JUST TRYING TO FIGURE IT OUT

 GOOD MORNING from sunny California.  As you can see, it's sunny and it's summer.  I'm trying to figure out just what day I will turn the AC on.  They have once again changed the hours of electricity usage around here, meaning my solar credit is down to zero at the beginning of summer.  That's not good ... not good at all since you know how CHEAP I am.

Every morning I open the back door and turn on the fan so it pulls cool air inside.  Lucky for me this house has GREAT insulation and stays cool most of the day.  

Here's my morning kids hanging out while I type, both wishing I would feed them so they can go back to sleep!

Mr. Cooper is doing better each day, though the leg doesn't seem to be all that strong yet.  In trying to figure out how to help him, I gathered all the old rugs I had in the garage (I knew they would be good for something some time) and placed them all around the kitchen island.  That seems to be where he goes crazy ... because that's where the food is of course.  This kid eats like a horse!!

Here's the other side.  My house looks like a crazy person lives here, but I don't care.  As long as he doesn't slip, his leg gets better.  He is back to trotting out to the grass.  Hopefully it just gets back to mostly normal very soon.

Since it was kind of cool, I went outside to do some weed spraying.  Yup ... the problem child is still there, laughing at me from behind the wall.

All the flower beds are a disaster ... full of weeds ... because you know, the gardener doesn't DO flower beds.  I just can't figure that out.  I am more and more disillusioned with gardeners.  Like all of them, this one started off like gangbusters and now does the very minimum.

That included hitting this sprinkler time and time again, knocking it completely out of the ground.  I've dug up and reset this one four times.  I figure it needs a steel cage around it.  I unscrewed it down to the very bottom (it has an extension on it since the pipes are so deep in the ground) and replaced all of it.  Even an entire new sprinkler.  We shall see just how long it lasts this time!!

All the while, Miss Kitters slept on her table.  She actually prefers to sleep outside in the mornings, then comes in when it gets warmer for the softer chair.  She sure is a talkative thing ... saying good morning at 3:30 am when she saunters in through the doggy door ... THREE times.  She's like the alarm bell you want to throw across the room!!

So at long last, I got up the nerve to go plug this thing in to the van.  I really need to figure this one out.  I remembered on my truck ... key off, plug it in, key on but do not start.  How the heck do you turn the key on when you have no key?  That took another 30 minutes of searching for answers.  

And of course the answer I found was WRONG.  Unlock the door so it knows you are there and press the start button once without your foot on the brake. 

It didn't work.  This was my result.  Another hour of searching was required.  Finally I found one that said push the button TWICE.  Why are there not specific instructions on how to do this???  I should try again today, but honestly I think it would be easier to go to the Smog Shop and beg for help.  If they show me exactly what to do, I can do it and maybe get results.  

At this moment I'm praying I didn't make anything reset so I have to go through all the driving part again.  Not that I did it correctly the first time .............

I gave up and made cookies.  If you are going to screw up a task, you might as well have something yummy and sweet to take away the sting of failure.  YUM!!!

With the weeds sprayed, the sprinklers fixed and my sweet tooth satisfied, I went back to sewing so Mr. Cooper would settle down and LAY down on the carpet.  He did ... and I finished this quilt.  It's a little different since the fabrics are patterned, though you can't see it in the picture.

Dinnertime came around, but I didn't have the motivation to spend 45 minutes making crispy birria tacos.  I just made regular drippy soggy ones that didn't taste even CLOSE to the real thing.  

Cooper just would not settle down, so back in the sewing room we went.  Here's the next one ready to be quilted.  That's five down and three to go.  

And so another day passes and I try to figure out just what armor to put on for tonights Bingo gig.  The troublemaker has not returned to the scene of the crime, making it fun once again.  I'm just trying to figure it out ... how to keep everyone happy so no one gets stuck with a pitchfork or burned at the stake!!

HAPPY TUESDAY!!!

BIRRIA WHAT??

BIG SIGH.  There have been lots of them around here lately.  Mr. Cooper sat down too close to the fridge and could not get up, hurting his leg once again.  I spent almost the entire day in the sewing room because he lays down and sleeps.  He's better this morning, but basically we are starting all over again.   That put most everything else on the back burner.  

