I HAVE NO WORDS

 LIZARD COUNTER:    16

Some days you just want to hang it up, eat ice cream and sit on the couch.  That is what I SHOULD HAVE DONE!

First off, the battle of the ants continues.  Not only did I find two on my computer screen, I got one crawling up my arm.  I went into Great White Hunter mode.  Sure enough, underneath the big plastic thing my chair rolls on, I saw mounds of ants doing ant things.  This time I grabbed the spray.  They were congregating back in that far corner too.  They are of course DEAD DEAD DEAD at this point in time.  Maybe that's where they were coming from all along.  Makes sense since this is an outside wall.

With that done, I really needed to find more of this exact color fabric to match the top piece.  That way, she won't have to redo BOTH pieces.  I called the quilt store.  NOPE ... no such luck.  I will have to go in and pick another fabric and she will have to re-embroider both pieces.

In the meantime, Cyndae went to get a haircut.  Meet me at Kohls she said at 11:00.  I sat in the parking lot for ten minutes.  Apparently she did too ... on the phone, so I couldn't contact her.  Twenty minutes later she answered the phone.  We laughed ... or at least she did!!

Not that Kohls had a darn thing to purchase, but I did pick up a wallet in the size I need for my shoulder bag.  They have self checkout now, let's try it out.  THAT was a big mistake ... BIG.  It rang up the wallet twice.  Was there a button to push ... or some way to call someone?  Of course not.  As I pushed every button possible and finally just walked away, a gal came up.  She cleared it and I started over again.  It took two debit card tries to get one purchase done.  I guess the first one didn't taste right.

Cyndae went home to Sacramento, while I raced home for some chicken parm lunch.  That lasted all of ten seconds.  I got a call from the Quilt shop that they just got in the exact fabric I need.  I'm on my way!

I think my brain was still trying to get the self checkout to work.  I dropped my purse on the floor when I parked, so I reached down, grabbed everything and raced inside.  Sure enough ... the EXACT match!  What luck!!  Well you'll find out WHAT luck in just a second.

Oh yes ... I had grabbed everything but my keys.  The door was locked tight.  I called the On-Star number, but they don't support my truck any more.  Could you just give it a shot anyway?  NO.

Okay, I cancelled AAA last week, so I called a tow truck company.  Apparently that was some kind of company that sends out tow trucks to any place in California.  I asked them for a time line and a price.  Next thing I know, I'm getting a phone call from Coulterville.  That's WAY far away.  I didn't answer.  I tried to call someone local, but no luck.  

I finally called my insurance company, who gave me a number to call, along with my policy number.  Three phone calls and six text messages later, they said someone was on the way in 30 minutes.  Another call from Coulterville, followed by two spam calls.  What is going on?  

Finally I get a map with a car coming my direction.  Okay!!!  I'm saved.  Except when the car pulled it, it was a little junker with bent bumpers.  This lady got out and said HI.  Ummmm hi.  YOU LOCKED OUT?  Well yeah .... are YOU the locksmith?  

I HAVE NO WORDS.  Okay, really, what would YOU think?????

She got out two pump things and with some difficulty, stuck them in under the door frame, pumped them up a bit while I wondered if they were going to bend the frame ... and stuck a long pole inside.  I went to the other side and directed her to the exact location.   CLICK ... the door unlocked.  She had to take a picture to prove she unlocked it.  I guess you should never judge a book by its cover.  It was open in exactly eight minutes.  This woman ROCKS, dreadlocks and all!!

Just as I got in to drive off, I got two more calls from Coulterville.  They went unanswered as I pulled into Mickey D's for a cold one.  Ice cream of course ... an Oreo Blizzard in a cheap cup that ripped the minute I touched it.  No problemo ... the ice cream was DELICIOUS!!!

I got home and flopped on the couch.  I have to admit, my insurance company gets an A+.  They got someone there in under 30 minutes, at no charge to me.  THANKS JAKE ... from State Farm.

My last view of the night was this jet screaming overhead as the sun went down.  Pink jet streams are something I've never seen before.  It was reflecting the sunset.

