KEEPING THE COOL IN

When I insulated all 4 walls (157 feet, 11 1/2' high) of the garage, I didn't do it primarily as a way to retain heated, or cooled air.  Perhaps in the future, I may sheet rock, and insulate the ceiling, making the entire building adaptable for heating and/or air conditioning, but it's doubtful.  It's just too big a room for that to be practical, at least for right now.  However, when I decided to sheet rock the walls, it didn't make much sense to do that without adding insulation.  At least the walls are done if I change my mind in the future.

Insulating the storage room that I'm building inside the garage is essential, since it will be climate controlled with a small air conditioner.  Yesterday, I laid the insulation on top of the room, and topped it off with 5/8" plywood.  Now, I have about 100 square feet of storage space that was originally on the concrete, and has now been moved up in the air about 8 1/2 feet. 

The next task for the day was insulating the two outside walls of the room.  Since I added a bunch of wall studs, taking the normal 16" on center, down to 8" on center, I had to cut the insulation sheets in half.  It took a little extra time, but when you do something repeatedly, you usually get pretty efficient at the process.  When I finished the insulation, I put up some plywood on the walls, and then ran out of materials.  So, it's off to Lowes, or Home Depot today, where hopefully, I'll pick up most everything else I'll need to finish the room.

WE'RE NOW COOL

Adding a window air conditioner to my not yet finished storage room, was on the work agenda yesterday.  Putting the unit into a wall wasn't exactly what it was designed for, but with a few modifications, it went solidly into place.  Before cutting the hole in the outside sheeting, I had to cut two of the wall studs first.  From there, I framed up an area to match the exact dimensions of the air conditioner.  Once the sheeting had been cut to match the framed square, the unit slide right into place.  With a 2x6 frame, there was more than enough space on the bottom ledge, for the air conditioner to sit, and then, it was a matter of making some adjustments, and securing it into place.
 

When the room is finished, there will be some stuff stored inside, that will be sensitive to extreme hot temperatures, thus the small a/c unit.  The size of the room is only about 10x10, a little under 100 square feet.  The a/c that I installed is good up to 150 square feet, so with R19 insulation all the way around, it shouldn't have to run a lot to keep the room cool. 

Before quitting for the day, I laid the insulation in between the ceiling joists, and will sheet the top with 5/8 plywood today.  Once that's done, I'll have an area on top of the room, that can be utilized for long term storage.  That space will be about 3 1/2 feet from the top of the room to the bottom of the roof trusses.  That's more than enough room for a few things that either won't fit on a shelf, or that I just want to get out of the way.  Back to playing carpenter this morning.

BACK AT THE RANCH

Before leaving the Tucson Rodeo grounds, I had a few things left to do at the trailer.  I'm not a big fan of heights, but for the first time, I climbed up on top of the trailer, and secured the sign.  This has always been something that Jim has taken care of, but I knew that he would be anxious to get out of Tucson, and back on the road to Indianapolis .  He arrived just before noon, hooked up the trailer, and we left shortly thereafter.

Dry camping for just under two weeks, used almost all of our propane, so I stopped at Lazy Days RV just down the street from the rodeo grounds, and refilled the tank.  The cold weather kept the furnace, and the catalytic heater going for most of the nights.  The use of the water heater, stove top, and refrigerator, added to the propane usage for those days.  The tank was almost full when we parked, and it took 20 gallons to refill.

By the time we had unloaded the motor home, repositioned all of the vehicles, and did a couple of other things, it was late afternoon, and time to call it quits for the day.  It's good to be home, and back to our normal routines.

IT'S A WRAP

The Tucson Rodeo is history for 2013, ending yesterday, on a cold, windy day.  The first picture shows that there wasn't very much merchandise left in our trailer when we shut the doors for the final time.  Our sales ended up being in the top 3, since we started working this event 8 years ago.  There were two other years with slightly higher gross sales, but both of those years were when we had left over National Finals Rodeo merchandise, that was on sale for half price.  When you almost sell out of stuff, I guess that would be considered a successful event, by just about anyone's standards.  We'll see in the next few months, whether MainGate will make the decision to continue being the official merchandise company for the rodeo, or not.  By their standards, this is a small event, and they may choose to step away.  We should get the word on their decision in the near future. 

