Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 12, 2016

Friday, February 12, 2016, 1915 Hrs., 55 degrees, clear sky.

Good evening!

Yesterday I spent most of the day to reorganizing both the trailer and Astro van so the van will have more space to put in more books from the storage when Beth can bring them down here. Here’s the picture:

After I managed to pull out 4 eBay orders, as I trying to print out the shipping labels and found out that black ink has run out again, all that less than 2 week!! YIKES!!!

We are still seeking any donor who would give us storage shed ( minimum 10’ X 10’), if you know anyone who would donate and deliver it to us, please contact Beth at 714 699-3323. We need a storage shed as fast as possible!

Beth told me to try to get the ink refills kits, but I doubt it it would work because each cartridge have green memory chip in it. If I refill it, it may still have memory stating “empty” and not going to work.

Anyway, Both yesterday and today weather has been really nice here, very warm in the afternoon and nice cool at night time like 50 degrees.

Today, I had to go to the town to drop off the packages from eBay then to Wal-Mart to get another ink and 2 bottles of waters and come back here. No one hasn’t given me a ride to and back at all. I left here about 8:45 this morning and finally came back here about 4:10 pm this afternoon, yes, very long hours of walking both ways. Now my back is really bugging me, jeez!

Anyway, Last night I put in the small pile of tumbleweeds far from here, about 30 yards southeast from our RV. Here’s the picture I took with zoomed in:

Tomorrow I need to pull out 2 more orders, pack it and take to the post office. Hopefully I can get a ride to and back!

Just hopefully Beth will bring the remaining books crate I left in Garden Grove storage and BBQ pit with propane tanks. I miss eating chicken, steak and my favorite - hamburger!

Yes, I want to finish off to adding books in eBay!

I know there is one full & one half full propane tank, Beth can tell by lifting and checking the weight. If it is heavy, then it full, she can tell between full and empty. So I need this! I know we have 4 or 5 propane tanks in the storage, if Beth want to, then she can exchange it all or one at a time, it only cost $19.95, plus tax. Your cash donation would help!

Well that’s about it for the night.

Have a great weekend!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 10th, 2016

Wednesday, February 10, 2016, 1915 hrs., 53 degree, clear sky, slightly wind.

Good evening!

Today is “a-okay” for me, but my cold “flu” is still stuck with me. I have to walk into the town until a good person with a Mercedes Benz gave me a ride to Wal-Mart halfway there, so I can get cat food (Only 4 lbs this time because it is hard for me to walk back with another 16 pounds bag), litter clay (4 pounds), 2 bottles of water and a soda and came back to the land with a ride again. I didn’t go to the post office today, because I just wanted to go Wal-Mart and come right back here and relax, napping for a while which I did. I don’t know why I am still “so” tired right now.

I can’t believes that 25 pounds bag of cat food were gone in less than 2 month, normally it should last 3 ½ months.

I have been hearing some “boomings” around that the U.S. Air Force practicing dropping 100 lbs of bombs.

Anyway, the weather is very nice today, around 70’s degrees, but hot in the RV. So I had to put a fan in the RV, but Solar Panel Battery doesn't work on the fan, however, the Astro van with engine running, works fine on the low setting for an hour and half, Medium or high setting does trip the red inverter. I also did crack some windows open for a while. I mentioned before I need a bigger and better battery for the solar panel. Oh well. Here’s the picture of the fan I took:

The Fam

Anyway, I noticed that Beth mentioned in her last video, hopefully we can get another camper or RV that’s better.

Pile of laminated wood

Few weeks ago, I mentioned in the blog about the laminated wood that I pulled out of the RV storage compartments. I fell it is an “eyesore” for me to leave it there for no reason. Here’s the picture:

I need to ask Beth if she would let me to burn it away from the RV in our land property, I found 5 different spots that I can choose from to burn it which it way away from the RV, van and trailer. I only will burn it when there is no strong wind one day. That way the “eyesore” will be gone!

So anyway since I am less emotionally, hopefully tomorrow morning, I can start pull out 2 eBay orders and get it ready to go to the Post Office and hopefully I can get back here fast as I could so I can start reorganizing between Astro van and trailer and start a video or two.

Well that’s about it for today.

Have a great day!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 9th, 2016

Tuesday, February 9, 2016, 1915 Hrs, 47 degrees, clear sky.

Good evening!

Today was pretty nice and warm and didn’t need to wear a jacket for the first time! How nice!

