Oh Boy ... More FRIENDS .....

 It's a lovely 85 degrees outside at my house this morning.  Wooeeeee it's rather warm.  I had one outside job to get done yesterday morning, and that was mow the lawn.  I was finished by 6:00 am.  I'm sure the neighbors appreciated that, but no way was I going to tackle that job when it was 100 degrees out.

Here's the nice plumbing job for the sprinkler water.  He even stabilized the pipes that used to move every time the water came on.  It's pretty much a mess when it comes to the wiring, but they all still work, so I can't complain.  One of these mornings when it cools down, I'll get to work on it.  

My plan at this point is to open up every one of the valves, remove the diaphragm and turn the water on.  We'll see if it flushes it out.  I really don't care so much about the yard cactus, but I do want to be able to provide water for the critters.

Speaking of critters.  Oh look ... more "friends".  This guy didn't make it however.  No telling when he jumped in this bucket ... which at one time had water in it ... but apparently he couldn't jump back out.  He's completely mummified ... you know, like the mummies of Egypt?  That's a good indication of the weather around here.

My next project ... I kept wondering why the roof crew didn't just ring the doorbell instead of walking around to the back yard and banging on the window.  Come to find out, the doorbell didn't work any more.    It took me two days to find the second half of it inside the house, plugged in to the wall.

Obviously I don't know how these things operate, but I was going to find out.  I grabbed a screwdriver and went to work.  Who knew there was a battery inside?  I mean really ... it's worked for seven years.  What battery lasts THAT long?  

I dug in my junk drawer to find another one, and VOILA!!  The doorbell works.  I would try it out to be sure, but Cooper goes bananas when it rings.  Even when it's on television, he runs around the house barking.  What a good watch pup!

And THEN IT HAPPENED.  You knew it would!  I was fixing Cooper's breakfast when I reached in to the sink to remove this strainer ... without really looking.  I was THAT close when something told me to stop. I was maybe an inch from getting stung.  

These small ones are bad ... he's maybe two inches long when his tail is straight.  Just to see what would happen ... I grabbed the wasp spray and sprayed him pretty good.  Nothing ... it didn't phase him in the least.  Thank goodness for a stainless steel sink because he couldn't climb the sides.  

Where the heck do they come from???  Was he on the counter or did he fall from the ceiling?  Now I'm nervous as a cat on a hot tin roof.  I look everywhere when I enter a room.  On the floor, on the ceiling, on the counters, everywhere ... not just for me, but for Cooper also.  Once I calmed down, I smashed him into a million pieces.  These are friends I can do without.

Trying to get my mind off that bugger, I took a picture of the ceiling.  It's not real bad, but you can definitely tell something was amiss there.  Maybe I can just sand it down and touch up the paint.

By 9:00 I was ready to conquer the quilting machine.  This is something I've never done before ... a new challenge.  These are going to be two quilted pillow shams to go with that last quilt.  I literally just winged it.

In spite of a little glitch where I had to delete everything and start all over in the middle of one, I was actually able to get them quilted.  Now to figure out how to make the back.  

I have the next quilt loaded on the machine, but it won't be done today.  I'm off with the Chance family to Bisbee Arizona ... land of gold miners, cowboys and Sheriff's, and hopefully NO scorpions.