DON'T LOOK ... THERE'S BLOOD!

 

 THIS THING IS IN TROUBLE!!!  I knew there was a reason I always liked dogs better than cats.

She is constantly parked by the front door, looking out the window for anything that resembles another cat.  She was yowling, so I went to look see.  It was dark and I stepped on her tail, whereupon she scratched the you-know-what out of me!  I screamed ..... she ran!!!  DON'T DO THAT!!!

I stuck my leg in the bathtub, scrubbed and scrubbed with soap and water, doused it with alcohol and a little hydrogen peroxide just for good luck.  I have since smothered it in Neosporin every hour.  I don't want to end up with an infection up to my knee!!!  Yes it's about 3" long, but to be honest, I can't feel it much any more.  Lucky for her!!!

To get my mind off it, I went for a run.  If nothing else, it helped it bleed all the coodies out.  I really wasn't feel the running part, so I just went slow for not quite 2 miles.  

I was back in time to get the sandwich bread loaf in the oven.  Yes, it looks terrible.  I cut the paper off, placed another baking pan over it for a lid and wrapped it in foil.  

Thirty five minutes later I took the other pan off the top and stuck it back in for another ten minutes.  Isn't she beautiful?????

Oh my gosh, I was so excited this actually turned out and had pretty good crumb.  That means there are not a lot of BIG holes and the texture is not terrible.  Hey, it's my first loaf and I made one big mistake when panning it.  I was jumping up and down it turned out this good.

I toasted up that first piece .... yes, a little too long because I got distracted .... and smothered it in butter.  It was WONDERFUL!!  

I sliced up the rest, but admit I didn't do a very good job.  It's quite soft and hard to slice, even with the wooden contraption.  I tried the other spinning blade, but again, it was too soft.  This all went in the freezer.

HAPPY LABOR DAY!!  Time for more MEN'S work!  Not this one exactly ... I put my XMD sticker on the van.  That stands for Explorers of the Mojave Desert.  There are quite a few of us out there and on Facebook.  A really great group of folks.  The other one shows a scuba diver is on board.

THIS was the Men's Work, in honor of LABOR DAY.  This light on the front of my truck SHOULD look like ...................

THIS one.  I looked in the door where I keep these things and grabbed a new bulb.  I took the entire thing apart, but for the life of me I could not get the bulb into the socket.  It's a push in thing that didn't fit.  Apparently these are NOT the right bulbs.  RATS!!  I put the thing back together and will head to a store today, which will probably be closed since it's a holiday.  Just my luck!!

You knew you would be seeing this.  A grilled cheese with my new loaf of bread.  It was WAY too much for me to eat, but was quite tasty.  Here's the thing I discovered.  If you only eat sourdough bread, it doesn't taste as much like sourdough as if you only ate it only once a week.  I guess you get used to the flavor.  It's also interesting that this homemade bread does not bother my stomach one bit.

The entire rest of the day was spent making a loaf of onion sourdough.  Mix, rest, fold, rest, fold, rest ... you get the picture.  After ten hours, this was the last rest before she went in the fridge for the night. I'll bake it off this morning.

I have finally eaten all the Caramel Popcorn and am on to the Kettle Corn.  Thank you Scouts of America for the sweet treat, even if it did cost me $20.00 a bag.  I hope the little girl won big with her sales.

It's time to bake the bread, so I'll get to it.  I hope everyone has a nice relaxing COOL Labor Day.  We are supposed to celebrate it, not actually LABOR on this day.  So have a good one!!!

HURRY UP AND WAIT!

 No lizard counter for two days.  I'm hoping that's a good sign.

It was a gorgeous morning with the moon shining high in the sky.  Cool was the name of the game until about noon when it began to heat up.  I was a lazy bum this morning and spent NO time running OR walking.  It's time for sourdough!!

