Thank You King Arthur

 Someone is trying to teach me patience.  I can feel it in my bones.  It's bad enough to have problems with people you have to figure out, but to have even MORE problems with baking ... that's the worst!!

Thanks to King Arthur however, I think I'm making progress.  Wow ... they have every type of flour in the world.  I didn't know there was a different variety for every single thing you want to make.  I thought flour was flour. 

This is the crock I did NOT buy, but the little 2" tall glass container holding 38 grams of starter, I did.  When I opened the lid and it wasn't even 1/3 full, I said WELL ... this isn't going to work!

BUT LOOKY HERE!!  YAY!  In the last three hours of the 24 hour day, it began to rise.  I HAVE STARTER!!  I thought maybe the heating mat would be too warm, so I just set the jar beside it and away it went.  It feels rather wasteful, but I now have to dump out all but 50 grams and feed it again.  If that works, I should be baking in two days.

This is the same barely 25 grams I got from my friend.  I had stuck it in the fridge because I could not get it to work.  Might as well give it another shot.  I stirred it up, fed it, and looky here.  It finally started to rise too!  

OH GREAT ... Now I'll have TWO of these things I have to keep going.  I'm not sure this one will make the grade, but I might as well try.  I'll only be out a few cups of flour.

The only recipe I have seems rather difficult to me, mostly because I don't understand all the terms they use, so I sat down and wrote it in my own words.  You mix the leaven up, you mix the flour and water together, and it all has to sit for an hours before you mix those together.  That is followed by lots of beating and whacking ... actually folding and stretching ... before you let it rest.  Fold some more, rest some more.  It's a very long process.  The second day you actually get to bake it.  I think I should look for an easier recipe.

Though I was tempted to just sit on the couch the entire day, I really needed to accomplish something.  I knew I needed propane for the rig and had received a smog notice in the mail.  Really?  It's not even two years old and I have to smog it?  That's California for ya!

Two of my RV friends recommended this gas station.  So off I drove to Smileys Shell, only now they are a Marathon station.  VERY nice guys work there.  

The bad news is the van failed miserably.  WHAT?  How could that be?  It's brand new!!  I asked them to explain it to me, but the only thing they knew was there was a very old code that had not been erased.  

So anyone know what an OBDII is?  Or NOx/SCR Aftertreatment?  Or PM Filter?  How frustrating.

And so I had to make an appointment with Mercedes 45 miles down the road.  Big sigh!  Yes they will fix it all for free, but I'm paying for a lot of diesel to get there and back.  And what if it STILL doesn't pass?  These stupid California regulations are ridiculous!!

Back home, I should have just watched the next rodeo, but I received an email about the kitchen problem.  THEY had decided the kitchen would close at 8:00 no matter what we said.  THEY are not in charge, so I had to spend two hours writing an appropriate response stating that we were appointed by the Board to handle kitchen problems, and that is what we are doing.  We will close at the regular 8:30 time.  If the BOARD wishes to discuss the matter, we would be happy to meet with them.  

I let the email sit for five hours before I read it again and finally sent it out, you know, so I didn't say what I was REALLY thinking!!   The only response I received was a nice one from the Bingo Chairman.

I celebrated with the last of the cheap frozen pizzas I bought two months ago.  There's never enough cheese, so I added quite a bit more.  

Not exactly what I would call gourmet, and much lacking in pepperoni, but I ate it like it was from Silly Al's.  I'm hopeful that soon I will be eating grilled cheese on homemade sourdough!!!

I'm not sure if it's lucky or unlucky, but I've got a dinner tonight at the Boys and Girls Club, followed by a dinner tomorrow night with the Court Appointed Special Advocate group.  Follow THAT up Sunday with a meeting an hour and a half away at 9:30 in the morning at an Elks Lodge.  I'm going at the request of our long time officer, which I'm sure will irritate someone else.  So yeah, I'm a rabble rouser!!

