Never Count Your Chickens

 Happy COLUMBUS DAY to one and all.  There wasn't much celebrating going on around here.  No fried chicken or potato salad, just some leftover enchiladas.  I did however count my chickens ... five roosters crowing the morning away.  You have to listen closely because it sounds like someone screaming for help.  

I crawled out of bed hefting Mr. Cooper to the floor.  There's no asking this old guy to "hold it"!

This is pretty much my view ... blurry eyed and STILL thinking about how to turn the noise off.  Yessiree ... it's still humming away like a jet engine cruising through the sky.  It just refuses to land.  I finally had to unplug once again.  Funny how I can fall asleep on the couch with the TV blasting away, but I cannot fall asleep with the inverter fans running constantly.

At least outside the mornings are calm and quiet.  I even got a shot of the Big Dipper.  When I was a kid sleeping outside all summer long on an old metal spring army cot in my very old sleeping bag, I would look up at the stars in amazement until I heard GET UP ... CATTLE NEED TO BE MOVED!  Okay, that part wasn't all that much fun!!

After breakfast I went back outside doing a few more test things, only confusing myself even more.  I finally just gave it up.  I'll unplug from electricity and turn the inverter off at the main switch at night.  The good news is I'm not the only one with this problem.  I googled it and found a few more, none of whom have been able to come up with a solution either.  That makes me feel a little better!!

I did a little more work on this quilt ... adding the flying geese border.  One more border of the dark blue and it will be ready to quilt.

Since there's not much rodeo until the National Finals in December, I was forced to watch a little baseball and a little more football.  No offense, but boy are those games LONG and BORING.  I suppose it's because I don't have a favorite in the bunch.  

What do we do when we're bored?  We cook of course!!  I don't know if any of you have seen this stuff before, but it comes from our Mexican construction crew.  They swear by the stuff when it comes to the rice you see in restaurants.  

Here's the problem.  There's no pull date.  Does that mean it's nuclear?  I have my doubts, but it's just dry ingredients, so it can't be THAT bad, right?

I fried the rice in avocado oil (is that where I went wrong?), added onion, water and the Sazon to my old rice cooker.  This thing is HUGE and ANCIENT.  Maybe 39 years old?  Can you believe it still works?

I hit the GO button and waited in anticipation.  Finally ... Mexican fried rice!  YUM!!!!  As I said, never count your chickens until you open the pot.

That first taste test went right out of my mouth faster than it went in.  What the heck?  It tastes like burnt metal.  Nooooooo I can't have wasted all this beautiful rice!  I tried it again.  It tasted worse than the first time.  

The only thing I can think of is I fried it in a too hot non-stick pan and it picked up the taste from the metal.  It was so awful, the entire pot went in the trash!!  Lesson learned ... from now on, fry the rice in a cast iron skillet!!

Too bad, so sad ... I was forced to eat those taquitos by themselves, thinking about all the rice I had wasted.  Better luck next time!!

I spent the afternoon STILL working on this quilt.  So many little areas to quilt separately.  I was finally at the end where I take it off, turn it around and put it back on in order to do the sides evenly.  That was it ... that's all I did.  No quilting was involved.  Maybe tomorrow.

Why tomorrow you ask?  Because TODAY IS BINGO DAY!!  I'm praying it's not a full moon, because I know one is coming up.  My Moon Calendar says in TWO DAYS, so you KNOW there's going to be lots of bleed over with hopefully NO BLOOD spilled.  I'll let you know tomorrow!!  It can't be THAT bad, right?  The biggest full moon of the year??

I FINALLY GOT IT!!!!

 A good Monday morning to ye!  It's a lovely 63 degrees here in Central California, heading on down to the high 40's very soon.  We are soaking up the COOL as we are STILL trying to figure out how to quell the noise.  Obviously it doesn't bother Mr. Cooper at all.  He sleeps like a rock anywhere, any time!!

