Barbara Is Right Again!

 Oh my gosh ... it's the last day of AUGUST.  How can that be?  I had all these plans to do all these things, and the month just disappeared in a puff of smoke!!  Literally .... but I'll get to that.  

First off, I don't know what happened.  At 8:15 I looked at my watch and said I NEED TO GO TO COSTCO.  If it's going to be a holiday weekend, I should have some holiday food.  I walked in their door at 9:03.  (We are one of the few that open at 9:00 every morning).  The line to get in was long, and around the corner!

I grabbed one of their HUGE baskets and headed for the MEAT.  Time for some smoking to be going on around here.  Just look at that triple rack of ribs!  It is almost as long as the basket.  This is a two-handed project.  I almost choked when I saw the price of $45.00, but that's not bad for 3 thick racks.  

A big package of stew meat ... some of the best I've seen in awhile ... and of course TWO roasted chickens (in the box) ... some eggs for cheap and a plaid shirt I snagged on the way in the door.  I don't think I've EVER gotten out of Costco for $104.00.  I left at 9:22.  NICE!!

What's this you ask?  S'mores she said.  When it comes to food, Barbara Westerfield is NEVER wrong.  She mentioned previously that I should try these delicious chocolate caramel clusters.  This was probably a bad idea, because now I have to go back to Costco and get TWO MORE BAGS!!!  Oh my gosh they are GOOD!!  Thank you Barbara!!!

It took all morning to process that little bit of food.  I divided the stew meat up into much smaller ziplok bags and stuck it in the freezer, along with half the ribs.  Then I took the chicken meat off the bones, packaging some for Mr. Cooper because he loves it, and some for me for chicken salad at some point.  I even plunked the carcasses in a big pot for chicken broth.  We'll talk ribs later.

On to the next problem.  I received my DishTV bill which went up $50 a month.  It's just ridiculous that you have to deal with this stuff.  I guess most people don't realize it and just pay the piper.  I'm not one of them.  In case you didn't know, I have several personalities I can call on at any given moment.  I thought about it for a bit, then made the phone call.

It used to be that a little threat of I'M SWITCHING TO DIRECT TV would get the balance lowered.  That really didn't work so well, so this time I tried something different.  I mean really ... I've been a good customer for FOURTEEN years.  They should give me a break ... but NO .........

I know the game ... I asked to speak to a Supervisor, who are the ones who can actually LOWER your bill.  Gosh, oh gee, I'm an old lady who has to stay home all day long.  I've no family and I can't drive, so TV is EVERYTHING to me.  (sniff sniff).  It's my only company ... please, I'm on a fixed income and food is just TOO expensive.  What will I ever do?  (sniff sniff).  Please PLEASE can you lower my bill back to what it was?  I almost cried I felt so bad for myself.

Oh don't worry hon, we'll get you fixed right up.  AHA ... then you really do NOT need that extra $600 a year now DO YOU?  Oh honey ... that would be SO helpful ... bless you, bless you ... 

And so my bill ended up $5.00 more a month, mostly due to all the taxes crap they add on.  Old lady Nancy worked.  Do I feel bad about that little charade?  Not when it coms to dealing with these big companies that seem to be ripping people off!

Next up .... get Photoshop, a photography editing program, BACK on my computer.  There was no bartering for price on this one, but I had a subscription for the program and I could NOT get it to work on the new computer.  

Sadly, this did not have the outcome I hoped for.  One phone call and I got a nice man from India.  You know how hard it is to understand them?  I kept asking him to repeat, repeat, repeat.  After much ado, I got it downloaded to my computer, only to find it would not run.

This computer has some new revolutionary chip that doesn't work with anything else.  I had to download two other programs to get it to like my computer.  At long last ..... IT OPENED!!!  After I said the magic words of course.

Sadly, absolutely NOTHING is like the old Photoshop.  Good grief ... it took me two full years of college to learn this program.  I'm WAY too old for this now!!  I'll probably never be able to figure it out.  I see many more phone calls in my future.

That's when something weird happened.  Mr. Cooper, sitting at my feet, began to growl.  In a few seconds, it became a growl like I've never heard from him before.  I looked down, and he was staring at my fireplace.  I got a cold chill up my spine.  I saw nothing.  

I heard once that dogs can sense and see ghosts or spirits.  Cooper's growl got even louder and more ferocious as he stood up and took a step back.  Uh oh ... I made ready to RUN!  What does he see?  Finally, he looked at me, laid down and never made another peep.  What the heck?  Did he chase something or someone off??  Ohhweeeee ... I turned off my computer and left the room.  That was the end of that!!  We walked back through the room later with no barking or growling.

At last, it was time to start on those ribs, though I kept an eye on the living room fireplace!!  There were three huge racks, so I cut them in half, stashing most of it in the freezer.  

Smoking takes time and attention, so I'll wait until tomorrow to show you how I do it.  It is definitely worth the effort!  

Because right now, I need a S'more or two ... or maybe three!!!!! 