The wind really kicked up, with gusts over 30 mph, causing folks sitting in the grandstands to become a little bit on the cold side.  Patty's internal thermostat is much different than mine.  Her tolerance to cold weather is much lower, and as a result, she was chilled for most of the day.  Her $1 ear muffs, purchased at the Quartzsite swap meet came in handy yesterday.

 

Our neighbor, who had coffee for sale, complained about his lack of business for most of the rodeo.  I'm sure he didn't have any complaints yesterday, as people were lined up for warm drinks most of the day.

We did inventory, and reconciled the cash after closing last night, and have a few things left to do this morning.  Jim will be here about mid day to pick up the trailer, and start the long drive back to Indianapolis.  Despite the 10 day grind, we've always enjoyed working here at the Tucson Rodeo, but we're both glad it's over, and we can return home later today.

TUCSON RODEO - DAY 9

Chandra, Marc, and Laila came to the rodeo yesterday, and we were busy when they arrived.  Later, after the rodeo performance started, Laila spent some time with us in the trailer.  While mom & dad watched some of the rodeo action, Laila said she wanted to see Grandma & Grandpa, so Marc brought her over to the trailer.

 Here's our little cowgirl, complete with boots & western shirt.  Grandpa was going to buy her a cowgirl hat, but ran out of time.

They had to leave about mid afternoon, heading up to Phoenix to catch the action today at the NHRA drag races.  I was able to get some race tickets for Marc, and he was going to pick up some Lucas Oil for me at the track.   Earlier in the morning, I spoke on the phone with our friends, Bob & Shirl Kase, who run the Lucas Oil merchandise trailer.  We may get a chance to see them, when they head east from Phoenix.

Today is the last day of the Tucson Rodeo, and for the cowboys, and cowgirls, this is the money day.  If their previous performances were good enough to get them into today's finals, and they do well today, a pretty good paycheck may be their reward. 

Over the past 8 years, we've gotten to know many people who make this rodeo happen, and even though it's 9 straight days of work, (actually 10, counting set up), we still enjoy being part of the Tucson Rodeo.  I must admit however, I'll be glad when it's over, and we can go back to being retired!

TUCSON RODEO - DAY 8

One of the unique things about working the Tucson Rodeo, is each year, we have folks come up to the trailer to purchase merchandise, either on horseback, or with their horses.  There aren't too many venues where this is even possible, but since we are parked right next to the pathway into the arena, the horseback riders are passing by all during the day.  Occasionally, folks, and their horses will come up to the front of the trailer, as shown in these pictures.

With an almost full day of sun, the rodeo grounds quickly dried out, leaving just a few puddles around the trailer.  The temps remain a little on the cool side, only getting into the 50's yesterday, but the moisture is gone, and the weather is warming for these last two days of the rodeo.  We had another good sales day, largely because of the cool weather, and lots of sweatshirt sales.

The rodeo competition revolves around horses.  Except for the bull riding, all of the events have horses in the equation.  Each day before the professional rodeo begins, the junior rodeo starts the action.  These kids get involved with horses at an early age, and just like little league baseball, or pop warner football, rodeo competition for many of these youngsters starts when they are quite young. 

It'll be a few years before this little cowgirl will be able to get on a horse by herself.

 

 

I took this picture during the singing of our National Anthem.  Everyone stopped walking, stopped talking, and the men removed their hats.  The respect for country is alive and well within the western culture.  Unfortunately, that's not the case in other segments of our society.