Here's the test for THIS night.  Leave the rig plugged in and the breaker (on my main house panel) ON.  Then turn both the charger AND the inverter off from the panel.  That should do it with minimal time and effort.  Notice I said SHOULD do it!!

In the meantime, since it was Funday Sunday, as well as baseball playoffs AND football ... I celebrated with a few more Oreos dunked in my morning coffee.

Then you're not going to believe it ... I actually VACUUMED the house.  Jeeves, or James, or whatever his name is hasn't been doing that great of a job.  

A couple more cookies and I was off to attempt more quilting.  How long has it been?  Three weeks I've been working on this one?  Gee ... only six more borders and it will be done ... probably sometime next month!!  As you can see, getting the triangles to work was tricky.  Enough for this day.

As you may remember, I was a Giants Baseball season ticket holder for about 10 years.  I loved baseball, only made better by getting to know the players.  They had a good coach in Boche back then, and won all those World Series Championships while I was there.  

Sadly, it is not the same.  Though I still love the game, I discovered about the second year that most of those players moved on or retired.  It made the games not as much fun.  Now, I couldn't even tell you who the coaches or pitchers are.  

So on to some football instead.  I can take it or leave it really, but it does provide a little entertainment in between trying to figure out the RV electrical systems.  As a distraction, I made some more salsa.  

It's not just for chips you know.  Having come from a German-Scottish background, which has nothing to do with anything, we learned it was really good on BEEF.  We used to have it quite often on the ranch, especially when we deep-pit cooked a chunk of cow for our branding helpers.  They raved about the "sauce"!!  We never told them it was from our Mexican ranch hand's recipe.

With baseball and football over, and Cooper sound asleep on the couch, I again went to prepare the rig for another night of frustration.

This time I left the breaker for my electrical hookup ON.  I went inside and hit the CHARGER button to turn it off.  Oh yeah ..... quiet.  For all of two minutes until the inverter came on.  It's almost as loud as when it's charging and no matter how many times I hit the button, it would NOT turn off.  

I went to the back of the rig and turned off the MAIN INVERTER switch.  Ahhhhh quiet once again.  

By crackey ... I FINALLY GOT IT!!  Just turn off the Charger and the Inverter switch.  That is the magic combination for a nice night's sleep!!  How simple is that?  And why didn't anyone at PleasureWay tell me!  I'll be passing this info on to all those on the internet that have the same problem with the same year van.

Of course I don't know if the heater is going to work in the meantime should I need it, so this morning I'll turn it on and see if it runs.  As far as boondocking, it should be the same two switches.  With the only draw during the night being the compressor fridge, which is pretty minimal, I should be fine.

I've written all this down and will tape it to the wall.  Eventually it will become habit I'm sure.  As for THIS night, I slept like a log.  I'm now very much looking forward to my oceanside trip next week.

You Say Tomato, I Say Tomahto

Here we are once again inside the cabinet of curiosities.  I will figure this out one way or another because I'm as stubborn as a mule ... and they are pretty STUBBORN.  I called the Pleasureway van folks ... nice guys who still answered my questions even though they were on the road driving ... and found out they speak some foreign language unknown to mankind.

I get the charger ... it takes the energy and charges the batteries.  The inverter takes the energy and runs the DC stuff.  I can turn the charger off, but the inverter and the fan that keeps it cool, continue to run.  

However, I'm getting closer and closer to learning Squidditcher ... my name for this panel.  By the way, there is no other way to turn anything on or off except here.  There are five panels.  The only one I get is that which opens the vent and turns on the fan!!  Tomato ... tomahto because apparently the inverter and the charger are the same critter hiding under the back seat.

Time to hit the sack.  Honestly, I'm sure this is much easier than I'm making it out to be.  I think if someone stood there and told you exactly what to do and you wrote it down, it would not be so much of a problem.  It's like trying to learn a computer when you've never used one before.