Catching Up

 Well ... after finally getting a little sleep and now being able to actually hold a conversation, here we are standing at the end of the driveway admiring the new rock.  I will be the first to admit it needs some work.  On the other hand, that is completely overshadowed by the fact that I no longer have to water this section that has not one, but TWO wasteful water valves with sprinklers that always had to be fixed.

I'm thinking it needs maybe three big rocks at the entrance.  NO shrubs as was suggested by the landscaper.  Problem is, those rocks will cost a ton .... literally!!!

While I was thinking about that, I was very bleary eyed as I headed out to the eye appointment.  I got half a block.  See that lovely windshield wiper on the back window?  I accidentally hit something and it turned on.  No ... no don't do that.  Trouble is, there are two turn signal thingies that are covered with knobs and buttons.  Which one is it?  I turned off everything but it kept going.

FOUND IT!  I turned it off.  It kept going.  Oh come ON ... TURN OFF!!  I tried yelling, but it didn't listen.  I turned it ON ... and OFF ... probably ten times.  Nothing.  It just kept swiping away, making a big mess of my rear window.  This is ridiculous.  I turned the engine off ... I swear to you ... it kept working.  

I slapped the steering wheel silly before turning it ON and OFF again.  FINALLY ... the dang thing turned off and parked itself.  I'm taping that thing up with duct tape!!!!

At long last I made it to the eye appointment.  That was an eye opener!!  My eyes were tested every which way but loose before I finally got a room.  It's all electronic now ... they don't even give you the satisfaction of saying "I CAN'T SEE THAT"!!  

Finally .. the Doc came in.  I need a new prescription I said.  Wasn't I surprised when he said .. oh, okay, we'll make an appointment for that.  WHAT?  That's what THIS is for.  Oh no he said ... you cannot get a prescription until you have had the HEALTH inspection.  What??  If I'd known that, I would have gone somewhere else, instead of to the Doc that gave me the experimental eyes.

Back when I was an active Scuba Diving Instructor, I had to be able to read other divers computers to make sure they didn't drown on me.  That involved lots of contact lenses until cataracts raised their ugly head.  That brought about the replacement of my old eyes with the newest (not yet approved) concentric circle eye implants.  No, they don't look like this, but close.

So after blinding me with that acid they put in your eyes, he took one quick look and said they look great.  Uhmmm I could have told you that.  Can I get a prescription now for new glasses?  OH NO ... I have to go back in a week to get tested all over again and THEN I can get new glasses, in MAYBE another two weeks.  Just another way to get more money from Medicare I suppose.  TWO appointments to pay for instead of one.

I got home in time for a quick grilled cheese sandwich before my eyes gave out completely.  They were so dilated I had a hard time with just daylight, let alone any lamps.  They were so very dry and scratchy, I kept trying to water them with anything wet.  I was miserable for the rest of the day.

Not to mention exhausted from no sleep.  I think for the first time ever, Mr. Cooper got turned down for the ball game.  I've no idea what I ate for dinner, or even what rodeo I watched.  

The good news is my arm has finally gone back to normal size ... close enough anyway ... even if the itching does persist ... just in time for an epic event involving Dish Network, my TV provider.

I'll relate that story tomorrow, along with my sob story over my photoshop program that I no longer have, but am still paying $9.99 a month for.  You're going to love it!!!

And BINGO Was His NAME-O!

 GOOD MORNING FRIENDS!!  Too bad for us, it's heating up once again.  We will soon be back in the 100+ zone, along with 80 degree nights.  It's been wonderful this past week, but all good things must come to an end I suppose.  It's never been this hot in September that I can remember, but then again, my memory is not what it used to be.

SO ... let's get on to the Magic Castle of BINGO!!  And Bingo, was his NAME-O!  I say it every time!  With thoughts of good cheer, I was off to the Magic Castle.  Time for some camaraderie with the Knights and Tomfoolery with the peasants.  

Members show up early ... VERY early.  By 2:00 you will find them lounging at their favorite spot at the table.  That's pretty early considering the games start at 6:30.  The X on the chair is one they put there many years ago, with DEATH AND DESTRUCTION to anyone who dares sit in it.  

There was lots of discussion about that on this day because a problem has arisen.  One Member is now going around placing papers at seats in the room, SAVING them for ..... wait for it ..... NON-members.  That's a sin in anyone's book.  

I ignore it as much as possible.  It's not my job, if you know what I mean, but it brought out the MEAN girls in force.  I thought they were going to have a knock down drag out.  We tout NO SAVING PLACES and here's a member, saving places.  The King was notified as I snuck out the back door to safer places.  It was check signing day.

Once done, I creeped down the stairs trying not to be seen.  OH NO ... my Lady in Waiting is not here.  Who oh WHO is going to count all those cards?  I shanghaied one of the wonderful scullery maids from the back and we were off and running.  