Thankfully, Miss Kitters hasn't brought in any critters lately, adding to the mayhem.  Yup ... I see the same black blob.  It used to scare me, but now I'm used to it.

She loves to play in the mornings, so I try to give her five minutes with the feather.  She's so fast, she snags it every time!

When you're sitting for long hours, you think up weird stuff.  Hey ... let's cook up some Mexican Birria.  Where that came from, I have no idea.  I found a great instant pot recipe and figured I would give it a shot.  It would keep my mind off everything else going on at the moment.

I made a quick trip to Save Mart.  This could cause a heart attack.  No wonder people can't afford food.  This is just as ridiculous as it comes.  A cheap chuck roast should cost $2.99 a pound.  Check out the $14.99/lb price tag.  They don't really think they are going to sell this stuff, do they?  What happens to all the product they DON'T sell??

This one is even worse.  I laughed out loud and got an ugly look from the meat case guy.  $13.49 a pound for hamburger????  NO ONE IS GOING TO BUY THIS!!  My idea of Birria or meatloaf went right out the window.

Even this one was ridiculous.  Hamburger for $5.99 a pound.  It was the cheapest thing they had in the meat case.  

Maybe I'll check out the local Mexican/Korean market and see what they have.  Sure enough ... there it was, two beautiful chunks of pot roast for $4.99 a pound.  STILL too expensive, but I bought both of them.  Birria is once again on the menu.  

That's when I smelled it.  Roast chicken.  I should have gone to Costco, but I was hungry, and with the price of fuel, it would have cost me the same to drive there.  The tortillas were hot, but the sauce was a scorcher.  They must have put ghost peppers in that stuff.  It went straight into the trash can.  There's no way I could eat it and survive.

I admit, rarely do I ever make anything that is absolutely delicious.  Probably because I'm always missing an ingredient or two.  This time however, my salsa came out perfect.  This is an old ranch favorite.  On rare occasions, we would make deep pit barbecue.  The best stuff you've ever tasted.  We always made salsa to go with it.  This brings back memories of the back yard pit and wet gunny sacks which we wrapped the meat in to cook over the coals.

Then I began cutting and hacking up the birria ingredients.  Peppers, lots of spices including cinnamon, loads of onions and FIVE garlic cloves.  My eyes watered until I couldn't see!! 

Once done you take out the meat and blend the sauce until everything is liquid.  Oops ... I forgot to take the bay leaves out.  Back goes the meat, now shredded, stir it up and it's ready to taste.  Really, I'm not a fan of cinnamon with meat, but boy does this stuff have GREAT flavor.  

Now to make the tacos.  It almost went wrong here ... dip the tortillas in the fat from the pot, but there WAS no fat ... only sauce.  Put them in a hot frying pan with lots of cheese and spoon on the meat.  Fry until crispy.  Yeah well they didn't get very crispy before almost getting too well done.  

As I said, rarely do I ever make anything spectacular ... but THIS ... this was amazing!!  I relished every single bite!!  Finally, a success in two weeks worth of trials and tribulations.

I'm exhausted from all the problems hitting me at once.  I guess the good news is it's not from slinging 25 heavy pans of food in and out of the hot ovens at the lodge on Mothers Day.  I'm smiling over that one!!!

Here's hoping Mr. Cooper gets better again.  I have one more big rug in the garage I will bring out today and try to cover the entire kitchen floor.  I'll do just about anything for this sweet boy!!

Big thanks to Mr. Ed for sending me an email with all things Mercedes REGEN on it.  I'll do some more research and maybe more driving today.  Hopefully I can find the instructions on how to use the OBDII reader and not erase anything that will make it start all over again.  It seems there may even be a way to check it on the steering wheel controls.  I won't hold my breath!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY

 A big HAPPY MOTHERS DAY to all you Mom's out there.  May you be waited on all day long and never wash one dish!!!