TUCSON RODEO - DAY 7

The good news is that the winter storm has passed on to the east.  The bad news is that it left the Tucson Rodeo Grounds a muddy mess.  When I went outside the motor home, I found a sheet of ice on our scooter, which was a short term good thing, as most of the mud was still frozen.  However, when the sun came out, the hard mud quickly turned to soft mud, and that's when it became a mess.

 In years past, we've dealt with wet weather before, including a low spot in front of our trailer.  The maintenance crew brought in some extra gravel, but it was toward the end of the day before most of the water had drained back into the ground.

The bad weather exposed another problem that we had to deal with.  The merchandise trailer has some roof leaks, and the water drips onto the counter. The water has caused damage to the pressed wood counter/display cabinets, and will cause further deterioration whenever it rains.  We used several of our towels to keep the water intrusion to a minimum.

Fortunately for yesterdays parade participants, and spectators, the sun was out early in the morning, and except for the cool temps (50's), it was a nice day.  Our sales were up again, even though the crowds were smaller due to the cooler weather.  It was a good day for sweat shirt sales.

In the last picture, I was attempting to show the snow covered mountains around Tucson.  We had lots of snowbirds commenting on the weather, with mostly statements like "we left home to get away from these conditions".  Actually, it was only about 24 hours of rain & a little snow, and now, the forecast is for warmer weather.  Three more days of rodeo performances, then it's back home to continue some of my incomplete projects.

BARREL RACING & MORE SNOW

Under dark, cloudy skies, the gals started the morning with a horseback version of an obstacle course.  Barrel racing is an exclusively ladies event, that requires a turn around 3 barrels, and lots of coordination between the rider and the horse.  While watching the action yesterday morning, I couldn't help but be amazed at the athleticism, and the speed of these magnificent animals.
  

From a full gallop, to a sudden sharp turn, then back to full speed, is the scenario that's repeated 3 times, as the riders maneuvered their horses around the 3 barrels.  A good time was just above 17 seconds, as Patty and I alternated watching the action.  By 9:30am, all of the ladies had taken a shot at the course, and the winter storm warning hadn't yet delivered anything more than some cool temperatures, and ugly clouds.  When we learned that the only other action scheduled for the morning was a short bit of gold buckle team roping, we decided there was no reason to stay open.  With no spectators, we were lucky to make a couple of sales before everyone disappeared.

OK, now what do we do for the rest of the day?  Sitting in the motor home wasn't an option that I wanted to exercise, so we drove uptown, and stopped at a couple of furniture stores.  We're in the market for a larger coffee table, and we may have found one that we both liked.

We had lunch at Sweet Tomatoes, one of our favorite salad bar/soup restaurants, and when we were just about to sit down, we noticed that the white stuff was once again falling from the sky.  All through our meal, we watched the snow come down, causing the parking lot to go from a multi colored gathering of vehicles, to one that was all white.  We're both thinking that we didn't sign up for this when we decided to move from Lake Havasu to Tucson.  This was the third time in just a few weeks, that a dusting of snow has been responsible for turning our landscape white.  I keep looking on the bright side, that when the warmer weather gets here, Tucson won't be quite as hot as Lake Havasu.
 

The 3 slow sales days during the slack competition is now over, and the world famous Tucson Rodeo Parade starts at 9am this morning.  We learned a few days ago, that Gabby Giffords is the parade Grand Marshall.  The rain & snow has stopped, and it's back to rodeo performances for the next 4 days.  With a little bit of luck, we're hoping the bad weather will stay away.

TUCSON RODEO - DAY 5

The images on this post are the adult version of mostly cowboys, and a cowgirl.  The other day, I showed some kids in their western garb, and I'm sure that for many of the youngsters, the rodeo is an opportunity for them to play western dress up.  For the adults, particularly the rodeo contestants, this form of clothing is as normal as a pair of shorts are to me.  It's rare to see a cowboy wearing a short sleeve shirt, and even more unusual to see any adult riding a horse without a western hat. 

Something that has also become very common to see, is an adult riding a horse while talking on a cellphone.  The stretch between one of the oldest forms of human transportation, and one of the newest ways to communicate, is as wide as the Grand Canyon.

