Stock In Kleenex

 Well ... well well well ..... a really deep subject on this day.  Low temperature overnight 56.  High today 76.  Perfect weather to be sick, yes?  The good news is the 50% chance of rain this morning, so I don't feel     QUITE as bad that I'm sitting on the couch all day.

I'm taking out stock in Kleenex because I think I've gone through two boxes so far.

The sad part ... I was invited to the Back Country Horsemen gathering today for some training classes.  I guess that's not going to happen, though I do feel better ... not coughing as much ... I just don't feel up to it.

More good news ... I have no fever, so I'm guessing it's not an infection ... but who knows.  I also check my oxygen levels just for fun, and it's at 98-99%, so there's that.

I spent all day on the couch.  You can imagine how hard that is for me to just sit and vegetate.  I was a tad bit lucky since the Road To The Horse competition was on.  You couldn't get any more up my alley than this.

They chose three guys ... all men this time ... to take a colt provided by a big name ranch and break it not only to ride, but to go through crazy obstacles, in only two days.  This year they decided to add one more person with a wild card round, which is what I got to watch.  

These fillies have never been handled before at all.  It's also interesting to see the difference between fillies and colts.  Colts just do their thing ... but fillies ... they don't want to be away from the herd, so it's harder to get their attention to do what you are asking of them.  

So that's it ... that was my entire day.  Oh I did do one very exciting load of laundry when I discovered after five years that I could set that thing up the way I wanted instead of using their pre-programmed settings.  I mean really ... the excitement ... the euphoria!!!

I'm not coughing as much as I was, but I'm tired, and so another rousing day on the couch is in my future.  Maybe, just maybe if I'm a good girl, I will feel good enough to go to the Elks Installation dinner tomorrow that I paid $30.00 for.  In 14 years, I've never gone because I was in Arizona.  Now I'm finally here and I'm a sicko!!  RATS!!

Here's to better days ... SOON!!

Sicko One Again

 Well .... let's start this day off with some good news.  In the next eight days, it's going to rain SIX days.   So much for soaking up some vitamin D to help with this crazy cough/flu crapola.  Here I was thinking it was all the pollen floating around in the air from the last big wind.

Nope ... I'm sick once again.  Not as bad as last time since I'm not nearly as exhausted, but the cough is lung wracking.  It's one of those you can't help yourself ... that tickle in your throat just screams COUGH! You can feel it down to your toes.  

The only exciting thing that happened all day long (because I spent it laying on the couch) was the addition to my larder of another Hello Fresh box.  To be honest, these boxes of food are cheaper than going to the grocery store.  I stopped in at Save Mart for a few staples and came out $150 poorer.  There wasn't even anything I could make a meal out of.  

Here's what's in the insulated box, all packed in green frozen blocks.  Each meals ingredients come in a separate brown paper bag.  The meat is always in vacuum sealed packages BETWEEN the ice blocks to keep it cold.  

One of the things I got when I signed up was free breakfast for life.  There is also waffles with apples and a homemade sauce from honey and jam.  It should be quite tasty ... not that I'm the least bit hungry.  This cold flu stuff takes your appetite away completely.  I will get eight meals out of this $45 box of food.

Though I really wanted to just stay home, I was able to get the two Trustees to show up for more budget stuff, so I went ahead and drove to town.  After an hour of discussions, we finished up the budget ... which now will go to the bookkeeper to input.  There's no telling how it will come out in the end, hopefully not too far off!!

It is interesting to note our minimum wage is now $16.00.  We have had to lay off people because we cannot afford it.  Some, if not ALL, fast food restaurants now have to pay $20.00 an hour.  Can someone explain to me why a high school student needs $20.00 an hour?  Are they buying a big house?  Taking care of six kids?  Do they have loads of bills to pay? 

 I have no doubt you will no longer receive service from humans.  Robots ... made in China ... will be taking orders, giving you change and cooking all the food.  That means even MORE people will be out of jobs!  So how is this supposed to be better????

I hit the door running.  When I got outside, this weird sunset caught my eye.  I got home and crashed on the couch.

Yes there is a lodge meeting tonight, but I'm not going.  My plan is short and simple.  Lay on the couch all day watching Rodeo.  Hopefully I have something a little more interesting to write about tomorrow!!

Cough Cough ... COUGH!!!!!