It makes me laugh every time.  There's the LONG line of folks behind the glass doors just waiting for us to say OPEN.  The same one who lays out all the papers saving tables, has made herself the Queen of the Castle.  She has to be FIRST in line, EVERY SINGLE TIME.  I admit, I relish in letting someone else in the side door first.  BAD NANCY.  

This gal has bullied everyone else into letting her go to the front of the line every single week.  No, she doesn't win any more than anyone else because she got her SPECIAL cards first.  It's crazy.  We did get a good laugh out of it though ... one of the older guys came in the back way and stood on MY side of the door, waving at the line.  I'M FIRST he said.  You should have hard the uproar!!!  The flaming torches and pitchforks came out in a nanosecond!!!

BAD NANCY rang up two handicapped folks before she opened the door.  Oh the daggers!!!!!

Surprisingly, there was quite the to-do that RED TICKETS are no longer available.  They quit printing the cheap pull tabs, so no more of that tedious job of tearing up 150 tickets every week.  Wouldn't you know, folks still ask for them every single day.  Wait until they find out they are no longer going to print out SPEED game tickets.  We have two of those, with a total payout of $500.  There's certainly going to be some backlash over THAT!!

The night went well ... my Lady In Waiting showed up in time to bring me dinner since I can't leave the infernal machine.  We had a whopping 132 folks on this night.  Luckily there was only ONE snafu.  I can hear the caller say the number of players who won, which determines the payout I hand out.  It's simple ... $250 for the game divided by however many players win.  Sometimes it's one, sometimes it twelve.  

On this particular game, I heard EIGHT winners.  The Knights who usually hand out the moola, came and told me SEVEN.  Are you SURE??  Oh yes .... SEVEN.  And so I paid out $35 to each winner.  Fifteen minutes later they came back and said OOPS ... there was EIGHT.  I gave them what for and told them they had to go back and collect $4.00 from each and every one of the seven they had paid. 

Not really ... I just paid out another $35 so everyone got the same amount ... but it gave the infernal machine a bad stomach ache.  Of course I did NOT balance at the end of the night.  No biggie ... with that large of a crowd, we made plenty of cash to pay out the rest of the jackpots, and the players were smiling because they each got an extra $4.00!!!  What can I say ... it's BINGO!!

And so ended another night of frolicking in the Castle.  My arm wasn't happy and only let me have 2 hours of sleep before rushing off to the eye doc.  That was another experience altogether.  More on that tomorrow because even though I got a little sleep yesterday, the plan is to get even MORE today!!

BUMMER!!!

Lucky for me, I survived another day from the wasp sting AND Bingo!  How lucky can I be!  However .... BUMMER!!  I didn't get any pictures of the rock.  I just had too much going on yesterday.

Add to that the wait for nothing ... Amazon was supposed to bring a package that did not arrive until 5:30 when I was gone ... and Bingo kept me up so very late on this night!!  With only 3 hours of sleep, I'm off to the eye doctor for an appointment where they will check to see if my eyes still burn like crazy when they put those drops in!  Boy do I hate that!  

Note to self:  Do not EVER made ANY appointments at 8:00 the morning after Bingo.  

I'm a hot exhausted mess!! 

Thus ..... I will see you tomorrow morning when I have acquired a little more shuteye to relay the mad stories of the Magic Kingdom.

Have a GREAT day as we wind down the entire month of August that I'm sure only lasted three days.

NATIONAL DOG DAY

Bad news ... FALL has run away once again and summer is back.  According to the weather guessers, we'll be in the high 90's for the next ten days.  That means lots of inside work, though my schedule seems to be full of meetings and eye appointments.

The BEST part of yesterday was this little guy.  It was yet again NATIONAL DOG DAY!!  My sweet little Cooper has kept me company for FIFTEEN years and still acts like a little puppy.  

I tried to get a couple pictures while on the floor.  When he crawls on my lap and gets nose to nose, you know it's time to play.  That of course means a Yoga workout on the carpet.  Not the best of pictures with bad light.  

He's just too fast for me!!  One foot is always on the toy ... while I try to steal it.  Funny how I always lose.  This kid ... he makes me smile every single day!!

I am happy to say my arm is better ... little by little.  It got crazy itchy yesterday, so I took another Benadryl and went outside for a little revenge.  I wanted to see if they had left the roost.  Two years ago it was full of wasps.  I sprayed it to death and they all died.  I never thought they would come back to a dead nest.  

I wasn't going close at all ... just stood back and emptied the last can of spray.  Believe it or not, MORE started coming out.  There is an entire can of spray in there!!  Needless to say, I RAN LIKE THE WIND, only FASTER this time.  

I'm going to buy a few more cans of spray and empty at least one more into it before I toss it in the trash.  I'm having no more of this nonsense!!

Suddenly I heard the sound of gravel on the ground.  I'm sure I mentioned somewhere along the way that I worked at a rock crushing plant for about 10 years.  You know .... loaders, big trucks, excavators, caterpillars ... I was in heaven with all that heavy equipment.  

Mostly however, I ran the office and the scales.  I definitely know that sound.  We crushed several different sizes of rock and spec roadbase for the State.  Thousands of trucks got loaded and weighed.

