BIRDS, BIRDERS AND BAKING

 It's starting to look a lot like fog!  That's okay though because it's a lovely 45 degrees this morning with a high of 70.  This is my kind of sunny California weather!!  I'm thinking I might not be enjoying it for long however.  I'm on the hunt for a new state.

This was a nice surprise.  Green grass.  No that isn't it, you have to look very close.  To be honest I don't even know what these little birds are, but they are cute as can be, fast as lightning and the bane of Kitters.  They take up roost in the rose bushes for the entire winter.  I guess there are lots of worms just waiting to be breakfast.  

Yes I really was supposed to be at the lodge at 9:00 am.  I was a no-show.  Instead, I baked another batch of those yummy chocolate chip cookies.  Gee ... only 16 dozen to go.  I probably won't buy a box again because they take up my entire freezer!!  Sure is nice not to have to MAKE them however.  Just plop on a pan and bake.

Hard to see this girl, but while I was distracted, I caught her perusing the aisles for lizards.  She found one that escaped last week, so I guess she was double checking to make sure it was gone.

WHAT ARE YOU DOING ... GET DOWN FROM THERE!!  Who me????  She's so black, she's almost hard to see.  

At 11:30 I took off for some creative accounting.  So creative that I had to call the Official CPA for some advice.  What a great gal she is with a fabulous sense of humor.  The first words out of her mouth were OH SHIT.  I laughed because that's exactly what I said when I found the problems.  In two seconds she had it fixed.  I have to admit doing everything online now where things can be quickly corrected makes my life MUCH easier.  

My backup girl showed up right on time and we paid a gazillion bills.  I would like to dispense with my watchful eye when it comes to that, but having so many accounts can be daunting ... and mistakes have been made.  It's better I spy with my eagle eye the entire time.  Errors aren't allowed.

With that done, mostly because when it comes time to file everything I sneak out the back door, I was off to Walmart to actually buy some groceries myself.  The last couple of times, the veggies have been less than perfect.  In fact, that last package of Brussels sprouts I got from Costco?  100% rotten in the middle of every single one.  

I was lucky enough to sit with one of our Bingo gals who just lost 30 pounds.  She gave me this soup recipe that she swears by.  That's where most of this will end up.  Hopefully it works for me too.  Oh ... and just ignore that green box sitting there, perfectly camouflaged.

Okay, I'm a pushover for pizza.  It's one of my all time favorite food groups.  I've been ever so good for at least four months now.  When I paid for the groceries at Walmart, I was left staring at a Dominos sign.  They were having a $5.99 special.  All my self control went out the window.  Not that I had any to start with.

Let me just say that this is the best pizza I've had in a long time.  The entire crust, top, sides and bottom is crispy and tender.  I could have used eight more slices of pepperoni, but this was DELICIOUS!!  It being two meals makes it even better.  I'm hooked.  Maybe this will be my once a week splurge!!!

And then THIS happened.  I keep watching all these sourdough clips online, seeing them make bagels, English muffins and sourdough bread.  Most all of them use this machine.  Instead of all that kneading with arthritic fingers, this baby does it for you.

Yup I ordered it and Amazon was kind enough to send it to me.  It's not your grandmothers mixer, that's for sure.  I had to read the directions six times, mostly because it was printed in 1/32" writing.  They need to make that bigger for us old folks.  This should keep me busy for awhile.

It's not going to be used today however, since it's Veterans Night at the lodge.  Another friend and I invited the entire Honor Guard (and their wives) to our tasty steak dinner, on us.  They deserve that and so much more.  If you have never seen a funeral with these guys giving their gun salute and placing that flag on the casket, you should go at least once.

We will also be giving away at least two of those quilts I made, along with one extra for the raffle.  All the rest will be given out on actual Veterans Day where we feed every veteran and their family who walks through the door at no charge.  I'm looking forward to that one too.

Next up ... a new kitchen vacuum to suck up all that flour that's going to end up on the floor from my bread baking!!!

