Gobble Gobble!!!

Brrrrrrrrr ... it was a cold windy day in sunny California.  So cold in fact that I had to turn on the heat.  You know how cheap I am about the electric bill ... even if I do have solar.  Right how I'm saving about $400 a month.  I definitely should have done that sooner.  

On the other hand the mornings of sitting in front of the gorgeous fire have come crashing down.  Even the pilot light uses too much expensive gas!!  

Winter has arrived along with Thanksgiving.  This time it brought a nice sunrise looking in the wrong direction.  

I really tried to rest up, but it was not to be.  I kept getting distracted by a messy house.  If only I could get on the same time schedule as everyone else, I might actually feel like cleaning it up!  Instead, I cleaned out the fridge.  That's always an interesting study in mold and what the heck is this?

In no time it was off to Bingo to find out why a donation check had not been received by the Quarterback Football Club in a nearby tiny town.  After a little investigation, it was determined that they not only made the check out to the wrong group, but mailed it to the wrong address.  That was followed by a madhouse of phone calls to Bingo volunteers to get their approval to send out another one, while letting the first group keep the errant one.  

In case you were wondering, when requests come in, it is the Bingo volunteers who approve or disapprove the donation.  I hand delivered the second check this time to be sure it got to the right location.  A Trustees work is never done.  Off to the dungeon I went. 

If there's one time we have happy Bingo peasants, it's during the holidays.  I think that's mostly because they know we give away lots of free turkeys for their holiday cooking enjoyment.  It was the night of our big turkey giveaway.  Why do I NOT look forward to that?  Because I have to hand out those lovely RED tickets, the ones they are always complaining that I didn't give them.

Bingo buys 100 turkeys from the place who gives us the best price.  We used to get these beauties, but prices are now so high we have dropped down four categories and purchase generic ones from Target.

Everyone in the dungeon is imagining this on their Thanksgiving table.  

Mine has been known to turn out like THIS.  But I digress .....

Apparently there was a snafu at the pickup station and they shorted us 20 turkeys.  With no more turkeys in their freezers, Target had to give us 20 BUTTERBALL turkeys.  I did not get the memo!  When I discovered it, I ran like the wind to our freezer, to find they were all gone.  RATS!!  The alternative is a generic pasture raised critter of minimal proportions.  

You know I'm not of fan of pasture raised beef, chicken, goat, lamb or any other critter.  I donated my turkey to a member of the crowd.  And then the craziness began!  You would think that turkey was worth $100 instead of $12.  

I had visions of turkey bowling using old folks for pins, but alas, though two turkeys fell and hit the floor, no seniors were hurt or injured in the distribution.  We gave away 20 turkeys to holders of the winning red tickets, and another 30 to Bingo volunteers.  We will do it again at Christmas, which is why we buy so many.

The rest of the night went surprisingly well.  The mini infernal machine was back up and running after spending $300 for the computer repair guys to come out and check the internet system in the entire building.  Nothing ..... they found nothing!!  It worked, but not all that great since one sale came up for $100.08.  We don't have .08's.  I guess I have to chalk it up to operator error.  I may have to refund 8 cents to someone.  

All went pretty well until someone noticed the bags of chips from our snack bar were outdated.  OH MY GOSH!!  You should have heard the uproar.  Two months past date.  I actually ATE one of those bags when I got there and they were just fine, but the uproar continued.  You would have thought she was DYING!!  A huge box of chips went in the trash.  It's always something!

At long last I made it home but just could NOT go to sleep.  I think it was the red tickets.  With a mere 4 hours sleep, I'll be on the couch, hoping to crash before I do something with the messy house.  Couch sitting is a Cooper approved past time!!  

Oh by the way ... I did end up with turkey.  I bought two huge turkey breasts from our kitchen that cost a small fortune.  It's the best I've ever eaten, so I WILL have turkey dinner.  Maybe next year I will get lucky and snag a butterball ... or even better, I could just go BUY one!!

GOBBLE GOBBLE!!!!

Snap, Crackle, Pop

I woke up to wind and cold.  Fall didn't last long at all before winter set in like a lion.  I haven't even drug out all my flannel shirts yet, let alone find my winter coat.  I did lean over to put on my teny-sneaks and was shocked to hear SNAP, CRACKLE and a very loud POP!!  What the heck?  I've never heard such a racket just bending over to tie my shoes.  At least I didn't fall OVER!

