OOOOOH KETTLE CORN!!!!

 It was a very warm 78 degrees by 9:30 on this lovely California morning.  There was no running, no sunning and no funning!!  

ALMOST anyway.  What to my wondering eyes did appear on my front porch at 6:00 this morning but TWO bags of popcorn.  Kettle corn to be exact, fresh from the Pumpkin Patch.  It helps to know your neighbors!!  It was like Christmas morning!!!

Then I grabbed the critter cam to check out the kids.  Good grief ... there were 67 videos this morning.  These guys keep a very close watch out, for what I don't know.  But every time they move, the camera starts a new video.  This is one of the scaredy cats ... and a piggy at the feed trough.  He's the one I chased into the culvert.  As much as he eats, I'll be surprised if he can fit for long.

 

With that done ... and having watched half of those 67 videos, I waited for the "business is open" sign before calling on my underwater camera gear.  It's a 2.5 hour drive to the store, so I thought to get some info ahead of time.  Maybe they can help me with the Olympus, and if not, they do have cheaper cameras with housings other than the Nikon Z9.  I mean really, who has an extra $8,000 to spend on a camera and housing?  BTW I did order that Olympus charger from Amazon.

Then it was on to rodeo.  These big guys can easily push through just about any corral you have them in.  They weigh well over 2,000 pounds and have those pointy things on their heads.

Worse than that is the Git Off.  The riders are taught to get on their hands and knees as quickly as humanly possible and crawl away while the "bull fighters" keep the big guy distracted.  This guy didn't quite do it correctly and got stepped on with both hind feet, one right on his neck, that smashed his face into the dirt.  Lucky for him, he got up in one unbroken piece.  All I can say is his guardian angel was watching out for him.

Enough of that.  The van was screaming at me to drive it before its battery went dead.  That is definitely the downside to van life.  So off I went to the quilt store to pick up the last four Veteran quilts.  These are the embroidered ones.

I'm not sure who quilted them this time, but it left a lot to be desired.  I had to get creative in cutting off the excess because it was rather stretched out of shape.  Apparently they have a new quilter.  

That was followed by cutting and stitching the binding pieces together before attaching them to the quilt itself.  These are the two I finished that are now lounging on the back of the couch to remind me to hand stitch them over the next few days.  Oh the fun!!

That was it for the day.  It's too hot to do anything else.  I would be praying for rain, but instead I'm praying for sunshine until my gutters get fixed and the window sill painting is done.  

September disappeared in a poof of dust, and October is melting away from the heat.  Maybe November will bring us a little rain ... you know, like the El Niño guys keep telling us is going to happen.  They have even already declared a National Emergency in parts of our County ... and we have yet to see one drop of water.

I know, you've seen some of these pics before.  I look at all of them every day.  My sweet Cooper.

PANIC SETS IN

It's morning and I'm kind of dragging.  I must be catching up on sleep because it's WAY past my get up time.  I'm burning daylight as my dad would say.  So let's get going!! 

Here's two of the kitties that visit me every night, and sometimes during the day.  Quite by accident I found that this one hides in the culvert under my driveway.  I've no idea how he gets in there because it's VERY small.  I might have to get out my shovel and clean out some of the dirt for him.

This beauty lives in the tree line between my house and the neighbor.  I've no idea where the little one hangs out.

At any rate, it was time for breakfast to wake me up.  While Walmarts veggies used to be perfect, they are sliding downhill.  I got five small avocados, all of which are totally overripe.  Makes them more spreadable I guess.

This was my first problem of the day.  Anyone else have this SHOE problem?  It's just such a long walk into the closet at the far end of the bathroom.  This is right next to the bed so I just slip on a pair and go!!  Okay, I cleaned it up ... which was a mistake because that's when I realized I had not vacuumed in a while.

And THAT brought up another problem.  What the heck happened when I was gone?  The robot guy didn't want to leave the dock.  After resetting him three times, he took off, went four feet and ran around in circles.  Nothing I did would change his mind.  I even turned him upside down and cleaned everything.  I paid a lot of money for this thing and it hasn't even lasted two years.   I actually had to get out the REAL vacuum.  Well that was no fun.

