Just Another Day In Paradise

 There's nothing better than tearing something up when it's cool outside and you need a break.  My yard is falling a bit behind and SO much stuff needs to be trimmed up.  I took the branch cutters to this little tree that somehow grew into a monster.  It took me over an hour to get all the trash out of my hair.  Note to self .... next time wear a hat.

You know what I'll be doing THIS morning ... cutting it all up into tiny pieces to fit in the trash can.  Underneath it are two very old lavender plants that died, along with about 4 inches of trash, which also has to be raked up.  Oh the fun!!

Here's the good news of the day ... besides looking at this cute little face ... I got my PG&E bill.  Believe me, folks have been ranting and raving around here about their bills having doubled this year versus last year.  They were nice enough to give everyone a big rate hike just before summer, plus it's been hotter than normal.  

Apparently I had my solar panels cleaned at the exact right time.  Instead of the $2,000 bill my fiends got (NOT kidding, their bill was THAT much) ..... MY bill was a $168.00 CREDIT.  I can't believe it.  I ran my AC more than I EVER have because this is the first summer in seven years that I stayed here and the heat was the worst in TEN years.  I was pretty shocked to say the least.  I guess I'm doing something right!

Maybe I can even afford to buy Mr. Cooper another ball!!  Yup this is his favorite that he absolutely refuses to give up.  I threw it away once.  He stood at the trash can in the kitchen and barked until I gave it back.  He doesn't seem to care if it doesn't roll any more.

Once cleaned up and cooled off, I began to quilt the quilt.  I really don't have any cowboy appropriate patterns, but this Castle Scroll looked like the swirling wind kicked up by the horses.  I know, I have a weird imagination.  The second one is just circles that I was able to make fit (more or less) in the border space.  I'm actually having lots of fun being able to program the computer to do this!!

Instead of doing every square with something different, I decided to do the center with this longhorn pattern.  New patterns are $20.00 each, downloaded to your computer, then transferred to the longarm computer.  Apparently COWBOY is not a popular one unless it's stick horses.

Yessiree ... I spent an entire six hours quilting this thing.  There were a couple of minor errors, like forgetting to make this one a tad bit bigger, but I was able to FLIP it upside down for the bottom border.  As long as it was inside the edge, it was fine with me.  

TA-DA!!  It was finally done ... and of course Cooper approved.  I'm not thrilled with the backing since it couldn't be further from COWBOY, but it matches a couple of the squares, so there's that.  I'm loving the challenge of quilting different parts with different patterns.  Thanks RAY for the lessons and for poking me with a stick to figure it out.     

And so ...... on to the next quilt since you know Nancy cannot sit still for any length of time.  

Today I'm on a mission to contact PleasureWay about the rig and get solid answers as to the exact route electricity takes.  At this point all I know is to unplug from power and turn the inverter off.  I'm wondering if I'm plugged in, can I turn the inverter off so it's quiet at night?????  SO many questions!

It should be an even MORE exciting day since the CORRECT piano hinge should arrive for the doggo ramp.  Let's see if I can mess THAT up!!!