We are sitting at a warm 90 degrees on this end of town as I gathered up my stuff and headed off to the repair shop at Mercedes.  Here is my 2024 brand new van that barely has 7,000 miles on it and the State of California demands a smog test.  It failed.  

The guy told me it had a code that had never been deleted, the battery had been disconnected (what the heck does that matter) and the PORT was bad.  How could that be?

Right off the bat, there was a problem.  This screen should not have been on.  UH OH ... my house batteries are WAY low and the solar isn't working.  Big sigh ... I worked on it for 15 minutes resetting everything (there is an order don't ya know) before it FINALLY came back on.  Whew ... that was a close one.  At least now the batteries will charge once again.

So off I drove at 7:00 in the morning for my 8:30 appointment.  It's a good thing I went early.  The freeway traffic came to a screeching halt about half way there. I know the back roads pretty well, but silly me, I left the freeway and followed the GPS directions.

In no time I knew I was completely off track, with only a vague idea of where I was.  The guy ahead of me was in the same boat as I followed him down country lanes.  I arrived 30 minutes late.  JAKE .... from Mercedes .... waved me in, grabbed the keys and drove it out of sight.  Soon enough, he came back and I gave him the smog paperwork.  

There is a Perkos next door, so that's where I headed, making the mistake of jay walking right in front of a police car parked on the side street.  OH CRAP!!  He opened the window and waved.  I waved back with a big smile, hoping his door didn't open.  That was a close one!!!

Breakfast at this place is always good.  That's a Senior spinach/cheese omelette with delicious hash browns for all of $11.00.  It was pretty tasty for an old style diner.

Back at Mercedes, I got a cup of fabulous Starbucks style coffee and headed to the snack basket.  OMG it was empty!!!  About fifteen minutes went by and a gal showed up to fill it.  HAVE TWO she said!!  Had I not been so full, I just might have done that!!  

That's when the bad part happened.  I have bad news for you Jake said .... there is absolutely NOTHING wrong with the van.  They tested EVERYTHING.  Those were words I did NOT want to hear.  I drove all that way with $7.69 a gallon diesel fuel and you tell me nothing is wrong????

So who is off here ... the smog shop or Mercedes?

I drove all the way back home MAD MAD MAD!!!  What a waste of time and money.  So instead of going back to the first smog shop, I went to the only other one in town.  I explained to the gal what the problem was and she said if it did not pass at another shop, it would not pass hers.  

Here's the best part .... she went outside with their code reader and came back with this.  There were NO codes ... but there are MONITORS.  What the heck is all this stuff???  They couldn't really explain it either, but said I have to drive it until those red X's go away.  So just what the heck ARE those red X's??  How many miles do I drive it?  When will this go away?  And WHAT IS IT?

No one had any answers for me, so I headed back home, did a lot of research and discovered this.  You guys who drive big newer model trucks .... you know what this is.  It's in REGEN mode.  Not one single person knew (even Mercedes) that this engine goes into regen mode with no indication of any kind anywhere on the dash of the rig.  If it's in regen mode, the smog will not pass.  

To make it worse, no one knows how long to drive it, or even HOW to drive it to get it through the program.  I finally called Mercedes and explained it to them so they would know if it happened to anyone else.  OH ... they said.  We have driving instructions for that.  I felt like slamming my head on my desk!!

ARE YOU KIDDING ME?  Why didn't you tell me when I was there?  Because they didn't know until I explained it to them.  The driving instructions are ridiculous.  Drive 65-80 mph, de-accelerate down to 50 mph, speed up to 65, de-accelerate again .... a total of FIVE times.  Then there's city driving.  It's all a bunch of crapola as far as I'm concerned.  And just how will I know it's done?

You don't.  You just have to go to the smog shop and have them take these readings again before they do the test so it doesn't fail again.

You can imagine ... Nancy, who has no patience whatsoever for this kind of stuff .... is NOT a happy camper.  So I bought my OWN code reader scanner so I could check it myself.  Let's just say it - California sucks!!!!

I spent another hour trying to figure out how to use this thing.  There are no instructions unless you go online, give them all your personal information and set up an account.  I don't WANT an account, I just want to know what buttons to push!!!  I was in frustration overload by that time!