PROGRAMMING AND SHE RETURNS

 Good Morning ... Good Morning.  Do I sound all bright and shiny?  I sure don't feel like it.  The day after Bingo always feels like I ran 20 miles with bad shoes.  Maybe it's the weather, or maybe the election results, but I'm exhausted.  Bingo takes a lot out of you when you have to deal with over 100 people and money.

The morning looked promising with mostly clear skies.

By the time the sun came up, it didn't look quite so great.  I was snuffy and tired from the git go.  Maybe allergies?  

Kitters tried to keep me occupied with petting her, but after 20 minutes, that can become annoying.  She certainly craves attention nowadays.  

As evidenced by the PAW coming out and tapping me on the shoulder.  Maybe she thinks I might leave again?  Or she's just needy.  At any rate, she's pretty good company and talks to me quite often.  Anyone speak Kittiese?

Unfortunately, no one called to say Bingo was cancelled.  I headed on off to the lodge at 12:30 to check on the leaky roof repair, the confidential meeting we had, sign checks and ask about the missing office key.  We know who has it, so now the locks will be rekeyed.  It's always something!  I think I regret becoming a trustee.

So off I went, only to be surprised by wet stuff.  Yessiree it's raining on this side of the highway while the other side is quite dry.  Unfortunately it wasn't enough to clean the dust off my truck.  Now I have a nice brownish vehicle.  

First things first ... I set up the bingo machine.  It is usually pulled out of its hiding spot by someone else, but today I was the only someone.  It's always a throw of the dice to see if anything has been reprogrammed when it comes to the TV's and sound system.

Of course on this day, it was all wonky.  It all has to do with the cable ins and outs and old televisions that get reprogrammed constantly for other events at the lodge.  For some reason I could not find the HDMI 1 cable to show the correct program.  

There are actually six MORE televisions to set up, making sure each one shows what it's supposed to show.  If it's not correct, the players will let me know in a HOT SECOND!!  "That one is WRONG"!!!

The infernal machine was its usual self.  I held my breath when I hit the enter key.  Thankfully, the correct information came up, meaning its little chip brain was still intact.  I should have remembered to go in and reprogram the entire thing.  Gosh ... I can't believe I FORGOT!!  Heehee!

And away we went ... except there were not very many people in line.  You never know the reason ... maybe the new casino that just opened 25 miles down the road or maybe they spent too much money on the kid's Halloween costumes.  

That's when SHE arrived.  Remember the one who got kicked out for cussing out the King?  She's BACK!!  He should have told her never return, but alas, he told her she could return the first game in November.  She actually brought her MOTHER with her.  Last time Mom told her to shut up.  I was hoping she listened to that advice.  

I would be ever so interested to find out where she gets all her money to play over $150 worth of cards every Tuesday when she's 25 years old.  Also noteworthy was the lack of a walker that she has used for the last two years, making it look like she is handicapped.  She's NOT.

At any rate, the only trouble for the night came when the Caller told a dumb joke before telling them there was a car parked out back with it's trunk wide open.  They thought he was kidding.  There were a few slings and arrows before someone RAN out the back door.  At least the car was still there!!

As much as I wanted to leave early, it was not to happen.  We ran well over 30 minutes late, making me end up with a lousy 4 hours of sleep last night.  Unfortunately I was conscripted to go through raffle prizes today, for our Veterans Night event tomorrow.  That's when we will give away those four quilts with names on them.  

After that of course, is Wednesday accounting.  We'll see how long I can stay awake.

Here's a picture of my cutie pie Cooper.  Back when he was younger and I was traveling 9 months a year, we would go on lots of hikes together.  This is on the Oregon Coast.  Come on Mom ... you're TOO SLOW!!  At the end of the hike I would have to spend an hour cleaning all the stickers out of his furry coat.  I loved every minute!!

Nothing To Write Home About

There was definitely nothing going on around here on a blah Monday.  Happy to still be around, but this day was nothing to write home about.  EXCEPT ... I AI'd my little buddy again.  He's so darn cute!!! 

It was another 3:30 am day.  I will be ever so happy when I can actually sleep past 4:30.  It makes for a very LONG morning with nothing for company but a Kitty Cat.  

The sunrise was spectacular ... much better than this picture.  I thought about going for a walk-run, but Hobby Lobby won out.

