ARE YOU SMOKING?

 It looked like the country was on fire this morning ..... and it felt like it too.  Good grief ... this heat has become oppressive.   At 7:30 last night,  it was 103 degrees.  Oooweeeee Mother Nature is mad at someone!!  Or maybe she's just trying to smoke us to tenderness.

The moon was still up, but it wasn't feeling it either.  Just a tiny sliver.  At least it's not full for this meeting I have to attend.

But first ... remember these two running watches?  They tell you how far based on GPS, even shows a map of your route, how fast, heart rate, recovery rate, pace ... just about everything you would ever want to know.  I paid a lot of attention to these back in the day.  Practice makes perfect when it comes to marathons.  I was hoping to resurrect one or both so I could keep track of my time a little better.

Woohoo!!  This one lit up with the correct time this morning.  I was thrilled that it worked.  Too bad it only worked for about 49 seconds.  I'm sure I heard a big sigh about the time it died a quick death.

Well rats.  Sadly, you cannot change the batteries in those watches.  They want you to buy a new one. I suppose I can't complain ... this one worked well for about 8 years and has been sitting for 10.  I looked them up on Amazon and about had a heart attack.  That watch above that I paid about $450 for, was now $1,099.00.  Well that's a big NO THANK YOU!  I settled for this MUCH cheaper one.  It doesn't have all the bells and whistles, but it will do what I need it to since truly, I don't see any marathons in my future.    

In no time I had to head on off to the big town of Stockton.  Yes, that's where my truck died on the last trip up there.  I prayed the entire way that my Jeep made it.  I drove that because the fuel is $2.00 a gallon cheaper.  Still, it cost me $70 to attend this unnecessary meeting.  

They call it the Motel ... which is exactly what it looks like, and probably used to be.  they even have a swimming pool in back. I felt like diving in.  It would have been better than the meeting.

All the bars on the doors made me nervous, but I went inside to find a nice large cool room and a table of my friends.  Well .... most of them were my friends.  I actually had a blast talking to two of the guys I had not seen in awhile.  We laughed and carried on like school kids while others scowled at us.  

I spent a good part of the actual meeting just laughing to myself.  I'm surprised several in attendance didn't get sent to the principal's office.  I stayed as long as I could stand before tapping my watch and running out the door.  I grabbed a donut on the way.  Lucky for me, traffic wasn't too terrible, and thank the Good Lord above I was not going the OTHER direction, where they were backed up for about 5 miles.  

Coming through town, I had an epiphany!  If I stopped at the local Mexican market, I could get a pork roast and smoke that baby.  Unfortunately, they only had one, so pork loin had to suffice for the second one.

Here it is in the fridge, smothered in mustard and PIG POWDER.  Those who have been reading my ramblings for awhile, know about the Pig Powder.  It beats anything out there.

I'M SMOKING!!!  It went in the smoker about 4:30 and will smoke for five hours.  Yeah, that means I have to stay up late, but it's worth it.  It will actually cook for a total of 15 hours.

I did make the mistake of not standing on the other side when I opened the door to pour on some apple juice.  I got blasted with smoke.  The men are going to be following me now!  I smell like SMOKED MEAT.  It will come out at 5:00 or so, get wrapped in foil, swaddled in towels and stuck in the ice chest to finish cooking to juicy deliciousness.  I can't wait to taste it.  It's been a long while since I made smoked pulled pork.

Another sweet Cooper picture from a couple years ago.  Big sigh .... I still miss him every second of every day.

TECHNOLOGY CAN BE AMAZING ... OR NOT.

 I should have been off VERY early on this morning, hitting the road for another run.  What can I say, I got distracted by brain games on my phone.  It was already hot when I left at 7:30, so I tried to stick to the streets with shade and got in 2 more miles.  My legs were NOT happy campers, so I walked a little more this time.  It used to take one day to heal up ... now it seems to take two.  It will get better, but my legs are talking to me constantly!!

When I got back, I wasn't sure what vehicle I was taking to the Elks Meeting up north today.   Truly, I despise these meetings where absolutely NOTHING happens other than telling us we need to make more money by signing up more members.  Well if we could, I guess we would.  

At any rate, lucky for me, the Jeep had a full tank.  The fuel mileage is about the same as my diesel truck, but this one gets into smaller parking spaces.  I suppose I should check the tires ... and so I got out the old air compressor and went to work.  This right rear tire gave me a little trouble, but all the rest got topped off with no problems.

