SAY CHEESE!!

 Good morning good morning!!  July is going faster than expected.  Oh wait ..... it's August already.  Hopefully it passes by as fast as July did so this weather will be behind us.  What can I say ... it's HOT!  Thank goodness for solar panels or I would be in the poor house.

Can you say CHEESE?   Grilled cheese tomato sandwiches for breakfast!!  Especially when they include homemade GARLIC sourdough bread.  YUM YUM!!

Naturally, Kitters is not far away.  She comes in through the doggie door about 5:00 every morning and gives me a quiet little MEW.  I think that's her way of saying is anyone here?  Then she goes bananas running around the house, hitting the scratch pole, and generally making a nuisance of herself.  Once again I tell you .... this cat is weird.  

First things first however ... I had to head on off to the accounting job, hoping it would be an easy day.  My top priority was to get them using BILL PAY online.  The complaints about the high cost of checks and envelopes, not to mention stamps, was getting on my nerves.  You HAVE to jump into this century.

Unfortunately, that resulted in a trip to the bank to get it set up on their account.  That's when I found out the bank has NO INTERNET SERVICE.  Who doesn't have internet THESE days?  Especially a BANK?  I know this is a tiny little back country town, but good grief ... EVERYONE has internet access nowadays.  But not this bank.  They will get it set up, but another bank has to do it.  That's crazy.  

The good news is that it ended my accounting day in a flash.  It will be ready next week.  Okay then .....

On the way out the back 40, I stopped at this poor white peach tree whose branches were so full of peaches that they were breaking off.  How sad.  So I gathered up a bunch, hoping to make more jam.  Has anyone used white peaches before?  I ate one when I got home and they don't have much flavor at all. Will the jam have peach flavor??

THESE on the other hand are magnificent!!  Another batch from my Elks friend.  There's going to be a lot more grilled cheese with tomatoes coming up!  As for the squash, I like it, but wish I had a better recipe than just plain squash.  It could use a little more flavor too.

After all that driving, my tank was on the LOW side, so I checked my phone for cheap fuel.  The jokes on me since there IS no cheap fuel in California.  It's been $7.69 to $8.09 thanks to our dumb governor.  Sorry, but he's dumb as dirt.  He only cares for his bank account, not ours.  

My favorite fuel station read $5.99.  Really?  And off I drove ten miles down the road to fill up.  Still, it took TWO credit cards to fill my tank.  $230.70 total.  So much for that winter coat I was going to buy.  This is the result of closing down refineries trying to force us to buy all electric cars.  Heck they can't even produce enough electricity to keep our lights on, let alone run our cars!!  We have blackouts all the time!  Total incompetence, as you all know already.

Bank home, while my bank account cried big tears, I spotted Kitters on the prowl.  Outside this poor starving kitty was getting some of HER food.  How DARE she!!  I'm pretty sure this is the same black kitty that showed up when Kitters did ... and she let HER eat first.

It's a different story now!  This is a quickie ... but watch that tail!!  

She ran off, but came back two seconds later to keep an eye on that interloper.  It's funny how territorial she has become.

We didn't do anything the rest of the day, I'm sorry to say.  I was still lagging due to late night bingo.  

If I can screw up a little motivation, I'll hit the road this morning for a quick run.  These two used to be my running partners.  Cooper and Miss Jessie were the best kids ever!!  

BINGO BINGO!!!

 Good morning California!  It's a tad bit cooler since it slipped below 100.  That's not true ... it was a rousing or at least a sleep inducing 103 degrees yesterday.  That kind of weather makes me hang out inside doing basically nothing.  

It was Bingo day however, so the armor went on early.  It makes for a very LONG day.

I wanted to get out for a run, but motivation packed up and walked right out the door.  If I do too much, I won't make it through late night bingo.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

I was starving for some reason, so I fixed my normal breakfast sandwich.  Those tomatoes ... YUM!!

Boredom set in quickly.  Not sleeping very well because of the heat, I thought I would resurrect my bedroom ceiling fan.  Fans and I don't get along well at all.  Maybe it's because they stir up all the dust and pollen in the air.  Having slept under one in Maui (which made all the difference in being able to sleep), I. thought I would clean this one up.