The good news is I can turn OFF the Charger whether I'm boondocking or plugged in.  They tell me the fridge draws directly from the batteries, no inverter required, and it should last for 3 days without ANY added power.  This is definitely a different animal.  

First things first, I cut out a piece of foam for the bed and got out my old sleeping bag.  No use carrying lots of blankets when a lightweight 36 degree sleeping bag is easy to set up and roll up.  

I turned the charger off but the inverter and its fan kept running.  I finally shut off the breaker at my panel where I'm plugged in and was able to shut off the inverter.  Oooooohhhh ..... quiet!!  The two touchpads continued to run on battery, but they shut off automatically.  Can I charge my phone?  Who knows, but I'll do that routine a couple more times today (writing it down as I go) for practice.  

Once I get that down, it will be a piece of cake.  If I'm plugged in, I'll just turn off the breaker.  In the morning I'll flip it back on because I don't care what's running in the daytime.  Truly, all this stems from having a solar system big enough to boondock forever, thus the huge inverter.  It boils down to me not being able to sleep with the noise.  I'm sure no one else would have a problem with it.

So .... the rest of the day involved Mr. Mr. getting a bath.  He hates it!!  He's still a little went around the ears, but got treats for being a good boy.  

And then there was lots of baking.  Yeah ... this is definitely something that would come out of my oven.  I got too involved in the rig and left it in the oven a tad bit too long ... like maybe 30 minutes.  Believe it or not, that's mozzarella on top.  Aren't you glad you don't have to eat it???

Here's another "I'll try it so you don't have to".  This is spinach/cheese ravioli (big ones) layered with sausage, marinara sauce and mozzarella cheese.  It called for ricotta but I didn't have any.  Though I didn't expect much out of this one, it was actually VERY good!!  Fake lasagne!  Who knew??  It needed a little more sauce, but I would make this again for the freezer.

This is one of my all time favorites ... scalloped potatoes.  I had only one lone russet potato left, so I cut it up, added onions, cheese and cream.  Yessiree ... a tip I learned from a Chef back in the day.  Heat some cream with garlic in it and pour over ... not adding too much.  YUM!!!  I had this for breakfast today.

And so I'm going to relax with my coffee this morning before heading back out to test my newly acquired language of the Inverter.  If nothing else, you have to admit I'm determined!!!

Well That Went Well

 I started the day out right ... walking Mr. Cooper past the neighbors at 7:00 am.  No one seems to be sure what happened, but by 8:00 the place was surrounded with Sheriff cars.  I was oblivious sitting on my couch.  We think a burglar tried to get in the house one door down from me.  That's a first!!  

By 10:00 I was headed to town for a truck wash and some groceries.  What the heck?  The neighbor one door down on the OTHER street has their alarm blaring like crazy.  Either there is a really big echo or the house directly across the street had the same problem.  I stopped my truck, listened and watched.

Down the street quite a ways was some guy walking away.  He turned, stood there and watched me for some time.  No one walks these streets but me.  I called the Sheriff and they came out once again.  I don't know if they found anything or anyone ... the guy disappeared before they arrived.  I'll be extra sure to lock my doors tonight.  Truly, this is a first in my neighborhood.

On to the car wash, which isn't what it used to be either.  No pretty colored suds any more, and a mediocre job of cleaning my windshield.  Okay, I admit, it was REALLY bad!!

On to the grocery store where I purchased one bag of goodies for $125.00.  This was the most expensive ... one package of hamburger for $25.00.  I think that made it $4.98 a pound.  I could have gotten it cheaper, but the cashier refused to rescan it while I put in my phone number.  I should have done that first they told me ...  five times.  

Lunch was once again Marie Callander's best pot pie.  These were $6.79 at this particular store, while being sold for $3.99 at Walmart.  Yes, this is the Walmart one.  Let's face it ... they are quick and easy for a single gal.

Here was the major plan of the day.  I was determined to figure out the noisy inverter and sleep in the van this weekend.  

