FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!

 Welcome back to sunny California!  The mornings are as beautiful as they can get.  In spite of it being an entire month early, spring has sprung with temps between 50 and 85.  We're hoping this LASTS an extra month, or we will end up with a 7 month summer!  

Unfortunately, that means these guys are in full bloom.  I've never had dandelions in my yard before and would prefer they go next door.  Speaking of next door ... the one with the dogs who she rudely let do their business on MY lawn every single day .... they seem to have disappeared.  YAY!!  I only see one vehicle there on occasion and haven't seen the dogs in weeks.  The best part ..... IT'S QUIET!!!

Unfortunately, a walk around discovered weeds like never before.  What the heck!  I just sprayed all of this three weeks ago ... and I don't see a single dead weed.  So I got out my sprayer and went to work, only to discover the gardener hasn't been doing his job very well at all.  The flower beds are a disaster.  I worked for a bit, but it was just too hot.  That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it.

Besides, I would rather be playing with this guy inside.  Sadly, he is slowing down quite a bit, exactly like his Mom.  I miss the crazy guy that would chase the ball for hours on end and the Mom that had the energy to throw it!!

With Kitters going in and out the doggy door, I figured I would set up her automatic feeder inside.  There are some other fat cats OUTSIDE that like to partake.  If I'm gone on a trip, this will make her food available all the time, instead of running out.  I have to say, this thing works really well and holds a ton of food.  

I hesitated to show you this picture.  This CAT ..... she loves to scratch on absolutely everything in the house.  The good news is if I yell at her, she stops ... for at least 30 seconds.  So I bought yet another scratch pole ... a HUGE one.  There was lots of griping and complaining putting the thing together, but we finally got it.  So far she hasn't even TOUCHED it!!!  Go figure!!!

That was about it for the day.  I tried to rest up a little, but I have a really hard time just sitting.  That's probably because I have things to do, I just don't feel like doing them.  Four packages back to the UPS store for return to Amazon ... find a light fixture replacement for the sewing room ... SEW ... fix the laundry room faucet that doesn't get any water ... trim the bushes ... VACUUM ... use up that Costco reward ... the list goes on and on!

Instead, I whipped up one of my all time favorites.  Corned Beef Hash.  I love this stuff!  I could eat it every single day.  In fact, I'm trying to buy up all that left over Elks Corned Beef for the freezer.

Lunch AND dinner was served, along with a piece of this amazing rye bread.  I do not like rye bread one little bit ... but THIS ... wherever it comes from ... is DELICIOUS!

One quick trip to town and I ran into this.  There were police cars screaming East until suddenly they changed directions and went North directly in front of me.  I pulled in to park and three more came in from behind.  Then I heard GET ON THE GROUND and a Police Dog barking like crazy!  OOPS ... someone is in trouble!!  I looked around to be sure it wasn't me they were yelling at!!  Now I'm curious what the guy did, because this NEVER happens in our little town!

I ended this lovely day with a little dessert while watching Rodeo.  By the way, the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association is coming to town.  Our Sheriff got them hooked up with the fairgrounds to put on a rodeo in a few short days.  Their big welcome event will happen at our Lodge ... which is another reason we needed to get it fixed up.

They are also talking about bringing back the Elks Roping event that was HUGE back in the day.  In fact, that's how our RV park came about.  The land was donated for a new roping arena for one of the biggest events in the Central Valley.  Unfortunately, it lost its momentum.  Since the plans included an RV park, they went ahead with that part and never did put in an arena.  Maybe some day someone will donate the money for the chutes and arena, and we will be back in business!!!

CORNED BEEF AND CABBAGE!

 It's a lovely 57 degrees this morning.  My fan is on, the door is open and I have ANOTHER fan in the doorway, bringing cool air inside.  Luckily I have good insulation in this house, and even though it's 88 degrees outside during the day, it's nice and cool INSIDE.  That is part of what saves me from screaming over the PGE bill!  

Mr. Cooper and I actually went for a walk on this morning.  What a surprise!  I figured we would only make it to the garbage can I left on the street, but we went clear to the end of the block.  Of course we watered the street 17 times.  

