Another Year Under My Saddle ....

I admit ... I've been keeping a secret.  May is my TRUE birthday month!  I know it says January on Facebook, but don't believe everything you see on the internet!!  HA!!  The only place I've ever used my REAL birth date is at my Social Security office.  I'm not having cake this year ... there would be too many candles and I would probably burn the house down.  I'm not taking any chances.  Since my epic fail with the cupcakes, I think I'll just buy a box of ice cream cones!!

I took a quick jaunt up to Turlock yesterday for some more flowery material.  It's funny that when you aren't looking, that stuff is everywhere.  Now that I want some, I can't find it.  On the way back, I picked up my mail to find Beyond The Ice Limit ... second in a series written by these two guys Preston & Child.  They have several Pendergast books out ... stories about an eccentric retired FBI agent and his paranoid, schizophrenic, crazy, weird, murderous family members.  I read these in between Nick Russell's books I purchase through Kindle on Amazon  (downloaded to my phone).

Rarely do I purchase hardcover versions ... most of P & C's are also on my phone, but when they offered up an autographed photo along with the book, I couldn't resist.  These two have used Facebook to increase their sales by leaps and bounds.  They ask questions of their readers about where the story should go, what characters they want to see, what the readers think the "hero" should do ... anything to get them involved in the book.  They send out bits and pieces to read BEFORE the book is published, that hook you into buying, just to find out what happens next.  There's some GREAT advertisement going on here.

While reading on the couch, Miss Jessie became the latest great white hunter.  Warning .... this part is yucky!!  She may look like a couch potato, but this little girl doesn't like flies, which seem to buzz around her head a lot.  I suppose that's because she needs a bath.  With eyes like a hawk and jaws of steel, she snaps at them one after another.  They were gone in a flash!  Thank you Jessie girl!!  You're better than a fly swatter!!

Today I gear up for the Magic Kingdom of Elks, hoping the two girls who showed up to help last week won't bail on us.  That seems to happen a LOT!!  But first, my neighbor's sprinklers have been running for about four hours now, causing an absolute RIVER in front of my house.  I'm trying to decide whether to call or knock on the door.

Next up, my PG&E bill has gone from $69 to $139 to $170, while the weather has stayed the same and all of my heating and cooling units are turned OFF.  How is that possible you ask?  I have no idea.  Seems to me PG&E just does whatever they want, whenever they want, charging and overcharging while we have no recourse but to throw money at them.  I'll be spending a couple of hours with my calculator this morning trying to find out.  An angry cashier probably won't bode well for the Bingo players this afternoon!!