I went to post office today to drop off the braille magazine from our eBay Store, no one has given me a ride as I took 2 ½ hour of trek walking to the first bus stop and it really pain to my hip and my back, jeez! I came back about 1:30 pm today and took a good nap until 3:45 pm to rest off my hip and back.

I still have a cold and sore throat that hasn’t stopped yet.

Anyway tomorrow should be a nice weather again and I will pull out 2 more eBay Order and take it to the post office, then I need to stop by Wal-Mart to get more cat food.

Our Crowdrise is now 20%, we need 80% more to go, please visit and help us to raise fund today at:
https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac

Please, do take a minute or two to visit this link and help us to raise funds so we can get materials for the chickens in our ranch project. Please help us by donating $10 or more.

Also, again, Please see Beth’s video at: https://youtu.be/JsskUcxejDY today and you can click donate there.

Also please visit our Amazon Wishlist at: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist today!

Anyone, PLEASE help us, we need lots of donated materials for this ranch project, we also need a truckload of firewood, materials for a storage shed ( at least 20’ X 20’). You can either:

• Send check or Money order to OCDAC, 2255 W. Ball Rd., #2430, Anaheim, CA 92814 to help us purchase items we need.
• Contact Beth at 714 699-3323 and ask what you can do to help us
• Or email me at [email protected] with any questions

If you or your company supports us, your name will appear on our RRMR website at:
http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch

That’s about it for the night, have a great evening folks!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 8th, 2016

Monday, February 8, 2016 1730 Hrs., 68°, clear skies and windy.

Good evening once again!

Over this past weekend I came down with a cold and my nose running all the time and had to blow my nose. DANG!!

For the past 3 nights a row, weather is so nice to me while I sleep, not too cold and not to warm, “just right” for me to sleep better, I didn’t have to bundles up too hard this time. Hopefully there will be no more “hard cold” for a while!

Today, the weather been windy all day and I saw some tumbleweeds rolling away across our land. It is fun to watch them.

Anyway, I just ran out of water here and it’s going to be hard for me to carry water around, but I think I can manage to get some.

I also pulled out 1 eBay order this morning, packed and labeled it and it’s ready to go for tomorrow again, ugh! We also sold APH Bookport for the blind. I know Beth has it as I left it in Orange County for Beth after we loaded up our trailer before I left Orange County. I have emailed to Beth about this and she hasn’t responded yet or “Marked Shipped” from the eBay. Hmmm.

After that, I finally cleaned the dishes and cleaned up here in this RV.

Tomorrow, hopefully the winds die down so I can go to the HQ Post Office to drop off the package, get one gallon of water and return back here. Yes, it is takes time for me to go and return, more like 4 to 6 hours. Yikes! I still have bit of sore right hip from the fall I had 2 weeks ago.

Well, that’s just about it for now until tomorrow. Have a great day! KMG-365!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 4th, 2016

Thursday, February 4, 2016, 1950 Hrs., 43 Degrees, clear sky and light wind.

Good evening,

This morning when I woke up, my stomach was in so much pain, an hour later, I was very sick and do not know why. Yuck!

So I stay in bed most of the day today until 2:30 pm when I was feeling better but still feeling nauseous and I couldn’t eat or drink at all today.

I managed to pull out two eBay Orders, packed and labeled the shipping on the packages.

At about 3:30 pm, my new friend, who is willing to speak his friend about fixing the car contacted me that he won’t make it to meet me today because he has had last minute things come up on him and he will see me tomorrow or Saturday to talk about getting it fixed.

So at 5:00 pm I started up the campfire and enjoyed it until now.

Sorry, I couldn’t do much today due to illnesses which it makes me not feel like doing that much today.

Until next time!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 3rd, 2016

Wednesday, February 3, 2016, 6:30p.m, 45°, partly cloudy with light wind.

Good evening!

After what looked like was going to be a rough start to my day, it got progressively better as the day unfolded. I had to go to the post office to drop off the eBay store orders. Now, on a good day, the trip itself is a good hour and a half walk, plus another half hour bus ride. But my hip and lower back weren't having it today, making the already long trip even longer. Anyway, 45 minutes into my trek, a Good Samaritan gave me a ride to the town. From there I took the bus to 25th Street West and walked another 45 minutes to the HQ post office. While I was there, I found out our eBay store sold two more items. Fantastic!

