National DOG Day!!

 It feels like summer in Arizona ... Monsoon Season they call it.  I'm ever so glad I wasn't actually IN Arizona however due to this.  Haboob ... a huge sand storm that hit in Chandler on Monday.  It's amazing what the wind can do.  Yikes ... that does NOT look like fun.  

This doesn't either ... the Magic Kingdom.  No worries, I didn't attend on this night.  I did go in earlier, trying to sneak in through the back door.  It refused my entry code.  Well that's a fine how-do-you-do.  I ran through the dining area, trying to miss everyone, and headed upstairs to sign checks before sneaking out the IN door.  Mission accomplished.

I had already called the King and begged off, telling him HE could handle it!!  That got a laugh!  Back home Kitters made sure no one snuck in MY back door.  I grabbed an old doggie brush and tried to rid her of some of the excess hair.  Good grief ... I didn't know I would end up with a garbage bag full.  

She loved it ... going crazy moving around so I could get every spot.  For such a skinny kitters, she had a TON of hair.  I bet she will be much cooler now.

That's when the thunder and lightning appeared.  Really?  This isn't Arizona ... and we NEVER have summer storms.  Apparently it was pouring down rain at the lodge, so much so that they called to see if I made it home.  Really?  I didn't even get one small drop of rain.  The bad news is we will be sitting at 93-97 for the next week, with little nightly reprieve.  

The BEST part of the day however, was celebrating this little guy.  I know, lots of pictures ... but he's my KID and he's the sweetest EVER.  It's National DOG Day!!  Yes he needs a bath and a trim!

I of course celebrate him EVERY day ... but today he got some special cooked chicken and an extra treat.

Can you tell this is his favorite spot on the couch?  This kiddo has kept me company through thick and thin for an amazing 16 years.  

He has traveled from here to Canada, to Alaska, all the way to Maine and back again ... and he still acts like a kid!!

Around 4:00 I got an emergency call from an Accountant who needed help with a client who had a big deadline for a tax return ... from 2024.  It's quick money and she delivered ... so I spent a few hours inputting data.  It's a good feeling knowing I helped out AND I get paid.

I've got absolutely nothing on my plate for the next four days.  Hopefully that's enough to heal up a bit more, though it's going to be pretty boring.  I've got one last quilt to put on the longarm, so that will keep me busy for a bit.  Honestly, I feel like I just need a long run to clear out my head rather than sit on the couch all day once again. 

Here's to NO COUGHING, along with some lemon hot water with honey!!!

Cough Cough ... OH LOOK ... FLAN

 There's nothing like sitting on the couch contemplating life when you're sick.  You can't see well because of the watery eyes, you can't smell anything, you can't TASTE anything and your brain is mush.  Oh well ... this too shall pass.

I keep hoping that for Mr. Cooper too.  He has a bump on his left front leg that he licks constantly.  Every so often he gets obsessed with one ... kind of like me and ice cream.  The only thing I could come up with was his thunder shirt.  Not that he has ever been afraid ... this kid isn't afraid of anything ... it just covers up his leg.   

It's way too hot for a shirt however, so I cut it in half.  Now I'm keeping the A/C on cooler to keep him from overheating.  The things I do for this kid!!

Thankfully, there were no new symptoms on this day.  I was still coughing, but actually felt pretty decent.  In no time, I was obsessed with FOOD.  Let's make some comfort food ... smoked gouda Mac 'n Cheese.  I even added a good helping of crispy bacon to the top.

The anticipation was killer ... I counted every second until the little bell rang.  The first big bite burned the heck out of my mouth.  Okay, that wasn't too smart!!  I let it cool before taking another big bite.  I couldn't even taste the bacon, let alone the cheesy goodness.  

I stashed it in the freezer for when my taste buds reappear ... which .... hopefully they DO at some point.

I followed that up with some ice cream.  Oh yes, they are making these MUCH smaller than they used to.  Everything shrank in 2023-24 except my waistline.  I actually did taste a little chocolate.

Mr. Cooper and I wandered outside on occasion, to find it rather weird.  Overcast and hot!  OH NO .. once again I forgot to water my tomatoes.  It's very weird to have both Early Girls on the vine and little cherries hanging out, all as green as green can be.  Not a single one is looking like it will ripen in the next month.    