There Was A Farmer Had A Dog .....

 and BINGO was his name-o,    B-I-N-G-O,    B-I-N-G-O,    B-I-N-G-O and BINGO was his name-o.  Anyone remember that awful bus-riding song?  Almost as bad as 100 bottles of beer on the wall.  And so here I am at my Bingo station for the night.  But first ...

Let's go over some budget stuff and see what these 99 line items actually ARE, before discussing the current news that every employee now gets 40 hours of sick leave, even if they only work two or three hours a week.  It used to be based on the number of hours they work ... but no more.  It's no wonder so many businesses are closing up shop and putting a huge number of folks out of work.  They think they are helping people, but actually they are getting them all fired.  Why can they not see this?

Here's the first bad news ... my Fairy Godmother who sets all this stuff up is off for four weeks.  The Castle is in an uproar ... well at least "I" am.  Now I have to go in even earlier to set everything up.

I grabbed a couple of Bingo Peasants to help me ... wonderful ladies they are ... and we even got the pull tab bar pulled out and the payout table set up.  All the while, I'm still coughing, a leftover from the old crud.

These are the pull tabs ... the REAL moneymakers at Bingo.  All the money I collect for selling bingo cards is paid back out in jackpots.   These little jewels are then purchased by the players for $1.00 each.  If they buy the right one, they might get $125 or maybe even $250.  I think they come in a box of 1,000 and we usually have 120-130 players a night.  

These are all one dollar winners.  They will buy 100 at a time, then sit and pull off the tab (which is why they are called pull tabs) to uncover their big prize of the day.  This is what makes all the big bucks we donate to charities year round.  One guy bought 100, cashed in $87 and bought 60, before cashing in $32.  You can do the math ... I'm too tired this morning.

__ I-N-G-O, __ I-N-G-O, __ I-N-G-O and Bingo was his name-o.  Yeah, that's been going through my head all night.  I thought I would share.

Here is the infamous RED TICKET.  I think I've explained this before.  Everyone gets a red ticket when they buy in.  This is the one they are always fighting about saying I never gave it to them.  Amazingly, a very sweet young peasant girl found this one on the floor and turned it in.  

All night I waited in anticipation of telling them they dropped it.  I'm in shock ... NO ONE came to my table to get another one.  It turned out okay though, because their number was never called anyway.

My Lady in Waiting (the Castle Counter) blasted through 133 peasant purchases, not making a single error.  I knew she would always do a good job.  We worked together for 12 years as bean counters.  She makes my B-I-N-G-O life easy as eating pie.

Speaking of which ... after our fabulous deep fried chicken tenders, I spotted these hiding in the back corner.  Oh yeah ... Costco cupcakes!!  Talk about a sugar rush!  I only ate 1/4.  Not because I'm trying to be so good, but because I can make it last through FOUR meals!!  That's four times the sugar fun!

To our amazement, there were no knock down hair pulling fights on this night.  It seems two of our most problematic peasants stayed home, making it absolutely pleasant for the rest of the crowd.  No pitchforks were spotted.  Well maybe one, okay two.  The first barged into the front of the line, waving her receipt and cards.  I ONLY GOT ONE OF THESE.  

One of the Knights started to hand her another one.  CAN I SEE YOUR RECEIPT PLEASE?  I stopped him in his tracks.  She only bought ONE.  See right here?  There was a very quiet "oh" and off she went.  It happened once again, and this time (against my better judgement) we gave her another one.  She brought it back 15 minutes later saying she found it.  At least she was good enough to do that, if only because it's bad Karma.  You will never win if you steal at a B-I-N-G-O game.

And so ended another lovely night ... with a little more bad news.  I coughed all night long and this morning, I'm sure I have the creeping crud once again.  No doubt it came from the peasant at B-I-N-G-O who literally coughed in my face last week.

So much stuff going on ... budget, employee contracts, officer installation night, lodge night and a weekend long horse show ... and I'm playing sicko again.  BIG SIGH!!!  I hope your week goes better than mine!!

Amazon Returns

Adding a disclaimer to the bidding site.  If you dig down far enough, you will find a note saying things may be broken or have missing parts.  Well that's not good!!!  So buyer beware.  I don't know if they charge PER bid ... I haven't found that out yet.

 It was a bed-head hair kind of day.  I was looking just as scruffy as Cooper when my feet finally hit the floor.  Trying to catch up on sleep doesn't seem to work for me.  The longer I stay in bed, the more bogged down I seem to get.  