As I ran outside, I met the son of the contractor.  This kid (maybe 20 years old) ... someone brought him up right.  He can drive that tractor like a pro and place rock perfectly every time.  He took maybe three quick breaks to check his phone and that was it.  I think he started at 1:30 and finally left at 7:30 at night!  No kidding ... there's some major work ethic there!!  Boy do I love seeing that nowadays!

I'll get a few more pictures today.  It looks so good I think I may have to do more on the other side.  Even my nice neighbor came out to see how it was going ... and I may have even MORE good news later.

In the meantime, not one to sit for more than 30 minutes, I was in the sewing room most of the day cutting out this new quilt.  This isn't a REAL pattern, it's just one I made up to help get rid of all the scrap fabric I have laying around.  

I kind of got carried away since it's almost a quilt-in-a-day kind of thing.  It won't get done for awhile however.

I'm going to be busy for the next few days, though I think my arm is a good excuse not to be TOO busy.  Bingo is tonight once again, followed by an 8:00 a.m. eye appointment for new glasses.  Ugh ... that's way too early after a late night of Bingo.  That will be followed by an Elks Lodge dinner and meeting.  Maybe I can excuse myself from that one since we are now back to meetings twice a week.  

I can actually see my elbow this morning ... and SOME of the redness has subsided.  I guess I won't be winning any arm wrestling contests after all.  No worries ... next time ... if there IS a next time, I'll be dialing 911 and telling them I'm deathly allergic.  Maybe an epi-pen will be forthcoming.  I can only hope!!  

As to going to the doctor ... they have all retired.  We have two urgent care facilities, not open on weekends, and one hospital with a 5-6 hour wait and a good chance of NO survival.  That's rural ag living for ya!!  

She's ALIVE!

 I opened my eyes to find I was in an RV campground office.  They were flooding the floors with water so as to mop up the days mess.  Folks were scrounging for their license plates before the inspector got there.  I headed to MY rig, to find they had been using it as a lunchroom.  Nooooo ... there are BEARS out there.  They will come into my rig for the FOOD!!  In that second, a huge grizzly crashed through the door.

I WOKE UP!!  Thank goodness!!  I'm not sure if that was the normal nightmare or the wasp sting!!

This is going to be short and sweet.  I did absolutely nothing all day but keep my arm up in the air and take a few more Benadryl.  It got worse.  My arm has now doubled in size, is red from my armpit to my wrist and itches like crazy.  Pretty sure I would qualify for a WWE wrestling match, or at least a good stab at arm wrestling!!

I tried some sweets for breakfast ... surely sugar will make it all better!!   I was wrong.

I did try to get into an urgent care office, but alas, they are all closed on Sundays.  The Hospital had a wait line about 5 hours long.  Might as well just stay home, and so I did.  

I made one foray out to the rig to check the batteries.  After maybe four days (I can't remember much before the wasp sting) of being completely shut down except for the solar panels under the cover, the battery is at 100%.  Or at least that's what it said.  I didn't try to run anything, I just closed her back up.

I also checked MY batteries while I was at it.  Blood pressure is fine, oxygen rate is great and I'm still breathing, so I think I'll live.  Maybe I'll even get back to a little sewing today.  The less I think about it, the less it itches.

Dinner was a bust.  Hey Dave ... they now have KETO tortillas.  Not bad really, but I found out after the fact that you should toast them FIRST ... then add the toppings for a finally cook.  This was air fried for a few minutes ... pepperoni, olives and cheese with a terrible pizza sauce from Savemart.  It was actually edible, but then again I eat ANY pizza, even the frozen ones, and think they are just GREAT! 

That's it folks ... nothing exciting on this day that was spent on the couch.  

Anyone want to arm wrestle???????

NAILED HER!!!!!

 You know how some days you should just stay in bed?  This was that day.  It turned into something I don't ever want to repeat again.

So here I was ... repairing sprinklers yet again.  I dug out the one that wasn't working, pulled the sprinkler and watched water come out of the pipe.  No dirt, no plug.  I took the sprinkler completely apart to be sure there was nothing inside.  I kept having to run back and forth to this spot to turn the water on at the valve.  

After three tries ....... nothing.  I replaced the little top piece and NOTHING yet again.  Good grief ... this is crazy.  After scrounging around in the garage for quite some time, I finally laid my hands on one lone sprinkler replacement.  I installed it and headed for the valves once again.

AT LAST .... it works!!!  One down, two to go!!  After a celebratory drink of Arizona tea, I went back outside to replace the black cover over the valves.  I bought those tubs to keep the sun off the valves so I wouldn't have to replace them twice a year.

Here's that picture again.  Notice how close the bird house is to the valves behind the weird iron Christmas tree.

Oops ... I hit my head on the birdhouse.  I steadied it with one hand as I reached for the cover, and out of the corner of my eye .... I saw it.  Yessiree ... a big nasty wasp.

