GOT EGGS??

HAPPY EASTER 

It's that time of year when we all look at each other and ask GOT EGGS?  Probably not if you shop Save Mart or Safeway, but Costco has them by the dozen for a respectable price.  I had to hit up Walmart.  Though twice the price of Costco, they are half the price of local grocery stores.  

Did I color any this year?  Sadly, the answer is no.  I do remember as a kid, we did the hot water/tablet trick after writing on the hard boiled eggs with crayons.  We got to dye one dozens eggs, which were eventually diced into the colorful potato salad, since the dye always ALWAYS seeped through the shells.  

The eggs were hidden by the Easter Bunny (while we were at church) in our 2 acre back yard.  There are probably some rotten ones still hanging out at the ranch.  One time we were lucky enough to get a chocolate Easter Bunny and thought we were in Heaven.  He was smashed and make into cookies!!  So much for eating the ears first.

Here's the scoop on the prescription I got from the Nurse.  She prescribed Benzonatate.  I have to agree with blog reader Judith ... it works.  I didn't cough at all most of the day, but by 5:00 it began once again.  That's just so weird.  So I took ONE pill.  Within an hour the coughing stopped.  In two hours I was dried up like a raisin in the summer heat.  I mean that's good because I wasn't coughing all night long, but I was awake from the dryness in my head.  Oh well ... it was worth it not to have that racking cough!!

This is my BEFORE picture of the "incident".  Truly, it probably isn't a bad thing because most of this green isn't grass at all, but weeds.  I'm pretty sure only about 15 feet got wet, so in the end, it won't be a big deal.  

I am very sure however, to keep Mr. Cooper WAY away from the grass AND the concrete.  It's the side yard in front, where he is never allowed to go without a leash.  He's a runner don't you know ... he'd be around the corner faster than a speeding bullet.

Here we are out on our evening walk.  I have to walk really fast because he runs the entire way.  I guess it's to come in contact with as many smells as he possibly can before I head back home.  Sometimes it's hard to keep up with him.  

Another weird thing this year ... we rarely EVER have clouds that look like this.  It's been really nice to look outside every day and see the beauty before the black clouds and rain show up.  

Besides that, we get to check out all the pretty pink flowers that are in bloom for Easter.  Cooper is well acquainted with every .. single .. bush.

More sewing ensued in the afternoon.  I'm now half done with the center section and ......

I'm starting the second half.  There are 192 squares that have to be marked diagonally before sewing them to another square.  Those are cut in half before you can even BEGIN to put things together.  No one ever said making quilts was simple.  Turns out it is much more time consuming than I ever thought.

SQUIRREL .... tired of that project, I actually put the vacuum away and moved on to finishing up the binding on this one.  TA-DA!!  Another one bites the dust.  My plan was to try sewing the binding by machine, but alas, I already cut and stitched these ... not wide enough for machine finishing.  

Which brings me to THIS one ... a queen sized behemoth that will be ... you guessed it ... hand sewn also.

And so ended my very long day after no sleep.  I'd love to catch up with a nice nap this afternoon, but then I won't sleep once again.  On the schedule .... cooking, eating and sewing on this Easter Sunday.  Hopefully sleeping will follow because I have a 9:00 alcohol inventory to do at the Elks Lodge EARLY tomorrow morning!!

HAPPY EASTER EVERYONE!!!!  I hope your day is wonderful and filled with Blessings.

Disaster Strikes!!

 Sometimes I wonder ... why me?  Or better yet, WHY ME at least once a week!!  When I say weird things happen to me often, it's a true statement.

I woke up on this dreary, cold, gray, rain-in-the-forecast day with great expectations.  The weed guys were going to come and spray my back 40 since the backpack sprayer I have is now too heavy for my back to bear.  

When my outside alarm went off at 7:00 I was mightily surprised.  I ran and hid in the bedroom until I could get myself in a presentable state.  Wow ... they sure start early.  

That's when I had a premonition.  It just didn't feel right.  They are going to spray, then it's going to rain.  Little did I know what would happen next.  Notice the three lids on the yellow tank.