The day was long ... sitting doing nothing.  I'm probably going blind looking at my phone all day long trying to be entertained.  And then THIS came up.  Remember that last disaster of the custard?  Hey ... why not try it again ... only this time we'll call it FLAN.

I actually do remember making this a lot back in the day ... and it turned out perfect every time.  Too bad I couldn't find the recipe.  I used the one from my phone instead.  A can of sweetened condensed milk, fill the empty can to the top with regular milk and dump it in a blender.  Add four eggs and vanilla.  How hard could that be?

She made it in one large pan.  The only one I could find was a springform.  I can hear you ladies laughing already!  Yes I knew ... but in my defense, I've done it before with no problem.  Not this time however.  I hoped the melted sugar caramel would seal the bottom, but that was not to be.  Flan poured out the bottom all over the stove.

I quickly dumped it back in the bowl.  Now what??  I grabbed these ramekins and filled them up.  But WAIT ... there's no sugar on the bottom.  So I slipped a knife under the set up sugar, smashed it up and dumped it into the cups.  

By now, even "I" was laughing!!  I covered the cups and into the Instant Pot they went ... for fifteen minutes.  Yes I thought that was too long, but hey ... I'm following the recipe.  It was way WAY overcooked, but believe it or not, I could actually taste it ... and it wasn't bad at all!

I'll try it again when I'm not sickly ... but in the meantime, I'll eat every single one of those seven ramekins!

And so we ended our day, STILL on the couch.  What can I say ... in spite of being sick, I'm feeling pretty good since I have a sweet puppy and a new weird kitty that love me!!  Not each other however!!!

I'm contemplating a quick run to the Elks Lodge ... I have checks to sign ... but will pass on Bingo tonight.  I'm not willing to be in close proximity to yet another cold when I'm not in tip top shape.  Getting sick once a year is more than enough for me!

A New Form Of Torture!

 Big sighs today.  We have acquired a new form of torture, and this one is the worst yet.  Yesterday morning I began to cough ... a gut wrenching, muscle pulling DRY cough that would not stop.  Good grief ... I've had a cold before, but this is one of the worst.  The only good news is that I missed the razor-blade sore throat part.  

I was up a few times at night trying to come up with some sort of something to stop this nonsense when I realized Kitters has now become THE WATCH CAT.  Really?  Every time I came out, there she was, ,guarding the back door.

Here's a better picture of her eyes.  I've never seen a cat with eyes like this, nor have I ever seen a feral kitty so friendly.  Makes me think she belonged to someone before.  Every time I walk out, there she is, meowing and looking for scratches.

In the morning, I actually felt okay for all of 30 minutes.  I have known the weeds were out of control for a month, but I couldn't gather up any gumption to spray them.  It needed to be done, so I bit the bullet and made up one small batch, spraying everything I could.

That's when I discovered this.  What the heck is that in the seams of concrete?  

It looks like coffee grounds.  Then it dawned on me ,.. those are dead ants.  This is somewhat close to the area where a HUGE hive lives.  The day before, I had sprinkled some Amdro in the grass.  It's working!!!!

And MORE!!  As I walked along however, I noticed that if I stepped on the edge, millions more came out in droves ... like a big flood from ant-dom.  No kidding ... if they were a little bigger, it would be a scary proposition.  That many dead and that many STILL ALIVE?  I got out the bottle and sprinkled even MORE along that entire edge.  This nest is at least ten feet long.  Just WOW!  I'm being invaded!!  I'll be putting out a lot more in the next few days.  

That's when I discovered this.  THIS is what happens when you are sick and not tending the garden.  Really?  This is a three pound zucchini!  One of the very few that actually grew normally, though big enough to feed ten people.  Unfortunately, I'm not in the mood for food, let alone zucchini.

Though I truly wasn't feeling it ... or tasting it for that matter ... I made one more BLT sandwich with the last of the red tomatoes.  I couldn't even taste the bacon.  What I DID do, was place a small order at Walmart Pickup ... to get me by for a couple more days.  

Feeling really crappy, I went to pick it up ... staying in the truck the entire time.  I learned a lesson on this day.  Never EVER order anything on a Sunday, and always order enough for 25 people to eat for a month.  Good grief ... every load that came out was eight of those big blue boxes full of stuff the guys had to unload into a too small car.  It took forever!  All I got was two small plastic bags!!