After blog writing and email deleting while figuring out WHO is trying to hack one of my email accounts, we held down the couch for about an hour.  This is Mr. Cooper at about 5:30 am.

 As much as I would like to cruise the web and play games on my phone, I had to do SOMETHING.  More snapping and crackling happened as I got up.  I actually laid down on the floor to do a bit of stretching in the hopes of falling asleep, but it didn't happen.

Maybe a little bacon breakfast will help get me on the road to doing SOMETHING.  This was on sale and I quickly found out why.  This is Bar S brand bacon.  Instead of a pound of bacon, which used to be the norm, they too have now cut it back to 12 ounces per package, for the same high price.  Wasn't I surprised when I peeled a piece off and placed it in the hot pan.  

Lots of snapping, crackling and popping occurred before I realized that was TWO slices stuck together.  Are you kidding?  How could you possibly slice bacon THAT thin?  I'm not kidding, it was MAYBE 1/16th of an inch thick.  When it was done, you could see through every slice, which had shrunk down to half its size.  What a rip off!!

Needless to say, half of it was gone before it even hit the fridge.  Even Mr. Cooper was disappointed as he ate his small piece with relish.

There was one very weird thing as we played lazy bones ... I kept smelling that HAM swirling around the room.  I thought maybe a ghosty had followed me home.  Wherever I walked, I could smell it.  Then it dawned on me!  It was my HAIR.  You know, like when you went to a bar when you were MUCH younger and you came home smelling of cigarette smoke?  And you had to wash the sheets and pillowcase because it TOO smelled like smoke?  

There was LOTS more crackling and popping when I got out the ladder to crawl up in the top cupboards of the kitchen.  That's where the Christmas decorations live.  I really had no intention of decorating the tree, but it looked kind of sad standing there.  

You've heard of cigarette boats?  This is my cigarette tree.  You can reach all around it and actually decorate the BACK.  The best part, it doesn't take any time to hang stuff because it's so small.  The Elf on top had a little too much to drink ... he's crooked and barely hanging on.  

5:00 and Mr. Cooper is still sleeping on the couch.  By now the ham smell has gone away, we've watched three new Hallmark movies and two I've seen four times each.  The snapping and popping has subsided and I can feel the sore coming on.  

I attempted to sort through all the quilts of valor boxes, but just couldn't stay focused.  Maybe another day since first I have to find an embroidery business.  

This morning we will be BACK on the couch, trying to catch a few Zzzzzz's before ... you guessed it ... heading off to BINGO!!!  I really need to find a victim ... I mean HELPER who can run a cash register!!

Stay tuned this week as we are predicted to have something like 5" of rain in two days.  I think that will be a good indication of whether or not I need to clean that gutter which still remains untouched!!

Flinging Pans!

 We've got RAIN!  Everything outside is soaking wet, so apparently we got a little rain last night.  That works for me since my sprinklers aren't working at all.  

I was up early and hit the ground running.  Here I am in the Elks kitchen standing in front of my all time favorite ovens.  The two handles to the left belong to the warmers which will also cook prime rib to perfection.  Further left are two more convection ovens that look like this one.  I could cook in these all day long!

While the crowd was served FREE gin fizzes (not on my list of yummy things) made with vodka because no one likes gin, I began the what-have-I-got-to-work-with game.  

I discovered five pans of sausage, only to see they just threw them on the pans.  If you don't line them out, they expand while cooking and fall off the pan.  All five pans got a realignment before going in the ovens.  These are brown and serve, so easy peasy.  Thank you Cooking Gods, I didn't burn a single piece.

Sadly there are no eggs Benedict pictures, I just didn't have time.  They were being handled by someone else.  There was an entire box of English muffins they cut up and put in the warmer.  What?  Not toasted?  I admit however, the Poacher of the Eggs did a fabulous job.  They came out perfect.  

Top that with a piece of Canadian bacon (also not heated up) and sauced with hollandaise sauce made from a bag of instant mix, and voila!  Eggs Benedict.  You would be amazed at what we can do with instant and canned ingredients.  Yeah ... as good as they looked when served, I didn't taste one.