Twenty minutes later I looked out the window to see this.  OH CRAP!!!  Or something like that came out of my mouth.  I ran outside to yell at the kid ... maybe 23 years old.  Your hose is leaking!!!!  I should have just gone back in the house and prayed.

Those three tanks in one on his truck?  The fitting came off the middle tank and as he sprayed my corrals, it dumped 30-40 gallons of weed spray on my grass.  At first I thought ... oh it's not that bad ... until I walked over to the fence.  There was a river of white running all the way down the fence line clear out towards the road ... and the tank was empty.  

The poor kid was literally panicking.  He was trying to call his boss but couldn't even hit the numbers on his phone.  It's okay I said ... it's only grass and can be replaced.  I'm thinking "not so much when it comes to my neighbor's trees down the line" .... but it's okay.  No big deal.  Really ... it's okay.

His boss said to get a hose and wash off the concrete, then flood the grass and the little drainage ditch, which we did.  The good news is I will not have any weeds or grass down the fence line for the next twenty years.  The boss said he would come out and inspect the damage in about two weeks.  Yeah, I'm thinking I'm going to get all new grass down the entire length of my property.  I'll take a before picture today and we'll see just how bad it gets.  

Oh yeah ... fun and excitement!!!  WAY too early in the morning for me!!

I was back in the house by 8:00, checking the foxy cam.  No video, just a picture.  I thought maybe the sick one would stop by, but he never showed.  This guy looked healthy as could be.

When the pharmacy opened, I drove on over to Walmart to get those pills.  I sat in the parking lot for a few minutes thinking about it.  I had not coughed all morning long.  Are you kidding me?  The threat of taking medication that will dry me out like the Arizona Desert must have had an impact.  No kidding, NO COUGH.  

I picked them up anyway, passing on the Zertec which they were out of anyway.  Antihistamines are not good for me.  This morning I have a bit of a dry cough, but not enough to bother taking pills over.  I guess I will save them for the next big assault.  The Nurse did suggest I come in for an allergy panel and shots, but unless I'm dying, that's not going to happen.

I did finally feel good enough to get back behind my sewing machine for a time, putting together the next two colors in this quilt.  It will all be brown and white, just different color tones.  After it's all done, I'll decide which colors will go where.

Dinner was a simple fridge-cleaning out before all the veggies went south.  To be honest, the Brussel sprouts you see there were past their prime, but I threw them in anyway.  I should have eaten it plain, but I threw in the last of the pasta from the cupboard.  Quite tasty and VERY healthy ... followed up with some ice cream to cancel out the healthy part.

It rained most of the afternoon and half the might.  Time to see if I was able to fix that gutter problem.  

Into The Future

 April Fools has been happening about every three days around here.  Just when you think spring has sprung, it rains again.  A cold wet damp rain that even has my heaters turning on.  

That means this kid and I have been lounging on the couch trying to stay warm.  

Oh there is the occasional ball game, which is pretty hard to accomplish with a flat ball.  That's a big hole in the middle, making it roll wonky.  Nevertheless, he's not going to play with ANY of the other seven balls laying around in close proximity.

My plan was for a quick trip to Target (better known as TARJAAA) around here.  I ordered a hand held vacuum from Amazon.  Always ALWAYS save the box.  It worked great, so I went to all the trouble of drilling holes and hanging it on the wall.  I plugged it in.  Next time I went to use it, the battery was dead.

And the next time ... and the next time.  It can't be returned, so I was out to buy another one ... one where I would KEEP the box.  $50 later, I plugged in the new one.  It didn't work.  Okay, something is wrong here.    It's the outlet that's not working.  I flipped every breaker in the box and NOTHING.  

I moved them both to the kitchen outlet and VOILA .... a nice little red light.  They BOTH work just fine.  So now I have TWO.  I hate it when I do that.  I suppose the one with a BOX will be returned today.