I ducked and my brain said ....... RUN!!!  I ran like the wind, or at least as fast as I could, almost falling over the concrete mower edge.  TOO LATE!  I could hear him yelling back to his buddies ....... NAILED HER!!

It felt like knives stabbing me in my arm.  After that last incident in Arizona, I knew I was allergic, so I ran straight for the Benadryl.  I grabbed an ice pack out of the fridge and sat down to try and remain calm.  No such luck.  In 30 minutes it looked like this.  The Benadryl isn't working one little bit.

KARMA comes in a big can.  I went back outside and sprayed the heck out of that bird house.  This stuff isn't very strong because even after two big blasts, they kept coming out and flying away, not dying.  I kept spraying.  

Those wasps now have an indoor swimming pool in their little house.  As they flew out, I noticed they were heading to the eave of MY house where once before I found a nest.  I sprayed that until the can was empty.

Back on the couch and an hour later, I was getting concerned.  There was a baseball sized lump on the back of my arm.  It got worse and worse until it was as big as a softball.  Good grief!!  The pain and ache was extraordinarily bad.  Oh BUCK UP Nancy ... it's just a little wasp sting.

It ached so badly I couldn't do anything, so I sat on the couch for the rest of the day.  No kidding ... the redness now surrounds my arm and it's on fire!!  The twinges and feeling of stabbing knives continued for two hours before finally subsiding.

Luckily I had leftover taco material from the last food box, or I would not have eaten at all.  

There would be little to no sleeping all night long, in spite of another Benadryl, topped off with aspirin.  The ache and pain in my elbow is terrible and I can barely bend my arm this morning, it's so swollen.  The itching has only gotten worse, even after a dose of Benadryl cream.  

And so I expect there won't be much going on today other than holding the couch down.  The little birdhouse will be going in the garbage can.  I can't take the chance of getting stung again.  I'm breathing just fine ... so I think I'm ahead of the game.  Here's hoping it doesn't get any worse!!  

We Are Getting Robbed!!

 What a GREAT day!!!  My oh my it never even got up to 80 degrees.  It was overcast and gloomy, but I was cool as a cucumber!!  It's supposed to be the same today, which is maybe why Mr. Cooper completely refused to go outside this morning.  Or maybe the fox kids were frolicking on the lawn.  He acted really scared, so we came back inside.  Always believe the doggo's nose!!

After blogging, we usually hang out on the couch for awhile.  I can't turn him down ... he's such a love bug nowadays.

While Cooper snoozed, I had my morning wakeup pill.  Talk about shrinkage ... anyone notice just how small the Oreos have become?  This is the regular size package, but LOOK!  They have cut the amount of frosting in HALF!  Seriously?  No wonder I couldn't taste it.  I guess I'll have to go for double stuff, which has probably ALSO been minimized!!  We are getting robbed!!!

I did a bit of cleanup in the back yard, filling up the green trash bin with weeds from the flower beds.  They have completely taken over with this hot weather.  Time to get out the backpack sprayer too.  This is what I use ... rather large ... in fact, TOO large.  With my back the way it is, I can only fill it 1/4 full, but it gets the job done.

I sprayed the entire front entrance, pulled tumbleweeds out (yup we have them too), and generally wreaked havoc on anything and everything I could reach without killing the GOOD bushes.  The lawn grass had almost completely taken over one flowerbed.  

With that FUN chore done, I thought I should hit the fabric store while there was a little bit of time waiting for the grass to die.  This tiny quilt was a headache.  None of the fabric colors I wanted would work with the strangely colored blocks.  I ended up with pink.  Some little girl will probably love it.

This was the hardest one to work with.  It's very old Civil War fabric in odd caramel colors that do not exist today.  The gal at the shop and I went round and round until we picked this one.  I'm not a fan of light colors on a quilt back ... they get dirty too fast.  It was this or black.  Black fabric is the scourge of quilters ... you can't see it very well .... so cream it is!!

On the way back, I wanted to stop in for you guessed it ..... more sprinkler repair parts.  Several of the ones in the back yard have sunk into the depths of the ant hills and need to be raised up.  This will also repair the broken one.

Traffic was the worst I've seen in my entire lifetime.  This one back road used to be like a ghost town.  There was never ANY traffic between the main thoroughfare and that ONE stop sign.  It literally took me 30 minutes to go half a mile due to the stop light at the other end.  Note to self:  Don't go this way EVER again!

When I got home, I went straight to the back yard to fix that sprinkler.  DONE!!!  I turned on the water for a test.  NOTHING.  What?  The thing popped up, but no water came out.  Big sigh!!  I changed out the little gizzy on top and we'll see if it works today.  If not, I will have to dig it up yet again.  Sprinklers are not my forte!!!!!

The rest of the day was spent hand sewing the binding on this quilt.  In spite of several knots in this very old spool of thread that was the only one to match the color of the binding, I finished it in one day.  I love it!!  I may just have to make a few more of these big square quilts!