Next up ... slice up eight hams baked to perfection.  Now THIS was downright yummy!!  We had two HUGE pans full.  Apparently they expected more people, because this is the LEFTOVERS!  

Next on the menu, biscuits.  These Krusteaz frozen biscuits are the best!!  Yes you do bake them ON the paper trays.  Everyone thinks they will catch on fire, but no they do not.  On top of these goes sausage gravy, made by the crew the night before.  Have you ever tried to heat up a 15 gallon pot of gravy without burning it?  

Next up, hash browns ... or should I say hash blacks.  Someone decided to cook them on the flattop that they turned up a little too high.  I could smell them as they brought fours pans to the warmer.  I'm the keeper of the warmers so I know what food went in first, to be sure it goes OUT first.  There's nothing worse than eating something that has been in the warmers for two hours getting dried out.

They also cooked scrambled eggs on the same cooktop.  THREE egg dishes?  They were a little too brown for me, but at least not black.  Those too went in the warmers.  

This is the piece-de-resistance.  This is our famous Denver Omelet casserole.  Eggs, ham, red and green bell peppers, onions, and cheese baked to perfection by moi!!  They are prone to causing nice oven burns as they require stirring while cooking.  That's more biscuits at the top of the picture.

Six pans of casserole went out to the serving table and every single one came back empty.  I did have to fight a bit with those who think it should all go in the oven two hours early and cook all at the same time.    They only take 30 minutes to cook.  Same with the biscuits ... shouldn't you get those in the oven?  NOPE ... they take 15 minutes.  Two hours in the bread warmer and they will be hard as a rock.  They finally walk away in disgust!  

All in all it turned out great!  Though it seemed they had lots of leftover food, none of it will go to waste.  Our Kitchen Chef can do amazing things with leftover ham since we serve lunch every day of the week, and if it won't hold, it goes to the Homeless Shelter that day.

I snuck out the door by 1:00.  They had lots of folks to help clean up and I was pretty tired from flinging those hot and heavy pans around.  I had one someone try to help, which ended up with egg all over the floor.  I'm NOT good at mopping.  Therefore, tis better to fling it yourself.  

Mr. Cooper was very happy to see me come in the door, but we didn't sit down.  I'll show you what we were up to tomorrow!

You Say Thanksgiving, I Say Christmas

 The full moon is waning nicely, but I had no time for pictures.  I was off to the grocery store for Jonathan food.  I used to buy veggies and chop them up myself, but with the latest salad-in-a-bag, it's SO much easier.  On the other hand, while they used to last a couple of weeks, they now rarely make it 7 days down the road.  Why is that?

It means I have to hit up some store that carries them and hunt down one with the farthest away date.  On this day they all "expired" on this day.  She who was filling up the stock was surprised that she missed one or two or five.  I on the other hand mentioned the $6.00 celery and was also surprised when she said it was only $2.99.  Wrong tag.  Okay then .... I will buy a stalk.

One of my rules is to NEVER walk through the deli area because of THIS.  I love Bear Claws!  Doesn't it just look delicious?  Well ..... not so much when I got home ready to devour that deliciousness.  They forgot to put the filling in.  Grocery stores are not what they used to be.

I even thought I might enjoy some cinnamon rolls.  Patsy bakes them up for Bill on occasion, and I have been lucky enough to partake when camped next to them.  Ummmmm but not after seeing THESE prices!  YIKES!!  

The rest of the day was spent resting ... kind of.  It's bad when you finally turn on that big overhead light, because it shows up all the spider webs.  Hmmm those daddy longlegs have been quite busy.  I chased one into the upper kitchen cupboard, only to find five boxes of Christmas decorations.  

Squirrel!!  Instead of resting, or working on a couple of Elks projects, I was completely distracted by decorating a bit of the house.  It's been a long time since I even bothered.  Yes I know it's not even Thanksgiving yet ... but my Girl Scout training says to be prepared.  No I wasn't a Girl Scout, nor even a Brownie, but I did go to a Brownie meeting once when I was maybe ten?  Yes it counts!

These things are so old that when I took out the swags, the pine cones fell to pieces.  No worries, I didn't need those anyway.  