I didn't stay long since it was still 90 degrees outside.  We must be listing towards the sun a bit as our temps continue to be 95-100 for the next week.  Oh the PG&E bill!!!

A final note.  Thank you for the ant suggestions.  I'm definitely using Windex next time and will look for the diatomaceous earth.

HELP, I'M BEING INVADED!!

LIZARD COUNTER:  16 

I don't know what I was looking at, but it apparently wasn't the weather here in central California.  It's a very WARM 70 degrees this morning and heading up to 96 every day for the next week.  Who turned the heater on?

I miss all those morning clouds that cooled things off.  On this morning, there were actually a few stars, but you have to really look for them.

I finally caught up on Bingo sleep, not even hearing Kitters come back in the doggie door, which happens to reside about 5 feet from the foot of my bed.  I didn't even feel it when she parked on the foot of my bed.  She is quiet as a mouse, which is probably why she is such a good hunter,

Which brings me to this.  This poor baby was trying to hide out on the patio.  Seriously, lizards aren't all that bright.  They try to lay still and blend in.  They are terrible at it, as evidenced by the Lizard Counter.  No telling how many didn't make it inside through the doggie door.  No, he didn't survive.

Neither did these guys which you can't see.  I got up, walked in the kitchen and didn't notice a thing until something caught my eye.  Was that an ant?  Why yes it was.  In spite of loads of water (or maybe because of it), I had another ant invasion.  This one went from my office all the way through the house to the laundry room.  WHAT THE HECK?

I started the killing spree immediately.  I didn't want to spray anything on the floor and then have Kitters and I walk through it, so I went on a rampage of finger squishing.  I checked all around to make sure I was on the entire path.

That's when I discovered once again that they were disappearing between the carpet and the wood floor.  Another case of them coming up from the foundation.  After I was sure nothing was moving anywhere along the line of death and destruction, I sprayed the edge of the wood carpet area.  So far I've only found two live critters ON MY COMPUTER DESK, who also just died a horrible death.  I'm praying there are no more, but with the heat coming up this week, I'm not holding my breath.

That's when the phone rang.  The bookkeeper is sick, meaning Nancy has to sign the bills.  It's payday and the troops need to be paid too.  I struggled with the computer program not wanting to load, most likely because it's a Windows computer and no one has ever deleted HISTORY.  I delete mine constantly, an easy task with a Mac computer.  With windows, not so much!!

With company coming, I did my best to get everything in order in a short amount of time before heading back to triple check for the ants.  None were found, but I'm not letting my guard down.

Cyndae arrived exhausted, just like me.  Twenty hour Bingo days are rough on me, but at least I didn't have to drive 2-1/2 hours to get here.  Dinner is always simple.  Applebees is just down the road.   Some of their food is suspect, so we keep trying different things with the hope of finding the ONE.  This was it for me.

No kidding ... this is the best meal I've had there ... and it's enough for at least THREE meals.  This is chicken parmesan with fettuccine Alfredo.  This pic is from the internet because I dove into mine the second it hit the table.  

My chicken was over an inch thick, fried crispy and smothered in sauce and cheese.  The pasta was cooked perfectly, though it could have used another cup of sauce.  Add a salad to this the size of this plate and I was full to the brim after eating 1/4 of it.  I'm ordering this from now on!!

That was it.  We both crashed after watching the news, hoping for a long night's sleep.  My latest tip is ear plugs.  I don't wear them often, but when I do, I sleep MUCH better.

Cyndae takes off early this morning and I will be left to work on those quilts.  I still have two generic ones to actually quilt, and then the four with names.  I am definitely rethinking my offer to do all this work.  I would really like to work on one of my own.

I think I need to add an ANT COUNTER to the top.  I just killed four on my built in office desk.  WHERE ARE THEY COMING FROM???        

I miss this face.

MISTAKES AND WIRING

LIZARD COUNTER:  15

Good morning good morning!!!  It's a lovely sunny morning and I am ALREADY falling behind.  It was a VERY late night and I'm asleep at the wheel.

