MAY THE 1/4 BE WITH YOU!

 I started the day off with an old Dad Joke.  Yessiree ... May the 1/4 be with you!!  May the 4th be with you also!  1/4 is of course an homage to fabric, and we all know the 4th was yesterday.  Not an ordinary day because it was overcast and rainy all day long.  Mother Nature didn't get the message that it's going to be 95 in four short days.

OH BUT LOOK ..... it's already CINCO DE MAYO!  And that is just about how fast yesterday went.  

It's still raining THIS morning, but just a drizzle here and there.  I got so cold last night I'm thinking of putting my electric blanket back on the bed!

Not only did Mother Nature not get the message, my rose bush must have been hiding in the corner playing games on his phone.  Out of twelve bushes, this is the only one being a late bloomer.

We didn't stay out long, but long enough to get in trouble.  I'm happy to say that Cooper did NOT misstep and hurt his leg at all yesterday.  As long as I keep fourteen rugs all over the house, he does much better. Not that he always steps on them, but at least one leg seems to be hitting a nonslip surface.  He trots back and forth outside, so I know he's feeling better.

As for the OTHER kid .... do all cats get in trouble like this?????

It's 5:12 am and I hear this crashing, banging ... I mean it sounds like someone breaking into the house.  I made a mad rush for the living room, to find the KID jumping up on my expensive lamp, then back on the table, knocking things off right and left.  Silly me, I think it's a lizard ... or she's throwing a dead gopher against the windows.  It's crazy loud!!!

I finally figured it out when she jumped in the air and hit the window.  GOOD GRIEF!  She got another one of those huge moths.  At least this time I was able to corral it and head outside.  Kitters followed me and made a huge air jump when I let it go.  Lucky for him, she missed.  What a hunter this girl is!!!

I replaced all the items on the table while she headed for the TV.  I had to laugh ... she was trying to grab the plate on the table.  When something on the screen moved, she tried to snag it!!  GET DOWN FROM THERE!!   Sheesh!!!!!

In no time, Mr. Cooper was sound asleep on the couch.  I will be going to Bingo tonight, but I'm blocking off the couch so he cannot get up on it while I'm gone.  He will have to stay on the floor, hopefully meaning he won't re-hurt his leg.  He seems to get down very carefully and safely.  It's trying to get UP that's the problem.

While he slept, I raided the pantry for something to cook.  I didn't mention the pizza hit the trash can early when I opened my container of parmesan that I used to top it off.  I happened to shake it a bit .... OH NO!  All the cheese on the bottom was GREEN!!  MOLDY as it were.  They both went straight into the bin.

This one is super easy ... dump in a lot of canned stuff along with some $8.00 a pound hamburger.  I'm thinking of getting out my ancient meat grinder and buying something cheapER to make it myself.

Lots of spices, tortillas and cheese later, they were ready for the freezer.  I should have kept one out for dinner, since I STILL didn't have anything to eat.  Broccoli and a piece of bread were it.  

By the way, I took a bite of that chunk of bread when it was cold ... nothing on it.  I'm excited to say it actually tasted like REAL SOURDOUGH bread!  This was the second loaf that I let sit for two hours longer.  I think I just might have figured it out!!

In the afternoons, Cooper gets antsy and walks around a lot looking for food.  His diet is going a little better than mine!  I had a thought ... when I'm sewing, he's always laying beside me.  So off to the sewing room I went to work on two of the eight Veterans quilts for this year.  Sure enough, he laid down beside me and never moved for about three hours.  YAY!!  Besides that, the room is carpeted!

I try to make the quilts different ... so I switched out the borders.  I like the one on the left better.

About half way through, I heard purring.  WHAT?  Where are you??  I found Miss Kitters under the table sleeping away.  Now I have TWO shadows!!  

  I finished both of these NOT in record time when I got distracted by Miss Kitters walking on my table where all the spools of thread live, knocking them to the floor.  This kid ... she thinks everything is a toy!!