UP AND AT 'EM ... there's CAKE to eat for breakfast!!  This is the last of the $325 cake purchased by one of the guys at our table.  I didn't want it to go to waste, so I took home the last piece.  It was perfect for St. Patrick's Day.  I could wear green crumbs on my shirt and not get pinched.

By the way ... here's THAT story.  You are supposed to wear green on St Patricks Day so the leprechauns don't SEE you.  It makes you invisible.  Leprechauns are mischievous little people who will pinch you if they see you, just because they can.  

I was off to the dentist at noon for a good teeth cleaning.  I could probably go to Algodones, but to be honest, I'm scared to death of dentists.  My first encounter was with a guy who held me down and drilled with no novocaine of any kind.  It took me 25 years to go back.  These folks take extra special care, so I only go there.  

Next up ... Amazon returns.  The descriptions of some things you buy are about as accurate as the weather guessers.  These were boot trees to keep my boots upright and straight.  Made especially for TALL cowboy boots.  WRONG!!  They were not only not tall enough, but not wide enough either.  Sadly, the best company in the business went OUT of business.  

Here's what I learned today.  They have figured out a way to CHARGE you for the returns to the benefit of the UPS store.  ALWAYS the returns have been drops offs ... no boxes or bags required.  This time I did not notice the "Customer Packed" notation on the return code.  What it means is YOU have to pack it back up in the box it came in ... even if the box is twelve times too big ... before they will return it for free.  

If not in the original box, they charge you.  In this case it was $4.00 for this to be sent back to Amazon.  Lucky for me, I had stuck the bird cage back in the original box, so no charge.  From now on I'll check this return code to see if I need to REPACK it before taking it back.  Makes you wonder what the difference is.

I did check out the BidRL website in the afternoon.  Maybe things will be bid up, but the prices are crazy good.  I think from now on if I'm buying something from Amazon, I'll check this site first.  One foldable dog kennel I paid $100 for went for $2.25.  Maybe that $80 bird cage will come back up for $2.00!!

I got home late, but it was a gorgeous sunny WARM day.  I decided I would pretend I'm Patsy and hang out in the sun reading for awhile.  I have to admit, it felt wonderful!  I almost blinded myself with my no-tan legs, but maybe that will change.  I could have fallen asleep were it not for the slimy yucky ball being dropped on my feet every few minutes.

The rest of the day was spent at the sewing machine.  I have nine more of these squares to make.  I do so wish it was going to be only two colors because I love it.  On the other hand, I'm using up yards of fabric that's been hanging around for some time.  Isn't there an old saying .. the more you use up, the more you can buy???

And so another day has passed ... a rather nice one in my book.  Today will be full of budget stuff and you guessed it ..... BINGO!!!  

A Working Sunday

 The sunshine is working again in California.  It's been gone for quite a long time, hiding out behind the clouds and rain.  We should actually get up to 75 degrees this week.  What an odd weather year.  There are two things about all that rain .... the first one being it makes the weeds grow like they are on steroids.  

That's a bad thing since we have some fireworks fanatics around here that could set my back corrals on fire.  And so I spent the first two hours of the day carrying around a large backpack, spraying said weeds.  My back complaineth.  It wasn't a full 4 gallon load, but enough for me to call the Weed folks today.  I didn't quite finish the left side and never even TOUCHED the right side corral.  

It's worth the price I guess since if the weeds are gone, the grubs are gone and the SKUNKS are gone.

On the other hand, the roses are starting to bloom like crazy.  As long as it doesn't require any care at all from me, plants seem to thrive.  If I get involved, they die.

Next up ... empty the tanks on the RV.  Why oh why they would put the dump handle right over the axle, I don't know.  This has to be a MAN engineering job.  Us women would put an extension on it so we didn't even have to bend over.  On the other hand, you do get a nice splash of water in your face to wake you up when you pull the handle.  I now reach in with a very long hay hook from my days of bucking hay for the horses.

Next up ... the hot water tank.  My old rig had endless hot water that I never had to do anything with.  This one, it's a lot of work remembering exactly what to do to empty and fill it.  If I'm on super saver mode, it takes one plastic bottle full before it becomes hot.  In the other rig, it took three bottles ... so there's that.  Why use bottles to capture the water?  So I could last well over a month before refilling.

The little green cutting board is just to keep water off the directions on the door.  The last time I removed some directions like that (on a house), it cost me a chunk.  DO NOT remove those labels.

