OLD AGE FRUSTRATION

Here we are, still stuck in the fog on this lovely day with only ten days left until Christmas.  That just doesn't seem possible.   Notice the neighbor's lights change color.  Last week blue ... this week green.  I'm one of those crazy people who think we should leave them up all year long.  They definitely brighten up the neighborhood.

Having recovered ... sort of ... from the also foggy wet trip for Wreaths Across America, I tried to sleep in.  It lasted all of 15 minutes.  As you can see, I'm still trying to get back on the diet bandwagon.  Here's some interesting info ... I looked at Carb Balance tortillas, only to find they had something like 45 carbs.  Don't quote me on that one.  

So when I saw ZERO net carbs ... well that should work just fine.  However ... unless you fry them in lots of butter, which I suppose is even MORE Keto, they fall apart and taste terrible.  

Here's my quesadilla with eggs, cheese and avocado.  It tasted like I was eating paper.  The little bits of egg are for Cooper's breakfast.  

I messed around the house for a while and loaded a few things into the van.  Then I was off to do more year end bookwork.  Three hours later, I arrived back home, with a dumb idea.  I've been wanting to go for a bike ride, but my bike was cabled and locked on the bike rack on the van.  I had a thought.  I'll just take it off for the practice and go for a ride today.

That was a bad idea.  No kidding, by the time I unlocked all those locks, unstrapped all those straps and manhandled the very heavy cover OFF the bike, I was completely DONE with this idea.  Why?  Because yet another problem came up ... you cannot see the license plate.  That has recently caused many people to get tickets from the highway patrol.  RATS!

I decided to remove the hitch for this long trip and use it for short trips to the coast instead.  Easy peasy ... get out my wrench and loosen the hitch bolt so the lock can be removed.

Let me just say first, that I ASKED the kid installing this thing if there was enough ROOM to unlock it.  He said OF COURSE.  HE LIED.  Even with the bolt as loose as it would go, there was no way to get your fingers holding a key into that space next to those wires.  Even just the key did not fit.

I even went so far as to get a pair of needle nose pliers to hold the key, but nothing I tried would work.  I've been frustrated before, but this went above and beyond.  There is a steel plate in front of those wires, so there was no moving anything.  

You can see in this picture where the key should go.  I called the local locksmith, but they didn't answer.  Finally, in complete disgust, I drove all the way to the next town over to find a locksmith who I thought would just stick a little crochet hook in there and open it up.  I was highly mistaken.

Thirty minutes later, they were finally able to find a master key, which didn't help at all.  I mean really, I HAD the REAL key.  The master would not fit either.  By now I'm just downright MAD.  

At long last they were able to twist the bolt and lock to the exact right spot and get the lock off.  Luckily this bolt screws in, so I was able to drive home without the rack falling off.  

The fancy dancy bike rack is now living in the garage.  I'm not taking it on any trips until I get a new lightweight cover and get the backup object detectors turned off.  The entire time you are driving down the road, the dash lights light up like you are running into something.  If you back up, sirens go off, flashing lights appear and ding ding ding goes off continuously.  In all my research of bike racks, none of these problems EVER came up.  

And so my solution for now is setting up an Uber account.  How frustrating ... and maddening.  Put in a different kind of hitch pin the other direction you say?  I haven't found one that will fit.  I don't know whether to blame the van or the bike rack, so I blame myself for not finding out this stuff sooner.  I may have to put the bike inside, and just lock it up OUTSIDE, every time I get somewhere. 

Dinner was again leftovers ... another turkey sandwich.  I ran out of cranberry sauce, so I tried some of my boysenberry jam.  Surprisingly, it was DELICIOUS!  Not to sweet at all, and it went great with the turkey.

More bookwork will ensue today, just in time for company to arrive.  I feel bad my friend comes down every so often, but I never have time to spend with her.  Any spare time will be spent packing this time. 

I was lucky enough to have little forethought and washed the clothes I need, which are now in the rig.  Time to get out all my little post-it notes so I don't forget anything!!!

But wait!!!  No one knows how to set up the Bingo machine while I'm gone.  I guess today I'll put on my pirate hat and find someone to shanghai!!

Wreaths Across America

 I'm BACK!!  I should learn to write the blog in the evening instead of the morning.  It would probably be much easier.  At any rate, Saturday was Wreaths Across American day.  Their motto is REMEMBER, HONOR, TEACH.

Around here, it means getting up at O-Dark-Thirty and heading out in the foggy cold morning.  I left Mr. Cooper sleeping in his usual position!!

