Arranging Cans .....

 Although the days are getting considerably warmer, up to 103 by Wednesday, the nights are staying cool in the high 50's.  That works really well for me since I can pull in the cool, which will last up until late in the evening.  One thing my house does have is a good bit of insulation in spite of the walls of windows. 

 I'm not sure why people put in so many windows, although it is nice to look outside to see who is stealing stuff off your front porch.  In the end, they just cover them up with lots of expensive shutters, floor to ceiling.  Those require cleaning, and we know where THAT'S going!!!  Cleaning is at the bottom of my list.

Here's the latest Fox trot through the back yard.  If you didn't read it yesterday, my faith in neighbors has been restored as the one with the pool fixed the water drain.  YAY!!!  Not only that, but they have caused some construction backup on Highway 66 here, by putting a nice pretty new board in the fox hole.  It will be interesting to see what detour the kids take.

About the ranch ... there was one early 1900's house with 640 acres of land.  After the cattle market sank below the water level, we were forced to sell out and get real jobs.  Luckily a neighbor talked my dad into growing rice.  At that time, we had our own markets for sales.  We made enough to finally pay off the mortgage and build a new house for my parents.  Then all the markets died the death of government.  We were no longer allowed to sell rice overseas.  I bet you didn't know that one!!  Rice sales died completely.

We leased out the property for farming for several years before my dad passed away.  When my mom died too, we sold the land to the company who farmed it, still keeping the two houses.  At that time, I sold my house and horse property to move back to the ranch house permanently.  

Everything was hunky dory until my brother decided to move to Montana and forced the sale of the two houses and remaining forty acres.  I didn't have enough money to buy him out since at that time the value had gone up so high, nor could I afford to buy another house with land for horses.

Sooo ... my heart broke as the last piece was sold off and I finally found this bankruptcy house I live in now, with just enough room to keep two horses.  The new ranch owners fixed up the houses and continue to farm the ground to this day.  I don't go by there any more .... it just makes me too sad.

What better way to cheer me up than FOOD!!!!  I spent a couple of hours rearranging the canned food locker yesterday.  Wasn't I surprised to find things from 2017!!  Yikes!!  I think that's just a tad past the pull date.  I should probably do this more often.  I even have room on the spice rack now, having gotten rid of things from as far back as 2005.  

Then I made a run on the freezer.  If anyone likes street corn, this one is pretty tasty.   I don't eat it like a vegetable, I just toss a small bit on my tacos.  

Obviously it looks nothing like the box!!  I mean really, not even close, but it adds a nice sweet smoky flavor to tacos and burritos.

Having reached my maximum OH CRAP weight, I opted for veggies for dinner.  The on-line pictures looked delicious, and nothing at all like this.  It's zucchini tossed in spices with some parmesan thrown in. Apparently I wasn't supposed to do the throw-in until it was cooked, making for a big mess in my air fryer. 

Then I thought ... why not toss in some broccoli?  For those that have air fryers, do NOT do that.  Those little broccoli flowerets turned black as my driveway tire tracks and ruined the taste of it ALL.  Believe me, burned broccoli is not something you want in your mouth.

So much for eating healthy.  I baked up a few loaves of Hawaiian banana bread to get rid of the bad taste.  It worked like a charm.  Jonathan was also very appreciative.  It's one of his favorites.

I spent most of the day working on this beauty.  It's a Butler saddle, most popular in this area.  I suppose every area has it's saddle maker that everyone swears by.  This is it for me.  I loved it so much I had him make another one, all fancy dancy for showing horses in competitions.  

Now that it's clean, I'll smother it in oil made just for leather to soften it up and restore it's beauty.    When that's done, I'll start on the other saddle.  

The gardeners are coming this morning to remove that grass, so I better get busy opening up Fort Knox to allow them access.  I'll have pictures tomorrow.