CAKE ... I NEED CAKE!!!

 Did you ever have one of those days?  I'm sure we all have.  Nothing felt right ... I was tense, nervous and quickly discovered I had a pulled muscle.  Of course at first I equated it to a heart attack, which came in a close second.

I walked out to set up the game camera.  I was late and the wind was coming up pretty strongly.  I could hear my RV cover was squeaking something terrible.  That usually means there are tree branches rubbing the side.  Nope ... no branches.  It's unlike me, but I took a closer look.  These bolts are what hold it down.  

That's funny, that nut looks loose.  I reached down and it wiggled in my fingers.  I made a frantic call to Mr. Chance who was up in the mountains.  DAN ... are these supposed to be loose?  That would be a big NO ... they should be as tight as you can get them.

Did I mention by now it's 8:00 at night and dark?  Creepy crawlies come out at night.  

I was hesitant, but I grabbed by biggest wrench (which isn't all that big) and began tightening every one.  They were all so loose I could take the nuts off with my fingers.  So there I am, bent over, pulling with all my might to tighten them.  Finally done, I went inside to find a nasty pain in my ribs.  Heart attack?  Oh it crossed my mind, but I didn't think so.  Whew!!  What a job THAT was, but at least I "think" it's safe now and I didn't get bitten or stung ... a good thing.

The videos I got the next morning were worth all that pain, which eventually went away (thank goodness).  I know, three videos, but you have to watch them, they are so cute.

So many ... this is the biggest pack I've seen.  It's a good thing I packed all that water down and filled the trough.

So ugly, yet so cute!!

And then this has happened over the last few days.  SO very sad.  This is Lahaina Town on Maui Island in Hawaii.  I used to spend quite of bit of time here ... pre-Cooper ... and this was my favorite hangout for photography.  Lahaina Town is old, so mostly old wooden buildings.  The burger joint, the little shops, the banyan tree, the homemade reed hats and the best little shave ice spot on the island.

It's all gone.  Burned to the ground and 55 people have died.  The banyan tree is still there, but it got singed pretty good.  Hawaii has always concentrated on hurricanes and tidal waves ... they never prepared for fire.  This inferno came down the hill so fast they didn't even have time to do anything.  It's still not under control, and two more fires are burning up-country.  My friend Cyndae has a couple houses up there, so we are praying they get those under control.  Lahaina will never be the same again.  Please say a little prayer for the residents who have lost everything.  It's so sad.

I was just off all morning ... nothing felt right.  I should have taken the warning and just sat on the couch with that entire package of Oreo cookies I have hidden in the cupboard.  They make everything better.  But NOOOOO ... I had to go sew the binding on this quilt.  It actually went right nicely until I got to the pillow shams.

For some crazy reason, my machine decided to skip stitches right and left.  It apparently didn't like the bottom thread.  I changed it.  It did it again, so I changed the TOP thread.  I think I sewed those sham bindings on three times each.  I finally shut it off in frustration.  

Did I learn my lesson?  Oh heck NO.  I proceeded to put my favorite quilt ever on the quilting machine.  I made a big mistake right off the bat.  I put in the wrong length.  No problem ... I fixed it on the second row.  After quilting for about ten inches, there was the most horrible scraping, crunching noise you've ever heard.  I hit the STOP button.  Really?  Not again ... please don't let my machine go in for another 30 day repair!

I shut it all down, then revived it with a little CPR and tried again.  CRUNCH, SCRAPE, CRUNCH!!  I shut it off, almost in tears.  I NEED CAKE!!  WHERE'S MY CAKE!!  Sugar makes everything better.

I called the shop, but the Manager was out.  They said they would call the repairman.  I called the Owner instead, because I found one of the cables on the back looked like it had been cut and repaired.  Really?  It just didn't look right to me.  I pled my case as calmly as I could, which if you know me, wasn't all that CALM.  

About that time the repairman called.  He had me take pictures (and I didn't even hang up on him while doing it), then he had me unplug the USB cable they had broken before.  I plugged it back in, set up the programming again and IT WORKED.  

Big sigh ... I told him I called the Owner and I apologized for doing that, but come on ... their service has been less than excellent.  We laughed ... which made me feel a little better, but CAKE would have been the best.  I wrote down Toby's phone number ... you know, just in case.

So my day now will include taking out probably 1,000 tiny stitches on my favorite quilt ONE STITCH AT A TIME, hoping that when I start it all back up again, it purrs like a kitten until they get in the new connection cord they are ordering.  About a week he said.

Sadly, here is no cake in my house.  Some stale Oreo cookies had to do the trick.  There is some other news that began with a phone call, but this blog is entirely too long, so it will wait til tomorrow.  A note for the phone caller .... YES YES and YES!!!  

I'm now going to go bake a cake and frost it with DOUBLE icing!!