The wreaths are made in Maine they tell me, on wire rings, with a red bow attached.  We place 230 of them in every cemetery in our County, paid for by the lodge.  I think there are maybe ten cemeteries in all?  Every Veteran Elks Member gets a wreath every year.  Lucky for us, we get our wreaths delivered to the lodge the day before.  

I arrived at 6:15 (WAY too early to be outside my house) just in time to unlock the doors.  There was supposed to be donuts and coffee waiting.  That didn't happen.  Organizing this thing is an epic event which was handled by our Veterans Chairman.  Sadly, he passed away this year, so we weren't all that organized.  

By 7:00, my team of three ... Mark, Steven and myself ... were off to the San Joaquin Valley National Cemetery.  We had 16 wreaths to place.  Though most of them were the same as last year, so we know where to go, this time we had many extras included.  

There were four other teams at the same cemetery.  

The number of graves out here is staggering since it's opening in 1992.  To make it a little more interesting, they have changed the numbering system.  C12 is NOT the same as C-012.  The guys carried the wreaths as I yelled out the numbers, all of us walking in different areas until we found the correct name to go with the number.

We aren't the only ones out there ... many other groups like the Daughters of the American Revolution are doing the same.  And of course many families come to lay a wreath on their relatives grave.

Here's another example ... C12 304 is not the same as C-12-0304.  Confusing sometimes, but we were able to find every one this year.

We laid the wreath, tried to fix the bow since they came smashed into a box of 12, and said their name out loud.  I took pictures of several to send to their relatives.

Here's my buddy Mark (head of our RV park) ... the handyman of all handymen ... holding the wreath for our Elks Park member who passed away this year.  We sent this picture to his wife.  

Occasionally we find a mistake in the names, so I took this picture to remember where it is for next year.  We must have walked a mile looking for it.  

The grass is tall, it's foggy as you can tell, and VERY cold.  We came out soaking wet with two pounds of cut grass on our boots, stuck on by the mud from gophers building condos.  

Here's a picture of the troops that make this happen every year.  Many bring out their grandkids to learn about the wreaths.  Even our handicapped members help out.  The Elks Lodge may be known for their cheap member booze, but truly, they are all about their Veterans and children in need.  Can you pick me out?  Yeah, I've done this for many years, and I know how to dress for the cold and wet.

And so a long morning ended with an eggnog party at the lodge.  Not my thing, so I just headed home to this sweet face.  He's always so happy to see me.  

There's more ... mostly frustration ... but I'll relay that one tomorrow.  You're going to LOVE this one!!  If it's going to happen to anyone, it will happen to me.

A Long Short Day

 Apparently there is no use in complaining about the cold, overcast, foggy, grumpy-inducing weather we are having, because it's still happening!  In a week it's supposed to rain, just when I'm leaving.  I'm not sure if that's good or bad!!  In the meantime, we are stuck at a low of 41 and a high of 44.  People are now driving up to the foothills to try and find a little warm.

This kid .... he just sleeps through it all.  

I had to make a quick morning run to Wally World for Jonathan food.  Those bags-o-salad don't last as long as they used to.  It's the only way I can get some veggies in him.  He loves the cabbage and the kale.  I admit, both of my kids are getting very close to ... well you know.  I try to keep them engaged, but it's a losing battle.  Sniff sniff.

This is what happens when you need light bulbs that are in the farthest away aisle.  I might have been safe had I not gone the wrong way, forcing me to pass the end cap TWICE.  These are Krispy Creme donut holes.  How in the world did they get here when we don't HAVE a Krispy Creme in town!

I'm pretty sure that's why I wasn't impressed at all.  There is nothing special about these nuggets of sugar.  My curiosity was completely satisfied for the rest of my life.

This is what I found when I returned.  I had turned the driveway alarm off, so he didn't hear me come in.  He sleeps so soundly ... if only I could do the same!  

I spent the rest of the day reading Lodge reports for the Trustee and Board meetings.  It's a new generation of members that don't attend functions like us old folks.  They pick and choose, and only show up now and then.  That means the downhill slide has begun in earnest.  It's kind of like the seven year real estate swing.  If only I could convince the officers we need to tighten our belt.

Some of the things we do this time of year ... feeding the seniors, today feeding 300 special needs kids a complete turkey dinner, (which we also did for Thanksgiving)  followed by $100 gift cards for groceries given out to each family.  Then Santa comes and gives out gifts to every Elks child and grandchild, along with a Photo Booth for each one, AND we lay wreaths on every Elk Veterans gravesite (that's tomorrow morning), and the list goes on.