As I walked outside, I saw the sign as big and bright as day!!  The new moon looking quite green.  I should have just turned around and went back inside to my nice soft warm bed.  But NOOOOOO .... 

Inside the rig, nothing would quiet what they tell me is the inverter.  There's just no sleeping with that noise.  Oh but WAIT ... there was a red flashing light on the propane detector!!  It's dark because I already shut off absolutely everything that could possibly use electricity.  I hit the wrong button and set it off.  Cooper panicked and crawled up my back.  It took at least three minutes of blasting noise before I found the reset button and got it to work.  

That's when I noticed the hot water heater button said ERROR.  Big sigh.  I turned everything off and back on, hoping it would reset itself.  Nope, not happening.  It took three tries to get the bed to lay flat (it seems to be hanging up on something) before I finally laid down.  Ugh ... this is a terrible pillow and I can't get to sleep, but at least the inverter turned off and it's quiet!!

At 3:00 I was wide awake and cold as could be.  With everything shut down, there was no heater to keep us warm, even with that quilt I brought just for that purpose.  

Well that went well .... I grabbed my keys and Cooper and we went in the house.  Not that it mattered, because I could not for the life of me go back to sleep.  So here I was at 4:00, back in the rig turning everything back on.  

This is what it sounded like when I first sat down.  I did turn the solar off because I thought maybe that was why it was so noisy.  

Crazy, yeah?  In a little while it changed to this.  I mean really just HOW could you sleep with this two feet from your head?  At long last it went silent.   

I imagine I'll figure it out sooner or later ... probably later ... 

As for the hot water heater error, I went outside, turned on the propane and the instant-on hot water heater before resetting the control panel once again.  YAHOO!!  The error message went away ... for the time being that is.  I mean really, they could not have made this rig more complicated.  

The inverter stayed off for all of 30 minutes and just came back on.  I don't think even ear plugs will help.  I'll be getting some extra strength sleeping pills for tonight.  I have about 8 days to figure it out before I head to the coast. 

Oh wait ... I just turned the CHARGER off and the noise stopped.  Woohoo!!  So what happens when the charger is off?  If it doesn't charge the batteries, that's okay until morning, right?  I can turn it back on when I get up.  OMG I THINK I JUST MIGHT HAVE IT!!

Charging It Up .....

 Wait ..... did I read that right?  It's 54 degrees outside?  I actually had to put on slippers this morning instead of running around in bare feet on the wood floors trying to get cool.  I may even have to put BLANKETS back on the bed.  WHOA NELLY!!

So here we are at 6:00.  Mr. Cooper decided 4:30 was the perfect time to get up and lick my nose ... ewwwwww ... so he could go outside.  I guess I should be thankful he wakes me up.  Now I'm wide awake and he's fast asleep on the couch!!

It was an unusual morning with weird color across the sky like someone tried to paint it in.

"WE" did not sit on the patio, but I did for about 30 minutes until the sun came up and the colors faded.  Except for the dogs barking and the neighbor going out on his motorcycle, it was very nice and quiet.

Time to get to work.  I spent the first solid three hours trying to get my email to work on my computer.  It appears that Microsoft (Hotmail) and Apple (G.Mail) do not play well together.  In fact, not at ALL!!!  I admit, I have WAY too many accounts.  Two were set up for business contacts and two for junk mail.  I've no idea why I have FIVE now.  

After changing the passwords on each and every one, I finally figured it out.  I forced Microsoft to play ball with Apple, though there are still some settings I can't seem to get straight.  At least I'm now getting all the emails with bills attached.  That's important since I don't get REAL mail any more.  By the way, the post office is currently charging 79 cents to mail one tiny letter.  

On to more fun things .... I finally ordered this solar battery trickle charger.  No one from Mercedes would call me back.  I tried plugging a phone into the cigarette lighter, but apparently it is not "live" all the time.  That would supposedly let me sit the charger on the dash and charge through the lighter.  I don't want to wonder or stress about whether it's going to start or not, so this should work either way.  