Back home, I took one look at this counter and got right to work.  Somehow I got terribly distracted and ended up back outside.

I looked out the window and saw a sprinkler laying on top of the concrete.  How could that be?  Must be broken.  I looked down in the hole to see that it merely looked unscrewed.  I tapped the sprinkler, only to see rocks come out.  Apparently the entire head was FULL of little rocks.  Thirty minutes of washing and banging later, and I think I got it ... maybe.  We shall see if it becomes a rocket when it turns back on.

Finally ... it was ME time, though I was pestered continuously.  I laid out on the lounge on the patio, only to be constantly patted and rubbed on by these four feet.  GO AWAY PLEASE!

That wasn't happening, so after 30 minutes, I finally just got up.  This kid sure is needy!!  And in TROUBLE because she is right now roaming around the house making all kinds of banging noises.  Silly cat!!!

It didn't matter because there was no peace whatsoever outside.  Two magpies were screaming constantly the entire time.  It must be spring ... and he would NOT give up!  This is the sun shining through his white feathers!!!

Maybe some lunch will make up for no sun.  I'm being good ... kinda sorta!  This is a 2" square of cake.  I could easily eat a HUGE slice, but I'm trying to be good.  It's lodge night and we are having corned beef and cabbage.  

It is usually a HUGE night, but of course everyone thought we were still closed.  Could be because I asked the Secretary to please put out several notices per day and I got only ONE.  Here I am selling tickets.  It was a slow go, but we ended up with 100 folks.  People thought it would be too smoky, but honestly, that company did such a good job that I could not smell any smoke at all in the entire building.  

This is my LEFTOVERS!!  I already ate half of it.  You never go away hungry here.  This was probably the best CBC dinner I've ever had.  Even better ... they had so much leftover, you got another full box for $10.00. I came home with THREE so I won't have to cook for the next two weeks!!!

I snuck into the lunchroom just to see how it was going.  The repair is done, texturing will happen today, with painting tomorrow.  The ceiling is being completely replaced ... not because it had to be, but because it's 50 years old and disgusting looking.  They are also going to clean all the AC ductwork and put in much better insulation.  We will be back in business hopefully by Monday, mostly because we have amazing professional members who stepped up to get it done.  All licensed contractors, by the way.

The down side of that is BINGO is on again.  It was nice to have a week off, but no one lets sleeping dogs lie around here.  

I'm rather tired today, so I will probably be on the couch ... or maybe on the lounge outside checking out the concrete from my favorite sunny location.

TAXES AND SUGAR HEAVEN

 Guess where I am!!  This taxes thing is a total pain in the patoo!  I've had to learn more than I ever wanted to know about passive and active income, everything commercial, being a real estate professional when you aren't, and what IRS thinks of it.  I always thought it would be nice to be a multi-millionaire ... but now I know better!  It's SO complicated and time consuming you just can't imagine, but then I guess that's why they hire the Big Time Accountants.  Not me of course ... but the ones I'm trying to satisfy with answers I'm only beginning to understand myself.

On another note, SPRING has arrived.  The almond blossoms only lasted three days before the almonds sprouted.  Not a great picture, but those lighter spots are nuts.  The trees are FULL of them!!  It may be a good year after all.

Magically, truly overnight, my little Japanese maple tree blossomed into this beauty.  Last week I thought it was going to die.  Today it's gorgeous!

I'm happy to say I'm better today.  I'm breathing much better, not coughing or sneezing constantly and can actually DO something.  You know how it is when you're sick ... stuff piles up on the counters and the furniture.  I was shocked when I took a good look at my kitchen!  I'll be doing some major organization work today.

That works out well since I won't be walking.  We are up to 89 degrees with 90 on it's way.

After several hours of accounting work, followed by another two hours on my home computer making up spreadsheets breaking down hundreds of credit card transactions (OH THE FUN), I finally felt like opening up the box I received.  