Luckily I got out of there soon enough to race home and watch Stetson, after a bad fall, get BACK on his next bull and ride him in style.  He is now the only one to ride 6 out of 8.  

Unfortunately, that's it for today.  My good friend from the lodge ... his wife had a stroke this morning and is in the hospital.  Please say a prayer for Connie.  

No blog tomorrow ... I'll be on the road by 6:00 am heading to the National Cemetery.  

DINNER FOR 75, COMING UP

 The weather guessers are at it again in Central California.  We were supposed to have sun for the last two days.  It was ALL cloudy fog.  Mostly sunny is again in the forecast for the next three days. I'm not holding my breath.  They can change the name of fog to sun, but that doesn't mean it will work.  It's an overcast 39 degrees right now.  BRRRRR!!!

Mr. Cooper doesn't like it at all.  He gets to the door, sticks his nose out and says NO WAY MOM!!  Yes he still has that foot, this is just his usual one-foot-up stance.

Kitters has developed her sneaking in skills to the max.  I've not been letting her in much at all, and only for a few minutes.  I don't want her to get too used to company because I'll be gone.  Once I get back, she can move right in.

I was up early, but didn't do much.  Jeeves ran around on the floor, vacuuming up stuff until he got stuck on a rug.  Surprisingly, he does some gymnastics and gets free every time.  I've not had one single problem with this robot guy.  In fact, I usually have to tell him to go back home and rest up.  That turned out to be a good 50% off sale purchase.

Lunch was a reminder that I really should follow a recipe.  All those vegetarian vegetables I bought needed to be used up, so STIR FRY it is!!  I even threw in the leftover carrots.  Not bad I suppose, but the sauce was less than desirable.  Not enough ... too much cornstarch to thicken it and not enough soy sauce.  It's sad how my cooking skills have disappeared.

That meant I was a little leery to take on the big Elks kitchen ovens.  That's the turkeys, top left.  Five huge birds roasting away.  I grabbed pans right and left, ten in all, and began to prepare the dinner for seniors at a nearby Apartment complex.  They downgraded from 100 folks to 75.  YAY!

Here's my tip of the day, crazy as it is.  I drained four huge cans of sweet potatoes, dumped them into a large foil pan and sprinkled pumpkin pie spice all over them.  WHO KNEW?  I never would have thought of that, but our Head Chef said to try it.  Over that went a dozen slices of butter and into the oven they went. 

Next up ... boil ten gallons of water for potatoes, stuffing and gravy.  Sounds terrible, but the stuff they buy tastes amazing.  There is nothing harder to make than four gallons of mashed potatoes,  If you don't stir fast enough, they clump up like crazy.  That's where the Chef comes in.  I sweet talk him into doing it for me every time.  Truly, he's a great guy.  

All of this happened while they served lunch in the lodge AND whipped up a prime rib dinner for 200 in the ovens.  Pretty amazing.

He also made my dressing, and then the lump-free gravy.  You stir that into COLD water, then dump that into the boiling water.  You have to be TALL and STRONG.  I'm neither, so am very happy when he helps me out.  

At the last minute, we sliced the turkey, panned everything (two of these big pans for each entree) and stuffed them into big box warmers.  Those were loaded into the back of my truck and we were OFF.  It's a short four block ride to the facility.  Here we are getting ready to serve.  

We usually box up 50 or so to-go meals, but they discovered people would say they needed three meals when there was just one person.  This year they made everyone come in to the building.  Many, if not all, cannot really walk and carry a big plate of food, so the King of Bingo served everyone in the place.  There was only one OH NO when one gentleman turned around and ran into a lady, dumping an entire plate on the floor.  

In the end, we only served 60 people, but most came back for seconds.  I guess the food was good!  Here's the entire crew that helped out.  

We loaded everything up and went back to the lodge, to find the prime rib dinner people leaving and the next group sitting down for THEIR dinner.  This crew we have in the kitchen ... they perform miracles.  They get all the credit for the money needed to run this place.  They make it look easy to put on event after event.   

Though volunteers can take home a bit of the leftovers, most everything is donated to the local Men's Shelter unless it can be used somehow for lunch the next day.  The leftover prime rib is sliced up for the best au jus sandwiches in town.

I'm pretty beat this morning, but I have to make a quick store run.  Honestly, I don't know whether to go for a walk or snooze on the couch.  I'm not sure which would make me feel better!!  I got a lot of exercise throwing those big heavy pans around, so maybe a rest is in order.