I'm sure it hasn't run in the last ten years.  Nor have the blades been cleaned.  I knew it was going to be bad, so I took an old pillowcase and pulled it over each blade, then drug all the dirt off in one swipe.  A quick second rub and I "assumed" they were at least cleaner.

I turned it on low and was showered with the remaining dirt.  Oh the fun!!  That means washing the sheets that were strategically placed underneath, better known as the bed!  I coughed and sputtered for the next hour.  

In no time I put on my armor ... not for Bingo per se, but two of us were having a meeting with one of the higher ups about all the kitchen drama.  Once again we were set up with "just put those fries back in the fryer because they got cold".  Why do people do that?  

We had several ideas and stated them in no uncertain terms.  If this does not stop, we are dropping the keys on the counter.  Bye bye!  Volunteers should not have to put up wth this kind of stuff.  There was much more, but I'll leave it at that.  

And just like that, it was time to set up for Bingo.  My fairy Godmother was not available on this night, so the second in line helped me set up the table.  One of these games comes with three cards for $2.00.  We pre-count and stack them.  They are BLUE.  

And that my friends is why I got a big complaint about how my helper was going through every card picking out the perfect numbers.  Well who cares since YOU do the exact same thing every week.  However that is NOT what she was doing ... she was stacking the OTHER BLUE GAME, not the one they accused her of.  I'm telling you ..... these women who demand to be first in line so they can get the WINNING cards ..... NEVER WIN.  So what difference does it make?????

They are so very petty about someone who might get to pick ONE card before they do that they stand in line for 30 minutes waiting for me to open up.  Maybe THEY would like to volunteer!!!

At any rate, we had a few new folks on this night, which means describing how this is not your normal one line 5-number bingo.  These sheets, available at every game, show you exactly what you need to get to win.  Just as an example, if you are playing game 7, you are marking numbers on six games on one sheet of paper.  Most buy 4 sheets.  That means you are looking for that last number called on 24 separate games squares and they have 15 seconds to do it before the next number is called.  How they can do that is beyond me.  Newbies are usually seen running out the door half way through the night.  

Dinner was twice what I normally eat.  Workers get free dinner, which consists of hamburgers, hot dogs, chili dogs or chicken tenders.  I don't know what happened in the kitchen, but this is not the normal order.  I ate about three and brought the rest home.

I mentioned to our Chef a couple days ago about how much better they tasted.  Come to find out, they changed from seed oil to beef tallow in the fryer.  WOW!  What a difference in the flavor!  So now we are just like all the fast food chains who have switched to something a tiny bit better for you, or so they say.

There was the usual NO, you don't have a bingo and not calling loud enough for us to hear, which means you got passed over.  What there WAS will probably cause less people to attend next week.  Not one, but TWO $1199 pots were won, meaning they received $1449 in cash.  I guess that's a good reason to come to Bingo.  All in all, there is around $7-9000 given out every night.  Pretty crazy!!

And so ended another night of fun in heavy armor.  We only had one cook the entire night, but she is a fantastic hard worker and did it all.  As soon as I was done, I headed into the kitchen to help her clean up.  Man that grill was a BIG mess.  There were hotdogs under the counter and fries all over the floor.  I can't fault her ... it's a hard job even when you have a helper.  

I got home to the meows of Kitters.  It's funny to me that she has taken up Cooper's spot as my body guard every single morning.

Speaking of Cooper ....... how could you not love that happy face!

I SCREAM, YOU SCREAM

This is what HOT looks like at 5:00 in the morning.  It's 70 degrees, with temps coming up in the 105 area.  It hasn't been that hot in quite some time.  I'm hoping the weather guessers are wrong.

I made a big mistake on this lovely warm morning.  I accidentally let Kitters see me go out the front door.  Very curious this kitty is.  I was dropping a little cat food in an outside container just in case anyone came by. 

Of COURSE they came by!  This mean kitty critter chases them out of the back yard at every opportunity.  That's funny because when she first came here, she let the other kitties eat first.

That tail is flipping back and forth and nasty words are coming from her mouth!  She makes me laugh!!

I wasn't feeling up to running after standing at that event for almost four hours.  Maybe today.  Instead, I laid out in the sun for all of 20 minutes.  Good grief even at 9:00 it was WAY too hot to be outside.  Instead, I got out this capable little machine.  I've no doubt you know exactly what it is!  I'm sure I heard you SCREAM, so I followed suit!