My plan is to attend the first of three meetings, then magically disappear into the restroom before sneaking out the back door.  I know, Bad Nancy!

For now however, I'm going to feed Charlie and his twin Charlese with King Arthur flour.  Let's hope they like it as much today as they did yesterday!!!

TA-DA!! PROBLEM SOLVED

REST ... what an elusive idea.  You know how you get something in your mind and you just cannot let it go?  Yup .. that was me.  Sitting on the couch at 5 am trying to come up with a solution.  By 5:15 I was on the phone with the kitchen supervisor.  No worries, she's up as early as I am every morning,

But not until I got a big laugh out of this girl.  I have to keep moving the scratch posts around so she stays away from the chairs.  As with most kitties, lying UNDER the chair and dragging yourself along with your claws is THE most fun they can have.  Thankfully, she seems to like this one because it's tall.

You can also tell she is well fed.

Kitters would much rather play with Mr. Cooper, but alas, he sleeps most of the day now.  Oh so sadly, he is going downhill pretty fast.  His distance eyesight is pretty much gone, but at least he can still see me up close and makes it around the furniture with no problem.  If only I could sleep as good as he.

So with lots of quiet and time to think, I came up with a solution.  Simple is always better.  The cooking crew gets to leave right AFTER the break, and we will do all the cleanup and putting away.  That means they will get to leave 30-45 minutes earlier, and we will have a MUCH cleaner kitchen.

My gal said YES!  Great idea.  So she called the labor union boss and he agreed.  All of that nonsense for nothing.  All they had to do was ask.  Problem solved, though one person is still trying to cause trouble.  It's okay, we'll just ignore that part and continue on.

On to other frustrating adventures.  Yes, I'm STILL trying to get some starter going for sourdough bread.  I think it might be much easier to just buy the bread, but there's something about eating a piece of the bread YOU baked. 

So I ordered starter from King Arthur Flour, as well as a package of their bread flour.  It was not as I expected.  The started was 28 grams in a teeny tiny jar.  I followed their instructions exactly.  Since my home is so cold (because I'm so cheap with the electricity), I also ordered this warming mat as suggested by Cindy Warner from Utah.  If anyone knows about cooking and canning, it's her.  

You are supposed to feed it, then wait a full 24 hours before feeding it again.  By 9:00 last night, there was not one single bubble, the sign that the yeast is working.  I was disappointed and ready to finally chuck the entire idea.  Maybe I'll leave it for one more night.  

Sure enough this morning ..... WE HAVE BUBBLES.  Not that it has doubled in size or anything, but bubbles mean it's working.  I now have to feed it for three days before having enough starter to make a loaf of bread.  The mat is a little too warm, thus the plastic "lift".

I'm not holding my breath on this one, but maybe, just maybe it will continue to work.  Where's the OTHER one you ask?  It's in the fridge.  I'll bring it out and give it one more shot in a day or two so I can tell the friend who gave me THAT one, that at least I tried!

The rest of the day was spent resting.  Too much brain power had to be used to calm the screaming in my head at the people who caused that problem, when all they had to do was say hey, we need to talk to you.

I spent the better part of the afternoon into the evening, watching the Clovis California Rodeo.  At least the Rodeo Channel has not gone PAY-PER-VIEW only, as baseball has.  I haven't watched a single game since none of them are being aired on regular television.  It's pay to play now and I STILL would not get to watch the Giants play ball.

Here's a new kid praying he doesn't get bucked off and stomped on.

They started out with 40 kids entered, whittled down to 10 for the finals.  My TV pictures aren't all that great since I'm still using the old TV, but it's all I've got at the moment.

It was edge of your seat watching when my fav Stetson Wright could not get his bull to stand.  It finally came out and fell down, so he got a re-ride.  In the end, he WON the event with a 93 point ride.  Boy that kid can ride a bull!!!

Lucky for me, I have one more day of rest before attending THREE events representing the Elks Lodge, two of which involve food.  There is no dieting when it comes to Bingo donation events.