Finally tired of all the crazy coughing ... which had subsided just a bit after that Benadryl ... I called the Doctor.  Well not a doctor, since none seem to exist around here.  I got the Nurse Practitioner.  I mean really, even a Physician's Assistant sounds more impressive.  No offense to Nurses everywhere.

They could not see me, but they could shove me right into the future with a teleconference.  I suppose that's not much different than talking to them in their office.  I had to take all my own vitals and report to HER assistant before she called me.  Seems it's rather hard to diagnose when you can't hear me breathing, but diagnose me she did.

It's allergies.  NO WAY!!!  Yes way ... that's what she said.  She prescribed two pills I've never heard of before, which I will pick up today.  OR she said, I could go in for shots.  No thank you ... I'll take a few pills first.  That will be $185.00 billed to Medicare.  Not really, but I bet it will be close, or maybe even MORE.

Not coughing quite as much, I made one of Jonathan's favorites ... pineapple banana bread.  Only I didn't have any bananas, so I switched that out for zucchini.  He was not impressed and dropped it on the floor.  I now have four loaves to eat.  Honestly, I wasn't very impressed either.

The evening was filled with troublesome events.  My neighbor called to say she had a fox who looked pretty sick in her front yard.  It seemed to be panting and didn't even move when they went out to look.  I told her to call the trappers.  She has a puppy dog that should not be exposed.  

Thinking he was probably too sick to jump in my back yard, I let Cooper out, but kept a close eye on him. Then she sends me a text of the fox jumping up on top of their fence.  YIKES!!  Weird he's not the least bit scared or even wary of them.  I set my camera up to see if he comes around here.

Ten minutes later she sends ANOTHER message showing some kid running up to the door and ringing her doorbell.  Not so bright that kid ... it's a RING doorbell and she got a GREAT picture of him, which will be turned over to the Sheriff.  Just a fun night in Farmville!!

Wrong Number .....

It was a catch up day.  I tried to catch up on sleep and rest, but it's so hard for me to keep still.  I spent a couple of hours going through more paperwork and making notes.  I know there is absolutely no way I will remember any of this important stuff for budgeting next year.  Since I haven't actually been trained in anything ... you just have to pick it up by osmosis ... I'm dragging the other two trustees into the melee, even though they are kicking and screaming.  Somebody younger needs to know this stuff!!

I tried to soak up a little sun, but as you can see, there was little to be found.  There was some screaming coming from the sky which caught my attention.  Two hawks were gliding in and out of the clouds with some kind of bird dive bombing them from above.  At one point two of them headed straight for the ground with a SWOOSH like I've never heard before.  After a few more rounds, the hawks left, as did the sun, but I got this one picture just in time.  

I had one more box of Hello Fresh to prepare, so I went right to work at lunch.  This is some weird kind of fish whose name escapes me.  Basa??  Or something like that.  Again with the roasted vegetables, but blackened broccoli is not my thing.  I microwaved it instead.

The sauce was green onions gently fried in butter until the butter turned brown.

Yeah, that didn't turn out so well for me.  I turned my back for two seconds and they turned black as coal.  Believe it or not, they didn't really TASTE all the bad, so I tossed them on the fish and potatoes.  All in all it was okay ... but it sure could have been better. 

For the next ten minutes, I had fun with a spam caller.  I answered FBI Field Office and asked how he got this number.  He said NO WAY ... but I think I had him convinced.  He refused to give me his phone number or his name, so I told him it didn't matter.  I already had him on the phone long enough to capture his exact location ... that he would be having company in about 15 minutes.  He hung up on me.  I love it when that happens.

Being short some necessities like eggs and cream, I placed an order for pickup at Walmart.  As much as I don't like Walmart, I have to give it up to them for keeping their prices reasonable.  Eggs at Save Mart $7.98 for 18.  Eggs at Walmart $3.98 for 18.  I mean really ... you just can't beat it.

So I placed my order on my phone app and waited for their confirming text message.  WAIT ... what did I just see?  A zip code of 81176?  Where is that??  Panic set in.  I just placed an order to be picked up somewhere in Arizona that I've never been.  How did THAT happen?