Along the path to the rig, I discovered my rosemary was blooming like crazy.  I guess spring really is here and summer is on the way.  I don't know what variety this is, but it makes the BEST tasting pork loin.

With three things on my to-do list marked off ... which gives me great satisfaction ... Cooper and I watched the Houston Rodeo Finals.  So far this rodeo year has been about as weird as the weather.  The top guys are all out with injuries and the 19-21 year olds are taking over.  They look like they are 14!

While that was going on, I began yet another "wonderful" dinner from Hello Fresh.  Honestly, I don't think I chose these meals.  If you forget, they send whatever they want.  Mistakes can be made ... this came with chicken instead of PORK.  I also just noticed the calories listed at the bottom.  This is what it SHOULD look like.

Here's what it DID look like.  Carrots must be in season because I seem to be getting them with every order!!  AND everything once again was roasted in the oven.  I admit, it's a quick no-dirty-dishes way to fix dinner.  The sauce on this one made my mouth pucker up like eating a lemon.  Woohoo that balsamic vinegar was SOUR!!

I didn't make the potatoes.  If I have to choose between roasted or mashed, it's mashed every time.  I'll have them later with something else.  At least this time I got a WHOLE piece of chicken.

I really can't complain ... it hit the spot and was semi tasty, but I won't put this one on my order again. 

Lucky me, I have a dentist appointment today.  Just cleaning so no big deal.  Then it's Amazon return time.  That reminds me, while at the fundraising dinner, there was a table next to us purchased by a BID company.  I finally asked who they were.  

It seems all that merchandise that's returned to Amazon, doesn't go to Amazon after all.  It is picked up by these guys and sold at auction (kind of like Ebay) several times a week.  It's not shipped to you, you have to go pick it up in person.  Anyone know if this is legit?  Surely Amazon just doesn't give it all away.  I'll let you know what I find out!!

BID FAST, BID HIGH!!

 

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!!!

I hope ye be wearing green something or other, or the locals will be pinching ye!!  Seriously, I don't know where that came from.  I got pinched a lot as a kid because there was hardly EVER any green in my wardrobe.  There still isn't, but lucky for me, there is no one here to pinch me ... except maybe Jonathan!

And so today ... I'm as sore as I can be.  Lifting those heavy cages appears to have given me a workout I didn't know I was getting.  After a lot of cleaning and a little more sewing, I was off to the Elks Lodge once again.

THIS time it was for an event I usually do not participate in.  This is like gambling to me ... it never fails that you get carried away and spent WAY more than you wanted.  This is the Merced Search and Rescue fundraiser dinner.

Here's how it works ... the Elks Lodge donates to this charitable organization, which means we get a table for ten at the dinner.  It's prepared by our Sheriff, and since everyone knows how good his food is, the place is packed to the brim.  It helps that he's the most popular Sheriff of all time around here, but I won't go into that.

This is truly a fundraiser.  You buy tickets, about 25 for $20.00, that you tear up and place in bags by the items you would like to win.  Then there is a silent auction of similar items.  Of course we all paid double for dinner, and add to that a live dessert auction AND a live auction with probably another 30 items.  

And the most popular event ... yes there is one more ... is the gun raffle.  Here's how that works.  They pull out a deck of cards, and you pay $20 for each card you pick.  They are torn in half and placed in a bucket.  When the drawing is held, if you have the other half, you win the handgun.  I think there were EIGHT.  Here's the kicker.  They throw all those cards away and bring out the NEXT deck of cards and do it all over again.  

One guy bought half the deck, and of course won.  He did that THREE times.  I don't have that much money to throw away.  I think if I did, I would just go buy the gun at the Gun Shop.

Nor did I win anything with the 50 tickets I placed in the bags.  It's okay though, it's going for a good cause.  By the way, the entire time, the actual search and rescue DOGS were roaming around the room.  One was even posing for pictures with you ... barking up a storm.  That was pretty fun!!

On to the dinner (you can see all my losing tickets there), we had to wait quite awhile to be served.  There had to be 20 tables, and we were at the back end.  It took well over an hour before we got a plate, but it was full to the brim.  

Barbecue chicken and tri-tip, scalloped potatoes, green beans and vegetarian lasagne (??) with a roll.  It was good, but not up to the normal Sheriff standards.  Turns out he has a brand new barbecue on wheels that isn't seasoned yet.  It's okay though ... I was stuffed to the gills.