Oh look ... there just happens to be two snickers candy bars laying on the counter.  I think there are maybe 25 left over from Halloween and they are past the pull date.  They've been in the fridge the entire time, so I'm sure they are okay.   I'll use them in the ice cream.  

While the mix chilled in the fridge, I went to stitching up this last of the generic (no embroidery) quilts.  This makes ten that will be given away in November???   I've lost track of time.  

This is the backing I will use.  As you can tell, it was short quite a bit, so luckily I have fabric that will fill in the space.  This is a pain to do, but it looks nice when the quilt is finished.

While I was thinking about it, I called the gal who does the embroidery work.  I'll be catching up with her next week.  Hopefully she won't take very long to do the four quilts I have left to complete.  

OH NO ... what happened to the ice cream?  IT'S GONE!!!

I didn't eat it all, though I think someone should challenge me to do just that!  It went into two tubs and into the freezer.  Two hours later it is perfect to eat ..... like soft serve.  By tomorrow it will be hard as a rock.  This was peanut butter by the way.  One of these days I'll try a caramel one.

Yes I'm the one that cleaned out the bowl ... the perks of being the one who plugs it in.  And THEN I finished off this one from my local ice cream truck with 3 wheels and Christmas music playing loudly.  I can't help it.  If he can pedal in 100 degree weather, I can buy his ice cream.  This one sucked.  Better luck next time.

That was it for the day.  I'm sure I accomplished something, maybe washing the sheets, but it's just too hot to do much else.  

Here's my best friend having a bad hair day like his Mom.  Gosh, he was just the best puppy EVER!  I miss him terribly.

DID I YELL?!

 It was 101 outside on this day.  I should have stayed in bed.  I would have been MUCH ahead of the game.  

First off ... drive the van.  This has become a big pain in the patoo.  Had I known about all this stuff, even after surfing the internet, I would have bought something else.  I had the charger on it for two days, but I don't trust it one bit.  I would leave it longer, but that thing gets hot when it's plugged in.  

Once again it reminded me it is due for SERVICE A, which is an entire oil and fluid change.  I have 7,000 miles on it.  The book says 20,000 for the first oil change.  I'm pretty sure the last time they reprogrammed the computer, they put in GAS rig instead of DIESEL rig.  Even the Smog Guy said this things reads as a gas rig.  I ignored it completely, but expect it one day to say YOU DIDN'T DO WHAT YOU WERE TOLD SO WE ARE TURNING EVERYTHING OFF.  So sorry Charley.  Nope I didn't yell at this point in the day.

Breakfast was easy peasy ... the last of that asada meat with those fresh tomatoes.  YUM YUM!!

Oh ... you thought when I had to buy gas at $5.27 a gallon made me yell?  Nope it wasn't that.  Never have I ever spent this much for gas in my entire life.  This governor we have is the worst ever in history!  He has shut down the fuel companies with ridiculous regulations and they have moved their headquarters to Texas and closed most of the refiners we had.  Diesel is $7.69 a gallon.

Maybe it was when I had to load up all those boxes of to-be-shredded paperwork.  Nope, it wasn't that either.

It was when I realized I had put five bills on auto pay, expecting to receive the credit card any day.  The card never appeared.  I had to cancel it, order another card and try to reprogram those account payments.  It didn't help that the internet just was not working well on this day.  It would send me a VERIFY numbers but I never received them.  I didn't even yell at that.

What I DID yell at was Dish Network, who somehow changed my service address to 4001 Hospital Road.  I don't live at 4001 Hospital Road.  Of course I got the gal who knows nothing about this process.  She wanted my PIN number.  I don't have one.  Oh yes you do.  I gave her three different ones.  Nope ... not it.  By then I was yelling at her to just change the address.  After ten minutes of back and forth, she finally said "the pin ends in ss".  What?  Maybe I've been hacked because none of my password names or numbers have ss in them.  My patience disappeared when I turned 70.

  I asked her for the last time ... what are you talking about?  Oh ... the last four of your social.  She finally changed the address but refused to change the auto pay account.  I have absolutely NO patience for those people, and the fact that their website wasn't working didn't help.  I'm sure that payment is NOT going to go through.  Big sigh!!

