OPERATOR ERROR

 Someone needs to slow down the earth's rotation.  Good grief ... another month has slipped by in the snap of a finger.  Cloudy skies are the norm and our temps are down into the 60's at night.  It was a McDonald's  I'm loving it kind of day!!

Here's my sidekick hanging out while I finish loading another quilt.  If you were wondering why he's wearing his "jammy tops", it's because he has a black spot on his leg that he licks constantly.  It's not a hot spot but some weird growth the Vet has not seen before.  He licks it constantly ... so now he gets an allergy-type pill and wears these loosely so he doesn't chew his leg off.  He doesn't seem to mind at all.

This is his big morning stretch ... every morning ... after he wakes me up for a trip outside.  I'm very sad to report however that my favorite and most knowledgeable Vet EVER is leaving us for a teaching position at the Colorado University Veterinary School.  That doesn't bode well for Mr. Cooper and me.  A good Vet is worth their weight in gold and they are very scarce around here.

I hate my house being locked up all summer ... it gets the OLD HOUSE smells.  Finally, I was able to open a window and turn on the central fan.  Guess who noticed that immediately!!  She literally sat there the entire time the window was open.  

I think she must have been an inside kitty.  I just can't imagine how she ended up outside and starving.  Her coat is now soft and shiny and I'm sure she has doubled in weight.  The food dispenser is on the right and is working like a charm.  

So to close out the month on a high note ... let's quilt this one!!  I'm been pretty apprehensive with all the problems I had, but think MAYBE I have figured it out.  Aside from the new bobbin case, I think I was winding the bobbin thread too tight.  This time I used an old bobbin full of thread and it seems to work seamlessly ... until the very end. 

OPERATOR ERROR!  Of course it was me!  I remember thinking I was VERY short of fabric on the backing.  I needed to be sure and use every 1/4 inch, which of course I didn't.  I got to the end and was quilting the leaders on to the quilt.

YIKES!!!  Thankfully, nothing broke before I stopped it.  Do you have any idea the problem I had?  Quilters know.  I had to take the entire thing off, stitch a 3" piece on the bottom and load it back ON the frame so I could quilt the last row.  BIG SIGH .... BIG!!  

Lucky for me, when done, the very bottom of the backing matched up perfectly with the bottom of the quilt.  I just needed the edge to hold it in place while it stitched.  WHEW!!  I dodged a bullet THERE since I have no more of the backing material.

In the meantime, here's the quick update on the RV engine battery.  I talked to a Mercedes repair guy.  The little solar panels they use for trickle chargers will not work with this rig.  It does not produce enough steady power to charge the battery.  So much for that idea.  A small car, yes, but this rig .... NO.

Either drive it every week to ten days, or get a regular truck trickle charger that has bigger alligator clamps.  OR disconnect the battery through the tiny hole in the floorboard, which I have yet to be able to accomplish.  I'm going for bigger clamps.  

Next I was off to the AT&T store for this.  Of course everyone has changed from the old USB connectors to the latest and greatest "C" connectors.  That means they make a lot of profit from us buying all new wall plugins.  

My computer uses those, and in fact I had to buy an adapter to plug in things like my printer.  One did not come with my watch.  To make it even more fun, I got there 15 minutes before the store opened.  I had a lovely conversation with a nice lady waiting in a truck next door.  She said "they aren't going to open that door until EXACTLY 10:00".  We had a good laugh.  She was right.  

In the end, I had to get two ... making their profit margin for the entire day.  Good grief these things are expensive.  Yes I could have found a cheaper one at Walmart, but I wasn't going to take any chances with that ridiculously priced watch.  I know .. I bought the watch ... because I'm addicted to all the information it gives you in once quick glance!!

Back home ... I got bit by the FIX IT bug.  I've been looking at a few things that last couple of weeks that really need attention.  My attention has been elsewhere.  So I grabbed my big hammer and went to town, fixing all the trim work on the garage.

That brought about even MORE banging when I discovered two boards had fallen off the fence.  Yes it's old and needs to be replaced.  This is the one the neighbor said he would completely replace last year.  It hasn't happened yet, so I pounded loudly for 30 minutes, tacking a few back up.  Most are screwed in, but I ran out towards the end.  

You can probably guess what dinner was once again.  It's a good thing I'm in love with BACON.  Until these tomatoes are all gone (I now have ten in the fridge) ... I will be eating a BLT for every meal.  

It was just as delicious as it looks!!!

You know what day it is .... time to put on my steel pants and gather up my shields for the latest Bingo crowd.  It should be a big one considering everyone got paid last week.

The good news ... it is NOT a full moon.  That's holding out for NEXT week!!!