Solar Up and Running

Received the part on Wednesday, had to work in the gallery on Thursday, so I couldn't install it until Friday.

I went up early on Friday and installed the last cable. I then hooked everything up and charged the batteries. I turned the system on and checked everything to be sure it was operating properly. The only problem was attempting to get my internet working. Two hours later it was still not working so I left.

Came back on Saturday and checked all the systems. Worked on the internet for another couple of hours, no luck. Sunday I moved back to my house. Finally, was able to fix the internet. All systems are working.

Red-tailed Hawk

Rhode Island

2016

Reviewing more Pictures

Received and e-mail from the solar company, I should receive my part on Wednesday. Depending on the time they deliver it I may be able to install it. Otherwise it will have to wait until Friday, as I will be at the gallery on Thursday.

I was contacted by a friend to assist her in finding a painting for her new office. I will be going out to see what I may find for her.

Still going through my SD cards, here are some more photographs.

Custer State Park

South Dakota

Pronghorn

American Bison

American Bison

Rhode Island 

Great Blue Heron

Seagull

Great Blue Heron

Sorting through Photographs

The weather did not cooperate yesterday, so I will be installing the new batteries on my solar system on Monday.

I am continuing to go through past photographs.

Western Meadow Lark

Las Vegas New Mexico

National Wildlife Refuge

5/8/18

Rhode Island

Kayaking on the river

9/6/15

Rhode Island

8/15/15

Words Pond

Rhode Island

8/15/15

New Hampshire
10/13/15

Memories

Forest Floor

Mushrooms

Rhode Island

2012

Wood Duck
Tingley Beach
Albuquerque
New Mexico
2023

Curve-billed Thrasher
Ortiz Mountains
Cerrillos
New Mexico
2023

Out on the river

Rhode Island 

2013

I am currently going through all my SD card and reloading them on my iMac. So far only one corrupted disk, I will try a few other ways to retrieve the information off of it.
 

Moon Mercury and Venus

Moon, Mercury and Venus
Sunset New Mexico
2/28/25

Mushrooms
Forest Floor
Rhode Island
2012 

Sunrise and Dragonfly

Sunrise
Lone Butte
2/26/25

Dragonfly

Rhode Island

7/16/12

Back in Time 2011

 Newport Rhode Island 2011

Newport

Sunset

Claiborne Pell/Newport Bridge

Sunset

Claiborne Pell/Newport Bridge

Night

The Truck is packed

Travel Summary

Leave Wakefield, Rhode Island at 10:20am

Arrive Fredonia, New York at 7:20pm

10 Hour Travel time

520 miles

 Yes, the truck came and was loaded last night. We finished loading around 4am, not much sleep but we are ready to go. 

We have a few things to pack in the truck, including the dogs and then we will be on the road.

10:20am we are driving out of the driveway, bye bye Lisa' old house.

We filled the tank in Hope Valley and off we go.

Pretty uneventful drive, beautiful day to start our journey. The dogs behaved themselves. We switched drivers every two hours or so. We planned for a short day, drove until about 7:30, and went over 500 miles.

We are now at a Quality Inn, which allows dogs. We took them for a walk, then came to our room.

Lisa's, no spill, coffee cup spilled in her bag, and leaked through the covers of her bed. To make matters worse the dog then peed on her bed. Not the best way to end the day, but we had a good laugh, after awhile of cursing.

We made it just passed Buffalo.

Not Again

Yes, again.

Our driver got back on the road and left Virginia after being stopped by the State Police. 

They got as far as Delaware before they were stopped by the Delaware State Police.

It seems that a truck with "Alaska" all over the sides is suspicious. 

My guess is they will not arrive by 2pm.

I will keep updating throughout the day.

Update: 1:14pm EDT He is in New Jersey about 4 hours away.

Update: 4:30pm EDT They are about 90 minutes away. This means we will probably not be loading until tomorrow. My sister and I have decided regardless of the time we are leaving as soon as the truck is finished.

Update: The truck got stuck in a construction zone. What else could go wrong? Maybe my bed, the dog couch I have been sleeping on was thrown in the dumpster today.

My new bedroom.