While doing that, I ran across this monster.  Back in my scuba diving instructor days, I took a lot of trips to Hawaii and Mexico, hauling along a huge camera setup.

This is a Gates housing for a film camera, along with all the crapola that goes with it.  I knew that somewhere I had the actual film camera.  I began the search.  Who knew I had not one, but THREE.  I've no idea if they work any more, because no one does film nowadays.  It's all digital.  These should probably go in a museum somewhere.

That's when I found THIS housing.  To be honest, I don't ever remember even using this one.  It requires a Olympus C8080 camera, which I just happened to find in the closet.

This is a digital camera, which I could probably still use today except I can't find the battery charger.  You know when you have that drawer completely full of cords and crap ... and you don't know what the heck they are for so you throw them away?  Yeah, I think that's what happened to this one.  Trouble is, it's 20 years old and no chargers can be found now, not to mention the fact that I could not get it IN the housing.

I even found this.  I swear I never bought this camera.  At least this one uses AA batteries and it WORKED, so I may get some use out of it.  In all, I found three video cameras and two digital ones.  Maybe I can donate them to a camera museum.

Then I got completely distracted with the new Z8 and Z9 cameras from Nikon.  Mirrorless they are, lightweight and fantastic according to every camera guru out there that uses them.  

That's when I realized I had wasted an entire day.  Maybe some of those chargers are in my current camera backpack.  But where is it?  I literally searched this house from top to bottom ... every closet, under every bed.  PANIC SET IN.  WHERE IS MY GEAR?  My D4, my D300, my 500 mm lens???????

I vaguely remember hiding it, but WHERE?  All of a sudden, my saddle rang a bell.  It sits on a rolling stand that has a big shelf underneath.  I pulled back the blanket.  YES!!!!!  You dummy, next time write down WHERE you put it so you don't forget.  What a relief that was!!

With a big sigh, I finally fixed dinner.  Another leftover meatloaf special with the last of the Elks baked potato.  

Here's hoping better things happen today.  I've nixed the idea of a Nikon Z8 or 9.  They are quite pricey, and since none of my old camera gear is really workable, I may just get a simple point and shoot  underwater setup, if I can find such an animal.  Yes they do have cheap plastic bags you can put your phone in ... or even your little camera, but they most always leak.  

Today I'm off to pick up the last four Veteran quilts from the quilt shop.  Since I don't have an ocean here to swim in, I'll be sewing instead.  Hope you have a GREAT day!!

KITTY STALKING

 I'm finally getting closer to my normal sleep schedule.  I hate taking pills, but I took one whole Advil PM and it seemed to work.  I walked into the living room to see kitty butt watching for gophers.  Yup there's a pile of sand in the middle of the lawn.  I expect to see a dead gopher in my hallway any day now.  She is definitely a good hunter.

I would have had my cup of coffee on the patio this morning, but COW is here once again.  It must be the angle of the wind because the closest dairy is six miles away.  A much smaller breakfast followed after I got on the scales for the first time.  Still no microwave, so the same pot that heats my water on the stove, also cooks my egg.  My how I have become addicted to that microwave!

First things first ... I looked up the name of the guy who is supposed to repair my gutters.  I truly was expecting him to say NO.  This is not a guy who is Johnny on the spot.  He said he had an estimate he would send to me and maybe in three weeks, get to the job.  I have no doubt it will be raining by then, so I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime, it's HOT.  Hotter than Maui for sure!!  Come ON ... IT'S OCTOBER!!  It should be in the 70's by now.

I figured I better change out the light bulbs on the porch before I got sun cooked.  Trouble is, I don't have any good lights to replace the ones that burned out.  Only three 15 amp bulbs could be found, which will barely light up the welcome mat, let alone the porch.  I added them to my very long shopping list.

Every time I turned around, guess who was there.

She was not the least bit happy to find me cleaning up the old dog feeder.  This hails back to the days of bird hunting.  I cleaned it up and taped the door open.  Yes, I'm feeding the outside kitties.  Good grief ... they have been dumped to fend for themselves, and two are starving.  I just cannot stand that.  