It won't last long however ... there's a Trustee meeting tonight at the lodge.  Friday is another big day ... feeding 300 special needs kids a turkey dinner at the lodge.  Thank goodness I don't have to cook for THAT one!!  Yes, that's a HUGE undertaking ... but we do it every year.  After all, it's CHRISTMAS!!

BINGO YET AGAIN!

 

Can you feel the enthusiasm?  Me either.  This many days of no sun is wearing on me, even if I DO take vitamin D.  HOWEVER, I'm still breathing on this planet, which is a blessing.  So here we go with BINGO day!

It was a low of 42 degrees, high of 46.  That's pretty chilly for us spoiled California folks.  This is my heat/ac programmer.  It's easy to use, makes total common sense and works like a charm.  Unfortunately, it's twin on the other side of the house is a problem child.

This is a Nest control. It's ridiculously hard to program and fights you at every turn and click.  When my neighbor repaired my system, the control decided to die.  This is the only one that would fit in the hole.  Why a hole?  I've no idea, but every other control was bigger than 4 x 6 inches (3" deep) and would not fit.  

This one wants an internet connection which I refused when they wanted to know my address, my date of birth, how many people were in the house, what was my income .... no kidding it was ridiculous.  So I declined that part.  

It got MAD!  If I'm cold and I turn it up a couple of degrees, it immediately takes that setting and programs it into every day at the same time.  Next thing I know, it's running continually.  I just can't seem to get along with this teenage mentality control.  I took the above picture so I could call the original installers and find another one.  No telling what this one will do when I'm gone.

After another two hours of accounting work, I tried to make myself feel more human with a Marie Calendars pot pie.  Microwaved of course.  Instead of putting the silver stuff that browns it beautifully on the BOX, it is now in the PAN.  Makes you wonder how THAT is affecting your brain, yes?  Not that it worked, because as you can see, it's not the least bit brown.  Still the same taste, but it went blonde.

Is it a full moon?  Those delicious gingersnap cookies I had at that party ... I ordered a can from amazon.  Wasn't I surprised to find this when I finally got it open.  Looks to me like the company dumped all the scraps and broken pieces into this can and sent it to me.  There is not one single WHOLE heart-shaped cookie in the entire pan.

No refunds they said, so I left a very nasty review.  Why would you send this out to your customers?  Even if the can got dropped on concrete six times, they wouldn't look this bad.  The good news, they still taste just as good, so I'll eat the crumbs.  I'm just glad I wasn't having a party!

And then it was time for Bingo yet again.  The lodge is in the holiday spirit and Santa has arrived.  Maybe he can help me with the bookkeeping!!

Setup was made difficult by the big luncheon that had just occurred.  When I finally got the bingo machine out of the closet and plugged in, none of the TV's would work.  What the heck?  I finally called in the Club Manager ... he can fix anything.  We messed with the TV programming for 30 minutes before finally discovering one plug in the far back of the cabinet was just the slightest bit loose.  He plugged that back in and VOILA ... bingo will happen, but not without a little frustration just for fun.

I hiked up the stairs getting my exercise for the day, to find the heat was really nice in the office.  I stayed as long as possible while I signed checks and tried to figure out where the Articles of Incorporation from 1932 might be.  Paperwork has never been this lodges forte!

But pink trees ARE, apparently.  I was a little shocked to walk into the women's restroom to find this!!  Where in the world did they find this beauty ... must have been from 1932.  

Anyhoo ... Bingo began right on time.  I've got two shirts and a coat on and they are complaining it's HOT.  Ummm maybe take off the beanie and winter coat.  Here's a new one ... shower caps.  No, it's not a shower cap, but a new fad because we counted FOUR very fashionably dressed ladies with hats that resemble shower caps.  Anyone know what they are called?  

Lucky me, I got to call the Pull Tab games.  Surprisingly, I wasn't nervous this time at all, and didn't even make one mistake.  How cool was that!!  

On the other hand, we were short handed, meaning I tried to cover three jobs.  I let the new cashier run the infernal machine, which seems to suit her just fine.  He likes her a lot and seems to work flawlessly.  Maybe it's just me it doesn't like.

I was on to the next position ... paying out Bingos.  How boring is this!  I stand here between the rooms so when someone yells Bingo, I scream it out so the caller hears.  If they don't hear and call the next number, the person does NOT get the cashola.  I found out I wasn't as loud as I thought, or maybe he needs a hearing aid, I don't know.  