So to get my mind back on track, I placed a Walmart order.  You know how we were SAVING THE TREES by using plastic?  Now we are KILLING the trees by putting one item only in three of these bags.  Talk about wasteful, all of them went in the trash can.  I was hoping to make some ice cream to make me feel better, but alas, they forgot the milk.  It just wasn't my day.

Who knew that when I got this old, I would be crankier than EVER.  The people who make the rules in the world are just not up to the task.  

Oh wait .... one last thing!  The California smog machines that do the testing are NOT PROGRAMMED FOR THE NEWEST ELECTRONICS ON NEW VEHICLES.  Yup ... they don't have the money.  No surprise there.  

My only alternative is to pay the registration fees and just drive it until at some point the regen is complete and the X's disappear so I can smog it again, at which time I will have to PAY ANOTHER $65.00!!!  

I hope your Mother's Day is fabulous!!  Mine started out terrible, until I remembered I don't have to be at the lodge cooking breakfast for 400 folks.  I'm smiling over that one!!!!

HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!!!

Cinco De Mayo At The Lodge

 Yesterday was a long day with more problems than you could shake a stick at.  So while I calm down and gather some composure ...... let's finish up Cinco de Mayo night at the Lodge.  

Thank you for all the wonderful comments about my getup.  Truly, it is NOT a comfortable outfit to wear. The shirt collar digs in like crazy and the bow tie never stays put.  It's perfect in the cold of winter wearing the shirt, a very thick vest AND an even heavier jacket.  On the other hand, I LOVE it with the purse!!!

This kid took up most of the day.  She lays out in the heat on the concrete, then expects brushing for at least 30 minutes to remove all the cat hair that's falling out due to the heat.  She reaches out with her paw and pats you on the head, the shoulder and finally the FACE until you relent and grab the scrubber.  My reward is purring like I've never heard before!!

And so after a long day of playing MAID to the demanding feline creature of the house, I was off to the lodge early to discuss all things financial with the bookkeeper.

I got there in time to see the ladies putting up their centerpieces.  It's an entire family that puts on this shindig for us and cooks all the food.  

The bartender ... the sweetest girl I've EVER met ... comes from Hawaii.  She's a single mom who just had the cutest little boy 10 months ago.  Every time we have a spare minute, I ask her if she has any new pictures.  You know Mom's love showing off those baby pictures ... and he is cute as a button!!

On THIS night she said she needed to do a taste test on the margaritas they were serving.  Okay, I'll bite.  There were three colors ... strawberry, watermelon and mango.  Thank goodness each glass was only half full, AND I asked for a short pour since I don't drink this stuff.  

Apparently I am not a connoisseur of tequila.  This is some special stuff that tastes terrible!!!  I sipped the watermelon.  That would be a NO.  I tried the strawberry, but could not even TASTE strawberry.  I went with the mango, only because she added more syrup for me.  I hauled all three cups upstairs and gave them to the accountant.  I guess I'm a Jose Cuervo kind of girl.  I think this was Tapatio, but don't quote me on that.

Dinner was quite tasty, but this was not my plate.  I was served one small piece of 1/8" thick meat, resembling shoe leather.  It tasted wonderful, but a little hard to chew.  The chicken was delicious, but a tad bit dry.  I made perfect tacos out of mine.  The shrimp salsa stuff was only available on table #9, who always brings extra goodies for their dinner.  

Then it was off to a LONG meeting upstairs.  The raffle took forever to finish up.  In case you didn't know, there is a raffle at every single dinner the lodge has.  It brings in around $1,000 most of the time, but always has items I would never use (like tequila), so I don't buy in.  

That meant the meeting began late because the person in charge didn't really know how to get it started.  It dragged on for some time while 21 people were initiated into the lodge.  That was followed up with the closing that no one had bothered to check out beforehand.  We had to wait while it was pointed out exactly what to read.  Nothing like being prepared!  I'm sure next time will be better.

They wanted pictures, but I rushed out the door at 10:00.  I had an early morning appointment miles away to see why the van didn't pass the smog test.  