I bid a couple of times on the dessert auction items, but as usual, things went crazy.  Four dozen cookies went for $375.00.  The pistachio cake that was bought by someone at our table was $325.00.  It was good, but not THAT good.

If it looked like an item was only going for $125 or so, I would bid it up, then drop out.  It's crazy what these things went for.  The last one was a dutch apple pie in a beautiful red and white dish.  My favorite!!  I bid on it just for kicks.  I'm not kidding here ... that pie went for $1,150 ... that's ONE THOUSAND ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY DOLLARS!!  There would be NO pie for Nancy!!

Sadly, this was one of the last things to go, and I couldn't stay and watch.  This is the sweetest, quietest, most well behaved little girl EVER!!  She is a rescue ... and I wanted to take her home, just to be sure someone didn't buy her and not take good care of this sweet baby.

I couldn't stand it any more.  No I didn't buy her, but I had to leave the building.  My Elks friend sitting next to me MAY have though.  He and his wife would give her the BEST home.  He was very tempted ... loved the little girl, but they really didn't want a puppy.  I'll find out today who she went to.  

On the other hand, you know those little cars that kids drive around the yard?  The little Jeep went for $1,000 as I headed out the door, with $80.00 less in my wallet.  For once I showed great restraint!!!

So bless your little Irish heart and every other Irish part ... and never iron a four leaf clover, you don't want to press your luck!!  Hope you have a Happy Green Day!!

Very VERY Destructive

 Mother Nature just doesn't want to give up the ghost this year.  It was bright and sunny here, but I heard rain and hail in Arizona.  In spite of the heavy wind warnings, we had a beautiful day.  Not so much far up in the Sierra Nevada mountains.  The forecast ... spring is here ... oh wait ... winter is back ... noooo, it's toasty warm ... and then it snows.  

While working on that new cage for Jonathan, I finally decided to put on my Maid outfit and get to the next big project .... cage cleaning.

There's lots to learn about parrots.  The first one is they can bite VERY hard and take your finger off if you aren't careful.  Handfed birds like Jonathan are not quite as bad.  He has given me some terrible bites in the past, but all my fingers are still intact.  Yes, he bites the hand that feeds him.

They are also very destructive, as evidenced by his cage.  Parrots chew on wood things ... like furniture ... to keep their beaks short.  If I didn't give Jon pieces of wood to chew on, his beak would become so long he could no longer eat.  They also chew on their perches and anything they can pull into their cage.

These were two huge bath towels at one time.  You can see what's left.  These go on the cage first because you KNOW they will be gone in about six months.  Over that go the other blankets that help keep them warm.  Parrots come from tropical countries and cannot tolerate the cold.  That is always the problem with traveling ... keeping Jonathan warm.

Birds also have dander like cats and dogs ... only they are worse.  It's one of the things some people are allergic to.  Luckily I don't have a problem, other than cleaning the floor where it all lands.

Not trying to scare you, but if you see a dead bird, don't touch it.  Outside birds can carry a disease called psittacosis or bird flu.  Jonathan is never allowed outside because he caught this disease when he was young.  It took several months of me giving him shots in his belly (yes really) to bring him out of it.  It's absolutely a miracle that he survived.  

On to cleaning ... I probably haven't done this in maybe 5 years?  I mean I clean the cage, but I haven't taken it apart and deep cleaned.  Note to self ... you really need to do this more often!!

I brought in his second house from the garage after giving it a good cleaning.  It's easier to switch cages and clean the other one with a power washer.

It took me all morning to get it situated with new towels and freshly washed blankets.  This side is left open because the heater sits here.  If he's cold, he moves closer to this side.

Here he is all tucked away.  You can't see his head because they sleep with their beak under their wing.  Looks pretty awkward and uncomfortable to me, but that's how they sleep.

The rest of the day involved several conversations about budget stuff .... boring .... while I tried to watch the Houston rodeo in the background.

At last I was able to get back to a little sewing.  This is the new quilt I'm working on.  If only I would have known how much I'd like the colors, I would have stuck with just two.  Unfortunately there are EIGHT colors being used to make separate squares.  I hope I like it when done, because this thing is a terror when it comes to sewing all those pieces in the correct spot.  

Jack is really getting a workout.  That's Jack the Ripper ... my SEAM ripper.  No one ever said quilting humor was funny!!

And so the weekend has arrived.  There's a big dinner tonight, a fundraiser for the Sheriff's Department, to be held at the Elks Lodge.  Lucky me, I've been invited to partake.  Our Sheriff can cook like a Master Chef.  It should be fun!!