Frantically I called every Walmart I could find a number for.  I expected to have to donate the food to the operator because there was no way I was going to pick it up.  It took an hour, but they actually cancelled the order.  WOW ... I was pretty surprised.

Back to the app, I reordered everything again, making triple sure this time it was going to the right store.  While I waited, I happened to knock the blankets off my saddle.  Shock set in.  The fenders were completely covered with mold.  How could that be?  It's been inside the house!

That brought about a flurry of hard work.  I took it outside, washed it down and cleaned it up.  My timing was at least good because the sun came out just enough to dry it.  She's back to pretty again.

That's when I remembered the gutter.  This is the only one on the house where you have to set up the ladder in nice soft muddy dirt.  Oh look ... my flowers are blooming!  Even the Easter Lillies just in time for Easter.

I may just have to get gutter guards for this section.  It was full of leaves from the neighbor's tree.  I'll finish it up today since I had to run off to Walmart for the groceries.

Yes I'm still coughing.  I took a Benadryl last night and the morning cough has subsided a bit.  It rained most of the night, making weird noises by my bedroom window, a kind of knocking sound.  It even kept Cooper up, so I guess that will be today's exploration.  

I'll show you the results of the grocery run tomorrow.  It's one of my favorite dishes!!  

The Wall That Heals

 I'm still alive and kicking, in spite of the once again 44 degrees with four days of rain.  Will this ever stop?  I really could use more of that sitting out and soaking up the sun.  Yes ... still coughing, just not as bad!

It's the night of the week ... another rousing fun-filled night of complaints and angry peasants.  So first, let's enjoy the best part of the day.

Here's my little man getting some Zzzz's only an hour after we got up.  Oh to be able to sleep like a puppy!!

The first chore ... fix the tail lights on my truck.  I thought one of the bulbs had burned out since the bottom half wasn't lighting up.  I keep extra around just for the occasion.  That's funny .. the bulb didn't LOOK burned out and the sun is too bright to really tell.  No one yelled any bad words at me while driving, so I'm hoping it's fixed.  I'll check when it gets dark.

Next up ... oh yeah ... let's get frustrated at the insurance bill for the Lodge.   Remember budget?  Gosh ... I don't even do this much investigation on my OWN house insurance.  I was at the lodge by 1:30 meeting up with our bookkeeper.  She's a joy to work with, so there's that.  

Funny ... several people were hanging outside the back door of the lodge.  What's up?  I had completely forgotten the Wall That Heals was coming to town.  The Elks Lodge donated quite a bit so it would make a two day stop, all organized by a very young college student Elk member who lives here.  It's a replica of the Vietnam Veterans War Memorial, touring across the entire United States.

One big thing our Lodge does is support our military veterans.  Especially these guys!  Sorry I turned my phone, but at least I caught it passing by.  It was preceded by six motorcycle cops with lights flashing, along with several Highway Patrol cars and motorcycles that blocked the entire street.

The truck was followed by about 200 motorcycles, most of whom were Vietnam Veterans.  Everywhere it goes, Veterans are invited to ride along and escort the truck.  It was followed up by six more patrol cars from the Highway Patrol and Merced Police Department, along with several unmarked cars.  It was amazing to watch, and as an old motorcycle gal, it was even more fun to hear all those bikes going down the street.  

After another hour of budget problem solving, it was time for the wonderful game of Bingo.  We were going to be short five people on this night, so I headed up to get the keys to unlock the games.  Who should I find but the King celebrating his birthday.  We even got CAKE!!!  That made up for ALL the budget stuff!

There would be a picture here, but my

email has decided not to accept anything 

I send to myself.  What's up with that??

Oh yay ... it finally came through after I rebooted my phone AND the computer.  There were several rousing rounds of Happy Birthday before I went back to work.

With everything set up, let the games begin.  We were swamped with 135 bingo folks who were quite patient on this night.  That's a first!!  The mini infernal machine, better known as the debit card machine, threw a hissy fit a couple of times, but for the most part spit out all the required receipts.  