Miss Kitters has taken up roost on my bed.  In fact, on Mr. Cooper's blanket.  For the longest time, she would not even WALK on the bed.  I think maybe Cooper's spirit was still there.  At least I like to think his spirit is always there.

With nothing else going on other than the most exciting project of putting away the laundry, I experimented with AI once again.  I don't like AI actually ... I think they gather too much information about you without your permission.  I asked it to decorate my fireplace mantle.  Here's what it came up with.  They cheated because the kerosene lamps and the stuffed bears were already there, as were the outside candles.  I just remembered they had automatic lights inside ... and a nice smell to boot.

And THAT my friends is how I ended up at Hobby Lobby at 9:30 in the morning.  Gosh, does no one work any more?  The parking lot and the store was PACKED!!  I actually skipped all the Thanksgiving stuff, which was half of the store.  I just headed right on over three aisles to CHRISTMAS.  

Wow ... Christmas overload!!!  I've never seen so much stuff EVER.  Of course everything is 50% off, a lie since they already inflated the price 200%.  It's okay though ... it's cheap ... and there's nowhere else to shop Christmas around here.  

I was actually looking for a few small things that would turn my Thanksgiving tree into a Christmas tree.  

If I had a 50' x 50' barn to store stuff in, I would have bought out the store.  SO much cute stuff.  Alas, you are looking at the total haul.

I started with these four white items that I had and will add to it later ... after Thanksgiving.  In the meantime, that meant I had to do something with eight of those oil lamps.  Some were my Grandmothers, some my Mom's and some mine. 

Back in the day, we had lamps on every table.  Electricity was actually fairly cheap, but it kept going out all the time.  Kerosene lamps smell terrible, but the light they provide is awesome!

I spent the next three hours moving things around on the two big shelving units on either side.  That's when I spotted the problem.  I know I know ..... and you know too ..... I don't dust often enough.  Good grief, I could have grown tomatoes and squash up there.  

I got another slightly damp rag and began to wipe it all down while replacing the soil with oil lamps. Once again, it was so bad I had to throw the rag away.  I am just a TERRIBLE housekeeper.  The great news is it's now done for the next FIVE YEARS!!!  Just kidding .... sort of.

It's Election Day, so let's all get out and vote ... NOT for communism or socialism please.  I prefer a normal life doing what I want with the money I have saved all my life.  By the way, if anyone but Hilton wins in California, I will be spending Christmas in Arizona looking for a new house.  I am NOT paying tax on the miles I drive my vehicles.  Before I get carried away on that matter, I better just sign off for today.

It's ARMOR time!!!  Yessiree ..... Bingo once again.  I'm counting the Tuesdays!!!

FIRST SIGN OF WINTER

Here it is, the second day of November, 2026.  Anyone else having trouble writing those dates??  The 2026 gets me every time.  We skipped over fall completely and are on to winter.  Not that it's cold or anything, but rain has finally come to the Central Valley.  This is what it looked like when I got up. 

There is no better time to run than when it's cold-ER.  I got all geared up and stepped outside to find all the clouds had disappeared and the concrete was wet.

Well that's weird. there was a rainbow staring at me.  Two in fact, though the second one is barely visible.  

Maybe I should rethink this running thing.  Back inside, one of these KitKat bars accidentally jumped into my hand.  What was I going to do???  Why eat it of course, which is why an hour or so later, I went BACK outside to run.

This is looking really good for candy eating ..... NOT running.  

You know when those thoughts come to you out of the blue?  I wonder where all my running watches are, and if they still work.  I found them all in a drawer and spent the next hour figuring out which plug went with which watch.  The big one on the right is my marathon watch.  It tells you everything, including when to run faster and when to slow down.  

I plugged it in and was amazed to see it spring to life.  I would dearly love to have this watch up and running.  It looks great, yes?  But when charged to 100%, I removed the charger and it died.  Nothing would bring it back to life.  It is possible ..... maybe ..... to have a jeweler replace the battery, if they even MAKE that battery any more.  I might just give it a try.  

The watch on the left works, but doesn't give you half the info the right one does.  Not that I need it any more, but it would be fun to see how much slower I am now!!!