Let Sleeping Dogs Lie

And so we did, though we all didn't lie down long enough.  I could have used another couple hours of sleep.  Visions of numbers were flying through my head and my brain just would not stop talking.  This little guy is so lucky he can just nod off at the drop of a hat and sleep through jet engines and trains.

It happens I live NOT all that close to the old Castle Air Force Base that closed down years ago.  As a kid on the ranch, we used to sit and watch the B-52 bombers fly over during their practice runs.  That happened every time the wind changed directions.  

NOW it has been leased by Fed Ex or UPS for their incoming freights.  Their outgoing flights occur every morning at 2:30 am with a ten minute screaming warmup of those jet engines.  I'm sure most people just sleep through it.  Not me.  The train schedule starts at 3:30 am.  

Here's Mr. Jon hanging out while I fix his breakfast every morning.  I attribute his longevity to his diet, which is about as easy as Cooper's.  He's just as finicky.  Sunflower seed mix, chopped apple, Cole slaw, bananas, a bird biscuit I bake to make sure he gets the vitamins he really needs and his all time favorite (only once in awhile) RITZ crackers.  Jonathan want a cracker??  It's YES every time.

I'm sure you are aware, birds molt.  They lose all their feathers at one time or another throughout the year.  For the last couple of months, it's been the downy undercoat of white fluffy things that fly through the air with the greatest of ease every time you walk by.  At this point in time, it's his flight feathers.  You would hardly know he has RED feathers, along with some very dark blue.  

Oh ... and that picture of him on my shoulder?  He left a nice deposit that dripped all the way down my back.  You never see, hear or feel it ... I'm now cleaning up the couch.

While looking for perches that would work for that OTHER cage, I remembered this one in the garage.  This was Jon's permanent home in the Class A.  It's not too much bigger, but VERY heavy.  I think it will fit perfectly in the 5th wheel.  

I drug it down off the shelf and got it inside to be cleaned up.  I dismantled everything, scrubbed it clean, put in perches and food dishes.  This is IT!  It will be PERFECT!

I drug it all the way back out, scrambled up the stairs, barely slid in between the table and the fridge, only to find it is half an inch too tall to fit under the cabinet.  All the wind got knocked out of me.  I spent two hours getting this thing fixed up and it's the tiniest bit too tall.  TRIPLE RATS!!  I once again managed to get it back in the house ... barely!!  I need to contemplate this for awhile.

Since I was going to be gone for dinner, I whipped up the next Hello Fresh meal for lunch.  This is coconut curry chicken.  I don't know what happened to me when I was younger, but I absolutely LOVE Indian food, which is why I picked this one.  

It obviously doesn't even resemble the picture.  First, they don't give you THAT much chicken, and two, the colors are enhanced on theirs.  I also didn't use tweezers to lay on each piece of green onion!  

But let me tell you ... this was SO GOOD!!  It's definitely a recipe I'll make again.  Tomato paste, curry powder, coconut milk, sour cream ... a very easy meal to prepare.  And I got three MORE meals out of what they give you for just one person.

I then spent an hour on the computer downloading all the financials for the Elks Lodge Trustee Meeting.  It's a lot to go through since we are responsible for the health and wealth of the group.  It was your normal meeting, but at least this time there was no yelling ... loud voices, but no yelling!  It's hard to get twelve people to agree on everything.

PLUS it's time to change the Captain of the ship once again.  It happens every year, which doesn't make sense to me.  It seems if it's all going well, we should just stay the course.  That's what the Trustees do ... keep the ship from sinking.

I'm happy to say everything turned out well, but I didn't get out the door until 9:30.  Ugh ... another short night.  Hopefully I'll catch up today, because tomorrow there's ANOTHER ONE!!!  At least that one comes with a nice dinner!!  

Today I'll pretend I'm a dog, and along with Cooper, we'll be lying (laying?) on the couch!!!

Cages and Wages

Good Morning California!!  They say we are going to have an entire THREE days of sunshine.  Woohoo ... maybe I can finally take off two of the three layers of clothes I wear every day!  Unfortunately, the heater for Jonathan will continue to run day and night.  This kid is happiest when he's toasty warm.

I've been feeling bad that he had to spend two months in a tiny travel cage.  If we are going to keep driving around, he needs a better hangout.  After many hours on the internet, I finally found what I thought would be a good fit for him and the RV, keeping in mind it's much easier to heat a small cage than a big airy one.