The machine is VERY noisy as it blows those ping pong balls around, so I yelled as loud as I could, calling out the numbers.  He puts the numbers in the machine, and it will tell you if it's a winner or not.  It's magic.  I have absolutely NO idea how it knows since nothing is programmed into the machine.

At any rate, 32 folks went away with a pocket full of cash as I dashed out the back door.  It takes awhile to wind down from that, meaning I got very little sleep last night.  Hopefully I can slip in a nap this morning, because at 2:00 I'm cooking for 100 folks at the Senior Center.  I should make it home by 8:00 pm.  

It okay though ... I might also get a tiny ziplok bag of turkey leftovers, which I can follow up with crushed gingersnaps.  Woohoo!!!

How NOT To Do It

 I think this is a record.  We have had ten days of NO SUN.  How could that be?  To make it worse, the weather guessers say there will be ANOTHER ten before the sun shines again.  That makes it really hard for me to want to head out for a walk, especially when it's 43 degrees ALL DAY LONG.  We haven't even had a temperature change!!

I was bundled up as much as Santa was when I hit the neighborhood.  I love these guys ......

I was surprised to see so many folks out walking on a Monday morning, including myself.  It's damp ... you can smell the mold in the air!!  Sneeze sneeze!!!

It's so bad, my lovely golden rocks are now covered with green moss.  It's like the Grinch has taken over the neighborhood!!

Back home and STILL bundled up, I scanned my phone for recipes.  I had one container of sour cream left that I needed to use.  Funeral Potatoes popped up.  I know ... another round of carbs.  I probably should have thrown the sour cream out.

If there's one thing my ancient body doesn't like ... this is it!!  Sour cream.  Within the hour as the pain began in earnest,  knew I had made a big mistake .... BIG!!

I threw some carrots down in the hopes it would calm the storm, to no avail.  Exercise ... that's it ... I need exercise.  I did some stair stepping before heading back outside.  It worked for a little bit.

I claimed squatters rights and camped out on the couch for the evening.  Round Five is here ... and I didn't want to miss a moment.  No it's not your eyes ... the pictures are blurry.  Ever since I updated my phone, action shots are fuzzy.

This is how NOT to bulldog.  Smart steer here ... he just turned around and bulldogged his head into this guy.  

This is what it SHOULD look like.  Think about this ... they take off on their horse running at full speed, reach over and grab the horns, fall off their horse at the same time, then throw the calf to the ground ... all in an amazing 3.5 seconds to win the night.  Pretty crazy considering these calves weigh around 600 pounds.

These guys .... I mean really, would you get on the back of THIS?  The rope is to keep them from raising up and falling over backwards on the rider.  It happens quite often.

Here's how NOT to do it.  I don't EVER remember it being fun to hit the ground, though being young, I bounced a lot.  Yes we rode calves in the corrals on occasion, but only when the adults were gone.  You would get in trouble big time if you got caught.

This is how you do it.  Herein lies a problem.  You STILL have to fall off on the ground, even if you WIN.   You may be able to tell, the ground in front of the chutes is the most hard packed of the entire arena.  There are lots of broken shoulders in bull riding, not to mention being stomped on by those hind feet.

Did we ever ride bulls on the ranch?  That would be a no.  They can weigh upwards of a ton and are really good at throwing that around.  Bulls do what they want, when they want, and we just stayed out of their way.  

Cantankerous is a good word to describe them.  If I had to move the cattle from one large field to the next, I always moved the lead cow first.  Yes there is a hierarchy when it comes to cattle.  Everyone follows the lead cow.  The trick is to know which one it is in any given herd.  Yup I can read COW.  It's a gift, which is why I always seemed to get that unwanted job.  If you get HER headed in the right direction, all the rest will follow, EXCEPT the bulls.  

Bulls hang back because they are stubborn.  It takes 24 hours for them to figure out it's more fun with the cows.  They wait by the gate until you go back out and open it for them.  Every move was a two day affair.  No you can't just leave the gate open because the cattle will come back through and eat down the grass way too far, making it hard to grow back.  There was a method to our madness.

Sadly, THIS is my fav Stetson.  Round five and he got bucked off.  He did win third place in the saddle bronc riding, so there's that.  Two events puts you in the running for All Around Cowboy.  He's been hurt so badly in the past, I'm not sure he's going to survive this NFR, but he's trying his very best.  Tough kid.