It takes a lot of stuff to get this going.  First you take the sourdough starter out of the fridge and feed it flour and water in specific portions.  Everything has to be weighed.  This happened at 7:00 in the morning.  No one ever said this was a FAST hobby.

The starter sits on the counter until it doubles (or more), before it can be mixed with the other ingredients.  That takes 4 to 12 hours.  On this day, 6.5 hours.

While I waited for that, and it was still cool, I began the tire game.  Good grief ... ladies, this is what MEN are for.  It took forever because the valve stems are not all accessible.  I increased the pressure on the front from 61 to 65 pounds.  The tires are rated for 80, so I should be just fine.

The problem are THESE valve stems.  This is for the inside dually.  It's made of rubber and flexible.  Just try sticking something on the end of that and pressing in.  The first time I let out more air than I put in.  

You would think the OUTSIDE dually would be easy peasy.  Umm NO!  Because they faced it the wrong direction and put a tiny little cap on that you cannot get your fingers on through the little hole.  What a pain THAT was.  

And of course you cannot FILL the air valve stem unless you happen to have a reversing whatchacallit.  Luckily I do.  It took some wrangling, but I finally got it done.  The back gets 60 pounds each per the door sticker.  Also rated at 80 psi, maybe I should put a little more in when I'm full of water.

In case you were wondering what I use to air tires up, this is my usual choice.  I have a huge air compressor, but it is too cumbersome to move around.  I actually carried this one in my Class A for its entire life.  Never needed it, but I carried it anyway.  Now they have hand held gizmos, though I'm not sure how they work.

With the starter finally at the perfect stage, I poured it in a bowl and added water, maple syrup, avocado oil, flour and salt.  I'm actually making sourdough sandwich bread.  It's my first try, so we shall see how it goes.  After three stretches with 30 minutes of rest in between because it's just SO taxing ..... it will now sit and "fluff up".  Once that is done, it will go in the pan and into the fridge overnight.  Like I said, this is an all day project.  Baking takes place the next day.

While the bread did its thing, it's a hurry up and wait process, I was bored to tears.  Here's Kitters giving me her early morning pats on the hand .... SCRATCH MY HEAD MOM!!  Yes, she got a little carried away, but stopped short of the whack she knows is coming if she put those claws out.  I'm pretty sure that's how I got that finger infection.

Back to the bread, here we are waiting for it to rise.  How much you ask?  I have no idea.  Nowhere does it say how long to let it sit.  Online, they came up with this idea.  You put a small piece in a glass of water.  When it rises to the top, your bread rising is done.  It never did rise to the top of the glass.  UH OH!  

And so I took it out of the bowl, threw it around a bit on the counter, pulled, pushed and shaped it completely wrong according to the directions I read later.  Into the fridge it went until this morning.  Now I think it's WAY too over proofed and will turn out ten inches high with too many holes.  This sourdough stuff is hard to learn!!

And so I will say Happy Labor Day Weekend with a beautiful sunset from the Mojave Desert because we don't seem to be having any here.

Here's my boy once again, needing a haircut, just getting caught lying on TOP of the high back of the couch.  I was always afraid he would fall off, but he never did.

BLOGGER WORKS AGAIN

 I can hear everyone clapping this morning!!  Blogger will now let you post comments again.  When it first started happening, it didn't seem to affect me ..... until it did.  I checked first thing this morning and it is working once again.  So please ... comment away.  Those of us who write this crazy stuff every day truly appreciate your words!!  It keeps us in contact with the outside world!

It was a lovely dark morning when I took this picture.  The moon is almost straight overhead.  I'm guessing that sailor's warning thing has to do with the clouds bringing bad weather, but it sure is pretty over here in the valley.  Clouds mean cooler weather for us.

I was off to accounting once again.  I know .... on a FRIDAY?  They were anxious to get on the Bill Pay site and not pay for checks any more.  I had a little trouble getting started, since every bank seems to have a different Bill Pay company with different ways of doing things.  I don't like this one at all.  It's so tiny on your screen that you can easily make mistakes.  PLUS it takes TEN DAYS to get a check out if not done electronically.  We'll see how it goes.