The tree was next ... an easy peasy three piece stick-it-together model complete with lights.  It needs a little more fluffing I think.  Not to outshine Thanksgiving, I won't actually put decorations on it for a few days.  The best part EVER .... many moons ago I got tired of crawling under the big tree to turn the lights on.  I purchased a thing that plugs in to the socket and has a remote control.

Amazingly I found it still living in my coffee table drawer.  AND IT WORKS!!  I can't believe it!

I watched a bit of News in the evening, laughing at the ridiculous things our government spends money on, before hitting up the latest Hallmark movies.  Though I seem to find one or two channels on the GUIDE that carry them, I've seen them all.  When I can say the lines before they do, it's not exactly entertaining.

And so my blog friends, I'm off this early morning to shake and bake at the Elks Lodge.  Hopefully today I'll remember to take some pictures of what's on the menu.  It's always amazing what we can do with things from a can and a box!!

THERE IT IS ......

 Good Morning sunny California!  I hope it's sunny and warm wherever you are hanging out this morning.   The rain never materialized and it was warm most of the day.  Lucky for me since I was outside by the rig trying to figure out WHERE to park these blocks.  Space is at a premium and these take up a lot.

I already have a set of nice ones, though one is cracked ... I've no idea why.  If I need to raise the front more than about three inches however, I don't have enough.  I'm sure I had a second pack somewhere, but they elude me, even after searching everywhere.  

They look cool, yes?  Unfortunately they are not the same shape as the ones I have, but I think I can make them work.  I searched all over the internet for the exact same ones, but there was nothing.  Too old I suppose.  I won't use them like set up here because this doesn't give me enough height.  I will have to dirty them up a bit because just like cowboy boots, you never want to be seen using NEW ones.  Yes that's a thing.

It was a pretty lazy day until I realized how much work I had to do and it was already noon.  I was watching a little more news and am SO surprised at CNN being a completely liberal entity.  They report the news, but boy are they slanted.  Fox News is just the same, slanted the other direction.  I guess nowadays you don't get the full picture.  It's an interesting phenomena.  Better to watch your local news channel I suppose.

Anyway, I finally got to work on the UGLY quilt, only to have problem after problem.  It wasn't square and she didn't give me enough fabric around the outside to work with.  Add to that a strange backing piece sewed on one side so I couldn't just center it all ... it had to be offset.  

Suddenly I heard it.  If you live on a ranch and drive equipment, you are keenly aware of the sound of machinery.  I finally stopped it for a look see.  Come to find out, the bobbin got stuck and thread quit coming out.  What a mess that was.  Another foot of quilting and it RAN OUT of thread.  Good grief ... this thing gave me fits for an hour!

I threw that bobbin away before finishing this one and set up the second one in a flash.  Again, too small, too crooked and a real pain to quilt.  Is it a full moon?  Now I know why many quilters don't work on anything but their own!   

It was all okay though ..... because YES ... it was a full moon.  I was outside at 4:15 just waiting.  It's weird when the moon comes up in the daylight.  THERE IT IS!

No I'm not in the mountains ... these trees are planted everywhere around here.  Low maintenance they say.  I wonder if there's a miniature variety for my flower beds.

Still climbing between the branches .......

I think this is my favorite picture just as it hit the top of the tree .....

And there he is ... Mr. Man in the moon.  The large dark portions are called Marias, caused by volcanic eruptions they say.

This moon has several names ... the Beaver Moon since this is when the Indians hunted for beaver pelts, the Frost Moon which is when the frost first hits my rose bushes, and the Deer Rutting Moon.  You all know what that is about because we see Jim begin to talk about the BIG ONE on his blog.  I do love those pictures he posts!!

It was fun to get out with my camera again, though it was quite chilly.  I must be getting better, because instead of the usual 141 pictures, I only took 37.  

I'm resting up today because bright and early tomorrow I help cook a fabulous breakfast at the lodge.  This one is upscale ... eggs benedict, egg casseroles, fresh waffles, hash browns, bacon, sausage, biscuits and gravy and FREE Gin Fizzes.  We do feed our members well.  You can imagine the crowds!  

I'm praying the full moon effect wanes quickly!!!

And Then There Was .......