Finally back home and entrenched on the couch, I got this notice.  I've been complaining about not being able to see anything because of my watery itchy eyes.  I can't even read a book or my phone for that matter.  They are definitely listening ... but at least they still have my location wrong.  

Sadly, with this new form of torture, I do not see myself trotting off to Bingo tomorrow.  I'll be spending all day on the couch with Mr. Cooper, coughing my brains out!!!  

RECORD BREAKING SNEEZES

 Nope ... not better.  Not better at all.  Even putting caramel ice cream syrup in my coffee didn't help one bit.  It's been record breaking.  

I'm lucky to have taken any pictures since my eyes are watering so much I can barely see anything.  Doing all my morning brain games was a bust.  On the other hand, Kitters has made herself right at home and now spends every night on the patio.

After a record breaking morning of sneezing before 6:30 am, I decided to mark them down.  I mean what else can I do.  I'm miserable and .... well .... sneezing.

By 9:30 I seemed to get a reprieve.  Still congested, but not feeling quite so miserable, I thought I better use up that last two cups of cream before it went bad.  I got out my custard recipe.  My tip of the day, is never EVER make anything when you are sick.  

My brain just didn't work at all.  I completely forgot you had to cook the stuff in a pot before cooking it again in the Instant Pot.  Here's how it turned out.  Funny, that pretty much looks like how I feel!!

Another two hours on the couch and though I wasn't the least bit hungry, I also needed to cook that bacon from the fridge.  Here's my setup ... quick and easy.  WOW ... though it was 12 ounces, or so they said, there was only 8 pieces in the package.  I grabbed another one out of the freezer.  Do you know how hard it is to get thin sliced bacon defrosted?  

That went back in the fridge while I whipped up a BT sandwich.  No lettuce was in sight.  All the while I sneezed.  

Even Kitters wanted to know what was up.  She's now taken up residence on THIS table right by the window.

About halfway through the afternoon, I had sneezed closed to 50 times.  No kidding ... I marked down every one.  I mean really, what else did I have to do?  Don't believe me?  This message came up on my phone.  Seriously?   You are listening to how many times I sneeze?  And you think I live in Nevada City!!  Okay, they got one right.

I finally gave up and went to bed, not that it helped.  Here's the tally.  71 times I sneezed in one day.  My eyes were so red, puffy and swollen I could barely see.  I finally took a Benadryl and tried to sleep to the banging sounds of dueling house back-yard parties.  This time they were smart ... they turned it off at 10:00.

The good news is I have only sneezed twice so far, I can see a little better and my eyes aren't leaking water.  Hopefully it stays that way.  No doubt this is a nice gift from a disgruntled Bingo player.  I would blame it on my Fairy Godmother, but she's not sneezing at ALL!!  

PARTY ON!!!!

Old Gal, Old Milk, Old Cold?

 GOOD MORNING from the hot Central Valley.  Do I sound all chipper?  Yeah, turns out not so much.  But LOOKY HERE!!  Look what I found in the RV cupboard.  Not one, but TWO more cans of my sweet coffee.

It was kismet ... because I think my allergies have turned into a full blown old fashioned cold.  I didn't think these even existed any more, but alas, that may be it.

No sore throat and no fever, but my head is plugged up like my vacuum cleaner!  The pain was real, followed by bouts of sneezing which made me think my head was going to explode.

I finally gave in and took two pills ... I won't tell you what because it's probably not doctor approved ... but at least I was able to breathe better, the pain in my head subsided and I actually got some sleep on the couch.  Therefore, no pictures of anything boring happening on the home front.  

In the meantime, I'm savoring my cup-o-jo that has APR 2023 on the can.  Yeah, it tastes like really old powdered milk.  Maybe I'll stir up the can a bit and try for a second cup.  

The SnEEzInG fits continue ..........  now to clean up the coffee I spilled on the floor from the last one!

Allergic ... I'm Allergic!!

 Good Morning WORLD!!  We are up and at 'em early on this day.  You would almost think I lived in Florida, with all the palm trees.  I don't think they are really palm trees, but they look beachy when blowing in the breeze.