Happy that I woke up yet again, my to-do list is getting shorter ... kind of.  That sprinkler is still hanging out there, I've got lots of bushes with dead leaves to clean up, Mr. Cooper wants to go for a walk and there are not one, but TWO quilts to quilt!!  It's going to be another lovely cool day too.  What more could you ask for!!

You Did What?

Fall is fighting tooth and nail to come in like a lion, but it just isn't working out.  It's a fabulous 63 degrees this morning, but we're shooting back up to the hundreds soon.  So what's better for a cool fall day than WAFFLES!!  

It's obvious I didn't make this.  My waffles are deflated and flat.  This is one of the last free meals I'm having since canceling the food boxes.  I'm sure I will miss the convenience, and sadly I'll have to hit the store more often, but somebody has to pay for this most wonderful internet.  

Smother the waffle in that amazing Canadian maple syrup and breakfast is served!!  By the way, now that I understand my RV electrical stuff, I have to give it up to the Canadians that build these things.  The quality is nothing short of amazing.  There's no cheap wallpaper or cardboard shelves, the cupboard latches all work perfectly and the couch makes into a perfectly soft bed without the use of a mattress topper.   It also drives like a dream ... just turn OFF all that ASSIST stuff!!

Now full of sugar sweetness, I went outside to get some before pictures.  This is the long strip of grass between me and the NICE neighbor.  They had a lot of white-ish rock brought in that makes their house look very upscale and nicely landscaped.  

Me ... I just want to get rid of as much lawn as I can to cut back on sprinkler headaches and electricity bills (not that I've had one in the last year with solar).  The grass has never wanted to grow here much anyway, and since the weed killer spill has to be repaired, now was the time to rip it all out.

By the way, except for one small section, after five months, the grass is growing back quite nicely, so that stuff doesn't kill weeds very well.  The weed company and I are splitting the bill for all this work.

While out there, I notice this crack in the concrete.  It's been this way for awhile, but I'm seeing a few more.  Is there anyway to fix this?  This one is about 1/4" wide ... the rest are just like hairline cracks.

You did what?  Ripped it all out!!!!  The crew arrived and marked the sprinklers.  I did not have them taken out, just unwired.  I could at some time plant a bush or two along here that would need to be watered.  Uh NO ... no I'm not.  Maybe a big boulder or two, but NO plants that have to be taken care of.  

They also took out all the big tree roots left from the three sycamore trees that used to live here.  I am SO glad they are gone!  Not so many sniffles from being allergic to them and no huge pile of leaves to rake.

The guys worked quickly while I lounged in the living room sewing binding.  I think I'll be sewing binding for weeks.

To make it even better, they said they would haul off that old fuel tank I had parked in the corner for about 14 years.  I think I showed you a picture ... the ants had completely filled it up with dirt to make a nice little home.  YAY ... it's now gone with the grass.

They sprayed it down with something ... probably pre-emergent ... and laid down the fabric.  Then they all disappeared in a snap!!  The rock will show up bright and early Monday morning.  In the meantime, I've got my work cut out for me.  All the shrubs on the front of the house need to be trimmed back.  A homeowners work is NEVER done.

Yes, I see it.  All those weeds at the front of the driveway need to go.  I'll get out the backpack this morning and pretend I'm WEEDMAN.  Yard work just never ends.  Maybe I need more rocks!

Inverter ... Yes or No

 There's nothing like starting the day off with a nice warm piece of tasty Hawaiian banana bread.  This recipe came from Maui where I used to spend quite a bit of time.  It takes great restraint for me not to eat an entire loaf all at once.  AND it goes perfect with my morning wake up coffee.

It also helps soothe the brain after trying to figure out all this RV electrical stuff.  Let me just say all RV's are not the same, nor are they made to WORK the same.  Add to that .... things made in Canada and things made in the U.S. do not work the same either.  For a non-electrical person like me, it's just downright hard to understand what you can do when, and with what!

So I'm passing on what I learned about my Canadian built PleasureWay van.  It's all about the batteries, and I get that.  It means most everything requires the oh-so-noisy inverter.  That thing sounds like a jet engine.  It's MOSTLY no bother when you are awake.  I just turn the TV up louder.

On the other hand, when you are trying to sleep at night and that thing is three feet away, it's not acceptable.  On my fifth wheel, they must have had it in a soundproof box.

On the van, they have installed a battery operated ONLY fridge/freezer.  That is apparently due to all the RV fires you hear about.  Whether you are plugged in or not, the fridge runs ONLY off the lithium batteries, not electricity of any kind NOR propane.  That was an eye opener.  You have to be darn sure your batteries stay charged or you will be dealing with Dave's yummy dead fish smell from the restaurant he managed.

So how to keep the batteries charged?  When plugged in, the inverter charges the batteries which run the touchscreens, water pump and vent fan AND the fridge.  That means the inverter is required to work all day long.  Can I turn the inverter off at night?  YES thank goodness, assuming of course that the fridge will not drain the batteries.  That remains to be seen.  I guess I'll have to try it out and see.  