UPDATE: The truck is almost loaded and the house is empty.

Update to the Update

Virginia police have reviewed all of the driver's records and decided that he is in compliance. He is back on the road and should arrive some time tonight.Which means we are on for loading tomorrow and may be able to leave on Thursday.

Considering how things have been going, I will, again, NOT be holding my breath.

Quick Update

 We were just informed that the truck was pulled over in, Virginia, because the Officer was suspicious of an "Alaskan" truck. Unfortunately, they were caught violating the resting rules and will now have to stop for a full 10 hours before they are allowed to proceed. That of course means will will not see the truck until Thursday.

Good news is we found a package of Trader Joe's Lava Cakes and Ice Cream for breakfast this morning.

Beyond the Twilight Zone

Nothing to do but wait for the truck. 

No food in the house, surviving on bread and water.

Hot and humid.

Stomach is still trying to return to normal. Feels like shards of glass throughout my intestinal tract, for the past three days.

Shoot me now, the truck will not be here until Wednesday. Yeah, right.

We ordered dinner, from the store that shall remain nameless, food has gone downhill. Fried chicken wings that were not well coated, if it weren't for the oil dripping off of them, I would believe the gooey mess was cooked in water. 

Cable and the internet have been shutoff, it is a good thing that I have a Hot Spot on my phone.

Please let me awaken from this nightmare in my hot tub overlooking Santa Fe.

Twilight Zone and Recap

I have come to the conclusion that there is no truck and I am living in the Twilight Zone.

It seems the truck that was coming here, "straight" from Alaska to Rhode Island. They entered the lower 48 in Montana. It then proceeded to South Dakota, then on to Washington State, wait that is not the right direction. It got stuck there for an extra day due to a customer that had to run out during the middle of unloading. Okay, so now the truck is headed here and will be here Friday. Oh wait, somehow it ended up in North Carolina, WTFH. So they were going to arrive Sunday night, Monday morning at the latest.  Sunday night they inform us that will not get here until Tuesday. At this point I do not believe there is a truck coming.

It seems there were mushrooms in the Hunan Chicken that was ordered, spent another night with cramps

As if that were not enough, who let the dogs out. The dogs sleep with my sister and there is a gate to keep them in her room. She took the gate down to so we could remove a dresser, it did not get put back. She took the dogs to bed and closed her door. It was hot and humid, so she must have opened her door. At 1:15am, two Collies decided to join me on the couch. They sat on my legs while panting from the heat. This is just what I needed, hot dogs panting in my face and vibrating the bed. I attempted to get them to remove themselves. Then I removed myself to the office floor. This of course did wonders for my stomach cramps. At 1:44am, my sister took them back into her room, or so I thought. I moved back to the couch and promptly had a dog nose breathing in my face, again. Took the dog, in the dark and opened my sister's door to let her in, went back to bed. The dog had gone into the other bedroom in the dark, so a few minutes later, I again had a nose in my face. Turned on the light and marched the dog back to her bedroom and shut the door. By this time it is 2:45am and I can't sleep.

I arrived here, in Rhode Island, on the 10th of July, with the anticipation of leaving for Alaska within a few days. I have now been here a month.

I should be in Alaska, coming out of quarantine, taking pictures of moose, eagles and bears. 

Yet, here I am in the Twilight Zone.

Where is the Truck?

Good grief, Charlie Brown, this is getting ridiculous. The truck is driving all over the country.

Reminds me of an incident from years ago. I was dating a young girl from Los Angelas, at the time I lived south of San Francisco. Her father, a well known actor, had just received his pilot license. He decided to fly her up to my house for a visit. I was working on my license, and knew the people at the airport, so I was in the tower waiting for them to arrive. The tower was giving him directions and and he was a bit confused, as the plane was going left then right then left. When I told them who it was we had a good laugh about how it was good he played a Chief Science Officer and not the Captain of the ship.

Anyway, it seems this truck has detoured all over the country and wound up down south. They are now headed here. They are supposed to get here tonight or tomorrow. I will not be holding my breath.

Some of my sister's neighbors came by for a farewell dinner, we had a pizza dinner in the front yard to say our goodbyes. I believe that there may have been mushrooms on one of the pizzas. I ate one. The rest of the night was spend with severe stomach cramps. I am allergic to mushrooms. Great sent off.