Hope you all have a great day!!

BLACKMAIL AND BEES KNEES

 Well that was fun!!  You just never know what's going to happen at Bingo.  Is it a full moon?  Asking for a friend.

So here we are, first thing in the morning, raining nicely.  It was the first sign.  Had I taken notice, I would have stayed home.

This lovely, DARN CAT made me want to strangle her right off the bat.  What a troublemaker!!  You can see it in those eyes.  All innocent and everything .........

Yup here she is again, crawling under the quilt on the WHITE background with wet muddy feet.  That was only the beginning and omen #2.

She didn't hang out there long.  Next thing I know, I hear the telltale bonking on the wall.  NOOOOO ... what have you got now?  I round the corner to find her in the hallway, chasing what I thought was a bird.  Oh good grief ... for SURE it's a hummingbird.  

It's flying around, she's jumping in the air ... until I realize it's actually a sphinx moth ... better known as a hummingbird moth.  She can't catch it and neither can I.  Suddenly it flew in the bathroom.  GOT YOU!  

Or not ... it got loose and flew into the living room, landing completely out of sight.  I looked in every nook and cranny until I heard its wings fluttering behind the shutters.  I finally got him and put him outside on the porch.  Poor thing was a little worse for wear.  I've never seen one here before.  It was Omen #3.

With a little time to spare, I loaded the next quilt.  Not completely because I didn't was Missy LaLa sleeping on it and stretching the fabric again.

THIS was my thought of the day.  CUPCAKES!  It was someone's birthday at the lodge, so I left early and picked up 18 cupcakes.  Boy do I love these!!  After setting up everything for Bingo, I gathered up several folks and we went upstairs to the bar to enjoy them in peace and quiet.  There were only twelve people in the bar, an unusually low number.  That was Omen #4.  I should have just turned around and gone home.

Here I am hiding out in the women's restroom upstairs trying to lessen the migraine I acquired.  

The next thing I know, the kitchen staff are rioting.  All two of them.  They are mad and frustrated that they are behind in orders and can't open a can of Ortega chilis.  They have decided they are closing down at 8:00 instead of 8:30, or they are quitting and NEVER coming back.  Bingo breaks at 8:20 ... couldn't you just stay a bit longer?  I mean really, each pair only volunteers once a month!

My first thought was bye bye!  The trouble is, we have a terrible time getting people to volunteer for Bingo night cooking.  The Head Gal was talking to me and though we were NOT happy to be blackmailed, we finally said okay, maybe.  That made the King mad.  Then someone ELSE stepped in and threw in their two cents.  There must be something in the water!!

To make a long story short, there was a nice argument between five folks, all of whom thought they were the bees knees.  I tried to keep the peace and come up with a reasonable solution, but either way there was going to be unhappy folks.

I should have worn DOUBLE armor on this night.  The peasants were not exactly happy either when told the kitchen was closing at 8:00, because someone announced it from the stage before the decision was even made.  By now I'm ready to walk out the door myself, thus the picture out the bathroom window.

In the end, there was no adulting going on, and nothing was resolved.  I don't appreciate being threatened with "we close early or we never come back".  On the other hand, the kitchen made almost as much money as if they stayed open another 30 minutes.  BUT ... can't you stay just another 30 minutes?  I think we need new volunteers, but they are as plentiful as hens teeth or sphinx moths.  

I don't understand.  It never used to be this way.  Where did all this discord come from?

I got home, saw a beautiful moon outside and sat on the patio for a bit, accompanied by my two kids of course.  It looks like a nice snowy mountain, but it's rain clouds coming in.  

I walked the garbage out to the curb, admiring the stars and my little flag light that I thought didn't work.  I was still hoping for a magic solution, but nothing came to my tired little brain.  

I doubt it will happen today either.   But wait ... maybe we can close at 8:00 until we find replacements that will work until 8:30.  Not terribly inventive, but it's the only thing I can come up with.  Any other ideas out there??