But first .... I woke up to darkness yesterday, that turned into this gorgeous sunrise.  Things are definitely changing because we rarely get anything like this.

 

Breakfast was a potato egg taco.  I've been told to watch my potassium with the one pill I have to take every day for blood pressure.  What better way than fried up leftover baked potato!!  Why do I love them so much?  Because I was allergic to potatoes when I was a kid, therefore I HAVE TO HAVE THEM NOW!!

Kitters has decided I'm her best friend.  No surprise, though I have rarely ever seen a cat who wants to be so close all the time.  She parks on the arm of the couch as long as I am sitting there.

Since I picked up the embroidery work for the last four quilts, I went to work putting them together.  I cut off the name so no one tells the recipient.  

That's when I found this!!  I didn't look at all the work before I left ... and obviously I will from now on.  She has to redo this one, but unfortunately, I don't have any more of this blue fabric.  I'm pretty sure they don't make it any more either, which means she will have to redo BOTH top and bottom pieces in whatever color I can find.

And THEN I donned my armor and headed off to Bingo.  Here was this nights problem.  The camera on the machine that projects the picture of the next number to be called, was not working.  They bought a new camera (though they aren't sure if maybe it was just a loose wire) and installed it last Sunday.  

Things didn't exactly go well, but they said it was working.  Too bad they didn't know the setup, because the TV's were not showing the correct picture.  I messed with it for a few minutes before yelling UNCLE to our techno Chef guy.  We figured it out soon enough ... they had the wires hooked up to the wrong connections.  VOILA!!  We fixed it and I took a picture so I would remember the exact locations when it happens again.  And believe me, it will happen again.

Things went pretty well for most of the night.  Only one pitchfork battle arose when one gal won three jackpots.  Sometimes you are lucky, sometimes not so much.  They have to be careful though, because superstition states that if you are not happy that THEY won, YOU will not win.  They love you for winning, but they hate you for winning too.  

The good news is we were also able to repair the microphone system amplifiers.  Those were also fixed on the weekend.  They complained about not hearing previously.  Well on this night I blasted them out of the room!!  I turned them all the way up so they would have to ask me to turn them down!!!  It worked like a charm.  No more flaming knives will be coming my direction over the microphones not working.

That was it ... a rather quiet night, which is how I like it.  Unfortunately for me, I had to stay and help clean up the kitchen, which is why I'm so late this morning.  Late nights make for late mornings.

I was met by Kitters who kept me company, crashing on the bed when I did.  No lizards were encountered on this day .... so far anyway.

The moon was really weird on my last look out the window ... no telling what this is about, but hopefully it means summer is on its way out.  

I have company coming this afternoon, so maybe I'll get in a nap or two.  Just what I need ... washing sheets and actually vacuuming!!!  Maybe some ice cream will make it all better!!!

You've seen this one before.  One of my favorite pictures!

THE INTERNET AND CALLING 911

 LIZARD COUNTER:  15

Yes, with a BIG SIGH, I found Kitters playing with another lizard.  Poor thing ... I feel bad for them, but they should learn to escape instead of standing still, thinking she can't see them.  And so with a very short tail, I put him out under the front bushes.  He ran away, so I guess he was still alive ... sort of.

TODAY when I went to go out the back door ... THERE WAS ANOTHER ONE!!  I guess the good thing is they DO stand still so I can catch them.  This one however, still had all his appendages and RAN out the door the second I opened it.  So yes ... the lizard counter is up to 15.

This is pretty much me ... I just can't stand to see critters starve.  

Back to my trip home on Sunday, since I left early, traffic wasn't bad until I got almost home.  All of a sudden there was this idiot pickup truck driver that I watched in my rear view mirror.  He was going from one side of the lane to the other.  I kept an eye on him as I slowed down a bit.  

Sure enough, just as he was passing me (he was in the left lane) he went ever farther left, over the yellow line into the dirt.  He corrected and went across his lane into mine.  I slowed way down and he just missed me. 

I got his license plate number and pulled off at the next exit.  It's always fun to call 911 ... but when you are trying to talk AND remember the license plate number .......... I finally said WRITE THIS DOWN and repeated the number.  I don't know if they caught up to him or not, but I hope so.  Please DO NOT drive drunk ... or on whatever he was on!!