We were up with the chickens on this day.  You could hear them cackling LOUDLY.  I'm not sure why chickens are up so early in the morning, but they sure do make a racket!

I increased the noise by sneezing the entire way.  WHY was determined a little later when I headed off to do some accounting.

Mr. Cooper was sound asleep when I snuck out the door.  Lucky guy!  I mean really, what could be more fun than spending four hours with a frustratingly new computer program that used to be easy as pie.  Now they have made it TRULY hard, I'm positive so they can sell you their "WE CAN HELP YOU" bundle.

I wasn't surprised to find the farmers hard at work.  I've mentioned before that we are surrounded with almond trees around here.  Millions of them.  They of course, require harvesting.  After turning the irrigation water off for many days, the trees are shaken half to death by this machine.  That makes the nuts fall to the ground, along with all the dust that has accumulated on the tree for the last year.  

But WAIT ... let's make the air even HARDER to breathe by running this thing down the rows, sweeping up the nuts, the dust and about half the dirt on the ground.  You can see this happening MILES away.  What happens when you live this close?  You become allergic to the air and the almond dust.  Truly, it's not even the dust ... it's the chemicals that are sprayed on the trees throughout the year.  

And so I'm pretty sure that's why I'm sicko at the moment.  Every year I get a little worse for wear.  It doesn't help that four hours of accounting was right smack dab in the middle of an orchard.  C'est la vie!!  I do have to be careful though, because if I get the dirt on my legs, it turns into big red splotches.  It's a terrible way to go!!

Though my one hour turned into four, I was treated to lunch on this day.  It works out great, because I end up with half of everything left over for dinner.  Next time I'll suggest Habit Burger.

Exhausted, I fell asleep on the couch for an hour before waking up to this kid.  He certainly has a way of speaking his mind.  He wanted dinner and wasn't taking NO for an answer.

I'm still checking on the coffee, but I'm thinking that orange syrup just might hit the bullseye.  I even saw 30 bottles of it in Marshalls the other day.   I think another trip to town is in my near future, mostly because I have a haircut appointment at 8:30 this morning.  My oh my ... that is WAY too early for me to be out and about.  It breaks my #1 rule ... I can't go anywhere before 10:00 a.m.

BAD ... GOOD ... BAD

 It's the way of life I suppose.  There's good news, bad news and eventually good news again.  On this day, I started off with the bad.  I emptied the very last can of Orange Cafe coffee.  I've been drinking this yummy brew since the 1980's.  It's the best one they ever made.  Not too sweet, not too strong, but JUST right!!  This can had 2019 stamped on the bottom.  I'm now relegated to Cafe Vienna ... no relation, and definitely NOT the same flavor.  It's the end of an era.  I'm sad.

I thought maybe some of that Belgian chocolate would perk me up.  The King told me it was DARK chocolate, not my favorite, but I was willing to give it a shot.  Well ... apparently it was in his very hot car all day before he gave it to me.  When I opened the package, it dripped out.  

I took that first taste and OH MY GREAT AUNT SUZIE!  How can anything taste this good?  I quickly put it in the fridge to set up.  An hour later I broke off a piece and took a REAL taste.  OH MAMA ... WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN ALL MY LIFE??  This stuff is food from the Gods.  How did I not know about it??  I cannot find any indication of the brand, but you can bet your sweet patootie that I will be ordering MORE of this .... BUCKETS more!!

My soul temporarily soothed with chocolate, I told Cooper goodbye as I headed off to the three local cheap stores looking for big plastic plates on which to serve the Shrimp Feed appetizers.  He wasn't exactly excited about me being gone.

Oh my gosh ... doesn't anyone work any more?  Marshalls was so crowded I couldn't even get down the aisles.  They obviously overbought from somewhere.  Things were falling off the shelves and you couldn't even get a shirt out of the rack to see what it looked like.  I found this one on an end cap and grabbed it.  My closet is full of polo shirts and "cowboy", none of which work for anything remotely fancy.  It fits perfect and cost $19.00.  You can't beat that with a stick.

The plates?  Never found anything that would work.

Two stores later and I was back home checking for tomatoes.  This is only one Early Girl plant, going crazy.  It required three tomato cages and has grown taller than the fence.  Alas, only four red tomatoes so far.  Maybe in a couple of days when the temps hit 102.