I will be snoozing ON THE COUCH trying to recover!

P.S.  I came up with a solution!!

FINALLY - QUILTING AGAIN

 Guess what showed up at my house in sunny California.  Loads of puffy white clouds flew by all day, soon turning black.  It rained most of the night, meaning I hope to get a nap in before heading out to the Magic Castle!

As usual, my crew kept me company in the dark office while I worked on the blog.  Apparently we have ALL become night owls.  

This one is here for the moment, but will soon head out to the back yard to gopher hunt.  She especially likes it when it rains.  It must bring the critters out.

Still frustrated over the sourdough problem, I got out my book and read for almost an hour.  They say this is for beginners, but they make it SO complicated.  They lie ... it's NOT easy and the recipes are not easy to follow.  It's all about grams when I go by cups, not to mention it takes two days to make it ... rest here, punch down, rest again, stick it in the fridge overnight ... nothing is easy.  Maybe I should stick to my bread machine!

I hooked the battery charger to the van in anticipation of a long drive this weekend.  That was BEFORE I found out I have to attend two events and represent Bingo!  As I walked by, this little beauty was fighting with another for the top spot.  You can tell this is one of their preferred perches.

Finally, with a big sigh, I headed to the quilting machine.  There's no use putting it off.  It's time to try the bigger quilt and see if it is working correctly now, or if those two small ones were just a fluke.  I already loaded the backing, and now the top.

Here's the tools of the trade, most of which I had to pick up off the floor because of someone named Kitters.  Why do cats like to knock stuff off the table?

First thing, I changed out the needle.  The pins and needles are never sharp enough to go through the fabric like butter, but they sure do go through skin easily!!  Finally ready to go, I hit the QUILT button and held my breath.

Away it went.  This is the screen I monitor constantly.  It takes a lot of pattern setup and brain power to get to this point.  I held my finger VERY close to the STOP button at the bottom left.  Woohoo ... it just kept going.  No loud scraping or breaking noises could be heard.  That was SEVEN rows of holding my breath.

I did have quite a bit of trouble with the tension of the thread.  The front looked great ... the back, not so much.  After many adjustments, it finally dawned on me what the problem was.  I fixed it on the last row.  No worries, this one is for me, so I don't care if it's not perfect.  It probably won't fall apart until I'm gone from the earth anyway.

I spent 3-1/2 hours quilting this one, standing and moving around the entire time.  That was probably a good thing since my legs are so very sore from running.  It's not a good feeling, but it's a good feeling if you know what I mean.  No pain, no gain, right?

YAY ... a big one finished with NO mechanical problems.  I'm guessing all that previous trouble was caused by the expanding battery messing up the computer brain.  One more big one to go.

I celebrated with a Pepsi!  This picture is for Chef Patty.  Her hoosier came to live at my house several years ago, now home to absolutely everything that doesn't go somewhere else!

That's when I discovered this cave.  I'll give you three guesses as to who is living in it.  Whether outside or inside, Miss Kitters likes to be hiding.  Under a chair, under a table, under my saddle rack and under this quilt.

And so a long day ended with several phone calls over closing the Bingo kitchen early.  I don't blame our cooks for wanting to get out the door as soon as possible.  Nor do I want to lose ANY of them!  Volunteer cooks are like hens teeth to find. 

Yessiree ... I'm putting the armor on as I type!!!

RUNNING - IT'S ADDICTIVE

 It's another gorgeous day in Central California.  Every day is a good day now that Kitters can come and go as she pleases.  Lately, she seems to be out more than in.  Though she used to spend lots of time next door in the field with the goat (I had no idea that they still HAD a goat), she now has just a little trouble jumping up and over that 7' tall fence.  I told her she needed to be on a diet.