Next up ... a morning call to Xfinity (Comcast) to get that big dollar amount taken off my account.  The problem was of course that I got a Chinese speaking sweet young gay guy who could not speak English well.  I just could not understand him.  I finally asked for a Supervisor.  Well that took 43 minutes of waiting on line before Rose answered.  

The good news ... Rose said because I was such a good customer (sure Rose) and they wanted to make it right that someone had hacked my account, that they gave me ....... get this ........ One Gigabyte of data (I actually use maybe 40 megabytes), no slowdowns and FREE Peacock for FIVE YEARS.  No contract involved.  I can quit any time I want.  Makes me wonder just what really happened with my account!

I felt so good about it I stuck a big marshmallow in my coffee!!!  Don't do that.  It was terrible.

This was the sight that met me this morning when I went out to run.  A gorgeous sunrise that we rarely have.

By the time I was out the door, it had changed to this.  I ran about 1-3/4 miles before hanging it up.  I just wasn't feeling it.

Kitters and I played hide and seek when I returned.  She is sticking like glue since I got back.

Here's an exciting one.  I found ants in the laundry room getting into the cat food.  I grabbed the small vacuum, only to find the battery dead.  For the life of me I could not find the thing you charged it with.  I tore the house apart before ordering another one.  It's not the ideal location, but I stuck it on the wall today.

The weirdest thing ... I was trying to see exactly where the ants came from.  They made a beeline to the seam between the wood flooring and disappeared into the floor.  I'm guessing there is a crack where they can come in on top of the concrete, but under the flooring.  I sealed the whole seam with my clear fiberglass fingernail stuff before spraying the outside of the house.  Hopefully that does it.

Lastly, it was a long drive two towns over to pick up the embroidery work for the Veteran quilts that have names on them.  She has improved her work and it looks GREAT.  I'm very pleased.  Two are complete, so I will be back stitching these into the quilts, adding borders, quilting and binding.  Luckily I have until November to get them done!!

It was a long day, but that didn't keep me from wishing I could hug this sweet boy.

WINTERS IN SUMMER

 Sometimes you just have to go SHOPPING!  We didn't come home with anything but a full stomach.  Meet the crew from Winters, a tiny old farm town in the middle of big cities.  You can't believe the farmland around there unless you drive it.  And drive it we did, trying to stay out of the I-80 parking lot due to wrecks.  We got lost twice because internet service was spotty.

I mean really ... who couldn't make this?  It's just a long metal box (or whatever container you have) filled with cactus, succulents, flowers and even aloe.  It had some herbs stuck in the middle.  No weeding involved and it was beautiful!

Putah Creek Cafe was our destination.  REAL napkins and Ball jar glasses full of REAL water, not that chlorine stuff.

This gave me a great idea for MY kitchen.  These are grandmothers recipes for soup, framed and hung on the wall with her wooden spoons.  I think I'll try this.

We thought to order a CUP of clam chowder, but it quickly turned into a BOWL.  That was a VERY good choice.  This soup had more clams in it than I have seen anywhere.  No kidding, there had to be at least half a full can of baby clams in each bowl.   THE most tender clams I've had.  I ate every bite and waddled out the door full to the brim.

But NOT before picking up a piece of pecan pie.  This is a 6-1/2" x 4" box.  No kidding ... the biggest piece of pie I have ever eaten in my LIFE!!  We saved it for dinner and breakfast the next morning.  I even brought part of it home!

We did a little shopping here and there, but I didn't buy one thing.  Cyndae found several just her style.  If I were 25 years younger, I might have found something, but not this time.

From there, we took the back roads to her daughter Beccas community garden plot.  This is NOT it.  However, I drove my truck down a super narrow gravel road.  Not the black road on the left, but to the right of that, barely 7' wide, my mirrors almost scraping the fence.  Cyndae was sure this was it.  

Nope ... I didn't think so ... and I didn't see anything that looked familiar.  Finally, after wandering through the entire place, I scanned the map on my phone.

