Have Some Watermelon Tea

In case you were not regaled enough on the Fourth of July ... here's only one of the thousands that exploded one house down.  TURN UP THE VOLUME. 

I do think Elva was right ... even as bad as it was, it could have been worse.  She was thinking no one really had any spare money to blow this year, and that's why this didn't last all night long.

I was up extra early, waiting for the tree guy to arrive.  He had previously said he should spray before it got to be 85 degrees and when there was no wind.  When he called and asked how the wind was, I did the Farmer Thing.  I went outside, grabbed a pinch of grass and threw it up in the air.  It fell straight down.  No wind I reported.

He arrived right on time and began to spray ... for ten seconds ... because nothing was coming out of the nozzle.  Uh oh ... 

Just my luck, the pump wouldn't work.  An hour later he was still working on it when I went outside and asked if he wanted to reschedule.  I GOT IT he proclaimed.  Let the spraying begin!

By now it was 90 degrees and the wind was coming up.  It looked like enough stuff got on the trees and none (or at least very little) on the cars next door.  Yes, I did ask them to move them, just in case.

As he was wrapping up, we talked a bit.  Turns out he's an old cow hand, raises cow dogs and a few cattle just for fun.  At least he didn't dump all his chemicals on the lawn like the other company did!

So for the next hour, I tested out the AC in the rig.  It's huge and it's LOUD, as in 85 decibels LOUD.  It did blow cold air, but it never shut off.  It's set on auto, so it should shut down when it finally gets to temperature.  Figuring out how to work the thing is another case of trial and error.  Absolutely everything is controlled by the touchscreen on the wall.  I'm still figuring all that out.  It's hard to think when it's so darn hot!!

Time for a little refreshment.  I ran over to Wally World, mostly because I had Amazon packages to return, and stopped in for a small cutting board.  I got completely distracted ... SQUIRREL ... by this!  I used to drink Arizona tea way back in the day.  I tried my hardest to walk away, but WATERMELON??  I had to try it.

And then I failed completely ... not only fell off the diet wagon, but was dragged in the cactus for a mile.  I love these little treats.  And LITTLE they now are.  Anyone notice how much smaller they are than one year ago?  No kidding ... this is a DRUMSTICK from the smallest chicken I've ever seen.  Even the CONE is smaller, despite its higher price.  How very sad ... but boy did it taste YUMMY!!!!

Walmart being what they are now ... Checker-less ... has recently come to my attention as being one who must be losing a LOT of money.  I watched the guy in front of me use the little gun thingy to charge up his entire basket FULL of items (never removing any from the basket) ... as the Blue Vest guy watched too.  He missed at least SIX big ticket items by moving things around in the cart, paid and walked right out the door.  

I rang my stuff up, having to use the thingy myself to ring up the case of water.  It rang up twice.  Of course I had to call the girl over, who quickly deleted one.  You rang it up TWICE she said, not too happy that she had to be bothered.  

I got home and checked my receipt.  She deleted BOTH ... and so I got a free case of water.  Am I taking it back?  That would be a NO, mostly because of her attitude.  So can you imagine just how much stuff goes out the door without being paid for??  They could probably hire six part time checkers for what they are losing.  Yup I feel guilty ..... but I'm sure no one else does.

Lunch turned out to be so much more than I expected.  This is Hello Fresh gazpacho.  I am definitely NOT into cold soup, but the shrimp caught my eye.  Here's the should-look-like picture.

This was a cinch to prepare.  Tomatoes, cucumbers, a green pepper (hot if you don't take the seeds out), a slice of bread (??), a tad bit of sherry vinegar and some vegetable stock.  You KILL it all in a food processor.  Fry up the little shrimp and let it all sit in the fridge for about two hours.

WOW ... I could have eaten the entire thing in one sitting all by myself.  It was so perfect to have this cold, very thick, delicious lunch on such a hot day.  There was so much, it lasted for FOUR meals.  I'm definitely making THIS again!!

It's Cowboy Christmas, so Mr. Cooper and I spent the evening on the couch.  Cowboy Christmas is the week surrounding the Fourth of July when many of the rodeos with the biggest payouts are held.  The boys drive crazy miles and hours, many even flying, from rodeo to rodeo to try and make the most money, which will qualify them for the National Finals Rodeo.  It's crazy.  Some of them may ride as many as 30 broncs in a week.  

We are already up to 83 degrees this morning and the sun just came up.  You will find me sitting on the patio sipping my sweet Arizona tea ......... though I should probably get packing instead, while it's still under 100 degrees!!