On the way back home, since I have to take the long way around due to repaving our road, I cut through a couple of orchards.  It pays to have been a kid on a horse roaming the countryside.  Harvesting is in full swing, meaning we all try to stay inside so as not to breathe in all the dust from sweeping the sandy soil.

For those not familiar with this, they have a machine that goes down the rows, grabs the trunk of the tree and shakes it to death.  It's kind of fun to watch.  The nuts fall to the ground, but they then have to be swept up and collected by another machine.  Many have tried shaking them into big canvas sheets, but it never seems to work as well.  The dust from sweeping is epic, sometimes even closing down the roads.

The trailers go to one of just a few processors located here, who sell them to Blue Diamond or whoever, for hulling and packaging.  VOILA!!  You get almonds in a can.

Then it was off to the lodge to discuss all things Bingo Kitchen.  We've been having problems getting volunteers to cook.  I wouldn't mind doing it since you get off EARLIER than I do at the cash register, but alas, there is no one to take over the register.  Maybe that's a good thing.  I think we are going to have to actually PAY someone to do it.

By 3:00, I was home again.  I checked on my ant colonies, to find them pretty quiet, so I proceeded to sprinkler MORE of that powder stuff over every ant hill I could find.  They didn't like it one bit.  Too bad, so sad.  Go somewhere else!!!

That's when I heard the doorbell.  It is not a good thing when Nancy sits home for several hours with phone in hand.  There are too many things I find I can't live without, meaning LOTS of deliveries.  Somehow my tire pressure gauges disappeared.  I had not one, but TWO very expensive ones, which are no longer in the vehicles.  I ordered two of these, and they work really well.  Easy to use and no guessing.   I'll use this one when I put a little more air in the van tires.

I have also been noticing the angle of the sun has been hitting my tires on one side.  I know, I should have ordered WHITE.  I wasn't thinking about the sun heating up the black ones.  Will it make it worse?  They don't cover the back side at all and the sun only hits it in the morning.

And then there's the sourdough.  I've picked up a couple of things to make it easier, and hoped this lightweight steel pot would be better than my very heavy cast iron, especially since this is what one of the best Sourdough teachers uses.  

Ummmm that would be a NO.  It's WAY too big.  And it says to use in "moderate" heat, so how is it going to work in a 500 degree oven?  Sadly, this is a return.

That was it ... my entire day wasted on accounting work, with a little Christmas thrown in at the end.  Amazon has turned into Santa Claus for me!!!

On today's menu is sourdough sandwich bread, followed up with bagels.  Not sure I'm going to have enough time to do both, but we shall see.  The best thing about making your own bread is you can slice it thinner ... plus there's that thing about all the preservatives and crazy things they add that I don't.

On another note, I don't think I'm ready for another puppy, so I told my friend I was having second thoughts.  I'm hoping not to offend her, but I'm gone too many hours too many days to be potty training a puppy, let alone the fact that it would be left completely alone all day long and probably killed by the cat.

 Yes, I'm still missing this little face so much.  

GROUNDHOG DAY!!

 LIZARD COUNTER:  20

Surprisingly, the weather is improving around here.  This morning there's a pretty good breeze blowing really cold air, even though the thermometer says it's only 63 degrees.  I'm all for it, though it appears we will still be in the high 80's for the next ten days.  Any cool is GOOD cool.  Clouds covered the sky, so maybe we will get a few drops of rain.

The moon was doing its normal weird thing.  It seems in just two days it goes from being over there, to directly overhead.  What is the saying about sailor beware??

By the way, I don't know what's going on with Google .. seems it's always SOMETHING!  It will not let me reply to your comments.  What's up with that?  I know I've heard several people comment about not being able to post, but I've not heard anything about "replying".  