Yesterday was our second "slack" day, where the crowds were mostly school kids, and lots of team ropers, calf ropers, and steer wrestlers.  By the time the competition was finished, we had made a few sales, and it was mid afternoon.  Today, the weather is supposed to change for the worst, with rain and much colder temps.  Fortunately, the only competition scheduled for this morning is barrel racing, and senior team roping.  Weather permitting, that should all be done by mid day.

One of my loyal blog readers suggested that I highlight a certain portion of the male anatomy, that often fits tightly into a pair of wrangler britches.  Well, I think I found the perfect opportunity, when I saw these cowboys sitting on a fence, watching some of the team ropers in action.   Here you go Nancy, these butts are for you!!

 

With all of these testosterone filled images, I think a little balance is in order.  This pretty cowgirl was near our trailer, when a loose horse bolted away from the corrals.  She was able to capture the runaway critter, holding it until the owner could retrieve it.

TUCSON RODEO - DAY 4

The first two days (Sat & Sun) of the rodeo saw bright sunshine, and large crowds on both days.  Yesterday was the first of 3 days where the crowds are mostly just the competitors, and lots of school kids.  As a result, we don't sell a lot of merchandise, but it's worth being open for that occasional sale.  Many of the vendors remain closed for these 3 days.

We have another winter storm coming tonight, and tomorrow, with snow levels down to about 3,000 feet.  In all the years we've worked this event, we only had a slight dusting of the white stuff once.  Perhaps tomorrow will be the second time we get a little bit of snow.  It looks like this system is already blasting through CA, with much colder temps, and quite a bit of rain.  The colder weather will certainly help our sweatshirt sales.

The all ladies drill team starts each rodeo performance.

 

Jim left yesterday for Phoenix, where he'll manage all of the official merchandise sales at the second Drag Race of the season.  After the race this coming weekend, he'll return to pick up our trailer, then drive back to Indianapolis.  As I've mentioned before, working this event is a year to year thing, and even though we enjoy being a part of this rodeo, we're not at all involved with MainGate's business decisions. 

After we closed yesterday afternoon, we drove home to pick up a few things that we had forgotten.  That was a first.  In years past, if we forgot something, it was too bad.  Only 20 miles home made it easy to go and get what we forgot.

COWBOYS & COWGIRLS

The location of our trailer, is adjacent to the horse pathway to, and from the Tucson Rodeo arena.  All of the contestants pass to the left of where we're parked, and the pedestrian pathway is directly in front of us.  As a result, the opportunity to see the sights and sounds of rodeo are pretty darn good.  Western attire is definitely the dress code, and some of the kids look like they came right out of a western movie from the 1950's.  I had to zoom in with most of these pictures, so the clarity isn't that great, but as you can see, at least for a day, these kids are cowboys & cowgirls.

 This little boy's hat is almost bigger than he is.

 Yesterday was breast cancer awareness day, and this cowgirl's outfit was definitely pink.

The western lifestyle is a fundamental ingredient of rodeos.  The rodeo competition was born from the day to day activities of folks who used horses on their ranches, and farms.  Every year when we work this rodeo, and in years past, when we've worked the National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas, we are always impressed with the people who are part of this culture.  Almost without exception, folks are very polite, they stop what they're doing, and take off their hats when the National Anthem is played, they believe in the concept of hard work, they are respectful, and they epitomize the true meaning of patriotism.  When I watch the news, and see all of the thievery, violence, and disrespect for just about everything, I often compare that culture of no values, to what I call the western culture. The difference is truly night and day.  If our melting pot that we call America, had an instant injection of western culture values, it would be much better served.

Today starts 3 days of small crowds, but we'll still be open for business.  The Tucson school system brings lots of kids to the rodeo on these three days, and we learned last week, that our Granddaughter Laila, and her classmates will be here today.  We just might have to get her a new Cowgirl hat!