Some good news .... I finished the last border on this quilt.  I decided it was too small and needed one more, but I couldn't find any fabric that was acceptable.  It's still hanging on the wall.

More good news ... I found this panel hiding under yards of other fabric, and whipped up this one in about an hour.  The Shrimp Feed asked for TWO small quilts with a patriotic theme.  This should work just fine.

The last and the WORST news of the day.  I'm sick.  Yup ... I told my Fairy Godmother she sounded sickly and she should GO HOME, but alas, playing BINGO is an obsession.  She stayed and gave me her bug two weeks ago.  

So far I'm just snuffy and I sound a little raspy.  She came back the following week just fine, so I'm hoping it's just a quickie.  Maybe, just MAYBE if I eat the rest of that Belgian chocolate bar in one fell swoop, it will help!  Then I'll be on my computer trying to find out where I can buy more!!!  Like THREE CASES more!!

THE KING RETURNS

Good morning, good morning.  This weather is just downright weird.  It's 61 outside this morning and heading on up to a weeks worth of 100.  Maybe my Early Girl tomatoes will ripen after all, but I'm not holding my breath.

You guessed it ... by the picture of course ... it's time for the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  Though I had a lot of fun while he was gone, I'm glad the King is back in town.  

But first, Mr. Cooper and I went for yet another walk.  At least something is loving this weather, because these sunflowers are STILL blooming like crazy!!  I tried to rest up after our little walk, but the closet was calling my name.  There's stuff in there that would make GREAT raffle prizes for the Shrimp Feed, so I loaded them up before taking off.  I'll donate this stuff anywhere to make more room for more stuff. You know how that goes.

First thing when I got to the lodge, I met up with my Fairy Godmother who had everything set up and shipshape.  I donated the small carpet cleaning machine (used maybe three times) to her.  If she can't use something, she sells it for me.  I'm telling you, that girl is worth her weight in gold.  

I greeted the King with open arms, whereupon he told me I did a GREAT job.  I think he was just glad no one got handcuffed.  Then he gave me this.  It's a tin of REAL Belgian chocolate, hand carried all the way back to me.  How nice is that!!!  I even love the box, which has a lid on hinges.  I haven't opened it yet ... maybe today.

The night went pretty well until I got up to call the Early Bird games.  I swear ... machines don't like me.  The first game went fine, as did the second.  When we got to the third game, it all went south.  It said GAME FOUR.  But I was SURE I had only called two.  

Sure enough, the new guy before me hit the wrong button and called one of my games.  That meant the machine skipped OVER that one and jumped to game four.  Well that's not good!  Fairy Godmother to the rescue ... we pulled up that game and erased all of the numbers so I could start again with the correct game.  If looks could kill, I'd be dead ... but no one said a word, so on we went.

With those games done, I went back to my newest job of putting out pull tabs and collecting money for the back room, when the King decided it was time for a message.  YIKES!!  He got up on stage with the microphone and held up this $20.00 bill.  Did I show this to you last week?  Oooweee did he ever read them the riot act!!    

He said we play a straight game here.  If ANYONE tries to pass another fake bill, he will call the cops and send them to jail.  He wasn't kidding either!  It was so quiet you could hear a pin drop!

Needless to say, everyone was on their best behavior the rest of the night.  Sadly though, the infernal cash register machine ran a number on the new cashier.  She didn't balance this time, no matter how hard we tried.  Lucky me, I was out the door by 9:30.  Yeah, it was only 30 minutes faster than the last too weeks, but 30 minutes is 30 minutes!  

I was greeted at the door by this smiling face.  By the way, it was National Bow Tie Day yesterday, so of course he had to wear his, a black tie affair.

If only we could have celebrated it last night.  It's why my eyes are barely open this morning.  He woke me up pawing on my shoulder, at 1:22 am.  He was serious, which means I need to RUN ... and so I did.  Right to the back door with him hot on my heels.  I opened the door to hear the loudest screeching ever!  I didn't turn the alarm off.  

Payback to all those neighbors who play their music WAY too loud.  Neither Cooper nor Kitters moved an inch.  I ran to the control and shut it off.  Well that was fun ... and I was wide awake for the duration.  I canceled everything on my schedule for today.  SLEEP ... I need SLEEP!!