When I went out to check the panels and make sure the solar was charging, I discovered several error messages on the touchpads from its trip to the shop.  If you don't turn things on and off in the correct order, that's what happens.  After a few minutes of trying to remember the order, the error messages disappeared and I "think" I am back to square one.  

To help in that respect, I'm going to spend this weekend in the van instead of the house.  If I want to get it down, I have to use it.

My van friend has recently discovered she had a visitor or two in hers ... you know, the ones who like to chew wires.  I'm truly not positive this is a sure fire cure, but it has worked for me for 13 years.  Maybe I'm just lucky.  This is Rid-A-Rat.  It's a battery powered flashing strobe light held on by powerful magnets.  I've never lost one on an RV ... and in fact, used this one under the house in Arizona.  They are not exactly cheap at $44, but so far it has worked well for me.  The added bonus is folks think it's an alarm system of some kind.

When she mentioned her sewer hose was not long enough to dump her tanks in two of the parks she visited, I offered up one of my extras.  I added one to my rig and I have three more, so I might as well share.  I'm taking it over today to see if it will fit in the pipe running down the side.  Though our rigs are the same, they are also different.

I was gearing up for a four hour trustee meeting at the Elks Lodge when I got an invitation to dinner at my favorite Mexican food restaurant.  They use HUGE plates and give you HUGE servings.  My chicken enchilada is usually 12 inches long and at least 3 inches wide, smothered in the best red sauce ever.  I just had one 7 days ago.

Wasn't I surprised when they put the plate in front of me.  My amazing enchilada must have had a baby.  Sitting on my plate was a measly little thing less than HALF the size.  FOR THE SAME PRICE!!  Just another sign of the awful economy and increasing inflation costs.  They have cut the size of ALL their meals in half, without cutting the price one bit.  How sad ... I expect they won't be in business long.

The meeting was long and contentious at times, but a money saving one.  We like those discussions a lot!!  Lucky for us we do not need to make a big profit.  In fact, since we are here for the benefit of the members, our prices have stayed the same for quite some time ... and we won't be changing that any time soon.  

The BEST news is I have ALL WEEKEND OFF!!  Maybe a road trip into the mountains would be good.

THE END ...... FOR NOW!

 Thank goodness I'm seeing the end of Hurricane Milton cross over Florida.  He was one angry dude, so mad that he brought all his tornado buddies with him.  I'm now hoping to hear good news from Dave, Marcia and everyone else headed home.  Sady, after TWO big hurricanes, there may not be a home left.  I just cannot imagine.  My prayers go out to each and every one.

That's what I was thinking as I crawled up the stairs at the Elks Lodge.  Since the back entrance goes into the basement, it's a 2.5 story trip to the office.  If it was only once, it would be a blessing.  Yesterday I had to make SIX trips up and down.  It's good for the lungs and legs I tell myself.  

The pretty window is from Everett Elks Lodge (the number escapes me) from 1901.  I've no idea how we ended up with it.

I really like "busy".  It was not on this day.  I answered the phone a few times, an antiquated system of bad connections and echos making it impossible to hear.  When I told the bookkeeper it was Mad Bond on the phone, she said OH ... that's MARATHON!!  My secretary skills are not what they used to be, nor is my hearing with crackling in the handset.

I did a few minor things, played games on my phone, got the mail, played games on my phone, called folks to tell them we had the prizes they had won, played more games.  In other words, not much!!

I finally headed on down to order early lunch.  If you are ever in this area Monday to Thursday, stop in and have some great food.  I should have remembered to take the picture earlier.  This is a green chili chicken sandwich that I will order every single time from now on.  Grilled chicken, a huge piece of green chili, smothered in cheese, along with all the fixings AND an amazing mayo-tomato sauce to pour on top.  Add those huge perfectly cooked onion rings and I was in Heaven.  $13.00 including tax.