 Four days of rain predicted and this is Day One ... Nothing.  We got nothing.  I think in the last 365 days, they predicted rain a total of 30 times and they were right ONCE.  I admit though, it makes for a gorgeous day of sun and warm.  Today however ... maybe it's due to the full moon ... we have a low of 40 and a high of 55.  That's getting down to the chilly zone for me.  I guess it's time to turn on the heat.

Tonight will be the big night of craziness, and lucky me, I'll be sitting home holding my couch down.  For the first time in ages, there will be no human interaction ... no arrows or flaming torches.  Ahhhhhhh the sound of silence.

There wasn't all that much going on here.  My friend from Bingo whose family owns an antique shop in Monterey came by to pick up two more pieces of antique furniture.  This time it was the ancient rocker my grandmother owned with a tapestry seat she hand made.  I feel terrible about giving it to him for the store, but at least I think anyone who buys it will take good care of it, instead of it ending up in the dump.

I still have more furniture and one more trunk he will take, none of which I got from Jan and Bill.  I'm keeping all of that gorgeous stuff in my living room.  Most of my grandmothers furniture has dried out terribly and is falling apart.  These nice folks are repairing it, sending me pictures, then selling it in their store.  At least I know it will live on.

It was a little awkward when he showed up early and I was setting up this quilt in my PJ's.  I snapped my fingers, changed clothes and we loaded everything up, but only after killing THREE black widow spiders who had taken up residence.  Yikes!!

This quilt is one from the Quilters Guild that needed to be finished.  She called it UGLY.  It's made completely out of scrap material, and I admit, it's not the prettiest I've seen.  It's small, so should not take me any time at all to whip out before doing the second one.  This is not bad at all ... I don't have to sew anything, or cut anything!!  Just quilt and go!  

Though I probably could have done a lot more, I watched the news for awhile.  I know ... SHOCKER.  I'll be honest, I've never watched the news in my entire life.  There was never anything crazy enough to worry about until we started having all these wars start up again and all this Presidential drama.  It was a pretty carefree life back in the day.  

I'm trying very hard to get back to that.  Don't worry, be happy!!  There are people who get paid lots of money to take care of all that stuff.  I prefer to sit on the patio, sip my fake coffee and watch the clouds.

So that's what I did until the phone call came.  Checks to sign, lots of stuff to discuss and decisions to be made at the Lodge.  Good grief ... how did it all become so complicated?  It's like running a business with nine bosses.   Five hours later I was finally back home, just in time to watch the ending of that Christmas movie.  What a surprise ..... boy gets girl and they are off on their honeymoon!!!

And then there was THIS!  Heavens to Betsy!  I just looked up in the corner of my built-in desk and what should I see?  A MONSTER!  I have never in all my years of living, EVER seen a daddy long legs THIS BIG!  No kidding ... he's at least three inches across.  I may have to set up my GAME camera for this one!!  Doesn't it make you wonder if they move around at night?

Yeah, he probably won't live that long, mostly because I'm afraid he'll move to a different location without my knowing.  

I can just feel him walking across my face in the middle of the night!!!!!

Oh yeah ... it's the FULL MOON AGAIN!!!

Uh Oh ... A Full Moon Is Coming!

My first 4 a.m. look at the morning.  Sometimes it shocks me just how light it is outside when the moon is nigh.  That's it peaking through the trees.  It almost looked like the sun!  Tomorrow will be the day of "Be Careful" because it will be full.  Luckily I will be sitting on my couch doing NOTHING, so the effects should be minimal.

Yesterday started out quite nicely, sharing the couch with Mr. C. glued to my leg.  You know the drill ... I'm not allowed to move.

 

On this particular morning it was okie dokie with me.  He has a small growth on his cheek that he scratched before I could stop him.  That ended up in major nursing skills I have used on the horses in the past.  The problem was he continued to scratch.  So here's my solution, in case anyone else might have such a problem, but no CONE OF SHAME.  

I got out the longest collar I had and rolled quilt batting around it.  A few of your socks would probably work as well.  It's thick enough he can't move his neck around to get close to his foot.  Today we are all better and the "cone" is gone.

As you know, my rest days must include television.  I got a few laughs watching CNN go crazy, while at the same time watching FOX News doing the same.  The News Media seems so jaded one way or the other nowadays.  