It came yesterday in a small box, meaning it had 15 pieces to put together.  I'm not so good at that, especially when the instructions give you no help whatsoever.  I don't know why I felt this wasn't going to go so well, so I took a picture of how it was packed.  That way if I have to return it, I could get it back in the box.

After much wrangling, turning stuff around and trying to fit bent pieces into too-small holes, I got it together.  It's the perfect size and will even be easy to clean.  

But wait .... those two black squares on the back side are for the feed cups.  Where do I put the perches?  There needs to be at least two.  One in front of the cups and one crossways.  The only way to put one in front of the cups is to attach it to the door.  Well that won't work.  The cups are far enough apart that you can't use just one perch.  Food and water need to be accessible side by side.  

It took another 30 minutes to get it apart and stuffed back in the box.  This just won't work for Jonathan.  Too bad.  If they had just put the door in the front and not the side.  Stuff ... cram ... I'll return it today -- or at least I thought I would.  Maybe I should rethink this.

I worked on the Elks budget a bit before getting frustrated.  They took the PERFECT accounting spreadsheet we were using, and forced us to switch over to their convoluted massive system where nothing is as it was.  I can't even tell what is in these accounts, let alone figure out exactly how much we spent last year.  I'll bet a dollar to a donut that some accounting firm is making a killing off this.

Mr. Cooper wasn't impressed either.  He slept through most of the melee and my grumblings.

At the appointed hour, I sauntered on down to the Elks Lodge to meet with the man in charge and two more trustees.  After an hour we were done with the Income portion, but had 39 questions about what was actually IN some of the accounts.  That means I have to meet with the bookkeeper ... hopefully today.

The expense portion?  Who in the world can guess what the cost of things will be the way things are going now.

Lucky me, there is yet ANOTHER Elks trustee and board meeting tonight.  If I didn't like these people so much, I think I might resign and just be a plain old volunteer.  You see up until now, I've been smart and stayed out of state this month.  Next year I'll be sure and plan a trip in March!!!

It's 6 AM and I already feel a nap coming on.  I'm sure visions of numbers will be dancing in my head for the next two weeks.  Funny how you usually think of that stuff at about two o'clock in the morning!!!  I hope your day will be as sunny as mine!!

The Knights and Ladies

 I'm hesitating a second or two.  It's cold and my brain is slow to go with little sleep.  That means it was BINGO night!!  But first ... let it rain once again.  The weather guessers missed this one altogether.  I admit however ... it was my kind of rain.  Just a nice soft drizzle for about three hours.  This is of course killing my solar numbers, as well as adding more dollars to the pockets of the problem.  It's natural gas heat and it has quadrupled in price (no exaggeration) in the last two years, as has everything else I guess.

You think .... I have solar so I can turn the heat up .... but you would be wrong.  When you get that gas bill, it turns you into a salt statue!!  Just the gas is now as high as my entire electricity bill used to be.  Put on a coat my Mom would say!!

SO ... on with the day!  It started off with a nice bowl of corned beef hash.  Yes I did ... I put ketchup on it.  All the mustard lovers now have me using the yellow stuff on corn dogs and hot dogs, but I'm holding out for ketchup on hash.  Boy do I love this ... it brings back memories of the ranch kitchen where once in a great while we got THIS instead of cold cereal for breakfast.  

To make it even better, when I got home last night, the kitchen still smelled WONDERFUL!!

More moving of fabric around happened, which funny enough, ended up in just as much fabric as before, but fewer piles.  I checked the game camera, but alas, the batteries had died a horrible death, so I've got nothing on that front.  

I worked on the budget stuff for a couple of hours ... how boring ... and spent two hours trying on every pair of Levis I have (which is a LOT) to see what fits at this particular point in time.  I swear those things multiply in the closet when I'm gone.

So here we are again in the dungeon of the Castle.  This time my Fairy Godmother wasn't there to set everything up.  Add to that the fact that the safe was locked.  By the time I got ahold of the King, the Member peasants were getting antsy, even if it was 90 minutes before we started selling.  You see if you become a member, you get to come in any time, meaning you get your preferred seating.  

Lucky for me, there are some VERY nice Peasant Ladies who are more than happy to help me prepare.  See ... it's not ALL bad!!  