Cyndae .. it's over here.  Three miles away!!  They rent out plots under the big green dot, water included.  We found the exact place we parked before, but could not determine exactly which plot was theirs.  Sadly, we left with no tomatoes or figs.

Exhausted, we headed back to the house.  In an hour, we left for daughter Beccas house/swimming pool.  Did I mention they have beehives?  Do you know what bees like a LOT?  Water in the swimming pool.  We spent the first hour giving CPR to about 50 bees.  We saved two flying somethings, a ladybug and many bees.  They thanked us by flying away.  

Dinner was leftover Mexican food, followed by a crazy movie where the FBI was trying to find out who killed a whole plane load of people years before.   They sent him to investigate his girlfriend.  I'm sorry I don't remember the name of the movie.  We knew who did it, but were fooled not once, but THREE times before the very end.  It was the FBI guy who did it ... and she set him up.  He was killed by the wine.  I TOLD HIM NOT TO DRINK THE WINE!!!!  Turns out he did it to save her from being killed.  Yeah, it was one of those.

More tomorrow about the return trip!!!

Wish I could sleep this well!

EVEN SHORTER POST TODAY

 SO ..... this is what happens when you don't turn your computer off.  Someone got my WiFi address and hooked up to my internet connection.  I figured out how to delete them from my computer, but my WiFi bill is now twice what it should be.  Stinking criminals!!!!

I've leaving for home soon, a 2+ hour drive and I'll deal with my carrier then.  In the meantime .....

Always happy!

SHORT POST TODAY

 I used to be excellent at traveling.  I never forgot anything, cruised right along the highway and arrived on time.  That did not happen on this day.  It did however, start out right with the last of the homemade garlic sourdough bread grilled cheese!!

As for the plums, I took the seeds out, but them in half and froze the entire bag full.  They will be just fine for making jam when I return.

I finally took off around noon.  I THOUGHT I had checked the highways and byways for accidents and slow downs.  I did not do so well in this endeavor.  There was a huge traffic jam on Hwy 99 due to construction.  No problem, I'll go about 30 miles and cross over to Hwy 5.  Easy Peasy.

Well not so much when the GPS kept telling me (about 89 times) to turn around.  Sorry girlfriend, but I'm going THIS way.  It was a two lane rough road with many stoplights.  No problemo ... the traffic was light.

I hit I-5 and cruised right along for maybe 10 miles.  That's when the parking lot happened.  What the hay ...... no construction, no accident, just miles of cars going 20 mph.

No worries I kept telling myself ..... it will get better.  I took Hwy 12 towards the coast, another two laner full of tourists.  It really wasn't too crowded with cars, but the tourists stopped on the two lane bridge, jumped out and took pictures of the water.  You should have heard the honking.

I crossed both the San Joaquin and Sacramento River before hitting the worst road I've ever driven on.  Funny, it was great going the OTHER direction last time, but going North, it was horrible.  Even at 50 mph, my poor truck actually moved from one side to the other because the road was so rough.  

Finally, after 2-1/2 hours I made it to Cyndae's house.  I met her friend Bill before sitting down to talk for three hours about all things Elks.  Apparently they have no paid staff like we do, and are much smaller in size.  It was quite the interesting conversation.

In no tine we were off to dinner.  Surprisingly, this is an old cowboy town surrounded by farm land.  They grow a lot of sunflowers here.  Unfortunately they are also growing lots of new housing.

La Cocina was the destination where we sat down on those huge, very heavy painted chairs.  Our waitress appeared to be the Lady of the House, who waited on us hand and foot.

I had carne asada.  This is not it.  I didn't take a picture, so I just snagged this from the internet to show the great food they serve,  It was delicious!!  There was enough for three people on my plate, so I brought most of it home.

That was pretty much it.  I was exhausted, but we watched a movie, the name of which escapes me.  It was 10:00 by the time I hit the hay.  Of course I woke up WAY too early this morning, bleary eyed and tired.  We shall see how the day goes.  I think I see a nap in my future.

He never leaves my thoughts.