And so the FOURTH seemed to be with me on this day.  I got two quilts ready for quilting, Mr. Cooper is doing okay so far (hopefully much better soon) and there were no nasty dead gophers to manhandle out of anyone's mouth.

It's time to put on the ARMOR of BINGO!  This should be an interesting night since the two volunteers who caused the trouble will be back.  Hopefully everyone will be in a good mood on this night.  Everyone has days ... including me!  

HAPPY CINCO DE MAYO!!  May your tacos be the best you've ever eaten!! 

FAST HORSES!!

 I have to admit, there's not much better than California weather happening in California.  It was such a nice day that I spent part of it outside working on my tan.  I mean if you are going to wear shorts in the summer, it's better not to send the little kids screaming to their mother because from the looks of your legs, they thought you were dead.

It's also weird that Kitters like to sun herself too.  You would think since she is black, she would hunt for the shade.  NOPE ... the only thing she hunts for is gophers and lizards.  Obviously she's doing a fabulous job at THAT game.  I can't complain.  She sits starting up at me every morning, purring up a storm.

So let's start out this day with a replay of the Kentucky Derby that probably most everyone missed.  I'm not really a race horse fan, just a HORSE fan.  The get-ups people wear to this are crazy, but the horses fabulous.  I mean really, they are in amazing shape and can run like the wind.

When I was a kid, that was fun!  Now, not so much.  In our neighborhood we call these horses HOT.  I imagine it's kind of like being a marathon runner.  You just HAVE to run.  Unfortunately, this guy was held back enough he went up instead of forward.  I had one do that once before I quickly learned you don't pull back, you pull them around.  

Unfortunately the guy on the horse to the right had taken the lead rope off, so he had no control.  The horse went over backwards.  Sadly for him and the rider, though he appeared to be just fine, the Vets at the race said no way!  He was sent to the barn for X-rays and missed the race.

What's so amazing about THIS race?  See that red helmet on the left, third from the last?  

The secret to all of this is to hold your horse back almost the entire race.  You keep him just far enough up in the pack until the very last straightaway.  Then you let them run full out!

WOW!  I could not believe when he let this horse go, just how fast he started to run.  It was like shifting into third gear and floor boarding it!  His name is Golden Tempo, and that's him at the front, winning the race.  

To make it even more interesting, this is the first horse ever to win the Kentucky Derby that was trained by a woman.  Horse racing is more of a man's sport I suppose, with more money than I could count thrown in for good measure.  Congrats Golden Tempo!!!

Unfortunately, yesterday Mr. Cooper had another misstep that set him back once again.  I'm frustrated with that Vet who I don't think knows what she's doing.  This isn't the first time I've thought that, but there just aren't many around this area.  She thinks it's a bone in his back.  I think it's a pulled muscle or tendon, which I can in fact FEEL in his leg.  We were back to square one yesterday.

I tried to keep him quiet in a kennel, but he just won't stay still.  He HAS to be on the couch.  I even laid inside with him, but he was having none of it.  He needs to be kept quiet, but it's darn near impossible.

I tried to distract myself with a new dessert I found on Facebook.  You know, those ones that look so good and turn out so BAD?  Well here's another one you do NOT want to try.  

First off ... what happened to graham crackers?  Seriously, they are 1/2" narrower.  This is a brand new just opened box!!!  Instead of 2-1/2" wide, they are barely 2" wide ....... AND you only get EIGHT instead of TEN.  What the heck GRAHAM CRACKERS!!!

So I layered them in the pan, whipped up whipped cream, powdered sugar, caramel and vanilla into a soft puffy filling.  YUM!!!  More crackers, more filling, followed by chocolate melted with peanut butter.  Top with toffee bits.  This is right up my SWEET alley!!  Cool in the fridge.