Kitters kept telling me I just needed to sit down, but I hate doing absolutely nothing.  I covered up the Halloween quilt with this old one which is easier to clean.

I finally went out for that run, but look!  The clouds reappeared.  Apparently by then I just wasn't feeling it, because I walked a mile and returned home.  THIS was the result of the time change.  All that took place between 3:00 and 7:00 AM.  Now what am I going to do?

I finally drug the ladder out and switched up the house decorations.  All TWO of them.  I probably should have gone right for Christmas, but Fall won out.

I even changed up the front door wreath.  At least this one didn't require a ladder.

So all in all it was a pretty boring day.  I tried out another new recipe in the mini crockpot.  Basil, garlic, chicken breasts and roasted red peppers.  When that was done, I added some noodles.  Basically, I'm trying to use up stuff from the freezer, though most of this will go BACK in the freezer.  It turned out quite good, though pasta is not on my diet list.  

The rest of the afternoon I watched football.  Denver seems to be catching some breaks and beat Kansas City.  I started to watch the last game of the day until I realized it was the Washington Commanders.  I'm protesting their name change.  I mean really, Commanders doesn't even sound like a football team.  They really should go back to being the REDSKINS.  Funny I never heard of the Indians complaining about that name.  

I'm hoping today will be more productive.  I got a call from the guy who was supposed to fix my gutters ... now that it's raining .... except I didn't answer fast enough and he has not called me back.  How long has that been?  Three months now????  Hopefully I will reach him today.  Too late for the wood work that needs to be done, but maybe he can still fix the leaky gutters.

HAPPY HAUNTED HALLOWEEN!!!

HAPPY HALLOWEEN!!!!!

It's that time of year once again.  Time for goblins and ghouls, witches and creepy pumpkins.

Thanks to AI, this is the cutest little pumpkin you will ever see.  Mr. Cooper never was a fan of costumes, either for him OR me!!  I laughed when they left his green ball in the picture!!  I'm guessing you're going to see a lot of these.

So here we are ... Halloween morning with overcast skies.  As usual, the predicted rain never did show up, like the hoards of costumed kids we used to have.  They didn't show up either.

But I'm getting ahead of myself.  Breakfast was first off, leftover quiche and bacon.  I won't even post what I'm having for the next four days, because you're looking at it.  The trials of single cooking.

 

I did however, have a burst of energy.  Out to the garage I went to vacuum the Jeep.  It was so bad, the little "car vacuum" did a terrible job.  I had to dump the basket six times.  Following that, I got a damp rag and began to wipe down everything.  My oh my ... it was a tad bit dirty.  So bad in fact that I just threw the rag away when I was done.

Back inside, I caught the predictable black cat on the new pumpkin quilt.  The regular one is right there.  WHY oh why doesn't she sit on THAT one??

Back to the yard, I trimmed a couple of bushes, because no matter how many times I ask the gardener to please keep things up, he seems to be totally distracted by his earphones.  I guess I'm lucky to even get the lawn mowed.  How many years have I been complaining about the gardeners??

I went to pull weeds in the flowerbeds ... three feet tall they are ... when I stepped in this.  Ants swarmed my feet.  Okay, I have to do something about these horrible critters.  I've got lots of ant bait, but I worry about the outside kitties eating it.  I got out my Home Defense gallon and began spraying.  They were not the least bit happy, but I sure was!  I sprayed five big sections.  Two hours later I went out to see not one single ant.  YAHOO!!!  Hopefully it sticks!

Back inside, trying not to just sit for the rest of the afternoon, I grabbed my battery charger and charged it up.  Amazingly, it has been sitting for at least 6 months, and still had two bars of charge.  It's full to the top now and in the van if needed.  

What about the trick or treaters???  Well this guy got everything he asked for!!  Yes, another AI picture of my baby boy the vampire.  Isn't he just the cutest EVER???

As for the REAL trick or treat monsters, I was surprised right after dark with two screamer ghouls.  When asked if they liked Skittles (because I have 3 packages that need to go away since they are not on my list of GOOD candy) ...  the answer was NO.  So each got two candy bars instead.  Surprisingly, they asked for one more for the "kid in the car".  Okay ... 5 bars went out the door.