Here's an indication of how THAT went.  I hate it when no one knows what they are doing and I'm left to my own devices to figure it out, then tell THEM so they know what's happening for the next guy.  Yup ... that's how it went, but I'll relate that story tomorrow.  I could have used all THREE of those margaritas yesterday!!!

IT'S A SHORT ONE!

 Early morning ....... late night ......... and another WAY too early morning.  I'm off to get the van fixed so it will pass the smog thing.  That should be strictly about particulates, but California apparently has their own rules.  Here's a quick preview of last night.

I'll see you tomorrow .... God willing and the creek don't rise!

TIMING IS EVERYTHING

 At our age, some days are meant to be spent relaxing on the patio sipping a nice alcoholic beverage and enjoying the ambiance of the back yard surrounded in light from the full moon.  

That never happens here.  Well kinda sorta once in a while I suppose.  On THIS morning I sipped my fake coffee and watched Miss Kitters scan the landscape for gopher movement.  I was quickly discouraged by the biting ants that crawled all over my feet.  I should have looked where I was sitting.  As I have mentioned in the past, this entire town is located on the biggest ant hill in California.  My timing was not good.  They are most active in the early morning, so I went inside

I'm pretty much dragging on this day, as I am every day after Bingo.  It just takes it out of you.  Here's a pastime that takes up very little energy, and lasts all day long.  Luckily those kitchen timers going off every 30 minutes will wake you up long enough to check the house for dead gophers.

Since I used up all the starter from one jar for the last batch of bread, I ordered a new one.  You get an entire 28 grams to get going on this project.  BUT LOOK AT THIS!  My timing was finally right!  I mixed it up in this fancy dancy container I ordered, and it's working like crazy!!  It actually tripled in size.  This one needs to be fed for a few more days before it can be used to make bread.

I had only one jar of starter left that I had stashed in the fridge.  Time to see if THAT one will work.  What I forgot, meaning my timing was to be off all day long, was that I had accounting to do at 12:30.  I mixed and mixed, let it sit, mixed again, let it sit ..... this is not a relaxing type of entertainment.

Let it rest 30 minutes, beat it up, let it rest 30 minutes, beat it up.  Good grief ... I guess in the old days they didn't have anything else to do.  This is a time consuming process.  Luckily I got it done in time to get the accounting work done.  Really, I didn't need to be there since the other gal is doing very well with her assignments.  Truth be told, we both snuck out early!!

Once again I worked the bread until 5:45 when I stuck it in the fridge to ruminate overnight.  I began this process at 7:30 in the morning.  Here we are ... a quick peek and back into the fridge for another couple of hours before I bake it off.  

This time I'm using a larger cast iron pot to see if I can get more slices out of one loaf.  Really, I just want to use my handy dandy bread slicer again.  You know how it is, a new gadget to play with.

The interesting thing is I don't do well with bread.  Hamburger buns are the worst, but bread in general doesn't set well with me.  THIS bread ... doesn't bother me at all.  That's weird.  Maybe it's just all the additives they put in bread to beef it up and keep it from getting moldy.

That's it ... that's all I did the entire day.  Oh wait ... I did cut a couple of borders for another quilt.  Maybe I'll get in a little sewing before the lodge meeting tonight.  It's TACO night, meaning hardly anyone will be there.  Who wants to pay $20 for a taco dinner!  What they don't know is our guy makes pulled pork, some kind of delicious chicken, beans, rice and homemade salsa for freshly fried homemade tortilla chips.  YUM!!

While sitting on the patio, did I contemplate a garden this year?  Why yes, yes I did.  That's all I did however, I just contemplated it while looking at where it lived last year.  After reading this little ditty, I agreed with them.  That's a lot of money and work for little reward.  

I am happy to say Mr. Cooper is doing a little better every day.  He's jumping up and down for treats, even as I try to be sneaky so he doesn't do that.  He has not slipped in two days and his leg seems to be working better.  That's a big relief, though I know he could do it again at any time.  Sadly, there won't be any trips soon, but hopefully we'll be back on the road by the end of the month, if only for a few days here and there.