In an effort to cleanse my mind, I changed the channels.  Lookie what I found!!!  Oh yes, all those sappy Hallmark Christmas movies are BACK!!  I'm pretty sure I've seen them all at least three times.  Could they please make some NEW ones ... maybe change up the plot just a bit?

Oh but this .... THIS was even worse!!  You're not going to believe it, but I watched the entire ELF movie from beginning to end.  If I was one of the characters, I just might be embarrassed to admit I was IN this movie.  Really, it's pretty bad when this is the best choice out of 200 channels!!

    

Even reorganizing my sewing room was more entertaining, so I spent the next two hours moving stuff around.  Very little got thrown out because as you know, fabric is expensive.  I was so proud of the headway I made ... all the patriotic fabric had a home.

Then I walked into the kitchen to find there was one more much BIGGER container of red, white and blue.  There is no way I can squeeze that in, so I'm now eyeing my living room as a SECOND sewing room.  I might be able to set up two file cabinets with a door on top.  Instant table!  I decided to think about it a little more.

Dinnertime rolled around rather quickly.  When scrounging for some aluminum foil, I discovered a big potato I hid in the drawer.  Keep them in a dark place and they won't sprout.  The problem is I forgot it was there.  

No worries ... a pound of hamburger with lots of spices, followed up with a bag of peas and carrots and you have instant (sort of) shepherds pie.  Mashed potatoes on top with some parmesan because I didn't have any other kid of cheese.

It was delicious if I do say so myself!!  And I've got lots of leftovers!!  We had a similar version of this cheap meal quite often at the ranch.  As I've mentioned before, we cut up all our own beef if something died unexpectedly, and it never had any hang time, meaning it was tough as nails.  Anything that wasn't steak or roast was ground up into hamburger. 

Honestly, there's nothing worse than grass fed beef for flavor.  We did anything and everything to mask the "green", so this recipe with lots of spices and loads of garlic was a keeper!!

That was it ... such an exciting day.  Unfortunately I'll be at a lodge meeting once again tonight.  Let's hope the moon's effect on the crew will be minimal.  After that, THREE days off!  Woohoo!!

In the meantime, we've got rain coming for four days straight.  The perfect setting to see if all of my gutters are working.  Won't THAT be fun!!

BINGO!! I SAID BINGO!!!

 Good Morning!!  Sunny California has disappeared into the cold skies of fog.  It's actually worse than it looks, since my phone took out some of the haze.  With my little eye, I couldn't see that house at all.  It stayed that way most of the morning.  No worries though, rain is expected for the next five days.  Winter has arrived!

I tried to nap away the tiredness, but alas, it was not to be.  I began looking through those boxes of fabric, but didn't get far before I was overwhelmed.  The biggest problem is I have NO space ANYWHERE to store this stuff!!  That means rearranging my tiny sewing room ... a daunting task for another day.

I was bolstered by lunch, a quick meeting of the Bingo minds at our usual Mexican restaurant, followed by a mad dash back home to set up Mr. Cooper for the evening.  I admit, the dash BACK to Bingo was much slower.

Here we are, our typical player, but without the cigarettes.  If they could, they would.  One of our pet peeves is the smells that come with Bingo.  I haven't mentioned this before, but it's problematic.  Let's face it, some don't take showers every day, or every week, or maybe even once a month.  I hit the keys on the infernal machine as fast as lightning to decrease the face time.  

MaryJane is the worst.  Some of these folks wreak of it ... and I'm allergic.  The sneezing begins almost immediately.  Follow that up with the next customer wearing a quart of Eau de Rose Petals, which many times I'm ALSO allergic to ..... and you get the picture.  I'm a sneezing machine.

The crowds have been epic, which is both good and bad.  Good for us because we make more money for Charity ... and bad because there are more fights over seating.  Here's why.  See this nice lady sitting in the bottom right corner?  Notice no one is sitting across from her?  Or beside her?  There should be four people sitting in the space she holds court over.

Oh yes, there were again fights over the chairs.  One guy became a member just so he could sit in a particular game winning chair.  The gal who usually sits there was in an uproar.  IT'S NOT FAIR.  The alternative is to become a member, whereupon you can enter the building at 9:00 in the morning if you wish, just to save your lucky Bingo seat.  