I had ordered a small sewing machine for the van.  I have plenty of room to sew on my swivel dinner table.  Here's the thing.  I LOVE my Brother sewing machines, but they were VERY pricey.  This little gem was a measly $150 ... and as you can imagine, does not put the color on the blossom.  For one, I have to learn a whole new machine.  Nothing really works the same.  It said it had a needle threader, but I can't see IT any better than if I did it MYSELF!  

I'm thinking if I did all the cutting before I left and only stitched parts and pieces, it would work ... more or less.  I haven't decided yet.

What I DIDN'T do was go to the lodge.  Sometimes it's better to just stay out of their way.  I already know that the ones who don't know much about construction, will be the ones telling everyone else what to do.  I'm standing with my friend Mark who said "I'm staying completely away from that project.  That way I'm not RESPONSIBLE"!  I agree!!

Dinner was another Lean Cuisine pizza.  My package of pepperoni is almost gone.  One more and I can go back to REAL pizza!!  This time I got smart and only ate HALF.

BECAUSE ... I've been thinking about THIS for two weeks.  I thought I had the recipe somewhere.  Oh well, I'll just wing it.  Okay, I admit that didn't turn out so well ... but wait ... it's not finished yet.  

This is a box mix chocolate cake I made with coffee instead of water.  What a difference in the chocolate flavor!!  Once baked, you cool it a bit, poke holes and pour in a mixture of sweetened condensed milk and caramel sauce.  Boy oh boy ... I spilled some on purpose just so I could scoop it up and eat it!!  Those were supposed to be chocolate chips, but I needed to use up the white chocolate ones.

Lastly, you smother it with Cool Whip, more caramel and nuts.  I chose to cut the cake up into small pieces and freeze it, adding the cream as I thaw a piece and eat it.  THIS was dessert.  No worries, the Cool Whip is ZERO SUGAR.  That takes away ALL the calories, right????

I was in sugar HEAVEN!  Maybe since it's a cool 59 degrees right now, I'll go for a very short walk, just to see how I really feel.  

My tip of the day ........  EAT THE DESSERT!  LIFE IS SHORT!!!

JOKE OF THE DAY

MY JOKE OF THE DAY .........

A woman walks into a bar ... have you heard this one?  A woman walks into a bar and writes a check for $20,000. 

Only it's not a joke.  Yessiree ... Elks will step up when you least expect it.

I actually got my act together and was at the lodge at 9:30.   The building smells amazingly better, not that I can really smell anything yet.  My plugged up "cold" nose is still not very happy.

I talked with our Ex-Club Manager for several minutes going over the progress and our expected costs.  I say $20,000, he says $25,000.  Inside the building they were beginning the dishwashing.  My first thought is getting this place back open, and every single kitchen and bar utensil had to be washed.  You can imagine how many GLASSES we have with two bars and a huge commercial kitchen.  They even scrubbed the tables and chairs, top to bottom.  It's a good thing because it keeps our employees working.

I headed back home to rest up when I got the phone call.

You aren't going to believe this, Jesse said.  A lady just walked into the bar and said she heard there was a fire.  She was there to donate $5,000.  When she saw the damage, she told our current Club Manager if he gave her a big smile and an even bigger hug, she would make it $10,000.  So he did ... and now I want to know what's in those hugs he gives out.  She left to get the check.

Thirty minutes later he called me back yelling into the phone.  SHE MADE THE CHECK OUT FOR $20,000.  Her husband was a long time Elks member who just passed away last year, leaving her quite the estate.  Yup she actually gave us $20,000 to pay for all the repairs.  You just don't run into folks like that very often, especially in such a small town as ours.  

We all breathed a big sigh of relief.  Here's another look at the side wall with the ceiling tiles removed.  If the fire department had been slower, we would have been in really big trouble.  Thank the Good Lord it's all fixable and he sent an Angel to us with the money to do it.

THEN ... I got yet another call.  Silly me, I gave the bookkeeper a few days off since there was nothing she needed to do.  That was until she called to say it was payroll day.  Ugh ... that's me!  Back I went so everyone would get paid.

Needless to say, my phone got a workout.  On the way home, I got yet ANOTHER call.  Company is coming.  WHAT?  Not today!!