On the way back, I ran into a guy who had given me a ride twice before. We sat down and had lunch at McDonald's. We chatted talked for a while. He said he’s going to talk to his good friend about getting the car working again (fingers crossed). Not only did he give me a lift back, he offered to take me to get more water and fuel for the Astro van. Good things really do come in threes!

Tomorrow morning I am going to pull out two eBay orders and get them ready to ship on Friday morning. I’m also going to try to work on the videos and tidy up around here. I need to gather wood for the fire pit and solo-stove. I usually keep a stockpile, but the wind scattered it all over the place on Sunday morning.

The weather here has been mostly cold. It should get warmer later this week!

That’s about it for today’s blog, until next time!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for February 2nd, 2016

Tuesday, February 2, 2016, 6:45 p.m., 38°, windy and cold.

Good evening folks,

Sorry for the long delay. Things have been rough for me lately. I’m constantly pulled in many directions. So much to do and not enough time, money or help to get it all done. ARRRGH!! So frustrating!

I wrote my previous blog entry last Tuesday, but it didn't actually get posted until today. While I’m tempted to post my blogs unedited, the reality is good blogs are never rushed and rushed blogs are never good.

As I was saying, it's been rough for me lately. Thursday I went to town to do my errands. It was a 2 ½ hour walk. I went to drop off the packages at the Lancaster Post Office. I can't believe they still refused to accept free matter mail. So I had to walk another hour and half to HQ post office. While there, I spoke to the manager about this matter. He said he will talk to them. He also said the tracking numbers are not accepted for free matter. I know for a fact it’s not true. He removed the tracking number label off the packages, and accepted them as free matter packages without tracking number on it. Someone needs to tell these people that tracking numbers still count for free matter!

I walked back to Avenue I. From there, I took a nice bus ride east until the last stop. Unfortunately, the bus ride ain't cheap and it doesn't give out day passes. Luckily, a nice lady was kind enough to give me a lift as far as 80th Street East.

It was REALLY windy on Saturday, with rain expected later that night. I went up to the roof to check on the cement patches I made and added more patches where it was needed. As I climbed down the ladder, I was so distracted thinking about all the things that needed to be done that I fell off the ladder and landed on my right side. No broken bones — thank goodness — just sore arm and hip. My hip is bothering me still to this day. Anyway, by 7:00 p.m., I decided to call it night.

The next day, I woke up to rain and VERY STRONG wind. I posted a video on FaceBook showing how strong the wind was! WOW! It was raining buckets all day. The front unit started to leak...AGAIN! But I couldn't do anything about it until the rain stopped. GRRRRR!!!! By 3:30 p.m., the rain finally let up. I went up to the roof to check on the leak. We now have a rooftop pool! LOL

Sunday morning: thanks to a leak this time in the rear unit, I now have a waterbed! YIKES! So I got up and wrung out my bed and put down another drip pan to collect the dripping water.

As I was saying, It’s been cold and windy the last couple of days. Good news is the ground has already dried up.

Yesterday I tested the battery between solar panel and Astro van. The solar panel isn't strong enough to power both my printer and laptop. On the plus side: I can run one of the printers and charge all three laptops off the Astrovan battery with the engine running. It takes some time, but it gets the job done.

I ran out of black printer ink. So I went on a 4-hour long trek to Wal-mart. Yeah, I know. The trip really should only take only two hours max. But with my hip still sore from the fall I took, this was as fast as I could go. I eventually made it to Wal-Mart, got the black ink, came back here and got the shipping label printed out, FINALLY!!

As soon as some money comes in, I plan on ordering more black ink from eBay. Which reminds me, I need to take those packages to the post office first thing tomorrow morning. Nice, eh?

I emailed Beth with suggestions how we can improve our communication and working relationship. As soon as we reach a compromise, I look forward to starting the video classes.

Well, that’s about it for the day, until next time!

Bobby Fleener
General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist

Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch Blog for January 26th, 2016

Tuesday, January 26, 2016, 8:15p.m., 44°, partly cloudy.

Good evening folks!

Yesterday and today have not been good days for me at the ranch. It’s too much for me and it’s stressing me out again!