I am sad to say however that we have lost a lot of bloggers.  I have very few on my list that still post, so if you have a favorite, please send a note to me.  I would love to have a few more to read in the morning.

Maybe that would keep me distracted so I don't realize things like the tire shop removed my tire monitors on the Jeep and never put them back on.  It took me two hours to track them down after explaining to them what they ARE.   "Oh they leak sometimes" they said.  NO, these do NOT leak and I would like them back.  That $120 you have in your hand.  If they make the new tires leak, they are adjustable.

Speaking of checking things ... I don't know what made me do it, but I went around to each and every vehicle to be sure I had 2027 tags.  GROUNDHOG DAY!  Nope ... no I don't.  I paid the Jeep registration in MARCH of this year.  The tags still say 2026 instead of 2027.  Once again, they never sent the tags to me.  

Here I thought the DMV was finally getting their act together.  I was SO wrong.  Yessiree ... I have to make yet ANOTHER appointment to go in to the office and get my tags.  THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO MAIL THEM!  And I KNOW they have the correct address because I haven't moved in 16 years!!  How frustrating and inept they are!!

At long last ... though it certainly could have been longer in my book ... it was time to head out to the Elks Lodge where lucky me, I got to play Secretary.  Not my favorite job, but I love it that the person who dislikes me the most, has to ask me for ten reports during the meeting.  I mean really, what could be more fun?

At least four folks didn't show up, so those of us that had to replace them just had a rocking time laughing at everything.  It really was quite entertaining.  I stood up when I wasn't supposed to, clearly by mistake, and sat down too soon.  All the pomp and circumstance went right out the door!!

Dinner didn't fare much better.  This is the first steak dinner after having been closed for three months.  Apparently folks really missed those $20 steaks.  We had 175 paid dinners and only 120 steaks cut.  The kitchen panicked for about 45 minutes as they went to cutting up huge chunks of meat that were earmarked for the next party.  Oh I'm thinking that isn't going to go over so good this morning when the real kitchen crew finds out about it.  

Then of course they didn't know how to turn on the microphone system.  I was the only one in the building who had a clue, so I got them turned on, but the handheld mics just would not work, even with new batteries.  There must be another button somewhere.  I suppose I should find out where it is ..... OR NOT.

I finally got to sit down after 175 folks went through the line.  The steak was mediocre ... because after eating steak most of my life, I can leave it at the drop of a hat.  The baked potato was delicious, as were the green beans with bacon and mushrooms.  YUM!!

And so ended a night of laughs at the lodge ... something that hasn't happened in ages.  Maybe the Secretary should be sick more often!!!  

I don't think I've mentioned it, but I had an offer of a Yorkie puppy ... free.  I was giving it some thought, though I really wasn't looking at all ... thinking maybe, just maybe.  Well last night I saw pictures of the puppy mom.  It may have some Yorkie in it, but THAT is a chihuahua ... with a long fuzzy tail.  She's cute as can be, but the more I think about it, the more I want to say no.  I'm gone 10-12 hours 3-4 days a week.  That doesn't bode well for puppy training, not to mention I'm pretty sure Kitters would turn into devil cat.  I hate to tell her no, but I think it's just too soon.  No one will ever be able to replace my sweet boy.

SAY BYE BYE TO THE ART CAREER

 LIZARD COUNTER:  20

It's not quite summer any more, and not quite fall.  I'm not sure what you call this, but I hope it passes soon.  I'm ready for some cool running weather.  Sadly, today was not the day.

Breakfast was a quick one while my gardener and I discussed the pros and cons of the hula hoe.  Yessiree ... that is what's required to get the weeds out of the garden.  The con is that it takes half the dirt with it.  I try to use weed spray, but so far have killed TWO really nice big plants.  I am just not good at gardening.

