Great White Hunter!

 It was a different kind of morning as the sun came up and the clouds blew in.  I'm sure that was an omen of what was to come with the time change.  Personally, I think it's crazy we do this, especially when we voted not to.  No surprise however, California never does what the citizens vote for.

I ignore it completely.  I keep all my clocks on the same time year round.  Sadly, that doesn't always work.  For whatever reason, Cooper decided it was time to get up at midnight (11:00 your time).  There was no placating him.  We went outside, threw the ball in the dark until he couldn't find it, then went back inside to lay wide awake staring at the ceiling.  Fun times!!

Thank you all for the name calling on this guy.  Stonewall Jackson it is.  On my trip back east with Barbara and Tom Westerfield, we stopped in at Gettysburg for a few days.  That's where we ate in that great restaurant with the onion dressing.  

It was't near enough time to soak in the enormity of that war.  To be standing on the field looking down at the buildings, imaging the sounds, was pretty overwhelming.  

So here's my second picture.  Though I already hung up one huge rodeo picture in that room, I think it's the perfect spot for these two to be facing each other by the furniture of their time.  Mostly because there's not another available wall in the house besides the bathroom.  I think they deserve better than that!

And so ..... after lots of reflection (and couch sitting) ..... I went outside to work on the Reflection.  I considered crawling up on top again to get the solar panel washed, but all that slantyness makes me nervous.  Instead, I went up the ladder and hung on to the rig ladder for balance.  In no time I was done.  Yes, there's another panel up front, but it will have to wait until today ... when its raining.  

The entire nose cap is in desperate need of washing also ... maybe I can get a two-fer today.  My back isn't hurting per se, but it does get angry if I don't rest up in between honey-dos.

Then it happened.  I turned around to find BIGFOOT had visited the property.  What the heck made THAT footprint?  I'm pretty sure it wasn't me, but I looked twice, just to be sure!!  Maybe a ghosty stopped by.

Back inside, feeling like I had finally accomplished something, I pulled up my big girl pants and went to work on this quilt.  It's been sitting on my couch for at least two weeks and STILL wasn't finished.  At last ... the binding is sewn.  It's a little too modern for my house, but I enjoyed making this one.  

Time for an outside throw the ball break with Cooper.  He does get most of the attention!  That's when I noticed little dirt piles in my grass.  You know what that means .... GOPHERS!  The Great White Hunter arrived in style ... shorts, tee-shirt and cowboy boots.  

If they would just tear up the neighbor's lawn instead of mine, they could live forever.  This shows only half the mounds.  The Great White Hunter's technique is simple.  Turn the water hose on high and stick it in the mounds one at a time.  Soon the water will magically disappear down the miles of tunnels underneath.  

Keep an eagle eye out ... soon you will see something brown and wet with big teeth somewhere on the lawn.  Here's the thing ... they can't see in the daylight.  He was quickly dispatched.  I'm sorry for that, as I'm not one to kill critters ... even skunks, but there are so many holes here, the ground sunk three inches down and about six feet across!!  He was a busy little beaver!!

At last ... dinnertime ... while I watched some football.  I don't have a favorite team, it's just that there's not much rodeo on until the National Finals in December.  

Not really wanting to eat any of that stew that now resembles the huge jar of solid white paste in my grammar school classroom, I thought maybe if I added a piece of toast, it might be edible.  I threw the ingredients together and VOILA!!  A loaf of yummy bread.  

I must admit however, in spite of the lovely smells, this does NOT taste like the bread of my childhood.  What do you suppose has changed.  I do remember using those thick chunks of yeast versus the dry granules we have now.  Maybe that's it.  Or maybe my taste buds have changed that much.  It's definitely good, but not as flavorful as I remember.  

I added lots of milk to the stew and choked it down.  The toast made it all better!!

Weirdly enough, it's raining this morning, putting the kibosh on my rig wash job.  What a shame!  It's okay though, I've started the binding on the next quilt and I'm almost done.  NEXT!!!!!!!