Yesterday I woke up freezing at 7:15 am.  I made some coffee with the Solo-Stove, checked out our eBay Store and found we sold 3 items.  I went to the trailer to pull out the orders. I was putting stuff back into the trailer when I banged my head and almost knocked myself out cold.  I fell and remained lying on the ground for a few minutes. It hurt like Hell! I was very dizzy.  When I got up, I had huge headache and ringing in my ear. I managed to put one more thing back in the trailer before I closed and locked the side door.  Still feeling woozy, I walked back to the RV, pulled out my smartphone and called Beth.  I took my shoes off and lied down on the bed.  Beth didn’t return my call, so I decided to nap off the pain.

After a three-hour nap, I was still in a lot of pain, but I managed to get around okay.  I checked my smartphone and saw I had one message.  It was from Beth.  Her message read “Yikes!”  I fixed my last package of beef flavor, ramen soup on the Solo-Stove without any trouble — that it is until I poured my soup on a plate instead of bowl.  Oh, darn it!

So anyway, after I finished my meal, I headed back to bed to sleep it off again.

This morning I woke up at about 7:00 am.  It was 38° and windy — still too cold for me. I brewed my coffee on the Solo-Stove. I ran out of my favorite hazelnut creamer and Sweet-N-Low, so I had to drink coffee plain black.  Yuck!

I called Beth back.  She asked me if I was ok.   The pain and swelling were gone, but I was tired and a bit weak from all the sleeping I did yesterday.  While I had Beth on the phone, I went online and checked our eBay Store.  We sold two more items.

I pulled out the two items, took a quick bath, shaved, and dressed. I packed the order and got them ready to be labeled.  I tried to fire up the generator, but it wouldn’t turn over — twice. I am like “Hmmm, it was working fine last Saturday morning.  I only used it for 20 minutes.  I know it has half of a tank of gas left. I haven’t use it since Saturday morning and today is Tuesday. That’s so strange.”  I opened the gas tank and saw it still had a half tank of gas in it mixed with oil. So I tried again.  You need to pull the cord to start it  (just like lawnmower) but it wouldn’t let me.  The pistons were stuck.  It wouldn’t won’t roll over. I just don’t understand why it did that! I know it!  It was made in CHINA!!

Hopefully, Beth will be here soon to get this generator exchanged. We’ve only have it for three weeks.  I contacted Beth about that, she like “Oh, crap!”

My idea was to try to take the power pack to the solar panel area and get it charged up.  It has been charging for 20 minutes and the red inverter was tripped. I turned it off for 30 minutes, then turn it back on.  The inverter tripped again after another 15 minutes of charge.  GRRR!!  Yes, white printer is so old, it needs lots of power.  So I need lots of power for the power pack.  As I waited for the inverter for the solar power battery charge up via the solar panel, I had to handwrite the addresses for the braille magazines to get them ready to go to the post office.

I went back out to the solar panel again, and tried to get the power pack charged up.  Again, it tripped after 21 minutes of charging. I’m thinking that the adapter needs at least 12 volts to charge up, but the battery is 12 volts max. I’m like “Ah! Forget it”

I contacted Beth again for another issue. We hate too many issues in one week, instead of once a month. She didn’t respond right away.  Okaaaay! Back to my RV again to get my smartphone  solar charged for an hour. Finally fully charged, I unplugged the phone and plugged the Chrome laptop in and charged that.

I took a quick nap and got up — perfect timing for me to reply to Beth. I’m only supposed to spend on food, not the company car.   Beth mentioned she would get food for me.  Soon I am going to give her shopping list of what I need.

Anyway, Beth and I had a short chit-chat.  She’s becoming “Irish” (LOL!) talking for an hour while my Chrome laptop charged up. Ah! Finally I saw the light on my Chrome turned from orange to blue  — it’s fully charged! It took close to four hours to charge with 65 minutes left on the Chrome battery as was I shutting it down. Yikes! Compare 1¼  hours of generator charge-up vs. 4-hour solar powered battery!

Anyway, I am now a sitting duck until someone who really can support us comes along to cover the roughly $150 in gas. We also need to pay our phone, storage fees and upcoming expos this Spring.

Well, that’s about it for now until further notice.

Have a great day folks!

Bobby Fleener

General Manager, Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch
Vice President, Orange County Deaf Advocacy Center

More information on the Richard Roehm Memorial Ranch: http://www.deafadvocacy.org/the-richard-roehm-memorial-ranch
Donate to the Begining of Year, Chicken Coop Fundraiser: https://www.crowdrise.com/beginningofyearfundraiserhelpushatchsomechickens/fundraiser/ocdac
Our wish list on amazon: http://www.tinyurl.com/ocdac-wishlist