Next up, I need a little instruction with this diatomaceous earth stuff.  How am I supposed to put it out there?  There are no instructions for this other than don't put too much on your animal feed.  I squirted a little here and there on the ant hills next to Cooper's bush.

Okay, truth be told, I've already forgotten the name of this thing, but it is blooming beautifully once again.

In a few short minutes, I was off to town to pay the piper for the Jeep tires.  It was a killer $968.00.  I guess I can't complain about $96.00 a year.  Hopefully these last just as long as the last ones.  I admit, I immediately noticed the nicer ride.  He said the old tires were hardening, making for a much rougher ride.

From there, I headed on over to the accounting job.  Lucky us, there were just a few bills to pay, which was pretty hard to do when the checkbook had disappeared.  We were however, able to get online to BILL PAY!!  WOOHOO!!!  SOOOO much easier than writing checks, stuffing in envelopes and putting on stamps.  Unfortunately, that will be MY job on Friday ... my normal day of rest.  What's that saying, there's no rest for the w________?  

Lunch was easy ... I just heated up that double cheeseburger I got at the lodge.  This came home with me because they didn't want to throw it away.  She even packed the lettuce and tomatoes separately.  What a gal!!!

From there, I was on to hooking up the charger for the van battery.  So here's my latest question for all the tire pros out there.  I read recently that the 61 lbs of air pressure for van tires is for empty vehicles (not full vans), causing the inside to wear much more than the outside.  

THEIR solution was to add 4 pounds of pressure to the 61 required by the sticker on the door.  I checked the maximum tire pressure, and here it says 80 psi.  So do you think it's okay to add just 4 pounds on the front tires to keep them wearing even?  Curious minds want to know.

With that done and no sourdough to bake at the moment, I ran off the road and whipped up 4 dozen peanut butter cookies.  I practically swallowed two whole before I stopped myself.  No dinner for YOU!!

There was one more rock painting I wanted to show you.  This of course is Kid Rock.  This gal has more talent in her little finger than I do in my whole body.  When I was maybe 15, I signed up or one of those draw the picture, submit it and maybe you will be selected to go to ART school.

I actually used to draw a lot back in the day.  I wish I still had some of those books full of pictures, but my Mom threw them away.  Why?  Because the Art School guy actually knocked on the door one day and tried to sign me up.  

At 15, I was more interested in boys than drawing, so the nice guy said he would check back in a couple of years.  There was a chance I could draw for Disney.  YEAH RIGHT!!!  I never believed that for a second.  And so my art career came to a screeching halt when my dad kicked him out.  

Too bad, so sad.  

This is Cooper's THROW THE BALL FOR ME MOM pose.  He used to run me ragged and I loved every second of it.

BY THE WAY BARB AND JIM ... where are the pictures of your baby?????  

IF IT'S WEIRD, IT HAPPENS HERE!

 LIZARD COUNTER:   20

I can't believe it.  It is a fabulous 55 degrees this morning.  Boy am I loving this weather!!  It also brings the weird and crazy to my back yard.  

Yesterday when it was still dark out, I heard barking on my back lawn.  I don't have a dog any more.  I looked out the window to see a large chihuahua something or other looking across to the side yard, barking up a storm.  What the heck? 

I went out to see up close because there is no way a dog can get in my back yard.  He disappeared in a flash.  I grabbed a flashlight and went out to the corrals.  Sure enough, there were green eyes staring back at me.  Okay ... it must be a fox.

When it got light, I went out again and spotted a fox sitting on top of the fence.  Okay, it wasn't a dog, it really was a fox.  Ten minutes later I saw it again crossing the corral.  That is NOT a fox.  WHAT IS GOING ON?  

Turns out there was a DOG, barking at a FOX in my back yard.  When I called, the dog ducked through a hole in the fence.  I looked out the front to see him running off down the street.  How sad, the poor guy was so scared he disappeared in a flash.  I think I know where he came from ... he has always been the barkiest dog on the block.  I hope he finds his way home.  