On todays menu ... I got a frantic call last night.  "I really messed up the books this time".  Oh JOY!  I guess there will be a couple of hours on the computer before donning my armor for Bingo time.  This is going to be a very busy week.  Hopefully I can sneak in a nap or two.

GOING TO THE DARK SIDE

It was a day to remember.  When I was a kid, I always wondered why another country would try to completely take over OUR country.  Peace around the world wasn't even anything anyone talked about.  To compare what we went through as kids to the peace treaties and agreements we have today, has been amazing to watch.  Somehow, some people got rich and assumed power of their country, then tried to do the same with every OTHER country.  Thankfully we won this war, despite losing so many of our young men.

There are very few left who survived this attack.  One of them was our very own Elk, Frank Paredes.  We had a little bit in common ... he was from the same area of Arizona that I spent time in, so we hashed over the Indian reservation life.  He passed away two years ago.  

So here's to all the heroic survivors and here's to all those who gave their life, keeping our country free.  

 I call this guy Mr. Mr.  He sleeps a lot in his old age, which is NOT so good.  The Vet said he was EXTREMELY overweight ... but then changed it to ... well he's not that bad, just 2 pounds overweight.  I thought she was talking about ME.  

SO ... maybe if we become VEGETARIANS, we can lose a few pounds for the umpteenth time.  Yessiree ... we are going to the dark side.  Mr. Mr. started off with SENIOR food.  Wasn't I surprised that as I added a little more of the new stuff every day, HE ATE IT!  

So maybe if I add a little salad, he will eat that too.  NOPE ... not a chance.  He left every single piece in the bowl.  I can't blame him, I don't like salad in the winter either.

So just WHAT do vegetarians EAT?  I looked it up ... tofu and garbanzo beans.  Yes, that is DEFINITELY the dark side, and I'm NOT going there!!  I decided to try that cornbread casserole instead.  Jiffy cornbread mix, can of corn, can of creamed corn and some other stuff including lots of butter added in.  I used HONEY cornbread mix and threw in some cheese for extra flavor.  Not bad ... not bad at all!!

The trouble was I felt like all I had for lunch was cornbread.  I was back at the fridge in a flash.  Maybe some roasted carrots would do the trick.  Actually this wasn't bad, but again, I felt like I didn't eat anything.  Maybe that's the point.  Cooper wasn't impressed with either one.  He ate the carrots, but they didn't stay down long.  After cleaning up that mess, Mr. Cooper was taken OFF the veggie diet.

I've still got broccoli, more carrots, bell peppers and mushrooms to go.  If anyone has any recipes, maybe they would be so kind as to pass them along.  I mean really, there MUST be something you add to make these things more filling and taste BETTER!!

This would work, but probably will not help the diet.  Hawaiian banana bread, mostly for Mr. Jonathan, though I admit, I probably eat the majority of it.  It's banana bread with crushed pineapple.

I've been stocking up for the current trip, so my freezer is full to the brim.  I had a hard time getting that banana bread stashed in there.  I have a bad feeling that hardly ANY of this will fit in my RV freezer.  I still have a few days to whittle it down.  If not, I'll leave the frozen TV dinners behind.

There was one bit of excitement that lasted about 30 minutes.  I HATE THE TIME CHANGE.  It gets dark around here at 4:30 pm.  I went out to check the mail, to see a car next door, and two guys bending down next to the garage with a flashlight.  

Now that looks like two guys trying to break into a house.  I stood and watched them until they spotted me.  They slowly got up and walked back to their car.  I grabbed my phone for a picture as they backed out of the driveway.  

Just two days ago, about a big country block away, two guys tried to steal a car.  Seems they ran my direction when spotted, but I never saw them.  Are they BACK?  I called the homeowner ... this being the one who lets her dogs do their business on my lawn every day.  Turns out she was out of town and hired these two kids to check on her dogs.  Okay then ........

I spent the rest of the evening watching the rodeo.  I'm mostly interested in the saddle broncs and the bull riding.  I am NOT an adrenaline junkie.  I would be shaking in my boots if I was even at the far end of the arena when one of these guys was loose.  I've been run over before ... and it is NOT pleasant.

Two guys got stepped on, but not badly hurt thank goodness.  My fav Stetson won first place in saddle bronc riding and second place in bull riding.  That's four bulls he has covered in four outings.  That's unheard of.  He has to ride TEN bulls in ten days, as well as TEN broncs.  He's getting twice the action and twice the hardship.  Here's hoping he can finish with another THREE World Championships under his belt.  One for bulls, one for broncs and one for All Around.