One bite was all it took.  The chocolate was so hard, just getting my fork through it caused all the filling to squish out right onto my lap.  Seriously, you could not even get a KNIFE through the topping.  I took a bite.  Yeah, it's sweet, and kind of caramelly, but then it dawned on me.

You are eating plain whipped cream with a little flavoring.  There's no dessert here ... just cream.  I stabbed the chocolate with a knife and ate that like a candy bar, tossing the rest.  This has to be the most wasteful dessert I've ever made.  This CANNOT be good for you!!  I love whipped cream, but ON something like pumpkin pie .... not just straight cream!!!

Completely disappointed (I should have realized what that dessert really was much sooner than I did), I got on my phone to hunt down these babies.  The first two disappeared, so Mom and Pop laid two more eggs.  Look at these babies grow!!

They are already flapping their wings and don't even have REAL feathers yet!!  Eagles are alive and well in Southern California.  

I'm afraid it's going to be a boring one around here today.  As much as I hate sitting on the couch all day, that's exactly what I will be doing if it keeps Mr. Cooper quiet.  

Have a good one!!!!

HOUSTON - WE HAVE ANOTHER PROBLEM!!

It seems we can't make up our mind.  One day it's 80 degrees, the next day it's 60.  Maybe it's a typo, but by the end of the week, 95 is here.  YIKES!  I suppose that means I have to turn on the sprinklers.  Hopefully there are no problems there.  Yeah, that's never happened.

As for Mr. Cooper .... he's doing VERY well.  I'm so thankful his leg is healing up fairly quickly.  He's now running in and out of the house, despite my hollering to slow down!!  I will still have to be very careful since he's always around my feet.  He doesn't see me well and gets too close.  That causes him to scramble ... not good.  BUT ... Mom is a happy camper once again! 

Well at least I WAS!!  Until I saw THIS IN COOPER'S MOUTH!!  Yessiree ... my little hunter dog had snagged this from the floor and jumped up on the couch with it.  OMG NOOOOO!!!  It's NASTY!  I instantly grabbed it and headed for the outside trash can.  That's when I discovered the even WORSE part.  

It let go ... if you now what I mean ... and it was all over the kitchen floor, which of course I stepped in!!  

Guess who almost got strangled!!  Sitting there so proud watching the melee!!  I will definitely be glad when all the gophers are GONE GONE GONE!!  This Houston does not need any more problems.

I locked the doggy door, closed the back door and went for a run.  Maybe that will get the sight of Cooper on the couch holding that thing in his mouth out of my brain.   He was not willing to let it go by the way!!!

Things are definitely blooming.  These sunflowers were over six feet high!!  Two miles later, I was back at the house, STARVING!

But FIRST ... let's check out the starter.  But what's this?  It's in a box?

Yup ... it has its own house now.  I keep my house too cold in the winter and spring for it to work very well.  When the temperature isn't quite right, I can just MAKE it right.  Only wait ... Houston, we have ANOTHER problem.

Good grief ... this sourdough stuff has almost become more trouble than it's worth, though it does keep me off the streets.  It was as runny as could be, and smelled slightly of vinegar.  I hit the internet.  IT'S HUNGRY!  What?  When it gets runny like that it means it needs to be fed.  Apparently I will have to feed it more often, or stick it in the fridge.  I fed it the required breakfast and away it went.  It now looks like this and is in the fridge.  

That's when it dawned on me.  You feed it early, let it rise and bake with HALF while feeding the remaining half for the day, instead of baking with ALL of it.  No one ever said I was good at figuring out BAKING stuff.

What's this you ask?  Why another kitchen gadget to stuff in my already full to the brim cabinets.  THIS is a bread slicer.  I could have gone for the electric model, but I would probably cut my hand off, so I got the manual one instead.

This thing is the BOMB!!  My fancy dancy bread knife doesn't hold a candle to this baby.  

Turn the handle with your right hand, push the bread ahead with your left.  It slices like butter.  You can even change up the thickness if you want.  It will slice up other things as well, but then I'd have to take the blade off and chance losing a finger.  