So in light of all that, I set up my game camera last night while I was gone to Bingo.  We shall see if I filmed anything this morning.  The above picture is from the old days of foxy visiting my yard on many occasions.

The fox never bothered the kitties hanging out here, so I hope Kitters is safe. Of course all she has to do is duck in the doggie door.  This has now become her "morning" spot.

It is of course BINGO Tuesday, so I tried to rest up.  It's interesting to me that Amazon now delivers most everything I order not only overnight, but between 4 am and 7am the next day.  It's saving me a bundle on gas because it's FREE with a membership.   Of course I take advantage constantly.  This is a banneton, a fancy name for a wooden bowl for sourdough rising.  It's French ... what can I say.  Along with that came 100 (like I really need THAT many) shower caps to place over the top so it doesn't dry out.  Next on my list is bagels.

I also got a small bottle of diatomaceous earth for the ants.  I haven't used it yet, but I am fascinated to read that it's used to keep animal feed from clumping up.  We never had THIS on the ranch!!

Just before leaving for the Magic Castle, I was perusing Facebook.  Here's what I found.  For those who laughed at my painted rocks hobby .... THIS is a painted rock ... done by a rockstar!!  She is from Idaho and we are actually related, though I have not yet met her in person.  This girl has talent!!!

Her husband worked and played for big name rock bands, and still sets up for them on occasion.  These are just a couple of her amazing small rock paintings.  

And so it was time to head on off to the Magic Castle of Bingo.  I cleaned out my Jeep so as not to make such a bad impression on the Elks Member tire shop owner who was replacing all my tires.  These tires are over ten years old and had been all across the U.S. and Alaska.  I wasn't too worried because it has always been kept in a garage.  Still, it was time.

I dropped it off and he drove me to the lodge.  He said he would deliver it back to me when done so I would have it to drive home.  Okay then!!!  Truly the tires were not in that bad of shape, but I didn't want to take any chances driving to Sacramento a lot.

In no time the back room was full to the brim.  Members can come in early and find a seat ... NON-members have to wait in the lunchroom until we begin to actually sell.  There are arguments every time ... she walked in and set her purse down on the table.  YOU ARE NOT A MEMBER!!!  Oh my gosh ... they know every single person who is a member and allowed in early.  I stay out of those fights.

They finally got the word and there was a mad rush to grab THEIR favorite seat. It's crazy!!  I open my door and selling begins.  My Lady in Waiting is the best counter of cards EVER!  I love that girl!  We worked together at the County for eleven years and she is the BEST!!  Things went quite smoothly for three hours.

Yes, I sell for a total of FIVE hours.  That's when it happened.  We have a caller who tells DAD jokes.  He's told some doozies, but on this night he told a bad one.  The place went quiet and there were lots of hisses and moans.  I'm sure there will be backlash from that!!

By 6:00 I was beginning to panic.  The tire guy had not brought my keys to me.  He was to return it to the lodge and drop them off ... I thought around 5:30.  He was nowhere in sight, and no one, including me, had his phone number.  

Finally one guy said he never gets out of the shop until 6:30 or 7:00.  Sure enough, he showed up with my key at 7:00.  Thank goodness because no one even lives CLOSE to my house and I didn't want to walk home!!!

There was only one other slight problem.  The cook in the kitchen put up a sign saying they were out of hamburgers.  No we are not OUT.  There are five boxes of burgers in the freezer.  Me thinks she was just tired of cooking them.  I told one of the workers where they were.  In the end, she cooked two more than necessary, so guess what!  I got a DOUBLE cheeseburger to bring home.  Better than throwing it away!!

The rest of the night went pretty good considering we weren't able to pay quite the maximum.  I didn't have one single complaint.  It was a miracle!!  Hopefully that trend continues, though I won't hold my breath!!

 I'll be checking the camera for foxy pictures today.  See you tomorrow if the creek don't rise!!!!