That's when I discovered this.  One of the tire monitors had lost its cover entirely.  I'm surprised it even worked with the battery showing.  Now I KNOW I have a bag of these somewhere, but for the life of me, I could not find them.  I've looked in every junk drawer I have.

Including this one ... where I got totally distracted.  OH LOOK ... lots of crap!  Actually, this drawer is full of running stuff.  Watches and attachments to gather info to make your run more productive.  Well look at that ... there are TWO Garmin watches in there that I'm sure will not work after almost ten years of non use.

I plugged them in anyway.  An hour later, nothing.  Well darn!  These two things that will almost tell you what you had for breakfast, cost me a fortune back in the day when I was running marathons, and I hate to toss them out.

There was another not-so-delicious lunch cleaning up the last of the leftovers.  I really should cook something .... like those shrimp in the freezer ... but I'm just not motivated.  Probably because I'm full at the moment.

There was a little kitty play time stuck in there somewhere.  

I finally took the chargers off the watches, wiped them with my fingers and stuck them back on.  To my absolute amazement, they began charging.  Of course that was AFTER I ordered a new one from Amazon.  This one came right up and everything seems to work.  It has GPS, maps and the whole shebang. Technology is amazing.  It can probably read your fortune if you asked it to.  I'll try it out on Monday and see if the battery holds.   The other one, not so much.  

 Maybe I'll send that new one back.  The other one actually did charge the battery, but it does not do what this one does.  I'll find someone to donate it to.

Later in the day, I placed an order with Walmart.  I used to sing their praises, but am having a change of heart.  I ordered 3 large avocados which came in a net bag.  Every single one of them is so rotten, they feel like there is nothing in the middle.  No kidding ... you can squish the sides together.  So here I go again back to Walmart for a refund.  It will cost me more for fuel than the cost of the product.

Next up ... beef tallow.  But that's a story for tomorrow.

Here's my sweet boy snoozing on the couch.

LIGHTS, CAMERA ..... ACTION!!

It was a hot one yesterday ... ending up with a cool-ish 69 degrees this morning just before the sun came up.  You never know what the sky will look like.  It looks kind of like a floating rib cage to me.  I'm just happy the weather guessers say mid 80's are coming up all next week.  We shall see.  I'm not betting on their prediction.

Here's Miss Kitty this morning, in her usual spot.  She wanted quite a lot of attention yesterday, garnering the spa treatment of massages and ear rubs.

 Breakfast was fabulous!  Just kidding ... breakfast was the normal egg thingy.  I had this for lunch instead.

Since I've gotten old, I can't take more than one appointment in a day.  My next one wasn't until 1:45, so I lounged around the house doing basically nothing.  Oh I trimmed a few more bushes here and there and tried to discover why there was standing water in the flower bed.  I was sure it was another broker drip line, but this time it would be MY fault since I'm the one that trimmed that bush.  

I didn't find any broken ones, so I broke one just for good measure.  I pulled too hard trying to get the plant to let go and broke the end right off.  It turned out to be a good thing since I was able to attach an end that didn't spit out so much water.  Winner winner HALF a chicken dinner.

Then it was on to the bedroom closet burned out light bulb.  Not that I really need to see back in the corner where I've stashed loads of things I never use any more.  San Francisco Giants jackets ... I counted five.  Dresses from the late 1800's with hoop skirts, four ski parkas and three huge suitcases.  Apparently I used to travel in style.  I had to take out nine pairs of cowboy boots (I know, ridiculous) to get the ladder back in the corner.  As with the rest of the house, this ceiling is 12 feet high.  

WHOA those LED lights are BRIGHT!  This one was easy peasy since I had walls to hang on to.  I decided to change the other one since I was there.  It was a little dicey when it came to looking up, but with one hand on the ceiling I got it done.  These two bulbs will last longer than I will!!

Then it was off to the haircut.  Of course I think it's too short, but at least it's the same cut all around instead of way too long in the back where I can't reach.  Yessiree ... my hairdresser loves that I chop up the front and sides, whereupon she has to try and fix the back.  It's a good thing she is also a good friend!!

Back home Kitters took up this spot on the coffee table and I got out my camera.  When she got up, it moved the feather toy.

Let the action begin.  And so we played the feather game for the next hour.  Honing her lizard catching skills I guess.  It's funny though .... instead of grabbing the feathers, she grabs the line and the plastic holder first, then goes for the feathers.  

Okay, enough of that.  Dinner was leftover Cooper-chicken enchilada casserole.  It was nothing to write home about, so no pictures.  I did have a couple of delicious tomatoes with it, which made it ok.