I soothed my mad brain with the last two Oreos from the plane.  These are full sized.  See what I mean about being stingy on the filling?  The cookie does NOT look like the picture.

It's barely 1/16th inch thick.  At least they were free!!

I didn't yell about dinner.  It was a smoked paprika, chicken and rice affair.  Not bad.

This is the new rice I tried.  It was something we got at an Indian restaurant in Sacramento.  If you like Basmati Rice, this is a good one.  I actually found it at Walmart no less.

The rest of the evening was spent finishing up yet another quilt binding.  I think I still have three more to go, not counting the FOUR with names embroidered on them.  I really hope I can get them finished in time.

If this sweetheart was still around, I'm sure I would not be yelling at the AI incompetence I've been running into.   Nothing irritates me more than listening to a robot that has no idea what I'm talking about and then tries to upsell me for three minutes before connecting me with a representative.  And it seems to be getting worse, not better!!

Anyway, I miss my sweet boy ........ hopefully today will be a better day.

THE MUCKY MUCKS ARE HERE

 Well HELLO Mother Nature!!  She's putting out beautiful tomatoes like crazy.  These are small, but mighty ... and they are free from one of my old ranch neighbors.  They are the sweetest most perfect tomatoes I've had in my life.  

On the other hand, Mother Nature is having hot flashes because it's has been and is going to be, over 100 degrees for the next 10 days!  YIKES!  We must be listing towards the sun nowadays.  I guess I can survive as long as I have tomatoes like this for breakfast every day!!  Long live the BLT and grilled cheese with tomatoes!

It was going to be a boring one.  I was scheduled to help out at the Elks Lodge for the big political rally going on.  Not that I was there for the political part ... that is just NOT my thing.  Shaking hands and rubbing elbows with mucky mucks has never been on my list.  On the other hand, the grandson of one of our fabulous volunteers, works in Washington D.C. for the big time politicians, and he came to hang out.  

I think he's going to make a name for himself.  If anyone remembers Gary Condit ... this kid met him in the hallway one day and had a picture taken.  He has pictures with every one of those folks you see on the news nowadays.  He then had a T-shirt made that said  I MET GARY CONDIT AND LIVED TO TELL ABOUT IT.  The Washington crowd apparently got a big kick out of that one.  I think this kid is going places.

So in the meantime, I finished the binding on yet another quilt.  I have a feeling this is the last year I will be making so many.  I'm running out of momentum.

At 3:00 I was off to the lodge.  Though I expected lots of people to be there because I was told the "special" meeting was at 4:00 and the FOOD part at 5:00, they were off by two hours.  

I won't name names here, but the special part was an in-person meeting for which I think the participants paid over $1,000 each.  After all, this is a campaign to raise money event.  

I spent the first hour helping hang a 10' x 15' American flag on the stage and scrounged through our storeroom for three extension cords so the spotlights would be "just right".  They already had these cool uprights that were red, white and blue.  I just might have to get a couple of those for my front porch!

The menu was on the board in the kitchen.  This is an appetizer event only, so they had to be magnificent ones.  We began by setting up shrimp plates because luckily all the fruit had been cut and plated already.  The meatballs went in the oven while we made the ham and turkey rollups.  I don't know how many pieces were in those enormous packages, but we rolled up SIX packages in total.  

While our Lodge Chef began to carry out those HUGE way-too-heavy glass trays with the fruit, we fried up the best chicken wings we have ever had.  I'm going to buy a box of those.  They were made all the better by the change to beef tallow oil for frying.  No kidding ... if you haven't noticed the difference at any of the fast food places ... that stuff makes anything fried SO MUCH BETTER.  AND it's better for you! 

There was a bit of discussion over the meatball sauce since the lady asked for chili sauce and grape jelly.  I know, sounds terrible, but it's REALLY good.  Like a sweet chili sauce!  My mom made that years ago.

Here's the final table.  As you can see, those chicken wings didn't last 5 minutes!!  I kept watch while the other two gals hobnobbed with the mucky mucks.  I guess I've just never been impressed by "suits" or celebrities.  

When the main meeting began, we picked up most of the food, to be brought out again at the end.  That was enough for me ... I was out of there in a flash.  Four hours of climbing ladders and standing up running around made my back talk mean to me.  Besides, I've heard all the rhetoric before.  

