the eye test. His first appointment he couldn't even read the first huge single letter. He still has problems though. Hard to see things on the TV unless room is very dark, then he can't see the buttons on the Remote. We got a Roku TV and he is having problems with it. Seeing the boxes on the home screen and using the remote. But at least now we can watch the Major League Soccer games and watch Messi play for Miami. Will not be giving up Dish for a while though. 

For the first time in a long time Bill was outside playing with one of his drones. 

And the last couple of days he has been feeling very good, no fatigue. Fingers crossed.  So he was out working on the Jeep. Poor Willie, the Jeep, lost his Mojo on the way home from Mexico. Now he is slowly getting it back. Bill was painting the newly welded part that goes to the tow bar and the bar for the spot lights. A month ago he couldn't have done this. 

More about the welding another day. 

He is rightly proud of himself. 

And a major change for me. I have been letting my hair grow since the last few weeks in Mexico . It finally reached the "DO SOMETHING" stage. Before - blurry picture but good enough to get an idea of why something had to be done.

AFTER  for the first time in 25 years I went to a beauty salon. The result.

Talk about sticker shock!!! Four times what I used to pay for a permanent. 

In this picture you can see two of my Diamond dotz pictures. The sunflowers and the Rooster. Not a good picture of them - they look much prettier in real life. 

This will take some getting used to. I don't even own a brush or comb anymore. 

We have someone coming today to go under the house to check out the stability of the jacks. So I'll feel better knowing that there isn't a grand canyon running right next to the jacks.

Wow - went to grocery store yesterday morning...past a couple of gasoline stations. Some unleaded was up to $5.09.  It is going up every day. We haven't been going out much so it's only been 34 miles since we put gas in car was only 4.28 then.

I have been playing with Roku. Found some good sounding recipes (of course can't find them again...) Also an old TV series I really like Burn Notice. So have been watching it. Some strange stuff on the Roku channels. 

Walking again

 YES!! finally the weather has cooled down enough we can walk in the morning again. Been out three times in the last week, twice in the wetlands - did 2 3/4 miles both times. Today around our community. Only 2 1/2 miles. For some reason I wear out quicker when walking in the community than in the wetlands. I guess not as much to see and a lot hotter with no shade. So here we are on one of the still puddled trails. Three weeks after the flooding. 

All the rocks have been washed clean, lots of pretty colors in this one. 

Most of the ponds have very murky water and are overgrown with plants. Looks like the beavers are trying to dam this one up again. 

One of the many closed trails. All the dirt is gone.

Need to watch where we are walking lots of big drop offs where the water too the dirt away. 

The river has a lot of water in it, but was a lot higher than it is now. 

This used to be dry land, now quite a bit of water in it running into the river. 

This trail is open but in pretty bad shape. 

This pond is completely covered with some kind of scum, algae? Used to be a lot of ducks and geese here. 

Almost home the first walk,  only saw one bunny and this road runner. Wonder if the bunnies managed to stay out of the flooding. 

Tuesdays walk. The mud still in the road at the gate between our community and the Wetlands. 

Just a dragon fly, lots of them around.

A couple of turtles checking us out to see if we will feed them. 

We saw a coyote, but wasn't fast enough to get a picture of him. This was always my favorite part of the park, now it is completely covered with growth, not maintained at all. 

Turtle taking the sun. 

Like walking here for the shade. Lots of the dirt here was washed away too. 

Again not fast enough with the camera to get a picture of a three foot skinny snake. This pond has a lot of the water plants in it now. 

Today we walked in the community. So much damage to so many places. And of course home owners insurance doesn't cover any of it because it was caused by flooding. Some of the homes in the back part of the community where the block wall came down even had water in their homes.

Lots of other things going on, still trying to catch up.