Searching for the Pepto-Bismol and toilet paper.....

Getting Closer

Last word is that the truck is on the way and should arrive on Sunday evening. 

Trying to pack all the odds and ends. 

I mailed a bunch of stuff to my house that Lisa has given to me. This includes all of her "vinyl" 45's and 33 1/3 from the seventies and eighties. these should be a good addition to all of mine.

Yeah, my lens was ready, I went to pick it up. Stopped by Best Buy to pickup a new iPad mini for Lisa.

Had a great last Chinese dinner from Lisa's favorite restaurant. Loads of leftovers that need to be gone before we are.

Eastern Tiger Swallowtail 

Wakefield, Rhode Island 

Update

Slept in, until 5:30, this morning, got an extra hour of sleep.

Went out to, Champlin's, for lunch with another friend to say goodby. Had a nice Lobster roll, love my lobster.

For dinner weren't to, the Mariner Grill, met with another friend. We shared some really good appetizers and then I had some wings with a Thai peanut sauce, so good.

The truck had to go to Washington state to drop a load and part way through unloading they had to stop. The lady had to leave and didn't want the rest until tomorrow. That will add another day. 

We heard back, from Alaska, on the new regulations and we are good to go. Turns out we are being treated as residents since my sister has bought a home and has a business.

Basically, we are now waiting on the truck.

Hoping they will have my lens ready, Thursday or Friday, so I can pick it up. If not they will have to send it to me in Alaska.

Packed up, Lisa's, vinyl that she is giving me since she has no turntable. I will have to go through them when I get home.

Sturgeon Moon

Leatherback Turtle on East Matunuck State Beach

Wakefield Rhode Island 

Started the day at the pond, not much of a sunrise and no wildlife.

Rick came by and we went back to the Bluebird Cafe for breakfast. Great service and food.

We then went in search of shorts, everyone seems to be running low on stock. Drove out to the beach and chatted.

Went to visit another friend, while the house was being shown.

I was dropped off at Sheila's house, she and I went to East Matunuck State Beach to see the moon rising.

Came across this Leatherback Turtle in the surf, looks like it was killed by a boat propeller.

The truck is somewhere in Montana on its way here.

Documenting our Adventure

Went out to the pond to take some pictures of the sunrise, I was not disappointed.

Alex, the videographer, who is doing a documentary on my sister, met me out there. He has been filming a piece about my sister, Lisa, for a potential series on women scientists. I was interviewed for this a few years ago.

He, now, wants to incorporate my mazes into the documentary, so he came out and filmed me starting a maze, which I will continue to draw as we drive to Alaska.

He will, also, be setting up a camera on the truck to film us on our trip. Lisa and I will be filming using our cameras, this will also be used.

This could be very interesting.

When I got back to the house, Lisa, was preparing blueberry crepes for breakfast. We were joined by our friend, Kate. They were very good.

More packing, fixing the house and preparing for our adventure.

Getting ready to Leave

Today, we went to Warwick to drop some items at Saver and picked up snacks at Trader Joes.

We had pizza for lunch at Frank Pepe's Pizza, very good, thin crust with light sauce, just the way I like it.

Came home and met with more of Lisa's friends, who wished her well on her retirement. She is now officially retired. 

Had tamales, from Texas(???), well we have to use up all of the food before we leave. They were one step above Hormel canned tamales, need to have a good New Mexican tamale to get the taste out.

More of the same tomorrow as we wait for the truck to arrive.

Hurricane or tropical storm is supposed to reach us on Tuesday or Wednesday, more fun. 

Dragonfly at Worden Pond

Wakefield Rhode Island 

The Truck is Truckin"

The truck is officially on the way. How long it will take is the next question. He will be sending us updates.

We have been putting things in order to make a run to Savers and the dump. Saturday we will get some supplies from Trader Joe's for the trip.

Had a great dinner of shrimp, a potato and bacon dish, as well as,  corn casserole, very delicious.

Weather was a bit cooler today. We are now waiting to see what the hurricane is going to do.

More to tomorrow.