Here's the thing.  In order to buy MORE cards, you must have your receipt.  If not you get charged the FULL price instead of the EXTRA CARD price.  The nice lady wanted more cards, but could not come up with her receipt.  That meant she had to pay $3.00 more for the first "extra" card.  She was NOT a happy camper, but paid it, only to come back and demand a refund. 

I SPENT $177 DOLLARS HERE she yelled.  You know I did, why don't you just give me those cards?  Because $125 dollars of that was cash back ... and everyone has to pay for those cards.  I WANT A REFUND.

No problemo ... bring me your cards and I will happily give you your money back.  That wasn't good enough.  She went to the King who by now had been celebrating his birthday for five hours.  He rolled his eyes, she finally brought her cards over and I refunded her $52.00.  Just another happy customer at Bingo!!!

The night was long, but it finally ended.  Well, not until I went another round of insurance budget conversation before escaping out the back door.  I'm pretty sure today will be a COUCH day.  Here's hoping everyone gets a little sun to brighten up their day.

Paying It Forward

It's time to celebrate!!  The coughing has almost gone away.  I spent very little time yesterday bent over coughing my brains out.  Let's hope there's enough left that they will regrow.  I did find that I didn't cough nearly as much when there was a peanut butter cookie in my mouth.  I made the sacrifice and looky here ... I'm BETTER!!

Better enough anyway that I made the long trek out to my mailbox because someone suggested that was a good idea.  It was worth every step.  I wasn't too sure when I saw the envelope from Kenneth, especially since I don't know any Kenneths first hand.  Wasn't I surprised to find this cute Easter card from my childhood school friend Frances.  You surprised me girlfriend ... and I thank you so very much!  This is so thoughtful ... hardly anyone sends cards any more.  AND remember she sent me a case of coffee???????

And then I found this .... this one said Barb and Jim.  What goes around really does come back in spades.  I received these gift cards in return for the quilt and fox pelt.  I wasn't expecting anything at all.  It just goes to show you there really are wonderful people left in the world.  You three friends MADE MY DAY!!  

You had me at Red Lobster!!  See the word HABIT on the right?  That's English for Habit Burger, which just happens to be my all time favorite burger joint and lives just down the road a few miles.  What a coincidence ... I'll be driving right by it because I'm headed to the metal fabrication place in town to fix Jonathan's travel cage.

I thought if I could get these little legs cut off, the cage would fit under the cabinet in the RV.  Surely a metal fabrication shop would have something to chop them off.  I went inside to find two huge burly men sitting there ... kind of scary at first glance.  

I explained my problem.  He said that will be $1,000.  YIKES!!!  Good thing he was laughing!  He said sure ... and sent his guy outside to do the cutting.  I offered to pay whatever he wanted because I appreciated the fact he said yes.  He told me no charge .... told me to pay it forward the next chance I got.  I told him he was a scholar and a gentleman ... and I would definitely do that.

Next stop ... you know where ... Habit Burger!!!  I think I was over the moon for the guy at the fabrication shop and my brain skipped a gear.  Habit has changed their menu ... and the salads looked SO good ... on the sign anyway.  I chose badly!!

This is a Santa Barbara cob salad.  I'm not sure where the cob went, but it had lots of blue cheese, which never touches my lips EVER!!  Well this was a big mistake!!  

Deciding this was a good place to pass it on, I tipped the very young girl with a mouthful of braces $10 for her fast smiling service.  She said I didn't know how much she needed this.  Okay then ... eating the tiny pieces of blue cheese that I could NOT pick out of the salad was worth it.  

On the way back home, there was a guy picking up bottles and cans from behind all the buildings.  He had three big bags hanging on his bicycle.  There's a guy who is maybe down on his luck, but he's sure working hard for all those plastic bottles.  

I stopped him ... said someone just did something very nice for me, so I'm passing it on ... paying it forward.  Here's $20.00.  You won't believe what he said ... I'm good, but I know someone who could really use it.  DONE.

