OH ..... THAT'S WHY

 Good Morning once again!!  I'm still in sunny HOT California, boondocking in the van in the back yard.  If I'm going to get any use out of that Harvest Host membership, I need to learn how.  Practice makes perfect.  Mostly because this is not your "everything automatic" kind of set up.  

But first ... let's start with breakfast ... OUT.  My friends called and said they were on their way to a restaurant rather close to me.  Heck YEAH .... I can do that!!  

Later in the day ... OH ... that's why I don't do that.  I ate WAY too much and I was miserable for the next four hours.

Back home, I made quick work of those now TWELVE tomatoes, adding in mushrooms and Italian sausage this time.  It also has ground turkey.  Why would I ruin it with turkey you ask?  Because the cheapest hamburger here is $8.99 a POUND!!  Yup, that's why!!  Turkey was $5.99 ... still too expensive.  The sausage was the cheapest part!!

Once done and cooled, I put it in these small containers ... about enough sauce for two people.  Into the freezer it went for future meals.  It will be yummy dumped over a chicken breast and smothered in cheese.  Just a note here ... my friends six tomato plants produced maybe twelve tomatoes and died.  What's up with that?

All this time, I was preparing for a night of bliss in the rig.  I plugged it in and turned the fridge on to get it cold.  I wanted to see how much battery it would use up when it ran all night long.  The good news is I have a NIGHT mode that uses less power.

More pumpkins ensued.  I was either very tired or very distracted.  Operator error ... I kept sewing on pieces backwards.  It didn't take me long to stop that endeavor.

After more rodeo and chastising myself because I ate too much, I had one last bite of a Carmelita.  That's toffee, caramel and chocolate chips in between layers of oats and sugar!  Waste not, want not shrimp feed leftovers.  I'm determined to eat them up, one 1" square at a time.

In no time I was headed out to the rig, the moon shining brightly.  Even the stars were visible on this night.  Okay, put on your thinking cap and engage your brain.

OH ..... THAT'S WHY!  The charger only works when you are plugged in.  DUH!  So you can't turn it off because it's already NOT working.  I can and do turn it off when plugged in because it makes too much noise to sleep.  Okay, solved that one.  I unplugged and went into boondock mode.  In this picture taken earlier, you can see the green arrow that shows the solar is charging directly to the batteries.  

The fridge was running, so I put it on night mode to run less and quieter.  I probably could have turned the inverter off, but then the plugs won't work and I can't charge my phone overnight.  GOT IT!!

Sleeping was not to happen.  It was once again hot, though I had all the windows open.  I could have started up the generator for the AC, but there would definitely be no sleeping with THAT noise.  

That's when I heard it ... something tried to get in the side window.  What the heck?  OH ... THAT'S WHY.  Good grief ... Kitters had followed us.  She tried to jump though the window into the rig, but the screen stopped her as I heard her claws scraping down the side of the door.  Lovely.  She meowed around for a few minutes before apparently walking away.  

I'm practicing .... NO I CAN'T TAKE THE CAT WITH ME.  NO!!!  She would eat the parrot, then escape out the large sliding door and I'd be chasing her through the bushes.  NO!!!   That is NOT a good idea.  I'll just have to be sure she has an entire huge bag of food to eat (thinking I can put it in the now empty water trough) and fix up a water bowl to the sprinkler system.  

I can sleep, I can sleep ... I kept saying that as my eyes stayed wide open.  Thinking it was the fridge noise, I finally got up and turned it off.  Ahhhh quiet .... for all of ten minutes.  

That's when the noise began in earnest.  That darn charger is ON ... how can that be??  It says NO CHARGE.  

OH ... THAT'S WHY!  Big sigh ... when my neighbors put in their swimming pool, they put their equipment 12" from my fence, which happens to be five feet from my head.  It's REALLY noisy (sounds exactly like my charger running under the seat next to my head) and ran most of the night.  There was so sleep to be had until 4:00 am when it turned off.  Oh good .... I got one hours rest.

Mr. Cooper and I got up at 5:00 and headed back to the house.  The battery read 92%.  So tell me you RV guys out there ... they are lithium batteries.  How low can I go without damaging the batteries?  It appears boondocking will not be a problem, but I need to know my YIKES number.  As soon as the sun comes up, the solar starts charging again, so unless I'm parked under a canopy of trees, I should not have to worry.

Today will be another accounting day, followed by at least two hours of sleep on the couch.  I'm pretty sure I won't be boondocking tonight with Bingo happening tomorrow.  Sleep is always my friend when it comes to Bingo!!