Oh yes ... I don't know who mixed up the days, probably me because I'm sick.  I'm truly not good company when I'm sickly, AND I have to meet with the Big Ranch accounting firm at 9:30 this morning before they can finish up their taxes.  This was definitely not an opportune time to have a bad cold.

Terrible picture ... but I didn't take any others.  Watch Kitty is standing on the left, making sure no critters wander into the yard.  I spent the rest of the evening on the couch.

I've got my fingers crossed nothing else happens so I can heal up a tad bit more.  WHY?  Because tomorrow is our Lodge St Patrick's Day corned beef dinner, one of our all time BIG events.  It's cooking as I type.  Who knows ... maybe I can get a big hug from our Club Manager that will magically HEAL me!!!  One can always hope, because miracles really DO happen!!

By the way, I tore up my measly $500 check that I was going to donate!!!

HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY

 HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!!

I hope you are all wearing a bit of GREEN today so you don't get pinched!!  It's the time of corned beef and cabbage, which honestly I'm surprised so many people like.  Boiled cabbage just isn't my thing, but corned beef brisket ... I'll take brisket any way I can get it.  

The good news is I get to hang out at home for the next two days and heal up from this stupid cold thing.  After two days of horrible sinus pressure, it has finally let up this morning and I am on the mend.  Unfortunately, that didn't keep me from the Elks Lodge yesterday.  

Decisions had to be made, and I know 98% of the folks down there have no clue.  I probably wouldn't either except I was involved in construction for about twelve years and worked in the County Building Permit Inspection Division for ten.  Luckily I was met by our previous club manager who is a contractor and knows who to call.  Our previous Fire Captain was also there, so the three of us had a nice discussion.  Since the electricity, water and sewer were not shut down and all still available, we dodged a bullet that would have kept us shut down for weeks.  There is no wiring on this wall at all.

Here's a better picture of the damage.  It's about an 8' section of wall.  One of the best contractors to repair it was already there when I arrived.  This has now been completely covered with plastic to keep the smell contained.  He had a plan already in place to begin work first thing this morning.

In another hour, our local Coit Restoration company had 18 of the ionizer machines running full blast in every room in the building.  In literally minutes, I could not smell smoke at all except in one stairwell.  Of course I have a cold, but you know ... it cleaned up quickly.  

We will be completely closed two days when most of this will be repaired, except for painting and new ceiling tiles.  That means we can go ahead with our Thursday night St. Patrick's dinner if we keep this section closed off.  Otherwise, that corned beef would go to waste.  Two more days of closure for painting and carpet cleaning, and we hope to be able to have the upstairs bar open from Saturday on.  For the rest of it ... lunch in this room and other private events ... we are up in the air until we have completely finished the repairs.  

Here's the kicker ... while outside, we noticed the dumpster was black inside.  They also set this on fire.  It was completely full of cardboard.  The fire department apparently caught it too because it had water in the bottom where they put it out.  

The local police drove by several times ... too bad they don't do that at night ... and said they might have a suspect.  I doubt they will ever be able to prove anything because there are no cameras around here that I am aware of.  We actually APPROVED cameras last year ... but alas, the guy STILL has not installed them.

On the other hand, I am celebrating like it's Christmas!!  I don't have to go to Bingo tonight!!!  WOOHOO!!  I'm also very thankful that our 130 year old building did not go up in flames.  It would have been devastating.

Now to deal with the insurance company.  Won't THAT be fun!!

So here is my St Patrick's day prayer for you and your family .......  ENJOY THE GREEN!!

May your glass be ever full, may the roof over your head be always strong, and may you be in Heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead ~ Irish

FIRE! FIRE!!!

 Well well well.  There I was, sitting on the patio listening to the lovely bird sounds.  Anyone know what this is?  Because I never did SEE him.

Suddenly I got a call.  FIRE AT THE ELKS LODGE!  You know how it goes, if it can happen around me, it does.  At 6:30 am the fire alarm went off, and thanks to the Fire Department, who only lives two blocks away, the fire was put out in record time.  They said they think it was a homeless person.  