So ... with the taste of blue cheese finally OUT of my mouth, I drug this very heavy cage out to the RV, praying it would fit under the cabinet.  I had a quarter inch to spare.  I wish it was a little smaller ... it takes up quite a bit of my counter space, but Jonathan will appreciate having a little more room.

It even matches the decor!  Hah!!  And he can scream in my ear very nicely!!

Finally back inside with only intermittent coughing, I spotted two of these in the Habit Burger bag.  What the heck?  Okay, I get it.  It's supposed to look like a burger.  Turns out it's a gummy bear type of thing.  I popped it in my mouth ... and popped it right back out into the garbage can.  Who feeds this stuff to their kids?  It tasted terrible and was like chewing on a piece of rubber.  I'd rather have blue cheese!!

And so ended a very nice day of not coughing too much, eating lots of peanut butter cookies, feeling warm and fuzzy from the mail pickup and VERY thankful for friends and the nice people at metal fabrication businesses.  It doesn't get any better than that!!!

HURRAY FOR SLEEP!!

Mother Nature has changed her fickle mind yet again and brought winter back to roost.  It's a chilly 46 degrees this morning, requiring heavy duty pjs and wool slippers to return.  My plan to sit out in the sun disappeared behind the clouds, along with the sunlight.

On the bright side, I got some SLEEP!!  Sometimes it amazes me how I can fall asleep in the middle of the day ... and then when I WANT to, I'm wide awake.  I was so wide awake that I finally drug out the vacuum.  The dust bunnies were actually following me around the house.  

You're not going to believe this ... I even vacuumed the FURNITURE!  I must be sick.  Oh wait ... I am.  Sadly I didn't finish and the vacuum now lives in the middle of the hallway to my desk.  Maybe today I can get it finished up.

This was certainly a nice surprise.  I don't think I have ever seen clouds like this since I've lived in this part of California.  It was a good excuse to put the vacuum down and take pictures, which is why it's in the hallway.

First off ... breakfast.  You all know I like sweet, but that last waffle with maple syrup was WAY over the top ... even for me.  I decided I should actually make their recipe and see how it was.

It had peanut butter melted with creme fraiche ... a kind of cream cheese maybe?  Followed up by honey stirred into cherry jam.  Well right off the bat, I heated up the peanut butter mixture too much and it turned into a grainy glob of goo.  I smeared it on anyway.  Next ... the jam ... making it look oh so professional with swirls on the plate!!  I topped it with thin slices of fuji apple.  

I have to admit it was really good!  Not near as sweet and not the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I thought it would be.  I've got two more waffles to enjoy, but sadly I used up all the toppings.  I'll have to come up with something else.

Off the subject ... On one of my quick trips to town, I picked up a roasted chicken for lunch.  That will be the last time I go anywhere but Costco.  It cost me $8.99 and tasted TERRIBLE!!  Even Cooper wouldn't eat it.  Not to be wasteful, I tossed it out for the kitties who roam at night, and the BIG kitties better known as foxes.  They are always so vigilant.

Coughing continued all morning long ... like every 30 seconds.  Not big hacking coughs, just enough to be terribly annoying.  However nothing could keep me from watching the finals of the Colt Breaking National Championships.  

This is Tik Maynard from Canada.  He rides only English and has won every eventing championship there is, including the Olympics.  Maybe my Canadian friends have heard of him?  When he decided to do this, he spent eight months preparing by riding a western saddle.  Quite the change for him.  I knew from the start he was going to win.  

You have to be able to read horses to break them to ride.  You have to wait on them, which gains their trust.  You can't force them to do anything.  This is the third day where they had 20 minutes to warm up the horse before going outside the pen.  

Once they showed the walk, trot and lope in both directions, they had to stop, back, get off, lift up their horses feet and remount before heading off to the obstacles.  In normal training, all you get done on the third day is MAYBE saddling them, definitely not RIDING them.

