What Was THAT??

 There's nothing like waking up to a huge crash in the middle of the night.  Especially when it's right outside your window.  WHAT WAS THAT??  It didn't take two seconds for me to know.  This is the quail block I bought for the birds.  I even covered it with a large piece of plywood to keep the rain off.  They do tend to melt.

So why is it thirty feet down the hill?  I guessed at the time, after seeing the big doe on the game camera, that she had partaken of a nice chunk for breakfast.  I can see that ... it's grain and sweet ... just like MY usual breakfast.

I picked it up, plywood and all, and placed it on my concrete block fence under a big tree.  I even placed three big pieces of concrete on the plywood to hold it in place.  Guess who came to dinner last night?  I haven't checked the game camera, but I'd bet my best pair of boots that the doe came back for seconds.  It didn't take long for the whole affair to come crashing down early this morning.  Maybe this wasn't such a good idea after all.  

It should be noted however, that the quail loved it.  I got a few pictures last evening that I'll post tomorrow.

It was 6:30 when I headed out to work on that leaky sprinkler.  I seem to have a ghosty attached to me when it comes to sprinklers.  I was quickly sidetracked by the pretty flowers that cover the mountainside.

So here it is, all dug up.  In spite of my warnings NOT to let the sidewalk impinge on the drip lines, the paving crew didn't listen.  It looks like the edge of the concrete pushed into the drip line and caused a half inch hole.  That's a lot of water pouring out on the ground.  The screwdriver is right where it needs to be fixed.

Pictures can be deceiving.  Before I made any repairs, I had to clear out all the brush.  There are chunks of my hair hanging off the branches.  This pile is the result ... and it's about 3 feet high.  The water line repair should take care of most of this, meaning plants won't get much water, so they won't grow so tall.  I even drug out a 4' x 4' agave plant that had died.  Lucky for me, there's supposed to be another garbage pickup date on the books ... and it's FREE.

While there, I might as well check the sprinkler controls.  YIKES!! WHAT WAS THAT??????  Something ran right across my feet.  Are you kidding me?  There sat the biggest fattest PACK RAT I've ever seen.  He ran behind the black box as I whirled around to get a big rock.  He ran past me twice before I hurled the 10 pound rocket his way.  Of course I missed and he ran away.  

See the pretty new rat trap???  No, I haven't caught him yet, but I set three more around the house.  These guys chew up wires more than anything ... a pain in my patoot!!

At last I came in for breakfast about 7:30.  There's just no working outside with this heat and humidity.  I'll make that water line repair this morning.  Breakfast was keto approved.  In spite of a $100 grocery bill, I somehow didn't end up with anything for dinner.  This may be on the menu more than a few times.

I spent the rest of the day cussing and screaming at my quilt machine.  It's amazing how much you forget in 4 months.  It doesn't help that PHONE HELP is not available on weekends.  I also want to apologize to every quilter I sent a quilt to that wasn't absolutely square and straight.  I worked on one for SIX HOURS!!

By the end of the day, I was tired, so Cooper and I took a quick walk around the back yard.  I turned around and EEEEKKKKKKK where the heck did this guy come from?  Cooper made a mad dash to see what it was with me screaming NO NO NO!!!  Luckily I caught up with him before he got too close.  I grabbed my handy dandy rat trap grabber and flung him unceremoniously over the fence.  

It's always an adventure in the desert.  I just wish it didn't all happen in one day!!  I'll be back on the quilting machine today with one of my own quilts.  I'd rather make mistakes on mine than on the ones that are to be donated to Foster Kids.  Here's hoping it goes better today.