The Knights do the heavy lifting for me now, and are always at the ready.  I don't know what goes on when I'm gone, but one of the Ladies comes up and gives me a big hug every week, saying she is so GLAD I'm back.  Of course there is always ONE who probably doesn't agree.

She helps, or at least SAYS she does, but mostly I just see her upstairs.  We had thirty minutes before opening and she was panicking because no one was there to count the cards.  No worries, I can count AND run the infernal machine.  

She even went so far as to call my Counter's HUSBAND to see why she wasn't there.  It's okay ... she has 20 minutes to get here.  Nothing would calm her down.  I thought she was going to have a heart attack because I began selling a whole 5 minutes later than normal.  You would think she was a player.  Oh WAIT ... she DOES play!!  

Believe it or not, we had a fairly quiet night.  The pitchforks only came out once when our caller made a mistake.  They almost had his head in a basket before the King stepped in.  These people know the bingo rules better than anyone on the planet ... and if you make a mistake, WATCH OUT!!!  Heads will roll!!

The rest of the nice went well, thanks to the Knights and Ladies who work the floor.  It seems the nicest people EVER volunteer here every Tuesday for 50 weeks of the year and I appreciate them all.

I've no idea what's on my plate today other than maybe falling asleep on the couch for a time.  It's too early for my brain to be in gear.  Oh wait ... I have a budget meeting tonight.  The fun never stops!!

Noisy Kids In The House

 I'm in total shock.  I actually slept in until 5:30.  I must be sick.  To make it even better, I didn't have ANY nightmares.  It's going to be a good Bingo Night!!

Yesterday started out pretty nice with a little sun and a tad bit of warm.  Not that warm because I'm still wearing two shirts every day.  It didn't last long however, as rain began to fall yet again.  It's truly like the days of yore when we could grow a few fields of hay without having to irrigate.  

That's when I got the message loud and clear.  Hear the growly sounds?  I get that all day long.  He's become quite the talkative kid.  In this case, he had to wait for his breakfast to be cooked ... a hamburger patty supreme.  He doesn't get much of it .. just enough to prime the pump so he will eat his dry kibble.

I still had stuff in the rig to unload ... I don't know how that can be.  Over time it just grows I guess.  I put the wheel covers on to keep the sun off the tires.  These haven't lasted long at all and I need new ones.  Anyone know if old blankets would work just as well?  Oh wait ... not waterproof.  Does anyone else use these?

While rummaging in the tiny storage spaces, I found my Guardline alarm system.  It worked really well in Arizona.  It sets off an alarm inside if anyone walks by OUTSIDE.  I had to scrounge around in garage boxes before I found all the parts and pieces.  

After installing the perimeter detectors, I found out I could change the sound it makes to a siren.  Perfect!! It scared Cooper and Jonathan, but worked just fine.

That brought on a little snuggling for the OTHER kid in the house.  You can't leave him on your shoulder very long because he pulls your hair out.  It's weird that a bird likes to snuggle up.

That brought about THIS!  He went on and on for the entire day.  Dis ... disco ... kitty kitty ... ALL DAY LONG!  It must be spring!!

I still don't have door closures for the cabinet, but it's getting full.  Large pieces of backing are on the top, the rest are quilts I've made.  It will be completely full by the time I'm done, and a much better storage place, out of the dust and sun.

At last, it was time to start dinner.  Here comes another one.  Truly, all the ingredients are packaged very nicely between two big bricks of ice and lots of insulation.  So far all of the meals have taken less than 30 minutes to cook ... which is good for me.

Don't ask me why I picked this meal ... I don't REMEMBER picking this meal ... and I WON'T be picking this meal ever again.  This is the SHOULD LOOK LIKE .....

This is the DID LOOK LIKE.  They must have put those green onions on with tweezers.  I actually cut the chicken in half ... it was bigger this time and too much for me to eat.  They definitely should have left out the hot chili powder.  Woohoo!!!  

The carrots have lemon zest on them, which you can't even begin to taste.  The white stuff ... couscous I think they called it ... was completely tasteless, even with the garlic butter.  This is also a small plate because the serving size is just too big.  Mmmmm yeah it's a big NO from me.  I think this is the first time that's ever happened.  Maybe it was the sour cream on the chicken that held the breading on.  

Hopefully I made better choices with the next batch!!  I'm only doing this every OTHER week, but must have gotten my dates wrong.  Another box will arrive tomorrow.

And GUESS WHAT ... it's BINGO NIGHT AGAIN!!!