I really doubt that!  We have had homeless sleeping all around the lodge at night, and never in my 15 years, have we ever had a fire.  We DO have two VERY disgruntled employees who got fired.  I'm asking for an investigation.

So the first thing I did was notify the Lodge officers who I thought would know what they were doing, and asked them to go down and see what the damage was.  Knowing there was no way the Fire Department or the City would let us continue with our events, I cancelled everything for the entire week.  Too bad because we had two big events that are going to cost us a bundle.

Of course I'm sick as a dog to boot.  It's not allergies, but possibly the worst cold I've ever had.  I haven't been able to breathe through my nose in 24 hours, let alone think straight.  When the Fire Department was done, I had our guys call around and find the closest fire clean-up specialist.  The smoke went all the way to the top floor, so you can imagine what it smells like.  

Next ... call the insurance company, who was closed.  Unfortunately in order to afford the insurance, we have a $10,000 deductible.  Oh that's not good!

Here's the worst part ... one wall of the lunchroom.  Thankfully it did not get in the ceiling, nor the kitchen, or our main dining room.  It looks bad, but the Fire Department had to rip off the walls to be sure no fire remained.  I lightened the picture on my computer, and it looks like the 2 x 4's did not burn at all.

Luckily the arsonist wasn't good at his assumed profession.  The outside doors remained intact, as did most of the wall.  The black hole is from the firemen.  So all in all, it's not TOO terrible.

On the other hand, I think I died three times on the couch between all the phone calls.  Being sick is not helping at all.

And so today I'll be down at the Lodge checking out the damage, getting the City to do their Fire Inspection so we can reopen, and locate a contractor to rebuild.   The cleanup crew has already been scheduled.  Well that was fun!!

Mr. Cooper and I finally went out to lay in the sun to warm up.  The sneezing has been epic once again, so we came back inside to cuddle with the Kleenex box.

I'll let you know how it goes tomorrow.  The bookkeeper and I have to get the two week payroll done and mailed out.  The good news?  NO BINGO ... WE HAVE NO BINGO, possibly for TWO weeks.  WOOHOO!!!!!  It's going to be a nice vacation!!

MY MISTAKE

 Just when I thought I had actually GAINED an hour of sleep, though many LOST that same hour, I am now up at 4:30 every morning ... which equates to 3:30 am.  Am I correct or is that my mistake?  Oh for a good nights sleep!!

I'm going a little slow this morning, in spite of a nice cup of hot sugar filled coffee.  My second mistake was thinking I had allergies.  On THIS morning they decided to turn into a full blown, plugged nose, watery eyes COLD ... or possibly a sinus infection.  Ugh ... I'm miserable.  

But I'm alive, so there's that.  the morning sunrise wasn't as spectacular as it has been, but created just a little bit of pink on the skyline,

It may have been my mistake to join Walmart's delivery grocery service.  You really do need to see some things in person, like this brisket.  We never had this on the ranch, so I just recently learned there is a difference between the point cut and the flat cut.  What it is, I don't know, other than this one is BEAUCOUP expensive.  

The gooey stuff it's packaged in is disgusting.  So is the price of $18.00.  It really is a good idea to see these things in person before you buy it.  Oh well ... into the crock pot it went.  

That's when the bright orange light caught my eye.  The filter on the fridge is apparently done.  I never believe them, and I think this is the second or third reset it's had.  I took a picture of the fridge serial number and went on Google to find one.  After all, this unit is 16 years old.  Considering how things are made nowadays, that's ancient.  

Absolutely nothing came up online, so I removed the filter and took a picture.  Maybe this will help.  Sure enough, I found it ... for a whopping $59.00 EACH.  Buy two and you get them for $100.00.  YIKES!!

My next mistake was also part of that Walmart thing.  I have all this pepperoni from the last order, thinking I would make a fabulous pizza.  Instead, DIET kept ringing in my ears, so I ordered Lean Cuisine cheese pizzas, on which I would park the pepperoni.