To that end, if my timing is good, I'll be off very early tomorrow morning to take the Van to the repair shop 45 miles away to fix whatever it is, so I can pass the smog test.  

Until then ..... sit on the patio, drink your early morning coffee (or champagne) and keep an eye out for those gophers!

SINKO DE MAYO

Good morning sunny California, which they say it WILL be in a day or two.  As for now, we have overcast cold skies, which are just fine with me.  Summer is coming later and later.  Pretty soon we'll be 100 degrees at Christmas!!

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO.  I admit, it took me a few seconds to get this one.  Sink-o ... May-o.  This is my bad joke of the day!!

Here's the real thing!  The annual celebration of Mexico's victory over the Second French Empire in 1862.  Although they ultimately lost the war, at the end of the American Civil War, the United States began lending money and guns to the Mexican Liberals, forcing the French to defeat.  YAY!!  

And so I celebrate with our southern neighbors because they have better food than we do!!

 

Too bad it had to be interrupted by the Magic Kingdom of Bingo.  It can't be all bad, right?  Okay, maybe it could.

I started off by setting Mr. Cooper up so he could not fall off the couch and hit the table, followed by giving him HALF of an anxiety pill.  I was hoping that would keep him quiet.  He followed me to the door, so I gave him a scrinch and said STAY, like I always do.

Bad news reared its head immediately.  My truck did not want to start.  REALLY BIG SIGH!!  It sounded like it was starving for fuel.  Oh it finally started, and I let it run for a bit, but I opted for the more reliable Jeep.

Once at the lodge, I went straight to work NOT doing this.  In fact, I didn't set up ANYTHING for the back room.  Instead, I signed checks, stewed about Cooper, set up my table, stewed about Cooper and generally did nothing much.

I set up my cameras at the house when I left and checked them often.  There was no sign of Cooper at all.  Two hours later, I couldn't stand it a minute longer.  I made a mad dash home, and when I say mad dash, I mean speeding like a banshee ... and snuck around the back of the house to look in the window.

There he was, laying in the exact spot I had told him to STAY.  He was staring at the door, waiting for me to come home.  I drove back to the lodge happy and sad at the same time.  A couple MORE hours went by and I checked the cameras again.  He was asleep on the couch.  

Things went great at Bingo ... the flaming torches and pitchforks didn't come out until later.  We had a rousing crowd of 134 people, many of whom had smoked Skunk Weed.  That stuff is NASTY!!  You can smell it the second they come in the door.  I suppose we can't complain, since they all donate so much money to our causes, but GEEZ!!  Ride with your window down please!

We were going great guns.  The one troublemaker did not arrive once again.  YAY!!  It's amazing how the atmosphere changes for the better.  We had two new volunteers learning the ropes in the kitchen, taught by two of the ones who caused all of the problems.  I watched the clock.  They worked until 8:30.

Come to find out, the new recruits knew them very well and they had a blast in the kitchen.  

OH BUT WAIT .... at 9:00 when they were all cleaned up, the two previous workers called the Kitchen Manager over to say ... thanks for the memories, but all five of our group quit.  We won't be back.  Well thank you very much, because we already have replacements and you guys are no longer needed.  Nice of them, yes??

The good news is we actually DO have replacement workers, so their plan to upset our applecart died on the vine.  

And so ended a lovely night of laughter and fun ... at least on our part.  As for the back pull tab room, when we heard lots of cussing going on, we stayed far far away.  I call it full moon spillover.  

It was a late night.  One of our callers got called in to work, and the one who took his place didn't know how to set up the machine.  I didn't get out until 10:45, almost an hour past my normal time.  

Needless to say, I'm dragging butt as I stare out at the not-so-full moon.  As much as I want to hang with Cooper all day, EVERY day, I've got accounting today and an initiation of members tomorrow, meaning it's a tuxedo night.  My LEAST favorite of all the nights.  The only good part is they will be serving my favorite ... MEXICAN FOOD!!

Here's to tacos, tamales, enchiladas and all good things from the South of us.  I guess I'll get out one of those enchilada casseroles I made and celebrate.  HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!!