Just look at this!!  This is the loaf where I actually followed the directions correctly, and it has a much more sourdough flavor.  Maybe, just maybe I have corrected the problems and will be able to make my own bread from now on.  WOOHOO!!!

With nothing else on my plate ... well there was, but I'll show you that disaster tomorrow ... I spent several hours squaring up eight of these panels and sewing borders on this one.  I changed up the colors after the picture was taken.  I tend to like a solid outside border instead.  So much indecision goes into that process.

I also watched the Kentucky Derby run.  I don't miss too many programs that have horses.  I'm sure someone got fired on this run, but I'll post pictures tomorrow.

Here's hoping I have NO gophers in my house when I limp into the living room in two minutes!!  Running does that to you!!

BAKING AND MORE BAKING

 Well here we are, still hanging out on the couch.  I imagine that's going to be my life for these five days I actually have nothing to do at the Elks Lodge.  That should improve my outlook!!

On the other hand, babysitting is not the most exciting thing I've ever done.  In this case however, I am cherishing every moment with my sweet pup.  The good news is he's doing better.  I'm VERY careful where he is and where I step, as well as lifting him up on the couch.  Those red and white checkerboard tablecloths cover the 6" step to make it slip free so he can get down by himself.  He's not limping hardly at all and now trots from the back yard to the door.  SUCCESS!  His leg is healing.

I admit, I'm bored to tears, so I'm trying to make room in my freezer for more loaves of bread.  I know, bread certainly isn't good for the diet, so I have small pieces once a day.  I may even have to give some of it away, as in an entire loaf.  

I followed the directions more carefully this time, giving it another 2 hours to rest up before sticking it in the fridge overnight.  They say that develops the flavor.  And so I baked this one this morning.  Trouble is, my oven does not come to temperature any more, as in 500 degrees to heat, 450 to bake.  

She sure looks PURDY though!  I haven't tasted this one.  It's in the freezer.  I'm waiting for the bread slicer I ordered so I can have more reasonably sized pieces.  I feel bad for whoever will have to clean out my house when I'm gone.

I'm hopeful that the King Arthur starter keeps going and going like the Energizer Bunny, now that I only have ONE to feed.  They say some people keep theirs for 4-5 years.

About 10:30 as Cooper was sleeping, I snuck out of the house to catch my ride to the repair shop.  My Jeep's oil change and tire rotation was done and she wanted to come home.  It needs a new battery, mostly because I don't drive it enough, but she smiled as I pulled into the garage.  I've been really lucky with vehicles ... both the Jeep and the truck haven't really cost me much at all over the last 21 years.  More money to spend on crap I don't need, yes?  I'm keeping them both around because you never know when you will need that second vehicle.

Yup .... still babysitting on the couch.  I'm trying to stay very close for at least three days to keep him quiet and get his leg back in shape, then maybe I can head out for a ride in the van.  

Bored to death, I was perusing Walmart online when I found this.  As you know, I taste these things so you don't have to.  And you don't have to try this one AT ALL.  In fact, I instead found a recipe for sourdough pizza dough that I will try some day soon.

So I rolled it out, WAY too big, and had to cut it down to fit the pan.  It's okay, I like thin crust.  I loaded it up with ham that I never should have bought from Costco, mozzarella cheese and pineapple tidbits.  

It's my fault really, because I used spaghetti sauce instead of thick pizza sauce.  I suppose it was edible.  I at least got two pieces down, but could not taste the ham even a tiny bit.  The crust was AWFUL with a capital A.  More cheese might have made it palatable.  I mean really, I was hoping for the flavor of the pizza Miss Terry made for me many years ago.  It wasn't even close.  I'll try to choke down two more pieces today, but I'm pretty sure it's going on a wonderful airplane flight straight into my trash can.