Fifteen minutes later, two more showed up.  Jessie the cowgirl from Buzz Lightyear and something dressed in black that I could not name.  The best part EVER?  Dad delivered them in the back of a horse trailer.  They got two candy bars each.  

That was it folks ... four at the door and one in the car.  As I looked outside, apparently I was the only house that had any lights on.  The entire neighborhood was completely dark.  I guess no one wants to have Halloween any more.  

Did you remember to turn your clocks back?  Basically. I went to bed at 10:00 and got up at 3:30.  Why oh why can't they just leave the time alone?????  No matter how hard I try, going back to sleep never works.

Another month gone with the pumpkins!  IT'S NOVEMBER!!  Only 55 days until CHRISTMAS!!!

BOO!!!!! IT'S HALLOWEEN!!!!

LIZARD COUNTER:  28

I think our neighborhood is skipping this ever so fun holiday.  Same goes for me, for the first time EVER.  I've always been a fan of putting up decorations around the entire house ... but this year all I did was buy candy.  Not that anyone will show up since not a single house in the neighborhood has even one pumpkin outside.  I guess we are all too old!!

The morning sky was interesting.  There were holes here and there with blue sky showing through.  We are expecting rain all day today, putting the kibosh on the kiddos candy hunting.  Yes I have two boxes of goodies just in case, but I imagine I will keep most of it!!

I can't believe I got up enough energy to actually become presentable and head out to Costco.  I think I only go maybe three times a year.  This time I'm low on garbage bags.  I was shocked to see the line begin to appear at 8:30.  Within ten minutes, the line was almost around the block.  What the heck?  Apparently they were all waiting for Pokemon.  I guess it's a box of collectible cards?  

All I wanted was garbage bags and some veggies.  Nothing near as interesting.  I got in the door at 9:00, only to be plied with caramel pecan pie.  I proudly walked right on by.

In less than 30 minutes, I was actually home.  This is it ... water, Brussels sprouts, one package of chicken, croissants because they were $5.99, SHRIMP!!!  Just your normal stuff.  But here's the kicker.  The sign for the shrimp said $10.99 per unit.  Apparently that box-o-shrimp is 1-1/2 units because it cost me $15.99 in spite of the $10.99 sign.  Since when does Costco try to scam you???

Here lies $230.00 work of not darn much.  I think it's cheaper to shop Walmart.

Oh there was SO much more I wanted to get ... especially in the bakery department, but I was a good girl, only because I truly can't fit anything more in my freezer.  I had a hard time stuffing that chicken in.

Literally two minutes later ..... though pretty hard to see ...... the lizard counter dings once again.  This is number 28.  I grabbed this one with a Kleenex.  He was quite happy when he hit the ground under the bushes.  What am I going to do with that CAT!!!!!

Sorry ... blurry picture .... I was running on empty and after putting away the food and tossing the lizard out the door,  I headed back out for gas.  $5.57 is the price today, cheapest it's been in two weeks.  The blurry is when I realized I left the meatloaf I had just prepared in the oven.  YIKES!!

Luckily I had 45 minutes to get fuel and a car wash.  I quickly went through the cheapest one and raced back home.  

Isn't she pretty?  Good thing you can't see inside.  She really REALLY needs a vacuum.  This Jeep ... she's been towed to Alaska and across the U.S. to Maine and back.  She's fourteen years old and has had nothing but oil and tires.  They don't make them like this any more.  Of course I only have 40,000 miles on it too.  Shhh don't tell anyone!!

I made it back in time to save the meatloaf.  It's made from mostly turkey with a little hamburger thrown in for flavor.  It's the barbecue sauce on top that makes it tasty and perfect for sandwiches.  Good thing, because it took up the very last of the space in the freezer.

Maybe I'll throw out a couple of Halloween things on the front porch.  Truly, I don't want to eat TWO boxes of candy all by myself!!

Here's my boy waiting for the toy to move so he can attack!!!   Hug your fur friends constantly because one day they will no longer be with you.