The Pumpkin Cheesecake Diaries: 1-22-2020

Black Water, Taxes and Poop

(Evening of 1-21-2020) It was hard saying goodbye to Lynn, Scott and Peter but it's always nice to come home, too. Aguila feels like home to me. I keep thinking I'll get sick of this Arizona Snowbird life but so far it feels more natural than any other way I've lived thus far. There is a good chance I was a Gypsy in my previous life.

I am becoming an expert in setting up and breaking down camp. I backed into my previous spot, put the horses away and had camp set before dark. Dave said to bring my gun over and he would see if he could fix it. I don't think there was any doubt he could. I watched to see if I could learn something. I don't know how he managed all those tiny screws and parts under RV lighting. I could barely see him across the table. He said he's done it for so long he does most of it by feel. I would call it an art.

Dave worked both guns over from the inside out. He filed parts down, replaced springs...tightened screws and gave me pointers on how to better take care of them. I'd like to say I'm a sponge when it comes to soaking in massive amounts of information. I'm more like a sieve. Stuff is pouring and pouring in and it all just falls out the bottom. I wrote down everything I could remember as soon as I got back to my trailer. Now if can just remember where I wrote it...

1-22-2020: I planned to sleep in today. There was a sorting not far down the road that didn't start until 10:00 AM. As tired as I was last night – I was still up by 5:30 AM. I've always been a morning person but I'm supposed to be retired for crying out loud. I should be allowed to sleep in until 7:00 at least.

The gal putting on the sorting was using fresh cattle that had never been worked. I learned you have to go slow with new cattle or they can freak out and jump over the fence. These particular cattle were prone to do just that. I took J'Lo to the sorting and left Jack at home. Cindy took her gelding, Cowboy. J and Cowboy look enough alike to be siblings. Cowboy does everything from mounted shooting to cutting and everything in between. He's a beautiful horse to watch. I was proud of J'Lo, too. She's never sorted before that I know of and did a great job. Especially considering her rider hasn't a clue.

My favorite part of the sorting was when a steer in the adjoining pasture got out and J'Lo and I got to run it back in. I have gathered cows before on both J and Jack. So far, it's my favorite thing to do with cows next to a good BBQ.

It cost $15.00 base cattle fee and $5.00 per 2 minute run. We signed up to run 3 times. We were done and back home in plenty of time for me to unload the horses and haul the LQ back to Wickenburg to the septic dump.

Poop 101 was beginning to feel like a course I wish I hadn't signed up for. The last two times I've dumped the septic has not gone so well. Most of the dumps aren't low enough to accommodate the low tanks on a horse trailer. Basically – poop does not run uphill.

I formulated a plan of action. I would buy a new septic hose at Tractor Supply. One that is longer than the one I have and has better ends on it. I'd take a coupe blocks of wood to put under the trailer tires to raise it off the ground so gravity can run it's course. I would also bring a hose and pressure fill the tank until that damn thing runs as clear as Desani drinking water.

The checkout clerk at Tractor Supply sympathized with my shitter frustration and wished me luck. I pulled into the 76 station armed with my new Rhino Flex RV hose and determination to match. The guy attending the RV dump recognized me from a few days earlier: “Back again, huh?” I eat a lot of fiber...don't judge. I informed him not to wait. This might take a while and I'm not leaving here until I have a successful purge.

I opened the Rhino Flex box and proceeded to attach various plastic parts to the ends. It certainly fit more snug than the original hose. Only those who have dealt with RV black water knows the utter fear and trepidation of pulling that drainage valve to the open position. Will the fittings hold? Will we have free flowing success or will there be blockage? If there is a blockage...what then? Dear God – let there be no blockage.

I made a final inspection of the fittings...said a little poop prayer and pulled the valve. The glorious sound of fee flowing waste spilling from the tank to the septic dump was pure music to my ears. Houston..we have a successful purge.

If the 76 station cashier wondered why a person would be grinning from ear to ear, elated to be handing him a $10.00 dump fee...he never let on. He did, however, seem a little hesitant taking the ten dollar bill from the same hand that just spent 20 minutes handling a Rhino Flex hose. I could have put his mind to ease by showing him the bottle of hand sanitizer in my pocket. Maybe next time....and there will be a next time. There are two things you can count on in this world: Taxes and Poop.

Tomorrow – I head for the mountains