It's so big, this is what I brought home for dinner.

After that, I hid out in this room for awhile waiting for the mail.  It's not good for everyone to walk into the office and see the secretary playing even MORE games on her phone.  There are two walls like this, with pictures of every person who has led the Lodge from the day it began.  Yes, these are all men, but when the rules changed, so did the pictures to include women.  They are covering the opposite wall.

At long last it is THE END of work ... for now.  I snuck out the door to be chauffeured by my friend (in her Porche) to pick up my van.  She is 75 years old and it's a manual transmission.  She is German and obviously used to driving the Autobon!!!  I've never met any other woman who likes to drive fast like I do!!  We had a blast!!

There was good news and bad news when she dropped me off.  

The GOOD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  No leaks whatsoever.  So just HOW did I lose 6 gallons of propane from the tank after running the generator twice for about 15 minutes each?  They pressure checked it twice, did a couple of other tests and NOTHING.

This MIGHT have been the culprit, but no one really knows.  This is the bleed valve (in the middle with the red) for the propane system.  Maybe it wasn't tight?  Coming looser from all those rough roads I drove on?  It's the only possible thing and I DID smell propane several times when walking by that area.  It's on my list to check now, every time I head out.

The BAD:  They could not find one single thing wrong with the propane system.  That meant I had to pay for it myself.  As for the dead chassis battery, there's a lot of parasitic things running all the time that will kill it in about 3 weeks they tell me.  Never heard of such a thing, so here's my next question.

Will the chassis battery charge if I have it plugged in?  That seems to run the inverter literally constantly, which I don't think is a good thing.  If I turn the inverter off, will it STILL charge the chassis battery?  SO MANY QUESTIONS!!  And yes, I'm ordering a solar trickle charger to keep hooked up when it's parked.  Not sure that's good for it either ..... but I think that's a solution.   Shhhhh she's asleep!!

I was exhausted when I got home.  It was a long day with too much sitting, which makes things ache.  Still, I'm happy to have a place to come home to when so many do not right now.  Kind of a long drive Dave, but the Kissack Hotel is always available. 

As for here, I think Mother Nature is finally over the hot flashes ... we have a lovely 62 degrees this morning with highs around 80 for the next week.  It's about time girlfriend!!!!!

Pitchforks and Flaming Torches

 Okay .... I'm up, I'm UP!  Every morning when I'm all drug out with no sleep, it reminds me of getting up at 4:00 in the morning and walking in the scary dark to the barn.  Even back then, I felt like a zombie!!  We caught up the horses and saddled them.  I had to stand on the edge of the water trough to reach my tall horse.  Once done, we walked BACK to the house in the scary dark for a lovely body warming bowl of cold cereal.  

An hour later STILL in the scary dark, we were riding out to the far pasture to bring in the cattle.  It was either branding day or vaccination day, followed up by fly spray.  I admit though, I don't remember feeling THIS tired!!  It must be the Bingo!

I started the morning out right in Cooper's mind, with a little steal the toy game on the floor.  This is second to throw the ball!

That didn't last long however as I headed off to lunch with a couple of the Bingo Crew before we hit the ground running.  Actually, I spent another two hours doing office work upstairs, trying to remember just WHO I marked as paid, but forgot to send out membership cards.  

Those cards also get little stickers that say things like "7 yr member", "Veteran" or the office you hold.  Just like Bingo, you would be surprised at folks when you forget to put one of their stickers on the card.  In a flash, it was time to head downstairs to finagle with the infernal machine.

We still have the problem of the backup machine having had its little brain wiped clean.  Programming takes several hours that I don't have.  After reading the book, I discovered you can put in an SD card and copy the programming.  In case of an emergency, or some silly person unplugging the machine, the programming can be restored.