Even with the inverter off, if you are plugged in, you can still use the microwave, the stove and the A.C. because those will run on 120 power.  You cannot however, use the touchscreen control panels, so no lights or battery monitoring.

When boon docking and not using any appliances, I can turn the inverter off because the fridge does not need it to work.  Want to cook dinner?  Turn the inverter on.  Want to charge the batteries from solar?  Turn the inverter on.   I think.  Confused?  Oh yeah!!  

I think it might behoove me to go spend a few nights in the rig with the fridge on and the inverter off to see just how long the batteries will last.  As I said, the learning curve is steep and LONG.  When in the other rigs it didn't matter because the inverter didn't keep me up at night!  

After a quick trip to town for a haircut, I settled in to get some sewing done.  My stack of quilts needing binding was getting higher and higher.  It takes me about 20 minutes to stitch it on before it goes into the NEXT stack for hand sewing.  I could sew it by machine, but I don't have the correct FOOT to do it evenly.  On my next trip to the big city, I'll stop in and get one.

This one with spiderweb binding got added to the same pile.

That ended a nice day of rest and recuperation from a long night of Bingo.  Funny ... that never seemed to bother me as much when I was YOUNGER!!  

Today brings yet another surprise.  I raised one sprinkler in the back yard a little too high.  I placed a big piece of concrete there so it would not be run over by the lawn mower.  It mattered not because it got run over, breaking it off WAY below ground level.  Maybe ... just maybe ... I can get it fixed today BECAUSE ......

The landscaper is finally showing up ... after FIVE MONTHS ... to repair the weed killer spray accident.  I'm having rock put in the entire length.  No more sprinklers to deal with, at least along that side of the property.  Pictures tomorrow!!

FULL MOON!!

 Good Morning 69 degrees!!  I can't stop yawning.  It was a long day, followed by an even longer night but here I sit enjoying my morning cup of Joe and my fast internet.  There are still a couple of glitches with the email, but everything else works like a charm.  My banks no longer throw up the razor wire every time I try to check the balances.

It's that time again ... Bingo the day after a full moon.  I took my time getting ready ... no use being subjected to that any longer than necessary!!

But first ... the handshake.  Here it is.  When someone sticks their hand out like that, you're not sure WHAT to do.  You can't grab it because you can't get your hand around it, making for a very awkward situation.  You end up thumb wrestling!!  Nice guy .. just the weirdest handshake.

On with the day, I was off to the lodge to sign things and catch up with the bookkeeper.  So there I am, having nice conversation when my phone rings.  I don't answer, but get a voicemail.  We're at your house and the gate is locked.  WHAT??

Oh yeah ... it's the gangbangers out of L.A. come to fix the cable.  NOOOOO ... they told me you would call first and it wouldn't be until Friday.  "Yeah that Xfinity" he said ... "we NEVER talk to them".  "Can you come open the gate?"  No ... no I can't, I'm too far away.  There's a small gate around the side you can enter if that works.  

So that's what they did, and called me back in 20 minutes to say they pulled the cable and hooked it up.  Gee, that was fast!!  I checked out everything when I got home and nothing was missing or tagged with spray paint, so I guess I'm good to go!!  Who can pull a 150' cable that fast?  Aliens I tell you!!

And FINALLY it was Bingo time.  My Fairy Godmother was missing in action, as was my Lady in Waiting.  What?  I have to do this all by myself?  I'm am just too spoiled!!

The peasants were chomping at the bit.  One nice member thought she was doing a good deed.  Those silver tongued peasants talked her into putting their bags of dobbers and good luck charms at certain tables before they were allowed in.  The uproar was instantaneous!!  Only members are allowed to do that.  It probably would not have mattered except it was that SPECIAL seat with someone else's name stamped on it.  

The uproar was squelched by the King who admonished the member.  Poor thing was horrified, not knowing that was a NO-NO.  She apologized one hundred times.  

And so we were off ... calling numbers and winning money right and left.  You do have to know the rules and keep up with the games.  Most folks do just fine.  It's the poor newcomers who call Bingo after the next number is called.  TOO LATE.  If the caller calls the next number, you lose.  

In this case, the crowd went wild.  NO ... she does NOT have Bingo.  She called it too late!  After quieting everyone down, they finally called the NEXT number and she yelled BINGO once again.  NOOOOO went out over the entire room ... she's LATE!!  Turns out she missed calling the last number but the NEXT one was ALSO A BINGO for her.  That's just weird.  It's the full moon again!!!  She happily collected her money to the dismay of everyone else!!

Dinner was less than exciting.  I would show you a picture, but truly, you don't want to see it.  I usually go for the hard rock overcooked chicken tenders, but they give me indigestion like a champ.  This time I went for the chili cheese dog, no bun.  It might have been better if the hot dog was from the grill and not the big container of tepid water.  If only there was a place around here to get a nice sandwich to take with me.