They had to walk around those poles in the background, over a tarp (which none of them did), walk up these steps, go through the car wash (pool noodles sticking out the sides of poles) ... so many crazy things, when at this point you can't even ride them in a straight line.  It's pretty fascinating to watch.  It brings back so many memories of my horse training days.  I'm yelling at the TV ... WAIT ON HIM!!!

In the end, Tik won with flying colors.  Even though he had to skip some obstacles, his horse did the remaining obstacles better than anyone because he gave the colt the time to stop and think about it.  He did in three days, only 2 hours each day no less, what would take the normal trainer a month or more.

I tried to pick up some tips on training this kid, but I'm only good at giving him treats!!  He slept through the whole thing.

In the end there were even more amazing colors in the sky.  Yes, the vacuum is still in the same spot.  I promise I'll get to it ... some time ... maybe.  I took a chair outside and watched the colors pass by.

I slept fitfully, but at least I slept with very little coughing.  Today I'm going to concentrate on NOT coughing as I eat those Ricola cough drops like candy.  I'm even going to call the doctors office again and see if they have any recommendations.  I'm getting pretty tired of all this nonsense.  

Besides that, it had me so distracted I forgot to pay some bills.  I wondered why I all of a sudden had so much money in my account!  

Pomp and Circumstance

The good news for today is that I'm still alive and kicking.  Although I'm on day 42, I actually did get well for a couple of weeks (even though I continued to cough) before catching whatever this is again.  I'm sure it was the gal at Bingo who coughed in my face.  Why not go to a doctor?  I tried.  Here's the story about THAT!

It seems there is a doctor's consortium-like thing here.  They took a certain insurance for medical care.  For whatever reason, they decided NOT to accept the most widely used insurance company.  Don't ask me who that is because no one would come forth with the info.  Since those doctors refuse to see patients unless they pay cash, all those patients went to OTHER doctors (mine included) and are now so many that I cannot get an appointment for three months.  

If you go to the hospital here, you are most likely to die, so check that one off the list.  The two Urgent Care facilities can't get you in either ... not for just a cough with no fever or other symptoms.  Heal thyself is the current medical care here.  

On THIS morning, I'm not coughing near as much.  I don't know why since I was up all night.  But I'm getting ahead of myself.  I stayed on the couch all day long, feeling just fine except for the cough. The big Elks Installation was last night ... one I've never been to because I'm always in Arizona this time of year.  

Did I ever mention I'm an introvert?  Being single when everyone else has a partner has always been a problem too.  Who do you talk to?  Who do you sit by?  Upon arrival, I walked around the upstairs bar not finding a single person I knew.  I rarely drink, so I don't hang out there.  Finally it was time to head downstairs to meet the incoming group of officers who usually arrive in a limo.  

There aren't any limos in our little town, so the new "boss" drove everyone in his RV.  Little did he know, there is NO parking allowed on this street.  Sooooooo ... who is going to go park the RV since he needs to go upstairs???  There was a mad rush to find a driver.  I just kept my mouth shut for once.

Finally all together in the lodge room, the installation went as planned with lots of pomp and circumstance and hours of clapping.  That was okay since no one could hear me hacking and coughing.  I actually felt okay ... I just could not stop this dry cough.

Next up ... the best part ... dinner.  Table assignments were made.  They told me there would be a Trustee Table so at least I would know SOMEONE!  They lied.  I was seated at a table with complete strangers.  I can't tell you how uncomfortable that is for me.  They introduced themselves, none of whose names I can remember except one.  

Bart is a new officer, the owner of a small trucking company in a nearby town.  It was nice to meet him and his family.  It certainly made the dinner go by faster (and more comfortably for me) because we had one thing in common.  We both love to drive D9 caterpillars!!  

Dinner was the usual scalloped potatoes, bacon and onion green beans, salad, rolls and a big whopping chunk of beef.  Looks like prime rib, yes?  But this is actually a WHOLE New York Steak (because it's cheaper) cut in 1-1/2" thick slices.  I already ate a good portion of it, so I brought the leftovers home to share with Cooper.  Yes it is rare.  If you've ever raised beef in your life, this is how you eat it.  It's as tender as those scalloped potatoes.