With nothing going on for the next day, it was time to get back to walking/running.  It's addictive, this running stuff.  Truly, it's jogging, or as we runners call it, clydesdaling.  We just run along at a nice jog until we are dying for breath, then we walk for 3 minutes, then jog again.  

There's a point after the first half mile or so that you can take a really big breath.  From then on, you can run for some distance before completely running out of air once again.  

Breathe in to four steps, breathe out to three.  In to three, out to two.  By the time you get to two steps in and two steps out, you feel like you are underwater.  Once you get your breath back from walking, you go again.  WHY?  I've no idea.  There's something wrong with the brains of runners that say I can do this.  Or maybe it's just being challenged.  I've been that way all my running life.  If they can do it, "I" can do it.

Pretty soon ... months that is ... you can run for 4 or 5 miles without stopping.  If you keep it up, you really go crazy and start entering races.  Not to race, because there's no way I would ever win, but just to see if I could.  The first one was in Lake Tahoe.  My friend who had run this before, forgot to tell me it was mostly uphill.  I only ran the 10 km race (6 miles), but felt like I had run a 26.2 marathon.  

This is the ONE MILE mark on this day!!!

I kept practicing and running with her, though she kicked my butt on every occasion.  Eventually we entered many races, starting with half marathons, working on up to marathons.  Who in the world EVER would have thought I could run that far.  

Having San Francisco Giants season tickets turned out to be the perfect excuse to run.  Low altitude, cool (the colder the better), with lots of uphill training.  I won't mention how many times I got lost in the hills, once ending up at a Fire Station where the guys took me back to my starting point.  

Soon I was running two marathons in San Francisco a year, along with several in Sacramento.  There were no trophies, but lots of medals, T-shirts and fruit.  Ten feet across the finish line was a pile of fruit for you to grab to regain some of your strength.  The more I ate, the less sore I was the next day.

That led to Triathlons.  Swim, bike, run.  I tried it a few times, but I was a terrible swimmer and finally gave up that endeavor.

As I trotted on down my measly 2.5 miles on this day, the peacock was still hanging out, though hard to see through the fencing.  

After the first marathon I ran, I thought I was doing so good ... I could still walk!!  The second day was another story altogether.  I was so sore I could not go up or down stairs, which were required for me to get to my office.  

From then on, I ran even MORE because I thought if I was in BETTER shape, I would not be so sore the day after a race.  It became terribly addictive.  And time consuming.  Practice included running every other day for about 3 hours, with a 5-7 hour long run on Saturdays.  I ran my last race at 66 years of age.  

I kept running, but just didn't want to spend all that time when there were more fun things to do.  Besides, I had two puppies to take care of by then.  Not to mention, San Francisco became a homeless nightmare and was not a safe place to run any more.

Unfortunately, I STILL have that I-need-to-run thing in my head.  It just does not go away, so for the next few weeks, I will probably be out doing my thing in the country.  I got in 2.5 miles yesterday, with more running than walking.  I guarantee there will be no 10k (6 mile) runs, but at least I can stay in a little better shape ... I can run up those Elks Lodge stairs ... and probably even sleep a little better.  

Regarding those nasty Rip Van crunchy things ..... TRY THESE!  I do love peanut butter and have a terrible sweet tooth addiction.  These are SO much better than the other ones.  Still not quite enough sugar, but enough to quiet the craving.  MUCH better than ice cream or cookies!!!

Diner wasn't exactly a gourmet treat.  I finally just boiled all twelve leftover potatoes from the bag I bought and mashed them up.  They aren't too bad if I don't eat too much.  Add to that veggies and a roll that I thought only needed to be heated up.  Alas, they actually have to be baked first.  I know, I eat weirdly.  Whatever I can find without actually having to cook.

I'm sorry to say, I'm pretty sore from yesterday's run.  When you start running, you run out of air quickly, so your muscles don't have time to get in so much work that you get sore.  However, there is a point at which you can keep running and NOT run out of air.

That's where I'm at right now.  Since you are not restricted by your LUNGS, you keep running until your legs give out ... and that's when the SORE begins.  

