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!