No they will not become house kitties.  At least this feeder will last a month or more when full with kitty food.  

Here's the littlest one ... a new baby who just appeared.  She or he seems to hang out with this other kitty, maybe for a little protection.  It had a bad limp before I left, which has sort of healed up a bit.  None of them dare wander in the back yard where Kitters rules.  They all stay out front.

I spent an exciting remainder of the day doing laundry.  Oh the fun!!  Kitters was never five feet from me.

Since I really had nothing to eat but cookies for dinner, I placed a Walmart order, delivered by a beautiful blond gal driving a Mercedes.  Good way to make extra money for school she said.  

Dinner was half a sandwich and some fruit with the last of the scoops.  This is what we ate most every day in Maui.  

Another two hours on the computer trying to balance my checking accounts and I was sufficiently frustrated for the day.  Then it was on to my phone.  I was panicking because my bank app didn't show the correct balance, so I deleted it to download again.  Seems now when you download apps, they put them where THEY want them, not where I want it.  After searching my phone, I finally found it under FINANCE.  Who knew there even WAS a finance block.  

And so another day passes by as I try to recover from the time change.  Three hours going forward was a breeze.  Three hours coming back the other direction has been a trial.  Walmart is on my radar for some things they only ship ... and I need them now.  Sunday at Walmart ... that should be fun.  Oh well ... it has been another beautiful sunny day in the neighborhood!!

JUST MY LUCK

 Can someone explain why time change one way is so easy and the other way it's the Devil in disguise?  I've been awake every night until midnight or later, not able to sleep.  I finally dozed off around 3 am and woke up at 6.  UGH .... I NEED COFFEE.

Too bad Nancy ... the first day home, I stuck my cup of water in the microwave like I do every morning.  It came out cold.  How can that be?  It worked just fine the day I left.  There were no storms here, no power surges ... and everything else in the house works just fine.  

Big sigh ..... now I'm relegated to boiling water on the stove for my morning wake up coffee.  I keep trying the microwave just in case it changes its mind, but it's being quite stubborn.  I have another one on order because so far I have poured boiling water over my thumb and forgotten to turn the stove off. 

Breakfast was the same disaster.  Thank goodness the toaster works, but I had to actually use a FRYING PAN to heat up my steak and potatoes.  That microwave can't get here fast enough!!

Kitters agrees.  Yes, every time I turn around, there she is.  She meows quite a bit now, very unlike her.

It's probably a good thing we don't live on Maui.  I've never seen so many lizards in my life, including these weird green things that crawl the walls.  They seem to have suction cups for feet.  Maybe it's a gecko?

When I returned, I refilled the outside kitty food container and in one night it was half empty.  I set up the camera to find out who was partaking ... and who Kitters was staring at all the time ..... besides me.

Here's one of apparently FOUR I am now feeding.  I know ... I probably should not be doing that, but I just cannot stand to see a hungry critter.  Truly, I thought it was the fox, maybe the local coyote or even dogs.  Nope ... it was kitties.  This guy is extra suspicious of the camera.  He reminded me of the skunks that also still roam the area.

What a pretty tuxedo baby.  I think I need to bring out the BIG feeder from the back yard.  

I had an appointment for a haircut in the afternoon, which took up the rest of the day.  Dinner was a bust. Truly, I didn't realize how much I use the microwave.  Washing all those dishes is NOT on my list of fun things.  Sadly, my new one won't be here until Wednesday.  Oh the horror!!!  WASHING DISHES!!!

Since my Breville oven still works like a charm, I drug out some of those 18 dozen cookies I bought.  No, I never asked ... or looked ... to see how many I was buying.  If you need any cookies for Halloween, look me up.  

Here they are ..... and boy do they taste good.  I don't know why, but they just do.  Maybe it's because they are still warm from the oven.  Later today, I'll nuke a couple for a snack.  Oh wait ..........

It was now 9:00 and I was wide awake.  I even took a sleeping pill that didn't help one bit.  I have three days to get back on schedule.  Until then I feel like a deer in the headlights!!!!