Holding my breath, I put in the SD card, found the menu to format it and copied the programming.  I then took it to the SECOND infernal machine and tried to upload.  It just stuck its tongue out at me.  I was afraid to try a second time and mess something up, so I gave up this time.  But here's my question ... when it says upload, is that uploading the files to the card??? or is that uploading the files to the machine???

On with the pitchforks, shovels and torches!!  We had a lot of new players on this night, and many older ones who just came back to try and win one of TWO $1199 pots.  About half the players are happy campers, glad to be out for a night of fun.  The rest are curmudgeons who never smile or say thank you.  Most times it's even hard to tell which is which.

There was a little pushing and shoving in line on this night as they fought for THE WINNING CARD.  The torches came out and the grumbling began when one lady won TWICE.  In no time at all, she had won THREE $250 jackpots.  YIKES!!  

I called for the Knights to quell the riot.  The only thing worse than NOT winning is having ONE person win several!!!  There's no rhyme or reason for this, she just got lucky and picked up the winning cards.  No worries, it will all come back to us next week when she tries to win FOUR times in a row.

More ruckus went through the crowd when a new player didn't yell BINGO quick enough.  You know the rules, if you don't call it before the next number is called, you do NOT get the payout.  What a joy ... she just laughed about it!!  Two games later, she won again ... and this time you could hear her three blocks away.

Later in the evening a few MORE pitchforks came out once again because the guys selling one of the game cards were too busy talking to be out on the floor.  When these folks are playing bingo, they cannot be bothered with getting up.  They just raise their hand, whereupon the MEN are supposed to go see what they need.  

Though truly that is their job and the reason they are volunteering, they would rather just chat.  Me too for that matter.  Can't blame them I guess ... but the peasants always prevail.  After all, it is THEIR donations that are all going to charities and kids in our area.  The Elks Lodge gets to take all the credit, but it is the PEASANTS who have made every dime of those donations possible.  I SALUTE THEM ONE AND ALL.  Even the cranky ones!!

And so ended another lovely night.  The infernal machine took pity on me and balanced to the penny.  I headed straight home to a very happy puppy who thought after ten hours that I had fallen off the face of the earth.

Here's the good news ... I got a call to pick up my van.  A quick schedule check and it will happen this afternoon.  There is good news and bad news, but I'll explain tomorrow, because right now I'm going to try and catch just a few Zzzz's before heading to my LAST DAY ON THE JOB!!!  YAY, YAY and YAY!!!!

EEEEEEEKKKKKKKKK

 You know how you're laying there in bed, almost asleep (or at least praying for sleep) and you feel something on your forehead?  It's nothing ... just a stray hair ... so you swipe it back and roll over.  AND THEN YOU FEEL SOMETHING DROP ONTO YOUR SHOULDER!!!!!

Screams could be heard next door, I'm sure.  Nothing can get me out of bed faster, even the sound of puppy throwing up doesn't compare.  I flipped on the light and searched the bed and floor for 15 minutes.  Nothing ... I couldn't find a thing.  I'm pretty sure he hid in the depths of the bed.  That was pretty much the end of sleeping for me.

It might have been a tasty snack for Jonathan.   He's still hanging out, though not making as much noise as in his youth.  He's still chewing up a storm though.  That heavy towel over his cage is toast down at the bottom.

Along with the enchiladas came bird biscuits.  Parrots can be finicky eaters ... or maybe it's just being part of this family ... so I have to bake things he will eat that are good for him.  Anything orange ... carrots, sweet potatoes, though he won't eat pumpkin.  This will last about two months in the freezer.

And then it was time to head on out to the four letter word ... WORK.  I love the people, so it's an easy task.  With no initiation looming, there wasn't that much to do except work on the Vendor Faire in November.  The ball got dropped on this project ... as far as I know, they haven't even advertised it to the public.  No, I'm not taking this one on.  I do too much OTHER volunteering.  