Dessert anyone?  Yes please ... and I still have one more Blue Bunny ice cream sandwich in the freezer.

And so ended the day.  I've downloaded the best of my Cooper pictures onto a thumb drive so I can have some pictures made.  It won't happen today since I've got a VERY early morning meeting, a wonderful 90 minute drive away tomorrow.  Why they would have meetings on Sunday morning is beyond me.

Bye for now my sweet boy.  I hope you are spending your days chasing the ball and actually catching it!!

A SLOW DAY

It was an ugly 102 degree day which left an overnight low of 70.  It got so warm in the house that the AC ran most of the night.  You know what that means ..... Nancy got no sleep and is a grump this morning.  Kitters tried to change the atmosphere by sleeping on the bed.  It worked.  Oh and by the way, we are up to lizard #13.  

I started the day out right with a 2 mile run , admiring the sunflowers along the way.  I asked my phone what those weed-like sunflowers along the road were called and it said weed-like sunflowers.  Really?  

Running always puts me behind my schedule, but I sure feel better when I take the time.  The good news is the after burn the next day is getting better also.  Spending the extra time to stretch afterwards, helps too.

 

I was stalked by Kitters the rest of the morning.  Everywhere I go, there she is.  She can be sleeping on the chair when I sneak into the laundry room on tiptoe ... and when I turn around, there she is!!

The only thing on the menu for today was a doctor's appointment.  I haven't been to one in years basically, and since I just weaned myself off one of my long time drugs, I thought I should check in.  It was made all the more difficult by the fact that NO ONE is taking new patients.  My old ones retired and closed down shop.  I've no idea what happened to the medical records, but apparently they were destroyed.  More on that later.

It's been so hot that sleeping doesn't come easy.  I have one set of sheets that are the coolest and the best I've ever had.  I checked the tag to see they were actually Hotel Sheets made specifically for Walmart.  Least that's what it said.  I checked online and found what appeared to be the exact same ones.  It took two weeks to get them, only to find out they are HORRIBLE.  So very thin, not "crispy" and do not have the heavy elastic bottom to keep them on the bed.  How disappointing!  The only good thing about them is the color!!  Note to self ... go to the store and buy your sheets.

So on to the doctor story.  He was East Indian, but wasn't I surprised when he spoke English just like me.  It helped that he was a gorgeous man besides ... maybe in his 40's.  I had to give him the highlights since there were no records to scan, then asked about my blood pressure.  It's not bad, but not as good as a spring chicken.  

I was shocked to hear him say it was good I quit taking one of my meds.  Because I'm a runner, my heart rate is VERY low and it was making it lower.  On the other hand, he wanted to change the one med I'm taking.  He says mine messes up your electrolytes.  Well can't I just get more electrolytes?  He changed it to something my friend took for two years that caused her legs to swell up, lots of leg cramps and other ugly problems.  

Ummm that will probably be a no on that one.  He prescribed it so I suppose I'll have to go pick it up, but I doubt I will take it.  I don't trust doctors much ... especially after CoVid ... so we'll see how it goes.  I think you have to do your own due diligence.  I'll do more research on the matter and see what comes up.  So far it seems to me that all those drugs used to lower your blood pressure have bad side effects.  Anyone else have problems like that?

Back home, I look out the window at Cooper's shrub all day long.  I went out to be sure it was still doing well.  It's full of buds and starting to bloom once again.  It makes me smile every time.

Dinner was nothing spectacular.  Tomatoes and leftover stuff just to clean out the fridge.  A tiny piece of cheesecake with plum jam topped it off.  I have to find out the name of those plums because that's the best stuff I've eaten in ages!!

There were more evening clouds, but unlike other places, no beautiful sunset colors appeared.  

Just because I didn't do anything else really FUN on this day, I did find this picture of our ancient hotel, built in 1928, now made into apartments that are probably being trashed.  It used to say HOTEL TIOGA on top.  The lights change color every night.  On this night however, the red was pretty appropriate since the local Fire Department was doing practice runs at night in all the big buildings in town.

Apparently that is done so if a REAL fire appears, they will already know how to get in, where the stairwells are and how the place is set up.  It makes it faster to get inside and do their job.  Anyone else's fire department do this?  I mean really ... how smart is that??

That was it ... a rather boring day to be sure.  It won't be much better today since all I have scheduled is a haircut.  Oh the fun!!  It would be SO much more entertaining if I still had this boy to keep me company and play steal the toy.  

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!