Yes, still missing my happy boy.

HOME SWEET HOME ...

 

GOOD MORNING CALIFORNIA!!!  Well here we are back in the big sunny state of Cali.  I have to admit, it's not NEAR as hot as Maui.  I'm guessing I didn't gain a lot of weight on this trip, in spite of all I ate, because it just melted off.  

On the other hand, this is certainly not the spectacular sunrises I am now used to.  Nor the perfect morning pictures.  

THIS is the perfect morning picture because it's full of my fake coffee.  Jet lag is real ... and not the least bit fun.  I can't sleep at night and can't wake up in the morning.  Hopefully I will get back to my old schedule soon.  I'm happy my cups made it back unscathed too.

There was no rest however, as the year end audit of the Elks Lodge was on the schedule.  I really have no use for this, mostly because there are always ... let's say little falsehoods ... stuck in here and there that irritate my soul.  

It didn't help that I was late and forgot the binder of Trustee Meeting minutes.  I'll give you three guesses why.  Yes, it ramped up the lizard counter to .... what is it now ...  23????  After crawling on my hands and knees on the floor, I finally caught the guy and out the door he went.  I grabbed my keys, but not the binder.  MY BAD!!

At any rate, I skipped out on the SECOND part and headed downstairs to sell dinner tickets.  Just look at this steak.  First time ever, it is cooked to PERFECTION and rare.  This is a large to-go box and it is completely full!  There were also veggies, rolls and a salad, which I ate for dinner.  THIS will be breakfast, lunch and dinner for today.

The meeting was long and boring.  I'm just not a pomp and circumstance kind of girl.  The second it was over, I raced down to the walk-in freezer.  I knew that stuffed in the back was my recent purchase.  OH YEAH ... these are pre-made chocolate chip cookies ... the best you have ever tasted.  They cost me a small fortune, but you just take out five or six and bake them up.  There's nothing like cookies fresh from the oven!!

There were FOUR of these huge bags and I had a hard time squishing them in the freezer, but I persisted.  I may just have to try them out for a breakfast dessert!!

That's it ... that's all I've got for today.  Hopefully things settle down and I can get somewhat back on schedule.  

Just for giggles, I set my camera out last night to see what was lurking at my front door.  Wasn't I surprised to find dozens of images.  I'll post some tomorrow.  

HAVE A GREAT DAY!!!

THE LAST MORNING

 It was early ... about 4:30 Hawaii time.  The moon was still high in the sky.  This is where I had my coffee every single morning.  

You could not get down to the beach for coffee because the last big storm took out half the bank.  This is a ten foot drop off, with the ground cracking under my feet.  Waves like this never happen here.

Never say never I guess, since the last hurricane pulled most of the sand out.  Two days after it passed us by, we were still feeling the effects of the storm, worse than ever.  In all my years of staying here, I have never EVER seen waves like this at this location.  The only spot to get in is down the way where the rip current pulls you straight out to the ocean.  The lifeguards had their skidoos out on this day to be sure people didn't drown.  That's a first!!

Sadly, it was time for me to pack up.  I don't know why that was so hard since I only picked up three little lightweight T-shirts.  I did not wear ANY of the clothes I took.  It was too hot.  Instead, I wore my triathlete shorts and one pair of running shorts ....... the entire trip.  I made it all fit, but it was a task.

In no time I was headed to the airport.  It's changed quite a bit since I was there last.  So have the hoops you have to jump through.  Now you tag and drop your own bags off, instead of the employees doing it for you.

Once past the TSA check, it was quick and easy.  That is until I realized my Gate was the last one on the farthest end of the airport.  It felt like a half mile walk to get there.  By the time I was onboard and in my "new" seat, my phone was dead.  Oh look ..... they have USB chargers, except mine is a C charger.  I dug in my purse ... and I don't know how or why, but I found an adapter.  Good thing because I'm not good at sitting for FIVE HOURS.