No worries, I only run every other day, so I give them a little time to heal up.  I just walk funny!!!  Running ... it's addictive!!  But it also keeps me OUT OF THE FRIDGE, so it does have its benefits!

DIVE BOMBED!

 This is the view in my house every morning.  Treats are a big thing around here, so I try to make them sort of healthy and not give them out too often.  This face however ... it wins me over every single time.  That means the treats have become smaller and smaller.  He doesn't care one little bit.  

THIS on the other hand ... this one gives me the LOOK every morning as I type.  It does not matter what's on the desk or what ends up on the floor ... she has to be CLOSE.

I only had one project on the menu today.  One of our wonderful (very young) Elks girls has a knack for sourdough.  She volunteered to give me a piece of her starter to get my own started.  That would require me to ride out to our Elks RV Park for the Stag picnic.  Isn't this gorgeous?  Our guys keep this place immaculate.  

It comes with a big canopy building and a full commercial kitchen.  On the menu today is steak (I'm so tired of steak), Cole slaw, chili beans and a roll.  Sounds like a Thursday night dinner.  Who would have thought I would get so tired of steak I would not want to eat one AT ALL!  I passed on the food.

What I did get was a jar of delicious cabbage salsa.  I have a Bingo friend who is the Queen of salsas.  Every single one she makes is amazing.  HOT .. but amazing.  I have to take four tiny bites to get used to the heat before actually having a REAL bite with chips.  The jar was full when I got home.  Somehow it magically disappeared.

And so I picked up my tiny little cup of starter and tried to understand the directions.  10-50-30.  What the heck does THAT mean?  I tried and tried to understand the explanations, but was completely confused.  What the heck!  Now I have TWO of these things to feed.  

Sadly, mine had turned to liquid, meaning it's meant for the trash can ..... and HERS.  Well this morning it looks just exactly like it did yesterday.  Nothing ... not a bubble to be seen.  I used bread flour and mixed it according to the directions, but there's NOTHING.  Big sigh.  Apparently I was NOT meant for sourdough making.  How disappointing.

I landed on the chaise for awhile, even though it was quite chilly.  Fifteen minutes later I was burning up.  I tried my hardest to stay put for another 15 minutes, staring at the shadow of my earring, but the sun won out.  I headed inside to the kids.

Mom gets a snack time the same as they do, so I grabbed a Rip Van wafer.  You know how you are trying so hard to diet and not eat sweets?  So you buy stuff you have never tried before?  They sounded good ... low sugar, low carbs ... but sadly, that equates to THIS TASTES TERRIBLE!  That crunchy exterior tastes like three week old dry bread, with a mildly dark chocolate flavored center.  This is SO bad!!  

On the other hand, I bought them ... and they were not cheap.  So I'm going to eat them if it kills me!!  My tip of the day is DO NOT BUY THESE.

That brought about a flurry of tree trimming.  Yes, I have no idea what I'm doing here, but I cut all those little branches off the tree trunk and piled them on the lawn.  If the gardener isn't going to do the trimming, he can do the carting off.

Right next to the tree is the REAL miniature bottle brush that is currently covered with honey bees.  I try to stay clear, but there were some very healthy weeds growing beneath it.  While trying to pull them out, I was dive bombed by this guy.  No kidding ... an Anna's Hummingbird smashed into my hair trying to get to the flowers.  This has to be the most gorgeous thing in our neck of the woods.  

This was the thrill of the day, though he didn't stay long.  Gramma you were SO very right about hummers liking bottlebrush.  I'll be keeping an eye out for more.  

Now if only my starter would START and I could get to baking some lovely sourdough bread!!  In case you don't know how stubborn I am, I ordered starter from the internet.  An entire big bottle!!  Lucky for me, it comes with SPECIFIC DIRECTIONS on how to keep it going.  Whether it works or not, remains to be seen, but I'm not giving up yet!!