I have absolutely nothing on the schedule for today.  Maybe lying in the sun for a while around 8:00.  Any later and it's way too hot.  

Tug of war with purple puppy toy .............  Cooper always won!

JUST MY LUCK

 It's Friday.  I forgot to check and see if it was a full moon, but alas, yes it just was and it leaked over to MY Friday.  It's also August 1 .. meaning another month has just slipped by like a snake in the bushes.

First off ... a nice cool run at 6:30 am.  I'm doing better ... I can tell a difference in my running now, or rather jogging.  I actually went a total of 2.2 miles and only walked for less than a quarter mile.  YAHOO!!  So swimming should help, yes?

Here's the lousy full moon that caused all the problems.  That yellow flower is ME before the moon took over and I became the wilted one.

Back at the house, breakfast was elusive.  I just could not come up wth anything healthy ... or quick.  Let me tell you however ... this Blue Bunny was YUMMY!

I grabbed my cup-o-Jo and headed for the patio, only to be tracked and annoyed by this creature.  She stuck her big nose in my coffee, which then got thrown out.  Apparently it wasn't her flavor.

With nothing important on the menu today, I went to lay out in the cool morning for a bit.  You will never guess WHO came and sat on my head!  Really?  "Go away",  to the sounds of purring didn't work real well, so I just got up and headed to town for the first item on my list.

Signing up for the BIG pool with the LONG lanes.  The kid was not a big speaker of English.  I truly could hardly understand him, but he said AHA ... yes we can sign you up.  YAY.  Let's DO IT!  He got half way through, then went to get his boss who closed the computer down and started it back up again.

Magically, my Code Number no longer worked.  Hey ... HE said I could sign up and now you are telling me NO?  Yup that's exactly what they did.  They said the only way I could join was to pay $32.00 a month, which included a senior discount.  So why does my girlfriend get to come for free?  Well she must have signed up a long time ago because we don't do that now.

Okay, it's worth it, so sign me up.  That's when we got to the MOON part.  We charge $50.00 a year MAINTENANCE FEE, payable now.  Give us your bank account number ... A BIG FAT NO ... or your debit card number ... ALSO A BIG FAT NO and you can join.  How about a credit card number?  Well for that one they charge you an addition 16% every time it is charged.  Are you kidding me?  That's highway robbery!

Sorry, but I'm an accountant and I'm definitely NOT paying that just to use my credit card.  That's ridiculous, not to mention the additional costs!  And so I walked out with NO membership in the fancy swimming pool.  The only swimming option is at the place where they have teeny tiny lanes you have to make a reservation for, not to mention the 40 minute drive.  Just my luck!!

My swimming hopes were dashed.  So what am I doing today?  I'm looking up swimming pool contractors!  I'm thinking something small like this in my back yard.  

Next up, I stopped in at Kohls.  Its the only store in the next town over that carries any household items.  Truly, they only have restaurants, a boot barn, a tractor supply and Hobby Lobby.  I was hoping for a little more quality than Walmart.  

Here's all I came home with ... just two new towel sets for the bathroom.  As for clothing, good grief ... everything has ruffles on it.  When did THAT happen ... not to mention they have mostly winter clothing now that we are in the 100 degree temperatures.

Back home I tossed my sandals in the closet and walked into the kitchen.  WHAT WAS THAT?  OMG there's a lizard on the floor and I stepped on it barefoot.  #%$^#$&#!!!!!!  I doubt the poor guy lived, but I took him out to the bushes in front.  That DARN CAT just will not leave the poor lizards alone.

That's when my luck changed.  I got a call from my friend to meet them for dinner.  Her grandson (believe it or not) works in Washington D.C. with all those awful politicians.  He's from Texas, and how he wanted to do THAT job, is beyond me.  What a GREAT kid he is.  He shared with us his pictures with every big name politician you can imagine, and told us stories you wouldn't believe.  Well actually, nowadays, you WOULD believe them.

I ate half my shrimp scampi and brought the rest home for dinner tonight ..... except tonight I will be back at the lodge working one of the biggest political events in our County.  I am SO NOT politically inclined, so this should be fun, right?

I'll let you know how it goes.  In the meantime, I'll be resting up and hoping the moon has passed me by.  I don't need to be dropping anything on anyone's head tonight!