Hopefully I was able to explain some of the sidelines of Elkdom to one of our newest victims ... I mean volunteers.  He's young enough to stay around for many years, yet old enough to be old school.  It's going to be a good year.

I did not stay for the dance afterwards ... with a BAND no less.  Why not stay?  Because I'm the only single person.  Wives do not like their husbands dancing with someone else (yes, its a thing), which was no problem at all because I just wanted to get OUT of that tuxedo!

The clouds looked pretty ominous.  I'm driving right into it!

They got worse as I went along and it began to rain.

By the time I got home and thankfully in the house, I heard a terrible noise.  It was so loud I went to see what was up.  THIS was happening!!  My gutter is once again plugged.  I just cleaned these things out!!!  This is SO not good.  

So guess what I'm doing today?  Maybe in six or seven hours, because I could NOT go to sleep last night at all.  My brain would not shut down and the coughing would only subside if I sat upright.  Cooper was not of any help since he kept wanting to get up ... I've no idea why.

I finally just stayed up ... no sleep at all for Nancy on this night.  I'll try to catch some zzzzz's later this morning, after I fix the gutter!   

Maybe some sugary waffles will help!!!

My Couch Is Safe

 I'm still alive, which is a good thing, until you get that racking cough that makes you think your head is going to explode any second.  I would dare say I'm a little bit better, not nearly so exhausted this time around, but I don't want to jinx it.  

Thank you so much for all your well wishes.  It helps a lot when you are down in the dumps feeling like you got dumped on!!  

Still coughing?  Yes  Still miserable?  Kinda  Mostly because I'm missing out on all the activities I could be attending.  Yesterday and again today, my friend asked me to check out the Back Country Horsemen gathering.  They specialize in packing horses and mules and clearing all those hiking trails folks love to follow on foot.  Mostly I just sulked all day about missing it since it only happens once a year.

This morning when Cooper and I made our way outside, we were greeted by the moon peaking out behind the clouds.  You're going to love this one.  It's the WORM moon.  It's the time when the soil supposedly warms up, bringing the worms to the top so birds and other critters can have a nice meal.

That's what I thought I would have ... a nice meal.  Here's the FREE breakfast I chose this week.  WOW ... these waffles are over an inch thick and six inches across.  Definitely four meals for me here!

Yup ... I chose badly.  I chose to smother it in Canadian Maple Syrup and butter instead of the healthy peanut butter apple recipe.  Boy was I surprised when I took that first big bite!  YIKES!!  It's almost pure sugar.  Apparently they doused the waffle in brown sugar.  I got so much sweet in that first bite, it almost had me vacuuming the house.  Next time I'll hold the syrup since I've got three more to eat.

Nancy was a good girl and didn't over do it, even though she felt better and wasn't coughing too much.  I'm happy to say my couch is safe since I sat on it all day.  I watched Road to the Horse again as one guy was years ahead of the other two.  He won the Wildcat round and went on to the main competition.  That's where it all went south.

While talking bad about how distracted and hard to work with the FILLIES (the girls) were, they discovered the colts (the boys) were even worse.  The Wildcat winner came in last in the first round.  Ouch!!  In an effort to heal up a little bit more, I'll be on the couch watching round two today.

I really tried to be good and rest, my least favorite thing to do.  I even laid out in the sun for an hour, soaking up all the vitamin D I possibly could.  Not that it matters, because I take plenty of it, but it did feel pretty good to be warmed up by the sun.

Not that I'm counting, but it's been 41 days since this sicky nonsense began.  Tonight is the installation and dinner at the Elks Lodge.  I'm hoping to feel good enough to make the 30 minute installation before grabbing a clamshell full of food to bring home.  At least I will make an appearance, assuming of course that I'm not coughing my head off.  The world still turns in spite of me holding the couch down.

Here's to better days ahead!