There was lots of discussion about various problem items, but for the most part it was a nice day of sipping on a cold glass of coke.  Oh .... and this!!  Sorry but you know me and cake ... I tore into this with great relish when I heard it had caramel and Heath Bars in it.  OH YEAH!!!

Our lodge serves lunch every day in the lunch room, along with serving various groups who use our lodge as their meeting room.  There were two groups today ... and whatever dessert we serve them is fair game for the office help.  You know I would never turn down DESSERT!!

I arrived home to this sweet face barking and barking, grabbing his toy and running around me like crazy.  Try to steal it Mom ... just try!!!  I chase him around the house for 5 minutes before collapsing on the couch.  I love this kid!!

Maybe if I'm really lucky, I'll fall asleep on the couch this morning before heading out once again for lunch at my favorite Mexican restaurant with fellow lodge members.  You KNOW what's coming up next.  Oh yeah .... it's BINGO time!!!  

It's going to be a big crazy night ... we have not one, but TWO $1199 payouts to be made if they get the right numbers.  I will be dealing with nickels, dimes and pennies as everyone breaks their kids piggy banks so they can buy cards and WIN BIG!!!

Enchiladas Are In The House!!

GOOD MORNING CALIFORNIA!!  It's bright and shiny out here today, though still hanging around 97-98 degrees.  Since my solar seems to be working so well, I've been keeping it cooler inside, meaning I'm not as cranky as I have been know to be when it's HOT!!  

It also helps when I get outside for a little exercise.  My hip has been bothering me something awful for the last two weeks.  I'm sure it's sciatic related because I've been spending WAY too much time sitting on my you-know-what.  

Cooper loves it when we get outside.  This is not a leisurely stroll, but a dog race of greyhound proportions as I try to walk as fast as I can to keep up.  Most of the time I have to jog, he's trots along at such a fast pace.  

This stopped him in his tracks however.  The local stray kitties from the neighborhood were just waking up.  Surprisingly they didn't move, nor did Mr. Coop bark at them.  Good Boy!!

In checking the weather I found another one of these gosh darn hurricanes heading East.  This is Milton.  Do they ever have a regular hurricane name ... like John or Bill or maybe Dave??  Speaking of which, Dave ... you are Marcia can just get in your van and drive right to my house.  I've got lots of rooms to hang out in until all these storms pass!!

Back inside finally feeling fully awake, Mr. Cooper waited for his Good Boy snack, having not chased after the K-i-t-t-i-e-s.  We still spell that word because Miss Jessie passed on her HATED of anything in her back yard.

After several days, I finally have felt good enough to get back to quilting.  It takes a lot of thinking if you don't want to spend hours taking out thousands of stitches.  This is an experimental one where I'm trying out lots of different patterns just to see if I can do it.  

I don't have that many patterns to choose from, but so far it's coming out okay.  There's really no theme to this, it's just whatever I can find.

Okay enough of that ... it's taking WAY too long.  Here's something that only takes about an hour.  Enchiladas are in the house!!  Here's a twist ... pork enchiladas!  All I had in the freezer was ground pork, so I fried it up, doused it with spices and made GREEN enchiladas.  Sounds terrible.

I had enough to make two ... one for the freezer!!

Ta Da!!!!  Okay, I admit that particular brand of green sauce is weird, but it's all I could find at Wally World.  By the way, there was no rush on toilet paper.  

In the end, these came out just fine ... I mean they are MUCH more edible than that pot pie ... and will last as entire week.

The rest of the day was spent watching the Canadian National Finals Rodeo.  That's when I found this appropriate sign ... but they should have added BUCKING HORSE RIDING to the bottom of the list.  I need this!!!

There was more, but I'm holding it up until tomorrow since today I'll be at work once again.  Oh yes ... three more days of torture playing Secretary.  It's not the work, and definitely NOT the people ... it's having to leave the house at 8:30 in the morning!!!

Speaking of which, I better get my act together!!  Happy MONDAY!!