While Cooper lounged on the floor in my sewing room (one with carpet), I trimmed up two quilts ready for binding and squared up six panels for Veteran quilts.  If I'm going to be sitting around, I might as well be sitting next to my sewing machine.  

Very late in the afternoon, Mr. Cooper began panting a bit.  It's a warm 75 degrees in the house because I have been leaving the back door open so he can get in the grass.  That has worked out VERY well, but it's hot.  

To his dismay, I plunked him down on my kitchen counter (not the side I prep food on) and gave him a haircut.  He looks five pounds thinner.  

And so ended a lovely day of babysitting, baking and brevity.  Okay, there was no brevity, other than me laughing at the horrible pizza I had to eat!  

Let's hope today offers up something better .... like pizza from Dommmmino's!!!  It's all we have in this little town and it's quite good!

SHE'S HOME!!!!

 I had this brilliant idea on Wednesday, but didn't follow through.  So THURSDAY, I drove my Jeep into town and left it at the shop for an oil change and a tire rotation, so I could pick up my truck.  SHE'S HOME!  The good news is she runs SO much better ... so maybe that shorting out wire had been affecting her for a while.  They said the flow rate on all the other injectors is excellent.

The Jeep on the other hand ... needs brakes.  That's not happening until I gather up some more moolah however.  The Jeep is 14 years old and never had anything but new tires, so I guess I can't complain.  

I cancelled the Van appointment for the smog fix.  I need to stay home with Mr. Cooper for at least a week and keep him quiet so the leg can heal up a bit.  Every so often he gets it caught on something that makes it hurt, so I'm watching him like a hawk.  

He was not the least bit impressed with the diet thing.  Bark bark bark, but I cut him back by 1/4 cup a day, and he survived.  He's just such a sweet boy, I have to do everything I can for him.

Mostly that involved keeping him sleeping on the couch.  Hopefully the kennel will arrive today that will keep him from walking the hallways.  Yeah I'll probably have to be in there with him.  That will be a sight to see, yes?

Here's one of the duck eggs.  They are HUGE, as I suspected.  I can tell you right off the bat, I was not a fan, but Cooper thought the tiny bit I gave him was okay.  Not GREAT, but okay.  But then he will eat anything!!

And THAT is when I messed up big time.  All these sourdough recipes are so complicated.  I guess it's just that I'm old and can't think ahead very far.  I had saved the starter in the fridge ... pulled it out and mixed up the batter.  

OH NO!!  I suddenly realized I had used the ENTIRE JAR full, meaning I no longer have any STARTER!  It's okay because I have TWO jars ... one from my friend and one from King Arthur.  Sadly, my friends starter is entirely in this loaf of bread. 

The other loaf I baked was K.A., so we shall see how this one turns out when I bake it today.  The K.A. starter rises beautifully and fairly quickly.  My friends, not so much.  No, I am NOT telling her.  We shall see in a few short hours how this one turns out.

I'm trying to keep myself occupied with something other than my phone, while keeping Mr. Cooper down.  Kitters does her part.  This happens about five times a day.  I've never seen a cat who allows brushing with a dog brush.  Apparently it feels REALLY GOOD!!  And yes, I now have cat hair everywhere!!

April went out like a lamb around here ... disappearing in a flash of light.  It's May already, time for the FROG MOON.  I used to love hearing them out on the ranch.  The noise was so loud it kept you awake most of the night.  Also the flower moon, because obviously flowers bloom in the spring.  

My favorite, it's the moon of the shedding ponies.  Horses gather up lots of hair in the winter to keep them warm.  They then shed it off in huge clumps a hundred times worse than a cat.  Even more fun, it sticks like glue to everything you are wearing!!  This May we will be regaled with not one, but TWO full moons!!  Lucky for me, neither are on Bingo night.

I'll be getting my Jeep back today and baking a big loaf of sourdough while babysitting my Cooper Kid.  Not the most exciting life, but I'm good with it.  There's always tomorrow for travel.