FIFTH TIMES A CHARM

Monday .... Monday .... not my favorite day of the week for sure.  That hails back to working I suppose.  It just amazes me that I've now been retired for fifteen years.   Having worked every week since I was fifteen years old, and that's not counting the ranch work, it just seems incredible that I can now be as lazy as I want!

On the other hand ... I have a list of things to get fixed, including yet another light fixture that just fell out of the patio ceiling.  On this day I chose to once again go to the SMOG shop.  Big sigh!  I went on Facebook and asked for prayers.  I checked the code reader to find a nice GREEN check mark, meaning the permanent code was finally GONE!

Unfortunately, I checked the particulates too ... and they were at 96%, meaning it was going into regen VERY soon.  Maybe, just maybe I'll slip by.

The very nice folks at the shop know me by name.  Hi Nancy ... you're BACK!  Is the code gone?  It's nice to be remembered, but not at this place.  He took the keys and went to check the codes first.  Looks okay, you want me to go ahead?  Yes please.

HALLELUJAH!!!  IT PASSED ... though he asked me if I wanted the good news or the bad news.  The bad news being he wouldn't see me for two years now!  Yes you will, I've got two other vehicles.  I gave them a BIG tip and said lunch for both of them was on me.  They went above and beyond to get this thing done.

Back home I was a bump on a log.  I kept thinking about Cooper and needed to get out of the house, so off on my bike I went.  It was hot, but not TOO hot.  Wrong ... 5 seconds later it was WAY too hot, but I kept going.

Not far however ... about one mile was all I could muster.  I turned around, not even falling off, which is a plus, and headed back home.

That's when I noticed this.  Remember the brown lawn?

Gee ... what a difference a sprinkler makes.  He had to adjust two of them again, since one was hitting the window and the other pouring water out the bottom, but I think they are fixed ... at least for a couple months.

It felt like Sunday all over again, so I watched a little more rodeo.  Seems it's raining in Canada, making for a muddy mess.

It's hard enough riding these guys, but then you have to get off.  Rarely does anyone land on their feet.  These two ended up covered in thick mud.

The bull doggers were even worse.  They have to LAY in it!!!  Notice no one wore their fancy embroidered shirts!!

Terrible pictures of my TV, but these guys didn't get off so well.  I think the riding part would be fun, but the getting off WAY too scary.  Looking up at a bull belly cannot be the result they were looking for.

This is why they are required to wear helmets now, unless you are of a certain age.  Both of these guys got stepped on.  OUCH!  It cuts a lot of bull riding careers short.

The problem with sitting on the couch watching rodeo, is the commercials cause a frantic stint of Amazon ordering.  I'm actually looking for summer clothes, which of course cannot be found in the summer.  Everything comes from China and most all of it gets sent back.  It looks great in the pictures, but it's as cheap as it comes.  

That was followed by a Walmart order (this time a nice delivery guy) to get the ingredients to make jam.  While at the Non-4th Party, I was ordered to take peaches from the Dole Ranch and Nectarines from the yard.  I can make jelly or jam ... or maybe freezer jam this year.  I haven't done that in ages.

And so ended another day of missing my boy Cooper.  I don't think this will ever get better.