I suppose with 137 peasants, you can't expect them all to get along.  The King was called and all was well once again when he handed her an application.    At least it was good until the mini infernal machine decided to die a horrible death.  It could not find the phone line, even though it was plugged in on both ends.  No matter what I did, it would not spit out a batch closing total.  It's always something, right?

I called one of the Knights ... the one who can fix anything ... and he proceeded to take it completely apart.  Yikes!!!  Once back together, it still procrastinated and would not give me a total of the debit card sales.  Oh that's not good ... I have no way of knowing what the total should be!!

Too bad, so sad!!  There was no coercing it into working.  Hopefully our bookkeeper can check with the bank and come up with a total of some sort.   I'm not going to worry about it ..... I'm not going to worry about it.  Yeah, that went through my head all the way home!!

The absolute best part of bingo is this!!  Being met by this happy-to-see-me face when I get home, makes it all worth it!!

And so ended another magical night at Bingo, where folks spend all their money, broken piggy banks included, so kids in our community can benefit from everything we do.  And you know what?  Even though they lose that money, they are happy to know it's going for a good cause.  It's a win-win!!

I fully expect to spend the day on the couch snuggling with my kid.  We shall see if my expectations come true.

Honoring Our Vets

What a beautiful way to start out Veterans Day.  The second I noticed the pink glow inside my living room, I ran OUTSIDE for a picture.  It's beautiful ... and threatening ... because what comes next is RAIN! 

There were things on my list however.  Start the engine so the battery wouldn't quit on me.  Yes I have a solar battery tender, but it doesn't work when it's raining.  I also had to turn everything back on and turn on the gas to exercise the generator.  

Prior to that however, it was sunny, meaning the solar is keeping the batteries at 100%, in spite of being under the shed.  That's a big plus!!

And then the rain came.  Not just a little light sprinkle, but a downpour!!  It got so bad I couldn't see the house next door.  Actually that was a good thing.  We definitely need the rain.  On the other hand, I realized my front sprinklers didn't seem to be working.  A quick check and ..... I discovered something weird.  The top plug of the GFI works just fine,  The bottom plug does not work at all.  I was completely soaked by the time I figured that out, so it will have to wait.

Although I really wanted a day off, it was not to be.  I got a phone call to please come down to the Elks Lodge.  How could I not considering the occasion.  Sadly, our entries in the parade got completely soaked to the skin.  It didn't stop them though!!  

I think we served something like 400 Vets ... chicken, pasta, scalloped potatoes, salad, rolls and any number of dessert choices.  FREE ... it was all free for them and their families.  Then we honored one of our World War II Vets ... 97 years old he is and still going strong.  You could hear the roar two blocks away.

Dinner was served from 1:30 to 4:00 with never an empty seat.  At the end there was a moment of silence for ALL veterans everywhere.  I love that!  Elks Lodges are definitely patriotic!

Remember that fabric I picked up?  One of the other things our Lodge does is make personalized quilts for Veterans and current service members alike.  Though I thought I was just picking up fabric, it seems the gentleman and his wife who were making these want to retire.  

They don't make a lot of them and they are fairly easy to put together.  The problem is eyesight and not having anyone to embroider them.  I still have SOME eyesight, but no embroidery services.  

I think if I make maybe five or six a year, it will make everyone happy, including the recipients.  I'm hoping I can find someone to personalize them.  The only alternative is to buy an embroidery machine, for which I have NO room.  I took pictures of their pictures so I would have some patterns.

Each branch of the service has a different logo and different colors.  I have no clue what those might be since I wasn't in the service, but I'm sure I can find someone to help me out.  The good news is that ALL supplies for these will be paid for by the Lodge.

Here's the first one I just quilted for a gentleman who is celebrating his 60th birthday and retirement from the Air Force.  

I wasn't exactly thrilled with the backing, but I didn't have anything to replace it with.  

Here's something else we do for Veterans.  If you are homeless, you can now apply for housing with Veteran Services.  Once approved and a home found, our Lodge goes out and buys whatever might be needed to make the house livable.  Couches, chairs, beds, bedding, kitchen supplies ... anything and everything that's needed to set up house keeping.  Pretty cool!!

It's hard to believe we do so much stuff, which is why I'm always crazy busy, but it's all for a good cause ..... MANY good causes.  

And you KNOW what tonight is ..... it is once again BINGO TIME!!!