Especially when the lady next to me wasn't all that friendly, telling me to SHUT YOUR WINDOW ... and the kid next door who cried  the ENTIRE TRIP.  Flying is so much fun.

Here we are, taking off over the ocean.  In spite of the Captains warnings for a bumpy ride, it was a great takeoff.

I was skeptical that the meal I ordered days before, would actually follow me to my NEW seat number, but it DID!!  HALLELUJAH!!  This is Thai chicken and noodles with Hawaiian macaroni salad (which also has potatoes).  It was all DELICIOUS!!  I ate every bite. 

Not much of a view for the next 5,000 miles, so I kept my nose in my e-book and tried to ignore the screaming next door.

The sun went down as we flew over San Francisco.  Sacramento, here we come.  

It was dark.  VERY dark.  We landed and I followed the mob of people heading to the baggage carousel.  We waited and waited until about 20 minutes later when bags began to arrive.  Lucky for me, I was one of the first.  

Then I was off to call Uber for a ride.  If you remember, I had a horrible experience GETTING here the first time.  I said abut 25 prayers before dialing.  GREAT!  I got a ride.  NOT SO GREAT!  It showed on the map that my pickup point was in the middle of the baggage carousel.  Good grief.

I went outside and saw signs ... Zone 1, Zone 2 .... so I pulled up my ride and it said "send a message" ... and I did, telling her which zone I was in.  GOT IT she said.

Turns out this was the perfect Uber ride.  Nice lady, nice car, knew the way and got me to Cyndae's house in 25 minutes.  I went inside, drank a huge bottle of water and crashed on the bed.  It was 11:00 pm.  

I was awake at 3:38, but talked myself into staying put until 6.  Then I jumped in the Jeep and took off for home.  

Guess who met me at the door with the biggest MEOW I've ever heard.  Actually, I don't think I have ever heard her meow.   She never got 6" from me for the rest of the day.

She's very happy her Mom is home ... and so am I.  I was hoping for an epic sleep, but it was just okay.  Kitters jumped up on the bed and started rubbing her head all over my arm, purring up a storm.  She finally cuddled up next to me (a first) and purred herself to sleep.  This morning I was met with even MORE purrs.  Yup I think she's a happy camper.

I'm back ... in one piece ..... no sunburn, just a glorious tan ..... and happy to be home.

LAST DAY ON MAUI

 Nothing beats having your coffee on the patio watching the sun rise and the moon disappear.  The moon was late this morning, hanging out in the sky until almost 7:00.  That's unheard of!!

And every morning this little bird and I watch it together.  There are dozens of small dove around here, looking for morning tidbits.

Three of the four girls went diving this morning to Molokini.  The volcano crater is a great spot to dive when the ocean is smooth.  They spotted a few white tip sharks here and there, but they sleep during the day, so no big scare.  Their original destination was very mucky water due to the storm surge that came in last night.  Visibility makes for a bad dive, so they rescheduled that one for Wednesday.  It too has now been cancelled.  There's no guarantee with diving.

This is the hurricane's path, ducking right around the islands.  Still, we have had weird currents and wave action going the complete opposite direction.  Paddle boarding and even snorkeling was all terrible.  Better luck next time.

Turn up your sound.  This section of the beach is usually flat as can be with NO waves.

This action swirls sand and mud around, making for zero visibility and a rough time getting in and out.  It should be good for them the rest of the week however, at least on the beach.

So what do you do when the water is bad?  You go SHOPPING of course.  Three of us headed out to downtown to see what damage we could do.  This is one entrance to the "market", a pond filled with koi fish.

Then walk between the palms and trees to get to the booths.  Every souvenir you could ever ask for can be found here ... for a price.  Some cheap, some not so much. I got a couple of shirts, but I'll post them later.  

Since I'm leaving this morning, all my stuff is packed up, except one swimsuit.  Yup ... we went to the pool to cool off.  Nothing like having the place to yourself!!

I'll be flying out at noon and arriving at 8:25 YOUR time.  Unfortunately, I have to get an UBER ride back to the house.  I'm not looking forward to that at all, but I have no choice.  If you don't hear from me the next day, send out the marines!!!