The rest of the night at the Castle went pretty well until one of the players went through our little alcove throwing up the entire way.  NOOOOOOO!!  Nothing will make me have the same reaction faster than that!!  They made sure she was okay before she went back to playing.  I don't know, I think I heard someone in the back say GO HOME!!!

Thirty minutes later ... it happened again.  No ... I am NOT cleaning that up.  Lucky for us, we have one volunteer who is an EMT/Nurse.  He's used to it ... yes ... HE.  He cleaned it up while I looked the other direction.  Good grief ... if you are sick ..... STAY HOME!!  Or at least leave before you make everyone else sick!!

Two words ..... FULL MOON.

And so I ended another night with raging indigestion and a clothespin on my nose.  

BUT ....... I have GREAT internet this morning and a big bottle of Tums!  

Welcome to 2024

How did my week go?  This pretty much sums it up, though I did offer that last spam caller $500 if he would come help me carry this large VERY heavy container out to the back yard hole I had dug.  He hung up on me.

Oh yeah ... it's a full moon and it's Tuesday.  No matter that it's one day past, the joy will be spread everywhere tonight.  This is the Sturgeon moon.  Why?  Well because now is the time to catch those sturgeon fish for dinner.

Here's the first surprise.  As Elva said last night ... welcome to 2024.  I finally bit the bullet and got an internet service at the house.  In return, I'm cancelling the meals program.  It's good for a little while, but in no time you are ordering the exact same thing over and over.  That will now pay for internet instead.  

Let me just say it was ........ weird.  So this guy shows up from Xfinity, formerly Comcast who had such a bad rep that they had to change their name.  Oh no the guy said ... just BRANDING.  Yup .. because they had such a bad rap no one would use their service any more.  After checking with my neighbors (who all have Xfinity because there's nothing else here), they all said it was pretty good.  Okay then ......

I'm pretty sure this guy was an alien in human clothing.  He shook hands in the weirdest way I've known in my entire life.  I showed him the cable inside that I thought might be THE ONE, but it was not.  Luckily, right next to it WAS the one!  You're wired he stated.

Where's the box?  WHAT box?  I only know of one in the garage.  That's when he mentioned my saddle covered in blankets.  He said he worked on a ranch down south, and his cousin was a big time barrel racer, whose name I did not recognize.  I took a good look at his face to see if I thought that was true, and I SWEAR I saw his eyes blink weirdly.  I digress.

We were out in the garage, then moved to the far end of the garage, back to the far end of the house ... back and forth ten times.  Finally he hollered from the garage.  DID I MESS UP YOUR TV?  Why yes ... yes you did.  My Dish Network was gone.  There were four cables hanging from the garage cabinet and he could not remember which one he disconnected.  OH GREAT!

Another twenty minutes went by while he tried to figure out how to fix it before coming inside and reconfiguring the satellite dish.  He said I didn't have a good connection at all.  Hey ... it worked fine until you unscrewed something!!  Another 30 minutes and my TV was finally up and running.  Is it a full moon?  Is this guy from Mars?

NOW ... he needed to use the restroom.  I HATE it when strange guys come to do work and want to use your bathroom.  GO BEFORE YOU GET HERE!  I googled "how to find hidden cameras in your house".  It was really weird when he came back out  ...  no toilet flushed that I could hear, but I did hear the faucet run, so at last he washed his hands.  So what was THAT all about?  Alien I tell you ... it's why my little Lizzie ran away when we entered the garage.

Time for the modem.  No, it doesn't look anything like this.  It's just a tall white box.  He hooked it up and did all kinds of stuff on his phone.  Negative 10 he said.  What the heck does THAT mean.  No response.  Is that his blood pressure?  

He had to stop everything while he rehooked his suspenders ... didn't want his pants falling off he said.   PLEASE ... no falling pants.  Is it a full moon?  Wait ... was that a head bob???

At long last I connected my computer and was very surprised to find it was fast as fast can be.  I mean ANYTHING would be fast compared to my one bar Verizon MiFi.  By the way, he checked that signal with his fancy dancy machine and sure enough ... barely one bar, meaning it was causing all kinds of problems with downloading stuff.  That's why I couldn't get my email to make contact.

Every time I turn it on now, I've got instant internet.  No more fiddling with everything ... turning it off, turning it on ... it just WORKS.  What oh what am I going to do without all that frustration in my life trying to get my computer to hook up and my email to work?  It's a miracle.  No worries, all that frustration will be back when I'm on the road, because my computer refuses to hook up to the hotspot on my phone.

On his way out, after another alien handshake, he said the cable from the street to the garage was an old one that needed to be replaced.  He put in an order for the home boys construction crew to come and replace it.  Don't be scare he stated ... they look like gangbangers who just came out of L.A. ... but they know their stuff.  OH BOY ... I am SO looking forward to THAT!!! 

There's more news from Canada about my van that I'll relate tomorrow because right now, I'm going surfing ... through the highways and byways of the sky!!!  Maybe I'll run into another alien!!

Welcome to 2024 and the fast internet age!!