It actually wasn't TOO bad taste wise, but it was WAY too much for me to eat at one time, even if it was only 5" across.  My mistake?  I ate it all anyway!!

With beautiful weather and achey hips, I thought a walk might wear off some of that pizza.  Oh my ... here comes another mistake.  Take it from a marathon runner, never EVER walk or run after eating.  You ALWAYS get in that exercise first.  I was exhausted after the first quarter mile.  

Turns out it was my mistake and not ALL eating induced.  The allergies have turned into a horrible cold/headache/achey/sinus-infection motivation disaster.  One full box of Kleenex has disappeared in the trash.  The couch is my best friend, or at least 1/3 my best friend since Mr. Cooper gets 2/3 of it.

I forced myself to check on the corned beef.  It could not have been more tender.  I had the brilliant idea to take it out and replace it with the frozen vegetables I now buy to lesson the cutting and hacking work.  They sucked up just enough flavor.  

I guess this many meals was worth the price after all, about $4.00 per container.  Maybe this wasn't a big mistake after all.  It all went in the fridge because I was too tired and miserable to eat.

There will be absolutely NOTHING going on today as I sit/lay on the couch and feel sorry for myself.  If it's nice outside, I may just lay out in the sun to soak up some vitamin D.  Hopefully tomorrow is a better NON-MISTAKE day!!!

COWBOYS AND TAXES

Hello sunny California!!  I know it's probably getting hot down south in Arizona, but it's beautiful up here where diesel is now $5.98 a gallon at my favorite station down the highway.  It's not that the fuel companies are having to pay that high of a price for oil right now, it's because ONE they are greedy, and TWO refineries in California have shut down due to the ridiculous regulations they have to follow.  Maybe California should become the next state of CANADA since we are paying their fuel prices.

At any rate, I try hard not to think about that much.  It will just mean less trips to the quilt store.  Miss Kitters could care less too.  She sits in front of me patiently waiting for pets and rubs.  AND she has the doggy door down pat now.  

The day started out on an UGH project.  The budget for the Elks Lodge is over $1 million.  No we don't follow this list.  I go down the columns and GUESS what the costs will be based on last year, before trying to make the INCOME match.  It's hard to make them balance when dues only come to $250,000 of that large amount.  The bookkeeper and I spent two hours getting it in the computer.

It would be so much easier if they would actually try to FOLLOW the budget, but absolutely NO ONE does.  $4,200 worth of pins and badges were purchased last year when the budget was $1,000.  And so I just stuck numbers in the columns until it balanced.  I see some big problems coming up this year, but you can only scream and yell at them so much.  They will need to work REALLY hard to make the money to pay the bills.  The good thing is it's not MY problem!

After another long discussion with one of our other trustees that works just down the street, I headed back home just in time to see THIS.  YEEHAW!!  The Cowboys are at the White House.  Boy is THIS a surprise.  All of the World Champions showed up in their Sunday best for a picture.  Has ANY other President done this?  

I tried to rest up for a bit from the mental stress of cramming numbers together, but sleep was elusive, as usual.  There were lots more phone calls, mostly complaints from Elks Members about why THAT GUY got a free dinner.  Maybe because it's cheaper to give the VOLUNTEER a dinner than to pay a full time employee for those hours?  I don't remember this part being in the job description.  

That's when I got the phone call.  My taxes are done.  I logged in, hoping for some good news.  I had capital gains of $12,900.  What the heck was that?  I didn't sell anything!!  The good news is even with that, President Trump was right.  I actually saved $6,000 in taxes this year.  Yessiree ... last year I paid $6,000 EXTRA and this year it was ZERO extra.  That's pretty huge in my book!!  There's still the "gains" question, but I'll contact them today.

And so the day ended with ALMOST a sunset.  It was a stressful one I don't want to relive, but at least the budget is done and I still have a few bucks left in my wallet.

Too bad that doesn't compute to NO allergies.  I've been miserable for the last few days.  Another record 15 sneezes happened one after another yesterday, along with a Yosemite Waterfall runny nose.  

SPRING HAS SPRUNG in California!!